Reactions to Receiving Assumptive Help: The Moderating Effects of Group Membership and Perceived Need for Help1

The present study examined how group membership and need for help, variables that can operate independently or in combination, can affect reactions to receiving help. Arab participants (n = 164) received or did not receive help from an in‐group member (Arab helper) or from an out‐group high‐status member (Jewish helper) when the task was described as easy or difficult, or when no information was given. As predicted, Arab participants who received assistance from a Jewish helper or received assistance on an easy task showed more negative reactions than did those who received assistance from an Arab helper or on a difficult task. The theoretical implications for disentangling intergroup and interpersonal influences on reactions to receiving help are considered.     

The Influence of Diversity Context on White Men's and Racial Minorities' Reactions to Disproportionate Group Harm

Abstract

The author examined the influence of organizational diversity management on White men's and racial minorities' perceptions of fairness when members of their identity group were disproportionately harmed in a layoff. Using a scenario design, the author studied the reactions of 284 White male and racial minority layoff survivors under 2 different diversity contexts. White men saw the layoff as less fair to their group when other White men were laid off disproportionately in an active-diversity context versus an inactive-diversity context. Racial minorities' perceptions of fairness when other minorities were laid off disproportionately were not influenced by the diversity context, but they perceived the layoff as more fair to their group in an active-diversity context when White men were laid off disproportionately. The findings suggest that during layoffs or other significant organizational changes where job insecurity is heightened, different identity groups might perceive diversity management differently.     

Improving Customer Reactions to Electronic Brokered Ultimatums: The Benefits of Prior Experience and Explanations

Because of the growth of online discount travel intermediaries (e.g., Priceline), researchers have become interested in how customers react to electronic brokered ultimatum bargaining contexts. This paper investigates how characteristics of the customer and characteristics of the bargaining context might ameliorate customers' (a) perceptions of justice; (b) willingness to recommend the intermediary to others; and (c) willingness to repatronize the intermediary. We found that customer familiarity generally improved customer reactions to the electronic intermediary. We found a moderating effect for intermediary explanations in the form of an excuse, as explanations improved customer reactions when offers were rejected, but worsened reactions when offers were accepted.     

Work‐Group Membership (In)Stability and Survivors' Reactions to Organizational Downsizing1

This longitudinal panel study investigated the interactive effect of work‐group membership stability and time on survivors' reactions to organizational downsizing. The participants were 159 nonmanagement employees of a federal government department. Survivors in moderate‐change work groups did not react more negatively to the downsizing. In fact, they reported a significant increase in job satisfaction, job security, job performance, and employee morale. Survivors who changed to different work groups expressed the least positive attitudes in the initial phase of the downsizing, but the most positive attitudes at the completion of the downsizing. Work‐group membership (in)stability was more likely to affect survivors' reactions to various aspects of their job over time than factors related to the work group itself.     

A Test of Evolutionary and Sociocultural Explanations of Reactions to Sexual Harassment

Although the field of evolutionary psychology has been perceived to generate predictions that are untestable, one potentially falsifiable prediction of the evolutionary approach is that women should be less upset by unwanted sexual advances from high than from low status men. Three experiments tested this hypothesis within a workplace and an academic setting. Across the first two experiments, women and men were actually more upset by perceived sexual harassment from higher than lower status members of the other sex. Results of Study 3 suggested that women only showed this difference when there was a power relationship involved. These results conflict with the evolutionary prediction and support a sociocultural explanation of reactions to sexual harassment; that is, that they are influenced by power differentials.     

Children's Causal Explanations of Psychogenic Bodily Reactions

In Experiment 1, 4‐, 5‐, 8‐ and 11‐year‐old Japanese children (n = 69) and adults (n = 21) explained their reasons for bodily induced reactions (e.g. overeating leads to vomiting) and psychogenic bodily reactions (bodily outcomes originating in the mind, e.g. frustration leads to vomiting). Children gave vitalistic explanations, that is, explaining causal connections by referring to a vital force, in responses concerning bodily induced reactions, whereas adults typically gave these explanations in responses concerning psychogenic bodily reactions. In Experiment 2, 5‐, 8‐ and 11‐year‐old children (n = 96) and adults (n = 24) explained bodily induced and psychogenic bodily reactions, and psychological behaviour, for example, that frustration leads to nail biting. As in Experiment 1, vitalistic explanations tended to be found for psychogenic tasks but were seldom found in either children's or adults' explanations of psychological behaviour. The findings suggest that with age vitalistic causality obtains cross mind‐body implications. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Motivations for Group Membership: The Role of Subjective Importance and Uncertainty Reduction

