The effects of commitment to threats and promises upon bargaining behaviour and outcomes

The course of bargaining is determined in part by interdependent individuals exchanging messages so as to influence other's behaviour, and thereby to increase the likelihood of achieving outcomes consistent with their own goals. The communication of threats and promises are two major message strategies that are employed to influence the behaviour of others in a bargaining relationship. The present study examines the effects of players' level of commitment to these forms of message strategies upon behaviour in a duopoly bargaining task. Past research has oprationalized commitment in terms of the consistency with which an individual has followed through on threats or promises in the past. In the present research, Becker's (1960) concept of a side-bet is employed to provide an alternative means for defining and manipulating commitment. A side-bet obtains when either a threatener or a promiser posts a valued resource, say a bond, which they forfeit if they do not follow through on their stated threat or promise. The main expectations of the present study were that increased commitment to threat meassages would lead to more competitive behaviour and outcomes within a duopoly bargaining task, whereas increased commitment to promise messages would produce more cooperative behaviour and outcomes. Partial support for these major expectations, as well as confirmation of a number of secondary expectations, was obtained.     

The Mirror and I: When private opinions are in conflict with public norms

In two studies it is demonstrated that two self-saliency manipulations, often used interchangeably, can have profoundly different consequences. Whereas self-activation increased stereotyping in highly prejudiced participants, a mirror decreased stereotyping. Results show that this difference can be ascribed to the activation of specific self-aspects. Whereas a mirror increased both private and public self-awareness (and, hence, awareness of the social norm that stereotyping is bad), self-activation increased private self-awareness exclusively (and, hence, awareness of privately held negative stereotypes). The implications of these findings for the relation between self-awareness and conformity to social norms are discussed.     

When inverted faces are recognized: The role of configural information in face recognition

The identification of upright faces seems to involve a special sensitivity to "configural" information, the processing of which is less effective when the face is inverted. However the precise meaning of "configural" remains unclear. Five experiments are presented, which showed that the disruption of the processing of relational, rather than holistic, information largely determines the occurrence as well as the size of the face-inversion effect. In Experiment 1, faces could be identified either by unique combinations of local information (e.g. a specific eye colour plus hair colour) or by unique relational information (e.g. nose-mouth distance). The former showed no inversion effect, whereas the latter did. A combination of local and relational information (Experiment 2) again produced an inversion effect, although this effect was smaller than that found when only relational information was used. The results were replicated in Experiment 3 when differences in the brightness of local features were used instead of specific colour combinations. Experiment 4 used different retrieval conditions to distinguish relational from holistic processing, and demonstrated again that spatial relations between single features appeared to provide crucial information for face recognition. In Experiment 5, the importance of relational information was confirmed using faces that also varied in the shapes of local features.     

When criticism is ineffective: The case of historical trauma and unsupportive allies

Three studies examined the effect of historical trauma reminders and criticism from international allies on attitudes toward current conflicts. In Study 1, Israeli participants (N = 116) were primed with the Holocaust, and read either that the U.S. President Obama supports Israel's right to defend itself and attack Iran, or that he opposes such action. Then, support for preemptive violence was assessed. Study 2 (N = 133) replicated this design, comparing inclusive and exclusive framings of the Holocaust. Study 3 (N = 478), examined the effect of Holocaust reminders and criticism from the European Union on attitudes toward militant policies against Palestinians. All three studies found that Holocaust primes juxtaposed with international criticism increased support for aggression, especially under exclusive framings of the Holocaust. Study 3, however, found this effect only among left‐wing participants. These findings indicate that when historical trauma is salient, international criticism may be ineffective and may even backfire.     

Buffered forgetting: When targets and distractors are both forgotten

In three experiments, we investigated prior findings that, following some memory tasks, essentially flat d' or forced-choice retention curves are produced. These curves have been interpreted as indicating that forgetting is not present over the intervals examined; however, we propose in this article that forgetting is actually present whenever hit rates and false alarm rates are both declining, despite the result being a flat retention curve. We demonstrate that such curves can be produced using a pair recognition procedure, a plurality discrimination task, and a verbal discrimination task. For all of these tasks, we provide either new evidence or refer to evidence already in the literature that tends to contradict alternative explanations. Then we show how the failure to consider both signal strength and noise has led to distortions in theoretical thinking about forgetting.     

