Children's reasoning about the self‐presentational consequences of apologies and excuses following rule violations

The accounts given by those who have violated a rule are likely to have important self‐presentational consequences, potentially reducing the negative impact of the breach on social evaluations of transgressors. However, little is known about young children's self‐presentational reasoning about such accounts. In the present study, a sample of 120 4‐ to 9‐year‐olds responded to rule violation stories where the transgressor uses either an apology, an excuse, or no account. Results showed that whereas children rated both account types similarly in terms of their impact on punishment consequences, even the youngest saw apologies as leading to significantly more positive social evaluation than excuses. Correspondingly, children were more likely to identify prosocial motives for apologies than for excuses, and more likely to identify self‐protective motives for excuses than for apologies. Explicit references to self‐presentational motives when explaining the accounts increased significantly with age, and were more likely following social‐conventional rather than moral rule violations.     

Children's explanations for self‐presentational behaviour

Previous research has underestimated children's capacity to understand the self‐presentational behaviour of other people. We argue from recent research in mental‐state understanding that 8‐year‐olds should be able to attribute self‐presentational motives in order to explain others' behaviour. In the present study, children aged 6 to 11 years heard stories involving emotion‐masking displays and were then asked to explain the motivations for those displays. Results supported our prediction. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of acceptance goals on self‐presentational efforts

The current work examined whether self‐presentational efforts are influenced differently when people hold a goal to establish, maintain or repair an interpersonal connection. Results supported the counterintuitive prediction that participants with a repair goal would convey a less favourably oriented persona (e.g. less friendly, less similar and less genuine) compared to those with an establish or maintain goal. The efforts of repair goal participants were also perceived as less effective. The analysis also showed that certain self‐presentation dimensions (i.e. friendliness, genuineness and similarity) mediated the relationship between acceptance goals and perceived effectiveness. The findings extend and contribute to the self‐presentation and belongingness literatures.     

Applicants' Self‐presentational Behavior across Cultures: Less self‐presentation in Switzerland and Iceland than in the United States

Do US findings on applicants' self‐presentational behavior generalize to other countries? We argue that applicants in some countries are less motivated to present themselves favorably than applicants in others because countries vary in their unemployment rate (leading to differences in competition between job applicants) and their endorsement of modesty values, influencing their beliefs regarding self‐presentation. Using the randomized response technique, we obtained prevalence data on applicants' self‐presentational behavior from Iceland and Switzerland and compared them with previously published US results. The prevalence rates of self‐presentational behavior were fairly comparable in Iceland and Switzerland but significantly lower than in the United States. These results caution against using the same hiring strategy for all applicants from different cultures.     

Children's judgments about their own self‐knowledge: The role of disclosure to other

Previous research has suggested that children of 5/6 years fail to understand that they are the authority on their own self‐knowledge. That is, when asked questions like, ‘Who knows best when you are feeling tired?’, they tend to cite their mother rather than themselves. Here we report a study that, rather than asking about generalities (‘Who knows best what you are thinking?’), presented 5‐, 7‐ 9‐ and 11‐year‐children with hypothetical vignettes about specific circumstances in which they were described as either disclosing or not disclosing a specified state to their mother. Children were subsequently asked to judge who would best know the state. Over all age groups children were significantly more likely to identify themselves as authorities on their own self‐knowledge when states had not been disclosed to mother than when they had. However, in the case of disclosed states, young children (though not older ones) asserted that, ‘mum knows best’. These findings are interpreted as suggesting not that young children entirely fail to understand first person authority, but instead that they make the relatively sophisticated assumption that mothers' interpretive competence is greater than their own.     

