bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Stress and Desire for Control on Superstitious Behavior
Authors: Keinan Giora
Published: March 2007

Research shows that the frequency of magical thinking and superstitious behavior increases under conditions of stress. A possible explanation for this finding is that stress reduces the individual’s sense of control and that to regain control she or he engages in magical rituals or superstitions. This study tested the validity of this explanation. To this end, the effects of stress on the frequency of superstitious behavior in individuals with high and low desire for control (DC) were examined. The Desirability of Control Scale was administered to 108 participants, half of whom were exposed to low-stress conditions and half to high-stress conditions. They were interviewed and asked questions designed to elicit a “knock on wood” ritual. It was found that the difference in the number of knocks on wood between high-DC and low-DC individuals was greater in the high-stress than in the low-stress condition. Similar findings emerged when the degree of the need to knock on wood, as reported by the participants, was used as a dependent variable.
Processing Minority and Majority Communications: The Role of Conflict with Prior Attitudes
Authors: Erb Hans-Peter , Bohner Gerd , Rank Susanne , Einwiller Sabine
Published: March 2007

The authors studied the effects of recipients’ prior attitudes on message scrutiny in minority and majority influence situations. Based on the objective consensus approach and on conversion theory, the authors derived the hypothesis that cognitive effort dedicated to the processing of minority and majority communications depends on recipients’ prior attitudes. In Experiment 1, prior attitudes were experimentally induced, and in Experiment 2, prior attitudes were measured. Both studies found that majority messages were processed more extensively than minority messages when recipients held a moderate prior attitude. When recipients held an opposing prior attitude, however, the minority message was processed more extensively than the majority message. These findings supported the authors’ predictions and reconciled seemingly contradictory findings in the literature. Theoretical implications as well as avenues for future research are discussed.
The Death-Anxiety Buffering Function of Close Relationships: Exploring the Effects of Separation Reminders on Death-Thought Accessibility
Authors: Mikulincer Mario , Florian Victor , Birnbaum Gurit , Malishkevich Shira
Published: March 2007

Three studies examined the effects of separation reminders on death-thought accessibility. In Study 1, participants imagined a separation from a relationship partner, the death of such a partner, or a TV program. In Study 2, participants imagined a separation from a relationship partner, a separation from an acquaintance, or an academic failure. In Study 3, participants imagined a short-term, long-term, or final separation from a relationship partner. In the three studies, death-thought accessibility and attachment style were assessed. Thoughts of separation from a relationship partner led to heightened death-thought accessibility mainly when thoughts were focused on long-term or final separations and among persons scoring high on attachment anxiety. The discussion focused on the death-anxiety buffering function of close relationships.
Children’s Vocal Properties as Mobilizers of Stress-Related Physiological Responses in Adults
Authors: Lin Eta K. , Bugental Daphne Blunt , Turek Victoria , Martorell Gabriela A. , Olster Deborah H.
Published: March 2007

We measured the ways that women with varying degrees of perceived power respond physiologically to children’s elevated vocal pitch (F0 : fundamental frequency), a social dependence/immaturity cue. Listeners believed either that they would provide instructions or make judgments about the children they heard. As predicted, women with low perceived power in caregiving relationships (i.e., who attributed greater power to children than to self) were highly reactive to children’s pitch properties—in particular, when they anticipated providing instructions. When expecting to provide instructions to children with higher F0 voices, women with low perceived power showed elevations in cortisol levels and heart rate (consistent with defensive mobilization for threat). In all other pairings of women and children, cortisol and heart rate levels held relatively constant or declined. In addition, women with low perceived power showed better recall of messages from children with higher F0 voices than lower F0 voices. Implications are drawn for interaction patterns that foster caregiving stress and conflict.
Early Family Experiences and Adult Values: A 26-Year, Prospective Longitudinal Study
Authors: Kasser Tim , Koestner Richard , Lekes Natasha
Published: March 2007

Archival longitudinal data were used to examine relations of childhood environmental factors with adult values. Parental style and family socioeconomic status (SES) were assessed when participants were 5 years old. At age 31, participants completed the Rokeach Value Survey. Results indicated that adults focused on conformity values were more likely to have restrictive parents and to have been raised in lower SES families. Age-31 self-direction values were negatively correlated with parental restrictiveness at age 5, and age-31 security values were negatively correlated with parental warmth at age 5. Results with parenting variables remained significant after controlling for both childhood and concurrent SES. The pattern of findings is consistent with organismic-based theories, which suggest that the manner in which environments support or hinder need satisfaction influences individuals’ value development.
The Effects of Deception and Level of Obedience on Subjects' Ratings of the Milgram Study
Authors: Bickman Leonard , Zarantonello Matthew
Published: March 2007

