bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
‘Cause Duncan's me mate’: A comparison of reported relations with mates and with friends in Australia
Authors: Morse Stanley J. , Marks Alan
Published: June 2011

One way to begin to construct a taxonomy of social relationships is to compare ongoing relationships to which people in different societies apply different, but somewhat ambiguous, labels. In this study of ‘mateship’ and ‘friendship’ in Australia, 175 persons at three beaches in Adelaide described two ‘mates’ and two ‘friends’ and indicated how frequently they engaged during the previous year in 15 activities with each mate and each friend. Results suggest that (a) persons engage in essentially the same social activities but in different forms of intimacy with mates and friends, (b) relations with friends are less activity‐specific, and thus more intimate, than relations with mates, (c) middle‐class friendship is less activity‐specific, and thus more intimate, than both middle‐class mateship and working‐class friendship, and (d) mateship tends, more than friendship, to be a same‐sex relationship, especially for men and among the working class. These results are discussed within the context of accounts of mateship in Australia and Britain and of the possibly culture‐bound nature of most work on social relationships.
Standards of justice and quality of power in a social dilemma situation
Authors: Wilke Henk A. M. , de Boer Karst L. , Liebrand Wim B. G.
Published: June 2011

In most social dilemma studies (Dawes, 1980), participants have equal access to the common resources. In this study one group member—the powerholder—was able to take three times as many outcomes as the average group member. In half of the groups this ability of the powerholder was acquired by previous effort expenditure (the merit condition); in the other half of the groups the power was usurped (the usurpation condition). Mulder's power theory (Mulder, 1972) predicts that difference in quality of power has no effect, while other insights (e.g. Austin & Hatfield, 1980) suggest that legitimation has an impact on the behaviour of other participants. In half of the groups the powerholder took three times as much as the average group member. Insights derived from social justice literature (Austin & Hatfield, 1980) suggest that when the powerholder takes more than the average fellow group member—this being so in the so‐called proportional outcomes condition—then the proportionality standard of justice will be introduced. Consequently, his or her fellow group members should take fewer outcomes than in the equal outcomes condition, in which the powerholder takes as many outcomes as the average group member and in which the equality standard of justice may be assumed to be introduced by the powerholder. Using a 2 (usurpation vs. merit) x 2 (proportional vs. equal outcomes) design, several hypotheses were tested in a social dilemma situation. The results indicate that Mulder's quality of power hypothesis was supported, i.e. legitimation had no effect on the ‘harvesting’ behaviour of regular group members. However, a legitimate powerholder later received more social support than a usurper (cf. French & Raven, 1959). The standard of justice hypothesis (Austin & Hatfield, 1980) was sustained, since regular group members in the proportional outcomes condition took fewer outcomes than those in the equal outcomes condition.
Attitudes and normative beliefs as predictors of smoking intentions and behaviours: A test of three models
Authors: Grube Joel W. , Morgan Mark , McGree Sheila T.
Published: June 2011

This paper considers three potentially important modifications to the theory of reasoned action (Fishbein, 1980). It was hypothesized that (i) behavioural norms, or beliefs about the behaviours of others, are important influences above and beyond subjective norms; (ii) the effects of attitudes and normative beliefs on intentions and behaviours are interdependent and interactive rather than additive; and (iii) the beliefs underlying subjective and behavioural norms are multidimensional rather than unidimensional. These hypotheses were tested in two surveys of smoking intentions and behaviour. The respondents in the first study were primary school children and those in the second study were college students. In both cases behavioural norms and the attitude‐normative belief interactions led to significant increases in the prediction of smoking intentions and behaviour. Exploratory factor analyses also suggested that the beliefs underlying subjective norms may be multidimensional rather than unidimensional. These results thus support the hypotheses and suggest that the theory of reasoned action should be modified accordingly.
Affiliation in an unavoidable stressful situation: An examination of the utility theory
Authors: Rofé Yacov , Lewin Isaac
Published: June 2011

This research compared the validity of the utility theory (Rofé, 1984) and emotional comparison theory (Schachter, 1959) regarding affiliative and conversational tendencies immediately before and after child delivery. The effects of repression‐sensitization, level of anxiety, education and birth status were also examined. Results showed that prior to delivery women tended to want to be alone, while after delivery they desired to be with others. Women who chose to be with others before delivery preferred to be silent or to talk about topics irrelevant to the birth. The tendency to avoid the company of other women immediately before delivery was stronger among repressors and more highly educated subjects. These results appear to be consistent with utility theory but not with emotional comparison theory.
The effects of two forms of decision reappraisal on the perception of pertinent arguments
Authors: McLachlan Angus
Published: June 2011

