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Showing papers in "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 1997"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a hierarchical model of approach and avoidance achievement motivation was proposed and tested in a college classroom and the results indicated that mastery goals were grounded in achievement motivation and high competence expectancies; performance-avoidance goals, in fear of failure and low competence expectation; and performance-approach goals were in ach.
Abstract: A hierarchical model of approach and avoidance achievement motivation was proposed and tested in a college classroom. Mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals were assessed and their antecedents and consequences examined. Results indicated that mastery goals were grounded in achievement motivation and high competence expectancies; performance-avoidance goals, in fear of failure and low competence expectancies; and performance-approach goals, in ach.ievement motivation, fear of failure, and high competence expectancies. Mastery goals facilitated intrinsic motivation, performance-approach goals enhanced graded performance, and performanceavoidance goals proved inimical to both intrinsic motivation and graded performance. The proposed model represents an integration of classic and contemporary approaches to the study of achievement motivation. Achievement motivation is a ubiquitous feature of daily life. In the classroom, at the workplace, and on the ballfield individuals strive to be competent in their effortful activities. In the past decade, many theorists have utilized a social-cognitive, achievement goal approach in accounting for individuals' competence-relevant strivings. "Achievement goal" is commonly defined as the purpose of task engagement (Maehr, 1989), and the specific type of goal adopted is posited to create a framework for how individuals interpret, experience, and act in their achievement pursuits (Dweck, 1986; Nicholls, 1989). Achievement goal theorists commonly identify two distinct orientations toward competence: a performance goal focused on the demonstration of competence relevant to others, and a mastery goal focused on the development of competence and task mastery (Ames & Archer, 1987; for similar conceptualizations with different nomenclature see Dweck, 1986; NichoUs, 1984). The adoption of a performance goal is hypothesized to produce susceptibility to a "helpless" pattern of responses in achievement settings (e.g., a preference for easy or difficult tasks, withdrawal of effort in the face of failure, and decreased task enjoyment), whereas the adoption of a mastery goal is presumed to lead to a "mastery" motivational pattern (e.g., a preference for moderately challenging tasks, persistence in the face of failure, and enhanced task enjoyment; Ames, 1992; Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Nicholls, 1989). Most achievement goal theorists conceptualize both perfor

3,412 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Evidence is found consistent with the hypotheses that the relationship between receiving an apology from and forgiving one's offender is a function of increased empathy for the offender and that forgiving is uniquely related to conciliatory behavior and avoidance behavior toward the offending partner.
Abstract: Forgiving is a motivational transformation that inclines people to inhibit relationship-destructive responses and to behave constructively toward someone who has behaved destructively toward them. The authors describe a model of forgiveness based on the hypothesis that people forgive others to the extent that they experience empathy for them. Two studies investigated the empathy model of forgiveness. In Study 1, the authors developed measures of empathy and forgiveness. The authors found evidence consistent with the hypotheses that (a) the relationship between receiving an apology from and forgiving one's offender is a function of increased empathy for the offender and (b) that forgiving is uniquely related to conciliatory behavior and avoidance behavior toward the offending partner. In Study 2, the authors conducted an intervention in which empathy was manipulated to examine the empathy-forgiving relationship more closely. Results generally supported the conceptualization of forgiving as a motivational phenomenon and the empathy-forgiving link.

1,441 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The model posits that teachers, parents, and the school administration's behaviors towards students influence students' perceptions of competence and autonomy, and low levels of self-determined motivation lead students to develop intentions to drop out of high school, which are later implemented, leading to actual dropout behavior.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to propose and test a motivational model of high school dropout. The model posits that teachers, parents, and the school administration's behaviors towards students influence students' perceptions of competence and autonomy. The less autonomy supportive the social agents' behaviors are, the less positive the students' perceptions of competence and autonomy. In turn, the less positive students' perceptions are, the lower their level of self-determined school motivation are. Finally, low levels of self-determined motivation lead students to develop intentions to drop out of high school, which are later implemented, leading to actual dropout behavior. This model was tested with high school students (N = 4,537) by means of a prospective design. Results from analyses of variance and a structural equation modeling analysis (with LISREL) were found to support the model for all participants and for each gender separately.

