自我-他人重叠及其相关概念辨析

在总结自我-他人重叠概念的提出历程、测量方法、结构, 以及常用改变方法的基础上, 通过辨析自我-他人重叠与关系自我、自我扩张之间的关系, 以及它和社会距离之间的异同, 明晰了自我-他人重叠的本质特点。自我-他人重叠是强调自己和他人具有相似表征的关系自我, 是个体在自我扩张动机的驱使下, 将他人的资源、观点和特质纳入自我的结果。未来可以借鉴关系自我神经机制的研究成果来探讨自我-他人重叠的神经机制, 还可以深入探讨过高的自我-他人重叠对亲密关系的消极作用。     

Self-expansion and flow in couples' momentary experiences: an experience sampling study

The self-expansion model of close relationships posits that when couples engage in exciting and activating conjoint activities, they feel connected with their partners and more satisfied with their relationships. In the present study, the experience sampling method was used to examine the predictions of the self-expansion model in couples' momentary experiences. In addition, the author generated several new hypotheses by integrating the self-expansion model with existing research on flow. Over the course of 1 week, 20 couples were signaled at quasi-random intervals to provide data on 1,265 unique experiences. The results suggest that the level of activation experienced during an activity was positively related to experience-level relationship quality. This relationship was consistent across free-time and nonfree-time contexts and was mediated by positive affect. Activation was not found to predict later affect unless the level of activation exceeded what was typical for the individual. Also examined was the influence of interpersonal context and activity type on self-expansion. The results support the self-expansion model and suggest that it could be considered under the broader umbrella of flow.     

亲密关系中的自我扩张

自我扩张理论认为, 人们通过将他人的资源、观点和认同纳入自我来实现自我扩张, 增强完成目标的效能感。该理论作为动机领域的新热点, 研究多以亲密关系为背景。现有研究主要采用实验法和问卷法, 以自我扩张动机和将他人纳入自我为基点展开, 内容涉及择偶、关系质量、不忠、关系破裂和维持等方面。未来研究需进一步考察不同亲密关系类型、关系与非关系中自我扩张的运作机制, 以及亲密关系双方自我扩张的相互作用。     

Recalling Positive Events at Work Makes Employees Feel Happier,Move More,but Interact Less: A 6-Week Randomized Controlled Intervention at a Japanese Workplace

Simple self-administered activities, such as practicing gratitude or kindness, have been shown to increase happiness, yet only self-report measures have been used so far. Our study, conducted with a Japanese workplace sample, incorporated a novel technology to gather precise behavioral data reflecting participant movement and social interactions. Employees were randomly assigned to either recount three positive events at work (a positive activity) or list work tasks they completed (control) weekly for 6 weeks; furthermore, they reported their happiness levels and wore sociometric badges that recorded their behavior. Relative to controls, participants who considered good things at work not only reported relatively greater happiness over time but moved more upon arriving to work, engaged in less social interaction, and left the office earlier. Most of the findings were moderated by participant effort, such that those who put more effort into the positive activity also showed greater changes.     

The loss of power: How illusions of alliance contribute to powerholders’ downfall

Though people in positions of power have many advantages that sustain their power, stories abound of individuals who fall from their lofty perch. How does this happen? The current research examined the role of illusions of alliance, which we define as overestimating the strength of one’s alliances with others. We tested whether powerholders lose power when they possess overly positive perceptions of their relationships with others, which in turn leads to the weakening of those relationships. Studies 1 and 2 found that powerful individuals were more likely to hold illusions of alliance. Using laboratory as well as field contexts, Studies 3, 4, and 5 found that individuals with power who held illusions of alliance obtained fewer resources, were excluded more frequently from alliances, and lost their power. These findings suggest that power sometimes leads to its own demise because powerful individuals erroneously assume that others feel allied to them.     

