bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A comparison of the common‐sense and ‘scientific’ conceptions of extroversion—introversion
Authors: Semin Gün R. , Rosch Ekkehard , Chassein Joachim
Published: May 2007

From research on the organization of implicit personality theory, and on the fakability of psychometrically sophisticated scales a general argument about the conceptual overlap between implicit personality theory and ‘scientific’ theories of personality is developed. This is tested in the case of the common‐sense conception of extroversion—introversion, and that of Eysenck. The convergent validity of these two conceptions are found to be high enough to support the argument. The implications of the argument are discussed in relation to the correspondences between implicit personality theory and personality theory, and the functions of personality theory in psychology and implicit personality theory in everyday life.
Laboratory experimentation and social field experimentation: An ambiguous distinction
Authors: Deconchy Jean‐Pierre
Published: May 2007

Critical and epistemological reflections on the use of experimental methods in social psychology are often made to distinguish between two types of settings where these methods are used: The laboratory and the social field. But it is by no means certain that such a division has, from the start and at its own level, real significance: for one thing, because in social psychology, laboratory work is probably never merely laboratory work; and for another, because an analysis of what happens in practice would show that much experimental research work carried out in the social field merely transfers into that setting tools, concepts and a theoretical intention derived from the laboratory. If that is so, it follows that it is not at its own level that the laboratory‐social field distinction has a heuristic and epistemological significance, nor is that the real location of the breaking‐point between the methodologies. Perhaps the real ‘dividing’ line is one which separates experimental work which, whether in the laboratory or in the social field, concentrates on social interactions which are miniaturized or able to be so, from work which, in the social field, aims to concentrcte on processes which cannot be simulated or miniaturized without becoming distorted and seeks to reach social systems which are relatively complete and essentially intact.
A review of research on Schachter's theory of emotion and the misattribution of Arousal
Authors: Cotton John L.
Published: May 2007

Schachter's two factor theory of emotion and the misattribution of arousal paradigm have been applied to perceptions of euphoria, anger, humour, fear, erotica, discomfort, and love. This paper attempts to review this research and assess both the theory and the misattribution paradigm. The classic Schachter and Singer (1962) study is reviewed, along with criticisms and later attempted replications. Other early research on Schachter's theory is also critqued. The reduction of fear through the misattribution of arousal is examined and its limitations noted. A plausible alternative explanation for many effects of the misattribution paradigm is presented. Research concerning the misattribution of arousal and cognitive dissonance, interpersonal attraction, helping behaviour, and aggression are reviewed and discussed. An overall assessment of Schachter's two factor theory and the misattribution paradigm is also presented. Schachter's (1964a, b) theory is not well supported by the research, but the available evidence has not necessarily disproven the theory either. The misattribution paradigm has proven to be very effective, yet the theoretical basis for this effect is still in doubt. Surprisingly, the most widely cited research is generally of limited value, while little known research has been of much greater significance.
Some determinants of task preference and the desire for information about the self
Authors: Försterling Friedrich , Weiner Bernard
Published: May 2007

This research examined the influence of task difficulty and diagnosticity (ability information) on task choice and preference. It was found that males preferred diagnostic over non‐diagnostic tasks, but among females significant preferences along this variable were not exhibited. Furthermore, the desire to obtain ability‐relevant information decreased as a function of prior knowledge about one's ability. Both high and low ability self‐perceptions, induced through prior experiences of success and failure, decreased the attraction toward diagnostic in formation. There was no indication that individuals with high ability self‐concepts are especially avoidant of further ability‐relevant information, as recent literature has suggested. In addition, and contrary to prior findings, difficult tasks were most preferred rather than easy or intermediate tasks, given that diagnosticity is held constant.
Moral judgment and the development of causal schemes
Authors: Fincham Frank
Published: May 2007

The present study investigated (i) the relationship between blame and perceived causality; (ii) the effect of the nature of causes on causal inference. Seventy‐two persons from three age groups (5, 9 years and adults) responded to behavioural events which varied in outcome intensity, the nature of the cause (internal/external) and its presence (present/absent). The latter two factors had a marked effect on attributed blame and inferred causes as an age × nature × presence of cause interaction was found in both cases. However, inferred causes were not systematically related to attributed blame. Outcome severity led to more extreme blame ratings in all groups but only affected the causal scheme used by adults. The results are discussed in terms of over‐attribution to persons and a more precise criterion for the use of the multiple sufficient cause scheme is evaluated.
Understanding seat‐belt use: A test of Bentler and Speckart's extension of the ‘theory of reasoned action’
Authors: Budd Richard J. , North Derek , Spencer Christopher
Published: May 2007

