Evaluations Versus Expectations: Children's Divergent Beliefs About Resource Distribution

Past research reveals a tension between children's preferences for egalitarianism and ingroup favoritism when distributing resources to others. Here we investigate how children's evaluations and expectations of others' behaviors compare. Four‐ to 10‐year‐old children viewed events where individuals from two different groups distributed resources to their own group, to the other group, or equally across groups. Groups were described within a context of intergroup competition over scarce resources. In the Evaluation condition, children were asked to evaluate which resource distribution actions were nicer. In the Expectation condition, children were asked to predict which events were more likely to occur. With age, children's evaluations and expectations of others' actions diverged: Children evaluated egalitarian actions as nicer yet expected others to behave in ways that benefit their own group. Thus, children's evaluations about the way human social actors should behave do not mirror their expectations concerning those individuals' actions.     

Beliefs About the Effects of Alcohol on Involvement in Coercive and Consenting Sexual Activities1

This study examined how an alcohol instructional set (intoxicated or sober) and gender affected subjects' b]eliefs about the negative and positive consequences of engaging in coercive and consenting sexual behaviors, as well as subjects' e]xpressed likelihood of involvement in these activities. Participants who responded to an intoxicated set believed they were more likely to be involved in coercive sexual behaviors than those who responded to sober instructions. Males with an intoxicated set also expected fewer negative and more positive consequences from coercive sex than did other participants. For consenting sexual activities, males (regardless of set) rated negative consequences lower, positive consequences higher, and expressed a stronger likelihood of involvement than did females. Efforts to prevent sexual coercion might be enhanced by including a focus on how beliefs about alcohol may affect the expected consequences and occurrence of these acts.     

Altering Beliefs About the Importance of Strategy: An Attributional Intervention1

The study reported in this paper describes an attributional intervention designed to change maladaptive beliefs for failure from uncontrollable causes to a lack of strategy attribution. Rather than an academic setting, the context for this research was the heath field and subjects were 52 physical therapists experiencing role strain (failure) in their professional interactions with physicians. Half of these health professionals were randomly assigned to a 3-week intervention where they were trained to attribute their failures to poor choice of strategy, rather than to uncontrollable factors such as low ability or physician bias. Relative to a control group, subjects who participated in the attribution retraining program were more likely to endorse strategy attributions and expected greater success in their interactions with physicians at the conclusion of the intervention. At a 6-month follow-up, trained subjects also received more actual job promotions. These findings have implications for attribution retraining to strategy in a variety of domains.     

Beliefs About the Disconfirmability of Stereotypes: The Stereotype Disconfirmability Effect1

Two studies examined people's beliefs about the relative disconfirmability of out‐group and in‐group stereotypes. In Study 1 (n= 56), Hispanics and White non‐Hispanics judged the in‐group and out‐group stereotypes in terms of the ease with which they could be dis‐confirmed. The results indicated that strongly, ethnically identified participants believed the out‐group stereotype to be more difficult to disconfirm than the in‐group stereotype. The second study with 73 White participants examined their beliefs about the disconfirmability of the White and African American stereotypes. The results indicated that participants higher in prejudice believed the African American stereotype is more difficult to disconfirm than the White stereotype to a greater degree than participants lower in prejudice. The results suggest that disconfirmability beliefs comprise a distinct construct thai may contribute to the difficulty of changing out‐group stereotypes.     

Lay Beliefs About Psychological and Social Problems Among Adolescents: Motivational and Cognitive Antecedents1

This study attempted to apply theoretical concepts from personality and social psychology to understand the nomological network informing clinical models held by laypersons. Personal values and social axioms predicted the lay beliefs of Chinese adolescents about the causes and cures of 2 psychological problems (agoraphobia and schizophrenia) and 2 social problems (child abuse and corruption). Using path analyses, we developed a model of lay beliefs for each specific problem, and found that social problems were perceived to be caused by social‐personal factors, whereas psychological problems varied in their perceived etiology, with agoraphobia perceived to be caused by the environmental/hereditary factor and schizophrenia by the social‐personal factor. Clinical methods were perceived to be the important curative factor in overcoming most problems.     