The experiment examined a central assumption of the informational influence explanation of group polarization: that arguments have inherent qualities which elicit from subjects shared and unchanging evaluations. Subjects were required to make binary decisions either on choice dilemma (CD) items or on attitude items and then assess the relevance of two comprehensive sets of arguments to that decision. On each item, one set of arguments favoured one course of action (CD items) or pole (attitude items) and the second set, the alternative course or pole. Subjects then either reconsidered their decision, or reconsidered it and wrote a passage justifying their current decision, and then reassessed the relevance of the arguments. It was found that after their initial decision, subjects discriminated significantly more clearly between the opposing sets of arguments on the attitude items compared with those on the CD items. Secondly, the trend to accentuate this perceived difference following decision reappraisal was significantly greater when subjects had to justify their decision. Thirdly, this accentuation process was more marked on the CD items than on the attitude items irrespective of the form of decision reappraisal. The informational influence explanation appeared incapable of explaining these results and an alternative interpretation based on social identity theory is offered.
Sex‐role stereotyping in British radio advertisements
Authors: Furnham Adrian , Schofield Sandra
Published: June 2011

The study described here attempted to replicate British and American studies of the portrayal of men and women in television advertisements using radio commercials. The main aim was to determine whether the medium of radio is as prone to sex‐role stereotyping as is television advertising. Nearly 100 advertisements were content analysed into seven categories referring to the central figure, credibility, role, location, arguments, reward, product and accent. As previously found, male and female characters were portrayed in different ways particularly as regards credibility (males as authorities, females as users), role (males as celebrities/narrator) and location (females in the home more than males). The results are discussed in terms of sex‐role stereotyping on different aspects of the mass media.
Children's performance as a function of sex‐typed labels
Authors: Davies Dilys R.
Published: June 2011

The effect of sex‐typed labelling of a task on the performance of 11‐, 13‐ and 16‐year‐old children was studied. To investigate whether labelling had a direct influence on performance a perceptual‐motor task was labelled as either needlework (female‐appropriate) or electronics (male‐appropriate). The results indicated that children perform better at tasks labelled as sex‐appropriate than those labelled as sex‐inappropriate.
Strategies for linking individual psychology and social structure: Interdisciplinary and cross‐disciplinary social psychology
Authors: Taylor Marylee C. , Johnson Michael P.
Published: June 2011

Exploring relationships between individual psychology and social structure is taken to be the critical task of social psychology. Two alternate strategies for accomplishing this task are identified. The interdisciplinary strategy, embodied in the interpretive sociologies, develops a unified body of research and theory concerned with interaction, a phenomenon that exists at the intersection of psychology and sociology, and forms a bridge between them. The cross‐disciplinary strategy examines relationships between psychological and social‐structural variables.

A review of relevant literature embodying each of these strategies suggests that the limits and liabilities of each are partially checked and remedied by the advantages and strengths of the other. The interdisciplinary strategy has the advantage of theoretical coherence, but as currently practised it tends to underemphasize social‐structural issues. The cross‐disciplinary strategy gives social structure its due but often ignores mediational processes and suffers from theoretical as well as professional fragmentation. A social psychology containing interdisciplinary and cross‐disciplinary enterprises, both operating in concert with ‘psychological social psychology’, can provide the strongest base for understanding the mutual dependence of individual psychology and social structure.
A sense of place: Vico and the social production of social identities
Authors: Shotter John
Published: June 2011

Currently there is a need for an account of the socio‐psychological or socio‐historical processes which produce not just single individuals but ‘collective individualities’ or ‘social identities’. This paper explores Vico's contribution to the solution of this problem. His account of such socio‐historical processes is unique in suggesting that socio‐historical processes develop neither by chance nor by necessity, but providentially, i.e. by the ‘organized settings’ people construct in their own past activities, providing a set of enabling constraints for their current activities. Thus social processes are based, he claims, not upon anything pre‐established either in people or their surroundings, but in socially shared identities of feeling they themselves create in the flow of activity between them. These identities he calls ‘sensory topics’—‘topics’ (Greek topos = ‘place’) because they give rise to ‘commonplaces’, i.e. to shared moments in a flow of social activity which afford common reference, and ‘sensory’ because they are moments in which shared feelings for already shared circumstances are created. These, he claims, constitute the prelinguistic origins of a social order, the paradigms or prototypes from which more organized, conceptual forms of communication may be derived. His account of socio‐historical processes has implications for how we, as social psychologists, (1) should ‘place’ or situate ourselves in relation to those we study in our investigations, (2) for how we might formulate our topics of study, and (3) for the form in which we should communicate our results to those we study.
The significance of social identities
Authors: Duveen Gerard , Lloyd Barbara
Published: June 2011

Common‐sense meanings of the ‘individual’ and the ‘social’ are examined emphasizing the fallacy of viewing them as denoting separate entities given in nature. The concept of social representations is used to explain the construction of these categories in terms of the particular systems of values, ideas and practices of different societies. The concept of social identity marks the individual‐social interface interpreted as the construction of individuals in relation to the social representations of significant groups in their society.

