The relationship between self-consciousness and interpersonal effectiveness and a new scale to measure individual differences in self-consciousness

The purpose of this research was to explore the relationship between a dispositional tendency to become self-conscious and interpersonal effectiveness. It was hypothesized that excessive self-consciousness may be a significant component of social inadequacy and this prediction was confirmed in two experiments. In both studies, maladaptive self-consciousness was measured using a new scale and the development and validity for the test are reported. In the first study, the social skills of persons high or low in maladaptive self-consciousness were assessed using sociometric ratings made by acquaintances. Persons high in maladaptive self-consciousness were perceived by their peers as more socially inadequate. The second study was conducted in a controlled laboratory setting and involved placing persons high or low in maladaptive self-consciousness in a dyadic interaction with a randomly selected partner. Following this, both participants were asked to report their feelings and reactions during the interaction and to make behavioral ratings of their partner. Trained observers also made behavioral ratings of both interactants. It was hypothesized that maladaptive self-consciousness would be associated with ineffective social behavior, reduced sensitivity to one's partner, and a heightened self-perception of inadequacy. These predictions were confirmed and the implications of the relationship between maladaptive self-consciousness and social inadequacy are discussed.     

Developing conceptions of racism among young white adults in the context of cultural diversity coursework

Despite substantial research on racial attitudes and racial identity development among young white adults, little is known about the development of their conceptions about racism. The present study assessed a five-step, empirically based contextualist model of the development of conceptions about racism in young white adults, adapted from the research of Perry (1970), Kitchener and Fischer (1990), and others. A total of 55 young white adults participating in cultural diversity coursework responded to questionnaires about the nature and causes of racism and responses were classified according to the five-step model. Results indicated that many first-year white college students think about racism in dualistic terms, comparable to those described by Perry (1970) in some first-year students' epistemological concepts. Over a semester, many students showed transitions to higher steps, conceptually integrating more dimensions of the problem. Such developmental transitions may be highly context-specific. Implications for educational interventions are discussed.     

Religiousness,Religious Orientation,and Attitudes Towards Gays and Lesbians1

Two studies are reported that examine the relationships among religiousness, religious orientation, and prejudice toward gays and lesbians. Study 1 reports the results of a survey done for the purposes of scientific jury selection. These results suggest that Baptists, fundamentalists, and “Christians” display more antigay prejudice than do Catholics, Jews, and many Protestant denominations, but even many supporters of gay-tolerant religions show more antigay prejudice than those claiming no religious preference. Among those with a religious preference, frequency of worship is significantly related to antigay prejudice among those belonging to antigay denominations, but not among those belonging to more gay tolerant religious faiths. Study 2 reports the results of a study of college students regarding religiousness, religious orientation, and prejudice toward gays and lesbians. Results showed that self reported religiousness, frequency of worship, and Batson's internal and external scales were all positively correlated with measures of prejudice toward gays and lesbians, whereas scores on the Quest (Interactional) scale were negatively correlated. Results of both studies strongly challenge the view that those with an intrinsic religious orientation are unprejudiced. It is argued that a social influence process can account for the role played by religious practice and beliefs in creating and maintaining negative attitudes toward gays and lesbians.     

Sex Guilt and Receptivity to Condom Advertising

The personal and social costs of unintended pregnancy and HIV infection point to the need for ongoing research designed to enhance the effectiveness of preventive advertising, particularly to those segments at greatest risk. One segment that appears to be at significant risk is comprised of individuals who experience high levels of guilt about sex. This study seeks to determine whether high sex-guilt (SG) individuals are unique in their processing, recall, and evaluative responses to advertising for condoms. Two hundred fifty-two college-aged men and women were randomly assigned to two versions of a condom advertisement that differed in terms of self- referencing vs. other-referencing in the message copy. A 2 × 2 × 3 (Gender × Self- Versus Other-Referencing Message Copy × High, Moderate, and Low Sex Guilt), between subjects ANOVA design was used to test hypothesized relationships. For female, but not male, participants, high SG was inversely related to depth of processing, recall, positive thoughts about the ad, and perceived credibility of the ad. For both genders, high SG was inversely related to perceived ad informativeness, attitude toward the ad, and attitude toward the brand. Message design interacted with SG and gender on an important outcome measure—purchase intention. Study implications are discussed, and avenues for future research are suggested.     

