Poor Expression: Concealing Social Class Stigma

Three studies found that people from lower-class backgrounds are less expressive toward interaction partners from upper-class backgrounds except in contexts where they share minority status on another dimension. In Study 1, White lower-class dyad members behaved less expressively than their upper-class interaction partners, while in African American and Latino dyads, upper- and lower-class individuals were similarly expressive. In Study 2, lower-class White participants reported feeling generally less comfortable about interacting with an upper-class partner but not when they shared numerical minority status of being residents of the same state traveling away from home. Finally, Study 3 revealed that lower-class individuals intentionally act differently with upper-class individuals but not with lower-class ones. Upper-class individuals act the same with lower- and upper-class partners alike.     

Selective visual attention modulates the direct tilt aftereffect

One's being able to allocate attention to particular regions or properties of the visual field is fundamental to visual information processing. Visual attention determines what input is carefully analyzed and what input is more or less ignored. But at what stage of the visual system is this process evident? We describe three experiments that demonstrate an effect of voluntary spatial attention and voluntary object-based attention on an orientation illusion (the tilt aftereffect) that is believed to take place in primary visual cortex. This finding, in which selective visual attention influences adaptation to visual orientation information, contributes to mounting evidence for a view of visual perception in which mutual interaction takes place between high-level and low-level subsystems.     

Processing ambiguous Spanish se in a minimal chain

The recovery of pieces of information that are not linguistically expressed is a constant feature of the process of language comprehension. In the processing literature, such missing information is generally referred to as "gaps". Usually, one resolves gaps by finding "fillers" in either the sentence or the context. For instance, in Peter seemed to be upset, Peter is really the subject of being upset but appears as surface subject of seems. Sometimes constituents move, leaving gaps behind. Various Romance languages such as Spanish or Italian have a grammatical particle se/si, which, as it is extremely ambiguous, licenses different sorts of gaps. In Spanish, se can encode at least reflexive, impersonal, and passive meanings. In an eye-tracking experiment we contrast reflexive structures containing postverbal subjects with impersonal structures with no subjects (GAP se vendó apresuradamente el corredor/"the runner bandaged himself hurriedly" vs. GAP se vendó apresuradamente al corridor/"(someone) bandaged the runner hurriedly"). In a second manipulation we contrast the presence of an extra argument with se-passives (GAP se vendó el tobillo el corredor/"the runner bandaged his ankle" vs. GAP se vendó el tobillo al corridor/"the runner's ankle was bandaged"). Our comparisons involve contrasting standard transitive structures with nonstandard word order (postverbal subject and a preverbal subject gap) against inherently complex and less habitual structures such as impersonals (with no subject) or se-passives (with subjects in canonical object position). We evaluate the minimal chain principle (de Vincenzi, 1991), according to which displacement is costly because it entails complex (derivational) "chains" that must be undone before phrasal packaging can commence. We show the minimal chain principle to be essentially correct when contrasting more complex but more frequent structures with less complex but less frequent structures. A noteworthy feature of this research is that the gaps appear before the fillers in the structures that we analyse.     

An appeals system for fines received by adolescents in a token economy

A system is described wherein adolescents participating in a token economy at a state hospital were allowed to appeal fines received from staff. Appeals were heard by a board composed of three residents and a psychology intern. The board met weekly and had full power to rescind or uphold fines. Before initiation of the appeal system, residents complained vigorously about fines received and about the "unfairness" of the staff and the token system, frequently denying responsibility for the infractions involved. Although almost half the fines were upheld, there were practically no more complaints of unfairness, and denials of responsibility declined drastically. The number of residents appealing fines fell from an average of four per week to less than one per week after the system had been in effect for one and one-half months. When asked why the system was not being used more often, residents grudgingly volunteered that most of the fines received were fair. It was not possible to determine whether this was due to changes in residents' attitudes or to actual changes in fining behavior by staff. Results are discussed in terms of effects on residents, acceptance by staff, and implications for further research.     