The earliest constructions of a social identity are traced in the domain of gender because this is a ubiquitous feature of social life, involving the differentiation of only two groups; they are obligatory and use physical differences to provide the signifiers in a semiotic system of social representations. Empirical evidence is reviewed showing that the development of a social gender identity is a complex process and involves many aspects of children's activity slowly coming to be regulated by the particular social representation of gender dominant in their society.
The significance of the social identity concept for social psychology with reference to individualism, interactionism and social influence
Authors: Turner John C. , Oakes Penelope J.
Published: June 2011

The distinctive metatheoretical and empirical significance of the social identity concept for social psychology is outlined with special reference to social influence and group polarization. ‘Individualism’ and ‘interactionism’ are summarized and contrasted as alternative metatheories of social psychology and it is argued that the social identity concept embodies the latter. A social identity theory of group behaviour (and the individual‐group relationship) is introduced and from it are derived further theories of social influence and group polarization. The latter is explained as a special case of normal intragroup influence. It is shown how the social identity theory (theories) of group behaviour, social influence and group polarization explicitly assumes a functional interaction between psychological and social processes, in contrast to individualism, and at the same time generates distinctive, testable, empirical predictions. It is concluded that the social identity concept represents a mechanism of social‐psychological interaction and as such demonstrates that social psychology need not be an individualistic science.
The effects of race similarity on interpersonal judgement in the Graduate Selection Interview
Authors: Ghee Kenneth L. , Rozelle Richard M. , Baxter James C.
Published: June 2011

The present study is an extension of the Dornbusch et al. (1965) model of research on perceiver effects vs. perceived characteristics in interpersonal judgement. To explore the effect of race similarity on within‐judge and between‐judge agreement on actor disposition, 20 black and 20 white student judges were randomly assigned to evaluate two distinctly different same race or dissimilar race actor characterizations under conditions of accountability and responsibility. Same and dissimilar race conditions were manipulated in the context of having judges rate mock videotaped interviews of two (same or dissimilar race) candidates applying to graduate school in psychology. As expected, same race judge and candidate conditions (e.g. white judges viewing white candidates) produced significantly higher between‐judge over within‐judge and chance agreement levels on perceived candidate dispositions. In contrast, dissimilar race conditions (e.g. white judges viewing black candidates) did not produce significant differences among the three agreement comparisons. Results were compared with previous studies that have obtained effects reflecting characteristics of the target (‘perceived’ effect) and suggest the need for more qualification under constrained conditions. The present findings suggest that both category‐based expectancies (i.e. personal stereotypes) and similarity effects may operate to produce the observed differences in agreement comparisons found between same and dissimilar race judge‐candidate conditions.
Coding causal beliefs in natural discourse
Authors: Stratton P. , Heard D. , Hanks H. G. I. , Munton A. G. , Brewin C. R. , Davidson C.
Published: June 2011

Evidence converges from a wide range of contexts to suggest that the causal beliefs held by an individual, or predominant in a group of individuals, are of considerable practical significance and theoretical interest. A good system for analysing naturally occurring expressions of causal belief would provide the possibility of testing and exploring this supposition without having to rely on possibly artificial questionnaire responses. A rationale for such a system is described and a study of the reliability of the coding procedure is reported. It has proved possible to formulate definitions of the five major dimensions identified in the attribution literature so that, while they are not all orthogonal, each provides unique information. The coding system is shown to have adequate reliability, and to generate substantial quantities of data. The findings from these data are generally in accordance with those obtained using more traditional methodologies, and provide substantive information about the subject population. The method is proposed as an effective technique for empirical investigations of the forms, stability and significance of naturally expressed causal beliefs.
The attitudes of teachers to education and the ethnic preferences of students
Authors: McDougall Daniel
Published: June 2011