It is shown that Fishbein's ‘theory of reasoned action’ can be used to explain people's intentions to wear seat belts. As Bentler and Speckart (1979) have proposed, a self‐report measure of past behaviour is shown to significantly improve the model's power; this extended Fishbein model being capable of accounting for the majority of the effects that extraneous variables, which are known to influence seat‐belt use, have upon a person's behavioural intentions. In addition, it is shown that the model's motivation to comply term is, as Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) have proposed, a unipolar rather than a bi‐polar construct, but that even when this construct is scored as unipolar, it does not significantly add to the model's predictive power.
On necessity and commonsense: A discussion of central axioms in new approaches to lay explanation
Authors: McClure John
Published: May 2007

Recent critical attempts to modify or replace attribution theory have focused particularly on two issues: the relationship of the reason—cause distinction to attribution theories and actor/observer differences in attribution, and the emphasis in attribution theories on inferential, as opposed to self‐presentational, processes. In dealing with these two issues, some critics also point out ethnocentric and ideological influences on attribution theories.

The issues raised are important, as both intentional (reason) explanations and self‐presentational factors have been under‐represented in attribution theories. But the new attempts to build these factors into theories of lay explanation are not wholly satisfactory. Authors make several stipulations about reasons and causes that are unsupportable, and they employ arguments about differences between actors and observers that are unsatisfactory in other respects. Nonetheless a number of their claims can be reconceptualized and supported by using definitions and parameters that do not confound the variables being examined. Claims that attribution theories have ignored self‐presentational factors underestimate the extent to which self‐presentational factors are being examined in attribution studies, but the proposition that self‐presentational factors account for most aspects of explanations is unconvincing. Authors are also mistaken to assume that ethnocentric or ideological factors are particular to attribution theories. The errors, exaggerations and other difficulties in the authors' arguments do not nullify the attempt to expand or transcend attribution theory. Where flaws in the arguments are pointed out, alternative ways of tackling the same issues are referred to or proposed.
Psychologization and processes of minority and majority influence
Authors: Papastamou Stamos
Published: May 2007

Minority influence, although possible, is relatively difficult for an active minority to achieve. One of the obstactes encountered by a minority in the diffusion of an innovation is psychologization which consists in the establishment of a link between the ideological positions defended by the source of influence and psychological characteristics which are specific to that source.

The experiment presented here seeks to show that psychologization constitutes an ideological barrier only to minority influence while this mode of interpretation of the source does not reduce the influence of a majority.

The results obtained seem to confirm this hypothesis, above all when subjects possess opinions relatively close to those of the influence source. When on the other hand subjects have opinions that are relatively distant from those defended by the source, the explicit induction of psychologization does not seem to affect the degree of influence. It was also found that in the absence of such induction, ‘distant’ subjects would ‘spontaneously’ psychologize a minority source, in particular attributing its arguments to psychological imbalance.
Lack of effort as a result of self‐focused attention: An attributional ambiguity analysis
Authors: Hormuth Stefan E.
Published: May 2007

Attributional ambiguity is a strategy used to avoid having to attribute potentially negative performance on a task to ability. If the outcome of a task is attributable to ability, if no external cause for failure is available, and if a person is aware that the outcome is attributable to the self, ambiquity can be created with regard to the causation of the outcome. Heightened attribution of an outcome to self, as results from self‐focused attention, was expected to produce less effort when external causes for potential failure were explicitly removed. In a 2 × 2 experiment, a positive mood was induced that was then either suggested or excluded as a plausible explanation for potential failure on a task said to be indicative of general intellectual ability. Subjects for whom self‐awareness was experimentally induced, and for whom an external attribution of failure was explicitly removed, put significantly less effort into the task. Self‐focus, however, has also been shown to enhance task performance. An indirect measure showed increased readiness to perform in direct contrast to the obtained lower self‐reports of effort. The range of generalizability and application of attribute ambiguity is discussed.
Innovation in and organization of research: The case of the ‘Sonderforschungsbereich’ of social science research in decision‐making
Authors: Irle Martin , Dickenberger Dorothee
Published: May 2007

The four granting strategies of the German Science Foundation (DFG) are introduced in order to demonstrate the place special granting (‘Sonderförderung’) has within the general funding policy of the DFG. A look back to the beginning and the development of the Sonderforschungsbereich 24 (SFB 24): ‘Social scientific decision research’, exhibits reasons for problems concerning cooperation beiween projects and research strategies.
Equity, Intergroup bias and Interpersonal bias in Reward allocation
Authors: Ng Sik Hung
Published: May 2007

