Face Management,Question Wording,and Social Desirability1

Five experiments were conducted to examine the impact of question wording manipulations derived from face management theory (Brown & Levinson, 1987) on responses to survey questions. In general, it was expected that questions phrased so as to allow the respondent to maintain face while answering in a socially undesirable manner would result in lower rates of socially desirable responding than would control questions. The results strongly supported this hypothesis for questions regarding socially desirable knowledge (e.g., Are you familiar with NAFTA?), but not for questions about socially desirable behavior (e.g., Did you vote?). The results were partially supportive for questions about socially undesirable behaviors (e.g., Have you ever shoplifted?).     

Struggling to be liked: The prospective effect of trait self‐control on social desirability and the moderating role of agreeableness

Drawing from the literature on the interpersonal functions of self‐control, we examined longitudinal associations between trait self‐control and social desirability, using a survey of the general population in the Netherlands. Trait self‐control at baseline was positively associated with social desirability at a follow‐up, even when controlling for prior levels of social desirability. That is, high self‐control contributed to individuals' tendency to give socially desirable responses in self‐reports. This effect was moderated by individual differences in agreeableness. Highly agreeable individuals were more likely to “use” their self‐regulatory resources to respond in a socially desirable manner, compared to less agreeable individuals, suggesting that individuals might use self‐regulatory resources in a way consistent with the motivational bases of their personality.     

自我服务偏向研究现状与展望

人们常将满意的结果归因于自己的能力或努力, 将不满意的结果归因为他人或环境, 这种接受成功的荣誉而否认失败责任的倾向称为自我服务偏向。目前, 对该偏向的理论解释并未达成统一的结论, 争论主要集中在其产生是由认知驱动或动机驱动, 抑或两者兼有。大量研究表明, 自我服务偏向普遍存在于日常生活中, 并受年龄、性别、文化、精神机能障碍等因素的影响, 但对其脑机制的研究相对较少。未来研究中, 应拓宽对非抑郁症精神机能障碍患者的自我服务偏向研究以及不同群体自我服务偏向特点的研究; 自我服务偏向的脑机制研究、跨文化研究以及国外已有研究成果在我国的适用性也将成为未来研究的关注点。     

Adolescent Narcissism,Aggression, and Prosocial Behavior: The Relevance of Socially Desirable Responding

An important threat to validity in personality research pertains to an individual's motivation to respond in a socially desirable manner on self-report inventories. This issue was examined in this study in the context of narcissism, aggression, and prosocial behavior in a sample of at-risk adolescents. Participants were 161 adolescents (128 males, 29 females, 4 not reported) ranging in age from 16 to 19 years who were attending a residential program for youth who have dropped out of school. Overall, socially desirable response tendencies were negatively correlated with vulnerable narcissism and self-reported aggression. Moreover, low socially desirable responses strengthened the relation between narcissism and self-reported aggression. Socially desirable responding was not associated with self- or peer-reported prosocial behavior and did not moderate the relation between narcissism and prosocial behavior. These findings indicate that the relation between narcissism and aggression is attenuated by concerns with social desirability. However, further work is needed in broader samples of adolescents to more closely examine whether social desirability concerns actually mitigate aggression among some youth or signify underreporting of one's problem behaviors.     

Callous-Unemotional Traits and Antisocial Behavior among Adolescents: the Role of Self-Serving Cognitions

Self-serving cognitions and callous-unemotional traits play important roles in adolescent antisocial behavior. The objective of this study was to cross-sectionally explore the mediating role of self-serving cognitions in the relationship between callous-unemotional traits and antisocial behavior. A sample of 972 high-school students completed self-report questionnaires assessing callous-unemotional traits, self-serving cognitive distortions and antisocial behavior. Two competing models exploring indirect effects accounting for the relationships between self-serving cognitive distortions, callous-unemotional traits and antisocial behaviors were tested. Both models revealed significant indirect effects, suggesting both pathways are possible. Gender was found to moderate these models. These findings suggest the importance of targeting self-serving cognitions in therapeutic interventions and increase our understanding of the role of self-serving cognitions in antisocial behavior.     