Based on their responses to the Survey of Opinions about Education, nine teachers were identified as having tenderminded attitudes and a further 10 as having toughminded attitudes. Their 469 pupils, the subjects, were given a three‐question sociometric questionnaire that measured out‐group choices on friendship and academic tasks. Pupils with language and skin colour differences were identified as minority group members. A two (tenderminded teacher or toughminded teacher) by two (younger children or older children) multivariate analysis of variance was applied to the students' out‐group choices. As predicted, students with tenderminded teachers made significantly more out‐group choices than those with toughminded teachers. However, the interaction between age of student and teacher attitudes was significant at the 0·001 level. Among pupils with tenderminded teachers, younger pupils made more out‐group choices than older pupils, but among students with toughminded teachers, older pupils made more out‐group choices than younger pupils. When interpreting students' ethnic preferences, their age and their teachers' attitudes to education need to be taken into account.
Sexual orientation as a basis for categorization in recall
Authors: Walker Paul , Antaki Charles
Published: June 2011

A significant association was found between a participant's homophobia and the type of error he made in recalling who said what in a group discussion involving ostensible homosexuals and heterosexuals. This is interpreted as identifying an individual difference in stereotyped perception, and as extending, to an ‘invisible’ category, findings on the effects of cognitive categorization by race and sex.
Polarization and discussion context
Authors: McLachlan Angus
Published: June 2011

This study sought to demonstrate that the informational influence model of group polarization is valid only in certain discussion contexts. Using measures of confidence in a decision on picture preference, before and after discussion, the experiment demonstrated that groups evenly divided over their picture preference showed as much individual polarization as unanimous groups which shared the same ‘interpersonal’ discussion context. Furthermore, the degree of polarization shown by these divided groups was significantly greater than that of divided groups who discussed their preferences in an ‘intergroup’ context. The results are discussed in terms of Turner's (1982) referent informational influence model.
Evaluations of political violence by English and Northern Irish schoolchildren
Authors: Lorenc Louise , Branthwaite Alan
Published: June 2011

In a study of attitudes to violence in English and Northern Irish schoolchildren, 178 children, 10–11‐years‐old, completed a questionnaire relating to eight examples of political and non‐political violence. The children were distinguished by sex, religion and geographical location. The expected differences between religious groups in Northern Ireland did not emerge: significant differences arose only between English and Irish children and were apparent for only three of the questions. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Biased and unbiased self‐evaluations of ability: The effects of further testing
Authors: de Vries Nanne K. , van Knippenberg Ad
Published: June 2011

Ability evaluations were studied as a function of anticipated future testing and the use of a logical reasoning filler test, and performance level. Subjects who performed successfully ascribed themselves higher relative ability and higher absolute ability, and they were more satisfied with their performance than subjects who performed worse than their co‐actor. Low scoring subjects who did not anticipate taking a further test gave higher ratings of their relative ability and satisfaction with performance than low scoring subjects who did expect future testing. This result suggests that, in situations in which a subject's poor performance gives rise to self‐protective tendencies, biases in ability evaluation are inhibited when further testing is anticipated.
Discourses of community and conflict: The organization of social categories in accounts of a ‘riot’
Authors: Potter Jonathan , Reicher Stephen
Published: June 2011

This paper illustrates a novel approach to social psychological phenomena, namely the systematic analysis of participants' discourse. Specifically it examines the production of social categories and their organization in discourse through a detailed analysis of the use of the category ‘community’ and the notion of ‘community relations’ in accounts of the ‘St Paul's riot’ of 1980. In the first stage of analysis, the linguistic repertoire making up the category community is outlined, concentrating on variations in accounts of (a) the existence of community over time, (b) its racial composition, (c) the role of metaphors such as harmony and growth. The second stage of analysis shows the way this repertoire is deployed in the achievement of highly contrasting versions of events, concentrating on depictions of the role of the police and the way appropriate responses are specified.
False suspicion and the misperception of deceit
Authors: Bond Charles F. , Fahey William E.
Published: June 2011

Truth tellers may look dishonest when suspected of lying; if so, perceivers should be vulnerable to mistakes in recognizing the truth. In an experiment we find evidence of this error in truth detection. The error reflects a seeming confirmation of false accusations and is not merely a perceptual distortion. Affective and motivational explanations for the error are considered.
Unequal egalitarianism: A preliminary study of discourses concerning gender and employment opportunities
Authors: Wetherell Margaret , Stiven Hilda , Potter Jonathan
Published: June 2011

A set of accounts concerning final year university students' views on the status of employment opportunities for women is examined to identify some of the practical ideologies surrounding the reproduction of gender inequalities. The focus of the analysis is the structure of the discourse produced and what is revealed about wider systems of making sense. This approach is contrasted with conventional survey research. We argue, first, that our sample's responses represent a conflict between their endorsement of equal opportunities and their emphasis on the practical considerations supposedly limiting those opportunities and, second, that their model of the human subject in society is individualistic in nature as are their notions of social change and explanations for existing inequalities.
Exploratory factor analysis of the Just World Scale using British undergraduates
Authors: Hyland Michael E. , Dann Peter L.
Published: June 2011

