Showing papers in "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2000"
TL;DR: The authors show how IRT techniques can be used to develop new attachment scales with desirable psychometric properties, and indicate that commonly used attachment scales can be improved in a number of important ways.
Abstract: Self-report measures of adult attachment are typically scored in ways (e.g., averaging or summing items) that can lead to erroneous inferences about important theoretical issues, such as the degree of continuity in attachment security and the differential stability of insecure attachment patterns. To determine whether existing attachment scales suffer from scaling problems, the authors conducted an item response theory (IRT) analysis of 4 commonly used self-report inventories: Experiences in Close Relationships scales (K. A. Brennan, C. L. Clark, & P. R. Shaver, 1998), Adult Attachment Scales (N. L. Collins & S. J. Read, 1990), Relationship Styles Questionnaire (D. W. Griffin & K. Bartholomew, 1994) and J. Simpson's (1990) attachment scales. Data from 1,085 individuals were analyzed using F. Samejima's (1969) graded response model. The authors' findings indicate that commonly used attachment scales can be improved in a number of important ways. Accordingly, the authors show how IRT techniques can be used to develop new attachment scales with desirable psychometric properties.
2,883 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that people are more likely to purchase gourmet jams or chocolates or to undertake optional class essay assignments when offered a limited array of 6 choices rather than a more extensive array of 24 or 30 choices.
Abstract: Current psychological theory and research affirm the positive affective and motivational consequences of having personal choice. These findings have led to the popular notion that the more choice, the better--that the human ability to manage, and the human desire for, choice is unlimited. Findings from 3 experimental studies starkly challenge this implicit assumption that having more choices is necessarily more intrinsically motivating than having fewer. These experiments, which were conducted in both field and laboratory settings, show that people are more likely to purchase gourmet jams or chocolates or to undertake optional class essay assignments when offered a limited array of 6 choices rather than a more extensive array of 24 or 30 choices. Moreover, participants actually reported greater subsequent satisfaction with their selections and wrote better essays when their original set of options had been limited. Implications for future research are discussed.
2,502 citations
TL;DR: This paper showed that the extent of transportation augmented story-consistent beliefs and favorable evaluations of protagonists, and that less-transported readers found fewer false notes in a story than less transported readers.
Abstract: Transportation was proposed as a mechanism whereby narratives can affect beliefs. Defined as absorption into a story, transportation entails imagery, affect, and attentional focus. A transportation scale was developed and validated. Experiment 1 (N = 97) demonstrated that extent of transportation augmented story-consistent beliefs and favorable evaluations of protagonists. Experiment 2 (N = 69) showed that highly transported readers found fewer false notes in a story than less-transported readers. Experiments 3 (N = 274) and 4 (N = 258) again replicated the effects of transportation on beliefs and evaluations; in the latter study, transportation was directly manipulated by using processing instructions. Reduced transportation led to reduced story-consistent beliefs and evaluations. The studies also showed that transportation and corresponding beliefs were generally unaffected by labeling a story as fact or as fiction.
2,293 citations
TL;DR: The more participants were ostracized, the more they reported feeling bad, having less control, and losing a sense of belonging, as well as supporting K. D. Williams's need threat theory of ostracism.
Abstract: Ostracism is such a widely used and powerful tactic that the authors tested whether people would be affected by it even under remote and artificial circumstances. In Study 1, 1,486 participants from 62 countries accessed the authors' on-line experiment on the Internet. They were asked to use mental visualization while playing a virtual tossing game with two others (who were actually computer generated and controlled). Despite the minimal nature of their experience, the more participants were ostracized, the more they reported feeling bad, having less control, and losing a sense of belonging. In Study 2, ostracized participants were more likely to conform on a subsequent task. The results are discussed in terms of supporting K. D. Williams's (1997) need threat theory of ostracism.
