Running from the shadow: psychological distancing from others to deny characteristics people fear in themselves

Four experiments tested the hypothesis that people distance themselves from others who display characteristics they fear in themselves. In Study 1, participants were given false feedback that they were high or low in repressed anger and were given information about a person who became angry and responded in a violent or nonviolent manner. High anger feedback participants distanced themselves only from the violent person. In Study 2, high anger feedback led to distancing from a violent other but not a dishonest other, whereas dishonesty feedback led to distancing from a dishonest other but not a violent other. The results of Studies 3 and 4 replicated and extended the distancing effect with an anger induction: Participants who were insulted distanced themselves from an angry/violent person, and verbalizing their emotions about being insulted eliminated this effect. Implications for understanding defenses against undesirable self-attributions are discussed.     

Removing the shadow of suspicion: the effects of apology versus denial for repairing competence- versus integrity-based trust violations

Two studies were conducted to examine the implications of an apology versus a denial for repairing trust after an alleged violation. Results reveal that trust was repaired more successfully when mistrusted parties (a) apologized for violations concerning matters of competence but denied culpability for violations concerning matters of integrity, and (b) had apologized for violations when there was subsequent evidence of guilt but had denied culpability for violations when there was subsequent evidence of innocence. Supplementary analyses also revealed that the interactive effects of violation type and violation response on participants' trusting intentions were mediated by their trusting beliefs. Combined, these findings provide needed insight and supporting evidence concerning how trust might be repaired in the aftermath of a violation.     

Including others in the self

We propose that to some extent, people treat the resources, perspectives, and identities of close others as their own. This proposal is supported by allocation, attribution, response time, and memory experiments. Recently, we have applied this idea to deepening understanding of feeling “too close” (including too much of the other in the self leading to feeling controlled or a loss of identity), the effects of relationship loss (it is distressing to the extent that the former partner was included in the self, liberating to the extent that the former partner was preventing self-expansion), ingroup identification (including ingroup in the self), and the effect of outgroup friendships on outgroup attitudes (including outgroup member in the self entails including outgroup member's identity in the self).     

The third in the shadow of the fourth

The notion of the third in recent years is seen by noted psychoanalysts as the locus of healing. Jung explored the third beginning in 1916 in a way strikingly postmodern in its implications for clinical work and for understanding reality. This article(1) proposes that we cannot see the third except in the shadow of the fourth, and attempts to describe what the fourth is. The fourth remains shadowy (suggesting two meanings of shadow); it is only known by living it, for we are part of the larger reality it discloses. In experiencing this fourth, we are led to develop whatever we each leave out. Hence the aliveness of the fourth engenders a new kind of consciousness of the bigger surround, the moreness of reality as a whole that includes and transcends the psyche.     

Judging Faces in Context

Previous judgment studies of facial expressions of emotion in context have provided mixed results. These contradictory findings arise, in part, because of a lack of consideration of the different aspects of context with which facial expressions of emotion can be combined, and different meanings of face-context pairings vis-à-vis real-life phenomena. In this paper, we provide a framework of how faces and contexts combine and describe possible meanings of consistent and inconsistent face-context pairings. We also discuss methodological caveats that should be considered in the conduct of such judgment studies. We argue that future research in this area will benefit not from more studies of different combinations of stimuli created merely because we have the technological ability to create them, but instead from careful consideration of the ecological validity of the various types of combinations that can be produced, and their meaning.     

Judging the strength of designated evidence

Judgments of evidence strength were obtained in a series of vignettes, each containing one or two items of evidence for each of two logically independent hypotheses. Each judgment concerned a designated subset of the presented evidence. Different groups of subjects encountered different but overlapping sets of evidence. We compared groups that judged the same designated evidence for the same hypothesis, but differed in exposure to surrounding (nondesignated) evidence. Results showed clear separation of relevant from irrelevant evidence and of designated from surrounding relevant evidence. This was particularly clear in the second experiment, where judgments of designated evidence remained invariant whether the surrounding evidence supported or contradicted the specified hypothesis. The conjunction fallacy was observed for judgments of evidence strength, but was substantially reduced by a simple instruction. Because subjects can separate evidence, it becomes possible to construct cardinally scaled standards of evidence strength using conjoint-measurement methods.     

An Experiment in Judging Personalities

Use of the semantic differential technique has largely been restricted to “paper and pencil” settings and student populations. In this study, adult respondents in an interview setting were asked to evaluate two concepts—use of lake (a) as a source of electric power and (b) as a recreational area—by means of eight seven-point scales. Results indicated considerable conceptscale interaction, suggesting that Osgood's interpretation of the semantic differential may be restricted by both technique of data collection and subpopulation. Respondent hostility might be an intervening variable. The semantic differential technique appeared to yield a preliminary evaluation of the two concepts, suggesting its use as an indicator of orientation.     