Decisions to allocate rewards to ingroup and outgroup members are under the dual pressures of equity and intergroup bias. This study examined variations in equity and bias resulting from the incongruity and salience of intergroup status. Incongruity arose from a mismatch between high subjective and low accorded status. Congruity occurred when subjective status and accorded status were both high or both low. By pairing school classes with known subjective and accorded statuses, an incongruous and a congruous status setting were derived naturally. The setting was made either salient or nonsalient experimentally. It was hypothesized that bias would progressively increase, and equity would progressively decrease, with incongruity and salience. Each set of hypotheses was partially supported. Further data analysis showed a robust tendency to under‐reward both ingroup and outgroup members. This interpersonal negativity bras was shown by incongruous status allocators either when rewarding superior performance or in the salient condition. Apparently, it served to safeguard personal rather than social identity. The implications for equity and social identity theories were discussed.
Attributions restore consistency in bargaining with liked/disliked partners
Authors: Kette Gerhard
Published: May 2007

The experiment deals with the impact of self‐esteem and liking for the partner on the attribution of agreement and deadlock in bargaining. Fifty‐eight male and 70 female students played the Harsanyi‐Selten bargaining game with incomplete information eight times, allegedly each time with a randomly selected partner. In fact in four games a computer program simulated the partner. Combining an experimental variation of liking (liking—disliking), own costs (low, high), partner costs (low, high) the experiment followed a 2×2×2 repeated measures design.

As predicted by a path model from balance theory (a) failure (deadlock) was attributed more to the partner and less to self than success (agreement), (b) success was attributed more to the liked than the disliked partner, whereas failure was attributed more to the disliked than the liked partner.
Distinctiveness and the salience of social category memberships: Is there an automatic perceptual bias towards novelty?
Authors: Oakes Penelope , Turner John C.
Published: May 2007

It was hypothesized that the effects of novelty on social category membership salience may be mediated by perceivers' current tasks, rather than by an automatic perceptual bias (Taylor and Fiske, 1978). Subjects viewed tape‐slide portrayals of mixed‐sex groups (1 male—5 females, 2M—4F, 3M—3F, 4M—2F, 5M—1F) under ‘individual’ (focus on one target person) or ‘collective’ (focus on entire stimulus group) task conditions. Results on measures of sex stereotyping strongly supported the hypothesis, indicating that ‘individual’ task subjects tended to maximize stereotyping in the 1M—5F and 5M—1F conditions whilst ‘collective’ subjects did so in the 3M‐3F condition. It is concluded that novel category memberships are not automatically prepotent in social perception, and the results are discussed in the context of a functional approach to the salience problem.
The influence of misattributions on reactions to inequity: Towards a further understanding of Inequity
Authors: Hassebrauck Manfred
Published: May 2007

An experiment was conducted to investigate the importance of inequity distress. In a 2 x 2 factorial design subjects were paid either in a high or low disadvantageous inequitable manner compared to a male confederate. One half of the subjects were led to believe that fictitious infrasonic sound would have arousing side effects, one half expected no side effects whatsoever. According to the hypotheses, (1) subjects in the misattribution condition restored equity less than subjects in the no side effects control group, (2) strongly inequitable treated subjects restored equity more than mildly inequitable treated ones, (3) the misattribution manipulation only had a significant effect on strongly inequitable treated subjects. Thus, the results show that distress is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the restoration of equity. Consequences of the results for future research are discussed.
Tabacco deprivation: The foot‐in‐the‐door technique versus the low‐ball technique
Authors: Joule Robert Vincent
Published: May 2007

The present experiment was aimed at comparing the efficiency of the foot‐in‐the‐door technique (Freedman and Fraser, 1966) to that of the low‐ball technique (Cialdini Bassett, Cacioppo and Miller, 1978). Subjects were requested to abstain from smoking for 18 hours. The results demonstrated the superiority of the low‐ball technique. An original method of operationalizing the low‐ball technique (the use of intermediate behaviours) is presented herein.
Conceptions of own versus others' outcomes: Manipulation by monaural attentional orientation
Authors: Drake Roger A.
Published: May 2007

Previous research found that greater personal optimism was produced during selective left hemisphere activation. In that research the selective activation was manipulated by contralateral visual orientation of attention. The present experiment replicated and extended this effect using monaural stimulation. In addition, a significant reduction in variability of responding was found, as expected, in the monaural as compared to binaural groups, and a significant correlation was found between individual desire for control and optimism.
Assigning vicarious responsibility
Authors: Shultz Thomas R. , Jaggi Christine , Schleifer Michael
Published: May 2007

An experiment tested three hypotheses about the conditions under which someone can be held vicariously responsible for the actions of another. Two of the hypotheses received empirical support: that the vicariously responsible person is in a superior relationship to the person who caused the damage and is able to control that person's causing of the damage. A third hypotheis, that a person is held vicariously responsible because of a relatively greater ability to pay compensation to the victim, was not supported.
Behaviour in group situations: An integrative model
Authors: Wite Erich H.
Published: May 2007

As in other areas of research we have in small group research classical studies with a paradigmatic character. These separated studies define the basic knowledge. But what is necessary is to combine these classical studies and to construct a theoretical concept which shows the similarities and dissimilarities between them. This is the main intention of the paper.

