The Influence of Social Consensus Information on Intergroup Attitudes: The Moderating Effects of Ingroup Identification

ABSTRACT

Two studies examined the role of ingroup identification in the influence of social consensus information (information about others' beliefs) on intergroup attitudes. Research demonstrates that consensus information influences individuals' intergroup attitudes. However, the extent to which individuals identify with the group providing consensus information seems important to understanding consensus effects. In Study 1, 100 high or low ingroup identifiers received information that other ingroup members held favorable or unfavorable attitudes toward African Americans and then provided their own attitudes. In Study 2, 250 participants completed an ingroup identification manipulation (high, low, or control) before receiving favorable or no consensus information. Results of both studies demonstrated that ingroup identification moderated consensus effects, such that high identifiers were more susceptible to others' beliefs than individuals in the low identification and control conditions. In determining critical factors involved in consensus effects, we hope to create a useful method to promote favorable intergroup attitudes and behaviors.     

群际情境下向上社会比较信息对自我评价的影响

以大学生为被试作了两个实验,研究群际情境下向上社会比较信息对自我评价的影响。实验1的结果表明,对于多数派群体的成员来说,来自内群体的向上社会比较信息会提高其自我评价,即产生同化效应,而来自外群体的向上社会比较信息会降低其自我评价,即产生对比效应;对于少数派群体的成员来说,无论向上社会比较信息来自内群体还是外群体,都对其自我评价几乎不产生影响。实验2表明,多数派群体成员在自我评价上的内群体同化效应依赖于群际对比。     

Social Value Orientation and Helping Behavior1

The present study investigated the relationship between people's social value orientations and helping behavior. Subjects dassified a priori as either cooperators, individualists, or competitors were mailed a request to volunteer from zero to ten hours of their time to a worthy cause. Subjects were asked to indicate on their response forms the number of hours, if any, that they wished to contribute and to retum these forms using an enclosed self-addressed envelope regardless of whether they intended to donate any hours. The results revealed that subjects of all three social value orientations were equally likely to comply to the small request to return their response forms. However, the number of hours that subjects contributed differed as a function of their social values. As predicted, cooperators contributed significantly more of their time to the cause than did individualists and competitors. We relate these findings to previous research on social values and helping behavior.     

Helping: The Influence of Anticipated Social Sanctions and Self-Monitoring

ABSTRACT A field experiment was conducted to examine the influence of social sanctions and self-monitoring on willingness to help handicapped persons Compared to low self-monitoring individuals, those high in self-monitoring tendencies were more likely to offer help if told that significant social rewards were attached to the act of helping, but were less likely to help if led to believe that these consequences were weak Implications for research on helping and self-monitoring are considered with particular attention being given to the relationship between social sanctions and self-monitoring     

焦虑对社会决策行为的影响

焦虑是在人类日常生活中常见的一种负性情绪。探讨焦虑情绪在个人生活和工作中扮演的角色, 是生理学界和心理学界的一项重要课题。过往研究显示焦虑水平的提高会对社会能力和社交技巧造成显著的影响。在社会决策领域中, 这种影响的具体表现是高焦虑者比低焦虑者更倾向于采取回避风险的策略。但是, 过往研究主要关心包含经济因素的社会决策, 而对其他类型的社会行为的探索存在不足。以下问题值得未来研究者们关注：在个体层面上, 高焦虑者是否会更容易受到外界信息的影响, 表现出更强的从众行为和权威依从倾向, 与他人进行社会比较或社会竞争的动机是否会被削弱？在群体层面上, 高焦虑者是否更容易表现出人际信任, 以及是否会表现出更强的服从集体倾向？考察这些问题将会为针对焦虑情绪的认知研究和临床研究起到促进作用。     

The Effect of Mood on Helping Behavior

Abstract

In the present experiment, “lost” letters were placed on the cars of team supporters at a major football grand final. Significantly more letters were returned by supporters of the losing team than by supporters of the winning team. These results were interpreted as presenting a problem for the theory that negative mood only increases helping behavior when internal attribution of responsibility occurs (Rogers, Miller, Mayer, & Duval, 1982).     

