The face of chauvinism: How prejudice expectations shape perceptions of facial affect

Are individuals who chronically expect to be treated prejudicially biased toward perceiving rejecting emotions in the faces of out-group others? In two studies, participants watched a series of computer-generated movies showing animated faces morphing from expressions of rejection (i.e., contempt and anger) to acceptance, and indicated when the initial expression of rejection changed. We also assessed stigma consciousness. Study 1 tested the connection between gender-based stigma consciousness and perceptions of contempt in male vs. female faces among female participants. Study 2 examined this connection for both men and women and for perceptions of contempt as well as anger. Results show that prejudice expectations lead individuals to interpret out-group faces as more rejecting than in-group faces, but only for female perceivers, and not for males. Further, our results suggest that prejudice expectations affect perceptions of contempt, but not anger. These results are discussed in relation to intergroup relations and emotion.     

“I knew that I wasn’t cis,I knew that,but I didn’t know exactly”: Gender identity development,expression and affirmation in youth who access gender affirming medical care

Abstract

Background: Research about gender identity development is still in its infancy, especially among youth who experience gender dysphoria and are accessing gender-affirming medical care.

Aims: This article contributes to the literature on how gender identity and gender dysphoria is experienced, expressed and addressed by youth who have started, or are just about to start, a gender-affirming medical intervention.

Methods: The project draws from qualitative interviews with 36 trans children and youth of different ages and stages of puberty. The data were collected in three specialized Canadian clinics that offer gender-affirming care and they were analyzed through inductive thematic analysis.

Results: Two interlinked dimensions of the youth’s lives allow meaning-making of their gender identity: 1) internal or personal and 2) interactional or social processes. Careful analysis reveals three gender identity development pathways that may be taken by youth, from early questioning to the affirmation of their gender identity. A discussion of current models of gender identity development and their limitations concludes the article.     

The being a patient effect: negative expectations based on group labeling and corresponding treatment affect patient performance

Patient studies provide insights into mechanisms underlying diseases and thus represent a cornerstone of clinical research. In this study, we report evidence that differences between patients and controls might partly be based on expectations generated by the patients’ knowledge of being invited and treated as a patient: the Being a Patient effect (BP effect). This finding extends previous neuropsychological reports on diagnosis threat. Participants with mild allergies were addressed either as patients or control subjects in a clinical study. We measured the impact of this group labeling and corresponding instructions on pain perception and cognitive performance. Our results provide evidence that the BP effect can indeed affect physiological and cognitive measures in clinical settings. Importantly, these effects can lead to systematic overestimation of genuine disease effects and should be taken into account when disease effects are investigated. Finally, we propose strategies to avoid or minimize this critical confound.     

Gender and work-family conflict: testing the rational model and the gender role expectations model in the Spanish cultural context

Gutek, Searle, and Klepa (1991) proposed two models to explain the gender differences in work-family conflict: the rational model and the gender role expectations model. Both models have mostly been tested on American and Canadian samples, and have obtained partial support. Given the cultural differences between North American countries and Spain, we should question whether the two models are equally applicable to Spanish society or whether one of them captures Spanish men and women's experience of work-family conflict better than the other. So, the aim of this study is to test which of the models better explains the gender differences in work-family conflict in the Spanish cultural context (or if, indeed, the two models apply equally well). Given the typical cultural dimensions of Spanish society, we expected to find greater support for the gender role expectations model than for the rational model. However, the results obtained in this study indicated that, while the rational model can explain the gender differences that were found, the gender role expectations model cannot capture Spanish people's work-family conflict experiences. The results are interpreted in terms of cultural dimensions characteristic of the Spanish context.     

Shameful secrets and shame-prone dispositions: How outcome expectations mediate the relation between shame and disclosure

Shame may be a deterrent to disclosing secrets to a counselor, and shame-proneness may be associated with generalized tendencies to avoid disclosure of distress. If so, the mechanism explaining these relations might be the expected outcomes about disclosure. College students in the United States (N?=?312) thought of a shameful secret of theirs, and they rated the degree of shame they felt about the secret, their willingness to disclose the secret to a potential counselor, and their expected support from a potential counselor (i.e. outcome expectation). Participants also completed dispositional measures of shame-proneness, generalized outcome expectations about disclosure, and disclosure tendencies. Mediation analyses revealed that participants’ experiences of shame regarding their secrets predicted lower anticipated support from the counselor which predicted lower willingness to disclose the secret. This effect largely replicated at the dispositional level, such that anticipated risks of disclosure mediated the relationship between shame-proneness and disclosure tendencies. These findings suggest that counselor efforts to promote healthy client disclosure could target the client’s outcome expectations about disclosure rather than the client’s degree of shame.     

