Local warming: daily temperature change influences belief in global warming

Although people are quite aware of global warming, their beliefs about it may be malleable; specifically, their beliefs may be constructed in response to questions about global warming. Beliefs may reflect irrelevant but salient information, such as the current day's temperature. This replacement of a more complex, less easily accessed judgment with a simple, more accessible one is known as attribute substitution. In three studies, we asked residents of the United States and Australia to report their opinions about global warming and whether the temperature on the day of the study was warmer or cooler than usual. Respondents who thought that day was warmer than usual believed more in and had greater concern about global warming than did respondents who thought that day was colder than usual. They also donated more money to a global-warming charity if they thought that day seemed warmer than usual. We used instrumental variable regression to rule out some alternative explanations.     

An observation on set and visual comparison processes

Tasks involving the comparison of sequentially presented stimulus items to determine identity have generally only required interpretation in terms of simple matching. Some studies have attempted to show effects of selective set in these tasks but with little success except in tasks involving comparison of sentences with pictures. By simplifying the task a reliable set effect is demonstrated, showing that a mismatch of certain stimulus attributes only has an identifiable effect on a subject's reaction-time if he may reasonably be supposed to know that the attribute is critical and is set to examine stimulus items for the attribute. Such conditions result in a relatively fast judgement. The finding suggests that the sequential “same“/“different” judgement is a richer source of data concerning recognition and comparison than has been supposed.     

初中数学学习中教师归因与学生自我归因的比较研究

本文研究了初中数学学习中教师的信念与归因．学生自我的信念与归因以及师生归因的比较,得出如下几点结论：(1)在教师和学生的信念中男生在数学学习中更占优势。但在归因领域里却没有发现显著的性别差异。(2)对最好的学生,教师倾向于努力归因;对最差的学生,教师倾向于基础归囚。(3)最好的学生自我归因时倾向于基础和方法归因,最差的学生倾向于努力和方法归因。(4)师生归因维度上的一般趋势：造成数学学习成功的原因比较稳定、内源、可控;造成数学学习失败的原因也倾向于内源,但比较不稳定,不可控。(5)师生特定归因中的差异广泛存在,建议采取相应的教育对策。     

Explanatory style and coping with controllable events by student-athletes

Abstract

The present study investigated the relationship between explanatory style and the appraisal and coping of 66 major college football players with respect to stressful but controllable events in the academic and the athletic domains. A path analysis showed that for controllable events, a “pessimistic” explanatory style-in which bad events are attributed to internal, stable, and global causes-predicted appraisals of adequate resources to cope with demands, which in turn predicted increased attempts to cope.     

Attitudes Toward Voluntary and Involuntary Childlessness

Prior research has documented negative attitudes toward the voluntarily childless. Although research indicates that infertile couples perceive their condition to be discrediting, the extent to which the public considers involuntary childlessness as a negative attribute is unclear. Infertility might be construed by many to be a disease of professional couples overly concerned with careers or too stressed to conceive. In this experiment, 215 university students read one of six scenarios describing a couple as either: (a) voluntarily childless, involuntarily childless, or having children; or (b) holding professional or nonprofessional employment. Subjects rated each member of the couple on 26 characteristics (e.g., ambitious, caring, and stressed) and responded to 12 items concerning the quality and strength of the couple's relationship. Results support prior research demonstrating a stigma of voluntary childlessness but suggest that involuntary childlessness is not universally stigmatizing and may actually lead to some positive attributions. Recommendations for future research and applications are discussed.     

A CONCEPTUAL RATIONALE FOR THE DOMAIN AND ATTRIBUTES OF BIODATA ITEMS

There is considerable disagreement among researchers regarding the defining attributes of biodata items, especially in contrast to other self-report measures. This paper provides a conceptual rationale for the use of biodata in order to evaluate various proposed attributes of biodata, and to clarify similarities and differences between biodata and temperament items. It is suggested that the core attribute of biodata items is that the items pertain to historical events that may have shaped the person's behavior and identity. Other attributes advanced as antidotes to socially desirable responding and faking are that biodata items reflect external events, that they be limited to objective and first-hand recollections, that they be potentially verifiable, and that they measure discrete, unique events when appropriate. Some researchers also require that the life events being sampled be controllable and equally accessible to all respondents. Items may also need to be visibly job relevant and nonintrusive to avoid legal censure. Disagreements among researchers regarding the importance of these attributes are discussed, and implications for practice and research are proposed.     

The Spacing Effect: Enhancing Memory for Repeated Marketing Stimuli

We explore the extent to which repeating a brand‐attribute association will have a greater effect on recall when the 2 repetitions occur at different points in time rather than immediately after each other. Cued recall is generally better when the repeated items are separated. However, this depends on the extent to which information is organized by brand as well as by attribute, the number of attribute items presented about the brand, and the relatedness of the attributes.     

