The importance of social and ideal social dimensions in self‐congruity research

Chronic or situational self‐construal moderates the effects of four self‐congruity (SC) dimensions (i.e., actual, ideal, social, and ideal social) on brand evaluations. Past research has mainly focused on the actual and ideal SC effects; these effects have been found to be stronger than the social and ideal social SC effects. However, the findings of past research are based on samples from individualistic cultures. Individualists have a dominant independent self‐construal. We conduct two experiments to show that the social and ideal social SC effects are stronger than the actual and ideal SC effects for individuals with a dominant interdependent self‐construal. In Study 1, using samples from collectivistic cultures, four SC effects are compared. In Study 2, we examine how primed self‐construal, whether independent or interdependent, impacts the four SC effects. This research documents the importance of the social and ideal social dimensions in SC research.     

The intervening role of social worldviews in the relationship between the five‐factor model of personality and social attitudes

The present research investigates in a student (N = 183) and a voter sample (N = 276) whether the relationships between the Five‐Factor Model (FFM) personality dimensions and social attitudes (i.e. Right‐Wing Authoritarianism [RWA] and Social Dominance Orientation [SDO]) are mediated by social worldviews (i.e. dangerous and jungle worldviews). Two important results were obtained. First, the perception of the world as inherently dangerous and chaotic partially mediated the relationships of the personality dimensions Openness and Neuroticism and the social attitude RWA. Second, the jungle worldview completely mediated the relationships between Agreeableness and SDO, but considerable item overlap between the jungle worldview and SDO was also noted. It was further revealed that acquiescence response set and item overlap had an impact on social worldviews and attitudes, but that their relationships were hardly affected by these biases. The discussion focuses on the status of social worldviews to explain social attitudes. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The ultra‐social animal

In evolutionary perspective, what is most remarkable about human sociality is its many and diverse forms of cooperation. Here, I provide an overview of some recent research, mostly from our laboratory, comparing human children with their nearest living relatives, the great apes, in various tests of collaboration, prosocial behavior, conformity, and group‐mindedness (e.g., following and enforcing social norms). This is done in the context of a hypothetical evolutionary scenario comprising two ordered steps: a first step in which early humans began collaborating with others in unique ways in their everyday foraging and a second step in which modern humans began forming cultural groups. Humans' unique forms of sociality help to explain their unique forms of cognition and morality. © 2014. The Authors. European Journal of Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The burden of social proof: shared thresholds and social influence

Social influence rises with the number of influence sources, but the proposed relationship varies across theories, situations, and research paradigms. To clarify this relationship, I argue that people share some sense of where the "burden of social proof" lies in situations where opinions or choices are in conflict. This suggests a family of models sharing 2 key parameters, one corresponding to the location of the influence threshold, and the other reflecting its clarity--a factor that explains why discrete "tipping points" are not observed more frequently. The plausibility and implications of this account are examined using Monte Carlo and cellular automata simulations and the relative fit of competing models across classic data sets in the conformity, group deliberation, and social diffusion literatures.     

Hierarchy in the mind: The predictive power of social dominance orientation across social contexts and domains

The question of whether social dominance orientation represents a generalized orientation towards group-based hierarchies continues to arouse heated debate. Some researchers maintain that rather than indexing support for hierarchy across a variety of situations and social contexts, social dominance orientation scores simply reflect individuals' attitudes towards whatever specific context individuals had in mind while completing the scale. We systematically examine the generality of SDO by investigating its pattern of relationships with a very wide range of variables across a variety of disparate contexts, exploring inequality both as an ideal and as manifested in specific policies towards particular groups. We also experimentally test an important question raised by Sibley and Liu (2010) about whether administration of modified instructions to think only of “groups in general” is required to ensure SDO's generality. Evidence that SDO functions as a generalized orientation only when administered with instructions to think of groups in general would be a cause for much concern among the many researchers who have used the unmodified scale to index such an orientation. As expected, our results are clear in suggesting (a) that SDO represents a generalized orientation towards group-based hierarchy, and (b) that this property is not dependent on specific instructions to participants to think only of groups in general. Theoretical and practical implications for the status of SDO are discussed.     

Culture and self‐presentation: Influence of social interactions in an expected social relationship

This study investigates how the length and strength of an expected social relationship are related to different self‐presentations. Participants from Korea and the USA were assigned to different relationship conditions using vignettes, and indicated their self‐evaluation of personal abilities and social skills. The main effects of both relationship length and strength were found. There were more drastic interactions of culture and relationship length in intensive social relationship conditions than in loose conditions. Based on the results, we claim that the fundamental motivation for positive self‐regard is universal, regardless of culture and the self‐presentations that are tactical by individuals' social needs.     

