The effect of the validity of co‐occurrence on automatic and deliberate evaluations

Co‐occurrence of an object and affective stimuli does not always mean that the object and the stimuli are the same valence (e.g., false accusations that Richard is a crook). Contemporary theory posits that information about the (in)validity of co‐occurrence has stronger influence on deliberate than automatic evaluation. However, available evidence supports that hypothesis only when the (in)validity information is delayed. Further, the existing evidence is open to alternative methodological accounts. In six high‐powered experiments (total N = 1750), we modified previous procedures to minimize alternative explanations and examine whether delayed (in)validity information has a discrepant effect on automatic versus deliberate evaluation. Casting doubt on the generality of the hypothesis, we found more sensitivity of deliberate than automatic evaluation to delayed validity information only when automatic evaluation was measured with the Implicit Association Test and not with the evaluative priming task or the affective misattribution procedure.     

Affective processing in overwhelmed individuals: Strategic and task considerations

Previous research suggests that emotionally overwhelmed individuals (high affect intensity, intermediate attention to emotions, low clarity of emotions) attempt to counteract the influence of affective information. In five studies (ns=129, 177, 119, 339, 261), the current research found that task performance in overwhelmed individuals varied by current arousal and by whether affective influence occurred on evaluative versus non-evaluative tasks. Overwhelmed high current arousal participants exhibited decreased affective influence on evaluative tasks but increased affective influence on non-evaluative tasks. These results are consistent with the effects of active suppression of affective information, including ironic effects of monitoring for affective information. In contrast, overwhelmed low current arousal participants exhibited increased affective influence on evaluative tasks but decreased affective influence on non-evaluative tasks. These results are consistent with attentional avoidance of affective information. Overall, these results further suggest that overwhelmed individuals attempt to counteract the influence of affective information. Whether they are successful depends on their current arousal and how affect can influence performance.     

Self‐evaluative consequences of social support receipt: The role of context self‐relevance

Past research suggests that receiving social support can increase distress if it threatens self‐esteem, self‐efficacy, or competence. These costs may be more apparent in self‐relevant contexts, as such concerns should be more salient in these situations. This research tests whether context self‐relevance moderates affective responses to support receipt and whether this pattern is mediated by self‐evaluation. We report support for these hypotheses in both a daily diary study (N = 304 couples) of real‐world stress and a laboratory experiment (N = 77 students) in which support receipt and task self‐relevance are manipulated. We discuss connections between this work and the broader literature on social support receipt, including how other social processes (e.g., social comparison) may contribute to the costs associated with support receipt.     

Affective responses to abuse in the workplace: The role of hope and affective commitment

Affective responses constitute the mechanism by which abusive supervision received is associated with subordinates’ turnover intentions. Using affective events theory (AET) as a theoretical framework, we suggest that abusive supervision is a contextual event that is associated with subordinates’ affective reactions and corresponding evaluative judgment of their workplace, which ultimately leads to increased turnover intentions, a prominent withdrawal outcome. We examine two affective responses as mediators, hope (a goal-related affective state based on the expectation of positive outcomes) and affective commitment (affect-based evaluation of the organization). Two samples from a field study (n = 209) and an experiment (n = 427) were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results supported our proposed chain of relationships, suggesting that subordinates are likely to experience decreased hope and affective commitment after having experienced abuse from a supervisor, which subsequently impact their withdrawal intention to leave the organization.     

Linking self and ingroup: Self‐anchoring as distinctive cognitive route to social identification

The present paper investigates how cognitive projection processes instigate social identification. We complement the classical self‐stereotyping approach (i.e., conforming to prototypical group norms) by investigating self‐anchoring (i.e., projection from self to group) as a distinct cognitive route to social identification. Self‐anchoring has mainly been investigated as predictor of intergroup differentiation. Surprisingly, no reliable link has been provided yet between self‐anchoring and social identification. In Study 1, we provide first evidence for this positive link. In Study 2, we add self‐stereotyping to our model and show that self‐anchoring is still positively related to social identification when controlling for self‐stereotyping. Additionally, we show that self‐anchoring is positively related to affective components of identification, while self‐stereotyping is positively related to cognitive components. Moreover, we examined the impact of self‐concept stability on self‐anchoring. Self‐concept stability was positively related to self‐anchoring, and hence to social identification (Study 1), independently from self‐stereotyping (Study 2). In the discussion, we argue that disentangling self‐anchoring from self‐stereotyping is important as it increases our insight in how people identify, and how this may vary depending on self‐concept and group context. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluative contrast in social comparison: the role of distinct and shared features of the self and comparison others

