What we think we do (to each other): how personality can bias behavior schemas through the projection of if-then profiles

People's knowledge about others includes not only person schemas about the typical traits of others but also behavior schemas about the likely interpersonal consequences of different behaviors. In this article, it is argued that perceiver effects can be interactive at the level of behavior schemas. A person's own personality configuration of if-then responses in social interactions (Mischel & Shoda, 1995) may contribute to that person's beliefs about the meaning and impact of relational behaviors more generally. In consequence, people who experience strong (or weak) responses to behaviors that vary along a particular trait dimension, such as warmth-coldness, may expect others to experience similarly strong (or weak) responses to those same kinds of behaviors. In 3 studies, people who were high in trait communion expected others to respond more strongly to behaviors that varied in warmth-coldness than did people who were low in trait communion, and people who were low in trait agency expected others to respond more strongly to behaviors that varied in assertiveness-unassertiveness than did people who were high in trait agency. Studies 2 and 3 provided evidence that participants' behavior schemas were based on assumptions derived from their own if-then personality profiles.     

What is moral about guilt? Acting "prosocially" at the disadvantage of others

For centuries economists and psychologists have argued that the morality of moral emotions lies in the fact that they stimulate prosocial behavior and benefit others in a person's social environment. Many studies have shown that guilt, arguably the most exemplary moral emotion, indeed motivates prosocial behavior in dyadic social dilemma situations. When multiple persons are involved, however, the moral and prosocial nature of this emotion can be questioned. The present article shows how guilt can have beneficial effects for the victim of one's actions but also disadvantageous effects for other people in the social environment. A series of experiments, with various emotion inductions and dependent measures, all reveal that guilt motivates prosocial behavior toward the victim at the expense of others around-but not at the expense of oneself. These findings illustrate that a thorough understanding of the functioning of emotions is necessary to understand their moral nature.     

Affiliation Goals and Health Behaviors

People are inherently driven by the need to form and maintain relationships, and these affiliation goals can influence health behaviors in two ways: (a) indirectly, by increasing a person's attention to others and subsequently leaving them more likely to emulate the health behaviors of others (social contagion); (b) directly, by leading people to be more likely to engage in health behaviors they perceive as helping them to form and maintain relationships with others (self-initiated behavioral engagement). In this review, we discuss the evidence for the catalyzing role of affiliation goals in these two processes for a variety of positive (e.g., exercising, smoking-cessation) and detrimental health behaviors (e.g., binge drinking and eating, needle sharing). Additionally, we discuss individual difference factors that may temporarily or chronically activate affiliation goals and ultimately impact health behaviors. Affiliation goals hold many implications for future work, and for improving interventions.     

Learning about what others were doing: verb aspect and attributions of mundane and criminal intent for past actions

Scientists have long been interested in understanding how language shapes the way people relate to others, yet it remains unclear how formal aspects of language influence person perception. We tested whether the attribution of intentionality to a person is influenced by whether the person's behaviors are described as what the person was doing or as what the person did (imperfective vs. perfective aspect). In three experiments, participants who read what a person was doing showed enhanced accessibility of intention-related concepts and attributed more intentionality to the person, compared with participants who read what the person did. This effect of the imperfective aspect was mediated by a more detailed set of imagined actions from which to infer the person's intentions and was found for both mundane and criminal behaviors. Understanding the possible intentions of others is fundamental to social interaction, and our findings show that verb aspect can profoundly influence this process.     

Through the looking glass clearly: accuracy and assumed similarity in well-adjusted individuals' first impressions

Do well-adjusted individuals have particularly accurate insight into what others are like or are they biased, primarily seeing their own characteristics in others? In the current studies, the authors examined how psychologically adjusted individuals tend to see new acquaintances, directly comparing their levels of distinctive accuracy (accurately perceiving others' unique characteristics), normative accuracy (perceiving others as similar to the average person), and assumed similarity (perceiving others as similar to the self). Across two interactive, round-robin studies, well-adjusted individuals, compared with less adjusted individuals, did not perceive new acquaintances' unique characteristics more accurately but did perceive new acquaintances, on average, as similar to the average person, reflecting an accurate understanding of what people generally tend to be like. Furthermore, well-adjusted individuals had a biased tendency to perceive their own unique characteristics in others. Of note, both pre-existing perceiver adjustment and target-specific liking independently predicted greater accuracy and assumed similarity in first impressions. In sum, well-adjusted individuals see through the looking glass clearly: although they erroneously see others as possessing their own unique characteristics, they accurately understand what others generally tend to be like.     

The perception of self and others: acquaintanceship, affect, and actor-observer differences.

Three studies were designed to examine how people perceive themselves versus others. The main finding was that people were seen as causing positive behaviors, and situational factors were regarded as causing negative behaviors (positivity effect). This positivity effect was found to operate most strongly for perceptions of intimate others, such as spouse and friends, and less strongly for strangers and liked and disliked acquaintances. There was little support for the actor-observer difference that people view their own behavior more situationally than they do other people's behavior. It was concluded that both cognitive and motivational factors must be considered in predicting how people perceive and describe others.     