Subjects read one of four versions of the Milgram (1964) obedience experiment. Both the degree of obedience and the amount of deception depicted in the descriptions were varied in a 2 X 2 design. Results showed no effects associated with deception in the subjects' ratings, nor any significant interactions between deception and obedience. However, subjects who read versions with a high level of obedience rated the experiment as more harmful to those who volunteered than subjects who read versions with a low level of obedience. It is suggested that the general public's judgment of the ethicality of psychological research may be in part determined by the results of that research.
Gossip, Gossipers, Gossiping
Authors: Fine Gary Alan , Rosnow Ralph L.
Published: March 2007

The nature and meaning of gossip are discussed, drawing upon interdisciplinary observations. Gossiping is not restricted to one modality of expression. Nor is gossip merely "idle talk!' (the common definition), but instead purposeful communication that appears to serve three primary functions-information, influence, and entertainment. Implications for further inquiry and theoretical integration are noted.
Effects of Relative Power on Cognitive Perspective-Taking
Authors: Tjosvold Dean , Sagaria Sabato D.
Published: March 2007

College students (N=125) were randomly assigned to one of five levels of relative power in a relationship: No power, low power, equal power, high power, and absolute Power. Subjects with absolute power, compared to subjects in the other conditions, were found to be less interested in cognitive perspective-taking and more interested in affective perspective-taking. Compared to subjects in the equal and absolute power conditions, subjects in the no power condition were more suspicious that the other would compete rather than cooperate.
Role-taking in a Communication Task
Authors: Foddy Margaret
Published: March 2007

In a word association task, psychology students (shared subgroup membership) utilized subgroup-relevant cues to communicate psychology-related words to psychology students, and suppressed these cues when paired with non-psychology students (mixed dyads). Dyads of same-subgroup members correctly identified more psychology target words, but did not take significantly less time than mixed dyads. Pairs of non-psychology students were least efficient. Results are related to a discussion of role-taking.
Groups Would Do Better without Humans
Authors: Anderson Lynn R.
Published: March 2007

A recent article entitled "Humans Would Do Better With- out Groups" (Buys, 1978) presented a misleading review of the small group literature. Positive effects of group membership were not reviewed nor did the author indicate how badly individuals behave when alone. The point is that small group theory can specify the structure of a near perfect group except for the "error" which occurs when inefficient, insecure, and illogical humans are added. Hence, it could be concluded that groups would do better without humans.
Noise Level and Social Discrimination
Authors: Siegel Judith M. , Steele Claude M.
Published: March 2007

The hypothesis that noise would affect judgments (the degree of discrimination exhibited) about ongoing social situations was supported in an experiment both with regard to subjects' discriminations between victim and harmdoer roles and with regard to their discrimination between possible causes for the victim' s behavior. Information on a post-experimental questionnaire further suggested that noise did not affect subjects' ability to encode information, but may have hindered their ability to consider the information.
The Role of Mindlessness in a Typical Social Psychological Experiment
Authors: Langer Ellen J. , Newman Helen M.
Published: March 2007

An experiment, offered as a methodological prototype, was conducted to assess whether subjects in a typical, successful social psychological experiment pick up cues planted by experimenters and then proceed relatively mindlessly with the task at hand. The Asch/Kelley experiment was used to test this hypothesis. Subjects were tested on recall of information they had just been given. As predicted, subjects who were mindless with respect to this information were more likely to confirm the Asch/Kelley prediction than disconfirm it, while there was no difference in confirmation for the mindful group. The implications of these results for our ability to generalize our findings from the laboratory to the nonlaboratory world were discussed.
Natural Disaster, Perceived Control, and Attributions to Fate
Authors: Parker Stanley D. , Brewer Marilynn B. , Spencer Janie R.
Published: March 2007

Taking advantage of the natural randomization of the consequences of a major brush fire, an interview study was conducted among affected homeowners one year following the fire. In comparison with those who had been equally exposed to the fire but not burned out, those whose homes had been destroyed attributed such outcomes more to luck and less to their own efforts, despite the fact that victims did not differ from nonvictims in actual efforts during the fire nor in characteristics of their homes. These results were interpreted as a naturalistic replication of previous findings regarding the illusion of control over chance events.
Locus of Control and Reactions to Strangers
Authors: Rajecki D. W. , Ickes William , Tanford Sarah
Published: March 2007

