Similarity as threat: A motivational explanation of self–other similarity judgment asymmetry

People tend to judge others to be more similar to themselves than themselves are to others. This self–other similarity judgment asymmetry was often explained by a cognitive model. However, some findings were inconsistent with this model, implying that there might be complementary processes underlying such asymmetry. Although a motivational explanation has been proposed to account for the asymmetry, little evidence has been accumulated to verify this explanation and differentiate it from the cognitive model. The current research tested both the core assumption of the motivational explanation as well as a hypothesis derived only from it. Results suggest that the perception of oneself as being similar to others was more threatening to people's uniqueness than the perception of others as being similar to oneself. Individuals with high need for uniqueness exhibited greater asymmetry than did individuals with low need. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The relationship between the adult attachment and the tendency to judge others as liars

The relationship between 2 dimensions (anxiety and avoidance) of adult attachment and tendency to judge others as liars was examined in this study. We measured 308 participants' adult attachment and tendency to judge others as liars in self‐, other‐, or relationship‐oriented situations. Results supported our hypotheses by showing that (a) anxiety positively predicted the tendency to judge others as liars in self‐oriented situations and (b) avoidance moderated the relationship between anxiety and the tendency to judge others as liars in other‐ and relationship‐oriented situations. Attachment anxiety could positively predict the tendency to judge others as liars only when participants' avoidance was high. Theoretical implications and suggestions for future studies were discussed.     

Burnout, Uncertainty, and the Desire for Social Comparison Among Nurses

A study was conducted among 295 nurses to examine the interest in social comparison information, that is, the desire to learn more about the feelings and responses of others facing a similar situation. Occupational burnout, in particular emotional exhaustion, reduced personal accomplishment and uncertainty, had independent relationships with the interest in social comparison information. Comparison preferences were strongly upward; there was in general a stronger preference for information about others who were better off than for affiliation with such others. There was also a stronger preference for comparison with more experienced than with more competent others. However, better-off others were avoided relatively more by those high in burnout, especially by those high in reduced personal accomplishment. The results are discussed in the context of social comparison as a way of coping with stress, and self-improvement and self-protection as motives for social comparison.     

Social comparison,coping and depression in people with spinal cord injury

The present study among 70 people with spinal cord injury examined the prevalence and correlates of identification (seeing others as a potential future) and contrast (seeing others in competitive terms) in social comparison as related to coping and depression. The most prevalent social comparison strategy was downward contrast (a positive response to seeing others who were worse-off), followed by upward identification (a positive response to perceiving better-off others as a potential future), downward identification (a negative response to perceiving worse-off others as a potential future), and upward contrast (a negative response to seeing others who were better-off). Those with less severe lesions reported the highest levels of upward contrast, coping through blaming others, and depression. Downward contrast was particularly related to constructive coping, and upward identification to wishful thinking. The less adaptive social comparison strategies, i.e., upward contrast and downward identification, were quite strongly related to wishful thinking and blaming others. Particularly upward contrast, i.e., feeling bad as response to seeing that others are better-off, was related to depression.     

Subjectivity uncertainty theory of objectification: Compensating for uncertainty about how to positively relate to others by downplaying their subjective attributes

Why do people sometimes view others as objects rather than complete persons? We propose that when people desire successful interactions with others, yet feel uncertain about their ability to navigate others' subjectivity, they downplay others' subjective attributes, focusing instead on their concrete attributes. This account suggests that objectification represents a response to uncertainty about one's ability to successfully interact with others distinct from: instrumentalizing others in response to power; dehumanizing others in response to threat; and simplifying others in response to general uncertainty. Supporting this account: When uncertainty about navigating women's subjectivity was salient, men showed increased sexual objectification to the extent that they desired successful interactions with women (Study 1) and were primed to view such interactions as self-esteem relevant (Study 2). In a workplace scenario, participants made uncertain about their managerial ability felt less confident about their ability to navigate employees' subjectivity and, consequently, role-objectified employees (Study 3).     

