Reconstruction of the subjective temporal distance of past interpersonal experiences after mortality salience

The present article examines the effect of mortality salience on the subjective temporal distance of past experiences with close friends. Since mortality salience motivates relational strivings, it should also affect the perception of past interpersonal experiences that influence the anticipation of future closeness and continuity of the friendship. Three studies were conducted with a total of 428 Japanese college students. Study 1 revealed that a smaller temporal distance of an experience of positive conduct from a friend was associated with greater satisfaction with the friendship. Study 2 found that the temporal distance of such an experience was perceived as smaller in the mortality salience than in the control condition. Study 3 found equivalent results with respect to the temporal distance of the participants' positive conduct toward a close friend. These results suggest that people cope with existential concerns through reconstructing autobiographical memories in the interpersonal domain.     

WOMEN'S HOSTILITY TOWARD WOMEN

Three studies investigating the self-report correlates of women's hostility toward other women were conducted among a total of 477 college women. In Study 1, hostility toward women was negatively associated with both personal and collective self-esteem and positively associated with hostility toward men, controlling for state anger. In Study 2, hostility toward women was negatively associated with self-efficacy and age and positively associated with emotional dependence on men, but not with self-identification as a feminist or support of the feminist movement. In Study 3, women's hostility toward women was negatively associated with measures of intimacy and life satisfaction and positively associated with acceptance of interpersonal violence. We suggest that women's hostility toward other women not only is an important aspect of women's personal satisfaction, happiness, intimacy, and self-esteem, but also may serve as a barrier to women's progress as a group.     

Reciprocal relationships between contextual and situational motivation in a sport setting

ObjectiveThe purpose of this investigation was to test the hypothesized reciprocal top-down (TD) and bottom-up (BU) relationships between motivation at one given level and motivation at the next adjacent level in Vallerand's [1997, Toward a hierarchical model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 271–360). New York: Academic Press] Hierarchical Model of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation. These postulates were examined in two studies, whereby the dynamic interplay between motivation toward a specific life domain (i.e., contextual) and the motivation experienced during a specific point in time (i.e., situational) was examined.Method and ResultsIn Study 1, a sample of collegiate basketball players (N=162) were followed during two games at a pre-season tournament. Reciprocal TD and BU effects between athletes’ contextual motivation toward their sport and the situational motivation they experienced during their games were expected. The influence of situational factors such as perceptions of personal and team performance on situational motivation was also examined. Results from path analyses provided support for our hypotheses. Study 2 (N=150) replicated the findings of Study 1 which followed athletes during an entire basketball season. Reciprocal TD and BU effects between athletes’ contextual motivation toward their sport and the situational motivation they experienced during games of each half of the season were observed. Moreover, contextual motivation assessed at the end of the season predicted athletes’ sustained interest in their sport. Results from Study 2, also provided support for the mediating role of psychological need satisfaction on the relationship between situational factors such as perceptions of personal and team performance on athletes’ situational motivation experienced during games.ConclusionImplications for intrinsic/extrinsic motivation theory and research in the sports domain are discussed.     

The impact of motivation on temporal comparisons: coping with traumatic events by perceiving personal growth

Four studies were conducted to investigate the impact of self-enhancement motivation on the temporal comparisons of victims of stressful life events. Study 1 revealed that (a) victims were more likely than acquaintances of victims to report greater improvement in their personal attributes after traumatic life events than after mild negative life events and (b) victims perceived improvement by derogating their pre-event attributes. In Studies 2 and 3, an experimental approach was used to study the impact of threatening experiences on perceptions of personal growth, and similar findings were obtained. Study 4 confirmed that threatening self-relevant feelings play a causal role in prompting self-enhancing temporal comparisons. Taken together, the findings of these studies support the view that perceptions of personal improvement reflect, at least in part, motivated illusions that are designed to help people cope with threatening life experiences.     

Responding to partners' expression of anger: the role of communal motivation

The effects of communal motivation on reactions to relationship partners' expressed anger were examined. In Study 1, married couples reported on the communal strength of their marriage, their expressions of anger to their spouse, and relationship satisfaction. In Study 2, college students reported on the communal strength of their best friendships, those friends' expressions of anger, and their evaluations of and provision of support to those friends. In Study 3, communal motivation toward a stranger who expressed mild anger was manipulated and evaluation of that stranger was measured. In all three studies, low communal motivation was associated with more negative evaluations of angry partners, lower relationship satisfaction, and, in Study 2, lower support provision. In contrast, when communal motivation was high, these decreases either did not occur (Studies 1 and 3) or were diminished (Study 2), and in Study 2, partners' anger was associated with increased provision of social support.     

