Task conflict,information processing,and decision-making: The damaging effect of relationship conflict

A popular theoretical assumption holds that task-related disagreements stimulate critical thinking, and thus may improve group decision making. Two recent meta-analyses showed, however, that task conflict can have a positive effect, a negative effect, or no effect at all on decision-making quality (De Dreu & Weingart, 2003; De Wit, Greer, & Jehn, 2012). In two studies, we built upon the suggestion of both meta-analyses that the presence of relationship conflict determines whether a task conflict is positively or negatively related to decision making. We hypothesized and found that the level of perceived relationship conflict during task conflict (Study 1), and the actual presence (vs. absence) of relationship conflict during task conflict (Study 2), increased group members’ rigidity in holding onto suboptimal initial preferences during decision making and thus led to poor decisions. In both studies the effect of relationship conflict on decision making was mediated by biased use of information.     

Multidimensional latent-construct analysis of children's social information processing patterns: correlations with aggressive behavior problems

Social information processing (SIP) patterns were conceptualized in orthogonal domains of process and context and measured through responses to hypothetical vignettes in a stratified sample of 387 children (50% boys; 49% minority) from 4 geographical sites followed from kindergarten through 3rd grade. Multidimensional, latent-construct, confirmatory factor analyses supported the within-construct internal consistency, cross-construct discrimination, and multidimensionality of SIP patterns. Contrasts among nested structural equation models indicated that SIP constructs significantly predicted children's aggressive behavior problems as measured by later teacher reports. The findings support the multidimensional construct validity of children's social cognitive patterns and the relevance of SIP patterns in children's aggressive behavior problems.     

Early information processing biases in social anxiety

Considerable controversy persists regarding the nature of threat-related attention biases in social anxiety. Previous studies have not considered how variations in the temporal and energetic dimensions of affective stimulus delivery interact with anxiety-related individual differences to predict biased attention. We administered a visual dot-probe task, using faces that varied in affective intensity (mild, moderate, strong) and presentation rate (100, 500, 1,250 ms) to a selected sample. The high, compared to the low, socially anxious group showed vigilance towards angry faces and emotionally ambiguous faces more generally during rapid (100 ms) presentations. By 1,250 ms, there was only a non-specific motor slowing associated with angry faces in the high socially anxious group. Findings suggest the importance of considering both chronometric and energetic dimensions of affective stimuli when examining anxiety-related attention biases. Future studies should consider using designs that more closely replicate aspects of real-world interaction to study processing biases in socially anxious populations.     

Type A behavior pattern, sex, and social support

Low social support has been suggested as a contributing factor to cardiac disease in some individuals with Type A Behavior Pattern. A number of studies have focused on the relationship between social support and Type A traits in subjects without cardiac disease as a means of evaluating this hypothesis; however, results of these studies have been confusing. In the current study, involving samples of adolescents and working adults, there was a significant positive correlation between Type A scores and satisfaction with social support in men but not in women.     

Development and validation of the social information processing application: a Web-based measure of social information processing patterns in elementary school-age boys

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of an audio computer-assisted self-interviewing Web-based software application called the Social Information Processing Application (SIP-AP) that was designed to assess social information processing skills in boys in 3rd through 5th grades. This study included a racially and ethnically diverse sample of 244 boys ages 8 through 12 (M = 9.4) from public elementary schools in 3 states. The SIP-AP includes 8 videotaped vignettes, filmed from the first-person perspective, that depict common misunderstandings among boys. Each vignette shows a negative outcome for the victim and ambiguous intent on the part of the perpetrator. Boys responded to 16 Web-based questions representing the 5 social information processing mechanisms, after viewing each vignette. Parents and teachers completed measures assessing boys' antisocial behavior. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that a model positing the original 5 cognitive mechanisms fit the data well when the items representing prosocial cognitions were included on their own factor, creating a 6th factor. The internal consistencies for each of the 16 individual cognitions as well as for the 6 cognitive mechanism scales were excellent. Boys with elevated scores on 5 of the 6 cognitive mechanisms exhibited more antisocial behavior than boys whose scores were not elevated. These findings highlight the need for further research on the measurement of prosocial cognitions or cognitive strengths in boys in addition to assessing cognitive deficits. Findings suggest that the SIP-AP is a reliable and valid tool for use in future research of social information processing skills in boys.     