自我扩张模型的研究述评

自我扩张模型提出人们具有自我扩张的动机, 即通过扩张自我来提高自我效能的动机, 它是人类的一个基本动机。自我扩张的一种方式就是将他人纳入自我, 包括他人的资源、观念和认同。该模型是一个概念框架, 为研究与关系相关的心理学现象提供了一个理论平台。它不仅更新了对“相似—吸引效应”、“接触假说”、夫妻关系、群际关系的解释, 对于戒烟等实际活动还具有很大的应用价值。然而, 自我扩张模型本身并未成熟, 在未来的研究中需要进一步完善, 同时也需要结合更多的心理学理论进行探索, 并应用到实践领域中去。     

Something's missing: need fulfillment and self-expansion as predictors of susceptibility to infidelity

The present authors investigated whether an individual's motivations that are related to need fulfillment and self-expansion within a romantic relationship can predict self-reported susceptibility to infidelity. A sample of 109 college students (50 men, 59 women) who were in dating relationships completed questionnaires that assessed 5 types of variables of need fulfillment (i.e., intimacy, companionship, sex, security, and emotional involvement), 3 types of self-expansion variables (i.e., self-expansion, inclusion of the other in the self, and potential for self-expansion), and susceptibility to infidelity. As the present authors predicted, both sets of predictors (need fulfillment and self-expansion) significantly contributed to the variance in susceptibility to infidelity. The present findings indicated the possibility that, when a relationship is not able to fulfill needs or provide ample self-expansion for an individual, his or her susceptibility to infidelity increases.     

Children's Anticipated Responses to Hypothetical Peers With Undesirable Characteristics: Role of Peers' Desire to Change,Effort to Change,and Outcome

The authors explored the extent to which 5th- and 6th-grade students’ anticipated responses to hypothetical peers with undesirable characteristics (e.g., being overweight) are influenced by information that each peer (a) desired (or did not desire) to change the characteristic, (b) exerted effort (or did not exert effort) to change the characteristic, and (c) was successful (or unsuccessful) in changing the characteristic. In general, the children anticipated responding more favorably to peers who were successful in overcoming an undesirable characteristic than those who were unsuccessful. However, across both outcome conditions, peers who wanted to change and exerted effort to change were rated more favorably than were peers who reported no effort to change an undesirable characteristic, regardless of whether or not they had expressed a desire to change that characteristic. For peers whose failure to change an undesirable characteristic was associated with no effort to change, those who expressed a desire to change were rated more favorably than those who expressed no desire to change.     

Calibrating Use of Emotion Regulation Strategies to the Relationship Context: An Attachment Perspective

This research tested whether adult attachment orientations predict use of emotion regulation strategies in theoretically consistent ways, and whether associations among attachment orientations and emotion regulatory strategies are moderated by critical features of the relationship context. Ninety‐six couples (192 individuals) reported on their attachment orientations, habitual use of emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, negative emotion expressivity), and perceptions of relationship closeness and negative partner behaviors. Highly secure individuals reported greater use of cognitive reappraisal, especially when they felt closer to their partners, and engaged in less suppression when their partners behaved more negatively toward them. Highly avoidant individuals reported greater use of suppression, especially when they perceived more negative partner behaviors, and when their partners were more avoidant. Highly anxious individuals also used more suppression when their partners were more avoidant, but they expressed more negative emotions when they were paired with less avoidant partners. Fearful‐avoidant individuals' emotion regulation patterns resembled those of both highly secure and dismissive‐avoidant individuals. This study illustrates how attending to moderating effects within specific relationships and testing joint effects of both partners' personality characteristics can help identify contextual boundaries of emotion regulation strategies and clarify emotional response patterns in couples.     

Comparative loneliness of users versus nonusers of online chatting

Online chatting is an important component of improving interpersonal relationships online, but it may reduce participants' communication time with family members. We conducted a study of the relationship between participants' intent to engage in online chatting and three dimensions of loneliness: social, familial, and romantic. This study was designed to show the effect of online chatting on each of these three dimensions of loneliness. The participants in the study were 709 students at two universities in Taiwan who were classified on the basis of whether or not they had ever engaged in online chatting. Of the participants, 651 (91.82%) fully completed the questionnaires that served as the study instruments and were included in data analysis. The study found that individuals who had participated in online chatting exhibited greater familial loneliness than those who had not because the time spent in online chatting reduced the time spent in familial relationships. Social loneliness was related to the quality of Internet relationships rather than to the time spent online. Individuals who participated in online chatting had less romantic loneliness because of a greater ease of maintaining romantic relationships online. We conclude that online chatting can reduce social loneliness through high-quality Internet relationships but may exacerbate familial loneliness.     

