Showing papers in "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 1979"
TL;DR: In this paper, subjects supporting and opposing capital punishment were exposed to two purported studies, one seemingly confirming and one seemingly disconfirming their existing beliefs about the deterrent efficacy of the death penalty.
Abstract: People who hold strong opinions on complex social issues are likely to examine relevant empirical evidence in a biased manner. They are apt to accept "confirming" evidence at face value while subjecting "discontinuing" evidence to critical evaluation, and as a result to draw undue support for their initial positions from mixed or random empirical findings. Thus, the result of exposing contending factions in a social dispute to an identical body of relevant empirical evidence may be not a narrowing of disagreement but rather an increase in polarization. To test these assumptions and predictions, subjects supporting and opposing capital punishment were exposed to two purported studies, one seemingly confirming and one seemingly disconfirming their existing beliefs about the deterrent efficacy of the death penalty. As predicted, both proponents and opponents of capital punishment rated those results and procedures that confirmed their own beliefs to be the more convincing and probative ones, and they reported corresponding shifts in their beliefs as the various results and procedures were presented. The net effect of such evaluations and opinion shifts was the postulated increase in attitude polarization. The human understanding when it has once adopted an opinion draws all things else to support and agree with it. And though there be a greater number and weight of instances to be found on the other side, yet these it either neglects and despises, or else by some distinction sets aside and rejects, in order that by this great and pernicious predetermination the authority of its former conclusion may remain inviolate. (Bacon, 1620/1960)
3,808 citations
TL;DR: Personality was studied as a conditioner of the effects of stressful life events on illness onset to support the prediction that high stress/low illness executives show, by comparison with high Stress/high illness executives, more hardiness.
Abstract: Personality was studied as a conditioner of the effects of stressful life events on illness onset. Two groups of middle and upper level executives had comparably high degrees of stressful life events in the previous 3 years, as measured by the Holmes and Rahe Schedule of Recent Life Events. One group (n = 86) suffered high stress without falling ill, whereas the other (n = 75) reported becoming sick after their encounter with stressful life events. Illness was measured by the Wyler, Masuda, and Holmes Seriousness of Illness Survey. Discriminant function analysis, run on half of the subjects in each group and cross-validated on the remaining cases, supported the prediction that high stress/low illness executives show, by comparison with high stress/high illness executives, more hardiness, that is, have a stronger commitment to self, an attitude of vigorousness toward the environment, a sense of meaningfulness, and an internal locus of control.
3,598 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that when asked to perform the physically exerting tasks of clapping and shouting, people exhibit a sizable decrease in individual effort when performing in groups as compared to when they perform alone.
Abstract: Two experiments found that when asked to perform the physically exerting tasks of clapping and shouting, people exhibit a sizable decrease in individual effort when performing in groups as compared to when they perform alone. This decrease, which we call social loafing, is in addition to losses due to faulty coordination of group efforts. Social loafing is discussed in terms of its experimental generality and theoretical importance. The widespread occurrence, the negative consequences for society, and some conditions that can minimize social loafing are also explored. There is an old saying that "many hands make light the work." This saying is interesting for two reasons. First, it captures one of the promises of social life—that with social organization people can fulfill their individual goals more easily through collective action. When many hands are available, people often do not have to work as hard as when only a few are present. The saying is interesting in a second, less hopeful way—it seems that when many hands are available, people actually work less hard than they ought to.
2,064 citations
TL;DR: This paper found that the likelihood that a behavior is encoded in terms of a particular trait category is a function of the relative accessibility of that category in memory and that the trait category used to encode a particular behavior is thought to affect subsequent judgments of the person along dimensions to which it is directly or indirectly related.