1,903 citations
TL;DR: Although the unidimensional measure showed a coherent pattern of external correlates, the bidimensional measure revealed independent dimensions corresponding to heritage and mainstream culture identification, which displayed patterns of noninverse correlations with personality, self-identity, and psychosocial adjustment.
Abstract: The unidimensional model of acculturation posits that heritage and mainstream culture identifications have a strong inverse relation, whereas the bidimensional model posits that the 2 identifications are independent. The authors compared these models in 3 samples of ethnic Chinese (ns = 164, 150, and 204), 1 sample of non-Chinese East Asians (n = 70), and one diverse group of acculturating individuals (n = 140). Although the unidimensional measure showed a coherent pattern of external correlates, the bidimensional measure revealed independent dimensions corresponding to heritage and mainstream culture identification. These dimensions displayed patterns of noninverse correlations with personality, self-identity, and psychosocial adjustment. The authors conclude that the bidimensional model is a more valid and useful operationalization of acculturation.
1,481 citations
TL;DR: Age differences in emotional experience over the adult life span were explored, focusing on the frequency, intensity, complexity, and consistency of emotional experience in everyday life, and individual factor analyses computed for each participant revealed that age was associated with more differentiated emotional experience.
Abstract: Age differences in emotional experience over the adult life span were explored, focusing on the frequency, intensity, complexity, and consistency of emotional experience in everyday life. One hundred eighty-four people, age 18 to 94 years, participated in an experience-sampling procedure in which emotions were recorded across a 1-week period. Age was unrelated to frequency of positive emotional experience. A curvilinear relationship best characterized negative emotional experience. Negative emotions declined in frequency until approximately age 60, at which point the decline ceased. Individual factor analyses computed for each participant revealed that age was associated with more differentiated emotional experience. In addition, periods of highly positive emotional experience were more likely to endure among older people and periods of highly negative emotional experience were less stable. Findings are interpreted within the theoretical framework of socioemotional selectivity theory.
1,449 citations
TL;DR: People who perceived the in-group as strong were more likely to experience anger toward the out-group and to desire to take action against it, and the effects of perceived in-groups strength on offensive action tendencies were mediated by anger.
Abstract: Purdue University Three studies tested the idea that when social identity is salient, group-based appraisals elicit specific emotions and action tendencies toward out-groups. Participants' group memberships were made salient and the collective support apparently enjoyed by the in-group was measured or manipulated. The authors then measured anger and fear (Studies 1 and 2) and anger and contempt (Study 3), as well as the desire to move against or away from the out-group. Intergroup anger was distinct from intergroup fear, and the inclination to act against the out-group was distinct from the tendency to move away from it. Participants who perceived the in-group as strong were more likely to experience anger toward the out-group and to desire to take action against it. The effects of perceived in-group strength on offensive action tendencies were mediated by anger. The annals of history and contemporary news sources bear overwhelming witness to the variety of ways in which out-groups are devalued, discriminated against, and sometimes decimated by the members of other groups. One group is shunned and avoided, a second economically exploited, another belittled and scape- goated, and yet another systematically murdered. In contributing a social psychological perspective to the understanding of negative intergroup behavior, social psychologists have typically focused on prejudice---a negative evaluation of a group and its mem- bers-as the cause of discrimination. Despite the insights provided by such an approach (for reviews, see Brewer & Brown, 1998; Dovidio, Brigham, Johnson, & Gaertner, 1996; Fiske, 1998; Macrae, Stangor, & Hewstone, 1996; Mackie & Smith, 1998a), conceptualizing prejudice as a negative evaluation of a group has proved of little help in explaining the wide variety of negative reactions to out-groups (Mackie & Smith, 1998a, 1998b; Schnei- der, 1996; E. R. Smith, 1993). Why does one out-group attract fear or contempt while another becomes the target of anger? If out- groups uniformly attract negative evaluation, what factors explain the impulse, desire, intention, or tendency to move against some groups and away from others? Unfortunately, very little work has been done to differentiate action tendencies elicited in intergroup contexts (Grant & Brown, 1995; Mackie & Smith, 1998a; Messick & Mackie, 1989; Wright, Taylor, & Moghaddam, 1990; important Diane M. Mackie and Thierry Devos, Department of Psychology, Uni- versity of California, Santa Barbara; Eliot R. Smith, Department of Psy- chological Sciences, Purdue University. This research was supported by National Science Foundation Grant SBR 9209995, a Swiss National Science Foundation Fellowship, and National Institute of Mental Health Grants RO1 MH46840 and KO2 MH01178. Thierry Devos is now at the Department of Psychology, Yale University. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Diane M. Mackie, Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106-9660. Electronic mail may be sent to mackie @psych.ucsb.edu. 602 exceptions are discussed later). The research reported here consti- tutes an initial empirical investigation of a novel theoretical ap- proach to answering these questions. Although intergroup theorists have by and large concentrated on negative attitude or evaluation as a precursor to discrimination, emotion theorists have typically differentiated both the diversity of feelings that may be directed toward a particular target and the specificity of behavior that can follow from those feelings. Ap- praisal theories of emotion (Frijda, 1986; Roseman, 1984; Scherer, 1988; C. A. Smith & Ellsworth, 1985), in particular, conceptualize personal emotions as complex reactions to specific situations or events that include quite differentiated cognitions, feelings, and action tendencies. Specific emotions experienced by an individual are triggered by appraisals (cognitions or interpretations) of whether an event appears to favor or harm the individual's goals or desires and whether the individual has the resources to cope or not, for example. Depending on their particular configuration, cogni- tive appraisals trigger specific emotional experiences (Ellsworth & Smith, 1988; Roseman, Spindel, & Jose, 1990; C. A. Smith & Ellsworth, 1985) and these emotional experiences in turn promote certain behaviors (Frijda, Kuipers, & ter Schure, 1989; Roseman, Wiest, & Swartz, 1994). Anger at another individual, for example, is typically conceptualized as resulting from appraisals that the other has harmed the self and that the self is strong. Such anger in turn leads to tendencies to aggress against that other person. Appraisal theory was developed to explain personal emotions experienced by individuals, and this focus was maintained in an important application of it to the intergroup context. Dijker (1987; Dijker, Koomen, van den Heuvel, & Frijda, 1996) asked native Dutch participants their emotional reactions to individual members of naturally occurring out-groups, with the assumption that these reactions depended on the nature of interpersonal interactions that participants had experienced. Respondents reported feeling a range of distinct negative and positive emotions about out-group mem- bers indicating that their personal emotions were indeed influenced by their individual experiences in encounters with other groups.
1,401 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors suggest that understanding temperament is central to understanding personality and that individual differences in temperament have implications for development in infancy and childhood, and they form the core of personality as it develops.
Abstract: This article reviews how a temperament approach emphasizing biological and developmental processes can integrate constructs from subdisciplines of psychology to further the study of personality Basic measurement strategies and findings in the investigation of temperament in infancy and childhood are reviewed These include linkage of temperament dimensions with basic affective-motivational and attentional systems, including positive affecl/approach, fear, frustration/anger, and effortful control Contributions of biological models that may support these processes are then reviewed Research indicating how a temperament approach can lead researchers of social and personality development to investigate important person-environment interactions is also discussed Lastly, adult research suggesting links between temperament dispositions and the Big Five personality factors is described Temperament arises from our genetic endowment It influences and is influenced by the experience of each individual, and one of its outcomes is the adult personality An important goal of our research has been to specify processes at the levels of biology and social development that may link a child's early endowment to its later expression as an adult In this article, we suggest that understanding temperament is central to understanding personality Individual differences in temperament have implications for development in infancy and childhood, and they form the core of personality as it develops Temperament also provides processoriented models that are often lacking in trait theories of personality, by establishing links between individual differences in behavior and their psychological and biological substrates Temperament also can be used to relate human individual differences, through evolutionary models, to individual differences in nonhuman animals The purpose of this article is to review our approach to temperament research, indicating ways in which thinking about temperament can illuminate the understanding of individual differences Many of the guiding principles of this approach are already familiar to personality researchers, because they were laid out by those who helped to develop modern conceptions of personality Other principles may be less familiar, because they derive more heavily
1,317 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that real-life violent video game play was positively related to aggressive behavior and delinquency, and the relation was stronger for individuals who are characteristically aggressive and for men.