The behavior of male subjects with an internal or external locus of control orientation was studied in an unstructured dyadic situation. When confronted with one another as unfamiliar persons, externals talked more than internals, and looked at one another more. These results were interpreted to mean that externals were more socially dependent than internals, and that their behavior represented an attempt to clarify an ambiguous social situation. The responses of dyad members were highly correlated, with the result that effects for the personality dimension were generally evident at the level of the dyad, rather than at the subjects-withindyad level.
Biased Questions in Judgment of Covariation Studies
Authors: Crocker Jennifer
Published: March 2007

An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that the phrasing of a question about the relationship between two events can influence what information subjects feel they, need to answer the question. Subjects were presented with one of two covariation problems and w ere asked a question that explicitly mentioned one type of instance or a second type of instance, or an unbiased question that mentioned all,four relevant types of instances. As predicted, subjects who were asked a biased question most often requested the frequency of instances mentioned in the question. Subjects who were asked an unbiased question most frequently requested positive confirming instances and requested significantly more information to answer the question. The relationship of this study to other studies demonstrating confirmatory hypothesis-testing strategies and implications for conducting research on intuitive judgments about relationships between events are discussed.
Behavior Segmentation in a Dyadic Situation
Authors: Jensen Thomas D. , Schroeder David A.
Published: March 2007

A study was conducted to investigate the generality of behavioral segmentation phenomena that have been observed in single-actor situations to dyadic situations. Changes in subjects' segmentation strategies via instructional manipulations and across time were found. The generality of the feature change hypothesis from single-actor situations to dyadic-actor situations was addressed.
Nixon and Watergate
Authors: Carretta Thomas R. , Moreland Richard L.
Published: March 2007

A field demonstration of belief perseverance was conducted using survey data from the Cleveland area. Voters' beliefs about Richard Nixon were assessed three times during the U.S. Senate's Watergate hearings: shortly before the hearings began, during the Memorial Day recess, and just after John Dean's testimony. As the hearings progressed, respondents who said they voted for Nixon in 1972 persevered in their positive beliefs about him, while respondents who said the) voted for McGovern in 1972 became more negative in their beliefs about Nixon. Belief perseverance among Nixon's supporters may' have reflected their biased search, appraisal, and recall strategies for processing information about Nixon and the Watergate affair.
Self-Consciousness and Clothing
Authors: Solomon Michael R. , Schopler John
Published: March 2007

A questionnaire study was undertaken to investigate if different aspects of self-consciousness related to clothing attitudes and strategic use of clothing. The major purpose was to determine if the trait of public self-consciousness, as delineated by Buss, would be systematically related to clothing measures. A secondary goal was to investigate sex differences, with the expectation that the linkage between clothing measures and self-consciousness would be stronger for women. Participating in the study were 104 subjects. Clothing measures showed a consistent and pervasive correlation with scores on public self-consciousness. Contrary to expectations, the magnitude of these relationships was greater for men than for women. The results are discussed in terms of the tactical use of such social and symbolic products as clothing for self-definition.
Mortality, Well-Being, and Control
Authors: Janoff-Bulman Ronnie , Marshall Grant
Published: March 2007

Elderly nursing home residents were interviewed in order to determine the best predictors of psychological well-being. Results indicated that the most positive well-being was likely to be reported by those who perceived themselves as relatively healthy, had little education, had high perceived control, and perceived little change in control from pre-to postrelocation. Social worker's assessments of residents' health were unrelated to well-being. A follow-up of residents' mortality was conducted 30 months after the initial study. Well-being at Time I emerged as the most powerful discriminator of those who were living and those who had died; only perceived change in religiosity also differentiated between the two groups. Residents who had died had higher well-being scores at Time I than residents who were living. The implications for perceived control are discussed.
Interpersonal Problem-Solving Skills and Depression-Proneness
Authors: Zemore Robert , Dell Lewis W.
Published: March 2007

This study assessed the relationship between interpersonal problem-solving skills, as measured by the Means-Ends Problem-Solving Procedure (MEPS), and depression-proneness, as measured by self-ratings of the frequency, duration, and severity of past depressive episodes. Results were consistent with predictions generated by interpersonal theories of depression. University students with poor interpersonal problem-solving skills were more depression-prone than students with good interpersonal skills. Partial correlations controlling for subjects' current level of depression did not diminish this relationship.
Inducing Self-Perceptions
Authors: Riggs Janet Morgan , Monach Ellen M. , Ogburn T. Allen , Pahides Susan
Published: March 2007

Fazio, Effrein, and Falender (1981) showed that asking subjects questions designed to elicit information primarily about introverted or extraverted life events results in shifts in self-perceptions and social behavior in the direction of the type of question asked. The present study examined the durability of this effect with regard to self-perceptions. Subjects were randomly selected to answer either introverted or extraverted questions and to interact with a confederate trained to act in either an introverted or extraverted manner. A main effect of question type was found on subjects' self-perception of introversion-extraversion both before and after interaction with the confederate. In addition, changes in self-perception were found to be influenced by confederate type.
Post-Decisional Reevaluation of Choice Alternatives
Authors: Gerard Harold B. , White Gregory L.
Published: March 2007