Whose Life Task Is It Anyway? Social Appraisal and Life Task Pursuit

The study uses a social contextual framework to examine how others are represented in individuals' life task appraisals and how such appraisals are related to strategies to pursue those life tasks. The extent to which life tasks nominated by 81 college students (45 females) were appraised as shared with others and pursued collaboratively was examined through a questionnaire. Participants listed five life tasks, indicated if each life task was theirs alone, indirectly shared (others were impacted by their life task pursuit), or directly shared (another person might also nominate the life task as theirs) with others in their lives, described three activities used to pursue their life tasks, and coded how others were involved inthese activities. Results indicated that the majority of college students' life tasks were appraised as involving others, that directly shared appraisals were found more frequently in the relationship domain, and that directly shared appraisals were associated with collaborative life task pursuit strategies. In addition, appraising life tasks as directly shared did not appear to reflect aspects of anxiety or compensation. A content analysis of the strategies coded as involving other individuals revealed diverse ways in which others are involved in life task pursuit ranging from active engagement of others to cognitive strategies where others are implied. The findings have implications for research on life tasks and other goal structures in that the structures may involve the social context in adaptive ways.     

大学生人际关系困扰与主观幸福感的关系研究

采用《人际关系综合诊断量表》和《主观幸福感量表》对467名大学生进行测试,旨在探讨大学生人际关系困扰与主观幸福感的状况及其关系.结果表明:(1)大学生的人际交谈困扰存在地域和独生/非独生子女的交互作用,城市的独生子女大学生人际交谈困扰最低;在与异性交往困扰方面,来自乡镇的大学生和非独生子女的大学生有较大的困扰.(2)生活满意度和积极情感存在着地域和独生/非独生子女的交互作用,城市的独生子女大学生生活满意度和积极情感最高,乡镇的独生子女大学生生活满意度和积极情感最低.(3)人际关系困扰四个维度对主观幸福感的不同成份有不同的预测作用,人际交友困扰、人际交谈困扰和与异性交往困扰对生活满意度有预测作用,而人际交友困扰、人际交谈困扰和待人接物困扰三个维度对积极情感和消极情感有预测作用.     

The actions of others as determinants of behavior in social trap situations

Three studies were conducted to determine the effects of observing the behaviors of others upon an individual's actions in a simulated social trap situation. In Experiment 1, it was found that merely having the opportunity to make comparative appraisals of the actions of others led to greater competition for a finite common resource than when subjects were physically isolated from one another. In Experiment 2, false feedback was given to subjects to determine if the actions of others alone were responsible for the deleterious effects of having the opportunity for comparative appraisal; it was found that subjects quickly conformed to the behavior pattern of the interacting others, regardless of whether the false feedback indicated that the other subjects were consuming more or less than no-treatment control subjects. Experiment 3 was conducted to determine the motivation of subjects reacting to the actions of others; differential predictions based upon a competition/relative outcome explanation and upon an information search explanation were made. The data were consistent with the information search explanation.     

Confidence of social judgments is not just error: Individual differences in the structure,stability, and social functions of perceptual confidence

The present research uses a Social Relations Model approach to focus on individual differences in perceptual confidence – a person’s confidence in her or his impressions of others. Across two samples of group interactions, we found that the majority of variance in perceptual confidence was explained by individual differences in how people tended to perceive others (i.e., perceiver effects). A smaller percentage of variance was explained by differences in how people tended to be perceived by others (i.e., target effects). Both these individual differences were stable over time, were related to relevant personality measures, and group outcomes. Together, these results demonstrate that although perceptual confidence may not be substantially related to accuracy, it exists as a stable individual difference dimension that has important consequences for social interactions.     

WHO CARES? THE EFFECT OF GENDER AND CONTEXT ON THE SELF AND MORAL REASONING

Theorists suggest that gender differences in moral reasoning are due to differences in the self-concept, with women feeling connected to others and using a care approach, whereas men feel separate from others and adopt a justice approach. Using a self-categorization analysis, the current research suggests that the nature of the self–other relationship, rather than gender, predicts moral reasoning. Study 1 found moral reasoning to be dependent upon the social distance between the self and others, with a care-based approach more likely when interacting with a friend than a stranger. Study 2 suggests that when individuals see others as ingroup members they are more likely to utilize care-based moral reasoning than when others are seen as outgroup members. Further, traditional gender differences in moral reasoning were found only when gender was made salient. These studies suggest that both the self and moral reasoning are better conceptualized as fluid and context dependent.     