Toward a Metacognitive Account of Cognitive Offloading

Individuals frequently make use of the body and environment when engaged in a cognitive task. For example, individuals will often spontaneously physically rotate when faced with rotated objects, such as an array of words, to putatively offload the performance costs associated with stimulus rotation. We looked to further examine this idea by independently manipulating the costs associated with both word rotation and array frame rotation. Surprisingly, we found that individuals’ patterns of spontaneous physical rotations did not follow patterns of performance costs or benefits associated with being physically rotated, findings difficult to reconcile with existing theories of strategy selection involving external resources. Individuals’ subjective ratings of perceived benefits, rather, provided an excellent match to the patterns of physical rotations, suggesting that the critical variable when deciding on‐the‐fly whether to incorporate an external resource is the participant's metacognitive beliefs regarding expected performance or the effort required for each approach (i.e., internal vs. internal + external). Implications for metacognition's future in theories of cognitive offloading are discussed.     

Assessment and treatment of high-risk challenging behavior of adolescents with autism in an aquatic setting

Aquatic-based activities produce positive skill and health benefits for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); however, aquatic contexts, such as the pool, introduce the risk of injury and drowning. This risk is heightened when individuals with ASD engage in challenging behavior in the pool context. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of differential reinforcement without extinction for 2 participants diagnosed with ASD who engaged in challenging behavior when asked to transition from the pool. The treatment successfully decreased participants' transition latencies and challenging behavior during transitions from the pool for up to 2 months following treatment. Lifeguard staff rated the procedures as highly acceptable and helpful, and noted high degrees of satisfaction with improvements for each participant's behavior.     

Does binge eating play a role in the self-regulation of moods?

Self-reported emotional experiences and eating behaviors were studied in college students in an attempt to determine what types of emotional experiences precede and follow binge eating and how specific types of compensatory behaviors modify these experiences. First-year male and female students (N=390) were surveyed for depression, anxiety, health status, life satisfaction, and eating attitudes (EAT-26). Those reporting recurrent binge eating episodes were asked to describe their emotional feelings before and after bingeing and before and after compensatory activities. EAT-26 scores corresponding to scores previously reported for eating disordered patients were found in 9.7% of students. Binge eating was nearly twice as frequent among females (16.4%) as males (8.6%) Among females, positive relationships were found between specific EAT-26 factors scores and both anxiety and depression scores. The emotional antecedents and consequences of binge eating and of compensatory activities were compared in three sub-groups of individuals who reported recurrent bingeing with loss of self-control during binges. The three sub-groups consisted of individuals who reported, 1) bingeing without engaging in compensatory activities, 2) bingeing and compensating by means other than vomiting (fasting, exercising, or use of laxatives or diuretics), and 3) bingeing and compensating by vomiting. Regardless of the type of activity, those individuals who engaged in compensatory activities reported greater negative affect preceding binge episodes than those who did not compensate. In addition, contrary to expectations, negative affect did not decrease, but instead increased significantly, following binge episodes and decreased immediately before and after compensatory activities.     

Does binge eating play a role in the self-regulation of moods?

Self-reported emotional experiences and eating behaviors were studied in college students in an attempt to determine what types of emotional experiences precede and follow binge eating and how specific types of compensatory behaviors modify these experiences. First-year male and female students (N=390) were surveyed for depression, anxiety, health status, life satisfaction, and eating attitudes (EAT-26). Those reporting recurrent binge eating episodes were asked to describe their emotional feelings before and after bingeing and before and after compensatory activities. EAT-26 scores corresponding to scores previously reported for eating disordered patients were found in 9.7% of students. Binge eating was nearly twice as frequent among females (16.4%) as males (8.6%). Among females, positive relationships were found between specific EAT-26 factors scores and both anxiety and depression scores. The emotional antecedents and consequences of binge eating and of compensatory activities were compared in three sub-groups of individuals who reported recurrent bingeing with loss of self-control during binges. The three sub-groups consisted of individuals who reported, 1) bingeing without engaging in compensatory activities, 2) bingeing and compensating by means other than vomiting (fasting, exercising, or use of laxatives or diuretics), and 3) bingeing and compensating by vomiting. Regardless of the type of activity, those individuals who engaged in compensatory activities reported greater negative affect preceding binge episodes than those who did not compensate. In addition, contrary to expectations, negative affect did not decrease, but instead increased significantly, following binge episodes and decreased immediately before and after compensatory activities.     

