Social anxiety,disengagement coping,and alcohol-use behaviors among adolescents

Background and Objectives: Although research indicates that social anxiety (SA) is associated with problematic drinking, few studies have examined these relations among adolescents, and all alcohol-related assessments have been retrospective. Socially anxious youth may be at risk to drink in an effort to manage negative affectivity, and a proclivity toward disengagement coping (e.g. avoidance of aversive stimuli) may enhance the desire to drink and learning of coping-related use. Design: Adding to research addressing adolescent SA and alcohol use, the current study examined (1) proportional drinking motives (subscale scores divided by the sum of all subscales), (2) current desire to drink in a socially relevant environment (introduction to research laboratory), and (3) the indirect effect of retrospectively reported disengagement in social stress contexts on proportional coping motives and desire to drink. Method: Participants were 70 community-recruited adolescents who reported recent alcohol use. Level of SA, disengagement coping, drinking motives, and desire to drink following laboratory introduction were assessed. Results: Proclivity toward disengagement in prior socially stressful contexts accounted for significant variance in the positive relations between SA and both proportional coping motives and current desire to drink. Conclusions: These data complement existing work. Continued efforts in building developmentally sensitive models of alcohol use are needed.     

Doing emotions: The role of culture in everyday emotions

Emotional experience is culturally constructed. In this review, we discuss evidence that cultural differences in emotions are purposeful, helping an individual to meet the mandate of being a good person in their culture. We also discuss research showing that individual’s fit to the cultural emotion norm is associated with well-being, and suggest that this link may be explained by the fact that normative emotions meet the cultural mandate. Finally, we discuss research that sheds light on some of the collective processes of emotion construction: social interactions and emotion representations are geared towards promoting emotions that are conducive to the cultural mandate. In conclusion, we suggest that individuals become part of their culture by “doing emotions” in a way that is consistent with the cultural mandate, and that in intercultural interactions, emotions can be literally “at cross purposes”: each person’s emotions are constructed to fit the purposes of their own culture.     

Social Constraint and Self‐Doubt: Mechanisms of Social Network influence on Resistance to Persuasion

Those around us have a profound influence on our political attitudes and attitude strength, such that people whose social networks include a variety of perspectives have weaker, less deeply entrenched attitudes than those who are surrounded by like‐minded others. In particular, those embedded in attitudinally heterogeneous networks are more open to changing their views. The nature and mechanisms of this network influence on openness to attitude change remain unclear. A survey experiment examines two mechanisms proposed by prior literature: (1) social doubt triggered by network members' dissent and (2) social constraint to maintain similar attitudes. It also provides some data on the more commonly assumed mechanism, (3) information exchange. Results strongly support social constraint and are mixed on social doubt. This contrasts with the theoretical emphasis of much previous interdisciplinary social network research, which has focused primarily on information exchange, to the detriment of other mechanisms. Findings also indicate that like‐minded social network members solidify attitudes at least as much as dissent erodes them, suggesting that prior emphasis on the influence of heterogeneous rather than attitudinally congruent networks is overstated. Implications for political movements are discussed.     

Social Representations: A Normative and Dynamic Intergroup Approach

This commentary outlines an approach to social representations which emphasizes the normative and dynamic nature of shared knowledge. Social representations both connect and divide people, for example through shared ingroup and outgroup stereotypes derived from antagonistic social representations. Through asymmetrical intergroup communication and influence, in turn, social representations are formed, maintained, and contested. In this dynamic process, powerful majorities attempt to define the meaning of new or otherwise important information as a function of their group norms, while subordinate minorities employ propaganda techniques of social influence to resist majority influence and propose alternative positions.     

社会从众的生物学基础

社会从众是指个体改变态度或行为, 与他人保持一致的现象。社会认知神经科学采用社会心理学的实验范式研究发现：背内侧前额叶、纹状体、眶额皮层、脑岛、杏仁核和海马等多个脑区在社会从众中扮演重要角色; 能够提高多巴胺水平、改善大脑奖赏敏感性的某些神经递质可能间接影响从众。强化学习理论的奖惩预期可以部分解释社会从众的原因。未来研究应改进实验范式, 扩大研究群体, 借助神经、生化技术, 利用动物模型, 深入探讨社会从众的神经生物学基础。     

The roles of aggressive and affiliative behaviors in resource control: A behavioral ecological perspective

Extant literature in developmental psychology has documented the co-occurrence of aggressive and affiliative behaviors with various measures of social dominance. While these findings have been taken as evidence for the functional value of aggression, they have not been integrated into a more general theoretical frame accounting for contextual variation. In this paper the literature on aggression, agonism, affiliation, and social dominance is reviewed in light of behavioral ecological theory suggesting that different forms of competition (scramble and contest) determine, respectively, the use of affiliative and aggressive strategies. Results generally support the hypotheses advanced by this theory. In order to further integrate these findings suggestions for the study sequences of behavior, where reconciliations follow aggression, are made.     

