Showing papers in "Review of General Psychology in 2004"
TL;DR: In this paper, meta-analytic reviews of sex differences in aggression from real-world settings are described, covering self-reports, observations, peer reports, and teacher reports of overall direct, physical, and indirect aggression.
Abstract: Meta-analytic reviews of sex differences in aggression from real-world settings are described. They cover self-reports, observations, peer reports, and teacher reports of overall direct, physical, ...
1,621 citations
TL;DR: This article explored the origins of gossip as a mechanism for bonding social groups, tracing these origins back to social grooming among primates, and showed evidence to suggest that, aside from servicing social networks, a key function may be related explicitly to controlling free riders.
Abstract: Conversation is a uniquely human phenomenon. Analyses of freely forming conversations indicate that approximately two thirds of conversation time is devoted to social topics, most of which can be given the generic label gossip. This article first explores the origins of gossip as a mechanism for bonding social groups, tracing these origins back to social grooming among primates. It then asks why social gossip in this sense should form so important a component of human interaction and presents evidence to suggest that, aside from servicing social networks, a key function may be related explicitly to controlling free riders. Finally, the author reviews briefly the role of social cognition in facilitating conversations of this kind.
742 citations
TL;DR: A worldview (or "world view") is a set of assumptions about physical and social reality that may have powerful effects on cognition and behavior as mentioned in this paper, and it is defined as "a set of beliefs about the world view".
Abstract: A worldview (or “world view”) is a set of assumptions about physical and social reality that may have powerful effects on cognition and behavior. Lacking a comprehensive model or formal theory up t...
601 citations
TL;DR: Motives are reasons people hold for initiating and performing voluntary behavior as discussed by the authors, and they indicate the meaning of human behavior, and they may reveal a person's values, such as curiosity, autonomy, and play.
Abstract: R. W. White (1959) proposed that certain motives, such as curiosity, autonomy, and play (called intrinsic motives, or IMs), have common characteristics that distinguish them from drives. The evidence that mastery is common to IMs is anecdotal, not scientific. The assertion that “intrinsic enjoyment” is common to IMs exaggerates the significance of pleasure in human motivation and expresses the hedonistic fallacy of confusing consequence for cause. Nothing has been shown scientifically to be common to IMs that differentiates them from drives. An empirically testable theory of 16 basic desires is put forth based on psychometric research and subsequent behavior validation. The desires are largely unrelated to each other and may have different evolutionary histories. Motives are reasons people hold for initiating and performing voluntary behavior. They indicate the meaning of human behavior, and they may reveal a person’s values. Motives often affect a person’s perception, cognition, emotion, and behavior. A person who is highly motivated to gain social status, for example, may be observant of marks of social distinction, may think often about issues pertaining to wealth, may especially enjoy the feeling of selfimportance, and may behave in ways associated with upper-class status. 1 By defining motives as reasons, we do not imply that motives are primarily cognitive, any more than establishing a motive for a crime in a court of law requires conscious premeditation. A person can have a reason to behave, and thus a motive, without necessarily being aware of it. Aristotle (330 BCE/1953) divided motives into ends versus means on the basis of the individual’s purpose for performing the behavior. Ends are indicated when a person engages in a behavior for no apparent reason other than that is what the person desires to do. Examples include a child playing ball for physical exercise and a student reading a book out of curiosity. In each of these examples, the goal is desired for its own sake. In contrast, means are indicated when a person performs an act for its instrumental value. Examples include a professional athlete who plays ball for a salary and a student who studies to improve a grade. In each of these examples, the goal (salary, grade) is desired because it produces something else. A person
504 citations
TL;DR: Gossip is an important social behavior that nearly everyone experiences, contributes to, and presumably intuitively understands as mentioned in this paper, and it is often valuable (and sometimes unavoidable) to be part of such communications.
