Testing sociometer theory: Self-esteem and the importance of acceptance for social decision-making

The present study examined the sociometer’s role in guiding social behavior. The authors hypothesized that low self-esteem people (LSEs), but not high self-esteem people (HSEs), base their social decision-making on acceptance. Undergraduate participants were invited to join a social group and were led to believe that acceptance either was guaranteed, or was likely but not guaranteed. HSEs always were eager to join the group, whereas LSEs were keen to join the group only when acceptance was guaranteed. Furthermore, mediation analyses indicated that LSEs’ willingness to join the group was dependent on their anticipated social outcomes, which were contingent on acceptance from the group, whereas acceptance did not affect HSEs’ decision-making. These results support a sociometer account of social decision-making.     

When what you say about others says something about you: Language abstraction and inferences about describers’ attitudes and goals

According to the linguistic category model ( [Semin and Fiedler, 1988] and [Semin and Fiedler, 1991]), a person’s behavior can be described at varying levels of abstraction from concrete (e.g., “Lisa slaps Ann”) to abstract (e.g., “Lisa is aggressive”). Research has shown that language abstraction conveys information about the person whose behavior is described (Wigboldus, Semin, & Spears, 2000). However to date, little research has examined the information that language abstraction may convey about describers themselves. In this paper, we report three experiments demonstrating that describers who use relatively abstract language to describe others’ behaviors are perceived to have biased attitudes and motives compared with those describers who use more concrete language.     

How management style moderates the relationship between abusive supervision and workplace deviance: An uncertainty management theory perspective

Based on uncertainty management theory [Lind, E. A., & Van den Bos, K., (2002). When fairness works: Toward a general theory of uncertainty management. In Staw, B. M., & Kramer, R. M. (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 24, pp. 181–223). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.], two studies tested whether a management style depicting situational uncertainty moderates the relationship between abusive supervision and workplace deviance. Study 1, using survey data from 379 subordinates of various industries, found that the positive relationship between abusive supervision and organizational deviance was stronger when authoritarian management style was low (high situational uncertainty) rather than high (low situational uncertainty). No significant interaction effect was found on interpersonal deviance. Study 2, using survey data from 1477 subordinates of various industries, found that the positive relationship between abusive supervision and supervisor-directed and organizational deviance was stronger when employees’ perceptions of their organization’s management style reflected high rather than low situational uncertainty.     

Partners’ Attributions for Service Members’ Symptoms of Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

The association of service members’ combat-related PTSD with partners’ distress is weaker when spouses/partners believe that service members experienced more traumatic events during deployment. Also, when simultaneously examining partners’ perceptions of all PTSD symptoms, perceptions of reexperiencing symptoms (the symptoms most obviously connected to traumatic events) are significantly negatively related to distress in partners. These findings are consistent with the notion that partners may be less distressed if they make external, rather than internal, attributions for service members’ symptoms. The present study explicitly tests this possibility. Civilian wives of active duty service members completed measures regarding their own marital satisfaction, their perceptions of service members’ combat exposure during deployments, their perceptions of service members’ symptoms of PTSD, and their attributions for those symptoms. External attributions were significantly positively associated with perceptions of combat exposure (r_p = .31) and reexperiencing symptoms (β = .33) and significantly negatively associated with perceptions of numbing/withdrawal symptoms (r_p = –.22). In contrast, internal attributions were significantly negatively associated with perceptions of reexperiencing symptoms (β = –.18) and significantly positively associated with perceptions of numbing/withdrawal symptoms (β = .46). Internal attributions significantly moderated the negative association of PTSD symptoms with marital satisfaction, such that the association strengthened as internal attributions increased. These findings are the first explicit support for an attributional understanding of distress in partners of combat veterans. Interventions that alter partners’ attributions may improve marital functioning.     

Self-esteem is a shared relationship resource: Additive effects of dating partners’ self-esteem levels predict relationship quality

Though self-esteem is known to positively impact individuals’ romantic relationship outcomes and those of their partners, the interactive nature of both partners’ self-esteem levels has not been systematically investigated. Using actor-partner interdependence model analyses we estimated actor, partner, and four types of dyadic effects of self-esteem on relationship quality in a sample of over 500 heterosexual dating couples. Lower self-esteem individuals and their partners reported lower satisfaction and commitment to their relationships than did higher self-esteem individuals and their partners. An additive effect whereby both partners’ self-esteem levels combine to predict relationship quality best described the dyadic effects. Results highlight the importance of considering the interactive nature of individual characteristics in dyadic research.     