想象性群际接触对合作行为的影响：内隐性别偏见的中介作用

为考察想象性群际接触对内隐性别偏见与合作行为的影响,采用单类内隐联想测验（SC-IAT）和三种合作范式进行了两个实验。结果发现：与对照组相比,（1）积极想象性接触能显著降低不同性别个体对异性的内隐性别偏见。（2）积极想象性接触仅能显著增加个体在囚徒困境中的合作行为,内隐性别偏见起部分中介作用。结果表明,积极想象性接触既能减少个体对异性群体的内隐性别偏见,并可进一步促进两人情境中与异性间的合作行为。     

群际信任的增进:社会认同与群际接触的方法

群际信任是衡量群际关系的一个重要尺度.群际信任指人们在群际互动中对其他群体成员的行为或意向做积极预期而且愿意承受相应的风险,这种信任主要是由群体成员所属的社会身份所决定的,表现为内群体成员对外群体成员的信任.影响群际信任的因素包括社会群体身份及其表征和群体之间的接触经验,增进群际信任的方法主要包括社会认同与群际接触两大类方法.未来的研究需结合已有进展和社会现实问题对中国的群际信任问题及增进方法进行深入和系统的探讨.     

The Influence of Social (Mis)Information on Memory for Behavior in an Employment Interview

We examined the impact of misinformation on memory for behavioral information in a social decision making context. In the initial study, 70 subjects viewed an 18-minute simulated employment interview, evaluated the interviewee, and then provided group ratings using their own evaluations and two other evaluations containing misinformation (misled group) or no misinformation (control group). The results of this study revealed that misled subjects were quite accepting of the misinformation, and were highly confident that the misinformation was true. In a supplemental experimental condition, a separate group of 23 subjects was given the same misinformation as the misled group. However, this group was alerted to the fact that they had received some misinformation, prior to completing a recognition memory test. This misled-informed group exhibited the same degree of accuracy as the control group, suggesting that the misinformation effects observed for the original misled group were due to social influence, rather than memory interference or source-attribution errors.     

The Effects of Noise on Helping Behavior Reconsidered

Previous research has shown that noise interferes with social cues from a person in need of help and reduces helping behavior. The research reported here investigates the role of other variables, such as nonverbal cues and sex of the participants involved, that may naturally accompany noise in influencing prosocial behavior. Two experiments were designed to test the hypothesis that noise alone may not reduce helping behavior, among other hypotheses. The results of the laboratory study were inconclusive because of the possible interference of demand characteristics. The results of a field study on the streets of a major city supported the major hypothesis and revealed that sex of the participants involved was the major predictor of helping behavior. The results were discussed in terms of adaptation to arousing stimuli and environmental load theories.     

自主定向与依赖定向的群际帮助在动机与后果上的差异

群际帮助指施助者作为某个群体成员对另一群体成员的帮助, 分为自主定向和依赖定向的帮助两类。自主定向的群际帮助被施助者求同需要所驱动, 提供给受助者自己解决问题的方式方法, 会缩小受助者与施助者之间的差异; 而依赖定向的群际帮助被施助者差别化需要所驱动, 直接提供给受助者满足需求的物质, 会维持甚至扩大受助者与施助者之间的差异并使前者长期依赖后者。     

Perspective Taking and Intergroup Helping Intentions: The Moderating Role of Power Relations1

People are more willing to help those who belong to their own groups than to an out‐group. Research on perspective taking has shown that many forms of in‐group favoritism disappear when people are led to take the perspective of the other group. The current research explores the possibility of increasing the level of intergroup helping by a perspective‐taking manipulation. An experiment in a Polish‐Czech borderland community high school demonstrated that Polish students who were made to imagine that they became members of an out‐group (perspective‐taking manipulation) were more willing to help out‐group members. The moderating role of perceived power is discussed in the context of perspective‐taking theory.     

The Helping Behavior Helps Lighten Physical Burden

It is often believed that helping behaviors benefit the recipients at the expense of the performers. However, we propose that costly helping behaviors could alleviate feelings of physical burden experienced by the performers. In support of the proposal, we found in five studies that both imaginary and real helping behaviors led the performers to perceive physically challenging tasks as less demanding (Studies 1, 2, 3, 5), such as perceiving a steep mountain road as less steep (Study 2), a heavy carton as lighter (Study 4), and a long path as shorter (Study 5). These results challenge the conventional wisdom that helping behaviors always come at the cost of the helper and corroborate a growing body of literature showing that helping others could benefit the performer.     

