Conceptual complexity,environment complexity,communication salience and attitude change

Hypotheses derived from the Harvey, Hunt and Schroder personality organization system were tested in an attitude change situation. Female subjects selected for extremeness of conceptual structure and negative attitude toward women's equality were subjected to a sensory deprivation, a normal control or an overstimulation environment in which a high salience (HS) or a low salience (LS) communication was presented. The main prediction of a three-way interaction among conceptual structure, communication salience and environmental complexity received some support. Concrete individuals who received the HS communication showed significantly more change than those who received the LS communication. The expected reversal of this effect for abstract individuals was not found. The HS communication produced significantly greater change than the LS communication, and this difference was significantly related to environmental complexity. These findings were discussed in terms of McGuire's and Berlyne's respective proposals concerning comprehension-yielding, and arousal reduction.     

Sense of Control Among Hospital Employees: An Assessment of Choice Process,Empowerment, and Buffering Hypotheses1

This study examines 3 theoretical arguments explaining employees' sense of control: (a) The choice process hypothesis stipulates that employees' sense of control is a consequence of their choice processes and perceived choice size; (b) the empowerment hypothesis proposes that sense of control results from the empowerment role of social and organizational support which endorse and authorize employees' job activities; and (c) the buffering hypothesis indicates that a successful management of job-related stressors is the key to greater sense of control, and that social support plays a role in buffering the potential negative influences of job-related stressors. An assessment of the hypotheses over a sample of 1,585 hospital employees in Korea provided overall support for the choice process hypothesis and partial support for both the empowerment and the buffering hypotheses. We discuss some practical and cross-cultural research implications of the findings.     

Environmental structure and the perceived similarity-satisfaction relationship: Traditional and alternative schools1

The relationship between perceived self-environment similarity and satisfaction with the environment was tested in two differing kinds of organizational structures. It was hypothesized that the perceived similarity-satisfaction relationship was mediated by the salience or importance of the particular reference group involved. Two kinds of public high schools—traditional and alternative—were selected as examples of organizations where the same reference groups (e.g., teachers and students) play differentially salient organizational roles. Using a semantic differential technique, 46 traditional school students and 40 alternative school students rated various reference groups and school satisfactions. Differing patterns of perceived similarity and satisfaction found in the two schools support the notion that organizational structure—as embodied in organizational roles—causes the perceived similarity-satisfaction relationship to be different in different settings. The relationship of the findings to prior research is discussed and the importance of evolving more sophisticated notions of person-environment relationships is stressed.     

I am Not a Better Teacher,But Others are Doing Worse: Burnout and Perceptions of Superiority Among Teachers

This study examined differences between teachers high and low in burnout in the perception of being superior to others. Because burnout implies a decline in well-being and because well-being is related to perceived superiority, it was hypothesized that perceived superiority would be reduced among individuals high in burnout. This would be particularly true for superiority with respect to positive behaviors (feeling better than others). As negative behaviors of others are generally highly salient, it was expected that even individuals high in burnout would be able to maintain a sense of negative superiority (feeling less bad than others). One hundred twenty teachers in secondary education were asked to generate information about inferior and superior others. Perceived superiority was assessed by response latencies and the quality of the information generated. As expected, only positive superiority was reduced among teachers high in burnout. Thus, they felt less good, but also less bad than others. Consequences for classroom performance and suggestions for the treatment of burnout are discussed.     

Unstable in more ways than one: reaction time variability and the neuroticism/distress relationship

The authors hypothesized that a greater degree of stimulus-response variability could either serve adaptive or maladaptive control purposes, depending on levels of Neuroticism. Specifically, a more variable relation between stimulus and response may be emotionally beneficial if such flexibility is used to support non-neurotic forms of self-regulation, but costly if it is used to support neurotic forms of self-regulation. To investigate these ideas, the authors asked 232 college undergraduates within three studies to perform several choice reaction time (RT) tasks. On the basis of performance, we could quantify stimulus-response variability in terms of RT variability from trial to trial. Such a measure of stimulus-response variability interacted with Neuroticism in predicting momentary negative affect (Study 1), informant judgments of negative affect (Study 2), and informant judgments of anxious symptoms (Study 3). As hypothesized, greater stimulus-response variability tended to be associated with less distress among individuals low in Neuroticism, but more distress among individuals high in Neuroticism. The results highlight the manner in which Neuroticism may "taint" control functions, in turn reinforcing Neuroticism-linked outcomes.     

Impact of Ethnicity and Sex on Personal Values and Socialization Experiences of Canadian Anglophones and Francophones

This study of Canadian male and female undergraduates (88 Anglophones and 78 Francophones of matched socioeconomic status) yielded value structure data of high overall similarity across ethnolinguistic group membership and sex. Both groups ranked wisdom, a sense of accomplishment, a world of peace and beauty as most important, and a pleasant life, freedom, salvation, and social recognition as least important to them. Males placed more emphasis on a pleasant exciting life and being broadminded, while females emphasized inner harmony. Differential socialization experiences across ethnolinguistic group membership were religion, family size, parental influence on choice of studies, and parental discipline. Family closeness and patriarchal power structure were differentially perceived across sex. In general, results offered minimal support to a “two solitudes” concept in the human values area.     