In a free-choice experiment, subjects chose between two pairs of alternatives, each containing a positively and a negatively valued feature. The results confirmed dissonance theory in that the negative feature of the chosen alternatives increased in value from before to after the choice. However, the positive feature of the rejected alternative decreased only slightly. Implications of the findings for the theory are discussed.
Selected Psychosocial Characteristics of Males
Authors: Andres David , Gold Dolores , Berger Charlene , Kinch Robert , Gillett Peter
Published: March 2007

A total of 111 men whose partners were either receiving an early first trimester abortion or obtaining contraception were compared on personality characteristics, attitudes toward sex-related topics, and variables describing their relationship with their partners. As predicted, the major differences between these groups were in the areas of attitudes and sexual relationship with partner. Men in the contraceptive group expressed more liberal attitudes toward sex and contraceptive practices as well as a higher frequency of coitus than the men in the abortion partner group. The data were further analyzed by dividing the abortion partner group into those men who had used contraception in the past and those who had not done so. The finding that more conservative attitudes toward sex-related topics are held by the noncontracepting men, particularly those involved with an abortion, lends support to Byrne's theoretical formulations concerning the importance of attitudes in determining contraceptive behavior.
Mechanisms Underlying the False Consensus Effect
Authors: Sherman Steven J. , Presson Clark C. , Chassin Laurie
Published: March 2007

The current studies investigated the role of self-serving motivations in the False Consensus Effect (FCE). There were two major goals. First, the studies tested whether consensus estimates would be increased when judges receive threats to self in the form of failure feedback about their performance on an experimental task. The second goal of the studies was to investigate whether self-knowledge plays a special role in the FCE beyond the use of the self as simply a single available case in memory. The current findings indicated that judges indeed use the behavior of an available case (whether the self or an other) in making inferences about a target group. Moreover, under success conditions, the available case information was sufficient to account for the extent of perceived consensus. However, under failure feedback, a judge's own behavior increased estimates above and beyond the effect of information about an available individual When the self is threatened, perceptions of consensus may be increased by a motivation to seek normalization and support for one's own behavior.
Affective Consequences of Variation in Behavior Perception
Authors: Lassiter G. Daniel , Stone Julie I.
Published: March 2007

An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that finer levels of behavior analysis may lead to greater liking for an observed other. A sample of 30 male and female college students were instructed to analyze an actor's behavior into either fine, natural, or gross units of action. As predicted, fine-unit subjects subsequently liked the actor more than did natural-unit subjects who, in turn, liked the actor more than did gross-unit subjects, as measured by both behavior and self-reports. It is argued that these results are consistent with the notion that level of analysis regulates the amount of information gained from the observation of behavior. Some boundary conditions suggested by this interpretation are discussed.
Social Comparison Theory
Authors: Goethals George R.
Published: March 2007

The history of Festinger's social comparison theory is traced from its publication in 1954 to its celebration at the APA convention in 1984. Social comparison theory received little attention after its original publication. Possible explanations include Festinger's turning to dissonance theory and the relatively low circulation of the journal in which it was published, Human Relations. The theory was kept alive by Schachter's work on affiliation and emotions and by the papers published in Latane's (1966) JESP Social Comparison supplement. After the 1966 supplement, work by Pettigrew, Brickman, and Wheeler and the linkage of social comparison to attribution theory rekindled interest in comparison processes. This interest culminated in the publication of Suls and Miller's (1977) book on social comparison. Interest in social comparison is predicted to remain high because of the centrality of social comparison processes in overall self-evaluation and their relevance to a wide range of social psychological concerns, including attribution. Unresolved questions and new directions are discussed.
Self-Confirmatory Effects of Delay on Perceived Contribution to a Joint Activity
Authors: Kulik James A. , Mahler Heike I. M.
Published: March 2007

In the present experiment, groups of self-perceived extroverts and introverts engaged in getting acquainted conversations. Either immediately afterward or one week later, participants judged their own contribution to the conversation (percentage of time they had done the talking). The results revealed that controlling for actual amount of participation, extroverts' self-perceived participation tended to increase over time, whereas introverts' self-judged contributions decreased with time. Possible determinants of the observed self-confirmatory pattern of judgments are considered, and implications for work on egocentric biases are discussed.
Depressive Symptoms and Attributional Style in Children
Authors: Friedlander Steven , Traylor John A. , Weiss Daniel S.
Published: March 2007

