Do core self‐evaluations and trait emotional intelligence predict subjective well‐being in dental students?

We examined unique associations between surface personality traits of emotional intelligence, core self‐evaluations, and subjective well‐being in dental students. A cross‐sectional study of 218 undergraduates showed that trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) and core self‐evaluations (CSE) predicted subjective well‐being controlling the Big Five personality traits. Structural equation modeling showed that trait EI and the neuroticism component of CSE better predicted affective components of subjective well‐being, and cognitive CSE traits (self‐esteem, self‐efficacy, and locus of control) better predicted life satisfaction, the cognitive component of subjective well‐being. These findings demonstrate the utility of a parallel‐process approach that specifies differential prediction of cognitive and affective subjective well‐being components.     

Self‐esteem and culture: Differences in cognitive self‐evaluations or affective self‐regard?

Although people from East Asian countries consistently report lower self-esteem than do those from Western countries, the origins of this difference are unclear. We conducted two studies to illuminate this issue. Study 1 found that Chinese participants appraised themselves less positively than American participants on a cognitive measure of self-evaluations, but cultural differences were absent on a measure of affective self-regard. Moreover, cultural differences in global self-esteem were eliminated once cognitive self-evaluations were statistically controlled. Study 2 found that cultural differences in modesty underlie cultural differences in cognitive self-evaluations. These findings suggest that Chinese feel as positively toward themselves as Americans do, but are less inclined to evaluate themselves in an excessively positive manner.     

How malleable is comparative self‐positivity? The effects of manipulating judgemental focus and accessibility

The present research investigated accessibility effects on comparative self‐positivity in the environmental domain. In a pretest we established comparative self‐positivity and a focus effect for environmental awareness. In the main study we aimed at shifting these effects by manipulating the accessibility of harmful behaviours of either the self or the typical student before obtaining comparative judgements. Specifically, we used two types of accessibility manipulations: anchoring and ease of retrieval. We predicted that judgements would be affected by content in the anchoring paradigm but by subjective ease in the ease of retrieval paradigm. We found the predicted pattern of effects, but it was strongest when participants focused on the typical student. The findings contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms underlying comparative biases and may have applied implications. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The gender role self‐concept of men in female‐dominated occupations: does it depend on how they see their jobs?

In this study, we investigated the masculinity of men in female‐dominated occupations. Our assumptions that token status, masculine task redefinition, and job control are related to masculinity were supported by results of segmented and hierarchical regressions with data from 213 men in female‐dominated occupations. A comparison with 98 men from male‐dominated occupations revealed that these results are specific for men in female‐dominated occupations. Moderated regression did not support the assumption that the relation between masculine task redefinition would be stronger under low job control. Instead, the opposite pattern was found. Under high job control, the choice of tasks and their redefinition as masculine may be easier. Job control is discussed as a precondition for redefinition processes.     

How does context affect assessments of facial emotion? The role of culture and age

People from Asian cultures are more influenced by context in their visual processing than people from Western cultures. In this study, we examined how these cultural differences in context processing affect how people interpret facial emotions. We found that younger Koreans were more influenced than younger Americans by emotional background pictures when rating the emotion of a central face, especially those younger Koreans with low self-rated stress. In contrast, among older adults, neither Koreans nor Americans showed significant influences of context in their face emotion ratings. These findings suggest that cultural differences in reliance on context to interpret others' emotions depend on perceptual integration processes that decline with age, leading to fewer cultural differences in perception among older adults than among younger adults. Furthermore, when asked to recall the background pictures, younger participants recalled more negative pictures than positive pictures, whereas older participants recalled similar numbers of positive and negative pictures. These age differences in the valence of memory were consistent across culture.     

(How) does positive and negative extended cross‐group contact predict direct cross‐group contact and intergroup attitudes?

Knowing that fellow ingroup members have cross‐group contact can affect how people think, feel, and behave towards an out‐group. Previous research on extended contact focused almost exclusively on positive cross‐group interactions, neglecting the fact that extended contact can also be negative. In this contribution, we introduce negative extended contact and investigate how both forms of extended contact predict direct cross‐group contact and intergroup attitudes. In two cross‐sectional studies (N₁ = 286, N₂ = 237), we found evidence that positive and negative extended contact uniquely predict intergroup attitudes, and that direct cross‐group contact mediates this effect. In Study 2 , we also provide initial evidence that extended contact might either prepare for or impair direct contact by changing ingroup norms and intergroup self‐efficacy, which in turn influence feelings of intergroup anxiety.     