New Spirituality and Social Engagement

New spirituality has often been accused of being egocentric and thus lacking incentives for social engagement. The discussion on this subject is tangled because authors differ in specifying who they are writing about and what the criticism is. After seeking an adequate demarcation of the target group (people involved in new spirituality), we established a concept of social engagement that distinguishes between behavior that is and that is not driven by egocentric motivation. Using measures based on this conceptual model, we surveyed a representative sample of the Dutch population. We found that on most measures people involved in new spirituality are less socially engaged than affiliated or traditionally religious people but more engaged than “secular” people. However, they are more committed to organizations for environmental protection, peace, or animal rights than others. Overall, demographic factors—especially education, age, and gender—are stronger predictors for social engagement than religious and spiritual beliefs, experiences, or practices. The most important spirituality variable that predicts some social engagement measures is connectedness with self, others, and nature.     

The effects of being categorised: The interplay between internal and external social identities

In this chapter, we consider the independent and interactive effects of internal categorisations (how people see themselves) and external categorisations (how they are categorised by others) on social behaviour. Our point of departure is that people do not necessarily accept external categorisations that are imposed upon them (regardless of whether these refer to artificially constructed or naturally occurring groups) and that this affects their willingness to invest in the group. We first outline different reasons people may have to behave in line with externally imposed group memberships. Subsequently, we examine how self-presentation motives may interfere with identity expression, as people consider different social norms, different audiences, and the psychological costs associated with the management of their social identities. We conclude by delineating the conditions under which external categorisations can be internalised by targets, depending on the interplay of multiple identities as well as the way people are treated by others.     

Morality in Groups: On the Social‐Regulatory Functions of Right and Wrong

Applying what we know about group‐based identities and concerns allows us to improve our understanding of the ways in which morality is relevant to social judgments of right and wrong. We distinguish between three different social functions of moral standards and moral judgments. The identity defining function of morality indicates where people want to belong, and how they are regarded by others. The group dynamic function indicates consensual definitions of what is right and wrong that guide individual behavioral choices. The intergroup relations function of group morality, speaks to the way people tend to communicate with and behave towards members of other groups that have different moral standards.     

Perceiving couples as discrete units: The existence of couple-level identities

The present studies examined the often-implicit notion that people think about couples as discrete entities, distinct from the individuals therein—a concept we refer to as couple-level identities. Findings suggest that people perceive both their own and other couples as distinct units (Study 1) that can possess dyadic qualities unique from those of either couple member. Exploring the implications of these identities, Studies 2 and 3 examined how couple-level identities (beyond the identities of the individuals) influence social judgment (e.g., cognitive biases). Finally, Study 4's findings suggest that perceptions of discrete couple-level identities are natural parts of everyday social cognition. Together, results suggest the need to consider couple-level identities in research on the self, social perception, and close relationships.     

Normative goals and the regulation of social behavior: The case of respect

The rational actor model has a long and successful history of explaining human motivation across several disciplinary fields, but its focus on material self-interest fails to explain the many courtesies that people extend to each other and the frequent sacrifices they make on a day-to-day basis. What promotes this pro-social behavior—in particular trust in other people? I argue that interpersonal trust is supported by normative goals, in that people trust others, even complete strangers, because of a sense of what they ought to do, by social rules and obligations they feel they must follow. In particular, people feel they must respect the character of the other person, constrained to act as though the other individual is an honorable human being, irrespective of what they may privately believe. I describe how respect underlies trust in economic games as well as pro-social behavior in other social settings. This focus on normative goals, such as respect, suggests that people do not always act in alignment with their expectations, regulate themselves in terms their actions rather than possible outcomes of those actions, and choose pro-social action not out of desire to benefit others as much as a simple acquiescence to situational demands.     

被信任者社会身份复杂性对其可信性的影响

被信任者社会身份是单一的还是多样的, 这种数量差异可以体现其社会身份的复杂性。本研究探讨了被信任者社会身份复杂性(单一身份、多重身份)如何影响人们对其可信性的评价。实验1考察了被信任者社会身份复杂性对其可信性的影响以及社会距离在其中的中介作用。实验2用于检验被信任者所属群体类型(内群体、外群体)是否调节他们的社会身份复杂性对其可信性的影响。研究结果表明：被信任者多重社会身份的凸显会提高人们对其可信性的评价, 社会距离在二者之间起着完全中介作用; 群体类型对社会身份复杂性的影响具有调节作用, 社会距离的中介作用在对外群体成员的可信性评价中更为明显。     

A status-enhancement account of overconfidence

In explaining the prevalence of the overconfident belief that one is better than others, prior work has focused on the motive to maintain high self-esteem, abetted by biases in attention, memory, and cognition. An additional possibility is that overconfidence enhances the person's social status. We tested this status-enhancing account of overconfidence in 6 studies. Studies 1-3 found that overconfidence leads to higher social status in both short- and longer-term groups, using naturalistic and experimental designs. Study 4 applied a Brunswikian lens analysis (Brunswik, 1956) and found that overconfidence leads to a behavioral signature that makes the individual appear competent to others. Studies 5 and 6 measured and experimentally manipulated the desire for status and found that the status motive promotes overconfidence. Together, these studies suggest that people might so often believe they are better than others because it helps them achieve higher social status. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

