Showing papers in "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 1976"

Basking in Reflected Glory: Three (Football) Field Studies

Abstract: The tendency to "bask in reflected glory" (BIRG) by publicly announcing one's associations with successful others was investigated in three field experiments. All three studies showed this effect to occur even though the person striving to bask in the glory of a successful source was not involved in the cause of the source's success. Experiment 1 demonstrated the BIRG phenomenon by showing a greater tendency for university students to wear schoolidentifying apparel after their school's football team had been victorious than nonvictorious. Experiments 2 and 3 replicated this effect by showing that students used the pronoun tee more when describing a victory than a nonvktory of their school's football team. A model was developed asserting that the BIRG response represents an attempt to enhance one's public image. Experiments 2 and 3 indicated, in support of this assertion, that the tendency to proclaim a connection with a positive source was strongest when one's publk image was threatened.

The effects of choice and enhanced personal responsibility for the aged: A field experiment in an institutional setting.

Abstract: A field experiment was conducted to assess the effects of enhanced personal responsibility and choice on a group of nursing home residents. It was expected that the debilitated condition of many of the aged residing in institutional settings is, at least in part, a result of living in a virtually decision-free environment and consequently is potentially reversible. Residents who were in the experimental group were given a communication emphasizing their responsibility for themselves, whereas the communication given to a second group stressed the staff's responsibility for them. In addition, to bolster the communication, the former group was given the freedom to make choices and the responsibility of caring for a plant rather than having decisions made and the plant taken care of for them by the staff, as was the case for the latter group. Questionnaire ratings and behavioral measures showed a significant improvement for the experimental group over the comparison group on alertness, active participation, and a general sense of well-being.

Sex typing and the avoidance of cross-sex behavior.

Abstract: This article presents evidence for the hypothesis that cross-sex behavior is motivationally problematic for sex-typed individuals and that they actively avoid it as a result In particular, when asked to indicate which of a series of paired activities they would prefer to perform for pay while being photographed, sex-typed subjects were more likely than either androgynous or sex-reversed subjects to prefer sex-appropriate activity and to resist sex-inappropriate activity, even though such choices cost them money Moreover, actually engaging in cross-sex behavior caused sex-typed subjects to report greater psychological discomfort and more negative feelings about themselves

Distraction Can Enhance or Reduce Yielding to Propaganda: Thought Disruption Versus Effort Justification

Abstract: Two experiments were conducted to test competing accounts of the distractionpersuasion relationship, thought disruption and effort justification, and also to show that the relationship is not limited to counterattitudinal communication. Experiment 1 varied distraction and employed two discrepant messages differing in how easy they were to counterargue. In accord with the thought disruption account, increasing distraction enhanced persuasion for a message that was readily counterarguable, but reduced persuasion for a message that was difficult to counterargue. The effort notion implied no interaction with message counterarguability. Experiment 2 again varied distraction but the two messages took a nondiscrepant position. One message elicited primarily favorable thoughts and the effect of distraction was to reduce the number of favorable thoughts generated; the other, less convincing message elicited primarily counterarguments, and the effect of distraction was to reduce counterarguments. A Message X Distraction interaction indicated that distraction tended to enhance persuasion for the counterarguable message but reduce persuasion for the message that elicited primarily favorable thoughts. The experiments together provided support for a principle having greater generality than the Festinger-Maccoby formulation: Distraction works by inhibiting the dominant cognitive response to persuasive communication and, therefore, it can result in either enhanced or reduced acceptance.

Differential social perception and attribution of intergroup violence: Testing the lower limits of stereotyping of Blacks.

Abstract: In a modified 4 X 4 factorial design with race (black-white) of the harm-doer and race (black-white) of the victim as the major factors, the phenomenon of differential social perception of intergroup violence was established. While subjects, observing a videotape of purported ongoing ineraction occuring in another room, labeled an act (ambiguous shove) as more violent when it was performed by a black than when the same act was perpetrated by a white. That is, the concept of violence was more accessible when viewing a black than when viewing a white committing the same act. Causal attributions were also found to be divergent. Situation attributions were preferred when the harm-doer was white, and person (dispositional) attributions were preferred in the black-protagonist conditions. The results are discussed in terms of perceptual threshold, sterotypy, and attributional biases.

Sex typing and androgyny: further explorations of the expressive domain.

Abstract: Previous research by Bem has indicated that androgynous individuals of both sexes display "masculine" independence when under pressure to conform as well as "feminine" nurturance when interacting with a kitten. In contrast, sex-typed individuals were low in one or both of these behaviors. The two studies reported here were designed to replicate the low nurturance of the masculine male and to clarify the unexpected finding that feminine females were low in both independence and nurturance. In the first study subjects interacted with a human infant, and in the second study they listened to a lonely student. Taken together, the results of these two studies conceptually replicated the low nurturance of the masculine male and demonstrated that the low nurturance of the feminine female does not extend to her interaction with humans. Finally, evidence was presented in support of Spence, Helmreich, and Stapp's distinction between "androgynous" individuals, who are high in both masculinity and feminity, and "undifferentiated" individuals, who are low in both of these characteristics.