Should your lips be zipped? How therapist self‐disclosure and non‐disclosure affects clients

Is therapist self‐disclosure a therapeutic technique or a therapeutic mistake? Is it useful? Is it ethical? This study attempts to address this controversy among therapeutic modalities by asking clients about their perceptions of self‐disclosure and non‐disclosure. Eighteen people (16 women, two men), currently in therapy in two Canadian cities, generated 157 incidents of both disclosure and non‐disclosure. The incidents were first coded as helpful or unhelpful. Cross‐tabulation of the results showed that disclosures were more than twice as likely to be experienced as helpful; non‐disclosures were twice as likely to be unhelpful (χ² (3, N=157) = 14.439, p≤0.002). One‐quarter of these incidents was coded by two independent raters; inter‐rater reliability was high (Pearson corr. ranged from 0.755 to 1.0, p≤0.01). The data was then sorted, using the Constant Comparison method, into themes, starting with, but not limited to, the themes suggested by the literature. The greatest single effect was on the therapeutic alliance, both positive and negative. Clients’ perceptions of helpful disclosures and non‐disclosures generally supported therapists’ rationales. There was also some evidence that when clients found disclosures unhelpful, the reasons also supported theoretical rationales against disclosing. Rather than simply supporting either position in the controversy, this study suggests that skill, or lack of it, was the intervening variable that affected the perceptions of both techniques. Further research on the effects of skill on both disclosure and non‐disclosure are warranted. This study has implications for both researchers and practitioners.     

Do materialism,intrinsic aspirations,and meaning in life predict students’ meanings of education?

Though there is a deep literature on factors that predict college attendance and on the effects of college attendance on students’ development, there has been little research on what education actually means to students themselves. This study was conducted to examine whether materialism, intrinsic aspirations, and the search for meaning in life predicted a set of ten meanings that students are known to associate with their education. Multiple regression analyses indicated that students who were high on materialism viewed their education as an opportunity to gain independence, a chance to establish relationships, and a source of stress. Individuals high on intrinsic aspirations were more likely to see education as a time for career preparation, gaining independence, exploring future life directions, learning, engaging in personal growth, establishing social relationships, and learning skills to make a difference in the world, but they were less likely to view education as an escape from future responsibilities. As expected, the findings also revealed that individuals who sought meaning in life viewed education as a way to gain independence, explore life directions, engage in personal growth, establish relationships, learn skills that will help change the world, and escape future responsibilities.     

When's your birthday? The self‐reference effect in retrieval of dates

Material encoded with reference to the self is better remembered. One interpretation of this effect is that the self operates to organise retrieval of memories. We were motivated to find out whether this organisational principle extended to everyday information and for material not explicitly related to the self. Participants generated friends' birthdays from memory and then gave their own birthday. We found that participants were particularly likely to recall birthdays from on or around the date of their own birthday. Thus, memory for birthdays clusters around self‐relevant information, even when there is no specific attempt to recall self‐related material. Birthdays clustered somewhat around the time of testing, important dates in the calendar, and for a close other, but not to the extent of the participants' birthdays. We suggest this is a demonstration of the organisational structure of the self in memory. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Who am I? The relationship between self‐concept uncertainty and materialism

It is well accepted that materialism may result in a number of negative consequences, hence the importance of improving its understanding. In this paper, we propose that materialism negatively relates to self‐concept uncertainty. Uncertainty about oneself is aversive and those feeling uncertain may use the possession of material objects as a way to reduce the uncertainty. Inasmuch as material objects can serve as concrete signs of self‐worth, self‐concept uncertainty can therefore relate to more materialism. Over two studies, one in Australia and the other in the US, with a total of 390 participants, our research demonstrates that lower clarity about one's self‐concept associates with higher levels of materialism. While this result holds for both genders, this relationship is considerably stronger for women compared to men. We also find that lower self‐concept clarity relates to higher compulsive buying. We further demonstrate that materialism relates to higher positive moods during shopping, and also relates to higher negative moods after shopping, more notably negative moods towards what was purchased. This effect is significant even when controlling for general affective states.     