Abstract: Two studies examined violent video game effects on aggression-related variables. Study 1 found that real-life violent video game play was positively related to aggressive behavior and delinquency. The relation was stronger for individuals who are characteristically aggressive and for men. Academic achievement was negatively related to overall amount of time spent playing video games. In Study 2, laboratory exposure to a graphically violent video game increased aggressive thoughts and behavior. In both studies, men had a more hostile view of the world than did women. The results from both studies are consistent with the General Affective Aggression Model, which predicts that exposure to violent video games will increase aggressive behavior in both the short term (e.g., laboratory aggression) and the long term (e.g., delinquency).
1,254 citations
TL;DR: In line with self-determination theory, multilevel modeling and regression analyses showed that, at the relationship level, individuals' experience of fulfillment of the basic needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness positively predicted overall attachment security, model of self, and model of other.
Abstract: Attachment research has traditionally focused on individual differences in global patterns of attachment to important others. The current research instead focuses primarily on within-person variability in attachments across relational partners. It was predicted that within-person variability would be substantial, even among primary attachment figures of mother, father, romantic partner, and best friend. The prediction was supported in three studies. Furthermore, in line with self-determination theory, multilevel modeling and regression analyses showed that, at the relationship level, individuals' experience of fulfillment of the basic needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness positively predicted overall attachment security, model of self, and model of other. Relations of both attachment and need satisfaction to well-being were also explored.
1,245 citations
TL;DR: The intrinsic maturation of personality is complemented by the culturally conditioned development of characteristic adaptations that express personality; interventions in human development are best addressed to these.
Abstract: Temperaments are often regarded as biologically based psychological tendencies with intrinsic paths of development. It is argued that this definition applies to the personality traits of the five-factor model. Evidence for the endogenous nature of traits is summarized from studies of behavior genetics, parent-child relations, personality structure, animal personality, and the longitudinal stability of individual differences. New evidence for intrinsic maturation is offered from analyses of NEO Five-Factor Inventory scores for men and women age 14 and over in German, British, Spanish, Czech, and Turkish samples (N = 5,085). These data support strong conceptual links to child temperament despite modest empirical associations. The intrinsic maturation of personality is complemented by the culturally conditioned development of characteristic adaptations that express personality; interventions in human development are best addressed to these.
TL;DR: The Implicit Association Test (IAT; A. G. Greenwald, D. E. McGhee, and J. L. Schwartz, 1998) as mentioned in this paper was used to measure self-esteem by assessing automatic associations of self with positive or negative valence.
Abstract: Experiment 1 used the Implicit Association Test (IAT; A. G. Greenwald, D. E. McGhee, & J. L. K. Schwartz, 1998) to measure self-esteem by assessing automatic associations of self with positive or negative valence. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that two IAT measures defined a factor that was distinct from, but weakly correlated with, a factor defined by standard explicit (self-report) measures of self-esteem. Experiment 2 tested known-groups validity of two IAT gender self-concept measures. Compared with well-established explicit measures, the IAT measures revealed triple the difference in measured masculinity-femininity between men and women. Again, CFA revealed construct divergence between implicit and explicit measures. Experiment 3 assessed the self-esteem IAT's validity in predicting cognitive reactions to success and failure. High implicit self-esteem was associated in the predicted fashion with buffering against adverse effects of failure on two of four measures.
TL;DR: This paper found that suppression was associated with poorer self-reported and objective memory, but that reappraisal was not, and that only suppression led to poorer memory for the details of the film.
