Bringing ethics into focus: How regulatory focus and risk preferences influence (Un)ethical behavior

In four laboratory studies, we find that regulatory focus induced by situational cues (such as the framing of an unrelated task) or primed influences people’s likelihood to cross ethical boundaries. A promotion focus leads individuals to be more likely to act unethically than a prevention focus (Studies 1, 2, and 3). These higher levels of dishonesty are explained by the influence of a person’s induced regulatory focus on his or her behavior toward risk. A promotion focus leads to risk-seeking behaviors, while a prevention focus leads to risk avoidance (Study 3). Through higher levels of dishonesty, promotion focus also results in higher levels of virtuous behavior (Studies 2 and 3), thus providing evidence for compensatory ethics. Our results also demonstrate that the framing of ethics (e.g., through an organization’s ethics code) influences individuals’ ethical behavior and does so differently depending on an individual’s induced regulatory focus (Study 4).     

Ethnic differences in clinical presentation of depression in adult women

This study examined ethnic differences in self-report and interviewer-rated depressive symptoms and estimated the contributions of sociodemographic and psychosocial factors in predicting severity of depression. One hundred twenty-five clinically depressed African American (n = 46), Caucasian (n = 36), and Latina (n = 43) women were recruited. After controlling for differences in socioeconomic status, African American women reported more symptoms of distress and Latinas were rated as significantly more depressed than the other groups. However, these ethnic differences were not moderated by either education or employment. Finally, hierarchical regression analysis indicated that severity of depression was predicted by low education, being single, being Latina, high perceived stress, and feelings of hopelessness. Additional research is needed to validate these results and to investigate their clinical significance.     

Further analysis of idiosyncratic antecedent influences during the assessment and treatment of problem behavior

Recent research findings suggest that idiosyncratic variables can influence the outcomes of functional analyses (E. G. Carr, Yarbrough, & Langdon, 1997). In the present study, we examined idiosyncratic environment-behavior relations more precisely after identifying stimuli (i.e., a particular toy and social interaction) associated with increased levels of problem behavior. Two children, an 8-year-old boy with moderate mental retardation and a 5-year-old boy with no developmental delays, participated. Results of functional analyses for both children indicated that idiosyncratic antecedent stimuli set the occasion for occurrences of problem behavior (hand biting or hand flapping) and that problem behavior persisted in the absence of social contingencies. Further analyses were conducted to identify specific components of the stimuli that occasioned problem behavior. Treatments based on results of the analyses successfully reduced self-injury and hand flapping.     

The ontogeny of face identity; I. Eight- to 21-week-old infants use internal and external face features in identity

A paradigm was designed to study how infants identify live faces. Eight- to 21-week-old infants were seated comfortably and were presented an adult female, dressed in a white laboratory coat and a white turtle neck sweater, until habituation ensued. The adult then left the room. One minute later either she or an identically garbed confederate returned. Looking time did not increase above habituation levels when the original experimenter returned, but increased substantially when the confederate entered the room. Furthermore, internal features alone could serve as the basis of face identity. Looking times of infants who had habituated to experimenters with masked outer features of hair, ears and neck also markedly increased when a second identically dressed experimenter returned. Identity in this instance could only be based on internal facial characteristics. A second study assessed the contributions of internal and external facial features to identity. Infants were habituated to an experimenter in a short wig. One minute later they saw her again, either in the same short wig or in a long one. Alternatively, they saw a second experimenter wearing either the short wig or the long one. Infants looked longer only to the stranger wearing the long wig. Very brief looking times occurred to the familiar adult, regardless of wig, and to the stranger wearing the familiar wig. This paradigm provides an approach to discover rules used by infants of different ages to process and identify adult faces and to establish the bases of face preference.     

Brand (in)fidelity: When Flirting with the Competition Strengthens Brand Relationships

We document the existence and consequences of brand flirting: a short‐lived experience in which a consumer engages with and/or indulges in the alluring qualities of a brand without committing to it. We propose that brand flirting is exciting, and that when consumers flirt with a brand other than their typically preferred brand in the same product category, they can transfer this excitement to their preferred brand—resulting in even greater love and desire for it. Consistent with this conceptual account, we demonstrate that this brand flirting effect is mediated by excitement. Moreover, the brand flirting effect is most likely to emerge under conditions that facilitate arousal transfer: when consumers are highly committed to their preferred brand, and when the brand with which consumers flirt is similar to their preferred brand.     