1,413 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose that superstars are most likely to affect self-views when they are considered relevant, and that relevant superstars provoke selfenhancement and inspiration when their success seems attainable but self-deflation when it seems unattainable.
Abstract: The authors propose that superstars are most likely to affect self-views when they are considered relevant. Relevant superstars provoke self-enhancement and inspiration when their success seems attainable but self-deflation when it seems unattainable. Participants' self-views were affected only when the star's domain of excellence was self-relevant. Relevant stars provoked self-enhancement and inspiration when their success seemed attainable in that participants either still had enough time to achieve comparable success or believed their own abilities could improve over time. Open-ended responses provided rich evidence of inspiration in these circumstances. Relevant stars provoked, if anything, self-deflation when their success seemed unattainable in that participants either had already missed the chance to achieve comparable success or viewed their abilities as fixed and so unlikely to improve.

1,326 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In support of the collective constructionist theory of the self, 2 studies showed that American situations are relatively conducive to self-enhancement and American people are relatively likely to engage in self- enhancement and, second, that Japanese situations are comparatively conducive toSelf-criticism and Japanese people are comparatively likely to engaging in self -criticism.
Abstract: A collective constructionist theory of the self proposes that many psychological processes, including enhancement of the self (pervasive in the United States) and criticism and subsequent improvement of the self (widespread in Japan), result from and support the very ways in which social acts and situations are collectively defined and subjectively experienced in the respective cultural contexts. In support of the theory, 2 studies showed, first, that American situations are relatively conducive to self-enhancement and American people are relatively likely to engage in self-enhancement and, second, that Japanese situations are relatively conducive to self-criticism and Japanese people are relatively likely to engage in self-criticism. Implications are discussed for the collective construction of psychological processes implicated in the self and, more generally, for the mutual constitution of culture and the self.

1,301 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed factor correlations from 14 studies supporting the 5 factor, Big Five model of personality trait organization and found that two higher-order factors were clearly evident in all studies.
Abstract: Estimated factor correlations from 14 studies supporting the 5 factor, Big Five model of personality trait organization--5 studies based on children and adolescents, 9 on adults--were factor analyzed. Two higher-order factors were clearly evident in all studies. One was principally related to the Big Five trait dimensions Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability; the other, the dimensions Extraversion and Intellect. Two models, one for children and adolescents, the other for adults, were tested by confirmatory factor analysis with generally excellent results. Many personality theorists appear to have considered one or both of these 2 metatraits, provisionally labeled alpha and beta.

1,287 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Gollwitzer et al. as mentioned in this paper explored the theoretical distinction between goal intentions and implementation intentions by assessing the completion rate of various goal projects and found that difficult goal intentions were completed about 3 times more often when participants had furnished them with implementation intentions.
Abstract: The theoretical distinction between goal intentions ("I intend to achieve -c") and implementation intentions ("I intend to perform goal-directed behavior y when I encounter situation z"; P. M. Gollwitzer, 1993) is explored by assessing the completion rate of various goal projects. In correlational Study 1, difficult goal intentions were completed about 3 times more often when participants had furnished them with implementation intentions. In experimental Study 2, all participants were assigned the same difficult goal intention, and half were instructed to form implementation intentions. The beneficial effects of implementatio n intentions paralleled diose of Study 1. In experimental Study 3, implementatio n intentions were observed to facilitate the immediate initiation of goaldirected action when the intended opportunity was encountered. Implementation intentions are interpreted to be powerful self-regulatory tools for overcoming the typical obstacles associated with the initiation of goal-directed actions. Whether people meet their goals depends on both how goal content is framed and how people regulate the respective goaldirected activities (Gollwitzer & Moskowitz, 1996). Content theories focus on the thematic properties of set goals and how these affect the regulation of goal pursuit and actual goal achievement. Such theories attempt to explain differences in goal-directed behaviors in terms of what is specified as the goal by the individual, as the content characteristics of the goal are expected to affect a person's successful goal pursuit. Goal content has been considered both in terms of the different needs on which it is based (e.g., autonomy needs vs. materialistic needs; Deci & Ryan, 1991; Kasser & Ryan, 1994) as well as in terms of implicit theories (e.g., entity theories vs, incremental theories