The Effects of Benefactor and Beneficiary Characteristics on Helping Behavior

Abstract

This study assessed the effects of perceived need and nearness of the beneficiary and the chronological maturity of the benefactor on helping behavior. The relationship between verbal and objective measures of helping behavior, and the relationship between available resources and helping behavior were also explored. Indian undergraduates (N = 80 men) composed the sample. The results showed that greater perceived need and nearness of the beneficiary, as well as lesser chronological maturity of the benefactor, led to extending greater help. Verbal and objective measures of help did not generally correspond; however, the relationship between verbal and objective measures was modified by the perceived need and nearness of the beneficiary. Resource availability did not have any direct bearing on helping behavior.     

The Dynamics of Intragroup Differentiation in an Intergroup Social Context

Status hierarchies typically emerge when groups of strangers interact. Relatively little work tests explanations for this process in homogenous groups, and the majority has been conducted in intragroup settings. We test an expectation‐states explanation in an intergroup context using the multilevel application of the actor–partner interdependence model. Participants (N= 48) discussed capital punishment in gender‐homogenous 6‐person groups containing 3 pro– and 3 anti–capital punishment adherents. The more speakers directed turns and proactive behavior at the outgroup than the ingroup, the higher they emerged in status. Further, high‐ but not low‐status group members obtained more successful interruptions by being proactive, but more unsuccessful interruptions by being reactive. Socioemotional standing in the group was an inverted‐U function of participation. Those higher on socioemotional standing also directed relatively less reactive behavior at the outgroup than the ingroup. The findings suggest that intragroup differentiation is subtly yet powerfully affected by status expectations and the intergroup context. Instructions for running these models in SAS and SPSS are appended.     

攻击行为的社会信息加工模式研究述评

二十世纪五十、六十年代,实验心理学和认知科学对人类认知过程的研究取得巨大进展,以认知过程为基础解释人类行为的产生已成为心理学研究的重要方向。攻击行为这一人类最古老的侵犯行为也受到这一研究趋势的影响,其中尤以社会信息加工理论的研究最为突出,它提出了攻击行为的社会信息加工模式。本文试对该模式的研究状况作一简介,以期引起国内同行对此领域的关注。     

The Reciprocity-Arousing Potential of the Requester's Occupation and Helping Behavior

In a field experiment, 90 subjects were contacted by phone and asked by an experimenter to make a phone call for him notifying his employer that he would be late for work. The experimenter presented himself as a (1) physician vs. accountant (high social status occupations), (2) youthcounsellor vs. insurance salesman (medium social status occupations), or (3) fireman vs. gas-stationattendant (low social status occupations). It was found that subjects helped more frequently requesters in occupations of high potential for reciprocityarousing behavior (e.g., a physician) than of low potential (for reciprocityarousing behavior) (e.g., an accountant), regardless of the social status of the occupations.     

Altruism and the Experimental Data on Helping Behavior

Philosophical accounts of altruism that purport to explain helping behavior are vulnerable to empirical falsification. John Campbell argues that the Good Samaritan study adds to a growing body of evidence that helping behavior is not best explained by appeal to altruism, thus jeopardizing those accounts. I propose that philosophical accounts of altruism can be empirically challenged only if it is shown that altruistic motivations are undermined by normative conflict in the agent, and that the relevant studies do not provide this sort of evidence. Non-normative, purely causal, psychological factors would be empirically relevant only if the notion of altruism is broadened to include the requirement that one recognize certain situations as calling for altruism. But even in that case, the relevant studies are not designed in such a way that could threaten philosophical theories of altruism.     

The Cost-Reward Model of Helping Behavior: A Nonconfirmation1

A field experiment was designed to test several predictions derived from the Piliavin and Piliavin cost-reward model of helping behavior. Female and male subjects' reported intent to help a hemophiliac in a nearby hospital was unrelated to the costs for helping, the costs for not helping, and the order in which the subjects received the costs' manipulations. The obtained rates of helping were also unrelated to whether or not subjects reported having donated previously. Failure to obtain the predicted results is discussed.     

社会偏见与群际威胁在群际冲突发生过程中的作用

研究以“医患冲突”为载体,采用竞争反应时范式（CRT）和故事补全范式（SCP）,探讨社会偏见和群际威胁在群际冲突发生过程中的作用。结果表明：（1）“医生”被试中,社会偏见在CRT和SCP两个指标上均具显著主效应,而“患者”被试中,社会偏见仅在CRT范式“惩罚持续时间”指标上主效应显著;（2）群际威胁在CRT和SCP指标上的主效应均显著。研究发现,在群际冲突发生过程中,社会偏见的作用具有“方向效应”,而群际威胁变量发挥着显著而直接的影响。