When controversial leaders with charisma are effective: the influence of terror on the need for vision and impact of mixed attitudinal messages

We investigated the idea that a charismatic leader with a controversial message is most likely to persuade people in times of terror, because in those times people have a high need for vision, and vision is what a charismatic leader provides. In addition, we argued that the leader's message should contain a pro‐attitudinal position as well, as this makes the counter‐attitudinal message more palatable. In line with our hypotheses, we found in Experiment 1 that thinking about terrorism increases people's need for vision. Experiment 2 revealed that only when people have a high need for vision they will be influenced by a controversial charismatic leader. Experiment 3 showed that existential threats also directly increase the influence of a controversial charismatic leader. Further, this was especially so when the charismatic leader was both attractive and communicated his message in a charismatic way. Finally, Experiment 4 revealed that after thinking about their own death or about terrorist attacks, people were most likely to be persuaded by a controversial charismatic leader whose counter‐attitudinal message also contained pro‐attitudinal statements. Together, this research suggests that in times of terror people's need for vision increases, which opens them up to a counter‐attitudinal message of a charismatic leader as long as this message also includes some pro‐attitudinal statements. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

When pranks become harassment: The case of african American women firefighters

Surveys and interviews with 22 African American women firefighters suggest that a key to defining gender harassment rests in the organizational climate. Eight subtle as well as overt climatic indicators of gender harassment are identified. Initiation rites into a work group or pranks become harassing when they occur in a context of exclusion rather than ultimate inclusion. Although such harassment undermines workers' feelings of acceptance and organizational self-esteem, they do not diminish survivors' job commitment or satisfaction. Finally, these data suggest that race and gender discrimination are intertwined for African American women who are excluded from their work groups because of both racial and gender discrimination.We wish to thank Maureen Aniakudo, Brenda Brooks and the International Association of Black Professional Firefighters, and Terese Floren and Women in the Fire Service for their invaluable advice and support. This project was supported by funding from the Fromkin Research Grant and Lectureship at the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues' Grants-in-Aid Program, and the University of Wisconsin System's Institute on Race and Ethnicity.     

The effect of positive feelings on risk taking: When the chips are down

Two studies conducted simultaneously investigated the influence of positive affect on risk taking. Results of the study, which employed an actual measure of subjects' willingness to bet something of value, supported the prediction of an interaction between level of risk and positive affect: subjects who had reason to be feeling elated bet more than control subjects on a low-risk bet, but wagered less than controls on a high-risk bet. At the same time, in contrast, a study involving hypothetical risk-taking showed that in general subjects were more willing to take the chance as probability of success went up; but that elated subjects were more daring than controls on a “long shot.” Differences in hypothetical vs real risk taking were noted, and the complexity (the interaction) of the influence of positive feelings on real risk taking was emphasized. The results were related to other research suggesting an influence of feeling states on cognitive processes and decision making.     

When fit indices and residuals are incompatible

Standard chi-square-based fit indices for factor analysis and related models have a little known property: They are more sensitive to misfit when unique variances are small than when they are large. Consequently, very small correlation residuals indicating excellent fit can be accompanied by indications of bad fit by the fit indices when unique variances are small. An empirical example of this incompatibility between residuals and fit indices is provided. For illustrative purposes, an artificial example is provided that yields exactly the same correlation residuals as the empirical example but has larger unique variances. For this example, the fit indices indicate excellent fit. A theoretical explanation for this phenomenon is provided using relationships between unique variances and eigenvalues of the fitted correlation matrix.     

When acoustic sequences are not perceptual sequences: The global perception of auditory patterns

Warren, Bashford, and Gardner (1990) found that when sequences consisting of 10 40-msec steady-state vowels were presented in recycled format, minimal changes in order (interchanging the position of two adjacent phonemes) produced easily recognizable differences in verbal organization, even though the vowel durations were well below the threshold for identification of order. The present study was designed to determine if this ability to discriminate between different arrangements of components is limited to speech sounds subject to verbal organization, or if it reflects a more general auditory ability. In the first experiment. 10 40-msec sinusoidal tones were substituted for the vowels; it was found that the easy discrimination of minimal changea in order is not limited to speech sounds. A second experiment substituted 10 40-msec frozen noise segments for the vowels. The succession of noise segments formed a 400-msec frozen noise pattern that cannot be considered as a sequence of individual sounds, as can the succession of vowels or tones. Nevertheless, listeners again could discriminate between patterns differing.only in the order of two adjacent 40-msec segments. These results, together with other evidence, indicate that it is not necessary foracoustic sequences of brief items (such as phonemes and tones) to be processed asperceptual sequences (that is, as a succession of discrete identifiable sounds) for different arrangements to be discriminated. Instead, component acoustic elements form distinctive “temporal compounds,” which permit listeners to distinguish between different arrangements of portions of an acoustic pattern without the need for segmentation into an ordered series of component items. Implications for models dealing with the recognition of speech and music are discussed.     

When false recognition is out of control: The case of facial conjunctions

In three experiments, a dual-process approach to face recognition memory is examined, with a specific focus on the idea that a recollection process can be used to retrieve configural information of a studied face. Subjects could avoid, with confidence, a recognition error to conjunction lure faces (each a reconfiguration of features from separate studied faces) or feature lure faces (each based on a set of old features and a set of new features) by recalling a studied configuration. In Experiment 1, study repetition (one vs. eight presentations) was manipulated, and in Experiments 2 and 3, retention interval over a short number of trials (0\2-20) was manipulated. Different measures converged on the conclusion that subjects were unable to use a recollection process to retrieve configural information in an effort to temper recognition errors for conjunction or feature lure faces. A single process, familiarity, appears to be the sole process underlying recognition of conjunction and feature faces, and familiarity contributes, perhaps in whole, to discrimination of old from conjunction faces.     