1,260 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The extended contact hypothesis as mentioned in this paper proposes that knowledge that an in-group member has a close relationship with an outgroup member can lead to more positive intergroup attitudes, and four methodologically diverse studies to demonstrate the phenomenon.
Abstract: The extended contact hypothesis proposes that knowledge that an in-group member has a close relationship with an out-group member can lead to more positive intergroup attitudes. Proposed mechanisms are the in-group or out-group member serving as positive exemplars and the inclusion of the out-group member's group membership in the self. In Studies I and 2, respondents knowing an in-group member with an out-group friend had less negative attitudes toward that out-group, even controlling for disposition.il variables and direct out-group friendships. Study 3, with constructed intergroup-conflict situations (on the robbers cave model). found reduced negative out-group attitudes after participants learned of cross-group friendships. Study 4, a minimal group experiment, showed less negative out-group attitudes for participants observing an apparent in-group-out-group friendship. The intergroup contact hypothesis (Allport, 1954; Williams, 1947) proposes that under a given set of circumstances contact between members of different groups reduces existing negative intergroup attitudes. Some recent research (reviewed below) suggests that the effect may be most clearly associated with the specific contact of a friendship relationship. The extended contact hypothesis, which we introduce here, proposes that knowledge that an in-group member has a close relationship with an out-group member can lead to more positive intergroup attitudes. This article presents the rationale for the extended contact effect, including three mechanisms by which it may operate, and four methodologically diverse studies to demonstrate the phenomenon.

1,251 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is suggested that the conditions that lead to empathic concern also lead to a greater sense of self-other overlap, raising the possibility that helping under these conditions is not selfless but is also directed toward the self.
Abstract: Important features of the self-concept can be located outside of the individual and inside close or related others. The authors use this insight to reinterpret data previously said to support the empathy-altruism model of helping, which asserts that empathic concern for another results in selflessness and true altruism. That is, they argue that the conditions that lead to empathic concern also lead to a greater sense of self-other overlap, raising the possibility that helping under these conditions is not selfless but is also directed toward the self. In 3 studies, the impact of empathic concern on willingness to help was eliminated when oneness--a measure of perceived self-other overlap--was considered. Path analyses revealed further that empathic concern increased helping only through its relation to perceived oneness, thereby throwing the empathy-altruism model into question. The authors suggest that empathic concern affects helping primarily as an emotional signal of oneness.

1,236 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Results of 3 experiments suggest that feeling empathy for a member of a stigmatized group can improve attitudes toward the group as a whole and possible limits of the empathy-attitude effect are tested.
Abstract: Results of 3 experiments suggest that feeling empathy for a member of a stigmatized group can improve attitudes toward the group as a whole. In Experiments 1 and 2, inducing empathy for a young woman with AIDS (Experiment 1) or a homeless man (Experiment 2) led to more positive attitudes toward people with AIDS or toward the homeless, respectively. Experiment 3 tested possible limits of the empathy-attitude effect by inducing empathy toward a member of a highly stigmatized group, convicted murderers, and measuring attitudes toward this group immediately and then 1-2 weeks later. Results provided only weak evidence of improved attitudes toward murderers immediately but strong evidence of improved attitudes 1-2 weeks later.