The importance of normative beliefs to the self-prophecy effect

Asking people to predict whether they will undertake a target behavior increases their probability of performing that behavior. Now referred to as the self-prophecy effect, this phenomenon has been demonstrated across several contexts. Although theoretical explanations for the effect have been offered, empirical evidence for proposed accounts is sparse. The current research tests the theoretically relevant precondition for the effect that normative beliefs--evaluations of what is socially desirable or appropriate--underlie manifestation of the self-prophecy effect. Results of 2 experiments for different behaviors indicate that the act of making a prediction is most effective when normative beliefs are strong. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to theoretical explanations for the effect and successful use of self-prophecy to promote socially desirable behaviors.     

Do Women Prefer Dominant Men? The Case of the Missing Control Condition

Past research finds evidence that college women prefer a romantic partner who is dominant more than one who is not dominant. However, this research failed to include a control condition in which neither dominant nor nondominant behaviors are described. Study 1 and Study 2 included such a control condition and found that describing men as either dominant or nondominant decreased the desirability of hypothetical dating and romantic partners for undergraduate women. When asked to describe their ideal partner in Study 3, very few women identified dominant as a desirable trait. However, several traits associated with dominance, such as assertiveness and confidence, were selected. The findings suggest that a simple dominant–nondominant dimension may not be very useful when predicting women's mate preferences.     

Responses to messages about health behaviors: The influence of repressive coping

This study examined the impact of messages that promoted health behaviors on repressors (persons who report low levels of anxiety and a high need to appear socially desirable), high anxiety participants (persons who report high levels of anxiety and a low need to appear socially desirable), and low anxiety participants (persons who report low anxiety and a low need to appear socially desirable). It was hypothesized that repressors would be more influenced by messages encouraging health promotion behaviors than messages encouraging disease detection behaviors. Also it was hypothesized that low anxiety participants and high anxiety participants would be equally influenced by messages about both types of behavior. To test these hypotheses 40 repressors, 40 high anxiety, and 40 low anxiety participants were randomly assigned to read a message that encouraged the performance of either a disease detection or health promotion behavior. Then participants were asked to indicate their intention to perform the behavior and then were asked to recall the message. The results indicated that repressors spent less time reading the messages and recalled less of the messages about detection behaviors than messages about promotion behaviors.     

Understanding the socially prescribed perfectionist’s cycle of self-defeat: A 7-day, 14-occasion daily diary study

People high in socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP; i.e., those who perceive others demand perfection of them) behave in ways that are incongruent with their efforts to be perfect. The present research suggests SPP is associated with a cycle of perfectionistic discrepancies, perfectionistic self-presentation, depressive affect, and self-defeating behaviors (i.e., binge eating, procrastination, interpersonal conflict). When testing the model, 317 undergraduates completed structured daily diaries. Results of multilevel structural equation modeling largely supported hypotheses. People high in SPP experience patterns of self-evaluation, self-presentation, and affect that are associated with their self-defeating behaviors. These behaviors undermine their efforts to be or look perfect for others and set the stage for yet another go around in their cycle of self-defeat.     

文化与社会赞许反应:社会个人互动的观点

在处理社会赞许反应的文化差异时,常用的两种方法为实验控制和统计控制。我们在本文中提出另一个观点。通过回顾近期的相关文献,我们指出:社会赞许反应的文化差异,反映在不同社会环境中,人们在相应的文化要求下,以不同的自我呈现方式来加强他们追求个人目标的动力。这种社会、文化与个人的对话历程乃研究文化—心理关系的核心课题。用实验或统计方法将因这个历程产生的变量从跨文化数据中剔除后,所得的结果便只有微薄的文化意义了。因此,我们反对将社会赞许反应的文化差异视为跨文化研究的噪音。相反地,我们认为跨文化研究者应认真地分析社会赞许反应的社会文化意义,以社会赞许反应作为一个窗口,管窥社会、文化与行为相生相成的关系。     