Vicarious Experiences of Major Discrimination and the Life Satisfaction of Black and White Adults from a Community Sample

The racism-related stress framework argues that racism can influence the well-being of individuals through personal and vicarious experiences of discrimination, but studies on racism and health have primarily focused on understanding how personally experienced discrimination shapes these outcomes. Using data from the Nashville Stress and Health Study (N?=?1,252) the present study examines the racial differences in vicarious experiences of major discrimination among Black and non-Hispanic White adults from a community sample. Additionally, given longstanding evidence of racial disparities in life satisfaction, this study assesses whether the effects of vicarious experiences of discrimination influence overall life satisfaction of both Black and White adults. Results reveal significant racial differences in the types of vicarious discrimination that both groups are exposed to, and that Black adults are more exposed to vicarious experiences of major discrimination relative to White adults. Furthermore, findings indicate that vicarious experiences of discrimination, in addition to personal experiences of discrimination, are associated with lower levels of overall life satisfaction among Black adults, but not for White adults. This study extends the broader literature on racism-related stress and offers new insights for understanding racial differences in overall life satisfaction and well-being.

     

Cherish the good times: Relational savoring in parents of infants and toddlers

Savoring, or prolonging emotions associated with positive events, improves emotion and life satisfaction; little work, however, focuses on the savoring of interpersonal experiences, termed relational savoring. In a sample of 435 parents, the authors evaluated the impact of relational savoring on emotion and parent–child relationship satisfaction compared to a personal savoring and neutral control condition. Two years later, the authors reassessed parents' feelings of closeness with their children in a subsample of the original participants (n = 64). Both savoring conditions resulted in higher positive emotion for all parents, whereas the effects on negative emotion, relationship satisfaction, and closeness were only present for those higher in attachment avoidance. This study opens new avenues of investigation in both relational savoring and parent–child relationships.     

Perceived brand authenticity: Examining the effects of inferred dedication and anticipated quality on consumers' purchase intentions and actual choices

This research investigates both the downstream effect of perceived brand authenticity on consumers' actual, consequential choice and the important role of inferred brand dedication in the relationship between perceived brand authenticity, anticipated quality, and purchase intentions. We also investigate the interactive effect of two source-related factors—intrinsic motivation and congruity—on consumers' brand authenticity perceptions. We present findings from three studies using different product categories (utilitarian/consumable: hand sanitizer; hedonic/consumable: chocolate; hedonic/non-consumable: sunglasses). Study 1 shows that consumers use information regarding the intrinsic motivation of those behind the brand and congruity between the brand's actions and what it represents to consumers when forming brand authenticity perceptions and that intrinsic motivation and congruity interact to increase authenticity perceptions. We anticipate that consumers' positivity toward brands perceived as authentic will extend to actual choice through anticipated quality. Study 2 demonstrates that consumers choose authentic brands over inauthentic brands above what chance would dictate and anticipated quality can forecast this choice. Next, we extend our collective process knowledge by exploring an underlying reason why consumers anticipate that brands presented through marketing communications as authentic will have higher quality. We suggest that when managers present brands as authentic, consumers infer greater dedication of those behind the brand and inferred dedication influences anticipated product quality. Study 3 provides support and uncovers a serial mediation process, highlighting the importance of inferred dedication. Specifically, perceived brand authenticity increases consumers' brand dedication inferences, which in turn increases anticipated product quality, and ultimately purchase intentions.     

Adolescents' future education-related personal goals,concerns, and internal motivation during the “Towards Working Life” group intervention

For adolescents, the transition from comprehensive school to post-comprehensive education is one of the most important in this life phase. Future education-related personal goals, concerns, and related internal motivation are assumed to play key roles in a successful transition. The “Towards Working Life” group method was developed, among other objectives, to enhance internal motivation towards education-related goals, and to increase the number of personal goals and concerns related to future education. A total of 1034 ninth graders from comprehensive school were randomized into 25 intervention groups and control groups. A week-long group intervention, which took place at school, showed that the intervention increased the number of future education-related personal goals and that this effect was also related to an increase in similar concerns. Moreover, the intervention increased adolescents' internal motivation towards education-related goals.     