Social influence in investigative interviews: The effects of reciprocity

This study examined how a principle of social influence—reciprocity—affects the informational elements produced in an investigative interview. Participants from 3 ethnic/cultural groups recruited from the community either received a bottle of water or not prior to their engaging in an investigative interview, in which they either told the truth or lied about having committed a mock crime. Three different informational elements (Relevant details, Irrelevant details, and Plausibility) were coded from their responses, and rapport in the interaction was coded from video. Offering water facilitated greater rapport and influenced the informational elements. These effects were moderated by Veracity condition: For liars, offering water produced more Relevant details and greater Plausibility in the statements and this effect was mediated by rapport. Ethnicity/culture did not moderate these findings. These findings suggested the applicability of principles of social influence in investigative interviews across cultures/ethnicities and had theoretical, empirical, and practical implications.     

社会称许性量表的测量等价性探讨

若观测变量和潜在特质之间的关系在相比较的群体之间等同,就称该量表具备测量等价性。测量工具满足测量等价性的要求是进行组间差异比较的前提条件。该文首先明确测量等价性的概念及在结构方程模型中所要满足的5个条件,然后以社会称许性的性别差异为例,阐述测量等价性检验和建立的方法。结果表明,男性群体和女性群体的测量等价。文章最后讨论了该研究的理论意义和不足之处。     

Social influence and mental routes to the production of authentic false memories and inauthentic false memories

Two studies assessed the extent to which people incorporated false facts provided by bogus others into their own recognition memory reports, and how these false memory reports were affected by: (a) truth of the information in others’ summaries supporting the false facts, (b) motivation to process stories and summaries, (c) source credibility, and (d) ease of remembering original facts. False memory report frequency increased when false facts in a summary were supported by true information and varied inversely with the ease with which original facts could be remembered. Results from a measure probing participants’ memory perceptions suggest that some false memories are authentic: People sometimes lack awareness of both the incorporation of false facts into their memory reports and where the false facts came from. However, many false memories are inauthentic: Despite reporting a false memory, people sometimes retain knowledge of the original stimulus and/or the origin of false facts.     

Social influence in pigeons (Columba livia): the role of differential reinforcement

Socially-influenced learning was studied in observer pigeons that observed a demonstrator in an adjacent chamber performing a target response comprising standing on a box and pecking a key 10 times. In Experiment 1 there was no evidence for social learning in the absence of reinforcement of the observer's behavior. When the target response was already established in the observer's repertoire, but was not differentially reinforced in relation to the demonstrator's behavior, rates of extinction were not influenced by the demonstrator's behavior (Experiment 2). Reinforcement of the observer's target response in the presence of the modeled target response, and not in its absence, resulted in control of the observer's responding by the behavior of the demonstrator (Experiments 3 and 4). This control was extended in Experiment 5 to deferred responses that occurred following a delay since the demonstrator's target responses. The acquisition of social influence depended on differential reinforcement of the observer's target response, with the demonstrator's target behavior serving as the explicit discriminative stimulus.     

Social Influence on Political Judgments: The Case of Presidential Debates

Four experiments investigated the extent to which judgments of candidate performance in presidential debates could be influenced by the mere knowledge of others' reactions. In Experiments 1 and 2 participants watched an intact version of a debate or an edited version in which either "soundbite" one-liners or the audience reaction to those soundbites were removed. In Experiment 3 participants saw what was supposedly the reaction of their fellow participants on screen during the debate. Participants in Experiment 4 were exposed to the reactions of live confederates as they watched the last debate of an active presidential campaign. In all studies, audience reactions produced large shifts in participants' judgments of performance. The results illustrate the power of social context to strongly influence individuals' judgments of even large amounts of relevant, important information, and they support the categorization of presidential debates as ambiguous stimuli, fertile ground for informational social influence.     