The theoretical concept tries to reconstruct the now classical data from a model with normative and in formational components. Both king of components are integrated hierarchically with the normative elements as antecedent variables and the weights of the information integration as dependent variables. With the help of the model it is possible to reconstruct data in such different areas as, e.g. social facilitation, autokinetic effect, Asch conformity studies, Milgram conformity studies, equity theory studies, prisoner's dilemma. As predictions research in the choice‐shift and the wage negotiation are presented. Finally, the connection with the research in social cognition is established by a reconstruction of classical study from the aspiration level and the dissonance theory.
Ingroup and outgroup minorities: Differential impact upon public and private responses
Authors: Martin Robin
Published: May 2007

The experiment which is presented in this paper was designed to overcome some of the problems associated with previous research investigating the effects of social categorization and minority influence. Sixty‐eight fourteen‐year‐old British Secondary School pupils indicated their attitudes towards a 'grant for pupils' before and after reading a text which advocated a minority position. The text was attributed as being the work of either pupils from their own school (ingroup minority) or from a school they discriminated against (outgroup minority). Responses were either made in ‘public’ (by telling subjects that other pupils would see their responses) or in ‘private’ (by subjects putting their responses into a ‘ballot box’). The results showed that on public responses ingroup minorities had more influence than outgroup minorities while there was no difference on private responses. Also, greater change occurred when responses were made in private than in public. These results are compatible with the intergroup analysis of minority influence.
Social categorization in minority influence: The case of homosexuality
Authors: Clark Russell D. , Maass Anne
Published: May 2007

Three experiments were conducted in order to compare the influence of ingroup and outgroup minorities and to assess the role of Zeitgeist perception in minority influence. The results confirmed that ingroup minorities are more influential than outgroup minorities. This overall finding was observed in two different experimental paradigms, using either a small group setting in which subjects interacted with the minority or the simultaneous social influence paradigm in which both influence sources impinge simultaneously (via written information) upon the subjects. These results were supportive of Tajfel's social identity theory while contradicting Kelley's augmenting/discounting principle. Finally, subjects' perception of the Zeitgeist was unrelated to the magnitude of minority influence.
Dimensions of adolescent identity
Authors: Widdicombe Sue
Published: May 2007

It has been argued that the self‐concept is divided into two sub‐systems, one relating to personal and the other to social identities. The salience of these identities will depend upon the particular situation. How can the relationship between the individual's personal and social identities by conceptualized? To answer this question, Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher and Wetherell (1987) proposed a hierarchical system of self‐categorization. At one level, social identities are determined though comparisons between groups, and at another level, personal identities are determined through comparisons between the self and other members of the ingroup. In the present study, adolescents described a number of self and others' identities in relevant social situations. Multidimensional scaling revealed three dimensions which subjects used to differentiate amongst the various identities. The first dimension separated peer group identities from ascribed social identities. The second dimension separated ingroups from outgroups and the third dimension differentiated personal identity from all other social stimuli. The latter dimensions therefore supported Turner et al's self‐categorization model.
Social differentiation between ‘dominant’ and ‘dominated’ groups: Toward an integration of social stereotypes and social identity
Authors: Amâncio Ligia
Published: May 2007

In the experiment reported here, 116 male and female adult subjects allocated the points of Tajfel's matrices to the self; an ingroup (same sex), and an outgroup (opposite sex) member, on the basis of gender stereotypical comparison dimensions, individually or in the presence of an ingroup and two outgroup members. Results show that interindividual and intergroup differentiation are associated with masculine characteristics, but not with feminine ones and that there are differences in the male and female patterns of differentiation. Results are discussed within the framework of social identity theory. A theoretical integration of social stereotypes and social identity is proposed, in order to elucidate the process of intergroup discrimination between gender categories.
Asymmetry in the estimation of interpersonal distance and identity affirmation
Authors: Codol Jean‐Paul , Jarymowicz Maria , Kaminska‐Feldman Marta , Szuster‐Zbrojewicz Anna
Published: May 2007

An asymmetry effect is known to exist in the estimation of interpersonal distance, depending on whether the point of reference for the estimation is the subject (‘How far are the others from you?’) or the others How far are you from the others?). It looks as though, through the effect of a self‐centring schema, subjects feel that others occupy their own space more than they occupy the space of others.

