Social power facilitates the effect of prosocial orientation on empathic accuracy

Power increases the tendency to behave in a goal-congruent fashion. Guided by this theoretical notion, we hypothesized that elevated power would strengthen the positive association between prosocial orientation and empathic accuracy. In 3 studies with university and adult samples, prosocial orientation was more strongly associated with empathic accuracy when distinct forms of power were high than when power was low. In Study 1, a physiological indicator of prosocial orientation, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, exhibited a stronger positive association with empathic accuracy in a face-to-face interaction among dispositionally high-power individuals. In Study 2, experimentally induced prosocial orientation increased the ability to accurately judge the emotions of a stranger but only for individuals induced to feel powerful. In Study 3, a trait measure of prosocial orientation was more strongly related to scores on a standard test of empathic accuracy among employees who occupied high-power positions within an organization. Study 3 further showed a mediated relationship between prosocial orientation and career satisfaction through empathic accuracy among employees in high-power positions but not among employees in lower power positions. Discussion concentrates upon the implications of these findings for studies of prosociality, power, and social behavior.     

The physiology of women’s power motive: Implicit power motivation is positively associated with estradiol levels in women

This study examined the relationship between implicit power motivation (n Power) and salivary estradiol in women. Forty participants completed the Picture Story Exercise, a measure of n Power, and salivary estradiol levels from two saliva samples were determined with radioimmunoassay. We found that n Power was positively associated with estradiol levels. The positive correlation between n Power and estradiol was stronger in single women and women not taking oral contraceptives than in the overall sample of women. These findings replicate those of Stanton and Schultheiss (2007), giving further credence to the argument that women’s dominance striving is positively associated with their endogenous estradiol levels and that both social and biological factors influence the nature of that association.     

Effects of implicit power motive on the processing of anger faces: An event-related potential study

Implicit motives are one form of motivation that regulates cognitive and emotional processing. In this study, we investigated the impact of implicit power motive (nPower) on the processing of anger faces. Event-related potentials were recorded while high- and low-nPower individuals performed a face version of an emotion Stroop task comprised of anger and neutral faces. It was found that nPower does not modify early perceptual and attentional components (P2 and N2), but a later component is affected. Indeed, power-motivated participants showed enhanced P3/LPPs (Late positive potentials) amplitude compared to low-nPower subjects, in response to anger stimuli. These findings demonstrate that anger faces have greater salience for high-nPower individuals and are subject to a more salient, conscious processing.     

Personal deserving versus justice for others: An exploration of the justice motive

Two expriments were conducted to test implications derived from Lerner's formulation of the “justice motive.” The experimental paradigm provided subjects with an opportunity to earn money in exchange for participation in future experimental sessions. Subjects who were offered “just” pay for their efforts volunteered significantly more of their time when their efforts would help a needy victim than when they would not. Moreover, when subjects were left with just pay, they offered more of their time when a portion of their pay was to go to a victim than when they received the entire wage themselves. When the pay subjects were to receive was less than deserved, however, the opportunity to help a victim did not affect their response level. The importance of these results for understanding helping behavior is considered, as is the compatibility of these results with other theoretical models.     

Positive mood is associated with the implicit use of distraction

Previous research demonstrates that individuals in a positive mood are differentially distracted by irrelevant information during an ongoing task (Rowe et al. in Proc Natl Acad Sci 104:383–388, 2007). The present study investigated whether susceptibility to distraction shown by individuals in a positive mood results in greater implicit memory for that distraction. Participants performed a similarity-judgment task on pictures that were superimposed with distracting words. When these previously distracting words could be used as solutions on a delayed implicit task administered several minutes later, performance was positively correlated with pleasantness of mood. Individuals in a positive mood are more likely than others to use previously irrelevant information to facilitate performance on a subsequent implicit task, a finding with implications for the relationship between positive mood and creativity.     