Effects of control and predictability on the physical and psychological well-being of the institutionalized aged.

Abstract: It was hypothesized that some of the characteristics frequently observed among the aged--such as feelings of depression and helphlessness, as well as accelerated physical decline--are at least in part attributable to loss of control. A field experiment in which institutionalized aged were randomly assigned to one of four conditions was carried out to assess the effects of increased control and predictability upon the physical and psychological well-being of the aged. Individuals in three of the four conditions were visited by college undergraduates under varying contingencies, while persons in the fourth condition were not visited and served as a baseline comparison group. Subjects in the control condition could determine both the frequency and duration of visits they recieved. A second group of subjects (predict) was informed when they would be visited and how long the visitor would stay, but had no control over these details. A third group (random) was visited on a random schedule. It was found that predictable and controllable positive events have a powerful positive impact upon the well-being of the institutionalized aged.

Trait salience in the spontaneous self-concept.

Abstract: A discrimination theory of selective perception was used to predict that a given trait would be spontaneously salient in a person's self-concept to the exten that this trait was distinctive for the person within her or his social groups. Sixth-grade students' general and physical spontaneous self-concepts were elicited in their classroom settings. The distinctiveness within the classroom of each student's characteristics on each of a variety of dimensions was determined, and it was found that in a majority of cases the dimension was significantly more salient in the spontaneous self-concepts of those students whose characteristic on thedimension was more distinctive. Also reported are incidental findings which include a description of the contents of spontaneous self-comcepts as well as determinants of their length and of the spontaneous mention of one's sex as part of one's self-concept.

Outcome dependency: Attention, attribution, and attraction.

Abstract: Theoretical and empirical work on the processes by which we attribute dispositional characteristics to others has focused almost exclusively on how such processes proceed once the perceiver has been motivated to initiate them. The problem of identifying the factors which prompt the perceiver to engage in an attributional analysis in the first place has been relatively ignored, even though the influence of such factors may extend beyond the initiation of the causal analysis to affect the manner in which it unfolds and, ultimately, the form and substance of its conclusion. From the assumption that the function of an attributional analysis is effective control of the social environment, it was hypothesized that high outcome dependency upon another, under conditions of high unfamiliarity, is associated with the initiation of an attributional analysis as evidenced by increased attention to the other, better memory of the other's characteristics and behavior, more extreme and confidently given evaluations of the other on a variety of dispositional trait dimensions, and increased attraction to the other. These hypotheses were tested within the context of a study of heterosexual dating relationships in which men and women volunteers anticipated varying degrees of dependence upon another for their dating outcomes. The findings support the view that the data processing operations of the social perceiver—from attention to memory to attribution—are part of a unified whole and may be viewed as manifestations of an underlying motivation to predict and control the social environment.

Altruism as hedonism: A social development perspective on the relationship of negative mood state and helping.

Abstract: A study was conducted to provide a means for reconciliation of the conflicting data on the relationship of negative mood state to altruism. Whereas some studies have shown that negative mood leads to increases in altruistic action, others have shown the reverse. It was hypothesized that the inconsistency of these results was due to differences in the ages and consequent levels of socialization of the subjects employed in the earlier studies. In order to test the hypothesis, subjects from three age groups (6-8, 10-12, and 15-18 years old) were asked to think of either depressing or neutral events and were subsequently given the opportunity to be privately generous. Consistent with predictions from the negative state relief model of altruism, the youngest, least socialized subjects were somewhat less generous in the negative mood condition, but this relationship progressively reversed itself until in the oldest, most socialized group, the negative mood subjects were significantly more generous than neutral mood controls. The data were taken as support for a hedonistic conception of altruism that views adult benevolence as self-gratification. It is suggested that the reward character of benevolence derives from the socialization experience.

Fear appeals and attitude change: Effects of a threat's noxiousness, probability of occurrence, and the efficacy of coping responses.

Abstract: Three factorial experiments examined the persuasive effects of the noxiousness of threatened event, its probability of occurrence, and the efficacy of recommended protective measures. A total of 176 students participated in separate studies on the topics of cigarette smoking, driving safety, and venereal disease. The results disclosed that increments in the efficacy variable increased intentions to adopt the efficacy variable increased intentions to adopt the recommended practices. Interaction effects revealed that when the preventive practices were effective, increments in the noxiousness and probability variables facilitated attitude change; however, when the coping responses were the preventive practices were effective, increments in the noxiousness and probability either had no effect or a deleterious effect, respectively. These interaction effects were discussed in terms of a defensive avoidance hypothesis, the crucial component of which was an inability to ward off the danger. Furthermore, the effect of the emotion of fear upon intentions was found to be mediated by the cognitive appraisal of severity of the threat. Finally, similarities with and extensions of previous studies were reviewed. Language: en

Perceived dimensions of interpersonal relations.