Abstract: An emerging literature has begun to document the affective consequences of emotion regulation. Little is known, however, about whether emotion regulation also has cognitive consequences. A process model of emotion suggests that expressive suppression should reduce memory for emotional events but that reappraisal should not. Three studies tested this hypothesis. Study 1 experimentally manipulated expressive suppression during film viewing, showing that suppression led to poorer memory for the details of the film. Study 2 manipulated expressive suppression and reappraisal during slide viewing. Only suppression led to poorer slide memory. Study 3 examined individual differences in typical expressive suppression and reappraisal and found that suppression was associated with poorer self-reported and objective memory but that reappraisal was not. Together, these studies suggest that the cognitive costs of keeping one's cool may vary according to how this is done.
TL;DR: The authors explored the role of perspective-taking in debiasing social thought and found that it led to both decreased stereotyping and increased overlap between representations of self and representations of the elderly.
Abstract: Using 3 experiments, the authors explored the role of perspective-taking in debiasing social thought. In the 1st 2 experiments, perspective-taking was contrasted with stereotype suppression as a possible strategy for achieving stereotype control. In Experiment 1, perspective-taking decreased stereotypic biases on both a conscious and a nonconscious task. In Experiment 2, perspective-taking led to both decreased stereotyping and increased overlap between representations of the self and representations of the elderly, suggesting activation and application of the self-concept in judgments of the elderly. In Experiment 3, perspective-taking reduced evidence of in-group bias in the minimal group paradigm by increasing evaluations of the out-group. The role of self-other overlap in producing prosocial outcomes and the separation of the conscious, explicit effects from the nonconscious, implicit effects of perspective-taking are discussed.
TL;DR: These results challenge prevailing notions of prejudice as an antipathy in that BS (an affectionate, patronizing ideology) reflects inequality and is a cross-culturally pervasive complement to HS.
Abstract: The authors argue that complementary hostile and benevolent components of sexism exist across cultures. Male dominance creates hostile sexism IHS), but men's dependence on women fosters benevolent sexism (BS)-subjectively positive attitudes that put women on a pedestal but reinforce their subordination. Research with 15,000 men and women in 19 nations showed that (a) HS and BS are coherent constructs that correlate positively across nations, but (b) HS predicts the ascription of negative and BS the ascription of positive traits to women, (c) relative to men, women are more likely to reject HS than BS, especially when overall levels of sexism in a culture are high, and (d) national averages on BS and HS predict gender inequality across nations. These results challenge prevailing notions of prejudice as an antipathy in that BS tan affectionate, patronizing ideology) reflects inequality and is a cross-culturally pervasive complement to HS.
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of emotionality and regulation on social functioning were examined and it was shown that negative emotionality moderated the relation of behavior regulation to socially appropriate/prosocial behavior.
Abstract: Individual differences in emotionality and regulation are central to conceptions of temperament and personality. In this article, conceptions of emotionality and regulation and ways in which they predict social functioning are examined. Linear (including additive) and nonlinear effects are reviewed. In addition, data on mediational and moderational relations from a longitudinal study are presented. The effects of attention regulation on social functioning were mediated by resiliency, and this relation was moderated by negative emotionality at the first, but not second, assessment. Negative emotionality moderated the relation of behavior regulation to socially appropriate/prosocial behavior. These results highlight the importance of examining different types of regulation and the ways in which dispositional characteristics interact in predicting social outcomes.
TL;DR: Investigation of the reliability and validity of seven implicit self-esteem measures found some evidence that implicitSelfesteem measures are sensitive to context, but overall, the implicit measures were limited in their ability to predict criterion variables.
Abstract: Recent interest in the implicit self-esteem construct has led to the creation and use of several new assessment tools whose psychometric properties have not been fully explored. In this article, the authors investigated the reliability and validity of seven implicit self-esteem measures. The different implicit measures did not correlate with each other, and they correlated only weakly with measures of explicit self-esteem. Only some of the implicit measures demonstrated good test-retest reliabilities, and overall, the implicit measures were limited in their ability to predict our criterion variables. Finally, there was some evidence that implicit self-esteem measures are sensitive to context. The implications of these findings for the future of implicit self-esteem research are discussed.