When prejudice against you hurts others and me: The case of ageism at work

Ageism in the workplace has documented detrimental consequences for its victims, but its effects on those who hold ageist views are rarely investigated. A cross‐sectional study and a longitudinal study examined ageism toward both younger and older workers and its relation to intergroup contact, work behaviors, organizational identification, and the well‐being of prejudiced individuals. It was hypothesized that ageism would predict prejudiced individuals’ behaviors toward co‐workers, identification with their organization, and vitality at work, indirectly through intergroup anxiety and quality of intergroup contact. Overall, 647 employees aged 24–62 years provided data on the variables of interest. Both studies suggested that ageist views worsened the quality of intergroup contact, which in turn increased counterproductive behaviors toward co‐workers and decreased identification with the organization. Moreover, ageism marginally predicted vitality at work longitudinally through the mediation of quality of intergroup contact. No support emerged for the mediational role of intergroup anxiety. Theoretical explanations for these findings and their practical implications are discussed.     

The benefits of argumentation are cross-culturally robust: The case of Japan

Thanks to the exchange of arguments, groups outperform individuals on some tasks, such as solving logical problems. However, these results stem from experiments conducted among Westerners and they could be due to cultural particularities such as tolerance of contradiction and approval of public debate. Other cultures, collectivistic cultures in particular, are said to frown on argumentation. Moreover, some influential intellectual movements, such as Confucianism, disapprove of argumentation. In two experiments, the hypothesis that Easterners might not share the benefits of argumentation was tested. In Experiment 1, Japanese participants had to solve a standard logical problem individually and then in groups. They performed significantly better in groups. In Experiment 2, Japanese participants had to estimate the weight of various animals. They did so individually, then after learning of another participant's estimates, then after discussing these estimates with the other participant, and then individually again. While the Japanese participants also benefitted from the discussion, these benefits were only visible when participants provided a final individual estimate. This delay is interpreted as reflecting the pressure to preserve social harmony that would have constrained Japanese participants to yield to their partner even when knowing that this did not improve the accuracy of their answer.     

When effect sizes disagree: the case of r and d

The increased use of effect sizes in single studies and meta-analyses raises new questions about statistical inference. Choice of an effect-size index can have a substantial impact on the interpretation of findings. The authors demonstrate the issue by focusing on two popular effect-size measures, the correlation coefficient and the standardized mean difference (e.g., Cohen's d or Hedges's g), both of which can be used when one variable is dichotomous and the other is quantitative. Although the indices are often practically interchangeable, differences in sensitivity to the base rate or variance of the dichotomous variable can alter conclusions about the magnitude of an effect depending on which statistic is used. Because neither statistic is universally superior, researchers should explicitly consider the importance of base rates to formulate correct inferences and justify the selection of a primary effect-size statistic.     

Finding Direction When You are Lost in Translation

In this article introducing the special issue, factors involved in making the translation from lab findings to clinical practice are discussed. The common themes which pervade all the articles are articulated. Pivotal points of each individual contribution are emphasized. Particular attention is paid to developmental sensitivity, conceptualization, the courage to take on challenging psychiatric conditions, clinical innovation, and clear guidelines for practitioners.     

When objects are close to me: Affordances in the peripersonal space

In the present study, we investigated, using language, which motor information is automatically activated by observing 3-D objects (i.e., manipulation vs. function) and whether this information is modulated by the objects' location in space. Participants were shown 3-D pictures of objects located in peripersonal versus extrapersonal space. Immediately after, they were presented with function, manipulation, or observation verbs (e.g., "to drink," "to grasp," "to look at") and were required to judge whether the verb was compatible with the presented object. We found that participants were slower with observation verbs than with manipulation and function verbs. With both function and manipulation verbs, participants were faster when objects were presented in reachable space. Interestingly, the fastest response times were recorded when participants read function verbs while objects were presented in the accessible space. Results suggest that artifacts are first conceived in terms of affordances linked to manipulation and use, and that affordances are differently activated, depending on context.     

Initial ownership in bargaining: introducing the giving, splitting, and taking ultimatum bargaining game

In three experiments, the authors studied the role of initial ownership of property in bargaining behavior. For this purpose, they created three new variations of the Ultimatum Bargaining Game (UBG): giving, splitting, and taking UBGs. On the basis of insights of loss aversion and the do-no-harm principle, the authors predicted and found that allocations to the recipient were highest in the taking UBG and lowest in the giving UBG. Additional measures to study the underlying mechanism of this effect indicate that the game type effect was mediated by perceptions of entitlement, which allocators did not want to infringe on. Moreover, the effect was not affected by strategic options as provided by deception or power.