Spillover and crossover of exhaustion and life satisfaction among dual-earner parents

This study integrates spillover research of stress transferring from work to home and crossover research of strains transferring from one spouse to another. A spillover and crossover model was tested among 191 (couples of) dual-earner parents. For both males and females, it was hypothesized that (self-reported and partners’ rating of) work-to-family interference (WFI) partially mediates the job demands-job exhaustion relationship, and fully mediates the job demands-life satisfaction relationship. Further, we hypothesized reciprocal crossover effects between both partners’ job exhaustion and life satisfaction. The results of structural equation modeling analyses offered support for the mediating role of WFI although there were genders differences. In addition, we found a crossover path from females’ exhaustion to males’ exhaustion and from males’ life satisfaction to their partners’ life satisfaction. This implies that not only job-related strain, but also positive, context-free well-being may crossover among partners.     

Differences in self-talk frequency as a function of age, only-child, and imaginary childhood companion status

In three studies, we examined differences in the frequency with which people report talking to themselves. Using a standardized measure of self-talk frequency, the Self-Talk Scale (Brinthaupt, Hein, & Kramer, 2009), we collected information about college student participants’ age, sex, and family configuration (i.e., only or sibling child), and whether they had an imaginary companion in childhood. In Study 1, significant differences in self-talk were found between different age groupings. In Study 2, children without siblings reported more self-talk than children with siblings. Finally, in Study 3, respondents who reported having an imaginary companion in childhood also reported significantly more self-talk than those who did not have an imaginary childhood companion. We discuss the self-regulatory and developmental implications of these results.     

Abstract thinking increases one’s sense of power

One’s subjective sense of power often has greater influence on behavior than the amount of power one actually possesses. We propose that this sense of power may be determined in part by one’s style of information processing. As abstract thought is less constraining than concrete thought, and having power leads to more abstract thought [Smith, P. K., & Trope, Y. (2006). You focus on the forest when you’re in charge of the trees: Power priming and abstract information processing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 578-596.], we predicted that thinking more abstractly would make one feel more powerful. Indeed, in four experiments, abstract thought led to a greater sense of power, greater preference for high-power roles, and more feelings of control over the environment, relative to both a concrete-thought and a control condition. This bidirectional relationship between power and abstract thinking suggests one way in which power hierarchies may be unintentionally perpetuated.     

Altruistic or selfish? Responses when safety is threatened depend on childhood socioeconomic status

Altruism is an effective method of coping with threats. This research explored the relationship between childhood socioeconomic status (SES) and altruism under different situations. The results of five studies provided reliable evidence that safety-threat conditions moderated the relationship between childhood SES and altruism. Individuals with higher childhood SES exhibited higher altruistic intentions (Studies 1 and 2) and behaviors (Study 3) when they were manipulated to imagine a safety threat scenario (Study 1), when viewing pictures of disasters (Study 2), and when they were manipulated to believe that their health was under threat (Study 3). However, their childhood SES had no significant impact on their altruistic intentions and behaviors in relatively safe environments (Studies 1–3). This effect was again tested in more realistic environmental conditions using a large-scale survey in Study 4. In Study 5, we explored the underlying mechanism behind the earlier findings (i.e., temporal discounting).     

Mechanisms of Change in Brief Couple Therapy for Depression

The goal of the present study was to investigate potential mechanisms of previously documented treatment effects for a brief, 5-session, problem-focused couple therapy for depression in a sample of 35 depressed women and their nondepressed husbands. The primary treatment effects were reducing women’s depressive symptoms and their husbands’ psychological distress and depression-specific burden. Secondarily, treatment resulted in increased relationship satisfaction for both partners. Given these significant treatment changes observed in 5 sessions, we sought to examine the mechanisms of change by testing the following three factors as potential mediators: (a) negative behaviors and attitudes toward depression, (b) support provision, and (c) empathic communication towards the depressed female partners. Women’s depression and husbands’ depression-specific burden were alleviated by positive changes in their illness-related attitudes and behaviors. Improvements in women’s marital satisfaction were also mediated by positive change in their illness-related attitudes and behaviors, along with perceptions of increased positivity and support from their husbands. Findings highlight the importance of targeting specific treatment agents in a brief couple therapy for depression such as psychoeducation about depression and support-building to increase partners’ understanding and acceptance of the illness, and teaching communication skills to reduce negative behaviors and criticism that are replaced by more empathic communication towards the depressed individual.     