Prosocial behavior increases perceptions of meaning in life

Finding meaning in life is a fundamental personal need, and motivating prosocial behavior is a fundamental societal need. The present research tests whether the two are connected – whether helping other people can increase helpers’ perceptions of meaning in life. Evidence from a nationally representative data-set and two experiments support this hypothesis. Participants who engaged in prosocial behaviors – volunteering and spending money to benefit others – reported experiencing greater meaning in their lives (Studies 1–3). Study 3 also identifies increased self-worth as the mechanism – participants who spent money to benefit other people felt higher personal worth and self-esteem, and this mediated the effect of prosocial behavior on meaningfulness. The present results join other findings in suggesting that the incentives for helping others do not necessarily depend on the prospect of others’ reciprocity. Prosocial behavior can be incentivized through the psychological benefits it creates for prosocial actors.     

Terror management and adults' attachment to their parents: the safe haven remains

Six studies examined the role of young adults' parental attachment in terror management. Studies 1-3 revealed that activating thoughts of one's parent in response to mortality salience (MS) reduced death-thought accessibility and worldview defense and increased feelings of self-worth. Studies 4-5 demonstrated that MS led to greater ease of recalling positive maternal interactions and greater difficulty recalling negative interactions, and increased attraction to a stranger who was described as being similar to one's parent. If reliance on parents for terror management purposes reflects the operation of attachment mechanisms, then such effects should vary on the basis of an individual's attachment style. Study 6 demonstrated that, after MS, insecure individuals were more likely to rely on relationships with their parents, whereas secure individuals were more likely to rely on relationships with romantic partners.     

Creating One’s Reality: The Interaction of Politics Perceptions and Enactment Behavior

ABSTRACT

The current study investigated the previously unexamined relationship between politics perceptions and employee enactment behavior. Consistent with previous job stress and sense-making research, we hypothesized that individuals reporting low levels of enactment behaviors would be more adversely affected by politics perceptions than those who engaged in high levels of enactment behavior. Results across two samples provided strong support for the hypothesized relationships. Specifically, employees who reported low levels of enactment behavior experienced less satisfaction, less person–environment fit, and reported lower levels of effort when faced with highly political environments. Conversely, levels of satisfaction and person–environment fit perceptions of individuals reporting high levels of enactment behaviors were largely unaffected by highly political contexts. Implications of these findings, strengths and limitations, and avenues for future research are provided.     

Regulating the effects of depletion through monitoring

A robust finding is that participants who perform a depleting initial self-regulatory task are less persistent on a contiguous second task than are those who perform a less arduous initial self-regulatory task. We explain this regulatory depletion effect in terms of a monitoring process. According to this view, depleted individuals focus on the resources they have devoted to a second task, neglect to monitor their performance against their standards for such activities, and prematurely suspend their performance. Consistent with this view, we demonstrate that the regulatory depletion effect can be eliminated when individuals are encouraged to monitor their performance against some standard (Studies 1, 2, and 4) or when they have a proclivity to engage in such monitoring (Studies 3 and 4).     

Maintaining sexual desire in intimate relationships: the importance of approach goals

Three studies tested whether adopting strong (relative to weak) approach goals in relationships (i.e., goals focused on the pursuit of positive experiences in one's relationship such as fun, growth, and development) predict greater sexual desire. Study 1 was a 6-month longitudinal study with biweekly assessments of sexual desire. Studies 2 and 3 were 2-week daily experience studies with daily assessments of sexual desire. Results showed that approach relationship goals buffered against declines in sexual desire over time and predicted elevated sexual desire during daily sexual interactions. Approach sexual goals mediated the association between approach relationship goals and daily sexual desire. Individuals with strong approach goals experienced even greater desire on days with positive relationship events and experienced less of a decrease in desire on days with negative relationships events than individuals who were low in approach goals. In two of the three studies, the association between approach relationship goals and sexual desire was stronger for women than for men. Implications of these findings for maintaining sexual desire in long-term relationships are discussed.     

Dissociative alterations in body image among individuals reporting out-of-body experiences: a conceptual replication

A conceptual replication of the link between self-reported dissociative alterations in body-image under experimental conditions and the reporting of prior out-of-body experiences in a recent data set was undertaken. Also examined was whether this relationship would hold for experiences reported during the experimental context and whether it is independent of self-reported New Age belief. Data from mostly undergraduates (N= 40; M age = 33.5, SD = 12.5; 27 women) in a mirror-gazing study were retrospectively analyzed. The 9 individuals who reported prior out-of-body experiences, relative to those 31 who did not, exhibited significantly greater self-reported dissociative alterations in body-image during the mirror-gazing task, even when the influence of scores on New Age belief was controlled for statistically. The same differential relationship was not found between 6 individuals who did and 34 who did not report out-of-body experiences during the task.