Abstract: A questionnaire study was conducted to discover the fundamental dimensions underlying people's perceptions of interpersonal relations. In the sections of the questionnaire relevant to this report, 87 subjects rated 20 of their own interpersonal relations (e.g., between you and your spouse) and 25 typical, or role, relations (e.g., between husband and wife) on numerous bipolar scales. A multidimensional scaling analysis of the data revealed four dimensions, which were interpreted as cooperative and friendly versus competitive and hostile, equal versus unequal, intense versus superficial, and socioemotional and informal versus task-oriented and formal. The relative importance of these dimensions varied systematically across various subgroups based on biographical characteristics of the subjects. The four dimensions were compared to those from studies of personality, person perception, and individual behavior in interpersonal situations. The stability of the dimensions suggests that they should provide a valuable framework for future research on interpersonal relations and communication.

Learned helplessness, depression, and the attribution of failure.

Abstract: Depressed and nondepressed college students received experience with solvable, unsolvable, or no discrimination problems. When later tested on a series of patterned anagrams, depressed groups performed worse than nondepressed groups, and unsolvable groups performed worse than solvable and control groups. As predicted by the learned helplessness model of depression, nondepressed subjects given unsolvable problems showed anagram deficits parallel to those found in naturally occurring depression. When depressed subjects attributed their failure to the difficulty of the problems rather than to their own incompetence, performance improved strikingly. So, failure in itself is apparently not sufficient to produce helplessness deficits in man, but failure that leads to a decreased belief in personal competence is sufficient.

Duration of the effect of good mood on helping: "Footprints on the sands of time."

Abstract: Two field studies investigated the time course of the effect of feeling good on helping. Subjects were given small packets of stationery by a confederate who went from door to door. Then, at different intervals, each subject received a \"wrong number\" telephone call during which he or she had the opportunity to help. Results showed that subjects who had received stationery helped more than did those in either of two control groups. The effect declined gradually over time, and by 20 minutes after receipt of the stationery, the experimental group did not differ from the control groups. The time course of the decline in helpfulness and the basic relationship between good mood and helping were discussed in terms of cognitive processes.

The undermining and enhancing of intrinsic motivation in preschool children.

Abstract: A two-phase field experiment was conducted with lower socioeconomic preschool children to test the over justification effect, which proposes that intrinsic motivation will decrease with the addition of contingent, external rewards which alone are sufficient to justify performance. Children showing high intrinsic motivation on the target activity were exposed to one of six conditions. In the three experimental conditions the child received either money, an award, or positive verbal reinforcement for his performance on the target activity. Comparison groups controlled for time or history, the presence of the experimenter, and the personal attention given the child by the experimenter. Money and awards, expected to be perceived as sufficient to justify performance, reduced subsequent intrinsic motivation during a free-play period. Positive verbal reinforcement, predicted to be insufficient to justify performance, resulted in increased intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation in control groups for time and presence of the experimenter did not change. Unexpectedly, a large decline in intrinsic motivation occurred in a control group where the child was ignored. This effect was replicated and discussed in terms of attribution and learning theory.

Speed of speech and persuasion.

Abstract: The relationship between speaking rate and attitude change was investigated in two field experiments. Manipulations of speech rate were crossed with (a) credibility of the speaker and (b) complexity of the spoken message. The results suggest that speech rate functions as a general cue that augments credibility; rapid speech enhances persuasion. No support was obtained for information-processing interpretations of the effects of a fast speaking rate. The increased persuasion produced by fast speech could not be attributed to disruption of effective counterarguing. These findings emphasize the importance of perceptual and evaluative factors in the persuasion process at the expense of a more rationalistic information-processing view of how man responds when confronted with an influence attempt. Although many of the persuasive communications received during daily life are orally presented, the characteristics of speech that affect persuasion are rarely studied. Moreover, studies that do examine delivery style typically treat it as a global variable. For instance, Dietrich (1946) studied the dynamism of a speaker's style, Bettinghaus (1961) assessed the effects of overall speaking effectiveness by comparing trained and uncoached students, and Bowers (1965) examined the effects of extroverted and introverted deliv^ ery using dramatic arts students to simulate style. The persuasive effects of more discrete characteristics of oral delivery, such as intensity, pitch, speed of presentation, or specific emotional qualities apparently more rarely elicit attention. Several considerations suggest that speech rate might be an important variable. Texts on speech (Allen, Anderson, & Hough, 1968; Monroe & Ehninger, 1974) have reported considerable individual variation in speaking rate with 120-180 words per minute as the lower and upper limits of normal speech. 1 It

Effects of nonverbal dissimulation on emotional experience and autonomic arousal.