TL;DR: Individuals who scored high on the Relational-Interdependent Self-Construal (RISC) Scale characterized their important relationships as closer and more committed than did individuals who scored low on this measure and were more likely to take into account the needs and wishes of others when making decisions.
Abstract: Three studies describe the development and validation of a measure of the relational-interdependent self-construal, which is defined as the tendency to think of oneself in terms of relationships with close others. Study 1 reports the development, psychometric properties, and tests of validity of this new measure. Individuals who scored high on the Relational-Interdependent Self-Construal (RISC) Scale characterized their important relationships as closer and more committed than did individuals who scored low on this measure (Study 1) and were more likely to take into account the needs and wishes of others when making decisions (Study 2). In Study 3, using a dyadic interaction paradigm with previously unacquainted participants, the partners of persons who scored high on the RISC scale viewed them as open and responsive to their needs and concerns; these perceptions were related to positive evaluations of the relationship.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used an attachment theoretical framework to investigate support-seeking and caregiving processes in intimate relationships and found that when support seekers rated their problem as more stressful, they engaged in more direct supportseeking behavior, which led their partners to respond with more helpful forms of caregiving.
Abstract: This study used an attachment theoretical framework to investigate support-seeking and caregiving processes in intimate relationships. Dating couples (N = 93) were videotaped while one member of the couple (support seeker) disclosed a personal problem to his or her partner (caregiver). Results indicated that when support seekers rated their problem as more stressful, they engaged in more direct support-seeking behavior, which led their partners to respond with more helpful forms of caregiving. Responsive caregiving then led seekers to feel cared for and to experience improved mood. Evidence for individual differences was also obtained: Avoidant attachment predicted ineffective support seeking, and anxious attachment predicted poor caregiving. Finally, couples in better functioning relationships engaged in more supportive interactions, and participants' perceptions of their interaction were biased by relationship quality and attachment style.
TL;DR: In this article, the idea of habits as a form of goal-directed automatic behavior was tested and confirmed that, when behavior is habitual, behavioral responses are activated automatically, and the results of three experiments indicated that the automaticity in habits is conditional on the presence of an active goal.
Abstract: This study tested the idea of habits as a form of goal-directed automatic behavior. Expanding on the idea that habits are mentally represented as associations between goals and actions, it was proposed that goals are capable of activating the habitual action. More specific, when habits are established (e.g., frequent cycling to the university), the very activation of the goal to act (e.g., having to attend lectures at the university) automatically evokes the habitual response (e.g., bicycle). Indeed, it was tested and confirmed that, when behavior is habitual, behavioral responses are activated automatically. In addition, the results of 3 experiments indicated that (a) the automaticity in habits is conditional on the presence of an active goal (cf. goal-dependent automaticity; J. A. Bargh, 1989), supporting the idea that habits are mentally represented as goal-action links, and (b) the formation of implementation intentions (i.e., the creation of a strong mental link between a goal and action) may simulate goal-directed automaticity in habits.
TL;DR: This theory explains known phenomena such as men's overperception of women's sexual intent, and it predicts new biases in social inference such as women's underestimation of men's commitment.
Abstract: A new theory of cognitive biases, called error management theory (EMT), proposes that psychological mechanisms are designed to be predictably biased when the costs of false-positive and false-negative errors were asymmetrical over evolutionary history. This theory explains known phenomena such as men's overperception of women's sexual intent, and it predicts new biases in social inference such as women's underestimation of men's commitment. In Study 1 (N = 217), the authors documented the commitment underperception effect predicted by EMT. In Study 2 (N = 289), the authors replicated the commitment bias and documented a condition in which men's sexual overperception bias is corrected. Discussion contrasts EMT with the heuristics and biases approach and suggests additional testable hypotheses based on EMT.