The applicability of the reformulated helplessness model of depression to children was assessed with outpatient samples from child psychiatric (N = 29) and pediatric (N = 26) clinics. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to determine the relationship between attributional style and depressive symptoms. In contrast to theoretical prediction, the results indicated that a measure of the attribution of positive events to external, unstable, and specific factors was a more important predictor of depressive symptoms in children than was a measure of the attribution of negative events to internal, stable, and global factors. In the context of similarly inconsistent findings with adults, the results are discussed in terms of the applicability of the helplessness model of depression to children and the need for further revision and refinement of the reformulated helplessness hypothesis to take account of the growing number of studies reporting results inconsistent with its postulates.
Physical Attractiveness, Sex Role Orientation, and the Evaluation of Adults and Children
Authors: Moore Janet S. , Graziano William G. , Millar Murray G.
Published: March 2007

Androgynous and sex-typed participants evaluated adult and child target persons of varying levels of physical attractiveness on several social dimensions. All participants of both sexes attributed more positive qualities to highly physically attractive stimulus persons than to moderately attractive and unattractive targets. In evaluating transgressions, however, androgynous persons were less influenced by the target's physical appearance than were sex-typed persons. Potential reasons for androgynous persons' suspension of the physical attractiveness stereotype when evaluating social transgressions were explored. Finally, results were discussed within the context of gender schema theory.
The Role of Consciousness in Priming Effects on Categorization
Authors: Lombardi Wendy J. , Higgins E. Tory , Bargh John A.
Published: March 2007

Consciousness of a priming event at the time information about the event is retrieved from memory is argued to make a qualitative difference as to the consequences of the prime for subsequent social judgments. Two experiments are reported that provide evidence bearing on this hypothesis. Experiment 1 demonstrated that whether or not subjects can recall any of the priming stimuli presented in a first task dramatically influences which of two evaluatively dissimilar primed constructs they subsequently use in their categorizations of a target description. Subjects who could recall one or more primes showed contrast effects with regard to the more accessible construct, whereas subjects who could not recall any primes showed assimilation effects. Experiment 2 showed that interruption of the priming task resulted in assimilation effects for both the recall and the no-recall subjects. Together, these findings suggest that the function of consciousness of the priming events is to enable subjects to process subsequent information relevant to the primed constructs more flexibly. The results of both studies are discussed in terms of their relevance for theoretical distinctions between episodic and semantic memory and between automatic and controlled cognitive processing.
The Role of Physical Attractiveness in the Interpretation of Facial Expression Cues
Authors: Forgas Joseph P.
Published: March 2007

Does the meaning of nonverbal signals depend on the physical attractiveness of the communicator? This study looked at the way positive or neutral facial expression cues by attractive or unattractive female communicators are interpreted. Subjects read detailed descriptions of a female target character accompanied by realistic pictures showing her as physically attractive or unattractive and displaying either a positive (smiling) or a neutral facial expression. Three dimensions of impression formation were assessed: evaluation, self-confidence, and responsibility. Results showed (1) that both physical attractiveness and facial expression had a positive main effect on judgments and (2) that there was a significant and nonobvious interaction on judgments of self-confidence and responsibility. Smiling made attractive targets appear more self-confident, and also more responsible for transgressions, but the same expression had exactly the opposite effect when displayed by unattractive individuals. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for nonverbal communication in real-life situations and in terms of their relevance to current work on physical attractiveness and impression formation
Cognitive Loafing
Authors: Weldon Elizabeth , Gargano Gina M.
Published: March 2007

The study reported here tests the effects of accountability and shared responsibility on cognitive effort. Fifty undergraduate students performed a multiattribute judgment task, and math models of their judgments were constructed. As expected, judges who shared responsibility for the judgment task and were not held accountable for their judgments used less complex judgment strategies than judges working alone. This replicates the social loafing effect found by Weldon and Gargano (1985) in an earlier study of cognitive effort. Results also showed that social loafing was reduced under conditions of individual accountability. Multiple judges who expected to justify their judgments worked as hard as individual judges on one measure of cognitive effort.
Effects of Involvement on Observers' Estimates of Consensus, Distinctiveness, and Consistency
Authors: Chen Hong-Jen , Yates Brian T. , McGinnies Elliott
Published: March 2007

It was hypothesized that personal involvement affects actors' and observers' effort, ability, difficulty, and luck attributions. In addition, different involvement levels were expected to affect actors' and observers' consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency information estimates. Results partially confirm Kelley's attribution model. The findings support the notion that involvement is relevant to interpretations of actors' and observers' attribution differences and information inferences.
What is the Factorial Structure of the Private and Public Self-Consciousness Scales?
Authors: Piliavin Jane Allyn , Charng Hong-Wen
Published: March 2007