A variable mapping task produces symmetrical interference between global information and local information

When processing global and local aspects of compound visual figures, a robust finding is that global targets are detected faster and more accurately than local targets. Moreover, unidirectional interference is often observed. Despite the convincing evidence that global information and local information are available together, when attention is focused on the global level, items from the local level often have very little, if any, effect on behavior. If local information is available with global information, then why is global dominance so often observed under such a wide range of conditions? This paper is concerned with the fate of the ignored, and apparently ineffective, local distractors. In our experiments, at least one critical factor was stimulus-response (S-R) mapping. We compared a consistent S-R task, which facilitated a speed advantage for global, with a variable S-R task, which required a higher degree of semantic analysis for each stimulus. The two tasks produced large differences in behavior, showing unidirectional interference in the consistent S-R task, and strong bidirectional interference in the variable S-R task. Thus, the identity of ignored local distractors was available, even under conditions that favored focused attention to global information. The results provide support for a model in which global processing proceeds more quickly at early perceptual stages and in which local processing can catch up if processing demands are increased at later stages.     

An Examination of Employee Reactions to Perceived Corporate Citizenship1

There has been little research focus to date on individual level reactions to corporate citizenship. Our study attempted to understand better how corporate citizenship affects job behaviors and employee feelings by examining a hypothesized positive effect of perceived corporate citizenship (PCC) on 3 dependent variables: work‐role definitions, organizational citizenship behavior, and organizational identification. Additionally, the personal value of other‐regarding value orientation was hypothesized to interact with PCC. The findings supported 4 of 6 hypotheses. We consider theoretical and practical implications of how corporate citizenship impacts employees.     

HYPOTHESIZING DIFFERENTIAL ITEM FUNCTIONING IN GLOBAL EMPLOYEE OPINION SURVEYS

Cross-cultural researchers have not used cultural dimensions to predict when differential item functioning (DIF) in attitude survey items is likely to occur. Predictive hypotheses for items related to supervision on a global corporate survey were developed based on 3 of Hofstede's (1991a) dimensions. In some cases, greater DIF was found on hypothesized items between countries differing on cultural dimensions. Implications for the use of this framework and DIF in examining multinational employee opinion surveys are discussed.     

Operationalizing the effect of the group on the individual: A self-attention perspective

The effect of the group on the individual is considered from the perspective of self-attention theory. It is proposed that group members will become more self-attentive, and thus become more concerned with matching to standards of appropriate behavior, as the relative size of their subgroup decreases. A simple algorithm, termed the Other-Total Ratio, is presented which numerically describes this effect of the group on the individual. An analysis of group effects on individuals' self-attention supports this perspective, as do analyses of the results of 42 previous studies in four other areas (conformity, prosocial behavior, social loafing, and antisocial behavior). This orientation to the effect of the group on the individual is linked to recent developments in self-attention theory and compared to Latané's social impact theory.     

An Attributional Perspective on African American Adults' Exercise Behavior1

The present study examined attributional patterns for successful and unsuccessful exercise behavior change in a sample of African American adults. Subjects typically reported the primary causes of successful exercise change to be of a motivational and personal nature, whereas attributions for unsuccessful change were primarily concerned with time management. Multivariate analyses indicated successes being attributed to internal, stable, and personally controllable causes, and failures to internal, unstable, and personally controllable causes. Stable attributions in the successful group were significantly correlated with expectations for continued maintenance, and unstable attributions were significantly related with expectations for future behavior change in the unsuccessful group. The findings are discussed with respect to attributional approaches to improving exercise and health behavior change.     

Power bases and attribution in three cultures

The authors used a Saudi context to verify the cross-cultural generality of findings (A. Rodrigues & K. L. Lloyd, 1998) reported for U.S. and Brazilian samples in which compliant behavior caused by reward, informational, and referent influences was perceived as more controllable and more internal than compliant behavior resulting from legitimate, expert, and coercive influences. This differential attribution led, in turn, to different affective and behavioral responses. In the present study, cognitive and affective reactions of Saudi students were measured with regard to compliant behavior (leading to a good outcome or a bad outcome) caused by each of the 6 bases of power described by B. H. Raven (1965). As expected, power bases had significant effects. However, when the outcome of the compliant behavior was bad, compliant behavior caused by a coercive influence led to the perception of more internality and controllability. Also--and not found in previous studies--the perception of less internality and controllability of compliant behavior was caused by an informational influence. Findings are discussed in the light of related research and Saudi cultural characteristics.     