Children's reasoning about the causes of human behavior

Three studies examined young children's ability to predict how certain internal and external conditions affect behavior. Study 1 included 136 children from early preschool, late preschool, kindergarten, and second grade. A forced choice procedure revealed that even the youngest group could predict the effect of various internal-personal causes (e.g., interest, intelligence) and external-situational causes (e.g., rewards, adult pressure). Older preschoolers and second graders considered these internal causes more powerful than these external causes. With the same procedure, in Study 2 the 16 preschoolers predicted that both physical characteristics (e.g., strength, energy level) and the internal-personal characteristics of Study 1 affect performance in athletic activities. In addition, they considered the physical causes more important. Study 3 examined more complex types of causal reasoning. Younger preschoolers responded randomly but older preschoolers combined two causes to create a greater effect than one cause and used an external cause to enhance, rather than discount, an internal cause. The discussion focused on the cognitive development underlying developmental differences in the ability to predict behavior on the basis of one or two causes.     

Workers' self‐objectification and tendencies to conform to others

Recent research showed that workers' self‐objectification—their self‐perception as objects rather than human beings—leads to detrimental intrapersonal consequences. In the present research, we explored whether this phenomenon may also affect interpersonal relations, by increasing workers' tendencies to conform. In a correlational study, Italian workers who perceived their work as more objectifying self‐objectified more—self‐attributed less human mental states and self‐perceive as more instrument‐like than human‐like—and, in turn, were more inclined to conform with others. The second study experimentally confirmed this pattern, showing that British workers who recalled an objectifying (vs. a non‐objectifying) work experience self‐objectified more. Self‐perception as instrument‐like was associated, in turn, with an increased tendency to adapt to others' opinions. The implications for organizational and social psychology are discussed.     

The ups and downs of thinking about a successful other: self‐construals and the consequences of social comparisons

We hypothesized that the consequences of upward social comparisons are mediated by independent versus interdependent content of self‐construals. Independent self‐construals emphasize personal uniqueness; thus comparison to an outstanding other should undermine one's sense of uniqueness and lower current self‐evaluations. Conversely, interdependent self‐construals focus on interpersonal connectedness. Hence, interdependent individuals should be able to bask in the reflected success of a personally relevant other in an upward comparison task, thus increasing self‐evaluations. In a study involving 66 US undergraduates the latter predictions were supported. The psychological dimension of interdependence predicted differential outcomes of upward social comparisons, but this was not the case for the dimension of independence. Also, differential consequences of social comparison were more pronounced for current self‐evaluations than for participants' possible selves. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How others respond to non‐suicidal self‐injury disclosure: A systematic review

Non‐suicidal self‐injury (NSSI) is an increasing health concern. Despite the potential benefits of disclosing the behaviour, many decide not to do so because of the fear of negative social reactions. In this review, we examined the existing research on reported and perceived reactions to NSSI disclosure with the aim of identifying how an individual who discloses their NSSI perceives others' responses to this disclosure, with the ultimate goal of understanding how these reactions may impact those who disclose their NSSI. Among the initial 275 studies, 10 fit the inclusion criteria. Three studies reported perceived responses by individuals who had disclosed their NSSI; six studies examined self‐reported responses by others; one study focused on disclosures online. Individuals who disclosed their NSSI often received negative responses, which caused them to withdraw from seeking further help. On the other hand, recipients' reactions to NSSI disclosure varied based on NSSI characteristics such as its perceived cause and/or underlying motivation. Results highlight the importance of providing support rather than searching for the underlying drives of NSSI.     

A meta‐analysis of the predictors and consequences of organization‐based self‐esteem

Organization‐based self‐esteem (OBSE), which represents employees' beliefs about their own value and competence as organizational members, has attracted much recent research attention. In the current paper, we identified several theoretically based predictors and consequences of OBSE. We then conducted a meta‐analysis examining the relationships between OBSE and these variables. Results indicated that several hypothesized predictors, including the work environment and employee dispositions, were related to OBSE. Furthermore, OBSE was related to several hypothesized outcome variables including job satisfaction, organizational commitment, employee health, job performance, and organizational citizenship behaviour. As expected, OBSE generally yielded stronger relationships with work‐related variables than did general self‐esteem and we found evidence that OBSE mediated the relationships between general self‐esteem and work‐related criteria.     

