Social class differences in N400 indicate differences in spontaneous trait inference

An emerging literature indicates that dispositional bias in causal attribution of social behavior is weaker for people with working-class (vs. middle-class) backgrounds. However, it is unknown whether this difference is also present in spontaneous forms of trait inference. In the current work, American undergraduates were asked to merely memorize many pairings of a target face and a trait-implying behavior. In a subsequent lexical judgment task, after each face was presented as a fixation, either an implied trait or its antonym was given as a target. As expected, participants with college-educated parents (middle class) showed a strong N400 event-related potential component to the antonym (vs. the implied trait), suggesting spontaneous trait inference during the memorization phase. In contrast, those with high-school-educated parents (working class) showed no such effect. It is important to note that the N400 spontaneous trait inference effect was associated with perceived significance of dispositions in accounting for social behaviors.     

Spontaneous goal inferences are often inferred faster than spontaneous trait inferences

We present four experiments in which participants were exposed to texts depicting behaviors that afforded inferences about actors' traits and goals. Results from a false recognition task with varying response deadlines revealed heightened activation of goal inferences already within a 350 ms response deadline. In contrast, trait inferences were made only when there was no response deadline, and when the behavior also implied a goal. These results indicate that spontaneous inferences on goals are often encoded more strongly in memory and are reactivated much more quickly in comparison with spontaneous trait inferences. Moreover, spontaneous trait inferences are often facilitated when an inference is first made on the goal of the behavior. These findings are discussed in light of recent developmental and neuroscientific evidence on social inferences, and current theories on impression formation.     

The person reference process in spontaneous trait inferences

Five studies examined whether spontaneous trait inferences uniquely reference the person who performed a trait-implying behavior. On each study trial in 5 studies, participants saw 2 faces and a behavioral sentence referring to one of them. Later, participants saw face-trait pairs and indicated whether they had seen the trait word in the sentence presented with the face. Participants falsely recognized implied traits more when these traits were paired with actors' faces than with control faces. This effect was replicated for a large set effaces (120), after a week delay between study and recognition test, when equal attention was paid to each face, and when the orientation of the face at recognition was different from the orientation at encoding.     

The efficiency of binding spontaneous trait inferences to actors’ faces

Three experiments tested the hypothesis that the process of binding spontaneous trait inferences (STIs) to actors’ representations is relatively independent of attentional resources. Participants were presented with faces paired with single behaviors. Binding of STIs to actors was revealed by a higher false recognition of implied traits paired with actors’ faces than of implied traits randomly paired with other familiar faces. This effect replicated when each face-behavior pair was presented for 2 s (Experiment 1), when the processing of the information was shallow (Experiment 2), and when participants performed a secondary task during the presentation of behaviors (Experiment 3). Experiment 4 showed that explicit on-line trait judgments of the actor, but not explicit behavior judgments, predicted the false recognition of implied traits in the context of the actor. The possibility that the process of binding STIs to actors’ representations is automatic is discussed.     

Appearance-based inferences bias source memory

Previous research varying the trustworthiness of appearance has demonstrated that facial characteristics contribute to source memory. Two studies extended this work by investigating the contribution to source memory of babyfaceness, a facial quality known to elicit strong spontaneous trait inferences. Young adult participants viewed younger and older babyfaced and mature-faced individuals paired with sentences that were either congruent or incongruent with the target??s facial characteristics. Identifying a source as dominant or submissive was least accurate when participants chose between a target whose behavior was incongruent with facial characteristics and a lure whose face mismatched the target in appearance but matched the source memory question. In Experiment 1, this effect held true when older sources were identified, but not own-age, younger sources. When task difficulty was increased in Experiment 2, the relationship between face?Cbehavior congruence and lure facial characteristics persisted, but it was not moderated by target age even though participants continued to correctly identify fewer older than younger sources. Taken together, these results indicate that trait expectations associated with variations in facial maturity can bias source memory for both own- and other-age faces, although own-age faces are less vulnerable to this bias, as is shown in the moderation by task difficulty.     

Female first,leader second? Gender bias in the encoding of leadership behavior

In the current paper we investigate whether gender affects the encoding of leadership behavior. In three studies we found evidence that perceivers had difficulty encoding leadership behaviors into their underlying prototypical leadership traits when the behavior implied an agentic trait and the behavior was enacted by a female. Using a lexical decision making task, in Study 1 we demonstrated that agentic leadership traits were less accessible than communal leadership traits when the leader was female. Additionally, Study 1 also demonstrated that agentic traits were less accessible when the leader was female versus male. In Studies 2a and 2b, we replicated the differences we found for agentic leadership behaviors using perceiver’s self-ratings as the dependent variable. Results are discussed both in terms of their implications for future research on gender bias in leadership and their practical implications for eliminating gender bias against females who aspire to leadership positions.     