1,177 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper presented preliminary evidence regarding the reliability and validity of the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (MIBI), which consists of seven subscales representing three stable dimensions of African American racial identity (Centrality, Ideology, and Regard).
Abstract: The present study presents preliminary evidence regarding the reliability and validity of the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (MIBI). The MIBI consists of 7 subscales representing 3 stable dimensions of African American racial identity (Centrality, Ideology, and Regard). Responses to the MIBI were collected from 474 African American college students from a predominantly African American university (n = 185) and a predominantly White university (n = 289). As the result of factor analysis, a revised 51 -item scale was developed. Evidence was found for 6 subscales. The Public Regard subscale was dropped because of poor internal consistency. Interscale correlations suggest that the MIBI is internally valid. Relationships among the MIBF subscales and race-related behavior suggest that the instrument has external validity. Descriptive statistics for the revised MIBI are provided for the entire sample as well as by school. Racial identity is one of the most heavily researched aspects of African Americans' psychological lives. Racial identity has been associated with a number of phenomena including selfesteem (Hughes & Demo, 1989; Parham & Helms, 1985; Row

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An interdependence analysis of social value orientation revealed that relative to individualists and competitors, prosocial individuals exhibited greater levels of secure attachment and reported having more siblings, especially sisters.
Abstract: The authors adopt an interdependen ce analysis of social value orientation, proposing that prosocial, individualistic, and competitive orientations are (a) partially rooted in different patterns of social interaction as experienced during the periods spanning early childhood to young adulthood and (b) further shaped by different patterns of social interaction as experienced during early adulthood, middle adulthood, and old age. Congruent with this analysis, results revealed that relative to individualists and competitors, prosocial individuals exhibited greater levels of secure attachment (Studies 1 and 2) and reported having more siblings, especially sisters (Study 3). Finally, the prevalence of prosocials increased—and the prevalence of individualist s and competitors decreased—from early adulthood to middle adulthood and old age (Study 4). Traditional theories and insights assume that the principle of rational self-interest or economic man reflects the prevailing motivation among humankind (Luce & Raiffa, 1957; Von Neuman & Morgenstern, 1947; cf. Roth, 1988). However, more recent theoretical developments have indicated that individuals systematically differ in the manner in which they approach interdependent others. Some people are inclined to give interdependent others the benefit of the doubt and approach them cooperatively, whereas other people are inclined to approach interdependent others in a less cooperative manner. Such individual differences are related to social value orientation, defined as stable preferences for certain patterns of outcomes for oneself and others (McClintock, 1978; Messick & McClintock, 1968). Although a variety of different social value orientations can be distinguished from a theoretical point of view (e.g., Knight & Dubro, 1984), in this article we address a three-category typology of social value orientation, examining differences between prosocial, individualistic, and competitive orientations. Prosocials tend to maximize outcomes for both themselves and others (i.e., cooperation) and to minimize differences between outcomes for