Parental Goal Orientations and Beliefs About the Competitive-Sport Experience of Their Child1

We examined the achievement goals of parents' in relation to their interpretation of their child's sporting behavior, preference for certain types of performance feedback about their child, the types of tasks they prefer their child to engage in, and their beliefs about the cause of their child's performance. The sample consisted of 96 parents whose children were in the first year (mean age 11.3) at a large comprehensive school in a major city in the United Kingdom. Parents' dispositional achievement goal orientations were differentiated by their responses to the Perception of Success Questionnaire (Roberts & Balague, 1989, 1991). Whereas differences in task orientation appear to be critical in the education setting (Ames & Archer, 1988), the findings of this study suggest that individual differences in ego orientation may be more significant in the competitive sport context.     

Response to Hanks and McDermott: Temporal Evolution of Beliefs and Beliefs about Temporal Evolution

This paper critically evaluates the celebrated paper of Hanks and McDermott on temporal projection, non-monotonic reasoning, and the frame problem. First I argue against their intuitions, and a fortiori, against their proposed solution. Next, I suggest how the solution they desire could be obtained, were they willing to represent the problem a bit differently.     

Beliefs About Older Workers' Learning and Development Behavior in Relation to Beliefs About Malleability of Skills,Age‐Related Decline,and Control1

This study investigated beliefs about older workers' ability and inclination to develop career‐relevant skills, concepts that have not been empirically examined previously in any depth. Two sets of distinct but conceptually related variables were examined in relation to these beliefs. First, participants' implicit theory of abilities (whether they are fixed or changeable) was investigated, and was not found to predict beliefs about older workers' ability or inclination to develop. Second, their beliefs about the age‐related decline of learning‐relevant abilities and the controllability of such decline were examined. Beliefs about the decline of such abilities significantly predicted beliefs about older workers' ability to develop and beliefs about their inclination to develop. A significant relationship was also found between beliefs about controllability of decline and beliefs about older workers' learning goal orientation. Implicit theories significantly predicted beliefs about controllability of decline. These results empirically link research on beliefs about age‐related decline of abilities with the older worker stereotype literature. The results also link literature on beliefs about controllability of decline with literature on implicit theories of skill malleability.     

Measuring Lay Conceptions of Well-Being: The Beliefs About Well-Being Scale

A number of explicit conceptions of well-being have been provided by philosophers and psychologists, but little is known about laypersons’ conceptions of well-being. Two studies investigating the content and measurement of lay conceptions of well-being are presented. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic procedures, the 16-item Beliefs about Well-Being Scale (BWBS) was developed to measure lay conceptions of well-being along four theoretically-meaningful dimensions: (1) the Experience of Pleasure, (2) Avoidance of Negative Experience, (3) Self-Development, and (4) Contribution to Others. Initial evidence concerning the reliability and validity of the BWBS indicated that this new scale has acceptable psychometric properties. In both studies, associations between each subscale, representing the above four dimensions, and multiple self-report measures of experienced well-being were also examined. Each subscale was significantly associated with well-being, with Self-Development and Contribution to Others indicating stronger associations with measures of well-being than either Experience of Pleasure or Avoidance of Negative Experience. Implications for future research using this economical new scale are discussed.     

Children and Videogames: Leisure Activities,Aggression, Social Integration,and School Performance1

A survey was conducted among 346 children from the 7th and 8th grade of 7 elementary schools to examine possible positive and negative effects of playing videogames. Analyses revealed that playing videogames did not appear to take place at the expense of children's other leisure activities, social integration, and school performance. A gender difference arose: Boys spent more time playing videogames than did girls. There was no significant relationship between the amount of time children spent on videogames and aggressive behavior. A negative relationship between time spent playing videogames and prosocial behavior was found; however, this relationship did not appear in separate analyses for boys and girls. Furthermore, a positive relationship was found between time spent on videogames and a child's intelligence.     