The new social psychology and ‘fascism’

This article examines the claims of ethnomethodologists, symbolic interactionists and ethogenists to provide an improved basis for social psychology. The basic assumptions of these approaches are outlined, especially their common emphasis upon language and meaning. However, differences between the approaches are also noted. The problem is how this new social psychology would be capable of dealing with important social issues, such as fascism. There are criticisms from the point of view of the new social psychology of previous approaches to the social psychology of fascism, i.e., the authoritarian personality and value-analysis. A historiographical survey of fascism is made to show the sorts of problems which could be tackled by the new social psychology, particularly in relations to the concept of ‘fascism’ itself. However, it is argued that the new perspectives are inappropriate for a serious examination of a social issue like fascism, because they lack clear political commitment. They are based upon attitudes of either disassociation or sympathetic understanding, both of which are unsatisfactory for an examination of fascism. A return to a socially committed social psychology is urged.     

The violence of prediction: The uneasy relationship between social science and social policy

Neither the suggestion that certain categories of people be prevented from childbearing nor the suggestion that involuntary commitment of mental patients be made easier is justified by scientific analysis. Assertion that the high rate of violence in the United States is “caused by” inadequate socialization of biologically susceptible children raised by single parents is unjustified by available data. Similarly, results of recent studies predicting violence among the mentally ill provide only minimal implications for social policy. The problem of false positives continues, in both domains, to be a serious one, and the values, biases, and social constructions of “experts” will continue to influence their interpretation and presentation of available facts.     

The association between team‐level social capital and individual‐level work engagement: Differences between subtypes of social capital and the impact of intra‐team agreement

The study explored the association between team‐level social capital and individual‐level work engagement. Questionnaire data were collected from six companies in the dairy industry. Seven hundred seventy‐two participants divided into 65 teams were included. In confirmatory factor analyses, we found a superior model fit to a four dimensional model of social capital: bonding social capital, bridging social capital and two types of linking social capital. The results showed a positive association between all subtypes of social capital at the team level and work engagement at the individual level. However, this association only remained significant for linking social capital in relation the workplace as a whole when we adjusted for psychosocial working conditions. The level of intra‐team agreement in social capital score did not moderate the association between social capital and work engagement. In conclusion, the results provide further support for previous findings suggesting a positive association between social capital and work engagement. They add to the existing knowledge by suggesting that linking social capital in relation to the workplace is the most important explanatory variable for work engagement, thus emphasizing the need to distinguish between subtypes of social capital in research and practice.     

宫观应该发挥的作用

道教有许多积极的教义精神和内容,都是通过宫观展示和发挥出来的。依托宫观,道教在历史的过程中进步发展,展现了道教作为一种文化载体特有的精神风貌,许多著名的高道也是在各个历史的时代中依赖宫观环境发     

The role of epistemic and social characteristics in children’s selective trust: Three meta‐analyses

Over the last 15 years, researchers have been increasingly interested in understanding the nature and development of children’s selective trust. Three meta‐analyses were conducted on a total of 51 unique studies (88 experiments) to provide a quantitative overview of 3‐ to 6‐year‐old children’s selective trust in an informant based on the informant’s epistemic or social characteristics, and to examine the relation between age and children’s selective trust decisions. The first and second meta‐analyses found that children displayed medium‐to‐large pooled effects in favor of trusting the informant who was knowledgeable or the informant with positive social characteristics. Moderator analyses revealed that 4‐year‐olds were more likely to endorse knowledgeable informants than 3‐year‐olds. The third meta‐analysis examined cases where two informants simultaneously differed in their epistemic and social characteristics. The results revealed that 3‐year‐old children did not selectively endorse informants who were more knowledgeable but had negative social characteristics over informants who were less knowledgeable but had positive social characteristics. However, 4‐ to 6‐year‐olds consistently prioritized epistemic cues over social characteristics when deciding who to trust. Together, these meta‐analyses suggest that epistemic and social characteristics are both valuable to children when they evaluate the reliability of informants. Moreover, with age, children place greater value on epistemic characteristics when deciding whether to endorse an informant’s testimony. Implications for the development of epistemic trust and the design of studies of children’s selective trust are discussed.