Children's patterns of reasoning about reading and addition concepts

Children's reasoning was examined within two educational contexts (word reading and addition) so as to understand the factors that contribute to relational reasoning in the two domains. Sixty‐seven 5‐ to 7‐year‐olds were given a series of related words to read or single‐digit addition items to solve (interspersed with unrelated items). The frequency, accuracy, and response times of children's self‐reports on the conceptually related items provided a measure of relational reasoning, while performance on the unrelated addition and reading items provided a measure of procedural skill. The results indicated that the children's ability to use conceptual relations to solve both reading and addition problems enhanced speed and accuracy levels, increased with age, and was related to procedural skill. However, regression analyses revealed that domain‐specific competencies can best explain the use of conceptual relations in both reading and addition. Moreover, a cluster analysis revealed that children differ according to the academic domain in which they first apply conceptual relations and these differences are related to individual variation in their procedural skills within these particular domains. These results highlight the developmental significance of relational reasoning in the context of reading and addition and underscore the importance of concept‐procedure links in explaining children's literacy and arithmetical development.     

Children's reasoning about the temporal order of past and future events

Four- and five-year-olds completed two sets of tasks that involved reasoning about the temporal order in which events had occurred in the past or were to occur in the future. Four-year-olds succeeded on the tasks that involved reasoning about the order of past events but not those that involved reasoning about the order of future events, whereas 5-year-olds passed both types of tasks. Individual children who failed the past-event tasks were not particularly likely to fail the more difficult future-event tasks. However, children's performance on the reasoning tasks was predictive of their performance on a task assessing their comprehension of the terms “before” and “after.” Our results suggest that there may be a developmental change over this age range in the ability to flexibly represent and reason about the before-and-after relationships between events.     

Perceiving low self‐esteem in close others impedes capitalization and undermines the relationship

Disclosing positive experiences to others (i.e., “capitalization”) is associated with personal and interpersonal benefits (Gable & Reis, 2010). Unfortunately, people who perceive low self‐esteem (LSE) in close others are reluctant to capitalize, holding back from those they expect will be unsupportive (MacGregor & Holmes, 2011). In Study 1, we extend previous findings by demonstrating the importance of the type of experience disclosed; participants capitalized less positively with an (ostensibly) LSE friend when disclosing an accomplishment, not a positive experience attributed to happenstance. In Study 2, we demonstrate the external validity of the phenomenon by examining real discussions between romantic partners. Participants capitalized less positively with their LSE partner, behavior associated with lower relationship satisfaction 6 weeks later (particularly for women).     

Attachment models of the self and others: Relations with self‐esteem,humanity‐esteem,and parental treatment

The present research tested the extent to which perceptions of early childhood experiences with parents predicted general views of the self (i.e., self‐esteem) and others (i.e., humanity‐esteem), and whether attachment self‐ and other‐models mediated these links. Two studies used a new measure of humanity‐esteem (Luke & Maio, 2004) to achieve these ends. As expected, indices that tapped a positive model of the self in relationships were associated with high self‐esteem and indices that tapped a positive model of others in relationships were associated with high humanity‐esteem. Also, early attachment experiences with fathers and mothers predicted self‐esteem and humanity‐esteem, respectively, and these direct relations were mediated by the attachment models. The studies, therefore, provide direct evidence that attachment measures predict general favorability toward the self and others, while revealing novel differences in the roles of childhood experiences with fathers and mothers.