Relational self-construal moderates the effect of social support on life satisfaction

While social support is associated with a host of important physical and psychological benefits, these effects are not always straightforward. Still, the moderating factors that might underlie individual differences in reactions to social support are not well-understood. In the current studies, we examined individual differences in relational self-construal in the typically positive relationship between social support and life satisfaction. In Study 1 (N = 79) relational self-construal moderated the relationship between social support and life satisfaction such that social support was especially beneficial for those with high relational self-construal. We replicated this effect in Study 2 (N = 284), and also found that social support was especially important for individuals with high relational self-construal in the context of high feelings of stress. These studies suggest that social support has differently gauged effects on life satisfaction depending on an individual’s relational self-construal.     

Chinese and South Asian Conceptions of the Good Life and Personal Narratives

Are cultural visions of a good life reflected in how people narrate the personal past? Do they tend to emphasize experiences that correspond to their cultural commitments about what is important and worthwhile in the life they are hoping to live? To examine this possibility, Chinese and South Asian international students at a Canadian university were compared on the content of their narrative accounts of their post-arrival experiences. Predictions about how these groups differ in the prevalence of various topical categories were made on the basis of previous research on cultural conceptions of a good life. A majority of the predictions were confirmed, supporting the general claim that Chinese tend more toward practical and prudential concerns, and less toward spiritual and beneficent concerns, than do South Asians.     

Open hearts build lives: positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources

B. L. Fredrickson's (1998, 2001) broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions asserts that people's daily experiences of positive emotions compound over time to build a variety of consequential personal resources. The authors tested this build hypothesis in a field experiment with working adults (n = 139), half of whom were randomly-assigned to begin a practice of loving-kindness meditation. Results showed that this meditation practice produced increases over time in daily experiences of positive emotions, which, in turn, produced increases in a wide range of personal resources (e.g., increased mindfulness, purpose in life, social support, decreased illness symptoms). In turn, these increments in personal resources predicted increased life satisfaction and reduced depressive symptoms. Discussion centers on how positive emotions are the mechanism of change for the type of mind-training practice studied here and how loving-kindness meditation is an intervention strategy that produces positive emotions in a way that outpaces the hedonic treadmill effect.     

Working models of romantic attachment and the subjective quality of social interactions across relational contexts

Two diary studies examined the effects of domain‐specific representations of romantic relationships (assessed using the Relationship Questionnaire in Study 1 and the Revised Experiences in Close Relationships questionnaire in Study 2) on the subjective quality of social interactions across four relational contexts: those with a romantic partner, family member, platonic friend, or acquaintance/other. In both studies, domain‐specific romantic attachment, particularly attachment avoidance, was more strongly related to subjective experiences of social interactions involving a romantic partner than those with family members, platonic friends, or acquaintances/others. These results complement previous diary research using earlier categorical measures of attachment and elaborate upon the contextual effects of the attachment behavioral system in naturally occurring social interactions with different relational partners. The conditions under which working models of different relationship domains should influence interpersonal functioning are discussed, and a context‐congruence hypothesis of attachment effects, which encompasses the current findings and generates further predictions, is detailed.     

You May Worry,But Can You Recognize Threats When You See Them?; Neuroticism,Threat Identifications,and Negative Affect

The present studies sought to investigate the hedonic consequences of threat-identification skills at low and high levels of neuroticism. Such skills were assessed in terms of both speed (Study 1) and accuracy (Study 2) of identifying threatening objects in cognitive tasks. As predicted, threat-identification skills interacted with trait neuroticism in predicting subjective experiences. Specifically, individuals high in neuroticism experienced lower levels of negative affect during their everyday lives if they were also skilled in identifying threats in the cognitive tasks (Studies 1-2). Such skills did not matter at low levels of neuroticism. This interactive pattern was also replicated in the context of life domain satisfaction (Study 2). The results support the view that avoidance motivation encompasses multiple component processes, including some that are cognitive in nature, and specifically extends self-regulatory views of neuroticism. Of most importance, our data indicate that threat-identification skills can be hedonically beneficial, rather than costly, at high levels of neuroticism.     

A Measure of Quality of Life in Elderly Tourists

This research enriches our knowledge of the tourist market in relation to the elderly, i.e., those age 65 and older and retired. The purpose of the research is to explore the missing link between travel behaviors of the elderly and how they contribute to Quality of Life (QoL). As a result, this study clarifies elderly tourist motivation and also aims to examine the relationship among motivation, constraints, leisure-life domain satisfaction, and overall life satisfaction by generating theoretical and practical implications related to those behaviors. Using a structural equation modeling approach, the research model identifies the relevant relationships among the constructs. The results reveal that motivation positively influences satisfaction with leisure-life domain. However, travel constraints do not affect leisure-life domain satisfaction. In addition, satisfaction with leisure-life domain is linked to overall life satisfaction among the elderly.     