Self‐other comparisons frequently evoke contrastive reactions, especially when the comparison dimension is relevant and when people strive to maintain or preserve a positive self‐evaluation. In three studies, normal‐weight women were asked to gauge satisfaction with their body weight. In Study 1, self‐evaluation was affected by accessible distinctive information either referring to the self or to comparison others. Studies 2 and 3 tested whether the evaluative contrast observed in Study 1 is reduced when shared features receive greater weight. Consistent with the proposition that perceived similarity between self and comparison others renders assimilative reactions more likely, evaluative contrast was markedly reduced when similarities were stressed prior to the comparison process, either by suggesting that one shares certain characteristics with others unrelated to the comparison dimension or by increasing the identification with the comparison other through an intergroup contrast.. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Not all positive categories are alike: Exploring the superiority of the self as a positive source for associative attitude change via intersecting regularities

In associative evaluative learning, attitudes can originate from intersecting regularities between a target and both positive- and self-related stimuli. Liking for a focal target is primarily driven by its reference to one source, but it might be qualified by the reference to a contrast target. This contribution focuses on how the nature of positive and contrast sources affects learning via intersecting regularities. In two studies (N = 199 and N = 185), the self and another positive category lead to increased implicit and explicit liking, regardless of the contrast source's valence. In Study 3 (N = 128), confronting the self and the positive category in the same paradigm yields only implicit preferences for self-related targets. Both implicitly and explicitly, this preference for self- over positive-related target was moderated by self-positivity. Our findings confirm the robustness of learning via intersecting regularities and suggest that the self is a special evaluative source.     

Individual Differences in Affective,Evaluative, and Behavioral Responses to an Erotic Film1

The current research sought to replicate and explore further unexpected pilot data indicating that negative reactions to filmed erotica may be associated with post-exposure increases in sexual activity. Subjects (31 males, 31 females) viewed an erotic film; background variables, affective, evaluative, and sexual-behavioral responses were assessed. Compared to individuals who evaluated the film as relatively nonpornographic, those who rated it as pornographic reported more restrictive sexual socialization experiences and more negative attitudes towards sex, responded to the film with more negative affect, and showed greater increases in sexual activity subsequent to exposure (all p <.05). Additional analyses provided some evidence that evaluations mediated behavioral responses to the stimulus. Cognitive labeling, transfer of arousal, and disinhibition considerations which may account for the relationship between responses to erotica and post-exposure sexual activity were discussed.     

Reaction in action: intergroup contrast in automatic behavior

Whereas previous research has shown automatic behavior conforming to outgroup stereotypes, the authors demonstrate automatic behavioral contrast away from a stereotype/trait associated with an outgroup (Study 1 and 2) and point to the importance of an "us-them" intergroup comparison in this process. In Study 1, participants colored pictures more messily when neatness was associated with an outgroup rather than the ingroup. In Study 2, using a different behavior, participants primed with busy business people reacted faster than controls (assimilation) but became slower when their student ingroup identity was activated (contrast). Subliminally priming an "us-them" intergroup comparison set undermined the accessibility of outgroup stereotypic words (Study 3), especially for those higher in prejudice (Study 4). This suggests that people automatically distance themselves from outgroup attributes when intergroup antagonism is cued or chronic. Implications for the role of self and comparison processes in automatic behavior are discussed.     

Avengees' perspectives on revenge: Commitment as a predictor and relationship type differences

This study investigated how people respond emotionally to and make sense of the experience of being on the receiving end of an angry relationship partner's attempted revenge. Using an interdependence theory framework, we tested hypotheses concerning the role of commitment and investigated differences due to relationship type. We asked participants (N = 439) if they had experienced revenge at the hands of either a romantic partner, family member, or associate. Among those who had (N = 254), we found support for hypotheses linking commitment with avengees' affective and evaluative responses to being the target of revenge, but little evidence that these associations vary by relationship type. Possible routes by which commitment may influence people's experiences as avengees are discussed.     

