Showing papers on "Social psychology (sociology) published in 2005"

The grammar of society: the nature and dynamics of social norms

Abstract: In The Grammar of Society, first published in 2006, Cristina Bicchieri examines social norms, such as fairness, cooperation, and reciprocity, in an effort to understand their nature and dynamics, the expectations that they generate, and how they evolve and change. Drawing on several intellectual traditions and methods, including those of social psychology, experimental economics and evolutionary game theory, Bicchieri provides an integrated account of how social norms emerge, why and when we follow them, and the situations where we are most likely to focus on relevant norms. Examining the existence and survival of inefficient norms, she demonstrates how norms evolve in ways that depend upon the psychological dispositions of the individual and how such dispositions may impair social efficiency. By contrast, she also shows how certain psychological propensities may naturally lead individuals to evolve fairness norms that closely resemble those we follow in most modern societies.

Embodiment in Attitudes, Social Perception, and Emotion

Abstract: Findings in the social psychology literatures on attitudes, social perception, and emotion demonstrate that social information processing involves embodiment, where embodiment refers both to actual bodily states and to simulations of experience in the brain's modality-specific systems for perception, action, and introspection. We show that embodiment underlies social information processing when the perceiver interacts with actual social objects (online cognition) and when the perceiver represents social objects in their absence (offline cognition). Although many empirical demonstrations of social embodiment exist, no particularly compelling account of them has been offered. We propose that theories of embodied cognition, such as the Perceptual Symbol Systems (PSS) account (Barsalou, 1999), explain and integrate these findings, and that they also suggest exciting new directions for research. We compare the PSS account to a variety of related proposals and show how it addresses criticisms that have previously posed problems for the general embodiment approach.

Logics of History: Social Theory and Social Transformation

Abstract: While social scientists and historians have been exchanging ideas for a long time, they have never developed a proper dialogue about social theory. William H. Sewell Jr. observes that on questions of theory the communication has been mostly one way: from social science to history. Logics of History argues that both history and the social sciences have something crucial to offer each other. While historians do not think of themeselves as theorists, they know something social scientists do not: how to think about the temporalities of social life. On the other hand, while social scientists' treatments of temporality are usually clumsy, their theoretical sophistication and penchant for structural accounts of social life could offer much to historians. Renowned for his work at the crossroads of history, sociology, political science, and anthropology, Sewell argues that only by combining a more sophisticated understanding of historical time with a concern for larger theoretical questions can a satisfying social theory emerge. In Logics of History, he reveals the shape such an engagement could take, some of the topics it could illuminate, and how it might affect both sides of the disciplinary divide.

Dissecting the Social: On the Principles of Analytical Sociology

Abstract: Over the past few decades serious reservations have been expressed about the explanatory power of sociological theory and research In this important book, leading social theorist Peter Hedstrom outlines the foundations of an analytically oriented sociology that seeks to address this criticism Building on his earlier influential contributions to contemporary debates, Professor Hedstrom argues for a systematic development of sociological theory so that it has the explanatory power and precision to inform sociological research and understanding He discusses various mechanisms of action and interaction and shows how strong links can be forged between the micro and the macro, and between theory and empirical research Combining approaches to theory and methodology and using extensive examples to illustrate how they might be applied, this clear, concise and original book will appeal to a broad range of social scientists

Perspective-Taking and Self-Other Overlap: Fostering Social Bonds and Facilitating Social Coordination

Abstract: The present article offers a conceptual model for how the cognitive processes associated with perspective-taking facilitate social coordination and foster social bonds. We suggest that the benefits of perspective-taking accrue through an increased self‐other overlap in cognitive representations and discuss the implications of this perspective-taking induced self‐other overlap for stereotyping and prejudice. Whereas perspective-taking decreases stereotyping of others (through application of the self to the other), it increases stereotypicality of one’s own behavior (through inclusion of the other in the self). To promote social bonds, perspectivetakers utilize information, including stereotypes, to coordinate their behavior with others. The discussion focuses on the implications, both positive and negative, of this self‐other overlap for social relationships and discusses how conceptualizing perspective-taking, as geared toward supporting specific social bonds, provides a framework for understanding why the effects of perspective-taking are typically target-specific and do not activate a general helping mind-set. Through its attempts to secure social bonds, perspective-taking can be an engine of social harmony, but can also reveal a dark side, one full of ironic consequences.

