Group identification moderates emotional responses to perceived prejudice

Two studies tested the prediction that group identification (importance of the group in the self-concept) moderates the impact of perceived discrimination on self-evaluative emotions (depression and self-esteem). In Study 1, women low in gender identification experienced less depressed emotion and higher self-esteem if a negative evaluation was due to sexism than when it was not. The self-evaluative emotions of women high in gender identification were not buffered by attributions to sexism. In Study 2, ethnic identification and depressed emotions were positively related when Latino-Americans read about pervasive prejudice against the ingroup but were negatively related when they read about prejudice against an outgroup. Both studies demonstrated that for highly group identified individuals, prejudice against the ingroup is a threat against the self. Thus, the self-protective strategy of attributing negative feedback to discrimination may be primarily effective for individuals who do not consider the group a central aspect of self.     

It's not my fault: when and why attributions to prejudice protect self-esteem

This study tested the hypothesis that awareness of the possibility of being a target of discrimination can provide individuals with a means of self-esteem protection when they are faced with negative outcomes. Men and women contemplated being rejected from a course due to sexism, personal deservingness, or an exclusively external cause. Regardless of gender, participants in the sexism condition blamed themselves less, attributed the rejection less to internal causes, and anticipated feeling less depressed than those in the personal deservingness condition. Furthermore, the more participants discounted the rejection--blamed it more on discrimination than themselves--the less depressed emotions they anticipated feeling. Discounting did not buffer participants from feeling hostility or anxiety. These findings advance our understanding of when and why attributions to prejudice protect emotional well-being.     

There is more to anger coping than "in" or "out"

There is growing dissatisfaction with a dichotomized "anger-in" versus "anger-out" view of anger coping. Three studies using student and community adultsamples revealed a broader understanding of the nature of anger coping styles and led to the development of the new Behavioral Anger Response Questionnaire (BARQ). The BARQ is empirically derived and factorially validated and has good psychometrics. Results suggest that dichotomizing anger responses as "in" versus "out" is too coarse and that a 6-factor model may be more appropriate. The 6 factors identified here are Direct Anger-Out, Assertion, Support-Seeking, Diffusion, Avoidance, and Rumination. Women reported use of a wider range of anger coping styles, especially more social support-seeking and more use of anger diffusion strategies than men.     

Income Source and Race Effects on New-Neighbor Evaluations1

Two studies investigated the effect of income source and race on ratings of and objections to potential neighbors. Equivalent amounts of income from different sources included work only, work and public assistance, or work and a small inheritance. The race variable included African American, European American, or Hispanic. Subjects for Study 1 were undergraduate psychology students. Subjects for Study 2 were homeowners. Class bias was not a symbolic way to express race bias. There was a clear distinction between class bias and race bias in expression and function. Results indicate that class bias was used when subjects gave ratings of new neighbors. These biased ratings do not correlate with measures of racism. Furthermore, results indicate that objections to the new neighbors were more frequent for those gaining income from sources other than work. The findings indicate that class prejudice based on income source is primary and openly expressed, whereas racial prejudice does not appear as an important contributing factor in this context.     

Introduction to the Special Issue on Developmental Disabilities

This special issue of the Journal of Genetic Counseling focuses on developmental disabilities and includes commentaries, original research, personal accounts, and practice guidelines.     

Hierarchical integration of agency and communion: a study of influential moral figures

The purpose of this research is to (a) identify which of recent history's influential figures did and which did not personify moral excellence, and (b) to examine the motives that drove these individuals along such divergent paths. In Study 1, 102 social scientists evaluated the moral qualities of influential figures from Time Magazine's lists. In Study 2, we selected the 15 top ranking of these figures to comprise a moral exemplar group and the bottom 15 to comprise a comparison group of similarly influential people. We measured the motivational aspects of their personality (agency and communion) by content-analyzing extant speeches and interviews. Moral exemplars exhibited the hierarchical integration of agency and communion by treating agentic motives as a means to an end of communal motives. Comparison subjects, by contrast, personified unmitigated agency by treating motives of agency as both a means to an end and an end unto itself. These results imply that both the strength and structure of a person's motives account for moral behavior.     

Development of Mathematical Knowledge in Young Children: Attentional Skill and the Use of Inversion

The principle of inversion, that a + b ? b must equal a, is a fundamental property of arithmetic, but many children fail to apply it in symbolic contexts through 10 years of age. We explore three hypotheses relating to the use of inversion that stem from a model proposed by Siegler and Araya (2005 Siegler , R. S. , &; Araya , R. ( 2005 ). A computational model of conscious and unconscious strategy discovery . In R. V. Kail (Ed.), Advances in child development and behavior (pp. 1 – 42 ). New York , NY : Elsevier .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Hypothesis 1 is that greater calculational skill is related to greater use of inversion. Hypothesis 2 is that greater attentional skill is related to greater use of inversion. Hypothesis 3 is that the relation between attentional skill and the use of inversion is particularly strong among children with high skill in calculation. We found suggestive evidence for Hypothesis 2 and clear evidence for Hypothesis 3, indicating that for children who are strong at calculation, attentional flexibility is related to use of inversion.