A multi-analyses approach of inductive/deductive asymmetry in the affective priming paradigm

Rapidly evaluating our environment's beneficial and detrimental features is critical for our successful functioning. A classic paradigm used to investigate such fast and automatic evaluations is the affective priming (AP) paradigm, where participants classify valenced target stimuli (e.g., words) as good or bad while ignoring the valenced primes (e.g., words). We investigate the differential impact that verbs and adjectives used as primes and targets have on the AP paradigm. Based on earlier work on the Linguistic Category Model, we expect AP effect to be modulated by non-evaluative properties of the word stimuli, such as the linguistic category (e.g., if the prime is an adjective and the target is a verb versus the reverse). A reduction in the magnitude of the priming effect was predicted for adjective–verb prime-target pairs compared to verb–adjective prime-target pairs. Moreover, we implemented a modified crowdsourcing of statistical analyses implementing independently three different statistical approaches. Deriving our conclusions on the converging/diverging evidence provided by the different approaches, we show a clear deductive/inductive asymmetry in AP paradigm (exp. 1), that this asymmetry does not require a focus on the evaluative dimension to emerge (exp. 2) and that the semantic-based asymmetry weakly extends to valence (exp. 3).     

Racial Colorblindness and Confidence in and Likelihood of Action to Address Prejudice

In this study, we examined the association between racial colorblindness and inaction to address prejudice. Conceptualized as a type of legitimizing ideology that maintains societal inequality, we hypothesized that colorblindness would be associated with less confidence in and lower likelihood of engaging in action to address prejudice. Our study examined the role of affective variables in explaining the link between colorblindness and inaction, as well as explored potential racial group differences. We used multigroup structural equation modeling analysis to test for measurement and structural invariance of our hypothesized model across White, Asian American, and Underrepresented racial minority (i.e., African American, Latinx American, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Native American, and Multiracial students from Underrepresented groups) college students. In Study 1 (n = 1,125), we found that greater colorblindness was indirectly associated with less confidence in action through affective variables (e.g., intergroup empathy, and positive and negative emotions during intergroup interactions). In Study 2 (n = 1,356), we found that greater colorblindness was indirectly related to less likelihood of action through intergroup empathy. In both studies, we demonstrated measurement and structural invariance across racial groups, indicating that our hypothesized model functioned similarly across White, Underrepresented, and Asian American students. Our findings have implications for future research and practice to challenge colorblindness and to promote engagement in actions to reduce prejudice.     

Intergroup Contact Facilitates Physiological Recovery following Stressful Intergroup Interactions

A growing body of research has demonstrated the importance of intergroup contact in reducing fear, threat and anxiety in intergroup domains. Here we focus on the regulatory benefits of intergroup contact. We hypothesized that past intergroup contact would facilitate recovery from a stressful intergroup evaluation. White and Black participants completed a stressful evaluative task in the presence of two White or two Black interviewers while autonomic nervous system and hormonal responses were assessed. When examining how participants recovered after the stressful task, intergroup contact predicted faster physiological recovery for both autonomic and neuroendocrine reactivity. The importance of recovery from stress for physiological resilience in diverse contexts is discussed.     

Saying no to negativity: The effects of context and motivation to control prejudice on automatic evaluative responses

The current research explored the interaction of context and motivation to control prejudice reactions (MCPR) on automatic evaluative responses toward individuals of different races. Three studies incorporated contextual backgrounds into an evaluative priming procedure. Across all three studies, White participants low in MCPR demonstrated automatic ingroup biases when threatening contexts were presented. However, in contexts where targets could be construed as threatening, Whites high in MCPR showed automatic outgroup biases in favor of Blacks over Whites. Importantly, this outgroup bias was driven by an automatic inhibition of negative responses toward Blacks. The results indicate that even at the automatic level, people high in motivation to control prejudice can inhibit negative responses toward Blacks in contexts that have cues associated with prejudice.     

