In this article, we attempt to distinguish between the properties of moderator and mediator variables at a number of levels. First, we seek to make theorists and researchers aware of the importance of not using the terms moderator and mediator interchangeably by carefully elaborating, both conceptually and strategically, the many ways in which moderators and mediators differ. We then go beyond this largely pedagogical function and delineate the conceptual and strategic implications of making use of such distinctions with regard to a wide range of phenomena, including control and stress, attitudes, and personality traits. We also provide a specific compendium of analytic procedures appropriate for making the most effective use of the moderator and mediator distinction, both separately and in terms of a broader causal system that includes both moderators and mediators.

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The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations.

Major perspectives concerning stress are presented with the goal of clarifying the nature of what has proved to be a heuristic but vague construct. Current conceptualizations of stress are challenged as being too phenomenological and ambiguous, and consequently, not given to direct empirical testing. Indeed, it is argued that researchers have tended to avoid the problem of defining stress, choosing to study stress without reference to a clear framework. A new stress model called the model of conservation of resources is presented as an alternative. This resource-oriented model is based on the supposition that people strive to retain, project, and build resources and that what is threatening to them is the potential or actual loss of these valued resources. Implications of the model of conservation of resources for new research directions are discussed.

Conservation of resources. A new attempt at conceptualizing stress.

Publisher Summary The process of exchange is almost continual in human interactions, and appears to have characteristics peculiar to itself, and to generate affect, motivation, and behavior that cannot be predicted unless exchange processes are understood. This chapter describes two major concepts relating to the perception of justice and injustice; the concept of relative deprivation and the complementary concept of relative gratification. All dissatisfaction and low morale are related to a person's suffering injustice in social exchanges. However, a significant portion of cases can be usefully explained by invoking injustice as an explanatory concept. In the theory of inequity, both the antecedents and consequences of perceived injustice have been stated in terms that permit quite specific predictions to be made about the behavior of persons entering social exchanges. Relative deprivation and distributive justice, as theoretical concepts, specify some of the conditions that arouse perceptions of injustice and complementarily, the conditions that lead men to feel that their relations with others are just. The need for much additional research notwithstanding, the theoretical analyses that have been made of injustice in social exchanges should result not only in a better general understanding of the phenomenon, but should lead to a degree of social control not previously possible. The experience of injustice need not be an accepted fact of life.

Inequity In Social Exchange

A model is presented to account for the natural selection of what is termed reciprocally altruistic behavior. The model shows how selection can operate against the cheater (non-reciprocator) in the system. Three instances of altruistic behavior are discussed, the evolution of which the model can explain: (1) behavior involved in cleaning symbioses; (2) warning cries in birds; and (3) human reciprocal altruism. Regarding human reciprocal altruism, it is shown that the details of the psychological system that regulates this altruism can be explained by the model. Specifically, friendship, dislike, moralistic aggression, gratitude, sympathy, trust, suspicion, trustworthiness, aspects of guilt, and some forms of dishonesty and hypocrisy can be explained as important adaptations to regulate the altruistic system. Each individual human is seen as possessing altruistic and cheating tendencies, the expression of which is sensitive to developmental variables that were selected to set the tendencies at a balance ap...

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The Evolution of Reciprocal Altruism

Publisher Summary
This chapter outlines the two basic routes to persuasion. One route is based on the thoughtful consideration of arguments central to the issue, whereas the other is based on the affective associations or simple inferences tied to peripheral cues in the persuasion context. This chapter discusses a wide variety of variables that proved instrumental in affecting the elaboration likelihood, and thus the route to persuasion. One of the basic postulates of the Elaboration Likelihood Model—that variables may affect persuasion by increasing or decreasing scrutiny of message arguments—has been highly useful in accounting for the effects of a seemingly diverse list of variables. The reviewers of the attitude change literature have been disappointed with the many conflicting effects observed, even for ostensibly simple variables. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) attempts to place these many conflicting results and theories under one conceptual umbrella by specifying the major processes underlying persuasion and indicating the way many of the traditionally studied variables and theories relate to these basic processes. The ELM may prove useful in providing a guiding set of postulates from which to interpret previous work and in suggesting new hypotheses to be explored in future research.

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The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion

A theory of psychological reactance.

Psychological Reactance: A Theory of Freedom and Control

Explorations in cognitive dissonance.

THE importance of the choice situation is reflected in the considerable amount of theory and research on conflict. Conflict theory has generally dealt, however, with the phenomena that lead up to the choice. What happens after the choice has received little attention. The present paper is concerned with some of the consequences of making a choice. Previous consideration of the consequences of choice have been limited to relatively unspecified hypotheses (1, 3) or to qualitative analysis (4). However, a recent theory by Festinger (2) makes possible several explicit predictions. According to this analysis of the choice situation, all cognitive elements (items of information) that favor the chosen alternative are "consonant," and all cognitive elements that favor the unchosen alternative are "dissonant" with the choice behavior. Furthermore, other things being equal, the greater the number of elements favoring the unchosen alternative (i.e., the greater the relative attractiveness of the unchosen alternative) the greater the resulting "dissonance." When "dissonance" exists, the person will attempt to eliminate or reduce it. Although space limitations preclude further discussion of the theory, it may be said that several derivations are possible concerning the consequences of making a choice. The present study was designed to test the following: 1. Choosing between two alternatives creates dissonance and a consequent pressure to reduce it. The dissonance is reduced by making the chosen alternative more desirable and the unchosen alternative less desirable after the choice than they were before it. 2. The magnitude of the dissonance and the 1 This paper is based on a thesis offered in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree at the University of Minnesota. The author wishes to thank his advisor, Dr. Leon Festinger, for his invaluable aid in the formulation and execution of the study. He also wishes to thank the Laboratory for Research in Social Relations, which supported the study. 4 The author is now in the Department of Psychology, Yale University. consequent pressure to reduce it are greater the more closely the alternatives approach equal desirability. 3. Exposing a person to new relevant cognitive elements, at least some of which are consonant, facilitates the reduction of dissonance.

Postdecision changes in the desirability of alternatives.

Publisher Summary This chapter investigates how individuals react when they are unable to exert control over their environment—when they are unable to have options or reach goals that are important to them, or when they are forced to endure outcomes that they would not voluntarily choose. It reviews a number of theories that have focused on the importance of control over one's environment. Some investigators have suggested that the perception of inability to exert control over one's environment can even result in sudden death from coronary disease or other factors. Furthermore, feelings of lack of control have also been viewed as a cause of many types of antisocial behaviors. There are two theories that make rather specific predictions concerning reactions to lack or loss of control: Brehm's theory of psychological reactance and Seligman's learned helplessness model. The chapter discusses these theoretical orientations in some detail. Because these two formulations appear to make contradictory predictions, it attempts to integrate them into a single theoretical statement. The chapter also reviews the relevant evidence, and discusses a number of unresolved theoretical problems.

Jack W. Brehm

Papers

A theory of psychological reactance.

Psychological Reactance: A Theory of Freedom and Control

Explorations in cognitive dissonance.

Postdecision changes in the desirability of alternatives.

Responses to Uncontrollable Outcomes: An Integration of Reactance Theory and the Learned Helplessness Model