Motivated information processing, social tuning, and group creativity

The extent to which groups are creative has wide implications for their overall performance, including the quality of their problem solutions, judgments, and decisions. To further understanding of group creativity, we integrate the motivated information processing in groups model (De Dreu, Nijstad, & Van Knippenberg, 2008) with work on epistemic social tuning (Lunn, Sinclair, Whitchurch, & Glenn, 2007). Three propositions were advanced: (a) Groups produce more ideas when members have high rather than low epistemic motivation, especially when members also have a prosocial rather than pro-self motivation; (b) these ideas are more original, appropriate, or feasible when a group norm favors originality, appropriateness, or feasibility; and (c) originality is valued more in individualistic cultures (e.g., the Netherlands), whereas appropriateness is valued more in collectivist cultures (e.g., Korea). Four studies involving 3-person groups generating ideas supported these propositions: Epistemic motivation (mild vs. intense time pressure; presence vs. absence of process accountability) stimulated production and originality, especially when prosocial rather than pro-self motives were present and participants were Dutch or originality norms were experimentally primed. When appropriateness norms were primed or participants were Korean, epistemic motivation stimulated production and appropriateness, especially when prosocial rather than pro-self motives were present. We discuss implications for research on group processes and for work on culture and creativity.     

Social information processing and cardiac predictors of adolescent antisocial behavior

The relations among social information processing (SIP), cardiac activity, and antisocial behavior were investigated in adolescents over a 3-year period (from ages 16 to 18) in a community sample of 585 (48% female, 17% African American) participants. Antisocial behavior was assessed in all 3 years. Cardiac and SIP measures were collected between the first and second behavioral assessments. Cardiac measures assessed resting heart rate (RHR) and heart rate reactivity (HRR) as participants imagined themselves being victimized in hypothetical provocation situations portrayed via video vignettes. The findings were moderated by gender and supported a multiprocess model in which antisocial behavior is a function of trait-like low RHR (for male individuals only) and deviant SIP. In addition, deviant SIP mediated the effects of elevated HRR reactivity and elevated RHR on antisocial behavior (for male and female participants).     

Directed forgetting and posthypnotic amnesia: information processing and social contexts

In three experiments we compared posthypnotic amnesia (PHA) with directed forgetting (DF), evaluating subjects' hypnotic susceptibility, hypnotized or not. Experiment 1 suggested that the memory processes in PHA and DF were not the same. Low and high susceptibility subjects responded differently in the two contexts. Experiment 2 demonstrated a context effect for highly susceptible subjects: They showed the usual DF response outside hypnosis but not during hypnosis. Experiment 3 showed that high and low susceptibility subjects responded similarly to DF instructions outside hypnosis, eliminating the susceptibility as an important variable in the DF response. We concluded: (a) The interaction of context and susceptibility was the important determinant of unusual DF responses for high susceptibles, and (b) information processing concepts are too limited to explain PHA and perhaps DF. Theories that include interactions appear necessary for an accurate understanding of hypnotic phenomena and perhaps some phenomena usually focused on by cognitive psychology.     

Adolescents' secure-base behavior from the perspective of information processing

Secure-base behavior in adolescents was examined from the perspective of information processing. The secure-base behavior was operationally defined as accessibility to attachment-related information and assessed by reaction time to target stimuli. Study 1 was conducted on 37 undergraduates (10 classes as Secure, 12 men, M age = 19.3 yr.) to investigate whether differences in attachment styles would show different forms of information processing. There was a difference in reaction time to negative targets between Secure and Insecure participants. Study 2 was conducted on 45 undergraduates (8 classed as Secure, 22 men, M age = 19.4 yr.) to investigate whether activation of the internal working models would show different forms of information processing. There was a difference between Secure and Insecure participants in patterns of reaction time to stimuli for positive and negative relationships. Results were discussed on the basis of secure-base behavior.     

Selective information processing and schematic content related to eating behavior

An adaptation of the Stroop color-naming task was used to investigate selective information processing related to eating behavior in 90 undergraduate women. This study differed from previous studies by (a) treating eating behavior as a continuous variable and (b) looking at five separate categories of words including color, neutral, food, body shape, and other emotionally salient words. We did not find a strong pattern of relation between the Stroop task and eating and body image measures. Results suggest that in a nonclinical population, direct methods of accessing cognitions related to eating may be more fruitful than indirect measures.     