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article found that when individuals evaluated a member of a stereotyped group, they were less likely to evaluate that person negatively if their self-images had been bolstered through a self-affirmation procedure, and they were more likely to assess that person stereotypically if their own self-image had been threatened by negative feedback.
Abstract: The authors argue that self-image maintenance processes play an important role in stereotyping and prejudice. Three studies demonstrated that when individuals evaluated a member of a stereotyped group, they were less likely to evaluate that person negatively if their self-images had been bolstered through a self-affirmation procedure, and they were more likely to evaluate that person stereotypically if their self-images had been threatened by negative feedback.' Moreover, among those individuals whose self-image had been threatened, derogating a stereotyped target mediated an increase in their self-esteem. The authors suggest that stereotyping and prejudice may be a common means to maintain one's self-image, and they discuss the role of self-image-maintenance processes in the context of motivational, sociocultural, and cognitive approaches to stereotyping and prejudice.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The hypothesis that emotional responses to goal attainment vary as a function of promotion versus prevention goal strength was tested and found that goal attainment yielded greater cheerfulness-dejection responses when promotion focus was strong and greater quiescence-agitation responses when prevention focus was stronger.
Abstract: Goals with a promotion focus versus a prevention focus are distinguished. Chronic ideal goals (hopes and aspirations) have a promotion focus, whereas ought goals (duties and responsibilities) have a prevention focus. The hypothesis that emotional responses to goal attainment vary as a function of promotion versus prevention goal strength (conceptualized as goal accessibility) was tested in correlational studies relating chronic goal attainment (self-congruencies or self-discrepancies) to emotional frequency and intensity (Studies 1-3) and in an experimental study relating immediate goal attainment (i.e., success or failure) to emotional intensity (Study 4). All studies found that goal attainment yielded greater cheerfulness-dejection responses when promotion focus was stronger and greater quiescence-agitation responses when prevention focus was stronger.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors found that children tended to approve more of aggression as they grew older and that this increase appeared to be correlated with increases in aggressive behavior.
Abstract: Normative beliefs have been defined as self-regulating beliefs about the appropriateness of social behaviors. In 2 studies the authors revised their scale for assessing normative beliefs about aggression, found that it is reliable and valid for use with elementary school children, and investigated the longitudinal relation between normative beliefs about aggression and aggressive behavior in a large sample of elementary school children living in poor urban neighborhoods. Using data obtained in 2 waves of observations 1 year apart, the authors found that children tended to approve more of aggression as they grew older and that this increase appeared to be correlated with increases in aggressive behavior. More important, although individual differences in aggressive behavior predicted subsequent differences in normative beliefs in younger children, individual differences in aggressive behavior were predicted by preceding differences in normative beliefs in older children.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The words people use in disclosing a trauma were hypothesized to predict improvements in mental and physical health in 2 studies and Cognitive change and empirical models predicted postbereavement distress at 1 year are discussed.
Abstract: The words people use in disclosing a trauma were hypothesized to predict improvements in mental and physical health in 2 studies. The first study reanalyzed data from 6 previous experiments in which language variables served as predictors of health. Results from 177 participants in previous writing studies showed that increased use of words associated with insightful and causal thinking was linked to improved physical but not mental health. Higher use of positive relative to negative emotion words was also associated with better health. An empirical measure that was derived from these data correlated with subsequent distress ratings. The second study tested these models on interview transcripts of 30 men who had lost their partners to AIDS. Cognitive change and empirical models predicted postbereavement distress at 1 year. Implications of using computer-based text analyses in the study of narratives are discussed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, two concepts of self-integrat ion or true selfhood were examined: 1 based on high consistency of trait profiles across roles (i.e., low self-concept differentiation; E. M. Donahue, R. W. Robins, B. W Roberts, and O. P. John, 1993); 2 based on the high mean levels of authenticity felt across roles.
Abstract: In 2 studies, college students evidenced differing levels of the "Big-Five" traits in different roles, supporting social-contextualist assumptions regarding trait expression. Supporting organismic theories of personality, within-subject variations in the Big Five were predictable from variations in the degree of psychological authenticity felt in different roles. In addition, two concepts of self-integrat ion or true selfhood were examined: 1 based on high consistency of trait profiles across roles (i.e., lowself-concept differentiation; E. M. Donahue, R. W. Robins, B. W. Roberts, & O. P. John, 1993) and 1 based on high mean levels of authenticity felt across roles. The 2 self-integration measures were found to be independent predictors of psychological and physical well-being indicating that both self-consistency and psychological authenticity are vital for organized functioning and health.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article showed that the anchor effect depends on the applicability of activated information, and that the activated information was not representative for the absolute judgment and the targets of the two judgment tasks were sufficiently different.
Abstract: Results of 3 studies support the notion that anchoring is a special case of semantic priming; specifically, information that is activated to solve a comparative anchoring task will subsequently be more accessible when participants make absolute judgments. By using the logic of priming research, in Study 1 the authors showed that the strength of the anchor effect depends on the applicability of activated information. Study 2 revealed a contrast effect when the activated information was not representative for the absolute judgment and the targets of the 2 judgment tasks were sufficiently different. Study 3 demonstrated that generating absolute judgments requires more time when comparative judgments include an implausible anchor and can therefore be made without relevant target information that would otherwise be accessible.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Five studies explored the relation between the practices indicative of lay dispositionism and people's implicit theories about the nature of personal attributes and predicted that those who believed that personal attributes are malleable made stronger future behavioral predictions and made stronger trait inferences from behavior.
Abstract: Lay dispositionism refers to lay people's tendency to use traits as the basic unit of analysis in social perception (L. Ross & R. E. Nisbett, 1991). Five studies explored the relation between the practices indicative of lay dispositionism and people's implicit theories about the nature of personal attributes. As predicted, compared with those who believed that personal attributes are malleable (incremental theorists), those who believed in fixed traits (entity theorists) used traits or trait-relevant information to make stronger future behavioral predictions (Studies 1 and 2) and made stronger trait inferences from behavior (Study 3). Moreover, the relation between implicit theories and lay dispositionism was found in both the United States (a more individualistic culture) and Hong Kong (a more collectivistic culture), suggesting this relation to be generalizable across cultures (Study 4). Finally, an experiment in which implicit theories were manipulated provided preliminary evidence for the possible causal role of implicit theories in lay dispositionism (Study 5).