A self‐centring schema has also been found in many other processes involving judgment or comparison of oneself and others. It is generally interpreted as a sign of the affirmation and defence of personal identity.

The three experiments reported here attempt to relate the asymmetries in the distances perceived between persons represented on a map to the following three areas in which one's sense of personal or group identity is involved: (1) in the perception of one's own specificity with respect to others (or of the specificity of the group to which one belongs with respect to other groups) (experiment 1), (2) in one's ability to put oneself in the place of others (exocentrism) (experiment 2). and (3) in the individuation of oneself by others (experiment 3).

The results of these three experiments lead us to believe that it is indeed the processes of identification and affirmation of personal and group identity ‐ along with the underlying categorization processes — that are the source of the asymmetries observed in interpersonal distance estimation.

The consistency of the data obtained in different situations also validates the technique used for estimating interpersonal distance.
Kurt Lewin's early intentions (dedicated to his 100th birthday)
Authors: John Matthias , Eckardt George , Hiebsch Hans
Published: May 2007

This article deals with Lewin's early intentions to promote applied psychology, especially with his essay ‘Die Sozialisierung des Taylorsystems’ (The Socialisation of the Taylor System). The authors point out that certain characteristics of Lewin's social psychological approach can already be seen in this early article. Furthermore, they want to show how important the role of applied psychology has been in the development of Lewin S scientific work.
Language use and reification of social information: Top‐down and bottom‐up processing in person cognition
Authors: Fiedler Klaus , Semin GÜN R. , Bolten Stefanie
Published: May 2007

The present research addresses the interface of social cognition and the use of interpersonal language. Based on a linguistic category model proposed by Semin and Fiedler (1988), it is demonstrated that under different conditions language users tend to describe other people's behavior either in concrete and specific terms (descriptive or interpretive action verbs) or in abstract, dispositional terms (state verbs, adjectives) A two‐stage process is postulated by which these variations in abstractness can lead to the reification of social information: In the first stage, the rules of cooperative and efficient communication encourage the use of abstract statements about other people. Once the social information is represented on an abstract level, a top‐down bias will then, in the second stage, influence the interpretation and judgments of subsequent specific behaviors in a way which tends to reify or confirm the abstract statements. While the abstraction tendency is expected in free communication, when information is taken for granted, the reverse top‐down bias should be observed in social judgment tasks, when the truth or validity of statements is open to be judged. Study 1 demonstrates the abstraction tendency in a serial communication game involving the successive re‐telling of person descriptions. Study 2 utilizes a priming technique to examine the top‐down bias in social judgment: influences of prior judgments regarding abstract attributes on subsequent judgments of specific attributes are stronger than transfer influences in the reverse direction. Moreover, this top‐down bias is independent of whether the applicability of the prime attribute to the target person is affirmed or denied. Study 3 supports the view that abstract language is due to taken‐taken‐for‐granted conditions, showing a reversal from abstract to more specific language even in free communication when the validity of statements is challenged.
The effect of social comparison information on learned helpless and mastery‐oriented children in achievement settings
Authors: Hokoda Audrey J. , Fincham Frank D. , Diener Carol I.
Published: May 2007

The present study investigates the effect of social comparison information on learned helpless and mastery‐oriented children's attributions, behaviour, and affect following a failure experience. Ninety‐one fifth grade children experienced failure in the context of high consensus or group failure feedback, low consensus or personal failure feedback or no social comparison feedback. The Jindings point to the robustness of the helpless and mastery response patterns: the behaviour of learned helpless children, as compared to mastery‐oriented children, deteriorated following failure regardless of the social comparison feedback they recieved. However, the attributions made by the two groups of children differed. Mastery‐oriented children appeared to use social comparison information more accurately in that they appropriately made higher task difficulty ratings when receiving group failure feedback than when receiving personal failure feedback. Learned helpless children were more likely to use a self‐derogatory bias and made attributions to their low ability, even when presented with social comparison feedback that was contrary to their bias. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for education and for intervention with learned helpless childrens.
The effects of majority size on minority influence
Authors: Clark Russell D. , Maass Anne
Published: May 2007

Two experiments investigated the role of majority size (social pressure) in minority influence. Opposite predictions were derived from an attributional account and two social impact models. In Experiment 1 there was a tendency for minority influence to decrease with increasing majority size when the minority argued against gay rights. The results were stronger and clearer in Experiment 2. For pro‐abortion minorities, the minority's impact clearly declined as the size of the opposing majority increased. As predicted by the social impact models, this decline occurred during the initial increase of the majority size. The limitations of the mathematical models are discussed.
Evaluative inference in social cognition: The roles of direct versus indirect evaluation and positive‐negative asymmetry
Authors: Peeters Guido
Published: May 2007