Out of Sight But Not Out of Mind: Managing Invisible Social Identities in the Workplace

Abstract: Invisible social identities influence social interaction in distinct ways and create unique dynamics in terms of identity management. We integrate research from the sexuality, illness, and racial diversity literature, as well as the stigma, disclosure, and identity literature, to create a generalized model of invisible identity management. We focus specifically on revealing and passing strategies of identity management and conclude by discussing the implications of invisible differences for diversity research.

Laughter and Ridicule: Towards a Social Critique of Humour

Abstract: Introduction A Critique of Positive Humour PART ONE: HISTORICAL ASPECTS Superiority Theories Hobbes and other Misogelasts Incongruity Theories and Gentlemanly Laughter Victorian Relief Theory Bergson and the Function of Humour Freud and the Hidden Secrets of Jokes PART TWO: THEORETICAL ASPECTS Laughter and Unlaughter Embarrassment, Humour and the Social Order Final Remarks

Using Social Psychology to Motivate Contributions to Online Communities

Abstract: Under-contribution is a problem for many online communities. Social psychology theories of social loafing and goal-setting can lead to mid-level design goals to address this problem. We tested design principles derived from these theories in four field experiments involving members of an online movie recommender community. In each of the experiments participated were given different explanations for the value of their contributions. As predicted by theory, individuals contributed when they were reminded of their uniqueness and when they were given specific and challenging goals. However, other predictions were disconfirmed. For example, in one experiment, participants given group goals contributed more than those given individual goals. The article ends with suggestions and challenges for mining design implications from social science theories.

Status Evolution and Competition: Theory and Evidence

Abstract: In this study, we (1) clarify and distinguish the concept of status, (2) identify and analyze the institutional and organizational factors that can lead to differences in organizational status over...

Social Cognition in Schizophrenia: Recommendations from the Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia New Approaches Conference

Abstract: This article summarizes the discussion from a breakout group at the National Institute of Mental Health-Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia New Approaches Conference on social cognition in schizophrenia. During this discussion, the reasons for the recent growth of research on social cognition in schizophrenia were examined. The discussion group established consensus on several points, including the importance of viewing social cognition from interdisciplinary perspectives (including outcomes research, social psychology, cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and animal models) and the need for clearer definition of terms. There was also general agreement that social cognition is a valuable construct for understanding the nature and disability of schizophrenia. One of the objectives of this group was to generate recommendations for subsequent human and animal studies, and these research agendas are summarized in this report.

On the stigma of mental illness: Practical strategies for research and social change.

Abstract: Serious mental illness is a two-edged sword: it challenges those affected not only with disability but also with unjust social stigma, which denies them opportunities to work, live independently, and pursue other goals. Written by participants and first-rate social scientists in the Chicago Consortium for Stigma Research, On the Stigma of Mental Illness: Implications for Research and Social Change explores the causes and ramifications of mental illness stigma, as well as the possible means to eliminate it. The book translates basic behavioral research, especially from social psychology, to an issue of prime importance to clinical psychology. While laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act have decreased the impact of discrimination, contact between those with mental illness and those without may be one of the most effective ways to diminish stigma. The book includes practical strategies for dealing with public stigma and self-stigma, including deciding when and how to disclose one's psychiatric history to others.

Stereotypes and Prejudice in Conflict: Representations of Arabs in Israeli-Jewish Society