The Fenigstein, Scheier, and Buss (1975) private and public self-consciousness scales were administered to two samples of blood donors as part of longitudinal research on commitment to donation: 658 U.S. voluntary donors who were contacted by mail and 256 Polish donors, some paid, some volunteer, who were interviewed. A principal axis factor analysis of the U.S. data extracted essentially the same three-factor solution obtained by Burnkrant and Page (1984) and by Lennox, Welch, Wolfe, Zimmerman, and Dixon (1987), rather than the expected two factors obtained originally by Fenigstein et al. and by Scheier and Carver (1985) in a recent replication. The same two subfactors of the original private self-consciousness scale were found in the Polish data. These two subscales correlate in opposite directions with a measure of identity seeking in both data sets, and with self-esteem in the Polish data. Further conceptual and psychometric work to clarify the importance of this factorial structure is suggested.
Behavior and Prevention of AIDS
Authors: O'Keeffe Mary K. , Nesselhof-Kendall Sarah , Baum Andrew
Published: March 2007

At present, modification of specific, typically social behaviors to reduce or eliminate risk of AIDS is the only way to control spread of the disease. Social psychological research that has implications for the prevention of AIDS and HIV infection, including research concerning group and normative pressures, attitude formation and change, and social context, is reviewed Some ongoing AIDS intervention efforts are also discussed. By applying social psychological findings to AIDS education and prevention efforts, we may learn more about the dynamics associated with being at risk for HIV infection and perhaps further our knowledge of social pressures in general. Until a vaccine or cure is developed for this diseased our knowledge of social behavior will play a large role in both changing the public's attitudes toward AIDS and its victims and modifying or eliminating risk behaviors that lead to HIV infection and spread
Reducing Sex Differences in Visual Displays of Dominance
Authors: Brown Clifford E. , Dovidio John F. , Ellyson Steve L.
Published: March 2007

Previous research has demonstrated, consistent with expectation states theory, that men display greater power visually on masculine and non-gender-linked tasks than women; whereas women exhibit more power visually on feminine tasks than men. Our study investigated more specifically the role that actual knowledge plays in moderating sex differences in visual displays of power on gender-linked tasks. Mixed-sex dyads discussed two masculine, two feminine, and two non-gender-linked tasks. For one set of masculine, feminine, and non-gender-linked tasks, both dyad members received training related to the tasks; for the other set of tasks, subjects received no special training. The results for the tasks on which subjects did not receive training generally replicated the earlier findings. When sex differences in task familiarity were substantially reduced by training, however, sex differences in visual displays of power were eliminated. These findings demonstrate the importance of actual knowledge as a moderator of power-related visual behavior
Capacity Responsibility in Social Evaluation
Authors: Alicke Mark D. , Davis Teresa L.
Published: March 2007

Negative social evaluations for undesirable behavior are usually forestalled if behavior was constrained by personal limitations and incapacities or external coercive pressures. A study was designed to demonstrate that social evaluations are based not only on the degree of constraint that exists in the immediate situation but also on responsibility for the process by which control was inhibited Capacity-development responsibility refers to responsibility for the development of an incapacitating characteristic such as depression, alcoholism, or neurosis, whereas capacity-activation responsibility refers to responsibility for the activation of an incapacity in situations where the incapacity may produce negative outcomes. Subjects were presented with a series of vignettes that varied capacity-development and capacity-activation responsibility, as well as the severity of the outcome that occurred. Each of these factors significantly influenced judgments of blame and punishment. The implications of capacity-development and capacity-activation responsibility for social judgment are discussed, as well as avenues for further research.
An Attribution-Empathy Model of Helping Behavior
Authors: Betancourt Hector
Published: March 2007

In this article, the integration of an attribution approach and an empathy approach to helping behavior is pursued, and causal relationships among variables independently studied in these two areas are investigated. The data from two experiments (on judgments of help-giving and actual help offered, respectively) strongly suggest that causal attributions and empathy induced by manipulating the subjects' perspective in approaching a helping scenario additively determine helping behavior. The proposed mediating role of perceived controllability of attributions and empathic emotions was supported. In addition, the perspective of a potential helper (empathic vs. objective) was found to influence the perception of controllability of the causal attribution for a victim's need. A structural equations model was developed and tested, integrating causal attributions, induced empathy, and empathic emotions as determinants of helping behavior.
The Goals of Excuses and Communication Strategies Related to Causal Perceptions
Authors: Weiner Bernard , Figueroa-Munioz Alice , Kakihara Craig
Published: March 2007