Various implications regarding evaluative inference in social cognition are derived from (a) a relativistic evaluative‐meaning concept dealing with evaluation as an interaction between descriptive attributes associated with the perceived object on the one side and evaluative standards belonging to the perceiver on the other side, and (b) a concept of evaluative positive‐negative asymmetry that completes and integrates more simple concepts regarding the halo effect, negativity effect, and positivity bias. In subsequent sections empirical support for those implications is provided from (a) a review of previous research on impression formation, and (b) two new experiments in which effects associated with positivity bias, negativity effect, halo effect and the supplements implied by the positive‐negative asymmetry concept were isolated from each other using a multifactorial ANOVA design. The results showed strong halo effects and positivity biases. Room for negativity effects was left only under very specific conditions which, however, were consistent with the positive‐negative asymmetry concept.
Memory for stereotype‐related material–a replication study with real‐life social groups
Authors: Cano Ignacio , Hopkins Nick , Islam Mir Rabiul
Published: May 2007

This paper reports a study comparing the memorability of information that either confirmed, disconfirmed, or was irrelevant to, particular real‐life social group stereotypes. Memory for both stereotype‐confirming and stereotype‐disconfirming material was enhanced relative to that for material which was stereotype‐irrelevant. Further, there were no differences between the memory for stereotype‐confirming and ‐disconfirming information. Implications for stereotype stability and change are noted.
The long past and the short history of social psychology
Authors: Farr Robert M.
Published: May 2007

In 1908 Ebbinghaus distinguished between the long past and the short history of psychology. The short history dated from 1879 when Wundt established a psychological laboratory at Leipzig. The long past concerns the time when psychology was a branch of philosophy. Implicit in such a break with the past is a positivist philosophy of science. I show how this philosophy of science distorts the historical record. I then analyse the history of social psychology. Unwittingly Lindzey and Aronson (1985) distinguish between the long past of social psychology as part of the Western intellectual tradition and its short history as an experimental science that is mainly American. Murchison's Handbook of Social Psychology (1935), whilst marking the boundary between the long past and the short history, belongs to the long past. The break with tradition came in 1954, when Lindzey published the first Handbook in the modern series. There is a self‐conscious need, in the post World War II era, to train a whole new generation of social psychologists. The Lindzey series of Handbooks meets that need. The ‘progress’ of modern social psychology is now measured in terms of its distance from the Murchison milestone of 1935.
The stability of work, self and interpersonal goals in young women and men
Authors: Langan‐Fox Janice
Published: May 2007

An investigation was made into the stability of important self‐described goals of young men and women aged 18 to 20 years old using the results of analyses of two goal assessments having an intervening period of 5 months. A theoretical perspective was adopted which assumed goals are ‘future selves’ or ‘possible selves’, thus linking the self concept to motivation. An adapted version of Nuttin's Motivational Content Analysis (1985) was used to assess individual goals. It was hypothesized that women may have greater instability of self concept and ‘possible selves’ than men. Findings of the study showed the contrary, and revealed that men and women had similarly stable goals over time. Results are compared to other research on the self concept and to the problems of self concept measurement.
Interpersonal verbs: Implicit causality of action verbs and contextual factors
Authors: Mannetti L. , De Grada E.
Published: May 2007

The hypothesis that the degree of contextual dependence of interpersonal verbs (as defined by Semin and Fiedler (1988) in their LCM) significantly affects the strength of causality implicit in such verbs is assessed in an experiment.

Results show that both the strength of causal inference induced by the verb and the degree of respondents' confidence in their own judgements increases from descriptive action verbs (DAV), to interpretive action verbs (IAV), to state action verbs (SAV), to state verbs (SV). Furthermore, the effect of contextual factors (gender of the stimulus sentence subject and object and respondents' gender) is shown to be stronger for more descriptive verbs like DAV and weaker for more abstract verbs like SV.
Individual differences in romantic jealousy: The moderating effect of relationship characteristics
Authors: Melamed Tuvia
Published: May 2007

Previous research suggests that people who experience romantic jealousy in their relationships are typically low in self‐esteem and high in neuroticism. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the effects of personality are moderated by the nature of the relationships. Data based on 101 respondents suggest that the jealousy–personality correlations are more apparent among dating couples with less established relationships.
Decoding affective communication in intimate relationships
Authors: Trommsdorff Gisela , John Helga
Published: May 2007