The effects of prediction,understanding, and control: A test of the stress antidote model

Abstract

A study was undertaken to examine further the effects of perceived work control on employee adjustment. On the basis of the stress antidote model, it was proposed that high levels of prediction, understanding, and control of work-related events would have direct, indirect, and interactive effects on levels of employee adjustment. These hypotheses were tested in a short-term longitudinal study of 137 employees of a large retail organization. The stress antidote measures appeared to be indirectly related to employee adjustment, via their effects on perceptions of work stress. There was weak evidence for the proposal that prediction, understanding, and control would buffer the negative effects of work stress. Additional analyses indicated that the observed effects of prediction, understanding, and control were independent of employees' generalized control beliefs. However, there was no support for the proposal that the effects of the stress antidote measures would be dependent on employees' generalized control beliefs.     

Met expectations and the wellbeing of diaspora immigrants: A longitudinal study

Previous research has pointed to the importance of expectations for the adaptation of immigrants. However, most studies have been methodologically retrospective with only limited possibilities to show the optimal relationship between migrants’ expectations and actual acculturation experiences for their wellbeing and other aspects of psychological adaptation. Moreover, previous research has been conducted mostly among sojourners and students. This longitudinal study focused on the relationship between premigration expectations and postmigration experiences of diaspora immigrants from Russia to Finland (N = 153). We examined how the fulfillment of premigration expectations in social (i.e., family relations, friendships, and free time) and economic (i.e., occupational position, working conditions, and economic and career situation) domains affects immigrants’ wellbeing (i.e., satisfaction with life and general mood) after migration. Three alternative models of expectation confirmation (i.e., disconfirmation model, ideal point model, and the importance of experiences only) derived from previous organizational psychological research were tested with polynomial regression and response surface analysis. In the economic domain, immigrants’ expectations, experiences, and their interrelationship did not affect wellbeing in the postmigration stage. However, in the social domain, the more expectations were exceeded by actual experiences, the better were life satisfaction and the general mood of immigrants. The results underline the importance of social relationships and the context‐dependent nature of immigrants’ wellbeing. Interventions in the preacculturation stage should create positive but realistic expectations for diaspora immigrants and other groups of voluntary (re)migrants. Furthermore, policies concerning the postmigration stage should facilitate the fulfillment of these expectations and support the social adaptation of immigrants.     

The gendered nature of career related learning experiences: A social cognitive career theory perspective

The learning experiences questionnaire (LEQ; Schaub & Tokar, 2005) was used to examine learning experiences as they relate to SCCT (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) across the Holland (1997) RIASEC typology. In particular, differences in men’s and women’s career related learning experiences were examined. A sample of 319 undergraduates at a public Midwestern university completed an online survey. Gender differences were observed in reported levels of some learning experiences; similar to prior findings for self-efficacy and interests, women reported more learning experiences in the Social domain, and men reported more experiences in the Realistic and Investigative domains. Results also supported that more reported learning experiences in a given domain relate to higher self-efficacy and outcome expectations in that domain.     

British and Pakistani children's understanding of death: Cultural and developmental influences

This study explored British and Pakistani 4‐ to 7‐year‐olds’ (N = 188) understanding of death. The aim was to examine possible influences on the acquisition of the subcomponents of the death concept by investigating how they are understood by children of different ages and cultural and religious backgrounds. Three groups of children were compared: White British and British Muslim living in London, and Pakistani Muslim living in rural Pakistan. In line with previous research (Slaughter, 2005, Aust. Psychol., 40(3), 179), irreversibility of death was one of the first subcomponents to be acquired, while causality was the last. The two groups of British children shared many similarities in their understanding of inevitability, applicability, irreversibility, and cessation. Pakistani Muslim children understood irreversibility earlier than did children in both British groups. In all three cultural groups, children's responses demonstrated very limited understanding of causality. Our findings support the view that aspects of a mature understanding of death develop between the ages of 4 and 7 years and that the process of understanding death as a biological event is, to a great extent, universal. They also suggest that aspects of children's reasoning are influenced by culturally specific experiences, particularly those arising from living in rural versus urban settings.     