“追名弃利”：权力动机与社会存在对亲社会行为的影响

目前关于权力动机的研究主要关注权力动机的阴暗面,但是对权力动机的积极面尚不清楚。本研究从公平与合作行为的角度出发,分别采用最后通牒博弈和公共物品博弈任务,探讨不同权力动机水平个体在内隐(眼睛线索)或外显(他人在场)社会存在下的亲社会行为是否不同。结果发现,在眼睛线索或他人在场条件下,相对于低权力动机者,高权力动机者表现出更高的公平与合作水平。然而当没有社会存在线索时,高低权力动机者的亲社会行为没有显著差异。结果提示高权力动机者出于名誉和地位的策略考虑,也会表现出积极的亲社会行为。     

Seeing close others as we see ourselves: One’s own self-complexity is reflected in perceptions of meaningful others

Although past research has established a correspondence between the content of knowledge about the self and close others, the current work evaluated the prediction that the self-concept also influences the structure of these perceptions. Specifically, we expected greater correspondence in the complexity of mental representations between the self and others included in the self. In Study 1, we found that self-complexity was related to the perceived complexity of a close other and that this outcome did not reflect a general tendency to perceive the world in a systematically complex or simple fashion (i.e., cognitive complexity). In Study 2, we found that the correspondence between self-complexity and complexity of representations of others increased for individuals more included in the self. Finally in Study 3, we observed that experimentally manipulating inclusion of other in the self resulted in perceived structural similarity between representations of the self and others. Implications of self-concept representation for social relationships are discussed.     

Punishing for your own good: the case of reputation-based cooperation

Contrary to Guala, I claim that several mechanisms can explain punishment in humans. Here I focus on reputation-based cooperation--and I explore how it can lead to punishment under situations that may or may not be perceived as being anonymous. Additionally, no particular mechanism stands out in predicting an excess of punishment under constrained lab conditions.     

Consequences of enactment and concealment for felt authenticity: Understanding the effects of stigma through self-distancing and motive fulfillment

Grounded in Motivated Identity Construction Theory and Self-Determination Theory, two studies examined the consequences of identity enactment and concealment for motive fulfillment and explored how these mediate the negative effects of stigmatized identities on felt authenticity. Participants (Ns = 343 and 344) reported the extent to which they had enacted and/or concealed 8 to 12 of their identities in the past 3 days and evaluated their motive fulfillment and felt authenticity. Using multilevel modeling, we found that identity enactment positively predicted felt authenticity via motive satisfaction, while concealment negatively predicted authenticity via thwarted motive satisfaction. Identities were coded with respect to stigmatization in Study 2 and stigmatized identities felt relatively less authentic, with effects mediated through suppressed enactment, heightened concealment, and thwarted motives. Thus, stigmatized identities do not inherently feel less authentic, rather it is individuals’ self-distancing behaviors that impair feelings of authenticity for a stigmatized identity.     

Somebody hit the button! The implicit power motive and the frequency of verbal persuasion behavior in children

Motivation and Emotion - We examined the relationship between the implicit power motive (nPow) and the frequency of verbal persuasion behavior (VPB) in dyads of children, while they negotiated a...     

Effects of the presence of others on prosocial behavior: Perceived face as mediator

Previous studies have shown that the prosocial behavior of individuals may be promoted or inhibited by the presence of others. This study hypothesizes that prosocial behavior relates to the relationships among present individuals, beyond their number. This study examines whether there is a significant difference in an individual's prosocial behavior in the presence of different types of others (strangers or friends) and whether this effect is mediated by the perception of face. Two studies that used different methods of data collection were conducted. It was found that the presence of friends promotes prosocial behavior more than does the presence of strangers. In addition, perceived face plays a mediating role between the presence of different types of people and prosocial behavior.     

The object of my protection: Shielding fundamental motives from the implicit motivational influence of others

Goal shielding theory suggests that one's focal pursuits automatically inhibit the activation of interfering goals (Shah, Friedman, & Kruglanski, 2002); however, it is not entirely clear how individuals come to identify what constitutes “interfering”. Three studies examine how this identification process may be guided by fundamental social motives that individuals possess, particularly in social situations wherein goals are primed through mere exposure to others' goal-directed behavior (“goal contagion”, Aarts, Gollwitzer, & Hassin, 2004). Participants' fundamental motives for positive self-regard (Study 1), autonomy (Study 2), and distinctiveness (Study 3) were either manipulated or measured and participants read scenarios that manipulated the goal-directed behavior of a target other. Results indicated that participants inhibited the activation of goals being primed by others when the implicit influence interfered with their fundamental motives in some way. These findings suggest that fundamental motives can guide whether individuals will catch goals from others or shield themselves from such influences.     