Situational and personality variables influencing the accurate understanding of partners' communications in intimate couples were studied. The situation was varied by inducing either partner‐focused or self‐focused attention. The personality variables were gender‐role attitudes, control orientation, and empathy. Thirty couples who had been living together for at least 12 months discussed an issue which was important to both partners. Afterwards, each selected their partner's most ‘important’ statement from their videotaped discussion. The two statements were then rated by each of the partners in respect of their own and their partner's emotional reaction to them (intentionally sent and actually experienced emotions). Analyses of variance with correctness of decoding as a dependent variable demonstrated strong effects of other‐focused attention and gender as independent variables. Femininity and secondary control correlated positively with correct decoding. These results are interpreted in a theoretical framework of empathy and communication.
Cognitive models of stereotype change: (1). Generalization and subtyping in young people's views of the police
Authors: Hewstone Miles , Hopkins Nicholas , Routh David A.
Published: May 2007

We report investigations of change in, and cognitive representation of young people's stereotypes of the police, in response to a police‐schools liaison programme. This programme provides a real‐life application of the ‘conversion’ model of stereotype change (in which stereotypes change radically in response to salient instances of disconfirming information). Study 1 revealed that school police officers were rated significantly more positively than the police in general, but that this view did not generalize to perceptions of the police in general. Stereotypes of the police became less positive over one year, although females were more positive than males, and school police officers were not judged typical of the category. Study 2 revealed that subjects categorized their school police officer separately from the police in general, and perceived him to share features with ‘caring and welfare’ professions, rather than other police officers and authority figures. Both studies converge on the limitations of the conversion model and tend to support the subtyping model (in which extremely disconfirming individuals are isolated from other group members).
Preferential treatment of women and psychological reactance theory: An experiment
Authors: Vrugt Anneke
Published: May 2007

Male academic staff members received a Low‐ or High‐threat (freedom restricting) description of measures for the preferential treatment of women in job selection for academic staff functions. The High‐threat condition evoked more psychological reactance than the Low‐threat condition. Persons with high self‐esteem manifested a more negative attitude in the High‐threat than in the Low‐threat condition. Social position did not interact significantly with threat.
Athens' failed bid for the Olympic Games: The role of ego‐involvement and affect on the collective self‐esteem of Greek‐Canadians
Authors: Lay Clarry H.
Published: May 2007

For Canadian‐born Greek‐Canadians, the failure of Athens' bid for the 1996 Olympic Summer Games was presumed to evoke social comparison at a group level. Although this process may influence social identity (collective self‐esteem), the effect was expected to be qualified by the subject's degree of involvement or self‐engagement with the event. Pre‐event (prior to the announcement of the awarding of the Games to Atlanta, U.S.A.) and post‐event responses were obtained from 63 female and 44 male Canadian‐born Greek‐Canadian university students. In a series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses controlling for pre‐event collective self‐esteem, involvement and levels of post‐event positive emotions enhanced the prediction of post‐event collective self‐esteem on three subscales directly related to self. Low involvement subjects and those experiencing less post‐event positive emotion evidenced a decline in post‐event collective self‐esteem, whereas their high counterparts exhibited a relative stability in esteem scores. With a comparison group of 84 Canadian‐born Italian‐Canadian university students, for whom the outcome of the Olympic bid was irrelevant to their ethnic origin, involvement and affect were unrelated to post‐event collective self‐esteem. Results were interpreted as consistent with previous research linking group failure to increased group cohesion and involvement with stability in the attitude‐change literature.
Cognitive‐versus‐affective positivity asymmetries in thought systems
Authors: McGuire William J. , McGuire Claire V.
Published: May 2007

Positive‐negative asymmetry in thought can involve both cognitive asymmetry, (thinking about characteristics that a stimulus has versus does not have), which we predict will be large and preponderantly a positivity bias, and affective asymmetry (thinking about desirable versus undesirable characteristics that the stimulus has or has not), predicted to be small and to fluctuate predictably in direction. The first four of the 10 studies reported here investigate asymmetries in thinking ability, measured by giving people directed‐thinking tasks specifically asking them to generate positive versus negative thoughts. We predicted and found no affective asymmetry and a moderate‐sized cognitive positivity bias that declines with practice. The second four of the 10 studies investigate asymmetries in proclivity (or preference beyond ability) that appear when people free associate on a variety of stimuli. As regards proclivity, we predicted and found a large, uniformly positive cognitive bias (that declines somewhat as children mature), but only a slight affective bias that is positive when autistic needs are dominant and negative when realistic needs dominate. A final pair of studies show that the cognitive and affective variables interact as regards how directed positive versus negative thinking about a stimulus affects evaluation of that stimulus.
Positive‐negative asymmetry of priming effects on impression formation
Authors: Ikegami Tomoko
Published: May 2007

