Showing papers in "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 1970"

Measurement of romantic love.

Abstract: This study reports Ihc initial results of an attempt to introduce and validate a social-psychological construct oi" romantic love. Starting with the assumption that love is an interpersonal attitude, an internally consistent papcr-and-pencil love scale was developed. The conception of romantic love included three components: affiliative and dependent need, a predisposition to help, and an orientation of exclusiveness and absorption. Love-scale scores were only moderately correlated with scores on a parallel scale of "liking," which reflected a more traditional conception of interpersonal attraction. The validity of the love scale was assessed in a questionnaire study and a laboratory experiment. On the basis of the emerging conception of love, it was predicted that college dating couples who loved each other a great deal (as categorized by their love-scale scores) would spend more time gazing into one another's eyes than would couples who loved each other to a lesser degree. The prediction was confirmed. Love is generally regarded to be the deepest and most meaningful of sentiments. It has occupied a preeminent position in the art and literature of every age, and it is presumably experienced, at least occasionally, by the vast majority of people. In Western culture, moreover, the association between love and marriage gives it a unique status as a link between the individual and the structure of society. In view of these considerations, it is surprising to discover that social psychologists have devoted virtually no attention to love. Although interpersonal attraction has been a major focus of social-psycho logical theory and research, workers in this area have not attempted to conceptualize love as an independent entity. For Heider (1958), for example, "loving" is merely intense liking— there is no discussion of possible qualitative 1 This report is based on a doctoral dissertation submitted to the University of Michigan. The research was supported by a prccloctoral fellowship from the National Institute of Mental Health and by a grant-in-aid from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. The author is grateful to Theodore M. Ncwcomb, chairman of the dissertation committee, for his invaluable guidance and support. Mitchell Baris, Cheryl Eisenman, Linda Muller, Judy Newman, Marlyn Rame, Stuart Katz, Edward Krupat, and Phillip Shaver served as observers in the experiment, and Mr. Shaver also helped design and assemble the equipment. 2 Requests for reprints should be sent to the author, Department of Social Relations, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138.

An attributional analysis of achievement motivation.

Abstract: Six experiments arc reported which relate achievement motivation to causal ascription. The first three experiments revealed that the evaluation of achievement-related outcomes is positively related to the amount of expended effort, but inversely related to level of ability. Evaluative differences between social classes (Experiment II), and disparities between selfand other-judgments (Experiment III) also were examined. In Experiments IV and V individual differences in locus of causality were related to level of achievement needs. The results of these investigations indicate that individuals high in resultant achievement motivation are more likely to take personal responsibility for success than individuals low in achievement motivation. Clear differences in perceived responsibility for failure were not exhibited between the two motive groups. Finally, in Experiment VI risk-preference behavior and Atkinson's theory of achievement motivation were construed in attribution theory language. It was contended that cognitions about causality mediate between level of achievement needs and performance.

Attention in delay of gratification.

Abstract: The role of altcntional processes in voluntary delay of reward was explored by manipulating children's attention to the rewards for which they were waiting in a delay-of-gratification paradigm. Preschool children waited for a preferred but delayed reward while facing either the delayed reward, a less preferred but immediately available reward, both rewards, or no rewards. The dependent measure was the amount of time they waited for the preferred outcome before forfeiting it for the sake of the less desired but immediately available one. Results contradicted predictions from psychodynamic theory and from speculations concerning self-instructions during "time binding." Unexpectedly, but in accord with frustrative nonreward theory, voluntary waiting time was substantially increased when subjects could not attend to rewards during the waiting period. Implications are discussed for a theory of the development of delay of gratification.

Effects of self-esteem, perceived performance, and choice on causal attributions.

Abstract: Heider (1958) described a model of the cognitive process people use in structuring their environment through causal attribution. In Heider's model, a person engaged in an activity attributes the outcome to one or more internal or external causal sources. Current research suggests a number of personality and situational variables which may affect a person's causal attributions, including self-esteem, perceived performance, and choice. The high-self-esteem person has been conceptualized as liking or valuing himself, as well as seeing himself as competent in dealing with the world he perceives (Cohen, 1959; Combs & Snygg, 1959). The low-self-esteem person is seen as disliking, devaluing himself, and in general perceiving himself as not competent to deal effectively with his environment. Two partially contradictory hypotheses may be derived from self theory. The first is that persons are motivated to perceive events in a way which enhances chronic self-esteem. The second is that persons are motivated to perceive events in a way which is consistent with chronic self-esteem. These two contradictory hypotheses regarding self-esteem and interpretation of event outcomes may be inte1 This study is based primarily on a dissertation submitted to Purdue University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the PhD degree. 2 Requests for reprints should be sent to the author, School of Business, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66044.

