Dysphoria and Children's Processing of Supportive Interactions

This study examined the processing of supportive interactions by dysphoric and nondysphoric preteens and early adolescents. Seventy-two youngsters between the ages of 10 and 13 evaluated the supportiveness and helpfulness of standardized, videotaped interactions between a distressed preadolescent and a maternal figure. The tape presentations varied in terms of the level of depicted maternal support and instructional condition (degree of self-reference). The results indicated that dysphoric youngsters evaluated both the supportiveness and helpfulness of interactions less positively than nondysphoric agemates. Group differences in support evaluations were most pronounced in the self-referenced condition. The level of depicted support did not affect processing differences. Dysphoric subjects reported lower levels of emotional support in prior relationships and a greater tendency to view supportive behavior as ingenuine than nondysphoric peers. Variation in prior support experiences accounted for group differences in the evaluation of the supportiveness of new interactions.     

Explaining Gender Differences in Responses to Supportive Messages: Two Tests of a Dual-Process Approach

We propose a comprehensive explanation for gender differences in responses to supportive communication grounded in a dual-process theory of communication outcomes. Two studies confirmed consistent gender differences in responses by US college students to supportive communication and assessed the mediating effects of an ability factor (cognitive complexity) and two motivational factors (expressive and instrumental orientations) on situation elaboration and message evaluation. Study 1 focused on everyday comforting contexts (N?=?318), whereas Study 2 focused on bereavement (N?=?103). Both studies found that cognitive complexity mediated gender differences in situation elaboration and further found that cognitive complexity and expressive orientation collectively mediated gender differences in evaluative responses to supportive messages. Theoretical and pragmatic implications of the results are discussed.     

Explaining the Durable Effects of Verbal Person‐Centered Supportive Communication: Indirect Effects or Invisible Support?

Researchers have documented benefits from receiving supportive messages high in verbal person‐centeredness (VPC), but the processes through which such messages produce longitudinal effects remain unclear. This study evaluated two perspectives (i.e., indirect effects and invisible support) that address how supportive messages can produce durable effects and tested sex differences in those effects. 255 dyads completed a laboratory‐based interaction in which level of VPC and sex of the support provider were manipulated. 3 weeks later, support receivers evaluated the conversations and their stressor. Variations in VPC produced durable effects both when messages were positively evaluated initially and when they were evaluated as supportive by providers or third‐party observers but judged low in supportiveness by receivers. Provider sex moderated the results.     

Underlying Circuits of Social Support for Bullied Victims: An Appraisal‐Based Perspective on Supportive Communication and Postbullying Adjustment

This study examined the working mechanisms of social support for victims of bullying. Structural equation modeling analyses based on retrospective survey data (N = 448) revealed that the effects of supportive messages varied distinctively, depending on the content of the messages; emotional and esteem support enhanced, but network support impeded, positive reappraisal (the effects of informational support were not significant). Except for that which was related to network support, discrepancy between desired and received support was associated with less positive appraisal. Finally, positive appraisal was found to enhance victims' postbullying adjustment both behaviorally and psychologically. These findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications with reference to the literature on social support and coping of bullied victims.     

Humble persons are more helpful than less humble persons: Evidence from three studies

Connections between humility and other prosocial qualities led us to develop a humility–helpfulness hypothesis. In three studies, humble persons were more helpful than less humble persons. In Study 1, participants (n?=?117) completed self-report measures of humility, the Big Five, and helpfulness. In Study 2, participants (n?=?90) completed an implicit measure of humility and were presented with an unexpected opportunity to help someone in need. In Study 3, participants (n?=?103) completed self-report and implicit measures of humility and were presented a similar helping opportunity. Humility and helpfulness correlated positively when personality and impression management were controlled. Humble participants helped more than did less humble participants even when agreeableness and desirable responding were statistically controlled. Further, implicit humility uniquely predicted helping behavior in an altruistic motivation condition.     

