We can do it: the interplay of construal orientation and social comparisons under threat

The authors investigated how a collective self-construal orientation in combination with positive social comparisons "turns off" the negative effects of stereotype threat. Specifically, Experiment 1 demonstrated that stereotype threat led to increased accessibility of participants' collective self ("we"). Experiment 2 showed that this feeling of "we-ness" in the stereotype threat condition centered on the participants' stereotyped group membership and not on other important social groups (e.g., students). Experiment 3 indicated that in threat situations, when participants' collective self is accessible, positive social comparison information led to improved math test performance and less concern, whereas in nonthreat situations, when the collective self is less accessible, positive comparison information led to worse test performance and more concern. Our final experiment revealed that under stereotype threat, only those comparison targets who are competent in the relevant domain (math), rather than in domains unrelated to math (athletics), enhanced participants' math test performance.     

If it is easy to remember,then it is not secure: Metacognitive beliefs affect password selection

In this research, we applied current theories of metacognition to study computer security and tested the idea that users' password selection is affected by the metacognitive belief that if a password is memorable, then it is not secure. In two experiments, different types of eight‐character passwords and longer, more secure sentences were presented. Participants rated perceived memorability and perceived security of the passwords and indicated whether they would use them in a critical and in a noncritical service. The results confirmed the belief. Sentences that are in fact highly secure and perceived as highly memorable were also perceived as weak passwords. The belief strongly affected password selection for critical services, but it had no effect on noncritical services. In sum, long sentences are a particularly interesting type of password because they meet both security and memorability criteria, but their use is limited by a false belief.     

Let's be friends: Relational self‐construal and the development of intimacy

Two studies examined the role of relational self‐construal in the development and maintenance of intimacy in roommate relationships. In Study 1, 98 roommate pairs completed questionnaires assessing attitudes toward their relationship. Results showed that high relationals disclosed more personal information than lows, which was then associated with their roommates’ perceptions of relationship quality. In Study 2, 142 roommate pairs followed the Study 1 procedure with a 1‐month follow‐up session for the participants (86% returned). Results replicated the findings of Study 1 and showed reciprocated disclosure from the roommates, followed by increased disclosure by the participants at Time 2. These findings support the H. T. Reis and P. Shaver (1988) intimacy model and indicate the importance of the self‐construal in this interpersonal process.     

Team capability beliefs over time: Distinguishing between team potency,team outcome efficacy,and team process efficacy

Teams that have positive beliefs about their capability tend to perform more effectively. However, relatively little is known about the nature and change of different types of team capability beliefs. Team potency and team efficacy are two approaches to understanding team capability beliefs, but few studies have considered these beliefs simultaneously. We investigate their distinctiveness and relative predictive power. Additionally, we propose two types of team efficacy: team outcome efficacy and team process efficacy. In two longitudinal samples of executive MBA study teams (sample 1, N=213 individuals in 41 teams; sample 2, N=360 individuals in 89 teams), we showed that team potency, team outcome efficacy, and team process efficacy are factorially distinct and measure invariant at four time points over 7 months (except for high levels of team outcome efficacy for which factorial invariance emerged). We also show differential predictive validity. Team outcome efficacy was the strongest predictor of objective team performance, whereas team process efficacy was the best predictor of citizenship behaviours. Team potency predicted both outcomes, albeit more weakly. Collectively, the findings show the value of a more fine‐grained approach to teams' capability beliefs, including a new validated measure of team process efficacy.     

It's my partner,deal with it: Rejection sensitivity,normative beliefs,and commitment

Past research has shown that normative beliefs, or perceptions of (dis)approval from social network members regarding one's romance, significantly predict relationship commitment. We investigated sensitivity to rejection as a moderator of the normative beliefs–commitment association. We tested and found support for the moderating effect of rejection sensitivity (RS; Study 1) and sensitivity specific to rejection of one's current romantic partner (Study 2) on the normative beliefs–commitment link. The link was significantly stronger for people with lower levels of RS: People who were less sensitive to rejection indicated lower levels of commitment when they perceived less network approval for their relationship. In contrast, people with higher levels of RS indicated higher levels of commitment in the face of less perceived network approval.     