中国人的群体参照记忆效应

在自我参照效应范式中加入参照认同群体加工任务,比较了中国被试在参照中国人和参照美国人进行记忆加工时的再认率及“记得”与“知道”判断的成绩。两项实验结果一致表明,参照中国人加工的再认成绩显著高于参照美国人,表明记忆加工的认同群体参照效应,而在“记得”与“知道”指标上并无差异;参照中国人加工的再认成绩和“记得”判断成绩显著低于自我参照加工。根据个体自我、关系自我和集体自我的分类方法,自我参照效应反映了个体自我对于记忆加工的影响,群体参照效应则主要反映了集体自我的影响     

Behavioral cues to others’ motivation and goal pursuits: The perception of effort facilitates goal inference and contagion

Recent research demonstrates that people spontaneously, i.e., without conscious intent, infer and pursue the goals perceived in others’ behavior, a phenomenon termed goal contagion [Aarts, H., Gollwitzer, P., & Hassin, R. R. (2004). Goal contagion: perceiving is for pursuing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 23-27]. Three experiments extend this work by studying the basic role of perceived behavioral effort in goal inference and pursuit. In an adaptation of the Animated Film Technique, participants were exposed to a movie featuring movements of a ball that implied the goal of helping. The amount of effort in pursuing the implied goal was experimentally varied. Results showed that an increase in perceived effort led to stronger inferences of the implied goal, as was established by enhanced accessibility of the goal representation in a word completion and lexical decision task. Furthermore, as a result of these inferences, participants more strongly pursued the inferred goal of helping. Implications for research on goal inferences and pursuit are briefly discussed.     

Trait desirability and cultural difference in the better‐than‐average effect

The present study examined whether cultural differences in the better‐than‐average effect (the tendency to view oneself as better than average) would vary with trait desirability and used Koreans and Americans as representatives of East Asian and Western cultures, respectively. In Study 1, the author found that the magnitude of cultural difference in the better‐than‐average effect varied between Americans and Koreans. Specifically, Korean participants failed to exhibit the better‐than‐average effect for any negative trait. In contrast, Americans tended to display the better‐than‐average effect more than Koreans, and cultural difference was greater for negative traits than for positive traits. In Study 2 as a conceptual replication of Study 1, it was also found that the magnitude of cultural difference in the better‐than‐average effect was significantly and negatively correlated with trait desirability. In Study 3 to pin down the underlying mechanism that gives rise to cultural differences, it was found that while the self‐effacing orientation of the modesty norm mediates the cross‐cultural difference, the other‐enhancing orientation moderates it.     

When stereotypes get in the way: stereotypes obstruct stereotype-inconsistent trait inferences

There is a growing body of evidence indicating that people spontaneously make trait inferences while observing the behavior of others. The present article reports a series of 5 experiments that examined the influence of stereotypes on the spontaneous inference of traits. Results consistently showed weaker spontaneous trait inferences for stereotype-inconsistent behavioral information than for stereotype-consistent and stereotype-neutral information. Taken together, the current results suggest that specific spontaneous trait inferences become obstructed by inhibitory processes when behavior is inconsistent with an already activated stereotype. These findings are discussed in relation to stereotype maintenance processes and recent models of attribution in social judgment.     

Outcome Expectancies and Expectancy Accessibility in Exercise Behavior

Most people do not engage in recommended levels of physical activity. Social cognition research indicates that self‐reported outcome expectancies (OEs) are associated with exercise behavior, but self‐report assessments have limitations. We investigated whether reaction times (RTs) to endorse outcome expectancies would capture unique information about spontaneous cognitive processes associated with exercise behavior. Exercisers and sedentary participants were randomly assigned to complete an exercise test or to rest. Participants completed an OE questionnaire and RT task before and after the test/rest. On the RT task, exercisers endorsed exercise positive outcomes more rapidly than sedentary participants. Furthermore, reported OEs and RTs were independently associated with exercise status. RTs may afford a more comprehensive assessment of the cognitive processes associated with exercise behavior.     