Verification of Information Through Direct Experiences With an Industrial Hazard

In this study, differences in feelings of insecurity and ways of coping were assessed between residents of a chemical complex and a control group at a distance of at least 15 km from that complex. The results show that the residents of the industrial area judge the hazards as less threatening and less unacceptable than the control group and report less feelings of insecurity. The residents are less likely to read newspaper articles concerning environmental or industrial hazards and judge these newspaper accounts to be less credible than the control group. No differences were found between the residents of the chemical complex and the control group with regard to another hazard, living in the vicinity of a storage facility for radioactive waste. Our results are mainly explained by social learning theory in which it is assumed that, by a process of verification, the residents of the chemical complex are less affected by the alarming content of mass media reporting and are less negatively biased than people in the control area.     

Parent—Child interaction and daycare: Does quality of daycare matter?

A Daycare Quality Assessment Instrument was developed and subsequently usedto select two high-quality and two poor-quality daycare centers. Three- to 5-year-old children from these centers as well as home-care controls were observed in the laboratory interacting with their mothers during three types of episodes: while ignored, while attended to, and while required to do a difficult task. Overall, behavior differed during the various episodes; more importantly, the three groups did not behave equivalently. Children in poor-quality daycare were less compliant with task instructions than were other children. Verbal interaction patterns differed as well, with home-care children carrying on more sustained dialogues, while children attending poor-quality daycare were more likely to have verbal interaction limited to numerous single statements—that is, less dyadic interchange. Children attending good-quality daycare were intermediate. Results were interpreted in terms of children learning patterns of adult interaction at daycare that affect interactions with their mothers.     

权力感对社会排斥下自我关注的调节作用

采用实验法探讨在回忆和现实排斥情境下,不同社会排斥类型对大学生外显和内隐自我关注的影响及权力感的调节作用。实验1初步证实在两种排斥情境下,与拒绝型相比,忽视型被试的外显和内隐自我关注水平较高。实验2进一步证实权力感在忽视型对外显自我关注的影响中具有调节作用。结果表明,忽视型社会排斥威胁功效需要进而引发个体提高自我关注水平;情境因素对社会排斥产生的影响相同。     

The consequences of mimicry for prosocials and proselfs: Effects of social value orientation on the mimicry–liking link

People often mimic each other's behaviors. As a consequence, they share each other's emotional and cognitive states, which facilitates liking. Mimicry, however, does not always affect liking. In two studies, we investigate whether the mimicry–liking link is influenced by people's social value orientations. More specifically, we examine whether prosocials and proselfs are differently affected when being mimicked or not. Prosocials and proselfs indicated their liking for the interaction partner after being or not being mimicked in a face‐to‐face interaction. The results of two studies showed that prosocials rated the interaction partner as less likeable when they were not mimicked than when they were mimicked. Proselfs, however, were not affected by mimicry. These results show that people's social motives play a role in whether or not the effects of mimicry on liking occur: Proselfs are less sensitive to the mimicry acts of others. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

社会排斥类型对求助行为意愿的影响

从心理需求威胁的视角切入,探讨不同类型的社会排斥对求助行为意愿的影响及其作用机理。两个实验研究的结果表明,相较于被忽略,被拒绝会促使人们在后续困境中产生更高的求助行为意愿。该效应产生的心理机制在于被拒绝会威胁归属需求,被忽略会威胁控制需求,而求助行为本身能够满足人们的归属需求,但同时会降低控制感,因此归属需求和控制需求在社会排斥类型对求助行为意愿的影响中均起着显著的中介作用。     

Turning a Blind Eye: Faculty Who Ignore Student Cheating

In this study, 40.3% of faculty members admitted to ignoring student cheating on one or more occasions. The quality of past experience in dealing with academic integrity violations was examined. Faculty members with previous bad experiences were more likely to prefer dealing with cheating by ignoring it. The data were further analysed to determine beliefs and attitudes that distinguish between faculty who have never ignored an instance of cheating and those who indicated that they have ignored one or more instances in the past. The stated reasons for ignoring cheating included insufficient evidence, triviality of the offense, and insufficient time; however, it was demonstrated that faculty who ignored academic integrity violations felt more stressed when speaking to students about cheating, preferred to avoid emotionally charged situations, and indicated that if a student were likely to become emotional, they were less likely to speak to him or her.     