Factor analysis of the Just World Scale using British undergraduates provides evidence that the scale is multidimensional. Four factors were identified: justness of authority, the just world, the deserving person, and the consequences of prudence. Sex differences were found on the first and fourth factors (women were more convinced that authority is just but less convinced that prudence pays) but no sex differences were found on factors 2 and 3. The implications of these results for future Just World research are discussed.
Adaption—innovation and creativity: A replication and extension
Authors: Goldsmith Ronald E. , Matherly Timothy A.
Published: June 2011

Data from 121 college students showed that the Kirton Adaption‐Innovation Inventory was positively correlated with Torrance's Creative Motivation Scale (r = 0·50) and with Smith & Schaefer's Creativity Scale (r = 0·44). The largest correlations were for the originality subscale, and social desirability response set did not affect the size of the coefficients. These findings replicate and extend Torrance & yun Horng's (1980) results and suggest either that the KAI is related to measures of creative level or that many tests purporting to measure level of creativity actually measure creative style.
Evidence for an aggressive (and delinquent) personality
Authors: Rushton J. Philippe , Erdle Stephen
Published: June 2011

An aggressive (and delinquent) personality can be shown to exist when observations are made across a large enough sampling of exemplars. Arguments against the existence of such a personality are based on a failure to use sufficiently aggregated measures. Numerous estimates are preferable in order to average out idiosyncratic variance thereby leaving a clearer view of underlying dimensions of behaviour. We illustrate the usefulness of this principle and suggest that consistent patterns of individual and group differences in aggression are to be found, are associated with delinquent behaviour, and are moderately heritable.
For disaggregation: A reply to Rushton and Erdle
Authors: Campbell Anne , Muncer Steven , Bibel Daniel
Published: June 2011

In defence of a trait approach to aggressive behaviour, Rushton & Erdle suggest that (a) cross‐situational consistency can be demonstrated by statistical aggregation, (b) aggression is longitudinally stable, (c) aggression is conceptually isomorphic with criminality and (d) aggression is genetically influenced. We reply by noting that (a) statistical aggregation negates situational variability by design in including it in the error term, (b) temporal stability when established by similar measures in similar situations is predicted by a situationalist position, (c) aggression and criminality are only partially overlapping concepts and (d) adoption studies fail to find evidence of genetic influence on aggressive behaviour.
Delinquency and attitude to authority: A comment on Reicher and Emler
Authors: Ray J. J.
Published: June 2011

In their study of self‐reported delinquency, Reicher & Emler (1985) use an ad hoc scale to measure attitudes to authority rather than one of the well‐validated scales already in the literature. The items they finally used were almost all anti‐authority—thus rendering their results susceptible of an explanation in terms of acquiescent response bias. It is shown that such an explanation would indeed provide a powerful account of what they found. Their work is therefore of uncertain meaning.
The effects of framing social dilemmas as give‐some or take‐some games
Authors: Rutte Christel G. , Wilke Henk A. M. , Messick David M.
Published: June 2011

Same‐sex groups were confronted with mathematically equivalent social dilemma games, framed as take‐some or give‐some games. For choice behaviour no difference between take‐some and give‐some games was observed. However, in take‐some games subjects were more inclined to relinquish decision‐making authority to a leader than in give‐some games. Some rival interpretations of these data are offered.
Events explained in conversational ‘because’ statements
Authors: Antaki Charles , Naji Simon
Published: June 2011

‘Because …’ statements in 40 unobtrusively recorded conversations between middle‐class speakers were examined. Other people's single actions ‐ attribution theory's paradigm case for explanation ‐ were not frequently brought up for explanation. Events speakers brought up for explanation were, in order of frequency: general states of the world, events involving speakers or their groups, and lastly events involving other people. Implications for attribution theory and for the study of ordinary explanations are discussed.
Resident advantage as social role performance
Authors: Bar‐Tal Yoram , Kubzansky Philip E.
Published: June 2011