Three investigations described the contents and goals of excuses, focusing on how these goals can be reached by altering causal perceptions of the recipient of the excuse. It was found that there are three goals of public excuses that can be incorporated within an attributional analysis: to preserve the self-esteem, lessen the anger, and change the expectancies of the receiver of the excuse. These three goals are uniquely linked in attribution theory to three properties of perceived causality: respectively, causal locus, controllability, and stability. Withheld reasons for an event or outcome were internal and controllable (forgetting! negligence and intent), while substantially all communicated excuses were external, uncontrollable, and unstable (e.g., prior commitment, work/study demands). The data suggest that excuse givers follow simple rules when searching for an excuse and that there is a very parsimonious analysis of some excuse-related communications.
Insights about Attitudes: Meta-Analytic Perspectives
Authors: Johnson Blair T.
Published: March 2007

Attitudes have long been a popular subject of inquiry for social psychologists and other researchers. Serving to integrate this research, meta-analytic techniques have been used to examine (a) whether people are differentially evaluated because they possess such prominent features as attractiveness or age, (b) whether fear arousal, distraction, message strength, involvement, and time of measurement are related to message-induced attitude change, and (c) the impact of attitudes on memory and behavior: The findings and implications of specific reviews within these general areas are critiqued, and it is concluded that carefully performed meta-analyses can yield a great number of important insights about attitudes.
Similarity and Satisfaction in Roommate Relationships
Authors: Carli Linda L. , Ganley Roseanne , Pierce-Otay Amy
Published: March 2007

Two studies examined the effects of similarity on friendship formation. In the first, 30 pairs of randomly assigned college roommates completed a questionnaire measuring personality and satisfaction. Judges rated subjects' physical attractiveness from photographs. Similarity in personality and attractiveness both resulted in greater satisfaction with roommate relationships. However, the effect of similarity in attractiveness was significant only for the more attractive member of each pair. In the second study, 67 freshmen rated their own and their roommates' attractiveness and personality characteristics. The more attractive subjects perceived themselves, relative to their roommates, the more they reported that their roommates interfered with their social lives and the less they reported that their roommates helped them to meet people, suggesting that the degree of similarity in attractiveness may be a more important determinant of satisfaction when one's fiend is less attractive than oneself
Microexpressive Facial Actions as a Function of Affective Stimuli: Replication and Extension
Authors: Cacioppo John T. , Bush Lauren K. , Tassinary Louis G.
Published: March 2007

The effects of communicative intent and stimulus affectivity on facial electromyogrqphic (EMG) activity were investigated. Subjects viewed slides of pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant social or nature scenes under no instruction, inhibit-expression instructions, and amplify-expression instructions. Results revealed that facial EMG activity was highest in the amplify and lowest in the inhibit condition; EMG activity over the corrugator supercilii region varied as a function of the affective valence of the stimuli regardless of instructional condition; and facial EMG activity did not differ when subjects were exposed to slides of nature versus social scenes that were matched for rated pleasantness. These results suggest that facial efference can be altered by both affective and communicative processes even when it is too subtle to produce a socially perceptible facial expression.
Self-Protection and Self-Enhancement Biases in Estimates of Population Prevalence
Authors: Agostinelli Gina , Sherman Steven J. , Presson Clark C. , Chain Laurie
Published: March 2007

Population prevalence estimates of others' successes and failures at a task were used to assess self-serving biases in response to one's own success and failure. The strength of self-protective motives in reaction to failure feedback and self-enhancing motives in reaction to success feedback was assessed. Large biases based on self-protection motives were observed, in that failure subjects made higher estimates of others' failure and lower estimates of others' success than no-feedback control subjects. Biases based on self-enhancement were observed only for non-depressed subjects. In addition, nondepressed failure subjects showed generalized effects of the self-protection motive, as they evidenced larger false consensus biases than control subjects for task-unrelated attributes and beliefs. Finally, all motivational effects were considerably stronger for nondepressed than for depressed subjects. Implications for processes underlying biases in population prevalence estimates are discussed.
Dogmatism and te Persistence of Discredited Beliefs
Authors: Davies Martin F.
Published: March 2007

Belief persistence was examined as a function of dogmatism. In a self perception paradigm, subjects persisted in their belief in apparent success or failure after discrediting of the original evidence. However, belief persistence was much greater for those high than for those low in dogmatism. These findings were replicated in a social perception paradigm where subjects evaluated the outcomes of psychological experiments. Subjects persisted in their beliefs even when told that the experimental outcomes were fictitious. Again, belief persistence was much greater for those high than for those low in dogmatism. Subjects generated significantly more reasons supporting the reported outcome than the opposite outcome. Those high in dogmatism generated fewer reasons for the opposite outcome than those low in dogmatism. Differential reason generation accounted for some of the belief persistence effect and for most of the differences in belief persistence as a function of dogmatism.
Mock Jurors Versus Mock Juries: The Role of Deliberations in Reactions to Inadmissible Testimony
Authors: Kerwin Jeffrey , Shaffer David R.
Published: March 2007