Task conflict,information processing,and decision-making: The damaging effect of relationship conflict

A popular theoretical assumption holds that task-related disagreements stimulate critical thinking, and thus may improve group decision making. Two recent meta-analyses showed, however, that task conflict can have a positive effect, a negative effect, or no effect at all on decision-making quality (De Dreu & Weingart, 2003; De Wit, Greer, & Jehn, 2012). In two studies, we built upon the suggestion of both meta-analyses that the presence of relationship conflict determines whether a task conflict is positively or negatively related to decision making. We hypothesized and found that the level of perceived relationship conflict during task conflict (Study 1), and the actual presence (vs. absence) of relationship conflict during task conflict (Study 2), increased group members’ rigidity in holding onto suboptimal initial preferences during decision making and thus led to poor decisions. In both studies the effect of relationship conflict on decision making was mediated by biased use of information.     

“You’re Just Saying That.” Contingencies of self-worth, suspicion, and authenticity in the interpersonal affirmation process

A model of the role and costs of contingent self-worth in the partner-affirmation process was tested. Actors whose self-worth was contingent on appearance or intelligence claimed to have expressed their particular heightened sensitivity to their romantic partners. Suggesting a cost to these reactions, actors’ beliefs about having expressed heightened sensitivity, in turn, predicted their doubts about the authenticity of partners’ positive feedback in the domain of contingency, independently of whether partners claimed to deliver inauthentic feedback. Suggesting a cost for partners, partners of contingent actors appeared to detect actors’ expressions of sensitivity in the domain of contingency and respond by delivering inauthentic feedback to actors in the domain, which in turn predicted partners’ increased relationship anxiety and decreased satisfaction. Results suggest that contingent self-worth may undermine the functioning of the partner-affirmation process through actors discrediting partners’ positive feedback and partners behaving in an inauthentic and controlled manner.     

The effects of romantic partners’ goal congruence on affective well-being

Affective well-being in romantic couples was examined from the perspective of interdependence theory. The independent variables were (a) presence of partner, (b) whether an activity met the actor’s goals, and (c) goals of the actor’s partner. Dependent variables were feelings of closeness and affective well-being (happiness, sadness, anger, anxiety). We predicted a three-way interaction with the highest affective well-being when partners are together and activities meet both partners’ goals. In Study 1, data from 194 married individuals who participated in an experience sampling study supported our predictions. Feelings of closeness partially mediated the effect on affective well-being. Study 2 replicated the findings with 112 participants in dating relationships who recalled specific events and made ratings about goals and affective well-being.     

When self-disclosure goes awry: Negative consequences of revealing personal failures for lower self-esteem individuals

Despite the potential benefits of self-disclosure, individuals with lower self-esteem (LSEs) tend to avoid self-revelations. The present study investigated the role of self-esteem in predicting detrimental responses to the disclosure of a personal failure. We employed a novel experimental design where all participants experienced a lab-induced stressor (failure feedback on a competence test) and half were randomly assigned to disclose this information to their dating partner. In contrast to LSEs who concealed the personal failure, LSEs who disclosed the failure reported several negative consequences that may further contribute to relationship-based distress. However, individuals higher in self-esteem (HSEs) benefitted from disclosing the personal failure in comparison to LSEs who disclosed and HSEs who concealed the failure. We discuss the consequences of disclosing personal failures to partners for HSEs and LSEs.     

Dissimilar effects of task‐relevant and interpersonal threat on independent–interdependent self‐construal in individuals with high self‐esteem

Previous research has indicated that individuals with high trait self‐esteem (HSEs) become more independent and less interdependent after experiencing a task‐relevant threat. However, these studies have not investigated other sources of ego threats, such as interpersonal threats. Therefore, the moderating effects of the degree of trait self‐esteem on task‐relevant and interpersonal ego threats were investigated in relation to independent, or interdependent self‐construal. It was predicted that in HSEs, the level of task‐relevant stress would be positively–negatively related to their independence–interdependence, whereas the level of interpersonal stress would be negatively–positively related to their independence–interdependence. In individuals with low trait self‐esteem (LSEs), the two types of stresses and independent–interdependent self‐construal may not have a significant relationship. We conducted a questionnaire survey with undergraduates. Correlational analysis of the results indicated that in HSEs, greater task‐relevant stress was related to heightened independence, whereas greater interpersonal stress had the opposite effect, indicating lower independence and heightened interdependence. However, these stresses were not related to the self‐construal of LSEs. These findings suggest that task‐relevant and interpersonal threat could have differential effects on independent and interdependent self‐construal for HSEs, but not in LSEs.     