How anxious and avoidant attachment affect romantic relationship quality differently: A meta‐analytic review

Adult attachment has been studied as an important predictor of romantic relationship quality in many empirical studies. This meta‐analysis quantitatively summarized the associations between the two insecure adult attachment dimensions, anxiety and avoidance, and cognitive, emotional, and behavioral indicators of romantic relationship quality based on 73 previous studies with 118 independent samples of 21 602 individuals. More importantly, we examined the different effects of anxiety and avoidance on relationship quality. We also tested the potential moderating effects of gender on the strength of these associations. Meta‐analytic results confirmed that both anxiety and avoidance were detrimental to the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects of relationship quality. Compared with anxiety, avoidance was more negatively associated with general satisfaction, connectedness, and general support in relationships. In contrast, anxiety was more positively associated with general conflict in relationships. The moderating effect of gender was weak. However, supplementary analyses found that the type of couple interaction measures (self‐report versus observation) significantly moderated the relations between insecure attachments and the behavioral indicators of relationship quality. Our results integrate and extend previous findings about the dynamics of adult attachment and romantic relationship quality. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Children's understanding of embarrassment: Integrating mental time travel and mental state information

The current study investigated 4‐ to 8‐year‐olds’ (N = 81) understanding of embarrassment and their ability to integrate temporal and mental state information to predict and explain emotions. Participants heard stories describing characters commit trivial social transgressions, and then the next day, characters found themselves in the same situation that led to the previous transgression. For some story endings, participants were asked to predict and explain how the character felt, and for others, participants were told the character started to feel embarrassed and they were asked to explain why. Participants’ responses were coded and analysed using nonparametric statistical tests. Kruskal–Wallis analyses revealed significant developments occur between 6 and 8 years in children's understanding of embarrassment and their ability to explain individual's emotion as caused by anticipating the reoccurrence of a previous embarrassing event. Younger children demonstrated a basic knowledge of embarrassment but failed to demonstrate more advanced understanding of the emotion. Findings from the current study indicate children reach a more mature understanding of embarrassment and the implications of committing social transgressions between 7 and 8 years. Finally, the current study contributes to the literature on children's ability to infer mental states and temporally connect experiences.     

Individual differences in children's emotion understanding: effects of age and language

Over the last two decades, it has been established that children's emotion understanding changes as they develop. Recent studies have also begun to address individual differences in children's emotion understanding. The first goal of this study was to examine the development of these individual differences across a wide age range with a test assessing nine different components of emotion understanding. The second goal was to examine the relation between language ability and individual differences in emotion understanding. Eighty children ranging in age from 4 to 11 years were tested. Children displayed a clear improvement with age in both their emotion understanding and language ability. In each age group, there were clear individual differences in emotion understanding and language ability. Age and language ability together explained 72% of emotion understanding variance; 20% of this variance was explained by age alone and 27% by language ability alone. The results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications.     

Maternal expectations about infant development of pre‐term and full‐term infants: a cross‐national comparison

In three European regions (The Netherlands, Northern Italy and Southern Italy) we investigated whether mothers of healthy pre‐term infants (n=92) adjust their expectations for the timing of developmental milestones in the first years of life as compared to mothers of full‐term infants (n=140). We examined whether these adjustments could be seen as reflecting a pessimistic view, as would be predicted from the ‘prematurity stereotype’ perspective. Partial corrections for prematurity were regularly made, but no indications were found for an overly pessimistic view. Moreover, the differences between the regions in the anticipated timing of mastery of milestones were larger than the effects of prematurity. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mental-rotation performance in middle and high-school age: influence of stimulus material,gender stereotype beliefs,and perceived ability of gendered activities

ABSTRACT

In psychometric mental-rotation tests, males mostly outperform females. The stimulus material and stereotype beliefs could partly be responsible for these differences. This was investigated in an experimental study administering traditional cube figures (C-MRT) and structurally similar pellet figures (P-MRT) to middle- and high-school aged children. 168 participants either solved the C-MRT or the P-MRT and filled out a questionnaire about their perceived ability of stereotypically masculine and feminine activities and about their gender stereotype beliefs. Overall, boys outperformed girls and all children who solved the C-MRT were better than those who solved the P-MRT. Only boys' mental-rotation performance increased with age while girls' perceived ability of stereotypically masculine activities decreased. A regression analysis identified children’s gender, their perceived ability of stereotypically masculine activities and their female gender stereotype beliefs as predictors of mental-rotation performance. Results are discussed with a focus on stereotype threat effects and gender differences in mental-rotation strategies.     

Lay understanding of genetic disease: A British study of families attending a genetic counseling service

Although lay people know that various diseases can be inherited, the idea that unhealthy life styles are the crucial cause of ill health has been promoted by health education policy in the United Kingdom. However, a new paradigm seems to be developing. The medical profession is increasingly using genetics to explain ill health, and people are being referred to geneticists for information and counseling. Lay conceptions of genetic disease emerged during this qualitative study of the process of genetic counseling. The results reported in this paper suggest that many lay people lack knowledge of genetics and inheritance, and that there is considerable stigma attached to genetic disease. Misconceptions and fears may not always be recognized or resolved during the process of genetic counseling. The implications of such misunderstandings and beliefs are considered in this paper.     