An experiment was conducted to investigate the idea that an important motive for identifying with social groups is to reduce subjective uncertainty, particularly uncertainty on subjectively important dimensions that have implications for the self-concept (e.g., Hogg, 1996; Hogg & Mullin, 1999). When people are uncertain on a dimension that is subjectively important, they self-categorize in terms of an available social categorization and, thus, exhibit group behaviors. To test this general hypothesis, group membership, task uncertainty, and task importance were manipulated in a 2 × × × 2 between-participants design (N = 128), under relatively minimal group conditions. Ingroup identification and desire for consensual validation of specific attitudes were the key dependent measures, but we also measured social awareness. All three predictions were supported. Participants identified with their group (H1), and desired to obtain consensual validation from ingroup members (H2) when they were uncertain about their judgments on important dimensions, indicating that uncertainty reduction motivated participants towards embracing group membership. In addition, identification mediated the interactive effect of the independent variables on consensual validation (H3), and the experimental results were not associated with an increased sense of social awareness and, therefore, were unlikely to represent only behavioral compliance with generic social norms. Some implications of this research in the study of cults and "totalist" groups and the explication of genocide and group violence are discussed.     

Emotion Regulation in Workgroups: The Roles of Demographic Diversity and Relational Work Context

Drawing on the social identity perspective, we investigate the cross‐level relationship between demographic diversity in workgroups and emotion regulation. We propose that age, racial, and gender diversity in workgroups relate positively to emotion regulation because of demography‐related in‐group/out‐group dynamics. We also examine the moderating role of the relational work context, specifically task interdependence and social interaction, on the relationship between demographic diversity and emotion regulation. Results from a sample of 2,072 employees in 274 workgroups indicate that working in a group with greater age diversity is positively related to an employee's emotion regulation. Results suggest the operation of the age diversity effect can be attributed primarily to younger employees when they are in workgroups with older coworkers. Results reveal asymmetric effects for racial diversity such that racial out‐group members engage in higher levels of emotion regulation than racial in‐group members when racial diversity is low, whereas racial in‐group members engage in higher levels of emotion regulation than racial out‐group members when racial diversity is high. Race effects also suggest a moderating effect of social interaction; specifically, social interaction weakens the relationship between racial diversity and emotion regulation. Gender effects are not significant.     

群体关系与问责对信息共享意愿及谈判行为的影响研究

本研究就国人的群体关系与问责对谈判者行为及信息共享意愿进行考察,试图探讨文化对谈判者的影响。通过对128名在校大学生的模拟谈判实验,发现谈判者在群内谈判比在群际谈判时有更高的信息共享意愿和更少的强硬行为,群体关系和问责对信息共享意愿及主观利益冲突有交互效应。具体而言,高度问责时,谈判者在群内谈判比群际谈判时有更多的信息共享意愿;低度问责时,谈判者在群内谈判比群际谈判时有更少的主观利益冲突。     

The Impact of Gender and Age on Attitudes and Reactions to Unemployment: The Israeli Case

The research examined the impact of gender and age on attitudes and reactions to joblessness among 613 unemployed individuals in Israel (aged 21–60 years). With regard to ethnicity, most of the participants were born in Israel and the remainder were evenly distributed between Europe–America and Asia–Africa. The majority of participants had at least secondary education. On the whole, results indicated that both gender and age had significant effects, but did not interact. Furthermore, there was little significant interaction between marital status and gender. Despite recent changes in women's orientations toward work, gender differences are still evident in relation to unemployment: (1) women tend to reject jobs more readily than men on the basis of job content, working conditions, conflicts between job requirements and family obligations, and masculine-typed work, and (2) men tend to devote more time per week to job hunting. As these differences are not age related and are partly independent of marital status, it can be argued that they stem from generalized social expectations regarding gender roles (men as breadwinners and women as responsible for the home) to which unemployed men and women adjust themselves even before they actually fill these roles. In addition, the following age differences were apparent: (1) middle-aged unemployed reported spending more time looking for work than did members of the younger groups, (2) the youngest group saw advantages in unemployment in that it left them time to devote to themselves and also reported the least deterioration in health as a result of unemployment, and (3) young people were more likely to believe that others have no respect for the unemployed, yet preferred to be out of work than to accept a low-paying job.     