The present study investigates the effects of evaluative processing of hostile and friendly words on impression formation. Two experiments were conducted. Subjects were first asked to complete sentences using hostile (Experiment 1) or friendly (Experiment 2) words. Then they participated in an ostensibly unrelated impression task, where they rated a stimulus person on a series of trait scales based on a paragraph of behavioural descriptions that was ambiguous regarding hostility (Experiment 1) or friendliness (Experiment 2). It was found that the hostile sentence completion tasks increased the likelihood that subsequent behavioural information would be assimilated into the primed hostile constructs, whereas the friendly sentence completion tasks increased the likelihood that behavioural information would be contrasted to the primed friendly constructs. The underlying mechanism of the positive‐negative asymmetry of priming effects was discussed in terms of the socio‐cultural expectancy for normality of friendliness being evoked by priming manipulations. In addition, a supplementary experiment was conducted to assess the feeling states following the hostile or friendly priming tasks. It was found that the hostile priming elicited negative affects, whereas friendly priming had no effects on the feeling states of subjects. This asymmetric effect of priming on the feeling states was also considered as a result of the influences of the socio‐cultural expectancy.
On the asymmetry in the cognitive construal of ingroup and outgroup: A model of egocentric social categorization
Authors: Simon Bernd
Published: May 2007

A model of egocentric social categorization (ESC‐model) is presented. It predicts an asymmetry in the cognitive construal of ingroups and outgroups which is traced back to an egocentrism in the cognitive differentiation of the social world. The more specific assumptions are: (1) At the most basic level of cognitive differentiation, the perceiver distinguishes between the categories ME and NOT‐ME. (2) This basic level categorization predicates an asymmetry in the cognitive construal of ingroup and out‐group as social categories: The ingroup is construed as a heterogeneous aggregate of separate entities and the outgroup as a homogeneous social category. (3) Egocentric social categorization thus facilitates self‐definition in terms of personal identity relative to self‐definition in terms of social identity.

The ESC‐model is highly relevant to research on perceived ingroup and outgroup homogeneity. Moreover, it alerts researchers to the possibility of ‘quasi‐intergroup’ situations in which the outgroup, but not the ingroup, is a salient entity. This article also discusses the relationship between the ESC‐model and self‐categorization theory and points out some prospects for future research.
Effects of frictional forces acting on sidewalls of buried box culverts
Authors: Kang Junsuk , Parker Frazier , Kang Young J. , Yoo Chai H.
Published: May 2007

The effects of frictional forces acting on the sidewalls of buried box culverts are presented as determined with finite element method (FEM) and detailed soil modelling. The possibility of reducing earth pressure on deeply buried concrete box culverts by the imperfect trench installation (ITI) method has been contemplated during the last several decades. There have been limited research results published primarily regarding the qualitative aspect of load reduction in ITIs. It was found during the course of this study that significant frictional forces develop along the sidewalls of box culverts and adjacent sidefills in ITIs. Current American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials provisions do not consider these frictional forces, but they cannot be neglected in ITIs, as their effect is dominant. An optimum geometry for the soft zone in ITIs is presented to maximize earth load reductions. The soil–structure interaction at the box culvert–soil interface was found to have a significant effect on total earth pressure acting on the bottom slab. Predictor equations for earth load reduction rates were formulated for ITIs incorporating the optimum soft zone geometry based on the FEM. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Doubling the resolution of echo‐planar brain imaging by acquisition of two k‐space lines per gradient reversal using TRAIL
Authors: Priest Andrew N. , De Vita Enrico , Ordidge Roger J.
Published: May 2007

Single‐shot echo‐planar imaging (EPI) is an important method for MRI of the brain. A method has been developed to double the resolution of EPI in the phase‐encode direction, without requiring increases in the maximum gradient amplitude or slew rate. The new approach is based on an EPI implementation of the TRAIL (two reduced acquisitions interleaved) method, in which two images, acquired in rapid succession, are spatially interleaved. In addition, two lines of k‐space are acquired for each reversal of the readout gradient. Two full‐length readouts are needed, therefore power deposition is increased and the total acquisition time is doubled compared with conventional EPI. However, the individual readouts do not increase in length, so there is no increase in image blurring, and distortion is halved as a result of the closer temporal spacing of the acquired k‐space lines. A correction method is also presented to remove additional potential Nyquist ghosting. The new method is demonstrated in vivo at 4.7 T and could in principle be combined with existing approaches for increasing resolution, such as partial Fourier or parallel imaging. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Britain's new town Blues
Authors: Berkley George E.
Published: May 2007

While there is much data to back up the boasts of new towns as a triumph of British planning and an example of the basic sagacity of the government, there are problems of unemployment, transporation, population density, location and finances.