Testing the self-perception explanation of dissonance phenomena: on the salience of premanipulation attitudes.

Abstract: A controversy has arisen over the "interpersonal simulations" used by Bern to support his contention that his self-perception theory accounts for cognitive dissonance phenomena. Specifically, the critics challenge the implication of his analysis that the premanipulation attitudes of subjects in dissonance experiments are not salient in their postmanipulation phenomenology. The present investigation answers this challenge by demonstrating that subjects in a typical forced-compliance experiment are not only unable to recall their premanipulation attitudes correctly, but they actually perceive their postmanipulation attitudes to be identical to their premanipulation attitudes. Accordingly, they do not perceive any attitude "change." The epistemological aspects of the interpersonal simulation methodology are also discussed.

Reduction of stress in humans through nonveridical perceived control of aversive stimulation.

Abstract: In a reaction time (RT) task 40 subjects were told to react to the onset of a 6-second shock. Following l0 trials, half of the subjects were told that by decreasing their RT they would reduce shock duration. Remaining subjects were simply told that shock duration would he reduced. All subjects, regardless of group assignment or RT, received 3-second shocks in the second half of the study. During the second half of the study, subjects who believed they had control showed fewer spontaneous skin conductance (SC) responses and smaller SC responses to shock onset than subjects who did not feel they had control. Results indicated that perception of

Elicitation of moral obligation and self-sacrificing behavior: An experimental study of volunteering to be a bone marrow donor.

Abstract: It was hypothesized that self-sacrificing behavior is positively related to the salience of consequences for others and to the salience of the actor's personal responsibility in an appeal for help, and negatively related to the odds of incurring costs. Theoretically, the former two variables promote activation of moral norms, while the latter fosters neutralization of norms. These variables were manipulated in appeals to 144 subjects in a field experiment to donate bone marrow. Volunteering increased with responsibility (p <.05), but was unrelated to odds. The relationship between volunteering and consequences under 1/25 odds was curvilinear, with high salience of consequences producing the lowest rate of volunteering. To explain this curvilinear relationship, it was proposed that psychological reactance is expressed overtly as refusal when pressure in an appeal seems illegitimate. Volunteering was positively related to socioeconomic status (p < .01). The strikingly high rate of volunteering is traced to the momentum of compliance.

Ego-involvement, discrepancy, source credibility, and attitude change.

Abstract: Social judgment theory and dissonance theory make different predictions about the effect on attitude change of discrepancies between a person's own position and a persuasive communication. Persuasive messages were given to 144 subjects in a three-factor design having three levels of discrepancy, two levels of source credibility, and two levels of ego-involvement. Dependent measures were attitude change, source credibility change, ego-involvement change, changes in latitudes of acceptance and rejection, and message evaluation. More attitude change occurred for low than for high ego-involvement. Attitude change was an increasing monotonic function of discrepancy for low ego-involvement, and a nonmonotonic function of discrepancy for high ego-involvement. After receipt of the persuasive message, low credible sources increased in authoritativeness and the importance of the low-ego-involvemcnt issue increased. A number of findings, significant beyond the .01 or .001 levels, were opposed to dissonance theory predictions. Most of the data arc consistent with social judgment theory.

Acquaintance Networks Between Racial Groups: Application of the Small World Method.

Abstract: White "starter" persons in Los Angeles were asked to generate acquaintance chains to white and Negro target persons in New York, using the "small world method." The mean number of intermediaries between starters and target persons was similar to that found in earlier studies, approximately five to six, and this remained constant over differences in race of the target person. The number of completed chains was two and one-half times as great for white targets as for Negro targets. Explanations to account for the results are discussed.

Effects of Isolation and Communication on Cooperation in a Two-Person Game.

Abstract: Four conditions of communication were created in a Prisoner's Dilemma (PD) game. In one condition the subjects were isolated so that they could neither sec nor hear each other, as in the typical PD experiment. In a second condition the subjects could sec but not hear each other. In a third condition the subjects could hear but not see each other. In a fourth the subjects could both hear and see each other. Results showed an increasing amount of cooperation through all four conditions, especially when the players could see each other. It was concluded that the high degree of competitiveness typically found in PD game studies may be largely a function of the isolation imposed on the subjects by the experimenter.