Validation of the Volunteer Motivation Scale and its relations with work climate and intention among Chinese volunteers

Grounded in self‐determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985), this two‐phase research examines the reliability and validity of the Volunteer Motivation Scale with Chinese volunteers (VMS‐C) and its relationship with the supportive work climate and intention to continue being a volunteer. In Study 1, the initial item pool of the VMS‐C with 18 items measuring six motivation types was administrated to Chinese volunteers (N = 362). Factor analysis led to a five‐factor model with 15 items. This model was cross‐validated using confirmatory factor analysis. The five factors were intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, introjected regulation, external regulation and amotivation. In Study 2, the relationships between different types of motivation (i.e. autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, amotivation) and two variables of interests, namely, supportive work climate and intention to stay, were investigated (N = 228). It was found that autonomous motivation (i.e. intrinsic motivation, identified regulation) were positively related to both supportive work climate and intention to stay. Controlled motivation (i.e. introjected regulation, external regulation) and amotivation were negatively associated with the two variables. The current findings are consistent with SDT. More studies guided by the theory in the volunteering area are recommended.     

Rethinking the Inoculation Analogy: Effects on Subjects With Differing Preexisting Attitudes

Inoculation messages employed in past studies have been consistently preventative. Yet, if inoculation strategies are to be used in mass media campaigns, researchers need to know what the effects will be on all audience members—not just those known to support a message sponsor’s position. A 3‐phase experiment was conducted involving 558 participants. Linear regression analyses identified that initially supportive, neutral, and opposed subjects exposed to the inoculation message reported significantly more positive attitudes toward the study topic of agricultural biotechnology following an attack message than did their respective controls. The inoculation message contributed to significantly increased threat levels among initially neutral and opposed subjects and marginally increased counterarguing output among initially supportive and neutral subjects. Additionally, counterarguing partially mediated final attitudes for inoculated supportive subjects.     

The Role of Unconditional Parental Regard in Autonomy‐Supportive Parenting

Two studies explored the role of parents’ unconditional positive regard (UCPR) as perceived by adolescents and young adults in promoting the effectiveness of specific parenting practices that may support offspring's academic autonomous motivation. Study 1 tested the hypothesis that UCPR predicts rationale‐giving and choice‐provision practices and, at the same time, moderates their relations with adolescents’ autonomous motivation. Study 2 replicated the association between UCPR and the parental practices, and further explored the role of parents’ authenticity as an antecedent of UCPR and parental autonomy support. Study 1 included 125 adolescents and Study 2 considered 128 college‐students and their mothers. The offspring reported on their perceptions of their mothers and on their autonomous motivation, and the mothers reported on their sense of authenticity. Both studies found consistent associations between UCPR and parenting practices that may support autonomous motivation. Moreover, Study 1 demonstrated that the rationale giving and choice provision were more strongly related to adolescents’ autonomous motivation when adolescents perceived mothers as high on UCPR. Finally, Study 2 demonstrated that mothers’ authenticity predicted UCPR, which in turn was related to autonomy‐supportive parenting. Findings support the assumption that parents’ autonomy‐supportive practices are more effective when accompanied by UCPR.     

Examining Family Communication Patterns and Seeking Social Support Direct and Indirect Effects Through Ability and Motivation

Seeking social support remains a relatively understudied aspect of supportive communication. By integrating the literatures on family communication patterns (FCPs) and supportive communication, this study examines dispositional factors that influence support seeking in particular situations. Specifically, communicative ability and motivation to seek support were theorized to mediate the relationship between FCPs and recalled strategies of support seeking. Results from a sample (N = 352) of undergraduate students not only demonstrate that people's FCPs impart different levels of communicative ability and motivation to seek support, but also indirectly influence people's strategies of support seeking. Ability and motivation also directly influence support seeking, and several of these effects are moderated by participants' sex.     

Positive mood boosts the expression of a dispositional need for closure

Three studies (N=539) examined the hypothesis that positive mood increases the degree to which epistemic motivation, i.e., the need for closure (NFC), affects the way in which an individual processes information (heuristic vs. systematic processing). In each of the studies, different methods of operationalising mood were used: in Study 1, mood was measured as a state; in Study 2, mood was induced by asking participants to recall emotional events; and in Study 3, mood was induced by emotional pictures. The styles of information processing that were utilised by our participants were operationalised in terms of their preferences for (Study 1) and ability to recall (Studies 2 and 3) schema-consistent and schema-inconsistent information. Taken together, the results of the three studies show that only under positive mood, NFC level of an individual is consistent with his or her style of information processing, that is, only under positive mood is there a negative relationship between the NFC level of an individual and the utilisation of schema-inconsistent information. Our results can be explained in terms of the effect that mood has on an individual's perceived ability to achieve NFC.     