理解方法论视野中的读者与文本——加达默尔与方法论诠释学

Judging Gadamer’s theoretical stance is a complicated matter, and his ontological hermeneutics is usually regarded as a text-centered theory of understanding. Through an analysis of the phenomenological premises from which his theories take off, however, we can clearly see his reader-centric stance. On the basis of this stance some cease to seek for the original intention of the author or the original meaning of the text, which ineluctably leads to the ignorance of an understanding methodology. As far as people’s intentional understanding is concerned, however, the important as well as essential task is still that of striving for a certain kind of understanding that is relatively correct, with universally effective methodology as its necessary prerequisite. What is more, herein lies the significance of the epistemology of hermeneutics. This article aims to re-insert a sense of methodology after hermeneutics went through a period of ontological reflection, and hence clarify that it is of necessity that hermeneutics resumes its text-centric methodological stance. __________ Translated by Zhang Lin from Zhongguo shehui kexue 中国社会科学 (Social Sciences in China), 2008, (2): 42–53     

De‐escalation after repeated negative feedback: emergent expectations of failure

Research on willingness to make marginal investments (e.g., the escalation and sunk cost literatures) has often focused on project completion decisions, such as the “radar‐blank plane.” This paper discusses a fundamentally different type of marginal investment decision, that of couples deciding whether to continue infertility treatment in the face of repeated failures. Two experiments based on this context show that when people face multiple independent chances to achieve a valued goal but are unsure about chances of success, premature quitting or “de‐escalation” is the norm. Repeated negative feedback appears to induce individuals to see each successive failure as more and more diagnostic. As a result, even a short series of failed attempts evokes beliefs that future attempts will also fail. These emergent expectations of failure, generated by causal attribution processes, associative learning, and/or discounting of ambiguous information, appear very compelling and induce people to forgo profitable marginal investments. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Making gender matter: the role of gender-based expectancies and gender identification on women's and men's math performance in Sweden

It is well established that an emphasis on gender differences may have a negative effect on women's math performance in USA, Germany and the Netherlands. It has further been found that an individual's identification with the stereotyped group may moderate effects of negative stereotypes. The present study investigated how gender-based expectancies affected the math performance of women and men in Sweden, a nation with a smaller gender gap than in other countries, and a strong cultural emphasis on gender equality. Participants, 112 female and 74 male undergraduate math students from Swedish universities, completed a difficult math test in which their gender was either linked to their test performance or not. Men performed better than women when gender was made relevant among participants who did not see their gender as an important aspect of their identity, while participants high in gender identification were unaffected by gender identity relevance. Moreover, the gender relevance manipulation affected men's performance more than women's. The results deviate from findings on US samples, indicating that the role of group identification as a moderator of stereotype-based expectancy effects is complex, and that factors in the cultural context may interact with individual differences in identification to determine the impact of negative stereotypes.     

Children's conceptions of physical events: Explicit and tacit understanding of horizontal motion

The conceptual understanding that children display when predicting physical events has been shown to be inferior to the understanding they display when recognizing whether events proceed naturally. This has often been attributed to differences between the explicit engagement with conceptual knowledge required for prediction and the tacit engagement that suffices for recognition, and contrasting theories have been formulated to characterize the differences. Focusing on a theory that emphasizes omission at the explicit level of conceptual elements that are tacitly understood, the paper reports two studies that attempt clarification. The studies are concerned with 6‐ to 10‐year‐old children's understanding of, respectively, the direction (141 children) and speed (132 children) of motion in a horizontal direction. Using computer‐presented billiards scenarios, the children predicted how balls would move (prediction task) and judged whether or not simulated motion was correct (recognition task). Results indicate that the conceptions underpinning prediction are sometimes interpretable as partial versions of the conceptions underpinning recognition, as the omission hypothesis would imply. However, there are also qualitative differences, which suggest partial dissociation between explicit and tacit understanding. It is suggested that a theoretical perspective that acknowledges this dissociation would provide the optimal framework for future research.     

Chinese affect circumplex: I. Structure of recalled momentary affect

The structure of momentary affect among Cantonese-speaking Chinese was explored by developing questionnaire scales in four response formats. Scales can be scored for dimensions defined by Feldman Barrett and Russell; Thayer; Larsen and Diener; and Watson and Tellegen. In a study of recalled affect ( N  = 487), the newly translated scales were found to support all but Watson and Tellegen's structural model originating from English. Results cross-validated well in a second sample ( N  = 402). Affect dimensions were interrelated as found with English-speaking Canadians and they could be integrated into a two-dimensional bipolar space.