Asian American-white American differences in expressions of social anxiety: a replication and extension

This study examined whether Asian American-White American differences on a trait measure of social anxiety extend to nonverbal behavior and to reports of anxiety-related emotions during a 3-min social performance task. Forty Asian Americans and 40 White Americans completed a trait measure of social anxiety and rated their emotions before, and immediately after, a social performance task. Their videotaped behavior was coded using microlevel behavioral codes (e.g., gaze avoidance, fidgeting). Results indicated that Asian Americans reported more anxiety than White Americans on the trait measure and on the emotion rating scales but that they did not differ substantially on microlevel behavioral indexes of social anxiety. Implications of ethnic variations in the patterns of anxious responding are discussed.     

Cultural variations in pre-emptive effort downplaying

Pre-emptive effort downplaying (PED) occurs when people publicly downplay their effort expenditure on test preparation prior to taking a test for the sake of managing the social evaluation of the self in the face of a challenging performance task. Thirty Asian Americans and 29 European Americans had two opportunities to publicly report their effort expenditure on a practice exercise. They also completed measures of self-evaluations and concern for performance before working on the practice exercise, and the self-evaluation measure again at the completion of the actual test. Only European Americans showed PED. Additionally, concern for performance was positively associated with and mediated cultural variations in PED. The implications of these results are discussed.     

Not as Different as We Want to Be: Attitudinally Consistent Trait Desirability Leads to Exaggerated Associations Between Personality and Sociopolitical Attitudes

Research connecting sociopolitical attitudes to personality typically relies exclusively on self‐report measures of personality. A recently discovered mechanism of bias in self‐reports highlights a particular challenge for this approach. Specifically, individuals tend to report exaggerated levels of a trait to the extent that they view that trait as desirable. In a community sample of 443 participants, differences in sociopolitical attitudes were associated with differences in the extent to which individuals provided biased self‐reports for a given trait (relative to trait levels indicated by peer‐report or an objective measure) as well as differences in views of the desirability of that trait. Further, the tendency to misrepresent traits in a manner consistent with one's sociopolitical attitudes was mediated by differences in views of trait desirability. Thus, although meaningful personality differences exist among those with differing sociopolitical attitudes, those differences may not be as large as people with opposing sociopolitical attitudes might like them to be.     

自我面孔加工与注意——来自反眼跳的证据

作为一种具有重要生物学意义和社会性的视觉刺激,面孔比一般的视觉刺激更容易吸引注意.本研究以Eyelink 2000车载眼动仪为工具,在混合呈现的反眼跳任务中考察了32名大学生被试对自我面孔、恋人面孔和陌生面孔加工中的注意捕获和维持注意方面的特点.结果发现:在朝向眼跳任务中,自我面孔和恋人面孔的眼跳错误率显著低于异性陌生面孔,并且自我面孔和恋人面孔都表现出了保持注意的优势;而在反眼跳任务中,自我面孔、恋人面孔与陌生人面孔的反眼跳错误率和眼跳潜伏期没有显著差异.这一结果表明:自我面孔、恋人面孔与陌生面孔之间在高水平视觉特征上的差异没有达到影响反眼跳的最小可觉察差别量.因此,在反眼跳任务中面孔的优势效应掩盖了自我相关信息加工的优势,导致了自我面孔与陌生面孔没有表现出对注意捕获或保持注意上的差异.     

Gender Self-Stereotyping Is Context Dependent for Men But Not for Women

Two experiments tested whether activation of associations between the self and specific aspects of the gender stereotype is context dependent. Self-stereotype associations were assessed with a sequential priming paradigm, using the words “I” versus “others” as primes, and gender-stereotypic trait words as targets in a lexical decision task. For males, self-primes increased the accessibility of male-stereotypic traits in a context in which the stereotypic trait target was relevant but not in an irrelevant context. For females, self-primes increased the accessibility of female-stereotypic traits irrespective of the context. Difference in context dependence of self-stereotyping reflect more flexible gender-role self-concepts for males than females.     

The automatic and co-occurring activation of multiple social inferences

People make a variety of automatic inferences when observing others' actions. These include inferences about stable dispositions as well as transitory goal states and social situations. However, models of social inference have rarely considered whether different types of automatic inferences can co-occur. We present three experiments in which participants were incidentally exposed to texts depicting behaviors that afforded inferences about actors' traits and the social situations these actors were experiencing. Results from lexical decision and probe-recognition tasks revealed heightened activation of both trait and situational inferences; furthermore, this co-occurring activation was spontaneous, unconscious, and independent of processing resources or specific impression-formation goals. A fourth experiment extended these findings by showing that when participants were asked to make deliberate attributional judgments of the same set of behaviors, typical goal-directed biases reflecting the selection of either trait or situational interpretations emerged. Implications for social inference processes are discussed.