Welfare,Autonomy, and the Autonomy Fallacy

In this article, I subject the claim that autonomous choice is an intrinsic welfare benefit to critical scrutiny. My argument begins by discussing perhaps the most influential argument in favor of the intrinsic value of autonomy: the argument from deference. In response, I hold that this argument displays what I call the ‘Autonomy Fallacy’: the argument from deference has no power to support the intrinsic value of autonomy in comparison to the important evaluative significance of bare self‐direction (autonomous or not) or what I call ‘self‐direction tout court’. I defend the claim that the Autonomy Fallacy really is a fallacy, and show that my examination of the argument from deference has wider reverberations. Once we clearly distinguish between autonomy and self‐direction tout court, it becomes much less plausible to say that autonomy of itself is an intrinsic welfare benefit.     

What does it mean to be human? How salience of the human category affects responses to intergroup harm

Two studies explore how salience of the human category influences responses to intergroup harm and how different images of humanity modify these effects. In Study 1, British participants (n = 86) contemplated acts of terrorism against their group. When the human category (versus intergroup distinctions) was salient and when the prevailing image of humanity was malevolent (versus benevolent), participants were not only more understanding of terrorism, blamed this less on religious group memberships, but also more strongly endorsed the use of extreme force by countries to defend their boarders, preserve the peace and prevent future attacks. In Study 2, British participants (n = 83) contemplated the torture of Iraqi prisoners by British soldiers. When the human category was salient and the prevailing image of humanity was malevolent, participants experienced less guilt and justified torture more. We conclude that the effects of human category salience on interpretations of intergroup harm depend on what it means to be human. When human nature is perceived negatively, thinking in terms of the human category can normalise intergroup harm regardless of whether the outgroup or the ingroup is the perpetrator. Implications for re‐categorisation approaches to conflict reduction are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nietzsche on taste: epistemic privilege and anti-realism

Abstract

The central aim of this article is to argue that Nietzsche takes his own taste, and those in the relevant sense similar to it, to enjoy a kind of epistemic privilege over their rivals. Section 2 will examine the textual evidence for an anti-realist reading of Nietzsche on taste. Section 3 will then provide an account of taste as an ‘affective evaluative sensibility’ (AES), asking whether taste so understood supports an anti-realist reading. I will argue that it does not and that we should resist construing the affects (Affeke), which constitute taste for Nietzsche, as no more than Humean subjective preferences. Section 4 will then consider passages in which Nietzsche makes a connection between taste and epistemic considerations, suggesting that he appears to situate the epistemic privilege of his taste in a more fundamental method of evaluative disclosure, namely pre-reflective affective responses. Finally, Section 5 will argue that we can make sense of how such affective responses could provide us with evaluative knowledge by narrowing the scope of the objects of Nietzsche’s taste to other affective-evaluative states, such that the affective responses are meta-affective evaluations. On the basis of this idea, I construct a theory of meta-affective responses providing their subjects with access to the intrinsic phenomenal value of other affective-evaluative states, and then go on to show how Nietzsche can be read as applying this theory in a number of passages.     

Contextual effects on prejudiced attitudes: When the presence of others leads to more egalitarian responses

In the present paper, we tested the hypothesis that the physical presence of other ingroup members may ameliorate Whites’ spontaneous affective responses toward Blacks. Results of Study 1 demonstrated that IAT-assessed attitudes toward Blacks were indeed less negative when participants were tested in small groups rather than individually. Study 2 shed light on the underlying processes by demonstrating that respondents at the presence of others displayed increased accessibility to egalitarian-related concepts after Black primes, as compared to respondents tested individually. Overall, results point to the wide malleability of spontaneous affective responses and to the possibility that contextual factors, like the presence of other individuals, might automatically activate egalitarians goals. Results are discussed in relation to current models of automatic intergroup bias and preconscious control over it.     

A time course analysis of the affective priming effect

The argument that automatic processes are responsible for affective/evaluative priming effects has been primarily based on studies that have manipulated the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA; i.e., the interval between the onset of the prime and the onset of the target). Moreover, these SOA studies provide an insight in the time course of the activation processes underlying automatic affect/attitude activation. Based on a fine-grained manipulation of the SOA employing either the evaluative decision task (Experiment 1) and the pronunciation task (Experiment 2) we concluded that affective priming, and hence automatic affect activation, is based on fast-acting automatic processes. The results of Experiment 3 provide a valid explanation for an apparent discrepancy between the results of Experiments 1 and 2 and previous findings. Finally, the results of Experiment 3 support the prediction of Jarvis and Petty (1996) that affective priming effects should be stronger for participants who are more chronically engaged in conscious evaluations.