Beliefs About Self and About Gender Groups: Interactive Effects on the Spatial Performance of Women

Projection of own characteristics onto an in-group, internalization of in-group characteristics into self-conceptions, and the implications of these two processes for one type of cognitive performance among women (spatial skill) were examined. Focus on gender or self and expected method of performance evaluation (male-female comparison or individual comparison [IC]) were varied before high- and low-self-esteem (SE) women completed a spatial performance test. The manipulations and the SE grouping factor interacted to influence spatial skill scores significantly. The results are interpreted as indicating situationally induced self- and group stereotype influences on manifest spatial skill.     

When Effort Is Enjoyed: Two Studies of Intrinsic Motivation for Personally Salient Activities

Distinctions between two philosophical conceptions of happiness, hedonism and eudaimonism, were applied to the study of intrinsic motivation. Modified versions of the Personally Expressive Activities Questionnaire (PEAQ) were used in two studies to contrast activities, all of which were enjoyed, but which differed in the level of effort involved. In Study 1, 173 college students were free to choose any type of activity that met the selection criteria. In Study 2, the activities chosen by 95 undergraduates were limited to activities associated with a particular leisure time or hobby activity in which the respondents engaged on a regular basis. Consistent results across the two studies indicate that High Effort–Liked activities, in comparison to Low Effort–Liked activities, were associated with greater interest, flow, and feelings of personal expressiveness, greater perceived competence, and higher scores for both self-realization values and importance. These differences are discussed for their implications for the conceptual understanding of intrinsic motivation.     

Effects of Directed Thinking on Intentions to Engage in Beneficial Activities: Actions Versus Reasons1

An important application of psychological principles involves increasing intentions to engage in activities that, although admittedly beneficial, are often not initially appealing (e.g., studying, quitting smoking, dieting). The present study tests the utility of directed thinking as a tool for eliciting intentions to engage in such activities. Undergraduate students were directed to think either about the reasons why people should find studying enjoyable or about the actions that people might take to make studying enjoyable. Regardless of whether they thought as individuals or in cooperating dyads, students who thought about actions later reported greater intentions to spend time studying than did students who thought about reasons. The results have both theoretical and practical significance.     

Preschool Ontology: The Role of Beliefs About Category Boundaries in Early Categorization

These studies examined the role of ontological beliefs about category boundaries in early categorization. Study 1 found that preschool-age children (N = 48, aged 3–4 years old) have domain-specific beliefs about the meaning of category boundaries; children judged the boundaries of natural kind categories (animal species, human gender) as discrete and strict, but they judged the boundaries of other categories (artifact categories, human race) as more flexible. Study 2 demonstrated that these domain-specific ontological intuitions guide children's learning of new categories; children (N = 28, 3-year-olds) assumed that the boundaries of novel animal categories would be narrower and more strictly defined than novel artifact categories. These data demonstrate that abstract beliefs about the meaning of category boundaries shape early conceptual development.     

Thai Transgenders in Focus: Their Beliefs About Attitudes Towards and Origins of Transgender

ABSTRACT

One hundred and ninety-five transgendered females (i.e., male-to-female trans-genders (or MtF TGs)), with a mean age of 25.4 years, completed a questionnaire examining, inter alia, their beliefs about (a) attitudes (of parents and society) towards them (and to MtF TGs in general); and (b) origins of their own MTF TG status.

According to our participants, 62.9% of mothers and 40.6% of fathers accepted or encouraged their child's transgender from its first expression. Many with misgivings became more positive as time went on. According to 40.7% of our participants, Thai people overall held similarly favourable attitudes towards MtF TGs.

Many of our participants cited multiple origins for their transgender. Nearly 84% believed inborn biology had played a role. Friends and karma were also commonly endorsed as explanatory factors (50% and 48.4% respectively). Parents, siblings, and other relatives were less commonly cited (30.3%, 24.1%, and 22.2%, respectively). Cluster analysis revealed that, based on their beliefs, 97.1% of the sample could be divided into three groups. Most (61.2%) fell into a ‘biogenic’group, emphasising the role played by inborn biology, while 29.4% believed took a ‘peer psychogenic’ view, emphasising the role played by friends in the development of their transgender. A small ‘eclectic’ group (6.5%) believed that biology, karma, and parents combined to account for their transgender.     