Promoting social competence and preventing childhood aggression: A framework for applying social information processing theory in intervention research

Advances in social information processing (SIP) theory have contributed to the understanding of the ways in which cognitive operations lead to aggressive behavior in childhood. Despite these advances, applying SIP theory to the design of interventions to promote social competence and prevent aggressive behavior remains in a formative stage. Few programs have explicitly applied the SIP theory. Moreover, among the relatively few programs that have used SIP as a theoretical basis, the applications of the SIP theory vary widely. This article provides a general framework for applying the SIP theory to school-based interventions. We review key elements of the SIP model and distinguish SIP from the more general social problem-solving perspective. We discuss several methodological issues in conducting the SIP intervention research.     

Social knowledge and goal-based influences on social information processing in adulthood

Effective social functioning is reflected in the ability to accurately characterize other people and then use this information in the service of social goals. To examine this type of social functioning, the authors conducted two studies that investigated potential influences of social experience and chronic socioemotional goals on adults' social judgments in an impression formation task. In line with a social expertise framework, middle-aged and older adults were more sensitive to trait-diagnostic behavioral information than were younger adults. Relative to younger adults, older adults paid more attention to negative than to positive information when it related to morality traits. Increasing the salience of the social context, and presumably activating socioemotional goals, did not alter this pattern of performance. In contrast, when more global social evaluations were examined (e.g., suitability as a social partner), older adults were less likely than younger or middle-aged adults to adjust their evaluations in response to situational goals. Consistent with a heightened focus on socioemotional goals, older adults' judgments were more consistently influenced by their attributions of traits that would likely impact the affective outcomes associated with interpersonal interactions. The results demonstrate the interaction between social knowledge, situational social goals, and chronic socioemotional goals in determining age differences in social information processing.     

The MBTI and social information processing: an incremental validity study

The ability of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI; Myers & McCaulley, 1985) to predict performance on social cognitive tasks tapping information processing effort was assessed. Judgment and intuition interacted to predict amount of attributional adjustment on a dispositional attribution task. The MBTI scales predicted processing above and beyond measures of the five factors, rational-experiential preferences, and causal uncertainty. The relevance of these results for interpretation of the MBTI indexes is discussed.     

Young children's social information processing: family antecedents and behavioral correlates

Little research has examined whether social information processing (SIP) measures from early childhood predict externalizing problems beyond the shared association with familial risk markers. In the present study, family antecedents and first-grade externalizing behaviors were studied in relation to preschool and 1st-grade SIP using data from the U.S. National Institute for Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care (N=1,364). A subgroup of low-risk children reported only benign attributions in preschool and had few externalizing problems in 1st grade according to both teacher and mother reports. After controlling for gender and cognitive functioning, the authors found that maternal education and authoritarian attitudes were key predictors of this "Pollyanna preschooler" status and of SIP in 1st grade. However, small effect sizes for SIP variables underscore the need for new approaches to measurement and for further research on moderators of the link between SIP and children's behavior.     

Effects of nicotine deprivation on alcohol-related information processing and drinking behavior

This study examined the influence of smoking cues and nicotine deprivation on responses to alcohol among hazardous drinkers. Fifty-six daily smoking, hazardous drinkers were exposed to either smoking cues or control cues after either 6 hr of nicotine deprivation or no deprivation. Urges to drink alcohol, alcohol-related cognitive processing, and alcohol consumption were assessed after cue exposure. Results indicated that nicotine deprivation increased urges to drink, the accessibility of alcohol outcome expectancies, and the volume of alcohol consumed. There was little influence of the smoking cue manipulation on these processes. Implications for understanding the mechanisms underlying alcohol-tobacco interactions are discussed.     

The development of social information processing and aggressive behaviour: Current issues

The social information processing (SIP) model is an important element in theoretical accounts of the development of aggressive behaviour. Aggressive behaviour is associated with and predicted by specific social information-processing patterns and interventions targeting these patterns are relatively effective. The present article discusses three directions in which further progress can be made. First, the SIP model may be improved to take better account of emotional processes. Second, issues concerning the validity of SIP assessment need to be resolved. Third, differential development of SIP needs to be studied and to be related to development of specific aggressive behaviour patterns. Recent findings concerning these three issues are reviewed and directions for research are discussed.