Global influences on the development of spatial and object perceptual categorization abilities: Evidence from preterm infants

Influences on the development of perceptual categorization were examined by comparing the performance of three groups of infants on spatial and object categorization tasks. The groups consisted of 1) fullterm infants tested at 3 to 4 months of age, 2) healthy preterm infants tested 3 to 4 months from birth (postnatals), and 3) healthy preterm infants tested 3 to 4 months from their due date (postterms). Four experiments showed that fullterms and postterms outperformed postnatals on a spatial categorization task (i.e., ‘above’ vs. ‘below’, and that fullterms outperformed both postnatals and postterms on object categorization tasks (i.e., dogs vs. cats, and cats vs. birds). These results suggest that maturation may be the predominant influence on the early development of the ability to form categorical representations of spatial information, while preterm birth may exert a limiting influence on the development of object categorization abilities.     

Analysis and visualization of complex psychophysiological data: Coordinated use of multiple applications on a microcomputer

Personal computers have become ubiquitous for data analysis and visualization. Complex analyses and visualizations of large data sets prove challenging for microcomputer environments and highlight a tradeoff between customized programming to enhance specificity and processing speed and the use of commercially available software packages. We frame this choice in terms of a continuum that exists from low-level programming languages to higher-level languages, and beyond this to object-oriented programming environments and other advanced software products; we argue that there is no sharp conceptual distinction between programming and not programming. In this light, we discuss the pros and cons of using several commercial software packages in concert on a single platform to facilitate complex research tasks and discuss the implications of this choice for innovative research.     

Formation of food aversions in cancer patients receiving repeated infusions of chemotherapy

Patients receiving emetogenic chemotherapy for cancer have been found to develop aversions to normal dietary items consumed in close temporal relation to treatment administrations. These aversions are presumed to develop via conditioning processes as demonstrated in experimental studies of food aversion learning. The present study used a prospective, longitudinal design to evaluate the possible role of conditioning in the formation of aversions to normal dietary items in women receiving adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer. Patients were monitored for the development of aversions to foods and beverages consumed in the 24 hr periods before and after each of eight consecutive chemotherapy infusions beginning with the initial infusion. Data on the prevalence, course, and prediction of aversions to normal dietary items are reported. These results pointed to similarities and differences between aversions formed to normal dietary items during chemotherapy treatment and aversions formed to taste stimuli during experimental conditioning studies. In addition to their theoretical significance, results also suggest possible strategies for preventing the clinical problem of aversions to normal dietary items in chemotherapy patients.     

Retroactive pessimism: a different kind of hindsight bias

In an attempt to regulate disappointments people may sometimes change their perceptions of the events leading to an undesirable outcome so that in retrospect this outcome seems almost inevitable. This retroactive pessimism effect was demonstrated in three studies. In the first, sports fans rated the likelihood of success for their team and its opponent before and after an important soccer match. Evidence for significant pre‐ and post‐game probability shifts was found for the fans of the defeated team but not for the supporters of the winning opponent. In the second and the third experiments participants responded to a scenario depicting a loss of stipend that was either large or small in value. Participants were expected to show more evidence of retroactive pessimism with greater disappointment. Indeed, estimates of the probability of a more favorable counterfactual outcome were sensitive to the magnitude of the loss with lower estimates of the probability that things could have turned out better in the large stipend condition. The effect was attenuated, however, when the loss was not personal but rather that of a friend (Experiment 2), or when the disappointment was mitigated (Experiment 3). Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Combined Effect of Political Skill and Political Decision Making on Job Satisfaction1

The current study examined the interactive effects of an environment high in political decision making and political skill on job satisfaction. We predicted that as perceptions of political decision making increase, the satisfaction of individuals low in political skill would decrease. Conversely, the negative effects of political decision making on job satisfaction would be minimized among individuals high in political skill. Data were gathered from 105 managerial employees of a financial‐services organization. Results provided strong support for the hypothesized political decision‐making/political‐skill relationship. Implications, strengths and limitations, and avenues for future research are discussed.