Past research and theory on territorial dominance and resident advantage (RA) explains the resident's dominance over an outsider as arising from the place in which the interaction occurs (the host's turf). The present study evaluates the relative explanatory value of social role factors vs. that of place in accounting for RA. Fifty‐eight subjects answered questionnaires simulating four interactions, host with guest (HG), host with host (HH), guest with host (GH) and guest with guest (GG). Interactions involving reciprocal roles (GH and HG) were taken to indicate the contribution of role and place, while the other interactions (HH and GG) indicate the effect of place alone. Subtracting the effect of place from that of role and place reveals the contribution of social role. The data showed social role factors to have greater impact than did place. Social role analysis also helps understand moderating variables such as familiarity‐unfamiliarity and agreement‐disagreement between the interactants.
A historical social analysis of imagery and concreteness
Authors: Benjafield John
Published: June 2011

Although imagery and concreteness ratings are very highly correlated, there are some words which are notably higher in imagery than concreteness and vice versa. Data are presented showing that the former elicit greater emotional reactions and emerge earlier in the history of the language than do the latter. It is argued that these words illustrate a historical process whereby concepts have increasingly referred to exteroceptive rather than interoceptive experience.
Distal‐proximal approaches to aggression: A rejoinder to Campbell, Muncer & Bibel
Authors: Rushton J. Philippe
Published: June 2011

Both consistency and variability exist in behaviour. While those who focus on inter‐individual differences accept that there is also intra‐individual variation, the opposite appears to be less true. A time continuum of levels of explanation is offered, and a recent adoption study corroborates the heritability of aggression.
Lay explanations of delinquency: Global or offence‐specific?
Authors: Hollin Clive R. , Howells Kevin
Published: June 2011

Lay explanations of delinquency have been shown to be both complex and multidimensional and to vary according to factors such as respondent age and sex. However, previous research has treated crime as a global construct, although some studies have highlighted specific attitudes towards individual crimes such as violence and sexual assault. The first of the studies described here directly compared lay explanations for three types of crime — burglary, robbery and sexual assault. Using previously validated scales to assess lay explanation of crime, it was found that there were significant differences in the rated importance of the various scales for the three types of crime. Whilst burglary and robbery were most likely to be explained by failings in education and parenting, sexual assault was most strongly explained in terms of mental instability. Some variation according to age and sex of respondent was also found. A second experiment replicated several of these findings for the crimes of robbery and rape. The race of offender did not, however, significantly influence the explanations for these two offences. Finally, the potential implications of these results are briefly discussed.
Confirmatory hypothesis testing in face‐to‐face interaction: An empirical refutation
Authors: Pennington Donald C.
Published: June 2011

A series of experiments by Snyder & Swann demonstrated that people test hypotheses about others by searching for information likely to confirm the hypothesis under test. However, this and subsequent research has not put hypothesis tester (interviewer) and person to be tested (interviewee) in face‐to‐face interaction, neither has personality of the person to be tested been manipulated as an independent variable. Experiment 1 required interviewers to test an extravert or introvert hypothesis on either an extravert or introvert interviewee. Interviewers did not select questions in a confirmatory way and the impressions they formed of the interviewee were determined by the latter's personality. Experiment 2, a paper‐and‐pencil task, investigated whether presenting the interviewer with two personality profiles (extravert and introvert) or just one (consistent with the hypothesis) affected question choice. Subjects chose questions consistent with a confirmatory strategy; no effect for personality profiles was found. Experiment 3 required subjects to rate introvert and extravert questions according to degree of intimacy. Introvert questions were perceived to be more intimate and personal to ask a stranger. Results from these three studies cast serious doubt on whether confirmatory strategies are used in face‐to‐face interaction, since the personality of the individual and nature of the questions are highly salient in such situations.
Commitments to help by children: Effects on subsequent prosocial self‐attributions
Authors: Cialdini Robert B. , Eisenberg Nancy , Shell Rita , McCreath Heather
Published: June 2011

Children of both sexes and at several ages were or were not induced to make a commitment to help hospitalized children by sorting papers. The commitments occurred under either public or private circumstances. Later, the children discovered that the commitment to help would require that they give up their recess times (i.e. breaks). The willingness of subjects to live up to their commitments and the altruistic self‐attributions resulting from those commitments were measured. It was found that, regardless of conditions, virtually all subjects were willing to give up recess time to help. However, their self‐attributions differed systematically with condition: only after making a private commitment to help did subjects come to see themselves as more altruistically oriented. Further, this effect appeared earlier for girls than for boys and persisted at least one month after the initial commitment. No such effects occurred for public commitments, suggesting that children as young as eight years were able to discount the self‐relevant implications of prosocial commitments made under public scrutiny.
Comparative judgements and preferences: The influence of the number of response alternatives
Authors: van der Pligt Joop , Eiser J. Richard , Spears Russell
Published: June 2011