Investigating Stereotypes Towards the Outgroup: The Role of Religious Concepts and Group Membership

We examined the effects of exposure to religious concepts on stereotypes of two unique groups in Israel—Arab Muslims and Arab Christians. In Study 1, Muslim persons exposed to Jewish concepts and Christian persons exposed to Christian concepts showed increased negative stereotypes toward Jews. The findings were replicated in Study 2, additionally showing that identification with the religious ingroup has a moderating effect, which either increases or reduces stereotypes following exposure to outgroup concepts. In Study 3, a control condition was run, confirming that the religious priming effects were due to an increase in negative stereotypes. Thus, the paradox of religion may be partially accounted for by group distinctiveness, exposure to specific religious content, group membership, and identification with the ingroup.     

Individual Versus Collective Responses to Membership in a Low-Status Group: The Effects of Stability and Individual Ability

Abstract

To test predictions of social identity theory (SIT; M. A. Hogg & D. Abrams, 1988; H. Tajfel & J. C. Turner, 1979) and the 5-stage model (FSM; D. M. Taylor & D. J. McKirnan, 1984) concerning reactions to membership in a low-status group, the authors led 112 pupils to believe that another (anonymous) class outperformed their class. In an overall permeable and legitimate intergroup context, the authors manipulated the stability of the low group status and the individual ability of the group members. Contrary to SIT and FSM, the pupils generally favored collective normative action. Individual mobility was preferred only by group members, especially boys, with high individual ability who thought that the low status of their group was stable. The results support FSM assumptions (a) that individual ability is a powerful determinant of intergroup behavior but (b) that one should consider its impact in combination with perceived stability.     

Reactions of Outpatient Schizophrenics to Group Psychotherapy

Preoedipal patients present a special problem in group treatment. This is because their difficulties arose largely before they learned to use words. Such patients are prone to act. rather than talk. They do not respond well to interpretation. They must be approached and influenced through feelings. We can utilize the group to provide them with maturational experiences, helping them reach a more adult level of mental functioning so that our usual technical interventions can be brought into play. The paper discusses methods for enhancing this process, including reflection, emotional communication, using reconstruction to close developmental gaps, and immunization.     

Minority Group Membership and Perceptions of Self-help: Evidence from Israel

This study explores the meanings associated with the term ‘self-help’ in the general Arab population in Israel. It compares these associated meanings across various groups created by several demographic variables. The Arab population in Israel numbers nearly one million, comprising 18% of the total population of the state. The study used a random sample of 250 participants, representative of the general Arab population in Israel. Data was collected in a telephone survey which lasted 3–7 minutes. Three themes surfaced as the most prevalent meanings associated with the concept ‘self-help’: the individual meaning, which refers to one's ability to solve one's own problems and to rely on one's own strengths and resources; helping the ‘other’; and helping the needy. Significant differences in the associated meanings of the self-help concept related to level of education, marital status, and whether the respondent had heard of the self-help concept. The significance of the findings is discussed within several frames of reference. First, they are examined within the context of a particular minority culture which is constantly interacting with Israeli Jewish cultural values and is undergoing a change from traditional systems of values to modern Western ones. Second, the universal and particular attributes of the self-help phenomenon are outlined. Third, the initial developmental stages of self-help organizations within the Arab population living in Israel are discussed.     

Trust and Acceptance in Response to References to Group Membership: Minority and Majority Perspectives on Cross‐Group Interactions1

This research examined anticipated feelings of trust and acceptance in cross‐group interactions among members of ethnic minority and majority groups, depending on whether an out‐group member referred to their group membership. In Study 1, Asian, Latino, and White participants read scenarios describing interactions between them and an in‐group member, an out‐group member, or an out‐group member who referred to their group membership. Participants from each group responded more negatively toward interactions with out‐group members when they referred to group membership. These findings were replicated in Study 2 with samples of Black and White participants, also showing that anticipated prejudice partially mediated the effects of out‐group members' references to group membership on feelings of trust and acceptance. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of facilitating intergroup communication and conversations about group differences.     

Test-Taker Reactions to the Selection Process: Effects of Outcome Favorability, Explanations, and Voice on Fairness Perceptions

This study examined the effects of providing an explanation and voice on fairness perceptions and reactions of test takers under favorable and unfavorable selection decisions. Participants took either a cognitive ability test or an overt integrity test in a simulated selection situation. Then, the voice manipulation was introduced. Participants were informed of the hiring decision with or without an explanation. Results showed that type of test had effects on procedural fairness perceptions such that these reactions were more positive when a cognitive ability test was used. The results of voice and explanation manipulations on fairness perceptions indicated that providing an explanation had a positive effect on perceptions but, surprisingly, face-validity perceptions were less favorable when participants had voice opportunity.