Abstract: A half century of gossip research from multiple disciplines is reviewed. Discussed are definitions of the construct; social, evolutionary, and personal functions of the practice; and data collection methods. Though people engage in the practice frequently, there has been relatively little psychological research on gossip. The layperson’s understanding of the term is included in, but insufficient to encompass, definitions used by researchers. Most data are ethnographic and discursive, and few parametric data exist. The area could benefit from better experimental methods and instruments. Neurobiological and social network analysis methods are promising foundations for further study. There are real-world implications for understanding gossip. Strengthening gossip theory and research methods will beneficially inform the way we view the practice in context. Virtually all of us frequently find ourselves producing, hearing, or otherwise participating in evaluative comments about someone who is not present in the conversation. It is often valuable (and sometimes unavoidable) to be part of such communications. To function efficiently in a complex social environment, humans require information about those around them. But social interconnections are complex, and it is impossible to be present at many primary exchanges to absorb this kind of information directly. Thus, many people are eager to pick it up through an intermediary, whether or not they have the luxury and patience to confirm it later either directly or indirectly. This phenomenon, of course, is called gossip. It is an important social behavior that nearly everyone experiences, contributes to, and presumably intuitively understands. The purpose of this article is to review and summarize research on this phenomenon and point to some promising ways to study it going forward. A paradox of gossip is that it is ubiquitous, though there are numerous social sanctions against it. Anthropologists and others have documented its practice the world over (Besnier, 1989; Gluckman, 1963; Haviland, 1977; Levin
442 citations
TL;DR: The authors propose that gossip is an extension of observational learning, allowing one to learn from the triumphs and misadventures of people beyond one's immediate perceptual sphere, which helps to explain some empirical findings about gossip.
Abstract: To complement views of gossip as essentially a means of gaining information about individuals, cementing social bonds, and engaging in indirect aggression, the authors propose that gossip serves to help people learn about how to live in their cultural society. Gossip anecdotes communicate rules in narrative form, such as by describing how someone else came to grief by violating social norms. Gossip is thus an extension of observational learning, allowing one to learn from the triumphs and misadventures of people beyond one's immediate perceptual sphere. This perspective helps to explain some empirical findings about gossip, such as that gossip is not always derogatory and that people sometimes gossip about strangers.
409 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a review summarizes the research literature on the academic socialization of children within the family context and a conceptual model is introduced that describes the process of academic socialisation, including parental experiences in school, parental school-related cognitions, and specific parenting behaviors.
Abstract: This review summarizes the research literature on the academic socialization of children within the family context. A conceptual model is introduced that describes the process of academic socialization, including parental experiences in school, parental school-related cognitions, and specific parenting behaviors. Parental attitudes and practices provide the foundation for children's development of schemas about school performance and thus are critical determinants of children's early school experiences. In addition, recent efforts to understand the role of transition practices aimed at facilitating children's early adjustment in school are described. The present review extends the transition practices literature by providing a developmental perspective on parenting influences on children's academic socialization, within an ecological systems perspective. The authors describe academic socialization as a process that occurs under the broad umbrella of socioeconomic and cultural contexts.
316 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the central thesis of gossip involves social comparison, and the authors apply research on social comparison to understand motivations for gossip and find that gossip involves a social comparison between two people.
Abstract: The central thesis of this article is that all gossip involves social comparison. Research on social comparison is applied toward understanding motivations for gossip. In addition, the authors addr...
263 citations
TL;DR: In this article, Haidt's proposal for a moral intutionist theory of morality is criticised on psychological and philosophical grounds, including the apparent reduction of social influence to one kind.
Abstract: Jon Haidt's (2001) proposal for a moral intutionist theory of morality is criticized on psychological and philosophical grounds, including (a) the apparent reduction of social influence to one kind...
84 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an internally consistent composite measure was constructed from seven primary indicators of scientific status (theories-to-laws ratio, consultation rate, obsolescence rate, graph prominence, early impact rate, peer evaluation consensus, and citation concentration).