Following announcements of plans for a new nuclear power station in south‐west England, local residents were sent questionnaires in which they were asked to give estimates, in percentage terms, of the present, future (2000 AD) and ideal contributions to the UK electricity supply of different energy technologies. In Expt 1, 184 subjects rated five technologies (plus an ‘other’ category), and 10 months later they were split into five groups, each of which had to rate only one of the technologies previously presented. In Expt 2, three versions of the questionnaire were used, requiring ratings of (a) nuclear only, (b) nuclear, coal, plus ‘other’ and (c) eight technologies (including nuclear and coal) plus ‘other’. These were first completed by 220 subjects; six months later a subsample of 134 were each sent one of the two versions other than the one they had previously completed. In Expt 3, 164 subjects gave ratings, in four conditions, of (a) nuclear only, (b) coal only, (c) four technologies plus ‘other’ and (d) seven technologies plus ‘other’; the order of ratings was also changed with preferences first, present estimates second, and future predictions third. Broadly, all three experiments showed that the more technologies subjects had to rate, the smaller were the percentage ratings they gave to any single technology. These findings are considered in relation to context effects in judgement, and to the availability heuristic. Implications for interpretation of opinion poll findings are discussed.
Self‐esteem and problem‐solving behaviour in close relationships
Authors: Rusbult Caryl E. , Morrow Gregory D. , Johnson Dennis J.
Published: June 2011

Three studies examined the relationship between self‐esteem and responses to periodic decline in close relationships. A four‐category typology of responses to dissatisfaction was utilized: exit — actively destroying the relationship; voice — actively and constructively attempting to improve conditions; loyalty — passively but optimistically waiting for conditions to improve; and neglect — passively allowing the relationship to deteriorate. It was hypothesized that individuals with stronger self‐esteem would attempt to solve problems in a more active fashion — with exit and voice — whereas those with weaker self‐esteem would react to problems in their relationships in a more passive manner — with loyalty and neglect. The relationship between self‐esteem and generalized problem‐solving styles was explored among university students in study 1, and among adults residing in the local community in study 2. Study 3 explored the relationship between self‐esteem and actual problem‐solving behaviour in the relationships of lesbians, gay males and heterosexual women and men. Consistent with predictions, a meta‐analysis of the results of the three studies revealed that individuals with stronger self‐esteem were more likely to engage in active exit behaviours and were less likely to react with passive neglect. However, self‐esteem was only weakly promotive of loyalty and was unrelated to voice behaviours. Thus, self‐esteem is an effective predictor of negative problem‐solving behaviours in close relationships.
Looking at self or others—Differences in facial expression*
Authors: Deffner Gerhard
Published: June 2011

Discrepancies between people's self‐image and other people's image of them are related to the two conditions of (a) looking in a mirror (a basis of self‐image) vs. (b) looking at another person. Photos from the two conditions were judged for likeness and there was a significant interaction between condition (mirror vs. camera) and rater (self vs. other) in the case of ‘friendly’ facial expressions. Subsequent ratings revealed that faces were less expressive in the mirror condition. These findings are discussed in terms of a model relating facial expressiveness to different types of feedback received under the two conditions.
The social context of emotion: Construction without destruction
Authors: WAGNER HUGH
Published: June 2011

This paper introduces the Special Issue on The social context of emotion. The contributions are discussed in relation to social constructionist approaches to emotion. This collection of papers demonstrates that, while the constructionist approach is useful in reminding us of the importance of the social context in the production of emotion and also as part of the emotional experience, its tendency to proscribe most methodologies would hinder rather than promote our understanding of emotional phenomena.
Constructing emotions: Weaving meaning from memories
Authors: Kippax Susan , Crawford June , Benton Pam , Gault Una , Noesjirwan Jenny
Published: June 2011

This paper is in three sections—theory, method and data. We consider that emotions are socially constructed, and begin with an interpretation of social constructionism as it applies to emotion. The conclusion drawn from the analysis of theories from a variety of disciplines is that it is important to incorporate and extend the notion of appraisal into a study of emotion. This notion is prominent in the cognitive approach and the social constructionist approach allows the cognitive and social views of emotion to be integrated.

This approach enabled us to examine the process whereby individuals engage with each other, and hence with the social structures, in their construction of emotions. We employed a method ‘memory‐work’ which uses written memories as source material. This is discussed at some length since it is integrated within a theory of socialization which is closely related to social constructionism.