Image Induction and Social Influence: Explication and Initial Tests

Image induction posits that social influencers can manipulate a target's self-image to gain increased compliance. By preceding a request with a question that creates a salient self-image in a target, targets are more likely to behave consistently with that image by complying with the request. Three studies provide empirical tests of image induction. Results indicate that the addition of an image-inducing pretreatment question is associated with increased rates of compliance when compared to a control group. These findings held across two types of image induction manipulations (helpfulness, willingness to try new things), two types of behaviors (agreeing to complete a survey, agreeing to receive a free soft drink sample), and both face-to-face and written requests.     

The Sensitivity to Mean Intentions (SeMI) Model: Basic Assumptions,Recent Findings,and Potential Avenues for Future Research

A large body of research has demonstrated that people who are habitually sensitive towards victimization tend to behave uncooperatively and immorally in socially uncertain situations. The “Sensitivity to Mean Intentions” (SeMI) model (Gollwitzer & Rothmund 2009) aims at describing social‐cognitive mechanisms that underlie and explain this effect. The model posits that in socially uncertain situations, victim‐sensitive individuals are asymmetrically sensitive to cues of untrustworthiness. When such cues are present, suspicious cognitive and motivational reactions are triggered in victim‐sensitive individuals, and they behave preemptively selfish to avoid being exploited by others. Although functional at times, victim sensitivity does have dysfunctional side effects. The present article reviews recent findings regarding the SeMI model and sketches potential avenues for future research.     

Stability and variability of affective experience and interpersonal behavior in borderline personality disorder

This study examined both mean levels and intraindividual variability in the mood and interpersonal behavior of individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and nonclinical control participants over a 20-day event-contingent recording period. Individuals in the BPD group experienced more unpleasantly valenced affect and were less dominant, more submissive, more quarrelsome, and more extreme in overall levels of behavior than control participants. In addition to these mean-level differences, individuals with BPD also reported more intraindividual variability in overall affect valence and in pleasantly valenced affect; displayed greater variability in dominant, quarrelsome, and agreeable behaviors; and exhibited an increased tendency to "spin" among interpersonal behaviors relative to nonclinical control participants. The findings document behavioral and affective manifestations of BPD in the context of naturally occurring interpersonal situations.     

Parental Representations and Support-Seeking Behaviors Related to Dependency and Self-Criticism

Cognitive and interpersonal models of depression were integrated by examining the links between parental representations and the interpersonal behaviors of individuals at risk for depression. Study 1 assessed the quantity and type of social support associated with Dependency and Self-Criticism. Study 2 examined the parental representations related to these personality styles, in an effort to document cognitive variables that might contribute to interpersonal behaviors. Self-critics were found to be more dysphoric over a 21-day, self-monitoring period, made fewer requests for social support, and showed lower perceptions of support. Peers did not report providing less support to self-critics, but found them less expressive and did not know them as well. Study 2 found pervasive, negative parental representations associated with Self-Criticism providing a cognitive underpinning to social distancing. Dependent participants reported higher levels of support, which was corroborated by the peer reports. Study 2 found Dependency to be related to favorable representation of parents for friendly and submissive, but not hostile, situations. The impact of cognitive representations for interpersonal functioning is highlighted, and reciprocal processes between the two are discussed.     