Abstract: Many personality trait terms can be thought of as summary labels for broad conceptual categories that are used to encode information about an individual's behavior into memory. The likelihood that a behavior is encoded in terms of a particular trait category is postulated to be a function of the relative accessibility of that category in memory. In addition, the trait category used to encode a particular behavior is thought to affect subsequent judgments of the person along dimensions to which it is directly or indirectly related. To test these hypotheses, subjects first performed a sentence construction task that activated concepts associated with either hostility (Experiment 1) or kindness (Experiment 2). As part of an ostensibly unrelated impression formation experiment, subjects later read a description of behaviors that were ambiguous with respect to hostility (kindness) and then rated the target person along a variety of trait dimensions. Ratings of the target along these dimensions increased with the number of times that the test concept had previously been activated in the sentence construction task and decreased with the time interval between these prior activations and presentation of the stimulus information to be encoded. Results suggest that category accessibility is a major determinant of the way in which social information is encoded into memory and subsequently used to make judgments. Implications of this for future research and theory development are discussed.
1,602 citations
1,512 citations
1,464 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, it was hypothesized that the receipt of a benefit after the person has been benefited leads to greater attraction when an exchange relationship is preferred and decreases attraction when a communal relationship is desired.
Abstract: Communal relationships, in which the giving of a benefit in response to a need for the benefit is appropriate, are distinguished from exchange relationships, in which the giving of a benefit in response to the receipt of a benefit is appropriate. Based on this distinction, it was hypothesized that the receipt of a benefit after the person has been benefited leads to greater attraction when an exchange relationship is preferred and decreases attraction when a communal relationship is desired. These hypotheses were supported in Experiment 1, which used male subjects. Experiment 2, which used a different manipulation of exchange versus communal relationships and female subjects, supported the hypotheses that (a) a request for a benefit after the person is aided by the other leads to greater attraction when an exchange relationship is expected and decreases attraction when a communal relationship is expected, and (b) a request for a benefit in the absence of prior aid from the other decreases attraction when an exchange relationship is expected.
1,392 citations
1,366 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, five experiments were conducted to assess biases in availability of information in memory and attributions of responsibilit y for the actions and decisions that occurred during a previous group interaction.
Abstract: Five experiments were conducted to assess biases in availability of information in memory and attributions of responsibilit y for the actions and decisions that occurred during a previous group interaction. The subject populations sampled included naturally occurring discussion groups, married couples, basketball teams, and groups assembled in the laboratory. The data provided consistent evidence for egocentric biases in availability and attribution: One's own contributions to a joint product were more readily available, that is, more frequently and easily recalled; individuals accepted more responsibility for a group product than other participants attributed to them. In addition, statements attributed to the self were recalled more accurately and the availability bias was attenuated, though not eliminated, when the group product was negatively evaluated (Experiment 2). Finally, when another participant's contributions were made more available to the individual via a selective retrieval process, the individual allocated correspondingly more responsibility for the group decisions to the coparticipant (Experiment 5). The determinants and pervasiveness of the egocentric biases are considered. One instance of a phenomenon examined in the present experiments is familiar to almost anyone who has conducted joint research. Consider the following: You have worked on a research project with another person, and the question arises as to who should be "first author" (i.e., who contributed more to the final product?). Often, it seems that both of you feel entirely justified in claiming that honor. Moreover, since you are convinced that your view of reality must be shared by your colleague (there being only one reality), you assume that the other person is attempting to take advantage of you. Sometimes such concerns are settled or prevented by the use of arbitrary decision rules, for example, the rule of "alphabetical priority"—
889 citations
TL;DR: The Adjective Check List was administered to seven male and five female samples comprising 1,701 subjects as mentioned in this paper, with a wide range of ages and kinds of work; criteria of creativity were also varied, including ratings by expert judges, faculty members, personality assessment staff observers and life history interviewers.