The consensus among authors in the area of juridic decision making is that trial jurors often readily disregard judicial instructions to ignore inadmissible evidence. Perhaps, however, the moderating influence of a key methodological variable-the presence or absence of group deliberations-has been overlooked by those making this assertion. It was hypothesized that mock juries (who participate in deliberations) would be more likely to follow judicial instructions to ignore inadmissible testimony than mock jurors (responding individually, without deliberations). Results supported this hypothesis.
Group Identification and Self-Esteem of Deaf Adults
Authors: Bat-Chava Yael
Published: March 2007

Using a sample of 267 deaf adults, members of a stigmatized collective, this study tested three notions: (a) The ecological context in which group members live affects identification with their group; (b) group identification has a positive effect on members' self-esteem; and (c) several psychological mechanisms mediate between group identification and self-esteem. The first two notions received support. Family and school deafness were associated with group identification, which, in turn, had a positive effect on self-esteem both directly and through its moderating effect on the negative relationships between several variables and self-esteem. Data did not provide support, however, for the proposal that several variables mediate between group identification and self-esteem. Results highlight the importance of considering both the personal ecology of participants and their social-political context, as well as suggest revisions in theories on group identification and self-steem.
Why Act for the Public Good? Four Answers
Authors: Batson C. Daniel
Published: March 2007

A conceptual analysis is offered that differentiates four motives for acting for the public good: egoism, collectivism, altruism, and principlism. Differentiation is based on identification of a unique ultimate goal for each motive. For egoism, the ultimate goal is self-benefit; for collectivism, it is to increase group welfare; for altruism, to increase one or more other individuals' welfare; for principlism, to uphold one or more moral principles. Advocates claim that these last three motives cannot be reduced to egoism. Evidence for this claim is limited, however, especially for collectivism and principlism. It is hoped that the conceptual distinctions proposed will permit broader, more precise empirical study of nonegoistic motives for acting for the public good.
Comparison Direction and Comparison Dimension among Disabled Individuals: Toward a Refined Conceptualization of Social Comparison Under Stress
Authors: Buunk Bram P.
Published: March 2007

In a sample of 168 Dutch individuals falling under the Disablement Insurance Act, it was found that (a) uncertainty and frustration were related to a need for social comparison; (b) the desire for information about similar others was stronger than the desire for affiliation with such others; (c) the evaluation of one's situation was particularly affected by health problems and independently by the perception of being worse off than others;(d) there was a relatively stronger preference for contact with, and information about, others who were better off among those evaluating their own situation negatively; (e) individuals were more interested in obtaining information about comparable others who were coping better than in talking to such others; and (1) there were stronger upward preferences on the coping dimension than on the problem severity dimension. The results are discussed in the context of Taylor and Lobel's model.
My Transplant is My Life: Compliance Status as a Moderator of Differential Susceptibility to Item Context Effects
Authors: Rudman Laurie A. , Gonzales Marti Hope , Borgida Eugene
Published: March 2007

A context effect experiment was embedded in a structured telephone survey of renal transplant recipients. Respondents received a specific question, "How satisfied are you with your transplant?," and a global assessment question, "How satisfied are you with life in general?.," under either contrast, assimilation, or control conditions. Importantly, context effects interacted with the treatment adherence status of respondents such that noncompliant recipients were less susceptible to the context manipulations. Results point to the importance of considering respondents' characteristics as potential moderators of item context effects and have implications for intervention strategies.
Features of Situations: A Two-Mode Clustering Study of Situation Prototypes
Authors: Eckes Thomas
Published: March 2007

A new statistical procedure, two-mode clustering analysis, was used to examine consensual beliefs about the features of situations typically occurring within the university milieu. Forty-eight students were asked to keep a written record of the situations they encountered over a 1-week period. The 30 most frequently mentioned situation labels were presented to an independent sample of subjects for rating on bipolar scales. A two-mode hierarchical clustering analysis of the situation-by-feature rating data yielded nine clusters showing how situations relate to each other, how situation-descriptive features relate to each other, and, most important, how situations and features relate to each other Additionally, an overlapping clustering solution was derived illuminating the fuzzy nature of situation categories. Implications of the present methodology for research on situation cognition are discussed.