A comparison of peer verbal responding directed toward adolescents with behavioral disorders and nonhandicapped peers

One of the primary intents of inclusion is the maximization of interaction between persons with and without disabilities. The purpose of this study was to analyze the verbal responding that peers directed toward adolescents with behavioral disorders and, to this effect, several comparisons were made: verbal responding of peers directed toward adolescents with behavioral disorders was compared to verbal responding of peers directed toward regular class adolescents; verbal responding of peers directed toward the same adolescents with behavioral disorders was compared across their self-contained and integrated settings; and verbal responding of peers directed toward adolescents with behavioral disorders in integrated settings was compared to verbal responding of peers directed toward regular class adolescents. Data, collected in real time using portable microcomputers, focused on positive, negative, and neutral social responding and positive, negative, and neutral academic responding. All verbal responding of peers directed toward 14 adolescents with behavioral disorders and 14 regular class peers was recorded. Data were analyzed by group and setting, as well as by social or academic content. Results of the study support inclusion, with high levels of peer responding directed toward adolescents with behavioral disorders in integrated classrooms. Almost all peer responding was positive or neutral in content. Results were discussed as they related to placement of students, social skills training, and previous research.     

Power and Participation: Social Representations among Children in Pre-school

Children’s play is usually connected with qualities such as happiness and innocence, and regarded as important and necessary for learning and development. However, play is not always a state of joy. Experiences of being socially excluded or ignored and of taking part in such activities are occurring. The article draws on a re-analysis of empirical data from a study of pre-school children’s play. The focus in the article is directed towards how pre-school children within the context of play communicate and act in relation to social participation and power. The theoretical framework is built upon a socio-cultural research tradition, particularly emphasising context and communication. Interpretive reproduction, secondary adjustment, and social representations are used as additional theoretical concepts in the analyses and discussions of the results. Empirical data show that children’s social representations of power and participation in play include rationales for who can join the play and who can not, and also how to allow exceptions from the main rule that ‘anyone can join’.     

错失恐惧对大学生社交网络成瘾的影响:社交网络整合性使用与社交网络支持的中介作用

错失恐惧是社交网络成瘾的风险因素，但其中的作用机制并不清楚。本研究采用错失恐惧问卷、社交网络整合性使用量表、社交网络支持量表和中文社交网络成瘾量表，调查了重庆市三所高校的493名大一至大三的学生，探讨错失恐惧影响社交网络成瘾的机制。结果发现：（1）错失恐惧显著预测社交网络成瘾，错失恐惧水平越高，个体社交网络成瘾水平越高。（2）社交网络整合性使用在错失恐惧和社交网络成瘾之间起独立中介作用。（3）社交网络支持在错失恐惧和社交网络成瘾之间起独立中介作用。（4）社交网络整合性使用和社交网络支持在错失恐惧和社交网络成瘾之间起链式中介作用。研究结果表明，满足大学生基本心理需要、降低社交网络使用程度、提升现实社会支持可以有效预防社交网络成瘾。     

领悟社会支持对社交焦虑的影响:反刍思维的中介作用和社会阻抑的调节作用

本研究旨在探索领悟社会支持对社交焦虑的影响,深入探讨社会阻抑和反刍思维对该影响的作用。方法:采用问卷法,以471名职员为被试进行调查,数据结果分析采用Bootstrap分析方法。结果显示:(1)反刍思维在领悟社会支持和社交焦虑之间起中介作用。领悟社会支持通过降低反刍思维的水平,减轻社交焦虑。(2)社会阻抑调节领悟社会支持→反刍思维→社交焦虑中介模型的前半路径,社会阻抑改变了领悟社会支持对反刍思维作用的大小。     

Patterns of Natural Language Use: Disclosure, Personality, and Social Integration

When people write about their deepest thoughts and feelings about an emotionally significant event, numerous benefits in many domains (e.g., health, achievement, and well-being) result. As one step in understanding how writing achieves these effects, we have developed a computer program that provides a "fingerprint" of the words people use in writing or in natural settings. Analyses of text samples indicate that particular patterns of word use predict health and also reflect personality styles. We have also discovered that language use in the laboratory writing paradigm is associated with changes in social interactions and language use in the real world. The implications for using computer-based text analysis programs in the development of psychological theory are discussed.     

Methods for Influencing Social Policy: The Role of Social Experiments

Research methods in community psychology have grown more diverse since the Swampscott conference, but rigorous social experiments maintain a place among the multiplicity of methods that can promote community psychology values. They are particularly influential in policy circles. Two examples of social experiments to end homelessness for different populations illustrate their role. Both studies show that offering extremely poor and disenfranchised people autonomy and the resources they seek works better than “helping” them to overcome deficits in ways designed by well‐meaning service providers. Experiments are neither the first nor the last method community psychologists should employ, but are a critical part of the field's armamentarium for systems change.