Abstract: The Adjective Check List was administered to seven male and five female samples comprising 1,701 subjects. Direct or inferred ratings of creativity were available for all individuals. The samples covered a wide range of ages and kinds of work; criteria of creativity were also varied, including ratings by expert judges, faculty members, personality assessment staff observers, and life history interviewers. The creativity scales of Domino and Schaefer were scored on all protocols, as were Welsh's A-l, A-2, A-3, and A-4 scales for different combinations of "origence" and "intellectence." From item analyses a new 30-item Creative Personality Scale was developed. It is positively and significantly (p < .01) related to all six of the prior measures but surpasses them in its correlations with the criterion evaluations. Creativity is a valued commodity in every kind of human endeavor. Since the publication of Guilford's (1950) influential presidential address to the American Psychological Association, an enormous amount of effort has been invested in the study of creativity and its determinants. One line of investigation within the larger domain of inquiry has been the search for methods of assessment that can identify creative talent and potential within the individual. Many of these studies have addressed cognitive issues and problem solving. For example, Guilford and his colleagues (Guilford, Wilson, Christensen, & Lewis, 1951) developed a series of tests stressing ingenuity, the ability to overcome constraining sets, and fluency in ideation. Mednick (1962) proposed a method of assessment requiring the generation of remote associations for the solution of analogies. In regard to intellectual functioning, it should be noted that most studies have found intellectual ability as usually measured to be unrelated to criteria of originality. MacKinnon and Hall (1972) obtained Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WA'IS; Wechsler, 1958)
848 citations
TL;DR: This article found that response format and acquiescence response style significantly shifted correlations between hypothesized opposites away from showing bipolarity and found that pleasure was the bipolar opposite of displeasure and arousal of sleepiness.
Abstract: Numerous previous studies found monopolar rather than bipolar dimensions of affect (defined as emotion represented in language), but may have included methodological biases against bipolarity. The present study of self-report data (N = 150) on 11 affect scales showed that response format and acquiescence response style significantly shifted correlations between hypothesized opposites away from showing bipolarity. When these biases were taken into account, pleasure was found to be the bipolar opposite of displeasure and arousal of sleepiness. In turn, pleasure-displeasure and degree of arousal formed a twodimensional bipolar space that accounted for almost all of the reliable variance in Thayer's four factors of activation plus a measure of depression. Dominance and submissiveness factors were also included in the study, but invalidity of the scales used precluded any conclusions regarding their bipolarity.
TL;DR: In this paper, two types of self-blame (behavioral and characterological) are distinguished: control related and self-belief in the future avoidability of negative outcomes.
Abstract: Two types of self-blame--behavioral and characterological--are distinguished. Behavioral self-blame is control related, involves attributions to a modifiable source (one's behavior), and is associated with a belief in the future avoidability of a negative outcome. Characterological self-blame is esteem related, involves attributions to a relatively nonmodifiable source (one's character), and is associated with a belief in personal deservingness for past negative outcomes. Two studies are reported that bear on this self-blame distinction. In the first study, it was found that depressed female college students engaged in more characterologial self-blame than nondepressed female college students, whereas behavioral self-blame did not differ between the two groups; the depressed population was also characterized by greater attributions to chance and decreased beliefs in personal control. Characterological self-blame is proposed as a possible solution to the "paradox in depression." In a second study, rape crisis centers were surveyed. Behavioral self-blame, and not characterological self-blame, emerged as the most common response of rape victims to their victimization, suggesting the victim's desire to maintain a belief in control, particularly the belief in the future avoidability of rape. Implications of this self-blame distinction and potential directions for future research are discussed.
TL;DR: Moreland et al. as mentioned in this paper found that the sequence of topic-relevan t thoughts generated in response to a repeated persuasive message would parallel attitude change, and that only topic-relevant thoughts were related to agreement.