Cultural Influences in the Aetiological Beliefs of Saudi Arabian Primary Care Patients About Their Symptoms: The Association of Religious and Psychological Beliefs

Objective To develop a self-report questionnaire to measure the beliefs of Arabic primary care patients about the causes of their physical symptoms; to use this to quantify the beliefs of patients consulting their general practitioners (GPs) in Saudi Arabia; and to test whether patients with psychological problems differ from others in their beliefs, particularly religious and supernatural beliefs. Methods Consecutive patients (N = 224) completed a specially developed aetiological beliefs’ questionnaire. Patients were divided into two groups (cases and non-cases of emotional disorder) according to the GHQ-12. Results Religious and supernatural aspects of culture colour patients’ symptom beliefs: that their symptoms were a test or punishment from Allah’ was the most common belief. Even in non-cases, around half the patients also endorsed nerves and stress as a cause of their physical symptoms. Cases were more likely than non-cases to endorse items related to both religious and psychological factors. Conclusion There is no support for the view that Saudi Arabian patients explain symptoms supernaturally as a way of denying psychological factors. GPs and health professionals in Saudi primary care need to understand what patients believe to be the cause of their problems and to appreciate that religious and psychological beliefs are both very common. GPs should address psychological beliefs and concerns even with those patients who present physical symptoms.     

Justifying Outcomes Versus Processes: Distributive and Procedural Justice Beliefs as Predictors of Positive and Negative Affectivity

System justifying beliefs can have adaptive consequences for individuals that include enhanced coping and decreased emotional distress. The present study examined whether individual differences in two kinds of system justifying beliefs uniquely predict dispositional affect. Participants from across the United States were recruited via internet to complete dispositional measures of procedural and distributive justice beliefs, and also brief measures of positive and negative affectivity. While belief in fair outcomes (distributive just world beliefs) was generally associated with greater positive affectivity, belief in fair processes (procedural just world beliefs) was modestly associated with decreased negative affectivity. In addition, positive and negative affectivity were predicted by interactions between procedural and distributive just world beliefs, with each accentuating the general emotional benefit provided by the other. Finally, an interactive effect of procedural just world beliefs and social class was obtained for positive affectivity, with greater positive affectivity occurring for disadvantaged (lower income) individuals who had strong procedural just world beliefs. In general, these results suggest the potential for unique and interactive relationships between particular system justifying beliefs and measures of emotion, especially among members of advantaged versus disadvantaged groups.     

Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action: Correlations With Demographic Variables and With Beliefs About Targets,Actions, and Economic Effects1

Two studies assessed beliefs and attitudes toward affirmative action in the workplace. Opposition to affirmative action was most strongly associated with respondent race (White) and political conservatism, the belief that it involves strong actions (preferential hiring and setting aside jobs), and the expectation that it will hurt company performance. Attitudes were also positively associated with perceived frequency of employment discrimination experienced by the target group and negatively associated with their resulting employment opportunities. Regression results revealed that economic consequences for the company overwhelmed beliefs about target group employment opportunities in predicting affirmative action attitudes. Respondents associated aftirmative action most strongly with Black and Hispanic targets, and White respondents whose affirmative action schemas featured these 2 targets had the most negative attitudes.     

Footballs Versus Barbies: Childhood Play Activities as Predictors of Sport Participation by Women

The present study examined the extent to which childhood play activities predict future sport participation by women. Eighty-four college women (40 Division III varsity athletes and 44 nonathletes) at a predominantly White liberal arts school in the Southwest completed a questionnaire that measured their adult experiences with sports as well as their childhood play activities. The results revealed that playing with masculine (rather than feminine) toys and games, playing in predominantly male or mixed-gender groups, and being considered a tomboy distinguished between women who later became college athletes and those who did not. These findings suggest that childhood play activities should be considered, along with other agents of socialization (i.e., family, peers, coaches), as important factors in predicting future sport participation by females.