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The magnitude of this implicit prejudice effect correlated reliably with participants' scores on explicit racial attitude measures, indicating that people's spontaneous stereotypic associations are consistent with their more controlled responses.
Abstract: The content of spontaneously activated racial stereotypes among White Americans and the relation of this to more explicit measures of stereotyping and prejudice were investigated. Using a semantic priming paradigm, a prime was presented outside of conscious awareness (BLACK or WHITE), followed by a target stimulus requiring a word-nonword decision. The target stimuli included attributes that varied in valence and stereotypicality for Whites and African Americans. Results showed reliable stereotyping and prejudice effects: Black primes resulted in substantially stronger facilitation to negative than positive stereotypic attributes, whereas White primes facilitated positive more than negative stereotypic traits. The magnitude of this implicit prejudice effect correlated reliably with participants' scores on explicit racial attitude measures, indicating that people's spontaneous stereotypic associations are consistent with their more controlled responses.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors found that the relative importance of relationship harmony to self-esteem was greater in Hong Kong than in the United States, and the independent and interdependent self-construals and the 5 factors of personality were shown to influence life satisfaction through the mediating agency of selfesteem and relationship harmony in equivalent ways across these two cultural groups.
Abstract: The first part of the study confirmed an additive effect of the newly proposed construct of relationship harmony to self-esteem in predicting life satisfaction across student samples from the United States and Hong Kong. As predicted from the dynamics of cultural collectivism, the relative importance of relationship harmony to self-esteem was greater in Hong Kong than in the United States. In the second part of the study, the independent and interdependent self-construals (H. R. Markus & S. Kitayama, 1991) and the 5 factors of personality (P. T. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1992) were advanced to be the culture-general determinants of life satisfaction, acting through the mediating variables of self-esteem and relationship harmony. Both self-construals and the 5 factors of personality were shown to influence life satisfaction through the mediating agency of self-esteem and relationship harmony in equivalent ways across these 2 cultural groups.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated personality predictors of achievement goals in an introductory psychology class, as well as the consequences of these goals for the motivation and performance of 311 undergraduates.
Abstract: The authors investigated personality predictors of achievement goals in an introductory psychology class, as well as the consequences of these goals for the motivation and performance of 311 undergraduates. Two dimensions of achievement motivation (workmastery and competitive orientations; J. T. Spence & R. L. Helmreich, 1983) predicted the goals endorsed. Individuals high in workmastery were more likely to adopt mastery goals and less likely to adopt work avoidance goals, whereas competitive individuals were more likely to endorse performance and work avoidance goals. Students adopting mastery goals were more interested in the class, but students adopting performance goals achieved higher levels of performance. These results suggest that both mastery and performance goals can lead to important positive outcomes in college classes. Each semester as students decide whether to enroll in a particular class, those of us lurking in the halls hear students asking each other the following questions: "How much will I learn in this class?," "How did you do in this course?," and "How much work is required for this course?" These questions illustrate the issues that are important to college students in academic achievement situations and provide insight into the types of goals they might adopt for a particular course. Achievement goals are situationally specific orientations that represent the desire to develop, attain, or demonstrate competence in a particular context (Ames, 1992; Dweck, 1986; Nicholls, 1984, 1989), and they can affect the way that students approach and perform their coursework (Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Maehr & Braskamp, 1986). Although theoretical perspectives and labels differ, there is an emerging consensus that two primary types of achievement goals are important determinants of motivation and performance