Abstract: Although the mere exposure effect has been researched widely, surprisingly little is known about the attitudinal and cognitive effects of message repetition. It was hypothesized that the sequence of topic-relevan t thoughts generated in response to a (repeated) persuasive message would parallel attitude change. To test this prediction, two experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, individuals heard a communication either zero (control), one, three, or five times in succession, rated their agreement with the advocated position, and listed the message arguments they could recall. In Experiment 2, individuals heard a communication either one, three, or five times, rated their agreement, listed their thoughts, and listed the message arguments they could recall. In both experiments, agreement first increased, then decreased as exposure frequency increased (regardless of the position advocated), but agreement was unrelated to the recall of the message arguments. In Experiment 2, analyses of the listed thoughts revealed that counterargumentation decreased, then increased, whereas topic-irrelevant thinking increased as exposure frequency increased; as expected, only topic-relevant thoughts were related to agreement. These results are interpreted in terms of an attitude-modification model in which repetition and content of a persuasive advocacy affect the type and number of thoughts generated; these thoughts, in turn, affect the attitudinal reaction to the advocacy. In this article, we will consider the atti- using children as well as adults (Heingartner tudinal effects of repeated exposure to per- & Hall, 1974), employing between-subjects suasive communications, an area that has (Moreland & Zajonc, 1976) as well as withingenerated surprisingly little research by social subjects (Crandall, 1972) designs, in field psychologists despite its frequent occurrence (Zajonc & Rajecki, 1969) as well as laborain and importance to everyday life. This area tory (Matlin, 1970) settings, employing picis not well understood (cf. Harrison, 1977), torial magazine advertisements (McCullough in part because most research has focused on & Ostrom, 1974) as well as nonsense syllables
TL;DR: The results demonstrated that moving displays of happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, anger and disgust were recognized more accurately than static displays of the white spots at the apex of the expressions, indicating that facial motion, in the absence of information about the shape and position of facial features, is informative about these basic emotions.
Abstract: In order to investigate the role of facial movement in the recognition of emotions, faces were covered with black makeup and white spots. Video recordings of such faces were played back so that only the white spots were visible. The results demonstrated that moving displays of happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, anger and disgust were recognized more accurately than static displays of the white spots at the apex of the expressions. This indicated that facial motion, in the absence of information about the shape and position of facial features, is informative about these basic emotions. Normally illuminated dynamic displays of these expressions, however, were recognized more accurately than displays of moving spots. The relative effectiveness of upper and lower facial areas for the recognition of these six emotions was also investigated using normally illuminated and spots-only displays. In both instances the results indicated that different facial regions are more informative for different emitions. The movement patterns characterizing the various emotional expressions as well as common confusions between emotions are also discussed.
TL;DR: In this article, physically attractive or unattractive male and female communicator-subjects delivered a persuasive message to target-subjec ts of each sex, and the results indicated that attractive (vs. unattractive) communicators induced significantly greater persuasion on both a verbal and behavioral measure of target agreement.
Abstract: In a field setting, physically attractive or unattractive male and female communicator-subjects delivered a persuasive message to target-subjec ts of each sex. Results indicated that attractive (vs. unattractive) communicators induced significantly greater persuasion on both a verbal and behavioral measure of target agreement. In addition, female targets indicated greater agreement than did male targets. Data gathered from communicator-subjects during an earlier laboratory session indicated that physically attractive and unattractive communicators differed with respect to several communication skills and other attributes relevant to communicator persuasiveness, including grade point average, Scholastic Aptitude Test scores, and several measures of self-evaluati on. These findings suggest that attractive individuals may be more persuasive than unattractive persons partly because they possess characteristics that dispose them to be more effective communicators. Experimental evidence regarding the effect of communicator physical attractiveness on persuasion is equivocal. Although two studies have demonstrated that attractiveness can significantly enhance a male communicator's persuasiveness with both male and female message recipients (Horai, Naccari, & Fatoullah, 1974; Snyder & Rothbart, 1971), the majority of published experiments have failed to obtain significant attractiveness effects or have obtained interactions between attractiveness and other variables (Chaiken, Eagly, Sejwacz, Gregory, & Christensen, 1978; Mills & Aronson, 1965; Blass, Alperstein, & Block, Note 1). For example, Mills and Aronson (196S), using a female communicator and male recipients, found no overall effect of communicator attractiveness on persuasion.
TL;DR: In both sexes, neuroticism was most highly correlated (in a negative direction) with M+, and acting out behavoir was most strongly correlated with M-.