TL;DR: In this paper, the influence of interdependence on regulatory focus was observed in both importance ratings of information and affective responses consistent with promotion or prevention focus, and support for this hypothesis was obtained for participants who scored high versus low on the Self-Construal Scale, participants who were presented with an independent versus interdependent situation.
Abstract: Regulatory focus theory distinguishes between self-regulatory processes that focus on promotion and prevention strategies for goal pursuit. Five studies provide support for the hypothesis that these strategies differ for individuals with distinct self-construals. Specifically, individuals with a dominant independent self-construal were predicted to place more emphasis on promotion-focused information, and those with a dominant interdependent self-construal on prevention-focused information. Support for this hypothesis was obtained for participants who scored high versus low on the Self-Construal Scale, participants who were presented with an independent versus interdependent situation, and participants from a Western versus Eastern culture. The influence of interdependence on regulatory focus was observed in both importance ratings of information and affective responses consistent with promotion or prevention focus.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined a possible explanation for this inconsistency, that awareness of receiving support entails an emotional cost and that the most effective support is unnoticed by the recipient, and they showed that many transactions reported by supporters are not reported by recipients.
Abstract: Although there is abundant evidence that perceived availability of support buffers the effects of stressors on mental health, the relatively meager research on support transactions has failed to show an association between actual receipt of support and adjustment to stressors. The authors examined a possible explanation for this inconsistency, that awareness of receiving support entails an emotional cost and that the most effective support is unnoticed by the recipient. Using data from a daily diary study of support provision and receipt in couples, the authors show that many transactions reported by supporters are not reported by recipients. They also show that these invisible support transactions promote adjustment to a major stressor.
TL;DR: This article explored cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses to proscribed forms of social cognition and found that people responded to taboo trade-offs that monetized sacred values with moral outrage and cleansing.
Abstract: Five studies explored cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses to proscribed forms of social cognition. Experiments 1 and 2 revealed that people responded to taboo trade-offs that monetized sacred values with moral outrage and cleansing. Experiments 3 and 4 revealed that racial egalitarians were least likely to use, and angriest at those who did use, race-tainted base rates and that egalitarians who inadvertently used such base rates tried to reaffirm their fair-mindedness. Experiment 5 revealed that Christian fundamentalists were most likely to reject heretical counterfactuals that applied everyday causal schemata to Biblical narratives and to engage in moral cleansing after merely contemplating such possibilities. Although the results fit the sacred-value-protection model (SVPM) better than rival formulations, the SVPM must draw on cross-cultural taxonomies of relational schemata to specify normative boundaries on thought.
TL;DR: Findings about continuities in personality development that have been uncovered in the Dunedin study, an investigation of a cohort of children studied from age 3 to 21, offer clues about personality structure, interpersonal relations, psychopathology, and crime in adulthood.
Abstract: This article presents findings about continuities in personality development that have been uncovered in the Dunedin study, an investigation of a cohort of children studied from age 3 to 21. At age 3, children were classified into temperament groups on the basis of observations of their behavior. In young adulthood, data were collected from study members themselves, from people who knew them well, and from official records. Undercontrolled 3-year-olds grew up to be impulsive, unreliable, and antisocial, and had more conflict with members of their social networks and in their work. Inhibited 3-year-olds were more likely to be unassertive and depressed and had fewer sources of social support. Early appearing temperamental differences have a pervasive influence on life-course development and offer clues about personality structure, interpersonal relations, psychopathology, and crime in adulthood.
TL;DR: Findings suggest that a perception-behavior link can account for the findings of mood contagion, because participants who were required to repeat the philosophical speech spontaneously imitated the target person's vocal expression of emotion.