Social dilemmas and leadership

Subjects acted in a social dilemma situation. Two variables were experimentally manipulated: use and variance. One third of the subjects thought that the others in their group were overusing the common resource, one third thought that the others were underusing it, and the remaining third were led to believe that the others were using the resource optimally. Moreover, half of the subjects thought that the others took relatively similar harvests (low variance) while the other half thought the others differed greatly (high variance). Support was found for Homans' assumption that the internal function of leaders is to allocate outcomes equitably over group members, whereas their external function is to deal efficiently with the external environment. The results indicated that more subjects in the overuse condition voted to give up free access to the resource and to hand over the management of the resource to a leader than in the other me conditions. Moreover, more subjects in the high variance condition voted for a leader than in the low variance condition. Over all conditions, furthermore, subjects preferred themselves most as prospective leader. In addition, group members who were similar to the subject, competent at the task and concerned for the group were preferred as Leader. When subjects acted as leader they were more moderate in withdrawing harvests from the resource than as regular group member. Moreover, leaders allocated outcomes equitably to the group members.     

The role of self-regulation in derogating attractive alternatives

The present research addresses the question of how romantically involved individuals are able to shield their ongoing romantic relationship from the temptation of attractive alternative partners. Specifically, two studies examined, and supported, the prediction that self-regulation promotes romantically involved individuals’ tendency to derogate attractive others as potential partners. Heterosexual participants responded to pictures of attractive and unattractive opposite-sex others by indicating their interest in these others as potential partners. In both studies the possibility for self-regulation exertion was manipulated (by means of self-regulation depletion in Study 1, and time-pressure in Study 2). When self-regulatory resources were relatively high, romantically involved participants exhibited less interest in attractive opposite-sex others than non-involved participants. However, when self-regulatory resources were low, interest in attractive opposite-sex others did not differ between romantically involved and non-involved participants.     

异性交友决策任务上为不同心理距离他人决策的风险偏好

使用中国文化背景下修订的Beisswanger等人的异性交友决策问卷, 采用2种方法操纵自我-他人心理距离, 考察了男女大学生在后果严重性不同的异性交友决策任务上为不同心理距离他人决策风险偏好的差异。实验1发现, 被试为具体和笼统他人决策时的风险偏好无显著差异, 在后果不严重任务上比后果严重任务上更冒险, 男性比女性更冒险。心理距离与决策者性别的交互作用显著：男性为具体他人决策更冒险, 而女性为笼统他人决策更冒险。实验2发现, 被试为不相似他人比为相似他人决策更冒险, 在后果不严重任务上比在后果严重任务上更冒险, 男性比女性更冒险。后果严重性与决策者性别交互作用显著：男性在后果严重和不严重任务上的风险偏好无显著差异, 而女性在后果不严重任务上比后果严重任务上更冒险。综合两个实验的结果, 可以得出以下结论：相对于具体和笼统他人的区分而言, 相似和不相似他人的区分是一种更加稳定和有效的区分自我-他人心理距离的方法。结合相关研究及理论对结果进行了讨论。     

Anticipated compatibility as a function of attitude or status similarity1

Two experiments explored the effects of self-other discrepancies in attitude or status on judgments of another's desirability as a companion It was found that increasing discrepancy in status or attitudes led to lower judgments of compatibility and liking In one experiment, similarity of attitudes of another was found to correlate with liking him, desire to befriend him, do favors for him, and possibly conform to him. The contribution of some personality measures to the relationship between similarity and anticipated compatibility was a major focus of the study The inhibitory effect of a target's status discrepancy was more pronounced for subjects who were more sensitive to rejection Also, between targets of equally discrepant status, there was a general preference to affiliate with the one whose status was higher than the one whose status was lower–an effect which was even more pronounced for subjects who were sensitive to rejection More anxious subjects judged themselves as generally less acceptable to others, particularly to others of higher status. When predicting attitudes on the basis of limited information, females showed a greater tendency than males to see others as similar to themselves Finally, persons holding different attitudes from one's own were judged as more harmful socially, a bias which was more pronounced in females than in males.     