Communication Patterns in an International Student Dormitory: A Modification of the “Small World” Method1

Milgram's “small world” method was modified to trace communication patterns in an international student dormitory containing 500 residents from 38 different countries. Eighteen residents served as “starters” for chain-booklets that circulated through the dormitory from friend to friend. Social networks were inferred from the circulation pattern of booklets. Sixteen chains progressed beyond their respective starters, and a total of 86 transactions were recorded. Four determinants of social relations were investigated: culture similarity, sex, organizational affiliation, and residential propinquity. The circulation pattern of the booklets showed that culture similarity was a major determinant of social interaction among the residents. The other main determinant was sex similarity. Organizational affiliation was less important, and proximity played only a minor role in determining communication patterns in the dormitory.     

Organizational citizenship behavior and counterproductive work behavior: Do males and females differ?

While there has been considerable research on gender differences in core task performance, gender differences in organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and counterproductive work behavior (CWB) have been largely ignored. Gender-consistent roles of females as being supportive would lead to the prediction that females engage in more OCB and less CWB than males. Using meta-analytic data gathered across 395 samples, we found several (weak) gender differences in CWB but none in OCB. We explain null and weak relationships from the perspective of social role theory, especially regarding males' roles being career-focused.     

The role of similarity in inattentional blindness: Selective enhancement,selective suppression,or both?†

When people selectively pay attention to one set of objects and ignore another, unexpected stimuli often go unnoticed. Noticing rates are higher when the unexpected object matches the features of the attended items and lower when it matches those of the ignored items. No prior studies have fully disentangled these aspects of similarity; in previous work, the unexpected object fell on a continuum between the attended and ignored objects, so increasing the similarity to one set of objects necessarily decreased it to the other. We designed an inattentional blindness task in which we held similarity to the attended set constant and varied it with respect only to the ignored set, or vice versa. In Experiment 1, objects that were more similar to the attended set were noticed more often and objects that were more similar to the ignored set were noticed less often. Experiment 2, using a different set of unexpected objects, replicated the result that similarity to the ignored set affected noticing, but showed no effect of similarity to the attended set. In both experiments, the pattern of noticing rates differed for similarity with respect to the attended and ignored items, suggesting that suppression of ignored objects functions independently of enhancement of attended objects.     

Declines in non-digital social interaction among Americans, 2003–2017

It is unclear whether Americans spent less time on non-digital social interaction in the 2010s than in the 2000s. In the nationally representative American Time Use Survey administered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (n = 191,558), U.S. residents 15 years of age and older spent 10 to 11 fewer minutes a day in non-digital social interaction during leisure time in 2017 compared to 2003, which translates to 67 fewer hours a year. The decline was primarily driven by adolescents and young adults ages from15 to 25, who spent between 21 and 23 fewer minutes per day on non-digital social interaction in 2017 compared to 2003, or 140 fewer hours a year. Thus, American adolescents and young adults spent less time on non-digital social interaction in the 2010s, with a less pronounced decline among those ages 26 and over.     

Perceptual slant induced through optical contact

Stimuli simulating a corridor with a pole inside it were presented. The positions of the ends of the pole within the ceiling and ground of the corridor were the optical contacts of concern. The main hypothesis was that a difference between the simulated distances of these optical contacts may influence the apparent slant in depth of the pole. Two experiments were conducted, with 30 and 20 participants (university students). The tasks were a choice between three alternative responses (upward, downward, or no apparent slant) in the first experiment and matching by adjustment in the second. The results supported the hypothesized dependence of apparent slant on differences in optical contacts. The results also revealed a dependence of apparent slant on the interaction between the optical tilt of the pole and its position to the right or left of the vertical median through the stimulus. Comparisons between both effects showed that they combine in a cumulative way and that the former is weightier than the latter. Further findings were a privileged association between null optical tilt of the pole and the no apparent slant response and a bias (for poles with nonnull optical tilt) in favor of the upward apparent slant response.     