Finally, we present an analysis of some data which illustrate and demonstrate the processes involved in constructing emotion. Our work confirms and extends the social constructionist view. Paradoxically, in highlighting the notion of agency, we stress the essentially social nature of the individual and overcome some of the problems which arise in methods which examine only the individual or the society.
Passionate women and passionate men: Sex differences in accounting for angry and weeping episodes
Authors: Egerton Muriel
Published: June 2011

This experiment tests a rule‐role model of accounting for angry aggression. The hypothesis, derived from Averill's (1984) rule model of anger, is that people with stronger norms against aggression will account for their own angry aggression by interpreting it as a passion, that is as externally caused and uncontrollable, more than people with weaker norms against aggression. It was also hypothesized that sex role would affect interpretations. Women are believed to have stronger norms against aggression. Would they therefore account for angry aggression by presenting it as externally caused and uncontrollable more than men. Subjects (n = 45, 23F and 22M), were asked to evaluate an angry incident as if they had taken part in it themselves. Women judged more normative conflict about the episode than men, but had low consensus in using passion schemas (identified by multiple regression). Men had high consensus in using passion schemas. A control condition in which the protagonist wept was carried out (n = 43, 21F and 22M). In this condition there was some consensus among women in using a passion scheme but none among men. It must be concluded that sex role constrains the appropriateness of the accounting strategy used.
Moods and compliance
Authors: Milberg Sandra , Clark Margaret S.
Published: June 2011

This study examined the impact of subjects' moods on their compliance with simple messages. It was predicted and found that recipients of messages: (1) complied more when in a happy mood than when in a neutral state, and (2) complied less when in an angry mood than when in a neutral state. These effects were observed both when high and low pressure messages were used. Possible boundary conditions for the observed effects are discussed.
Categorization, accentuation and social judgement
Authors: McGarty Craig , Penny R. E. C.
Published: June 2011

Contrast effects have long been recognized as important for the study of judgement. It has been predicted that the presence of a categorization superimposed on a series of stimuli (and correlated with their magnitude) would serve to accentuate judged differences between and judged similarities within classes. Fifty‐five subjects judged political statements, classified in terms of their authors. It was predicted that the contrast effects would be mediated by the salience of the categorization, the political views of the subjects, their affective ratings of authors and evaluations of political terms. Unlike numerous other studies with similar designs the results provided evidence for both the accentuation of inter‐class differences and intra‐class similarities. The relationships between judges' views and contrast were in accordance with accentuation theory and social identity theory, in that judges whose positions were congruent with the positive evaluations of the scale labels showed more contrast between classes. The results are discussed with reference to social identity theory and the role of category salience.
Perception of violence as a function of observer's ideology and actor's group membership
Authors: Vala Jorge , Monteiro Maria , Leyens Jacques‐Philippe
Published: June 2011

This article examines how conservative and radical subjects explain and judge aggression perpetrated by institutional (i.e. policemen) or anomic (i.e. delinquents) agents. One hundred and twenty‐nine university students in Lisbon, either very conservative or very radical, selected five causes out of a total of 30 to explain an aggressive act committed by a given actor toward an unknown victim in unspecified circumstances. Half of the causes were internal and half were external. Subjects also had to rate the amount of violence, the responsibility of the agent, and the potential punishment. In accordance with the hypotheses, conservative and radical subjects used different types of causes to explain the aggression of different actors and they judged the act differently according to the perpetrator. Moreover, for all subjects there was a significant correlation between perceived violence, responsibility and punishment. These judgements, however, correlated significantly with the type of attribution only in the case of conservative subjects: the more tolerant conservatives were, the more external causes they selected. These results are discussed in the light of the social dimensions most valued by observers of aggressive episodes.
Justifying attitudes by appealing to values: A functional perspective
Authors: Kristiansen Connie M. , Zanna Mark P.
Published: June 2011

This study examined the ‘value‐justification hypothesis’. Derived from accentuation theory (Eiser, 1987), this hypothesis states that people with different attitudes will appeal to different values to justify, or account for, their attitudes. Subjects completed measures of their attitudes towards abortion and nuclear weapons, ranked the importance of 18 values (Rokeach, 1967) and ranked the relevance of these values to each attitude issue. Multivariate analyses revealed that subjects with negative and positive attitudes differed in the values which they regarded as relevant to each issue. For example, subjects who favoured nuclear weapons regarded ‘national security’ as more relevant in comparison to subjects opposed to nuclear weapons who viewed ‘wisdom’ as a more relevant value consideration. Further, these effects occurred over and above differences in value importance. Finally, the results suggested that these value‐justification effects were stronger among low, relative to high, self‐monitors (Snyder, 1974). The latter finding is consistent with the notion that value‐justification effects are more likely to occur when attitudes fulfil a value‐expressive function. The relation of these findings to the functional approach to the study of attitudes and Tetlock's (1986) value pluralism model is also discussed.