Self-serving biases in the perception of freedom: the impact of previously experienced failure

The purpose of five experiments was to investigate the use by Israeli students of a perceived lack of freedom as a self-protective device against the negative implications of poor performance in an achievement task. I hypothesized that a reduction in perceived freedom might be used to protect self-esteem following failure. A reduction in perceived freedom would weaken a person's sense of responsibility for failure and thereby protect self-esteem. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that subjects exposed to failure retrospectively reported having had less freedom during the experimental sessions than those who experienced success or no feedback at all. Experiments 3, 4, and 5 demonstrated that failure reduces the perception of freedom when other external rationalizations for failure (high consensus, high distinctiveness, low consistency) are unavailable. The results are interpreted in the light of self-protective strategies.     

Enhancing the salience of free speech rights increases differential perceived free speech protections for criminal acts against Black versus White targets

Hate crime charges offer enhanced sentences for prejudice‐motivated acts in recognition of the injury that extends beyond the victim to other members of the targeted group. The present study builds upon and extends previous work illuminating how anti‐Black prejudice influences application of free speech protections to justify criminal acts against Black (vs. White) targets, which subsequently reduces support for hate crime charges for the act by investigating the potential effects of environmental cues that increase the salience of free speech rights. The present work tested the main and interactive effects of act target (Black vs. White), anti‐Black prejudice, and the salience of freedom of speech on perceived free speech protections for a prejudice‐motivated criminal act and the consequent influence on support for hate crime charges. Replicating previous findings, greater anti‐Black prejudice predicted more perceived free speech protections for Black‐targeted acts, which predicted less support for hate crime charges. Low‐bias participants viewed Black‐ versus White‐targeted acts as less protected by free speech rights and more deserving of hate crime charges; high‐bias participants viewed the two acts similarly. Making the right to free speech (compared to protections from search and seizure) salient amplified differential perceptions of free speech protections based on prejudice and target group, which predicted support for hate crime charges. This work holds implications for justification processes and highlights the importance of studying culture‐specific values.     

Written emotional expression and emotional well-being: the moderating role of fear of rejection

Empirical research shows that individuals high in fear of rejection typically report low levels of perceived social support and are more vulnerable to stressful experiences. At the same time, writing about stressful experiences in an emotional way seems to help people adapt to current stressors and not-yet-assimilated stressful experiences. Therefore, the authors suggest that written emotional expression may be a particularly effective strategy to manage negative emotions for individuals high in fear of rejection. Three studies were conducted to test these assumptions. Study 1 found that high fear of rejection is linked to a lack of perceived social support. Longitudinal Studies 2 and 3 supported our main hypothesis, demonstrating that written emotional expression is linked to lower levels of negative mood among individuals high (but not among individuals low) in fear of rejection.     

Interactions Between Goal Instability and Social Support on College Freshman Adjustment

The authors examined the moderating effect of goal instability on the benefits of components of perceived social support on entering freshmen's academic and personal adjustment. A significant interaction was identified between goal instability and two components of social support: appraised and belonging. Low goal-directed individuals reporting low appraised social support reported lower levels of personal adjustment than did high goal-directed individuals with the same level of appraised social support. In addition, high goal-directed individuals reporting a high sense of belonging reported greater personal adjustment than did high goal-directed individuals with low reported sense of belonging. Implications for the role of goal directedness and social support on improving college adjustment are discussed.     

Positive and extensive intergroup contact in the past buffers against the disproportionate impact of negative contact in the present

Negative (vs positive) intergroup contact may have a disproportionately large impact on intergroup relations because of valence‐salience effects, whereby negative contact causes higher category salience (Paolini, Harwood, & Rubin, 2010). One correlational and three experimental studies in three conflict areas (Northern Ireland, Arizona's border area, and Cyprus; Ns = 405, 83, 76, and 91) tested the moderation of these valence‐salience effects by individuals' histories of outgroup contact. Consistent with a perceived fit principle valence‐salience effects of face‐to‐face, television‐mediated, and imagined contact held among individuals with negative or limited histories of outgroup contact; these effects were significantly reduced or nonsignificant among individuals with positive or extensive past outgroup contact. These moderation effects suggest that positive and diverse intergroup contact in the past buffers against the harmful effects of negative contact experiences in the present, thus limiting the potential for negative spiralling of intergroup relations. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Affect Dysregulation in Individuals With Borderline Personality Disorder: Persistence and Interpersonal Triggers

We hypothesized that affect dysregulation among individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) would involve greater persistence of negative affect between interpersonal events and heightened reactivity to stimuli indicating risk of rejection or disapproval, specifically perceptions of others’ communal (agreeable-quarrelsome) behaviors. A total of 38 participants with BPD and 31 controls collected information about affect and perceptions of the interaction partner's behavior during interpersonal events for a 20-day period. Negative and positive affect persisted more across interpersonal events for individuals with BPD than for controls. In addition, individuals with BPD reported a greater increase in negative affect when they perceived less communal behavior and a smaller increase in positive affect when they perceived more communal behavior in others. Findings indicate the importance of interpersonal perceptions in the affect dysregulation of individuals with BPD.     