When questions change behavior: the role of ease of representation

In three experiments, we examined the mere-measurement effect, wherein simply asking people about their intent to engage in a certain behavior increases the probability of their subsequently engaging in that behavior. The experiments demonstrate that manipulations that should affect the ease of mentally representing or simulating the behavior in question influence the extent of the mere-measurement phenomenon. Participants who were asked about their intention to engage in various behaviors were more likely to engage in those behaviors than participants not asked about their intentions in situations in which mentally simulating the behavior in the intention question was relatively easy. We tested this ease-of-representation hypothesis using both socially desirable and socially undesirable behaviors, and our dependent variables comprised both self-reports and actual behaviors. Our findings have implications for survey research in various social contexts, including assessments of risky behaviors by public health organizations.     

Extending the metatheoretical framework of social/political influence to leadership: Political skill effects on situational appraisals,responses, and evaluations by others

Building off and extending the metatheoretical framework of political skill, we examined the cognitive and behavioral mechanisms through which the intrapsychic effects of political skill inform its interpersonal effects, and how these interpersonal effects ultimately are transmitted into desirable outcomes. Specifically, we argue that politically skilled leaders demonstrate better situational appraisals (i.e., understanding), and thus, more appropriate situational responses (e.g., consideration and initiating structure behaviors); the demonstration of appropriate situational responses is argued to positively affect subordinates’ evaluations of their leaders (i.e., instrumentality) and subordinates’ concomitant attitudes (e.g., job satisfaction) and behaviors (e.g., performance). Results provided mixed support for the hypothesized relationships. Specifically, leader understanding mediated the relationship between political skill and consideration but not the relationship between political skill and structuring behaviors. Moreover, consideration was positively related to subordinates’ group-level instrumentality perceptions, whereas initiating structure was not. Finally, subordinates’ individual (within-level) perceptions of leader instrumentality were positively related to job satisfaction and performance. The implications of these findings as they relate to theory and practice are discussed along with this investigation's strengths, limitations, and directions for future research.     

Serial and single-victim rapists: differences in crime-scene violence, interpersonal involvement, and criminal sophistication

Three categories of crime-scene behaviors (violence, interpersonal involvement, and criminal sophistication) among a group of 22 serial and 22 single-victim rapists were studied. Findings indicate that serial rapists were more likely to display a higher level of criminally sophisticated behaviors to avoid detection, whereas single-victim rapists were more likely to behave violently and engage in some form of interpersonal involvement with their victims. Implications of these findings for investigation and for understanding offenders' behavior are discussed.     

False Consensus and False Uniqueness in Estimating the Prevalence of Health-Protective Behaviors

The degree to which people perceive that their health-relevant behaviors are also performed by their peers may influence whether they continue these practices or are susceptible to change. The present paper examined estimates of social consensus for health-relevant behaviors. It was hypothesized that respondents would perceive their own behaviors to be relatively more common than do people not performing them, the so-called False Consensus Effect. However, in terms of the accuracy of consensus estimates, people who behave in undesirable ways will tend to overestimate the actual number of others who behave similarly. In contrast, people who behave in desirable ways will underestimate the actual number of people who behave like themselves (false uniqueness). A group of college-aged males were asked to report about their performance of a series of health-relevant behaviors and to estimate the frequency of each behavior among their peers. The findings strongly supported the first two hypotheses and provided some support for the third. One practical implication of the results is that persons with unhealthy practices may resist public health campaigns and other interventions by overestimating consensus for their own behaviors. Also, individuals who think their undesirable health behaviors are relatively common may believe that they involve few health risks for them. The research suggests the need for further research on social cognitions about health, illness, and health-protective behaviors.     

道德虚伪：一种机会主义的适应策略

道德虚伪在个体层面是指人们言行不一, 在人际层面是指人们持有双重标准。心理学家通常从道德动机、认知失调以及精神分析的角度考察道德虚伪。诱发道德虚伪通常会促使个体做出跟他们公开承诺相一致的行为。作为一种机会主义的适应策略, 道德虚伪可能起源于群体适应情境下的自我谋利需要, 带有欺骗他人和自欺的特点。除了情绪、权力等因素之外, 未来研究需要考察自恋、羞耻、社会操纵能力、情商、文化因素对道德虚伪的影响。