The duality of virtue: Deconstructing the moral hypocrite

The present study examined the processes giving rise to moral hypocrisy, a phenomenon in which individuals judge their own transgressions to be less morally objectionable than the same transgressions enacted by others. Two alternative models of the source of hypocrisy were compared to determine whether hypocrisy results from automatic or volitional biases. Findings demonstrated not only that participants viewed their own transgressions as significantly more “fair” than the same transgressions enacted by others, but also that this bias was eliminated under conditions of cognitive constraint. These findings support the view that hypocrisy stems from volitionally-guided justifications, and thereby suggest that at a more basic level, humans possess a negative response to violations of fairness norms whether enacted by themselves or others.     

Relationships Among Self,Others, and Persecutors in Individuals With Persecutory Delusions: A Repertory Grid Analysis

The purpose of the current study was to examine the way individuals with persecutory delusions construe the self, others, and their main persecutor with reference to the constructs of malevolence and omnipotence, and examine the extent to which these interpersonal beliefs link to distress, self-esteem, and delusion conviction. Repertory grid methodology was used to explore interpersonal beliefs about malevolence and omnipotence in a sample (N = 30) of individuals with current persecutory delusions (mean age 36.4 years; 62% male and 53% White). Participants also completed measures of emotional distress (depression and anxiety) and self-esteem. The findings suggested that persecutors were construed as more omnipotent and malevolent than both the self and others; others in turn were construed as more omnipotent and malevolent than the self. Beliefs about self as powerful were associated with lower anxiety, depression, and higher self-esteem, and beliefs about persecutors’ omnipotence predicted delusion conviction. As with voices, the concepts of power/omnipotence and malevolence/benevolence appear to be important constructs when seeking to understand the relationship between individuals and their perceived persecutors. These findings support working therapeutically with negative schematic beliefs about self, others, and persecutors, which is consistent with a person-based cognitive therapy model of distressing psychosis.     

First‐Person Shooters and the Third‐Person Effect

A sample of 118 U.S. 6th and 7th graders was used to examine early adolescents’ views of whether video games negatively influence themselves, others of the same age, and younger others. Six specific games ranging in rating from E for Everyone to M for Mature were listed for the early adolescents to respond to, with questions asked about both potential influence and whether young people should be allowed to play the games. Results support a third‐person perception that grew as the rating of the game became more restrictive and as the “other” group in question became younger. The presence of rules set by parents about video game use was a positive predictor of perceptions of influence on self and others.     

Responses to Embarrassment

This study focused upon responses to the emotion of embarrassment. Specifically, the situations causing embarrassment, the degree of perceived embarrassment and the agent of the embarrassment were examined as predictive of the embarrassed party's responses. These same three factors, as well as the response of the embarrassed person, were examined in association with the responses of others. In addition, the issue of multiple responses to embarrassment by the embarrassed party was examined. Self-report data werecollected from 387 persons ranging in age from 17 to 90 years. Log-linear analyses revealed strong associations between both the type of situation and the degree of embarrassment and the type of situation and the agent of the act. The type of situation did indeed predict responses by persons involved in the event. The degree of embarrassment was predictive of neither the types of responses utilized by the embarrassed party nor the others present. Theagent of the incident was strongly associated with responses of the embarrassed party, but was not associated with others’ responses. Responses of an embarrassed party were associated with the responses of others present. Finally, it was found that combinations of responses by the embarrassed party were discovered but were not associated with the situation nor with the degree of embarrassment.     

A Social Relations Model of need supportiveness

Basic need fulfillment has important implications for optimal growth and development and may be derived through receiving need support from others. Thus far, research has primarily focused on single-person ratings of (perceptions of) need supportiveness. Thus, it is unclear whether perceptions of need supportiveness are dyadically specific and reciprocal and to what extent need supportiveness may be trait-based. In the current study, sorority and fraternity members (N = 117, ethnically diverse, 78% male) completed self-ratings and other-ratings of perceptions of need supportiveness using a round-robin design. Data was analyzed according to the Social Relations Model. We found that people tended to consistently see others as, and be seen by others as, need supportive (or not). These perceptions were related to self-reported need supportiveness, suggesting that people may have perceptual biases, and there was self-other agreement in terms of need supportiveness. These findings suggest that need supportiveness may represent an individual difference and not just a dyadic construct. Moreover, those that rated themselves as need supportive were also seen by others as need supportive, providing some support for the validity of self-report measures of need supportiveness.