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper examined the relation of sociodemographics, childhood adversity, parental representations, adult psychopathology, and personality traits to adult attachment in an effort to replicate previous findings and extend the theory.
Abstract: The explosion of adult attachment research in the last decade has been limited by its reliance on college student and distressed samples. Using a large nationally representative sample of American adults, the authors examined the relation of sociodemographics, childhood adversity, parental representations, adult psychopathology, and personality traits to adult attachment in an effort to replicate previous findings and extend the theory. Distribution of adult attachment styles was similar to that in prior studies: 59% secure, 25% avoidant, and 11% anxious. Adult attachment was associated with several sociodemographic variables (e.g., income, age, race) not previously studied. Childhood adversities of an interpersonal nature were strongly related to insecure adult attachment. Various types of adult psychopathologies and personality traits were also strongly related to adult attachment. Implications for adult attachment theory and future research are discussed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results of Experiments 1 and 2 confirmed that self-esteem would reduce the worldview defense produced by mortality salience, and suggested that the effects of the first 2 experiments may have occurred because high self- esteem facilitates the suppression of death constructs following MS.
Abstract: On the basis of the terror management theory proposition that self-esteem provides protection against concerns about mortality, it was hypothesized that self-esteem would reduce the worldview defense produced by mortality salience (MS). The results of Experiments 1 and 2 confirmed this hypothesis by showing that individuals with high self-esteem (manipulated in Experiment 1; dispositional in Experiment 2) did not respond to MS with increased worldview defense, whereas individuals with moderate self-esteem did. The results of Experiment 3 suggested that the effects of the first 2 experiments may have occurred because high self-esteem facilitates the suppression of death constructs following MS.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article investigated how in-group identification, manipulated with a bogus pipeline technique, affects group members' desire for individual mobility to another group and found that low identifiers perceived the group as less homogeneous, were less committed to their group, and more strongly desired individual mobility in a higher status group than did high identifiers.
Abstract: Two experiments investigated how in-group identification, manipulated with a bogus pipeline technique affects group members' desire for individual mobility to another group In the first experiment (N = 88), the in-group had low status, and group boundaries were either permeable or impermeable Low identifiers perceived the group as less homogeneous, were less committed to their group, and more strongly desired individual mobility to a higher status group than did high identifiers The structural possibility of mobility afforded by permeable group boundaries had no comparable effect The second experiment (N = 51) investigated whether in-group identification can produce similar effects when relative group status is unknown Even in the absence of an identity threat, low identifiers were less likely to see the groups as homogeneous, felt less committed to their group, and more strongly desired individual mobility than did high identifiers Results are discussed with reference to social identity and self-categorization theories