Judging the Quality of Peer-Led Student Dialogues

This research investigates the rational quality of students' discussion of literary texts. An ideal model of dialogue contexts is presented and compared with 12 fourth-grader peer discussions of literature at 2 different periods during the course of 1 academic year. Six groups consisting of 3 students each were videotaped while they discussed a novel previously read aloud and discussed with their teacher in class. The collaborative reasoning capabilities of these students were analyzed using a graphical coding system coupled with an analysis of the literary content of the students' argumentation. The 2 analyses were matched with the dialogue contexts and used to identify some important features that foster productive dialogue in children's discussions of literature.     

Judging the pleasantness of contour-rhythm-pitch-timbre musical combinations

The way people with various degrees of musical training integrate timbre, melodic contour, rhythm, and pitch information in an overall pleasantness judgment for musical excerpts was investigated. The theoretical and methodological framework of the study was the functional theory of cognition. In 2 experiments, participants were asked to attribute an overall pleasantness value to combinations of these factors. In Experiment 1, timbre, contour, rhythm, and overall pitch were manipulated. In Experiment 2, timbre and theme (a pattern of pitch and rhythm) were manipulated. Both experiments showed that in judging the pleasantness of musical combinations, participants apply a simple, additive rule in which the weight attributed to one element does not depend of the value of the other elements. Very few differences in regard to the combination rule were observed between participants with and without musical training. These results are discussed in reference to the controversy over pitch and rhythm interaction.     

Judging the pleasantness of form-color combinations.

The way people with various degrees of aesthetic expertise integrate form and color information in a pleasantness judgment was investigated in 2 experiments. Participants were asked to assign an overall pleasantness value to combinations of forms and colors. In Experiment 1, the factors manipulated were form and color inside the form. In Experiment 2, they were form and color of the ground. In judging the pleasantness of form-color combinations, participants applied a complex rule in which the weight attributed to one element depends on the value of the other element. When the value of an element is medium (when it is neither liked nor disliked), its weight is lower than when its value is low (when it is disliked). As a result, the weight of the other element is proportionally altered. The data support a nonequal averaging combination rule. Very few differences between experts and nonexperts were observed. This result supports the view that the pleasantness judgments were based largely on automatic reactions.     

Index of suspicion: feeling not believing

Throughout the U.S., state laws require professionals who work with children to report cases of suspected child abuse to child protection services. Both practically and conceptually, however, significant problems arise from a lack of clarity regarding the threshold that has been set for reporting. Specifically, there is no consensus as to what constitutes reasonable suspicion, and little direction for how mandated reporters should gauge their legal and professional responsibilities when they harbor suspicion. In this paper we outline the context of the problem, discuss the nature and scope of its conceptual underpinnings, and offer recommendations for moving towards a concrete, practical solution.     

Durability of peace education effects in the shadow of conflict

Value-oriented instructional programs, such as anti-racism, may often face societal barriers. A case in point are peace education programs in conflictual contexts. Close analysis of peace education programs in regions of conflict and tension suggest that they face formidable barriers that would appear to prevent the attainment of their goals of mutual legitimization, changed attitudes and empathy. However, positive research findings suggest otherwise. A possible solution of this contradiction is the distinction between strongly held and not easily changeable attitudes and beliefs, called “convictions” (Abelson, American Psychologist 43: 267–275 1988) and more regular attitudes. Possibly, the barriers facing peace education may pertain to convictions while the positive impact of peace education may pertain to less strongly held attitudes and beliefs. The present study examined the possible differential changes in more or less central beliefs when Israeli Jewish and Israeli Palestinian youth participated in a year long, school-based peace education program. This study also examined the durability of the program’s effects on the 956 adolescent study participants divided into program and no-program controls. Findings showed that such a peace education program can effectively influence adolescents’ more peripheral beliefs but not the core beliefs that stand in the center of the groups’ collective narratives. However, peripheral beliefs that are more easily affected can as easily change back, apparently by the context of adverse social and political forces.     

Gender differences in memory for the appearance of others

Five studies investigated gender differences in the accurate recall of the appearance of others. The greater interpersonal orientation and interpersonal sensitivity of women were predicted to give women an advantage over men in appearance accuracy. Under both directed- and incidental-learning conditions, women more accurately recalled information concerning the appearance of their social targets than did men, participants' memory for the appearance of female targets was more accurate than it was for male targets, and neither gender was found to be a relative advantage in recalling the appearance of same-gender targets. The motivational and knowledge-based factors that might underlie a gender difference in appearance accuracy are discussed.     

The word of others

Tyler Burge has argued that one has an a priori prima facie entitlement to believe in the truth of what one takes to have been presented as true by an interlocutor. This thesis, however, is problematic, since the alleged a priori prima facie entitlement to believe in the truth of our seeming understanding of things presented as true to us, rests on the possibility of determining assertoric force on a purely intellectual basis. This thesis is not plausible and Burge's analogy from memory does not support it. Two routes for defending Burge's thesis of the a priori prima facie entitlement to believe in the truth of what has been asserted can be identified: the Transcendental Route and the Intrinsic Rationality Route. David Lewis' account of linguistic convention would serve as a transcendental argument for the a priori prima facie entitlement to believe in the truth of what has been asserted, but flaws in Lewis' theory leave us deprived of any good transcendental argument for such an entitlement. The Intrinsic Rationality Route is in better standing, but we have yet to see an argument for why we should resort to that measure.