Abstract: Psychology's standing within a hypothesized hierarchy of the sciences was assessed in a 2-part analysis. First, an internally consistent composite measure was constructed from 7 primary indicators of scientific status (theories-to-laws ratio, consultation rate, obsolescence rate, graph prominence, early impact rate, peer evaluation consensus, and citation concentration). Second, this composite measure was validated through 5 secondary indicators (lecture disfluency, citation immediacy, anticipation frequency, age at receipt of Nobel Prize, and rated disciplinary hardness). Analyses showed that the measures reflected a single dimension on which 5 disciplines could be reliably ranked in the following order: physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, and sociology. Significantly, psychology placed much closer to biology than to sociology, forming a pair of life sciences clearly separated from the other sciences.
76 citations
TL;DR: The Possum model as mentioned in this paper is a stripped-down version of the social intuitionist model, which has been criticised by Saltzstein and Kasachkoff, who called it the "possum model".
Abstract: H. D. Saltzstein and T. Kasachkoff (2004) critique the social intuitionist model (J. Haidt, 2001), but the model they critique is a stripped-down version that should be called the “possum” model. T...
TL;DR: A central theoretical assumption in classical psychophysics is that people judge the intensities of stimulus elements; for example, observers directly report the loudness of a tone or the intensity.
Abstract: A central theoretical assumption in classical psychophysics is that people judge the intensities of stimulus elements; for example, observers directly report the loudness of a tone or the intensity...
TL;DR: By concentrating on the unconscious processes driving evolutionary mechanisms, evolutionary psychology has neglected the role of consciousness in generating human adaptations as discussed by the authors, and they argue that consciousness is essential for human adaptation.
Abstract: By concentrating on the unconscious processes driving evolutionary mechanisms, evolutionary psychology has neglected the role of consciousness in generating human adaptations The authors argue tha
TL;DR: In this paper, an interdisciplinary perspective on coping processes is presented based on a general conception of coping as an adaptive reaction to a perceived is-ought discrepancy, referring to a general notion of coping.
Abstract: Referring to a general conception of coping as an adaptive reaction to a perceived is-ought discrepancy, the authors present an interdisciplinary perspective on coping processes. Based on systems t...
TL;DR: In this article, a theoretical model integrating identification with academics, motivation and engagement behaviors, academic outcomes, and violent or deviant behavior is presented, which integrates identification with academia and academic outcomes.
Abstract: The goal of this article is to present a theoretical model integrating identification with academics, motivation and engagement behaviors, academic outcomes, and violent or deviant behavior. Four d...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors distinguish classes of data according to whether the person produces them, as is the case with self-report data or according to the type of test that produces them.
Abstract: Classes of data are often distinguished according to whether the person produces them, as is the case with self-report data or according to the type of test that produces them, for example, ability...
TL;DR: In psychology, plays are simulations of social interaction that run on minds rather than on computers as discussed by the authors, and they have three properties that are useful to psychology: (a) they offe...
Abstract: Plays are simulations of social interaction that run on minds rather than on computers. Literary simulations depend on folk theory and have 3 properties that are useful to psychology: (a) They offe...
TL;DR: The authors argue that transformational, developmental process theories of African-U.S. racial identity development are flawed because they conceptualize ontogenetic experience without embedding it in phylogenetic dictat...
Abstract: Transformational, developmental process theories of African-U.S. racial identity development are flawed because they conceptualize ontogenetic experience without embedding it in phylogenetic dictat...
TL;DR: A special issue of the Review of General Psychology (RGP) on gossip was published in 2003 as mentioned in this paper, which argued that gossip is purposeful and important to general psychology. But it was not discussed in this special issue.
Abstract: This article represents the introduction to a special issue of the Review of General Psychology on gossip. All of the articles in this special issue argue that gossip is purposeful and important to...
TL;DR: It is tempting to ask about the origins and functions of gossip, but this temptation should be resisted as mentioned in this paper, from a psychological perspective, gossip is likely to be an arbitrary and unnatural category.
Abstract: It is tempting to ask about the origins and functions of gossip, but this temptation should be resisted. From a psychological perspective, gossip is likely to be an arbitrary and unnatural category...