Abstract: Preface Introduction General overview 1. The psychological basis of intergroup relations 1.1 Intergroup behaviour 1.2 Psychological intergroup repertoire 1.3 Formation of the psychological intergroup repertoire 1.4 Conclusions 2. Psychological intergroup repertoire in intractable conflicts 2.1 Intractable conflicts 2.2 Societal beliefs in intractable conflicts 2.3 Negative psychological intergroup repertoire 2.4 Conclusions 3. The context: The Arab-Israeli intractable conflict 3.1 Socio-cultural context 3.2 The intractable nature of the Arab-Israeli conflict 3.3 The Jewish narrative of the Arab-Israeli conflict 3.4 Israeli Jewish ethos of conflict 3.5 Conclusions 4. Representation of Arabs in public discourse 4.1 The impact of mass media 4.2 Public discourse before the establishment of the State 4.3 Public discourse by leaders 4.4 Public discourse through the media in the State of Israel 4.5 Research on the presentation of Palestinians in the Israeli mass media 4.6 Research on the presentation of Arab citizens of the State of Israel in the media 4.7 Conclusions 5. Representation of Arabs in school textbooks 5.1 Presentation of Arabs in school textbooks of the pre-state period 5.2 Presentation of Arabs in school textbooks from 1948 up to the early 1970s 5.3 Presentation of Arabs in school textbooks between the mid 1970s and 1990s 5.4 Conclusions 6. Representation of Arabs in cultural products 6.1 Adult Hebrew literature 6.2 Children's literature 6.3 Hebrew drama 6.4 Israeli films 6.5 Conclusions 7. Representation of Arabs by Israeli Jews: review of empirical research 7.1 Psychological repertoire towards Arabs 7.2 Views about Arab-Israeli relations 7.3 Views about Arabs 7.4 Citizens of Israel 7.5 Conclusions 8. The development of shared psychological intergroup repertoire in a conflict: theory and methods 8.1 The cognitive foundations of social representations 8.2 Personality development, personality states, and social representations 8.3 The context of social representations 8.4 An integrative developmental-contextual approach for the acquisition and development of stereotypes and prejudice 8.5 Assessment of children's social representations - general considerations 8.6 Conclusions 9. Studies with preschoolers 9.1 Objectives and overview 9.2 Words, concepts, identities, stereotypes, and attitudes 9.3 Images, stereotypes, and attitudes in different social environments 9.4 General discussion 9.5 Conclusions 10. Studies with school children, adolescents, and young adults 10.1 Objectives and overview 10.2 Image acquisition 10.3 Influences of specific environments 10.4 Differentiation and generalisation 10.5 Sense of knowledge, perceived similarity, and perceived quality of relations as predictors of stereotypes and attitudes 10.6 General discussion 10.7 Conclusions 11. The reflection of social images in human figure drawing 11.1 The development and meaning of drawings 11.2 Obtaining and scoring the drawings 11.3 Scoring the beliefs and intentions questionnaire 11.4 Research overview and objectives 11.5 General discussion 11.6 Conclusions 12. General conclusions and implications 12.1 Conclusions 12.2 Changing the shared psychological intergroup repertoire of people involved in intractable conflict: general observations 12.3 Changing the psychological intergroup repertoire in the context of intractable conflict: thoughts about intervention 12.4 Final words 12.5 References.

The sociology of emotions

Abstract: 1. Conceptualizing emotions sociologically 2. Dramaturgical and cultural theorizing on emotions 3. Ritual theorizing on emotions 4. Symbolic interactionist theorizing on emotions 5. Symbolic interactionist theorizing on emotions with psychoanalytic elements 6. Exchange theorizing on emotions 7. Structural theorizing on emotions 8. Evolutionary theorizing on emotions 9. Prospects for a sociology of emotions.

Social influence in small groups: An interactive model of social identity formation

Abstract: The present paper tries to overcome the dualism of group-level vs. individualistic analysis of small group processes, by presenting a model of social identity formation that incorporates factors at both levels of analysis as well as their interaction. On the basis of prior theorising in the social identity tradition and a programme of research spanning several interactive group research paradigms, we suggest that within small groups a social identity can operate as a contextual given, which shapes the behaviour of individuals within the group, as much as the behaviour of individuals within the group can shape social identity. This proposal is supported by a programme of research into social influence within small interactive groups. This research explores deductive (top-down) processes through which existing identities influence group processes, but also shows a reciprocal influence through which intragroup discussion creates a sense of group identity in the apparent absence of any direct intergroup compa...

The Social Psychology of Experience: Studies in Remembering and Forgetting

Abstract: Introducing Remembering and Forgetting in the Psychology of Experience Making Experiences Matter Memory in the Social Sciences Territorializing Experience Maurice Halbwachs on Memory Virtualizing Experience Henri Bergson on Memory Communicating Experience Interactional Organization of Remembering and Forgetting Projecting Experience Succession and Change in Communicative Action Localizing Experience Implacement, Incorporation and Habit in Zones of Personal Relations Objectifying Experience Mediating, Displacing and Stabilizing the Past in Objects Technologizing Experience Infrastructures in Remembering and Forgetting Collecting and Dispersing Experience Spatializing the Individual in the Mass Cutting Experience Intersecting Durations in Making Lives Matter Unlimiting Experience Dynamics of Remembering and Forgetting

Controlling Racial Prejudice: Social-Cognitive Goals Affect Amygdala and Stereotype Activation

Abstract: The malleability of stereotyping matters in social psychology and in society. Previous work indicates rapid amygdala and cognitive responses to racial out-groups, leading some researchers to view these responses as inevitable. In this study, the methods of social-cognitive neuroscience were used to investigate how social goals control prejudiced responses. Participants viewed photographs of unfamiliar Black and White faces, under each of three social goals: social categorization (by age), social individuation (vegetable preference), and simple visual inspection (detecting a dot). One study recorded brain activity in the amygdala using functional magnetic resonance imaging, and another measured cognitive activation of stereotypes by lexical priming. Neither response to photos of the racial out-group was inevitable; instead, both responses depended on perceivers' current social-cognitive goal.