Covert shifts of attention function as an implicit aid to insight

Previous research shows that directed actions can unconsciously influence higher-order cognitive processing, helping learners to retain knowledge and guiding problem solvers to useful insights (e.g. Cook, S. W., Mitchell, Z., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2008). Gesturing makes learning last. Cognition, 106, 1047-1058; Thomas, L. E., & Lleras, A. (2007). Moving eyes and moving thought: on the spatial compatibility between eye movements and cognition. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 14, 663-668). We examined whether overt physical movement is necessary for these embodied effects on cognition, or whether covert shifts of attention are sufficient to influence cognition. We asked participants to try to solve Duncker’s radiation problem while occasionally directing them, via an unrelated digit-tracking task, to shift their attention (while keeping their eyes fixed) in a pattern related to the problem’s solution, to move their eyes in this pattern, or to keep their eyes and their attention fixed in the center of the display. Although they reported being unaware of any relationship between the digit-tracking task and the radiation problem, participants in both the eye-movement and attention-shift groups were more likely to solve the problem than were participants who maintained fixation. Our results show that by shifting attention in a pattern compatible with a problem’s solution, we can aid participants’ insight even in the absence of overt physical movements.     

Threat causes liberals to think like conservatives

In Study 1, politically liberal college students’ in-group favoritism increased after a system-injustice threat, becoming as pronounced as that of conservatives. Studies 2 and 3 conceptually replicated these results with low preference for consistency [Cialdini, R. B., Trost, M. R., & Newsom, J. T. (1995). Preference for consistency: The development of a valid measure and the discovery of surprising behavioral implications. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 318-328.] as a dispositional measure of liberalism. In Study 2, following a mortality salience threat, dispositionally liberal students showed as much conviction in their attitudes toward capital punishment and abortion as dispositional conservatives did. In Study 3, after a mortality salience threat, liberal students became as staunchly unsupportive of homosexuals as conservatives were. The findings that political and dispositional liberals become more politically and psychologically conservative after threats provide convergent experimental support for the [Jost, J. T., Glaser, J., Kruglanski, A. W., & Sulloway, F. J. (2003). Political conservatism as motivated social cognition. Psychological Bulletin, 129 339-375.] contention that conservatism is a basic form of motivated social cognition.     

“Hit Me, Maybe, One More Time”: Brief measures of impulsivity and sensation seeking and their prediction of blackjack bets and sexual promiscuity

We sought to construct an efficient, reliable, and valid self-report measure of impulsivity and sensation-seeking. We used item response theory to identify the 8 best items (ImpSS-8) from the 19-item Impulsivity and Sensation-Seeking Scale (Zuckerman, Kuhlman, Joireman, Teta, & Kraft, 1993; Study 1). The ImpSS-8 interacted with a manipulated ego threat to predict blackjack bets: in a weak situation (no ego threat), individual differences were strong (a positive ImpSS-8-bets relationship); in a strong situation (ego threat), individual differences were weak (no relationship; Study 2). The ImpSS-8’s 4-item impulsivity and sensation-seeking subscales related differentially to the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (Study 2) as well as trait measures of openness and conscientiousness, hostility and physical aggression, and sexually promiscuous attitudes and timing (Study 3).     

The effect of construal level on predictions of task duration

Construal level theory (Trope & Liberman, 2010) contends that distance to events leads to higher level processing. In a series of studies, we examined the role of construal level in prediction of the time needed to perform a task. Estimates increased when the tasks were distant rather than close in time (Study 1), were hypothetical rather than real (Study 2), and when participants were primed to adopt an abstract rather than a concrete mindset (Study 3). As a possible explanation, it is suggested that time units are perceived as smaller as people move up in abstraction, so that more time units are needed to cover the same amount of work. In line with this, we found that people who were primed to adopt a higher level processing mode visualized an hour as shorter than those in a lower level mode, as indicated by their distance marks on a time-line (Study 4). Finally, the contraction of time units was shown to mediate the relationship between temporal distance and task duration estimates (Study 5).     

More than words: reframing compliments from romantic partners fosters security in low self-esteem individuals

Although people with low self-esteem (LSEs) doubt their value to their romantic partners, they tend to resist positive feedback from their partners. This resistance undermines their relationships and has been difficult to overcome in past research. The authors investigated whether LSEs could be induced to take their partners' kind words to heart by manipulating how abstractly they described a recent compliment. In 3 studies, LSEs felt more positively about the compliments, about themselves, and about their relationships--as positively as people with high self-esteem (HSEs) felt--when they were encouraged to describe the meaning and significance of the compliments. The effects of this abstract meaning manipulation were still evident 2 weeks later. Thus, when prompted, LSEs can reframe affirmations from their partners to be as meaningful as HSEs generally believe them to be and, consequently, can feel just as secure and satisfied with their romantic relationships.