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Subclinical delusional ideation and a self‐reference bias in everyday reasoning

Previous studies (e.g. Moller & Husby, 2000 ; Blackwood et al., 2004 ) have revealed that delusional thinking is accompanied by an exaggerated focus upon the self and upon stimuli that are perceived to be related to the self. The objective was to examine whether those high in subclinical delusional ideation exhibit a heightened tendency for self‐reference. Using a mixed design, healthy individuals, classified into high‐ and low‐scoring groups on the Peters et al. Delusions Inventory ( Peters, Day, & Garety, 1996 ), were compared on everyday reasoning tasks across three experiments. High‐PDI scorers, in contrast to the low‐PDI group, rated self‐referent objections to everyday arguments as stronger than other‐referent objections and formulated more self‐referent assertion‐based objections to everyday arguments. The findings support the notion that subclinical delusional ideation is linked to a self‐reference bias, which is evident in the sort of everyday thinking that people engage in when forming or evaluating their beliefs and which may contribute to delusion formation.     

Children's reasoning about spatial relational similarity: the effect of alignment and relational complexity

We investigated 4- and 5-year-old children's mapping strategies in a spatial task. Children were required to find a picture in an array of three identical cups after observing another picture being hidden in another array of three cups. The arrays were either aligned one behind the other in two rows or placed side by side forming one line. Moreover, children were rewarded for two different mapping strategies. Half of the children needed to choose a cup that held the same relative position as the rewarded cup in the other array; they needed to map left-left, middle-middle, and right-right cups together (aligned mapping), which required encoding and mapping of two relations (e.g., the cup left of the middle cup and left of the right cup). The other half needed to map together the cups that held the same relation to the table's spatial features-the cups at the edges, the middle cups, and the cups in the middle of the table (landmark mapping)-which required encoding and mapping of one relation (e.g., the cup at the table's edge). Results showed that children's success was constellation dependent; performance was higher when the arrays were aligned one behind the other in two rows than when they were placed side by side. Furthermore, children showed a preference for landmark mapping over aligned mapping.     

American and Japanese beliefs about self‐esteem

Cross‐cultural researchers have tended to share the Western assumption that self‐esteem (SE) is both desirable and consequential. However, no study has empirically investigated whether this assumption is shared across cultures. The present research compared the beliefs about SE of 89 American and 98 Japanese university students, in relation to personal levels of SE. It was found that American students view SE as desirable and consequential, whereas Japanese students view SE as desirable but not consequential. However, mediation analysis indicated that beliefs about self‐esteem did not mediate the relationship between culture and personal SE, indicating an, as yet, unidentified source for moderate Japanese SE scores.     

Self‐evaluative consequences of social support receipt: The role of context self‐relevance

Past research suggests that receiving social support can increase distress if it threatens self‐esteem, self‐efficacy, or competence. These costs may be more apparent in self‐relevant contexts, as such concerns should be more salient in these situations. This research tests whether context self‐relevance moderates affective responses to support receipt and whether this pattern is mediated by self‐evaluation. We report support for these hypotheses in both a daily diary study (N = 304 couples) of real‐world stress and a laboratory experiment (N = 77 students) in which support receipt and task self‐relevance are manipulated. We discuss connections between this work and the broader literature on social support receipt, including how other social processes (e.g., social comparison) may contribute to the costs associated with support receipt.     

Sociomoral reasoning,perceptions of parenting and self‐reported delinquency in adolescents

This study considers the relationships between perceived parenting, sociomoral reasoning, and self‐reported delinquency in a sample of high school adolescents. Correlational analysis revealed that moral reasoning was associated with a consistent disciplinary style. Self‐reported delinquency was positively related to a number of the parenting variables but negatively correlated with moral reasoning. Separate analysis for males and females showed similar patterns for self‐reported delinquency, with the exception that moral reasoning was negatively correlated with attachment and supervision among females. The most significant predictors of delinquency scores were parenting variables, with moral reasoning also playing a role for males. A factor analysis of the perceived parenting measure revealed two factors. The first factor reflected a warm, inductive and involved style of parenting with the second reflecting a parenting style characterized by physical punishment. Self‐reported delinquency was negatively significantly associated with Factor 1, and positively related to Factor 2. There were also differences in the self‐reported delinquency scores of the top and bottom quartiles of Factor 1 scores. These support the conclusion that a parental style that is perceived to be warm, involved and inductive is associated with lower levels of delinquency in adolescence. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.