The Social Psychology of Health Disparities

Abstract: In recent years, scholars from a variety of disciplines have turned to the potential psychosocial determinants of health in pursuit of an explanation for socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities. This review discusses the literature on psychosocial factors and mental and physical health, focusing on the roles of subjective status, self/identity, and perceived discrimination. We argue that current research may have obscured important social psychological considerations and that it is an opportune time to reconsider the social psychology of disparities. A social psychology of disparities could provide a bridge between those who encourage research on health's “upstream” causes and those who encourage research on “downstream” mechanisms precisely because social psychology is concerned with the vast “meso” level of analysis that many allude to but few explicitly traverse. We point to the importance of person-environment interactions, contingencies, reciprocality, and meaning. Although psychosocial factors m...

Models and Methods in Social Network Analysis: Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences

Abstract: Personal relationships have long been of central interest to social scientists, but the subject of friendship has been relatively neglected. Moreover, most studies of friendship have been social psychological in focus. Placing Friendship in Context is a unique collection bridging social psychological and social structural research to advance understanding of this important subject. In it, some of the world’s leading researchers explore the social and historical contexts in which friendships and similar informal ties develop and how it is that these contexts shape the form and substance the relationships assume. Together, they demonstrate that friendship cannot be understood from individualist or dyadic perspectives alone, but is a relationship significantly influenced by the environment in which it is generated. By analysing the ways in which friendships articulate with the social structures in which they are embedded, Placing Friendship in Context redescribes such personal relationships at both the macro and the micro level.

Micro-social structural approaches to HIV prevention: a social ecological perspective

Abstract: To be effective and sustainable, HIV-prevention interventions need to be sufficiently powerful to counteract prevailing social norms and diffuse through the targeted community to provide social reinforcement for behaviour change. Social structural and environmental factors are major influences on HIV-related behaviours yet the dearth of conceptualization and operationalization of these factors impede progress in intervention development. In this paper we propose a social ecological perspective to intervention and highlight relevant theories from social psychology and organizational behaviour literatures. We examine social networks and social settings as micro-structural and environmental influences on HIV risk behaviours, social identities and norms, and as important targets for HIV-prevention intervention. Intervention approaches are proposed that target networks and behavioural settings and provide participants with socially meaningful and rewarding behavioural options that are consistent with valued prosocial identities or roles. Examples are presented on how such an approach has been utilized in prior HIV prevention interventions, including our social network-oriented intervention that trained disadvantaged former and current illicit drug users to conduct peer outreach. We describe how behavioural interventions may enhance or introduce new prosocial identities and social roles, and that network members may confer social approval to reinforce these identities and roles, leading to sustained behavioural risk reduction and changes in risk behaviour norms.

Social Exchange Theory under Scrutiny: A Positive Critique of its Economic-Behaviorist Formulations

Abstract: Exchange theory has become one of the most ambitious social, especially sociopsychological, theories. Social exchange theory’s fundamental premise is that human behavior is an exchange of rewards between actors. This is the rationale for the claim that social exchange can serve as a general paradigm for sociology and anthropology as well as social psychology. The present critique is aimed at rational choice and behaviorist variants of social exchange theory rather than at the theory as such. First, the main assumptions of (these variants of) social exchange theory are presented. This is followed by a critique of these assumptions at two levels. The first level pertains to the treatment of social interaction as an exchange, and the second to the status of social exchange as an economic or psychological phenomenon. Other criticisms of exchange theory are also presented.

The nonobvious social psychology of happiness.

Abstract: There are several classic findings in social psychol ogy that behavioral scientists recognize as having ex erted a profound influence on people's understanding of the world. The stars of our field, such as Milgram, Zimbardo, Darley, and Latane, have demonstrated the power of social situations to influence behavior, for ex ample in obedience, bystander intervention, confor mity, and altruism. Another classic set of findings of social psychology describes in-group biases, and how group membership profoundly influences people's perceptions of events. The "They Saw a Game" study by Hastorf and Cantril (1954)-which showed how Dartmouth and Princeton fans recalled two very differ ent football games, although they viewed the same game-is a wonderful example in this area. John Bargh and others have begun a research tradition on

Study abroad and values development in social work students

Abstract: This article presents results of a qualitative study of values development in U.S. and Scottish social work students who participated in a study-abroad program. Six themes emerged: opening the mind to new ways of thinking; awareness and insight into one's own values and beliefs; social awareness and challenges to societal values and beliefs; appreciation of difference, cultural sensitivity, and anti-discriminatory practice; social justice; and professional identity development. Implications for social work study-abroad programs and future research are discussed.