The role of interdependence and perceived similarity in depressed affect contagion

This study hypothesized that perceived similarity significantly impacts depressed affect contagion only for individuals with highly interdependent self-construals. Baseline self-construal and affect were measured. Then, after reading a vignette about a depressed or nondepressed target, affect and perceived similarity were assessed. Participants reading the depressed vignette reported higher negative affect than participants reading the nondepressed vignette. Positive affect did not differ between the two conditions. For participants exposed to the depressed vignette, the hypothesized interaction between perceived similarity and interdependence significantly predicted positive affect. It appears that participants with more interdependent self-construals were more likely to "catch" the low positive affect displayed by the depressed target only if they perceived themselves as highly similar to the target.     

Affect dysregulation in individuals with borderline personality disorder: persistence and interpersonal triggers

We hypothesized that affect dysregulation among individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) would involve greater persistence of negative affect between interpersonal events and heightened reactivity to stimuli indicating risk of rejection or disapproval, specifically perceptions of others' communal (agreeable-quarrelsome) behaviors. A total of 38 participants with BPD and 31 controls collected information about affect and perceptions of the interaction partner's behavior during interpersonal events for a 20-day period. Negative and positive affect persisted more across interpersonal events for individuals with BPD than for controls. In addition, individuals with BPD reported a greater increase in negative affect when they perceived less communal behavior and a smaller increase in positive affect when they perceived more communal behavior in others. Findings indicate the importance of interpersonal perceptions in the affect dysregulation of individuals with BPD.     

The effect of perceived message choice on persuasion

We argue that giving individuals a sense of choice over the product information they receive (i.e., message choice) can have important subsequent effects when individuals are prompted to make inferences about the company. Even when the product information that is received is exactly the same, being given a sense of choice can produce more favorable company evaluations and in turn, more favorable product judgments. The first two experiments support these hypotheses using different means of prompting company inferences: when prompted, those who had been given message choice judged the company more favorably and were more willing to purchase from that company. The third experiment illustrates when message choice effects can backfire. Specifically, when the company itself highlights the provision of message choice in the ad, and consumers are prompted to make inferences about the company, message choice can backfire because it may be perceived as a persuasion tactic rather than a sincere attempt to inform. The results support company evaluations as the mediator of message choice effects and rule out alternate accounts based on dissonance, elaboration, reactance and self-labeling explanations. These findings are important in interactive media environments where marketers have opportunities and imperatives to give consumers a sense of choice in message selection.     

Effective leadership in salient groups: revisiting leader-member exchange theory from the perspective of the social identity theory of leadership

Two studies compared leader-member exchange (LMX) theory and the social identity theory of leadership. Study 1 surveyed 439 employees of organizations in Wales, measuring work group salience, leader-member relations, and perceived leadership effectiveness. Study 2 surveyed 128 members of organizations in India, measuring identification not salience and also individualism/collectivism. Both studies provided good support for social identity predictions. Depersonalized leader-member relations were associated with greater leadership effectiveness among high-than low-salient groups (Study 1) and among high than low identifiers (Study 2). Personalized leadership effectiveness was less affected by salience (Study 1) and unaffected by identification (Study 2). Low-salience groups preferred personalized leadership more than did high-salience groups (Study 1). Low identifiers showed no preference but high identifiers preferred depersonalized leadership (Study 2). In Study 2, collectivists did not prefer depersonalized as opposed to personalized leadership, whereas individualists did, probably because collectivists focus more on the relational self.     

How young and older adults differ in their responses to perceived age discrimination

The authors examined the consequences of perceived age discrimination for well-being and group identification. The rejection-identification model suggests that perceived discrimination harms psychological well-being in low status groups but that group identification partially alleviates this effect. The authors hypothesized that this process model would be confirmed among older adults because their low status group membership is permanent but not confirmed among young adults whose low status is temporary. Using structural equation modeling, the authors found support for the hypothesized direct negative link between perceived age discrimination and well-being among older adults, with increased age group identification partially attenuating this effect. For young adults, these relationships were absent. Differences in responses to discrimination appear to be based on opportunities for leaving a low status group.     

Attributional Ambiguity of Affirmative Action

We propose that affirmative action policies that are perceived to give preference to individuals solely or primarily on the basis of their group membership create attributional ambiguity about the personal deserving of individuals affected by these procedures. This ambiguity about the extent to which outcomes are deserved is hypothesized to be self-protective for people who are denied a position, but to have detrimental consequences among beneficiaries, especially if they are members of groups whose competence is doubted (either by themselves or others). Selection procedures that are perceived to be based both on individual merit and group membership, in contrast, are hypothesized to reduce attributional ambiguity about deserving and thus attenuate the effects of group-based preferential selection procedures on those who are benefited and bypassed by these procedures. An experiment was conducted to test these hypotheses. Men and women were randomly selected or rejected for a leadership role under one of three procedures: outcomes based (a) solely on sex, (b) solely on merit, or (c) on both sex and merit. Results provided partial support for our hypotheses.