Think‐Aloud Process Superior to Thought‐Listing in Increasing Children's Critical Processing of Advertising

This study develops and tests a model of children's critical processing of advertising. Within this model, 2 paths to reduced advertising susceptibility (i.e., attitude toward the advertised brand) were hypothesized: a cognitive path and an affective path. The secondary aim was to compare these paths for different thought verbalization processes: think‐aloud and thought‐listing. The model was tested on a sample of 8‐ to 12‐year‐old children (N = 163). Structural equation modeling revealed that, for children in the think‐aloud group, both cognitive and affective paths were successful in reducing advertising susceptibility. However, for children in the thought‐listing group, only the affective path was successful. These findings suggest that the think‐aloud process increased children's motivation and ability to critically process advertising messages.     

Self‐Enhancement on a Self‐Categorization Leash: Evidence for a Dual‐Process Model of First‐ and Third‐Person Perceptions

Research suggests that first‐ and third‐person perceptions are driven by the motive to self‐enhance and cognitive processes involving the perception of social norms. This article proposes and tests a dual‐process model that predicts an interaction between cognition and motivation. Consistent with the model, Experiment 1 (N = 112) showed that self‐enhancement drove influence judgments when messages were normatively neutral—people reported first‐person perceptions for in‐group‐favoring messages and third‐person perceptions for out‐group‐favoring messages. Experiment 2 (N = 208) showed an additive effect when social norms were also in‐group‐enhancing, but showed a decreased effect when social norms and group‐enhancement were discordant. The findings are hard to reconcile with pure motivational or cognitive explanations, but are consistent with the proposed dual‐process model.     

The Implications of Computer‐Mediated Communication (CMC) for Social Support Message Processing and Outcomes: When and Why Are the Effects of Support Messages Strengthened During CMC?

Widespread use of computer‐mediated communication (CMC) for exchanging social support has raised questions about the support‐related implications of CMC. This study drew from the dual‐process theory of supportive message outcomes and examined the implications of CMC for support message processing and outcomes. We hypothesized that the reduced social cues in CMC would encourage greater elaboration on support message content and lead support messages to have a greater impact than in face‐to‐face interaction. The results of the experiment showed that, although the support message was held constant, participants in the CMC condition reported the strongest motivation to receive support, engaged in the greatest level of message elaboration, and experienced the most beneficial changes in worry and uncertainty discrepancy.     

Experimental Evidence of the Knowledge Gap: Message Arousal,Motivation, and Time Delay

This study experimentally tested the knowledge gap from an information processing perspective. Specifically, knowledge acquisition was investigated under conditions of medium and low news message arousal, with time delay. Results show the persistence of a knowledge gap, particularly for low arousing messages. In fact, at low levels of message arousal, the gap is larger than at medium levels of arousal. Some existing research suggests that message salience explains the knowledge gap. Findings from this study show that information processing aptitude may also be a significant factor. Measures of several dimensions of participant motivation to cognitively engage with news messages were added as covariates to statistical analyses. These were found not to affect the knowledge gap outcomes in this data set.     

Weight beliefs and messages: Mindsets predict body‐shame and anti‐fat attitudes via attributions

In two samples (N = 247, N = 291), we examined the link between beliefs and messages about the changeable (incremental theory) vs. fixed (entity theory) nature of weight, attributions for weight, and body shame. We recruited participants using online sampling, employing a correlational design in Study 1 and an experimental design in Study 2. Across both studies, we found evidence for the stigma‐asymmetry effect—incremental, relative to entity beliefs/messages of weight predicted both (a) stronger onset responsibility attributions, indirectly increasing body shame and (b) stronger offset efficacy attributions, indirectly decreasing body shame. Study 2 replicated the stigma‐asymmetry effect with anti‐fat attitudes. We discuss implications for public health obesity messages with the goal of reducing stigma.     