When does anger evoke self‐interest and fairness motives? The moderating effects of perceived responsibility for needs

Research has repeatedly demonstrated that anger evokes both self‐interest and fairness motives, but it is unclear what factors determine the evocation of these motives. We examined the idea that the type of relationship, indexed by the perceived responsibility for a partner's needs, moderates the effect of anger on self‐interest and fairness motives by constructing the following hypotheses: Participants will be motivated to protect their self‐interests when they feel anger toward an other who they perceive has the responsibility for needs, while this will not be the case when they feel anger toward an other who they do not perceive has a responsibility for needs (Hypothesis 1), and participants will be motivated to restore fairness regardless of whether the target of anger has a responsibility for needs or not (Hypothesis 2). The Japanese participants in this study rated their anger experiences in terms of the intensity of angry feelings, the perception of responsibility of the other for their own needs, the closeness of the relationship prior to the experience of anger, and the motives that were evoked. Regression analysis supported both hypotheses, implying that concerns related to self‐interest in close relationships reflect the desire for the maintenance of these relationships.     

When does dual identity predict protest? The moderating roles of anti‐immigrant policies and opinion‐based group identity

Dual identities are defined as immigrants' identification with their ethnic ingroup as well as the national community in their country of residence. Dual identities have been argued to increase protest, because they make immigrants feel entitled to advocate for their disadvantaged ethnic group as part of a larger national community. In a study of Latino immigrants to the United States, however, we found that dual identities no longer predict protest when immigrants learn that other members of the national community have passed laws or enacted policies that would exclude immigrants or restrict their rights, through deportation and detention. Further, we found that immigrants who identify with those fighting to change such anti‐immigrant policies support protest regardless of the level of their dual identity and regardless of policy salience. We argue that these results point to the importance of dual identity recognition for research on immigrant protest. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Is a life without meaning satisfying? The moderating role of the search for meaning in satisfaction with life judgments

Results from two studies revealed that the relation between meaning in life and life satisfaction was moderated by the extent to which the rater was searching for meaning in his or her life. In Studies 1a and 1b, the presence of meaning was more strongly related to life satisfaction for those who were actively searching for meaning in life than for those who were not. Study 2 extended the finding to judgments concerning a fictitious target's life satisfaction based on experimentally manipulated information regarding meaning in life. Thus, the role of meaning in life satisfaction judgments varies across individuals, depending on the level of search for meaning in life. These results suggest that search for meaning behaves like a schema increasing the salience of meaning-relevant information, and provides new ways of understanding people's efforts to establish meaningful lives.     

Does cost–benefit analysis or self‐control predict involvement in two forms of aggression?

The main aim of this research was to assess the relative association between physical aggression and (1) self‐control and (2) cost‐benefit assessment, these variables representing the operation of impulsive and reflective processes. Study 1 involved direct and indirect aggression among young Indian men, and Study 2 physical aggression to dating partners among Spanish adolescents. In Study 1, perceived benefits and costs but not self‐control were associated with direct aggression at other men, and the association remained when their close association with indirect aggression was controlled. In Study 2, benefits and self‐control showed significant and independent associations (positive for benefits, negative for self‐control) with physical aggression at other‐sex partners. Although being victimized was also correlated in the same direction with self‐control and benefits, perpetration and being victimized were highly correlated, and there was no association between being victimized and these variables when perpetration was controlled. These results support the theory that reflective (cost‐benefit analyses) processes and impulsive (self‐control) processes operate in parallel in affecting aggression. The finding that male adolescents perceived more costs and fewer benefits from physical aggression to a partner than female adolescents did is consistent with findings indicating greater social disapproval of men hitting women than vice versa, rather than with the view that male violence to women is facilitated by internalized patriarchal values. Aggr. Behav. 36:292–304, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Working together or separately? The role of identity and cultural self‐construal in well‐being among Japanese youth

Young people develop a sense of personal identity during the transition to adulthood, a time when individuals choose and adhere to a specific set of goals, values, and beliefs. In addition, in many contemporary Asian societies, youth are expected to acquire and balance traditional and Western cultural views of the self — that is, independent and interdependent self‐construal. To understand the relationships between the personal and cultural facets of the transition to adulthood, this study examined (a) associations between personal identity and well‐being and (b) the possible moderating role of cultural self‐construal (independence and interdependence) in this link. These hypotheses were tested in a sample of 520 Japanese university students (52.6% female). The results indicated that personal identity predicted each dimension of well‐being, suggesting that the importance of personal identity in promoting youth's well‐being can be understood as a universal phenomenon. Moreover, because the moderating role of self‐construal in the links between identity and well‐being was found to be limited, personal identity can be viewed as operating separately from self‐construal in well‐being to a large extent. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.