When the victim is one among others: Empathy,awareness of others and motivational ambivalence

Feeling empathy for one person in need while being aware of others may increase the motivational ambivalence between the motive of helping the one and the motive of helping the others, and such motivational ambivalence may reduce the helping directed to the person in need. To test these hypotheses we carried out three studies in which participants were faced with a real case of a child in need. In Study 1, empathy, awareness of others and motivational ambivalence were allowed to occur naturally and subsequently measured. In Study 2, empathy and awareness of others were experimentally manipulated, and motivational ambivalence measured. In Study 3, we tested how empathy and motivational ambivalence influenced an actual helping decision. Taken together, the results supported our two hypotheses. The present research offers insight into processes not previously considered in the research, but which may influence decisions about assistance to others in need.     

Recognising the usual orientation of one's own face: the role of asymmetrically located details

Our ability to recognise the usual horizontal orientation of our own face (mirror orientation) as compared with another very familiar face (normal orientation) was examined in experiment 1. Participants did not use the same kind of information in determining the orientation of their own face as in determining the orientation of the other familiar face. The proportion of participants who reported having based their judgment on the location of an asymmetric feature (eg a mole) was higher when determining the orientation of their own face than when determining that of the other familiar face. In experiment 2, participants were presented with pairs of manipulated images of their own face and of another familiar face showing conflicting asymmetric features and configural information. Each pair consisted of one picture showing asymmetric features of a given face in a mirror-reversed position, while the facial configuration was left unchanged; and one picture in which the location of the asymmetric features was left unchanged, while the facial configuration was mirror-reversed. As expected from the hypothesis that asymmetric local features are more frequently used for the judgment of one's own face, participants chose the picture showing mirror-reversed asymmetric features when determining the usual orientation of their own face significantly more often than they chose the picture showing normally oriented asymmetric features when determining the orientation of the other face. These results are explained in terms of competing forward and mirror-reversed representations of one's own face.     

What's fine for the gander isn't always good for the goose: Sex differences in self-confidence as a function of ability area and comparison with others

Previous investigators have suggested that women display lower self-confidence than men across almost all achievement situations. The empirical validity of this suggestion is assessed in an experiment testing the following hypotheses: (1) Sex differences in self-confidence depend upon the particular ability area. (2) Women's self-confidence is more influenced than men's by characteristics of the particular individual with whom they compare themselves. Undergraduates completed verbal, interpersonal perceptiveness, spatial-mechanical, and creativity subtests. After each subtest, subjects estimated both their own score and that of the average undergraduate, the average male undergraduate, or the average female undergraduate. Self-confidence was operationally defined in terms of how favorably subjects compared their work to that of their peers. As predicted, women's self-confidence was lower than men's in only the spatial-mechanical and creativity subtests; and for women, but not for men, self-confidence depended upon which peer was specified. It is concluded that situation variables do determine sex differences in self-confidence and that women's self-confidence may be unduly affected by situation-specific comparison cues.The preparation of this article was supported in part by a Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship in Women's Studies awarded to the author by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. Some portions of the study reported in this article were presented at the Western Psychological Association 1976 Convention (Lenney, Note 1) and were briefly abstracted in another article (Lenney, 1977). The author wishes to express her deep appreciation to Walter Mischel and to Sandra Bem for their invaluable consultations on the writing of this article.     

Children's understanding of their own and others' mental states. Part B. Understanding of others precedes self‐understanding for some false beliefs

We examined 3‐ to 6‐year‐old children's understanding of their own and another's false beliefs in two experiments using diverse deceptive box and unexpected transfer tasks. Tasks in the first experiment required the child to think about an absent person's responses to questions, whereas those in the second experiment used a confederate present during testing. Children performed better on deceptive box tasks when the other person was present rather than absent; they performed equally on accidental and intentional unexpected transfer tasks. Children understood the other's false beliefs by 4–5 years of age, and their own by 5–6 years of age. Children aged between 4 and 5 years appear to have greater difficulty discounting or ignoring misleading information when thinking about their own beliefs than when thinking about another's, at least for the particular false belief tasks employed. Inconsistencies between our findings and those of a recent meta‐analysis ( Wellman, Cross, & Watson, 2001 ) are easily reconciled.     

Future directions for implicit learning: Toward a clarification of issues associated with knowledge representation and consciousness

Areas of agreement and disagreement regarding knowledge representation and consciousness within implicit learning research are reviewed. It is argued that further progress in the field requires more precise definitions of abstract and episodic knowledge, and of conscious and unconscious forms of cognition. In particular, we argue that implicit learning research should be informed by more general theories of memory and performance, and that concepts such as consciousness are unlikely to act as explanatory constructs within this approach.