Abstract: Negatively valued masculinity (M-) and femininity (F-) personality scales were developed to supplement the positively valued Masculinity (M+) and Femininity (F+) scales of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ; Spence & Helmreich). M- consisted of traits that had been judged to be (a) more typical of males than females, (b) undesirable in both sexes, and (c ) agentic or instrumental in content. Two F- scales were developed, both containing stereotypically feminine, undesirable traits, one set of traits referring to communionlike characteristics (Fc-) and the other to verbal passive-aggressive qualities (FVA-). Significant sex differences in the predicted direction were found on all scales. In both sexes, low and typically nonsignificant correlations were found between parallel positive and negative scales, but highly significant negative correlations were found between positive and negative cross-sex scales. These findings provide additional evidence for the multidimentionslity of masculinity and femininity. Scores on a self-esteem measure were positively correlated with M+ and F+, uncorrelated with M-, and negatively correlated with the F- scales. Different patterns of scores were associated with two types of problem behaviors. In both sexes, neuroticism was most highly correlated (in a negative direction) with M+, and acting out behavoir was most strongly correlated (in a positive direction) with M-. The next highest correlation in both instances was with FVA-.
TL;DR: The authors found that bowlers often smile when socially engaged, looking at and talking to others, but not necessarily after scoring a spare or a strike at a bowling alley, while hockey fans rarely smiled while facing the pins but often smiled when facing their friends.
Abstract: Did smiling evolve as an expression of happiness, friendliness, or both? Naturalistic observation at a bowling alley (N — 1,793 balls) shows that bowlers often smile when socially engaged, looking at and talking to others, but not necessarily after scoring a spare or a strike. In a second study, bowlers (N =166 balls) rarely smiled while facing the pins but often smiled when facing their friends. At a hockey game, fans (N = 3,726 faces) smiled both when they were socially involved and after events favorable to their team. Pedestrians (TV = 663) were much more likely to smile when talking but only slightly more likely to smile in response to nice weather than to unpleasant weather. These four studies suggest a strong and robust association of smiling with a social motivation and an erratic association with emotional experience.
TL;DR: This article found that six variables describing family atmosphere during childhood (mother's selfconfidence, father's deviance, parental aggressiveness, maternal affection, parental conflict, and supervision) have an important impact on subsequent behavior.
Abstract: Records collected during childhood and coded prior to knowledge of adult behavior provided information about the childhood homes of 201 men. Thirty years later, information about criminal behavior was collected from court records. Multiple regression and discriminant function analyses indicate that six variables describing family atmosphere during childhood--mother's selfconfidence, father's deviance, parental aggressiveness, maternal affection, parental conflict, and supervision--have an important impact on subsequent behavior.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors tested mathematical models of source credibility in five experiments in which judges estimated the value of hypothetical used cars based on blue book value and/or estimates provided by sources who examined the cars.
Abstract: Mathematical models of source credibility were tested in five experiments in which judges estimated the value of hypothetical used cars based on blue book value and/or estimates provided by sources who examined the cars. The sources varied in mechanical expertise and in bias; they were described as friends of the buyer or seller of the car or as neutral. Individuals judged the highest price the buyer should pay, the lowest price the seller should accept, and the "true" value ("fair" price) of the car. Data indicated that expertise amplifies the effect of the source's bias. This effect is predicted by a scale-adjustment model, in which the source's bias shifts the scale value of the source's estimate. The weight of an estimate depends chiefly on the source's expertise. The weight of an estimate also depends configurally on the other estimates: Judges instructed to take the buyer's point of view give greater weight to the lower estimate, whereas judges who identify with the seller place greater weight on the high estimate. Simple premises about human judgment give a good account of the data.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compared traditional reviews of research in social psychology with a statistical approach and concluded on both abstract and practical grounds that adoption of the statistical approach would lead to theoretical progress for the research area covered.