Locus-of-hope and life satisfaction: The mediating roles of personal self-esteem and relational self-esteem

Research has demonstrated that hope is linked to better psychological well-being; however, little research has been conducted to examine the mechanisms underlying the link between hope and psychological well-being. The current study examined whether two types of self-esteem (personal and relational) would mediate the relationship between four loci-of-hope (internal, family, peers, and spiritual) and life satisfaction among Hong Kong and Macau college students (n = 1008). Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses. Consistent with the hypotheses, both personal self-esteem and relational self-esteem partially mediated the effects of internal hope on life satisfaction. Moreover, relational self-esteem mediated the effect of external-family locus-of-hope on life satisfaction. Interestingly, a suppressing effect of personal self-esteem on the relationship between external-peers locus-of-hope and life satisfaction was found. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Quest for Significance and Violent Extremism: The Case of Domestic Radicalization

In the present study, we applied the quest for significance model of radicalization to explain the use of political violence. According to the model, when people experience loss of personal significance (e.g., due to social rejection, achievement failures, or abuse) the motivation to restore significance may push them toward the use of extreme means. We tested this prediction in a sample of individuals who have committed ideologically motivated crimes in the United States (n = 1496). We found that experiences of economic and social loss of significance were separate and positive predictors related to the use of violence by perpetrators of ideologically motivated crimes. We also found evidence that the presence of radicalized others (friends but not family members) in the individuals' social network increased their likelihood of using violence.     

Adult's amae as a tool for adjustment to a new environment

Past research has found that people of East Asian backgrounds avoid seeking help out of relational concerns. Research on amae, however, suggests that Japanese may use amae to simultaneously obtain the needed help and enhance relationships. Study 1 showed that among Japanese entrepreneurs and managers, the propensity toward amae correlated with perceiving fewer costs of help‐seeking, seeking more help at work, greater engagement in new relationships and higher general trust. These associations suggest that the Japanese may be using amae to get the help they need and to build new relationships. Study 2 further showed that first‐year undergraduates who reported engaging in amae soon after entering college showed a significant increase in sense of purpose and satisfaction with college life in their first year. These findings suggest that, unlike dependency or passive love, amae can be highly adaptive for the Japanese.     

Relational Spirituality and Dealing With Transgressions: Development of the Relational Engagement of the Sacred for a Transgression (REST) Scale

In the study of spirituality and forgiveness, researchers have begun to look at how dynamic spiritual experiences influence forgiveness. In three studies, we develop the Relational Engagement of the Sacred for a Transgression (REST) Scale, which assesses the extent to which victims actively engage a relationship with the Sacred to deal with a specific transgression. In Study 1, exploratory factor analysis was used to determine the factor structure of the REST. In Study 2, the factor structure was replicated using confirmatory factory analysis. The REST was correlated with religious commitment and negatively related to avoidant attachment to God. In Study 3, evidence supporting the scale's construct validity was adduced. REST scores were correlated with other appraisals of relational spirituality. Structural equation modeling was used to compare theoretical models. REST scores were related to dedication to the Sacred and viewing the transgression as a desecration. In addition, REST scores were positively related to empathy, which was positively related to forgiveness. Furthermore, REST scores predicted forgiveness above and beyond other appraisals of relational spirituality.     

Grit and Different Aspects of Well-Being: Direct and Indirect Relationships via Sense of Coherence and Authenticity

Grit, passion and perseverance for long-term goals, is strongly related to success in goal attainment even under challenging circumstances. We investigated how grit relates to three aspects of well-being: psychological well-being (PWB), satisfaction with life, and harmony in life. This relationship is approached through organismic valuing theory, which proposes that people are naturally motivated to grow towards their highest potential; grit is proposed as being akin to such growth motivation. In two studies (Study 1 with 196 university students, and Study 2 with 396 non-students), direct and indirect (mediating) effects between grit and well-being were investigated. Sense of coherence (SOC) and authenticity were used as mediators, and gender as a moderator. Grit was positively related to all well-being factors, and SOC and authenticity were significant mediators (complementary for PWB and indirect-only for satisfaction with life and harmony in life). This suggests that grittiness in goal pursuits requires both a sense that the world is coherent and an authentic connection with the self in order for it to fully benefit well-being. No gender moderation was found.