From “I” to “We”: Different forms of identity,emotion, and belief predict victim support volunteerism among nominal and active supporters

Understanding how to attract and maintain volunteers is crucial for the operation of victim support organizations. We propose that volunteerism can be understood in a similar way as collective action. Active (N = 99) and nominal supporters (N = 134) completed measures of identities (personal, social, and organizational), emotions (sympathy, outrage, and pride), and efficacy beliefs (self‐, group, and organizational). The results revealed a different pattern of predictors of volunteerism for the two samples. Among nominal supporters, commitment to volunteerism was predicted by personal identity (“I”), sympathy, and self‐efficacy; among the actively engaged, volunteerism was predicted by social identity (“we”), outrage, and self‐efficacy. These results suggest that engagement with volunteerism is associated with qualitatively different processes for those nominally versus actively supportive of volunteer efforts.     

反思自我评价的性质

反思自我评价是指个体对于他人如何看待自己的知觉;它对自我概念、种族认同的形成起着重要作用。反思自我评价并不完全准确,它受熟悉性,自尊水平等多种因素的影响。关于反思自我评价的形成,目前主要有三种理论：直接观察模型、他人反馈模型和自我理论模型。由于中西方在文化、社会和历史背景上的不同,应加强建构适合我国文化背景的反思自我评价理论;另外,也应加强对反思自我评价研究的应用探讨。     

Rejection Sensitivity and the Rejection–Hostility Link in Romantic Relationships

ABSTRACT Rejection sensitivity is the disposition to anxiously expect, readily perceive, and intensely react to rejection. In response to perceived social exclusion, highly rejection sensitive people react with increased hostile feelings toward others and are more likely to show reactive aggression than less rejection sensitive people in the same situation. This paper summarizes work on rejection sensitivity that has provided evidence for the link between anxious expectations of rejection and hostility after rejection. We review evidence that rejection sensitivity functions as a defensive motivational system. Thus, we link rejection sensitivity to attentional and perceptual processes that underlie the processing of social information. A range of experimental and diary studies shows that perceiving rejection triggers hostility and aggressive behavior in rejection sensitive people. We review studies that show that this hostility and reactive aggression can perpetuate a vicious cycle by eliciting rejection from those who rejection sensitive people value most. Finally, we summarize recent work suggesting that this cycle can be interrupted with generalized self-regulatory skills and the experience of positive, supportive relationships.     

Rational Choice, Deterrence, and Theoretical Integration

The old version of rational choice theory is that people engage in conscious and deliberate cost–benefit analysis such that they maximize the values and minimize the costs of their actions. The new version of rational choice theory is that people intuit the values and costs of an action; but because they are imperfect processors of information, they pursue what they perceive as most satisfying. The possibility that legal punishments deter is consistent with the new version of rational choice theory, which can be used to integrate deterrence with other criminological theories, such as strain and social learning. An integrated theory of deterrence is presented and tested with experimental data.     

Beliefs and preferences in cultural agents and cultural game players

Two laboratory experiments demonstrated that Japanese participants did not conform to the majority unless negative social implications of not conforming were clear. When their behaviour had no implications for others, they rather exhibited preference for uniqueness. Results of Study 2 further demonstrated that participants' conformity to the majority was particularly prevalent among those who were chronically concerned with how other people would perceive them. Participants in these studies were shown to be cultural game players who changed their behaviour in response to anticipated responses of others based on culturally shared beliefs.     

A social relations variance partitioning of dyadic behavior

The authors investigate the relative importance of actor and interaction partner as determinants of dyadic behavior. Using the social relations model (D. A. Kenny, 1994a; D. A. Kenny & L. La Voie, 1984), the authors estimate the variance attributable to each determinant plus the reciprocity of behavioral responses from 7 studies. The authors find evidence for moderate behavioral consistency in a person's behavior across interaction partners, little or no evidence that people consistently engender the same behavioral response from others, and preliminary evidence of unique responding to particular partners. They also consider several methodological issues concerning behavioral measurement as well as the implications of the results for the study of accuracy.     

In Defence of Nationality

ABSTRACT The principle of nationality is widely believed to be philosophically disreputable and politically reactionary. As defined here, it embraces three propositions: national identities are properly part of personal identities; they ground circumscribed obligations to fellow-nationals; and they justify claims to political self-determination. To have a national identity is to think of oneself as belonging to a community constituted by mutual belief, extended in history, active in character, connected to a particular territory, and marked off from others by its members'distinct traits. Such identities are inevitably partly mythical in nature, yet they answer a pressing modern need, the maintenance of solidarity in large, anonymous societies. They are allied to no particular political programme. They do not require the suppression of minority cultures within the political community. They do not justify a secessionist free-for-all. Nor finally does recognition of the role of sentiments in constituting national communities commit us to a subjectivist view of social obligations. Philosophers should recognise the value of these loyalties even if they cannot be rationally grounded in a strong sense. [1]