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Willingness to sacrifice was associated with strong commitment, high satisfaction, poor alternatives, and high investments; feelings of commitment largely mediated the associations of these variables with willingness to sacrifice.
Abstract: The authors advance an interdependence analysis of willingness to sacrifice. Support for model predictions was revealed in 6 studies (3 cross-sectional survey studies, 1 simulation experiment, 2 longitudinal studies) that used a novel self-report measure and a behavioral measure of willingness to sacrifice. Willingness to sacrifice was associated with strong commitment, high satisfaction, poor alternatives, and high investments; feelings of commitment largely mediated the associations of these variables with willingness to sacrifice. Moreover, willingness to sacrifice was associated with superior couple functioning, operationalized in terms of level of dyadic adjustment and probability of couple persistence. In predicting adjustment, willingness to sacrifice accounted for significant variance beyond commitment, partially mediating the link between commitment and adjustment; such mediation was not significant for persistence.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Key hypothesized findings include the following: Men's, but not women's, mate retention positively covaried with partner's youth and physical attractiveness, and women's but not men's, mates retention positively correlated with partner''s income and status striving.
Abstract: Although much research has explored the adaptive problems of mate selection and mate attraction, little research has investigated the adaptive problem of mate retention. We tested several evolutionary psychological hypotheses about the determinants of mate retention in 214 married people. We assessed the usage of 19 mate retention tactics ranging from vigilance to violence. Key hypothesized findings include the following: Men's, but not women's, mate retention positively covaried with partner's youth and physical attractiveness. Women's, but not men's, mate retention positively covaried with partner's income and status striving. Men's mate retention positively covaried with perceived probability of partner's infidelity. Men, more than women, reported using resource display, submission and debasement, and intrasexual threats to retain their mates. Women, more than men, reported using appearance enhancement and verbal signals of possession. Discussion includes an evolutionary psychological analysis of mate retention in married couples.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This research identified a unidimensional core variable of high sensory-processing sensitivity and demonstrated its partial independence from social introversion and emotionality, variables with which it had been confused or subsumed in most previous theorizing by personality researchers.
Abstract: Over a series of 7 studies that used diverse samples and measures, this research identified a unidimensional core variable of high sensory-processing sensitivity and demonstrated its partial independence from social introversion and emotionality, variables with which it had been confused or subsumed in most previous theorizing by personality researchers. Additional findings were that there appear to be 2 distinct clusters of highly sensitive individuals (a smaller group with an unhappy childhood and related variables, and a larger group similar to nonhighly sensitive individuals except for their sensitivity) and that sensitivity moderates, at least for men, the relation of parental environment to reporting having had an unhappy childhood. This research also demonstrated adequate reliability and content, convergent, and discriminant validity for a 27-item Highly Sensitive Person Scale.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors found that people high and low in prejudice respond similarly to direct stereotype activation but differently to category activation, implying that the relations among categorization, stereotyping, and prejudice are more flexible than it is often assumed.
Abstract: Three experiments tested the hypothesis that people high and low in prejudice respond similarly to direct stereotype activation but differently to category activation. Study 1 (N=40) showed that high- and low-prejudice people share the same knowledge of the stereotype of Black people. In Study 2, (N=51) high-prejudice participants formed a more negative and less positive impression of the target person after subliminal priming of the category Blacks than did participants in the no-prime condition. Low-prejudice people tended in the opposite direction. In Study 3 (N=45), both high- and low-prejudice people increased negative ratings when valenced stereotype content was also primed. These findings support a distinction between automatic stereotype activation resulting from direct priming and that consequent upon category activation, implying that the relations among categorization, stereotyping, and prejudice are more flexible than it is often assumed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper used a 2 by 2 experimental design to examine group processes (information sharing, morale building, planning, critical evaluation, commitment, monitoring, and cooperation) that mediate the effect of relationship level on group performance.
Abstract: This study used multiple methods to examine group processes (information sharing, morale building, planning, critical evaluation, commitment, monitoring, and cooperation) that mediate the effect of relationship level on group performance. The study uses a 2 by 2 experimental design, crossing relationship (friendship vs. acquaintance) as a between-subjects variable and task type (decision making vs. motor) as a within-subject variable. Fifty-three 3-person groups participated in the study, and data from 4 types of measurement were used to analyze the mediating processes between relationship level and task performance. Friendship groups performed significantly better than acquaintance groups on both decision-making and motor tasks because of a greater degree of group commitment and cooperation. Critical evaluation and task monitoring also significantly increased decision-making performance, whereas positive communication mediated the relationship between friendship and motor task performance.