Abstract: Traditional (literary) reviews of research in social psychology are compared with a statistical approach It is concluded on both abstract and practical grounds that adoption of the statistical approach would lead to theoretical progress for the research area covered A meta-analysis "package" is described and then applied to the question of whether there are sex differences in degree of conformity The meta-analysis is yoked to a literary analysis, and conclusions of differing direction and confidence appear Problems in application are encountered, and appropriate courses of action are discussed Finally, limitations on the power of the procedure are outlined The traditional way to review research in social psychology has been to take a literary approach That is, summary statements about research areas are usually based on impressions gleaned by the reviewer from a reading of related studies This article takes issue with the efficiency of such an approach An example of a statistical technique for combining the results of independent experiments is provided, and this approach is contrasted with a literary summary The quantitative procedures describe numerically the characteristics of a body of evidence and give a probability level related to the observed pattern of results Although the actual numerical manipulations require little statistical sophistication, the theoretical progress possible through their employment may be great (progress is here denned as more precise and confident statements about segments of our world) The reasons for believing that progress will follow the adoption of quantitative procedures are both abstract and practical
TL;DR: In this paper, an analysis of the experiential and behavioral consequences of self-directed attention is proposed, based on cybernetic or information-processing ideas, which includes the following assumptions: when attention is directed to environmental stimuli, those stimuli are analyzed and categorized according to the person's preexisting recognitory schemas.
Abstract: An analysis of the experiential and behavioral consequences of self-directed attention is proposed, based on cybernetic or information-processing ideas. The proposed model includes the following assumptions: When attention is directed to environmental stimuli, those stimuli are analyzed and categorized according to the person's preexisting recognitory schemas. Self-directed attention often leads to a similar analysis of ^//-information; experientially, such a state of self-focus comprises an enhanced awareness of one's salient self-aspects. In some cases categorization—either of one's context or of some self-element— elicits a response schema, which constitutes a behavioral standard. If a prior categorization has evoked such a behavioral standard, subsequent self-attention engages an automatic sequence in which behavior is altered to conform more closely with the standard. This matching-to-standard is construed as the occurrence within a psychological system of a test-operate-test-exit unit or a negative feedback loop—a cybernetic construct applicable to many different phenomena both within and outside of psychology. More specifically, self-focus when a standard is salient is seen as the \"test\" or comparison phase of that feedback loop. If the matching-to-standard process is interrupted by one of several specified classes of events, subsequent behavior depends on an outcome expectancy judgment. A favorable outcome expectancy causes a return to the matching-to-standard attempt; an unfavorable expectancy results in behavioral withdrawal. Research support for the model is discussed, and comparisons are made with self-awareness theory, Bandura's theory of fear-based behavior, helplessness theory, and social comparison theory.
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of self-focused attention on positive and negative social interactions were examined in an interpersonal situation involving rejection by a group of women, and it was hypothesized that persons high in self-consciou sness, being more aware of how they are perceived by others, would be more sensitive and react more negatively to the rejection than those low in selfconsciague sness.
Abstract: Two experiments were conducted to test the effects of self-focused attention on positive and negative social interactions. In the first study, the behavior of dispositionally high and low publicly self-conscious women was examined in an interpersonal situation involving rejection by a group. It was hypothesized that persons high in self-consciou sness, being more aware of how they are perceived by others, would be more sensitive and react more negatively to the rejection than those low in self-consciou sness. The predictions were confirmed. In Experiment 2, female subjects were presented with favorable or unfavorable feedback in the context of an interview, and self-attention was experimentally manipulated by exposing half the subjects to their images in a mirror. Self-awareness increased the negative response to the negative evaluation and tended to increase the positivity of the positive evaluation. The implications of selfawareness theory for the social self and social interaction are discussed. Everyday observations as well as theoretical approaches to social behavior suggest that in the presence of others, one is apt to become self-conscious, that is, aware of the self as a social object that can be observed and evaluated by others. Goffman (1959) has argued quite persuasively that when one is attending to and involved in an ongoing interaction,