The Influence of Behavior on Attitudes

Abstract: In most laypersons’ implicit theories of the causes of everyday events, attitudes influence behavior: People’s actions are guided by their internal attitudes. Although social psychologists have certainly investigated this relation (as illustrated most directly by the work described in the preceding chapter), they have given just as much attention to the reverse relation: the influence of behavior on attitudes. This topic has stimulated some of the best known and most-tested theories in social psychology and has elicited significant public interest because it turns laypersons’ implicit theories upside down and generates counterintuitive predictions (which have been confirmed). Our goal in this chapter is to review and evaluate this research literature.

G.H. Mead: theorist of the social act

Abstract: Alex Gillespie, G. H. Mead: Theorist of the Social Act, pp. 19-40. There have been many readings of Mead's work, and this paper proposes yet another: Mead, theorist of the social act. It is argued that Mead's core theory of the social act has been neglected, and that without this theory, the concept of taking the attitude of the other is inexplicable and the contemporary relevance of the concept of the significant symbol is obfuscated. The paper traces the development of the social act out of Dewey's theory of the act. According to Mead, Dewey's theory does not sufficiently account for consciousness. Grappling with this problematic leads Mead to several key ideas, which culminate in his theory of the social act. The social act and taking the attitude of the other are then illustrated by the analysis of a game of football. The interpretation presented has two novel aspects: first, symbolisation arises not simply through self taking the attitude of the other, but through the pairing of this attitude with the complementary attitude in self; second, self is able to take the attitude of the other to the extent that self has in actuality or in imagination previously been in the social position of the other. From this standpoint the key issue is how the attitude of self and other become integrated. New directions for empirical research, aimed at advancing this question are outlined. Finally, the paper shows how the social act can contribute to our contemporary concerns about the nature of the symbolic.

An investigation of social skills and loneliness levels of university students with respect to their attachment styles in a sample of turkish students

Abstract: In this study we investigated the effects of attachment styles of university students on their social skills and loneliness levels. Their social skill levels, loneliness levels, and attachment styles were measured using the Social Skills Inventory, UCLA Loneliness Scale, and Relationships Scale Questionnaire respectively. To analyze data, t tests, correlation analyses, and regression analyses were employed. Emotional expressivity levels, emotional sensitivity levels, social control levels, and total social skill levels of female students were found to be significantly higher than those of male students. However, emotional control levels of male students were significantly higher than those of female students. A significant effect of attachment styles on loneliness and social skills was detected. The social skill levels of students who have secure attachment styles were found to be significantly higher than the social skill levels of students who have insecure attachment styles. Average loneliness points of students who do not have a romantic relationship were found to be significantly higher than others. However, the average social skill points of those students were found to be significantly lower than others.

Basic Social Influence Is Underestimated

Abstract: Scholars of various kinds, including some re-nowned social psychologists, have long documentedthe powerful influence that observed social behaviorhas on subsequent social behavior (e.g., Festinger,1954; Le Bon, 1960; MacKay, 1841/1932; Milgram,Bickman, & Berkowitz, 1969). What’s surprising,given the ubiquity and strength of the evidence, is howlittle note people take of this potent form of influenceat three crucial and often-encountered decision points:when, as observers, they decide how to interpret thecauses of their own actions; when, as tacticians, theydecide how to influence the actions of others; andwhen, as experts, they decide whether to seek the inputof others. Let’s take each in turn.

Culture, context and experience in psychiatric diagnosis.

Abstract: The semiotic theory underlying psychiatric diagnosis views symptoms as more or less direct consequences of psychopathological processes. However, cognitive social psychology and clinical ethnography make it clear that symptom experience is embedded in culturally based systems of meaning and discursive practices. Physiological perturbations are organized, experienced and expressed in terms of a nested series of cognitive schemas involving knowledge about symptoms, illnesses or other models of affliction and broader sociomoral notions of self and personhood. Individuals have many competing schemas at their disposal. The relative prominence or weight given to a specific model is determined by the social context and purposes for which the person is reflecting on, recollecting or recounting their experience. Accounts of symptoms and illness experience are therefore highly dependent on the social context of narration. Psychiatric nosology and the process of clinical assessment must consider the ways in which psychopathology is shaped by social and cultural contexts including those of the family, workplace, and health care system as well as global professional, economic and political interests.