Abstract: The current studies aimed to find out whether a nonintentional form of mood contagion exists and which mechanisms can account for it. In these experiments participants who expected to be tested for text comprehension listened to an affectively neutral speech that was spoken in a slightly sad or happy voice. The authors found that (a) the emotional expression induced a congruent mood state in the listeners, (b) inferential accounts to emotional sharing were not easily reconciled with the findings, (c) different affective experiences emerged from intentional and nonintentional forms of emotional sharing, and (d) findings suggest that a perception-behavior link (T. L. Chartrand & J. A. Bargh, 1999) can account for these findings, because participants who were required to repeat the philosophical speech spontaneously imitated the target person's vocal expression of emotion.
TL;DR: Two meta-analyses find that Americans have shifted toward substantially higher levels of anxiety and neuroticism during recent decades, and Birth cohort, as a proxy for broad social trends, may be an important influence on personality development, especially during childhood.
Abstract: Two meta-analyses find that Americans have shifted toward substantially higher levels of anxiety and neuroticism during recent decades. Both college student (adult) and child samples increased almost a full standard deviation in anxiety between 1952 and 1993 (explaining about 20% of the variance in the trait). The average American child in the 1980s reported more anxiety than child psychiatric patients in the 1950s. Correlations with social indices (e.g., divorce rates, crime rates) suggest that decreases in social connectedness and increases in environmental dangers may be responsible for the rise in anxiety. Economic factors, however, seem to play little role. Birth cohort, as a proxy for broad social trends, may be an important influence on personality development, especially during childhood.
TL;DR: The results showed that Chinese participants reported stronger association between events, were more responsive to differences in covariation, and were more confident about their covariation judgments, and these cultural differences disappeared when participants believed they had some control over the covariation judgment task.
Abstract: East Asian cognition has been held to be relatively holistic; that is, attention is paid to the field as a whole. Western cognition, in contrast, has been held to be object focused and control oriented. In this study East Asians (mostly Chinese) and Americans were compared on detection of covariation and field dependence. The results showed the following: (a) Chinese participants reported stronger association between events, were more responsive to differences in covariation, and were more confident about their covariation judgments; (b) these cultural differences disappeared when participants believed they had some control over the covariation judgment task; (c) American participants made fewer mistakes on the Rod-and-Frame Test, indicating that they were less field dependent; (d) American performance and confidence, but not that of Asians, increased when participants were given manual control of the test. Possible origins of the perceptual differences are discussed.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors tested the predictions of temporal construal theory and time-discounting theories regarding evaluation of near future and distant future options (outcomes, activities, products).
Abstract: Five studies tested the predictions of temporal construal theory and time-discounting theories regarding evaluation of near future and distant future options (outcomes, activities, products). The options had abstract or goal-relevant features (called high-level construal features) as well as more concrete or goal-irrelevant features (called low-level construal features). The studies varied the valence (positive vs. negative) and the type of valence (affective vs. cognitive) of the low-level and high-level construal features. The results show that the weight of high-level construal features, compared with the weight of low-level construal features, is greater in determining distant future preferences than near future preferences. The implications of the results for extant theories of time-dependent changes in preference are discussed.
TL;DR: Results showed that negotiators were less contentious, engaged in more problem solving, and achieved higher joint outcomes when they had a prosocial rather than egoistic motive, but only when resistance to yielding was high (or unknown) rather than low.
Abstract: A meta-analysis of 28 studies examined support for the Theory of Cooperation and Competition (M. Deutsch, 1973) and Dual Concern Theory (D. G. Pruitt & J. Z. Rubin, 1986). Effects of social motive (prosocial vs. egoistic) and resistance to yielding (high vs. low vs. unknown) on contenting, problem solving, and joint outcomes were examined. Consistent with Dual Concern Theory, results showed that negotiators were less contentious, engaged in more problem solving, and achieved higher joint outcomes when they had a prosocial rather than egoistic motive, but only when resistance to yielding was high (or unknown) rather than low. The authors also explored the moderating effects of study characteristics and found effects for participation inducement (class exercise, participant pool), for publication status, and for treatment of no-agreement dyads.