Getting it wrong about Miranda rights: false beliefs, impaired reasoning, and professional neglect

Television and other media inundate Americans with innumerable yet fragmentary examples of Miranda warnings; however, familiarity born of repeated exposures cannot be equated with accuracy or understanding. The intended purpose of these warnings is to inform and caution rather than to pacify and reassure--a purpose that cannot be realized when most custodial suspects assume that they already know everything the law insists they should be told. Painstakingly negotiated Constitutional safeguards are further imperiled when attorneys, judges, and forensic evaluators are lulled into complacency by the commonly held misconception that everyone understands their Miranda rights. This article elucidates certain false beliefs and misapprehensions regarding Miranda comprehension and identifies widespread neglect of these issues by the professional community. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved).     

Alien psychology: Associations between extraterrestrial beliefs and paranormal ideation,superstitious beliefs,schizotypy, and the Big Five personality factors

This study examined the associations between the belief that intelligent extraterrestrial life has visited Earth and that governmental agencies have knowledge of this fact and various individual psychological difference factors. A total of 433 participants completed measures of extraterrestrial beliefs, paranormal beliefs, superstitious ideation, schizotypy, the Big Five personality factors, and demographic variables. Results showed that extraterrestrial beliefs were significantly predicted by paranormal beliefs, the unusual experience factor of schizotypy, Openness to Experience, and education. These results are discussed in relation to work suggesting that an individual differences approach may be useful to clarifying the underlying processes that give rise to extraterrestrial beliefs. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Errors, efficiency, and the interplay between attention and category learning

Learning to identify objects as members of categories is an essential cognitive skill and learning to deploy attention effectively is a core component of that process. The present study investigated an assumption imbedded in formal models of categorization: error is necessary for attentional learning. Eye-trackers were used to record participants’ allocation of attention to task relevant and irrelevant features while learning a complex categorization task. It was found that participants optimized their fixation patterns in the absence of both performance errors and corrective external feedback. Optimization began immediately after each category was mastered and continued for many trials. These results demonstrate that error is neither necessary nor sufficient for all forms of attentional learning.     

Neural evidence for the interplay between language, gesture, and action: a review

Co-speech gestures embody a form of manual action that is tightly coupled to the language system. As such, the co-occurrence of speech and co-speech gestures is an excellent example of the interplay between language and action. There are, however, other ways in which language and action can be thought of as closely related. In this paper we will give an overview of studies in cognitive neuroscience that examine the neural underpinnings of links between language and action. Topics include neurocognitive studies of motor representations of speech sounds, action-related language, sign language and co-speech gestures. It will be concluded that there is strong evidence on the interaction between speech and gestures in the brain. This interaction however shares general properties with other domains in which there is interplay between language and action.     

It is irrelevant,but it matters: Using confluence theory to predict the influence of beliefs on evaluations,attitudes, and intentions

The present research is based on the notion of confluence—that associated mental elements have a tendency to become more consistent with each other over time, even if some of them are logically irrelevant to the issue at hand. This idea was applied to a voting paradigm where participants were exposed to varying numbers of valenced beliefs about a candidate. Two experiments tested the idea that although valenced beliefs influence attributions and voting intentions, there is an additional process whereby evaluations of irrelevant beliefs also are influenced. Not surprisingly, as more positive or negative beliefs were presented, voting intentions became more positive or more negative, respectively. More dramatically, however, positive or negative evaluations of irrelevant beliefs became more extreme in the direction of the presented items as more of them were presented. An additional experiment tested alternative mechanisms. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cognitive consequences of affirming the self: The relationship between self-affirmation and object construal

Previous research suggests that affirming one’s important values is a powerful way of protecting one’s general self integrity, allowing non-defensive processing of self-relevant information. In a series of four studies linking self-affirmation with construal level, we find that in addition to any self buffering effect, thinking about one’s values and why they are important more generally shifts cognitive processing towards superordinate and structured thinking. Self-affirmation leads participants to perceive a greater degree of structure within their selves (Study 1), to increasingly identify actions in terms of their end-states (Study 2), to more strongly distinguish between primary and secondary object features (Study 3) and to perform better on tasks requiring abstract, structured thinking than those requiring detail-oriented, concrete thinking. Together, these findings suggest that thinking about important values helps individuals to structure information and focus on the big picture.     