African Religion,Climate Change,and Knowledge Systems

This article argues that as humanity is now changing the composition of the atmosphere at a rate that is very exceptional on the geological time scale, resulting in global warming, humans must deal with climate change holistically, including the often overlooked religion factor. Human‐caused climate change has resulted primarily from changes in the amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, but also from changes in small particles (aerosols), as well as from changes in land use. In Africa, the entire relationship between humans and nature, including activities such as land use, has deep religious and spiritual underpinnings. In general, religion is central to many of the decisions people make about their own communities’ development. Hence, this contribution examines religion as a factor that can be tapped into to mitigate negative effects of climate change, discussing climate change and religion in the context of development practice. It argues that some of the difficulties encountered in development, including efforts to reverse global warming in Africa, directly speak to the relegation of African cosmovision and conversely of the need to adopt new epistemologies, concepts, and models that take religion into consideration.     

The belief in a just world and immanent justice reasoning in adults

Deciding that negative experiences are punishment for prior misdeeds, even when plausible causal links are missing, is immanent justice (IJ) reasoning (Piaget, 1932/1965). Three studies examined a just world theory analysis of IJ reasoning in adults (Lerner, 1980). Studies 1 and 2 varied the valence of a target person's behavior prior to them experiencing an unrelated negative (car accident, Study 1) or positive (lottery win, Study 2) outcome. Participants viewed the outcomes as the result of prior behavior most when they fit deservingness expectations (good person won the lottery, bad person injured in automobile accident), suggesting that just world concerns influenced IJ reasoning. The lottery-winning finding (Study 2) also extends IJ reasoning to positive experiences. A third study found that a manipulation of just world threat in one context (prolonged or ended suffering of an HIV victim) influenced IJ responses in a subsequent unrelated context (automobile accident scenario).     

Hardiness Promotes Work Engagement,Prevents Burnout,and Moderates Their Relationship

We examined the relationships between hardiness, work engagement, and burnout. Participants were Belgian service members involved in the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) operation. They completed a questionnaire containing hardiness items from the revised Norwegian Hardiness Scale, items concerning vigor and dedication from the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, and those tapping cynicism and emotional exhaustion from the Utrecht Burnout Scale. Results showed that hardiness was positively related to dedication and vigor, and negatively to cynicism and emotional exhaustion. Our results further suggest that work engagement and burnout are the opposite ends of a continuum. However, analyses concerning the moderation effect of hardiness suggest that individual differences could imply different processes in the relationship between work engagement and burnout.     

Power Bases and Attribution in Three Cultures

Abstract

The authors used a Saudi context to verify the cross-cultural generality of findings (A. Rodrigues & K. L. Lloyd, 1998) reported for U.S. and Brazilian samples in which compliant behavior caused by reward, informational, and referent influences was perceived as more controllable and more internal than compliant behavior resulting from legitimate, expert, and coercive influences. This differential attribution led, in turn, to different affective and behavioral responses. In the present study, cognitive and affective reactions of Saudi students were measured with regard to compliant behavior (leading to a good outcome or a bad outcome) caused by each of the 6 bases of power described by B. H. Raven (1965). As expected, power bases had significant effects. However, when the outcome of the compliant behavior was bad, compliant behavior caused by a coercive influence led to the perception of more internality and controllability. Also—and not found in previous studies—the perception of less internality and controllability of compliant behavior was caused by an informational influence. Findings are discussed in the light of related research and Saudi cultural characteristics.     

能力社会比较与归因反馈对不诚实行为的影响

社会比较作为认识自我的一种方式,对个体心理与行为的诸多方面产生影响,但对于社会比较如何影响不诚实行为以及归因反馈在其中的作用,目前尚不清楚。在3项实验中操纵了不同方向的能力社会比较,探讨其对不诚实行为的影响(研究1)以及归因反馈在其中的调节作用(研究2)。结果发现:(1)相比于向下比较和无比较,向上比较会增加个体的不诚实行为;(2)归因反馈调节上述影响:向上比较后,相比于给予能力反馈,给予努力反馈可以减少个体的不诚实行为。本研究拓展了社会比较后效研究,对如何减少社会比较引起的不诚实行为具有重要启示。     

创伤事件的痛苦程度对创伤后成长的影响：核心信念挑战的作用

采用创伤事件终身经历问卷—学生版、核心信念量表、创伤后成长评定量表,对3所大学进行问卷调查,探索具体创伤事件痛苦程度与创伤后成长(PTG)的关系,并检验核心信念挑战在其中的中介作用。结果发现：(1)家人患病或死亡类的创伤事件痛苦程度可负向预测PTG,并以核心信念挑战为中介;(2)目睹他人或自身相关的创伤事件痛苦程度和自身受虐待类的创伤事件痛苦程度可正向预测PTG,并以核心信念挑战为中介;(3)自然灾害类的创伤事件痛苦程度和家庭冲突类的创伤事件痛苦程度与核心信念挑战和PTG都无显著相关。因此不同领域的创伤事件痛苦程度引发创伤后成长的可能性不同。