Further evaluation of observational and mechanical measures of physical activity

Recent behavioral research has used a variety of methods to quantify physical activity, including direct observation using the Observational System for Recording Physical Activity (OSRAC), and automated devices such as heart rate (HR) monitors, pedometers, and Fitbit Accelerometers. The current study evaluated the concurrent validity of these measures, as well as the reliability of the pedometers and Fitbits. Four children engaged in 15 activities listed in the OSRAC coding system while their HRs and steps taken were measured. The results indicated that for most activities, HR covaried with the OSRAC activity levels, although some exceptions were noted. Steps per minute as measured by the Fitbit also covaried with the OSRAC activity levels and Fitbit data were reliable when activities did not involve subjects losing contact with the ground. Pedometers produced similar but less reliable steps per minute data.     

Culture-contingent signs of trust in emergent relationships

This study develops a culture-contingent model of trust formation in emergent relationships by comparing how trust-warranting signs shape attributions of trustworthiness to unfamiliar trustees in collectivist versus individualist cultures. We predict and find that the effectiveness of dispositional and contextual signs varies systematically depending on trustors’ national culture. Collectivists tend to rely less on dispositional signs and more on situational signs than individualists. This difference fosters distinct trust-building pathways. Individualists bestow trust based on a trustee’s perceived ability and integrity, collectivists’ trusting choices depend to a greater extent on predictable, benevolent interactions with a potential partner. These findings suggest that, in cross-cultural encounters, signs aligned with trustors’ cultural expectations hasten trust production. Mismatched signs are impotent, even off-putting.     

The ontogeny of face recognition: eye contact and sweet taste induce face preference in 9- and 12-week-old human infants.

Nine and 12-week-old infants (N = 140) who were either calm or crying sat facing a researcher for 3.5 min. The researcher gazed into the infant's eyes with a smiling face or looked above the infant's forehead. She delivered a 12% sucrose solution via a syringe or a pacifier, or she did not deliver anything. After the exposure period, the mother held her infant over her shoulder. Infant gaze direction was recorded while the infant faced the same researcher and a stranger. The confluence of sweet taste and eye contact was necessary and sufficient for calm 9- and 12-week-olds to form a preference for the researcher. Crying infants never did so, even though eye contact and sweet taste arrested crying. Different visual-gustatory combinations induced unanticipated affective states and are discussed within the contexts of cognitive mechanisms that mediate face learning and preference, the proximate mechanisms involved, and the evolutionary significance of face recognition.     

Memory lane and morality: how childhood memories promote prosocial behavior

Although research has established that autobiographical memory affects one's self-concept, little is known about how it affects moral behavior. We focus on a specific type of autobiographical memory: childhood memories. Drawing on research on memory and moral psychology, we propose that childhood memories elicit moral purity, which we define as a psychological state of feeling morally clean and innocent. In turn, heightened moral purity leads to greater prosocial behavior. In Experiment 1, participants instructed to recall childhood memories were more likely to help the experimenter with a supplementary task than were participants in a control condition, and this effect was mediated by moral purity. In Experiment 2, the same manipulation increased the amount of money participants donated to a good cause, and both implicit and explicit measures of moral purity mediated the effect. Experiment 3 provides further support for the process linking childhood memories and prosocial behavior through moderation. In Experiment 4, we found that childhood memories led to punishment of others' ethically questionable actions. Finally, in Experiment 5, both positively valenced and negatively valenced childhood memories increased helping compared to a control condition.     

Vicarious dishonesty: When psychological closeness creates distance from one’s moral compass

In four studies employing multiple manipulations of psychological closeness, we found that feeling connected to another individual who engages in selfish or dishonest behavior leads people to behave more selfishly and less ethically themselves. In addition, psychologically connecting with a scoundrel led to greater moral disengagement. We also establish that vicarious justification is the mechanism explaining this effect: When participants felt psychologically close to someone who had behaved selfishly, they were more likely to consider the behavior to be less shame-worthy and less unethical; it was these lenient judgments that then led them to act more unethically themselves. These vicarious effects were moderated by whether the miscreant was identified with a photograph and by the type of behavior. Importantly, we establish a general process of vicariousness: psychological closeness produced both vicarious generosity and selfishness depending on the behavior of the person one feels psychologically connected to. These findings suggest an irony of psychological closeness: it can create distance from one’s own moral compass.