Abstract: Three studies are reported that examine the relationship between the nonverbal display of emotional affect and indices of the emotional state. Subjects were asked either to conceal or to exaggerate the facial display associated with the anticipation and reception of painful shocks that varied in intensity. Both self-reports of shock painfulness and skin conductance measures of emotional response showed significant changes paralleling the changes induced in expressive behavior; that is, the suppression of expressive responses decreased the magnitude of phasic skin conductance changes and subjective reports of painfulness as compared to the free expression or exaggeration of pain-related expressive response. The effects were obtained for shocks of varying intensities and for both male and female subjects. The findings support theories of emotion that assume that expressive responses serve a self-regulatory as well as a social-communicative function, and further suggest that the self-regulation is mediated neurally, rather than via a process of self-attribution. Finally, the results highlight the need for research on dissimulation in social interaction to consider the effects of acting upon the actor, as well as its effects upon the inferences of observers.

Elastic Shifts of Opinion: Determinants of Direction and Durability

Abstract: In a pair of studies, subjects were found to shift their positions on an issue while they were expecting to engage an opponent in a discussion of that issue. As predicted, it was possible to influence the size and direction of these anticipatory shifts by manipulating the personal relevance of the discussion topic and the timing of the discussion onset. It was also possible to nullify the shifts by canceling the expectation of discussion. The results were taken to support a general formulation of anticipator}' shifts as strategic responses to immediate situational pressures rather than genuine changes in attitude. Additionally, it was found that the durability of anticipatory change was associated with the tendency to engage in cognitive activity supportive of the change. The possibility is discussed that most "attitude change" studies have not involved attitude shifts but rather the "elastic shifts" obtained in the present experiments.

Aggression and heat: the influence of ambient temperature, negative affect, and a cooling drink on physical aggression.

Abstract: Two experiments were conducted to examine the influence of ambient temperature upon physical aggression. In the first, male subjects received either a positive or negative evaluation from a confederate and were then provided with an opportunity to agress against this person by means of electric shock. On the basis of previous research, it was predicted that high ambient temperatures (92-95 degrees F) would facilitate aggression by those receiving positive evaluations but actually inhibit such behavior by those receiving negative assessments. Results confirmed both of these predictions and also indicated that more moderate but still uncomfortably warm temperatures (82-85 degrees F) produced similar effects. The second experiment employed procedures similar to the first and examined the suggestion that administration of a cooling drink would reduce the impact of high ambient temperatures upon overt aggression. This prediction, too, was confirmed. The possible mediating role of negative affect with respect to the influence of ambient temperature and other environmental factors upon aggression was discussed.

Behavior exchange theory and marital decision making.

Abstract: Distressed and nondistressed couples in two studies made decisions on highland low-conflict tasks. They continuously coded both the intended impact of their own behavior and the impact of their spouse's behavior. In Study 1 distressed couples did not differ from nondistressed couples on how they intended their behavior to be received. However, the behavior of distressed spouses was actually received more negatively by their partners than the behavior of their nondistressed counterparts. The couples in Study 2 also behaved in a way consistent with a communication deficit explanation of distressed marriages; that is, distressed couples' behavior was likely to be coded as more negative than they intended. Task effects and a reciprocity hypothesis were also tested Data from Study 1 showed no conflict effect, but the results of Study 2 suggested that high-conflict tasks may be a better means for discriminating distressed from nondistressed couples than low-conflict tasks. The data on reciprocity indicate only minimal support for the view that distressed marriage is characterized by less positive or more negative reciprocity than nondistressed marriage.

The coronary-prone behavior pattern and the suppression of fatigue on a treadmill test.

Abstract: A study was conducted to test the hypothesis that Type A (coronary-prone) individuals would show greater suppression of subjective fatigue than Type B (non-coronary-prone) individuals in order to persist at a tiring but challenging task. Type A and Type B college students completed a Balke treadmill test (at a walking pace) while rating their fatigue at 2-minute intervals. Each subject also completed another treadmill test (at a running pace) that was designed to assess maximum aerobic capacity. Subjects' aerobic capacities and their aerobic performance levels attained on the Balke test were determined by analysis of expired air. Each subject's walking performance was scored as a proportion of his maximum aerobic capacity. Analysis of the resulting percentage values indicated greater effort among A's than B's. Moreover, the subjective fatigue ratings of A's were lower than those of B's. The results were discussed in terms of fatigue suppression as an instrumental response for attaining mastery over the environment. consideration was also given to the role of fatigue in the onset of coronary heart disease.