When and How Different Motives Can Drive Motivated Political Reasoning

It is commonly assumed that the effectiveness of political messages depends on people's motivations. Yet, studies of politically motivated reasoning typically only consider what partisans generally might want to believe and do not separately examine the different types of motives that likely underlie these wants. The present research explores the roles of distinct types of motives in politically motivated thinking and identifies the conditions under which motivated reasoners are persuaded by political messages. Results of an experiment with a large, representative sample of Republicans show that manipulations inducing motivations for either (1) forming accurate impressions, (2) affirming moral values, or (3) affirming group identity each increased beliefs in and intentions to combat human-induced climate change, but only when also paired with political messages that are congruent with the induced motivation. We also find no evidence of a backlash effect even when individuals are provided with clearly uncongenial information and a motivation to reject it. Overall, our findings make clear that understanding when and why motivated political reasoning occurs requires a more complete understanding of both which motivations might be active among a group of partisans and how these motivations resonate with the messaging they receive.     

Testing an Integrated Model of Advice Giving in Supportive Interactions

Viewing supportive communication as a multistage process, the present study proposed and tested an integrated model of advice giving, which specifies three sequential moves in supportive interactions involving advice: emotional support, problem inquiry and analysis, and advice. Seven hundred and fifty‐two participants read and responded to a hypothetical scenario in which they received advice from a friend. Results of the study showed that advice that was offered following the moves of emotional support and problem inquiry and analysis was judged to be higher in quality than advice that did not follow this sequential pattern.     

SITUATIONS THAT LEAD TO DISQUALIFICATION

Disqualification is nonstraighforward communication—messages that are ambiguous, indirect, or evasive to some degree. A previous paper defined and measured disqualification as deviations from the direct “I am saying this to you in this situation”—that is, as relative ambiguity in sender, content, receiver, or context. The present article addresses the question of what causes such messages. An interpersonal, situational theory is proposed and tested in a series of five experiments, using a forced-choice among written messages in systematically varied, hypothetical situations. Subjects chose the most disqualified messages overwhelmingly when placed in a “bind.” They did so significantly more than when in a non-bind or a merely unpleasant situation. The last two experiments defined a “bind” as an avoidance-avoidance conflict and showed that disqualified messages were chosen only in these, and not in approach-approach conflicts. The conclusion is that disqualification is not a failure of the communicator, nor even a changeworthy behavior, but a reasonable response to an impossible situation, one that permits the sender to leave the field communicationally.     

The Influence of Supportive Parenting and Racial Socialization Messages on African American Youth Behavioral Outcomes

A warm and supportive parent–child relationship is one of the most crucial determinants of positive outcomes in racially and socioeconomically diverse youth. There is, however, limited understanding of the diverse and unique parenting practices of racially diverse families, particularly those from under-resourced communities. Little empirical research has considered the utility of combining universal and culturally-specific parenting strategies to benefit under-resourced racially diverse youth outcomes. Thus, the purpose of our study was to examine the real-world impact of our proposed model of integrated parenting practices on under-resourced African American youth. We therefore examined parental perception of the direct and interactive effects of (culturally-specific) racial socialization messages and (universal) supportive parenting practices on behavioral outcomes in under-resourced African American youth. A community sample of 150 parents (mean age = 41.32, SD = 1.71) provided self-report responses regarding their use of supportive parenting behaviors, racial socialization messages and their observations of problem behaviors. Consistent with our hypotheses, supportive parenting was associated with fewer maladaptive child behaviors. Regression analyses indicated that the combination of racial pride messages and supportive parenting practices predicted parental reports of observed negative internalizing and externalizing behaviors. We discuss results in the context of their implications of our integrative model of racial socialization and supportive parenting in promoting adaptive functioning in under-resourced African American families.     

Cognitive processing of corporate social responsibility campaign messages: the effects of emotional visuals on memory

ABSTRACT

This study explored the effects of visual strategies on consumers’ memory of corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaign messages. Using the limited capacity model of motivated mediated message processing (LC4MP), we examined how emotional CSR messages are cognitively processed—specifically, how emotional visuals in CSR messages affect two subprocesses of information processing: encoding and storage. We conducted a 2 (valence: positive vs. negative) × 2 (arousal: moderately arousing vs. highly arousing) within-subjects experiment across four different CSR issues. The results showed that recognition accuracy and sensitivity (d′) of company logos were best for moderately arousing negative images, whereas for recognition accuracy and sensitivity (d′) of company names, there were no significant differences across the emotional conditions. For cued recall of companies associated with CSR issues, the pattern was different—highly arousing negative images with aversive cues were the most effective. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.