Armenian Christians and Turkish Muslims: Prospects for reconciliation through interfaith dialogue on the events of history

In 1915, entire Armenian villages were burnt to the ground, residents being evacuated, murdered, or sent on forced death-marches. Armenian sources claim that as many as two million Armenians were murdered. These questions live on in present-day Muslim and Christian interaction. What should our response be to this relationship between past and present? This article explore how these unresolved histories affect present-day Muslim Turks and Christian Armenians in their faith and identity development. It considers the prospect of improved Turkish–Armenian relations as they relate to history and the role that religion might play in fostering reconciliation. Lastly, it suggests how these events might be instructive to Muslims, Christians, and Jews committed to interfaith partnerships for human rights.     

Control of the corridor illusion in baboons (Papio papio) by gradient and linear-perspective depth cues

The corridor illusion was recently demonstrated in baboons with background pictures containing rich depth information (Barbet and Fagot 2002, Behavioural Brain Research 132 111-115). In the current research we determined the contribution of gradient texture and perspective lines to that illusion. In experiment 1, the corridor illusion was tested in two baboons, with pictures of a hallway as backgrounds, or the same image of the hallway represented by perspective lines. Findings confirmed that the baboons experience the corridor illusion with the picture of the hallway, and showed that this illusion remained with the perspective-line backgrounds. The same procedure was adopted in experiment 2, but with a hallway drawn from gradient textures. The two baboons experienced the illusion in this experiment too. Thus both gradient and perspective line cues convey sufficient information to control the corridor illusion in baboons. In baboons, the processing of these two kinds of depth cues interacts with the perception of object size, suggesting homologous processes of pictorial depth perception in humans and non-human primates.     

Semantic inhibition of ignored words during a figure classification task

Two experiments investigated inhibitory processes in visual spatial attention. In particular, factors influencing the suppression of ignored visual stimuli were investigated. Subjects responded to geometric shapes while distractors were presented in the periphery. Distractors consisted of a single word, a pair of unrelated words, or a single word paired with a string of non-linguistic symbols. Semantic processing of the ignored words was measured with a subsequent lexical decision task. Test probes presented after the prime displays revealed suppression effects for words semantically related to a previously ignored word, but only for conditions in which two distractor words were presented. Suppression was not observed when the prime consisted of a single word or a single word paired with non-linguistic symbols. In Experiment 2 two different time delays between the onset of the primes and the onset of the test probes were used. At the shorter interval facilitatory priming was observed, while at longer intervals suppression was observed. The facilitation-suppression pattern suggests that ignored items are recognized before being suppressed. In summary, the results suggest the following: (1) that selectively attending does not restrict ignored items from gaining access to their semantic representations, and (2) that inhibition is an important process in determining the focus of attention. These results are discussed within a selective attention framework in which all items in a display gain access to memory representations, and attention to selected items causes competing items to be inhibited.     

DESIGN OF LIVING ENVIRONMENTS FOR NURSING-HOME RESIDENTS: INCREASING PARTICIPATION IN RECREATION ACTIVITIES1

Nursing-home residents have frequently been characterized as unoccupied and disengaged. At the outset of the present study, most residents were to be found in their own rooms, not exhibiting gross motor behavior or social interaction, and not participating in appropriate activities. To modify residents' levels of participation with the environment, a manipulative area was provided in the lounge. Participation in the lounge averaged 20% on days when the activity was not available, but increased to a mean of 74% on days when equipment and materials were given and residents were prompted to participate. When prompts were withdrawn and materials were available only by request, mean participation fell to 25%. The findings demonstrate that manipulative activities can support a high level of participation with the environment, if residents are prompted to use equipment and materials.     

The influence of power and solidarity on emotional display rules at work

This study examined the influence of two interpersonal relationship dimensions, relative power and solidarity (closeness), on the emotional display rules that employees report they would adopt in work situations in which they felt happiness or anger. Results demonstrated that display rules involved more control over emotional expressions (i.e., more deamplification and masking of emotion and less expressing and amplification of emotion) when the interaction partner had higher relative power compared to when the interaction partner had equal or lower relative power. This pattern of results was present for both happiness and anger, though the effects were larger for anger. Display rules also involved more control when the interaction partner was low in solidarity compared to when the interaction partner was high in solidarity, with this effect being similar in magnitude for anger and happiness.