Lay beliefs about meaning in life: Examinations across targets,time, and countries

We examined how lay beliefs about meaning in life relate to experiences of personal meaning. In Study 1 (N = 406) meaning in life was perceived to be a common experience, but one that requires effort to attain, and these beliefs related to levels of meaning in life. Participants viewed their own lives as more meaningful than the average person’s, and technology as both creating challenges and providing supports for meaning. Study 2 (N = 1719) showed cross-country variation in levels of and beliefs about meaning across eight countries. However, social relationships and happiness were identified as the strongest sources of meaning in life consistently across countries. We discuss the value of lay beliefs for understanding meaning in life both within and across cultures.     

Developing new treatments: on the interplay between theories, experimental science and clinical innovation

It is often argued that behaviour therapy and cognitive-behaviour therapy have a sound theoretical and experimental basis. In the early days of behaviour therapy, the learning theory accounts that were the basis of treatment made clear suggestions about the procedures that were likely to be effective in treatment. In contrast, more recent cognitive-behavioural models tend to specify targets for therapy, but not the procedures that might be optimal for changing the targets. As a consequence, a considerable amount of work has to be done in order to create an effective cognitive-behavioural treatment from a promising cognitive-behavioural model. The process by which cognitive-behavioural treatments are developed is rarely discussed in the literature. For this reason, the way in which one group has used a mixture of phenomenological, experimental and treatment development studies to create effective cognitive therapy programmes for anxiety disorders is described.     

Self-pity: exploring the links to personality,control beliefs,and anger

Self-pity is a frequent response to stressful events. So far, however, empirical research has paid only scant attention to this subject. The present article aims at exploring personality characteristics associated with individual differences in feeling sorry for oneself. Two studies with N = 141 and N = 161 university students were conducted, employing multidimensional measures of personality, control beliefs, anger, loneliness, and adult attachment. With respect to personality, results showed strong associations of self-pity with neuroticism, particularly with the depression facet. With respect to control beliefs, individuals high in self-pity showed generalized externality beliefs, seeing themselves as controlled by both chance and powerful others. With respect to anger expression, self-pity was primarily related to anger-in. Strong connections with anger rumination were also found. Furthermore, individuals high in self-pity reported emotional loneliness and ambivalent-worrisome attachments. Finally, in both studies, a strong correlation with gender was found, with women reporting more self-pity reactions to stress than men. Findings are discussed with respect to how they support, extend, and qualify the previous literature on self-pity, and directions for future empirical research are pointed out.     

Culture and beliefs about time: comparisons among black Americans, black Africans, and white Americans

The authors investigated the extent to which racial factors, cultural factors, or both influence a person's beliefs about physical time, personal time, and experienced and remembered duration. A total of 750 Black American, Black African, and White American students responded to a questionnaire on these beliefs about time. Factor analysis was used to compare belief structures. Pairwise comparisons, performed separately for each statement, tested the direction and strength of the reported beliefs. The groups showed many similarities, but they also showed some differences. All 3 groups differed in beliefs about physical and personal time, but they did not differ in beliefs about duration experiences. This evidence does not support simplistic views of racial or cultural influences. Culture may differentially influence beliefs about physical time and personal time. Beliefs about duration experiences may represent an ethnic factor that transcends cultures.     

Predicting and understanding behavioral volitions: the interplay between goals and behaviors

In traditional attitude research behavioral volitions have been usually considered in isolation from the broader context that justify their formation. Most behaviors are functional to goal achievement and can be better understood and predicted by considering relevant constructs at the goal level. The interplay between behaviors and goals is the focus of this study. Constructs specified by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) are examined together with constructs proposed by the Model of Goal‐directed Behavior (MGB) and two further goal constructs (goal desires and goal perceived feasibility). These theoretical ideas are tested on a sample of 104 students having a goal for body weight regulation or for studying effort. The results indicate that the inclusion of distal goal‐related constructs significantly improve the prediction of behavioral volitions, over and above the prediction based on behavior‐related constructs. The MGB and an extended model outperform the TPB and show substantial predictive power. The implications of the findings for research on behaviors and goals are discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.