Self-Discrepancies and Involvement Moderate the Effects of Positive and Negative Message Framing in Persuasive Communication

One individual difference that is conceptually closely related to the positive and negative framing of outcomes in persuasive communications is the person's self-discrepancy. It was expected that a match between a person's self-discrepancy and framing will lead to more persuasion, under the condition that the information is processed centrally (high involvement). Two experiments were conducted to test this expectation, one through the Internet among obese people and one in the laboratory among students. Both experiments showed that only among those with high involvement—assessed as an individual difference—participants with an ideal-discrepancy were persuaded the most by the positively framed information, whereas participants with an ought-discrepancy were persuaded the most by the negatively framed information.     

On the Non-Existence of Optimal Solutions and the Occurrence of “Degeneracy” in the CANDECOMP/PARAFAC Model

The CANDECOMP/PARAFAC (CP) model decomposes a three-way array into a prespecified number of R factors and a residual array by minimizing the sum of squares of the latter. It is well known that an optimal solution for CP need not exist. We show that if an optimal CP solution does not exist, then any sequence of CP factors monotonically decreasing the CP criterion value to its infimum will exhibit the features of a so-called “degeneracy”. That is, the parameter matrices become nearly rank deficient and the Euclidean norm of some factors tends to infinity. We also show that the CP criterion function does attain its infimum if one of the parameter matrices is constrained to be column-wise orthonormal.     

When and How Do High Status Group Members Offer Help: Effects of Social Dominance Orientation and Status Threat

The present study explored the implications of an intergroup perspective on individual difference and situational influences on helping, specifically, outgroup members. In particular, we examined the effects of social dominance orientation (SDO) and group status threat on the amount and kind of help offered by Jewish participants (n = 99) to Arab and Jewish students. Dependent measures were the likelihood of helping outgroup and ingroup members across various situations of need and, when help is given, the likelihood that it would be dependency‐oriented rather than autonomy‐oriented assistance. As expected, higher SDO individuals offered less help to outgroup (Arab) students, particularly when they experienced threat to group status, but not to ingroup members. In addition, higher SDO participants, when they did report that they would help, were more likely to offer dependency‐oriented help to outgroup than to ingroup members. The theoretical and applied implications are discussed.     

Native language influences on word recognition in a second language: a megastudy

Many studies have reported that word recognition in a second language (L2) is affected by the native language (L1). However, little is known about the role of the specific language combination of the bilinguals. To investigate this issue, the authors administered a word identification task (progressive demasking) on 1,025 monosyllabic English (L2) words to native speakers of French, German, and Dutch. A regression approach was adopted, including a large number of within- and between-language variables as predictors. A substantial overlap of reaction time patterns was found across the groups of bilinguals, showing that word recognition results obtained for one group of bilinguals generalize to bilinguals with different mother tongues. Moreover, among the set of significant predictors, only one between-language variable was present (cognate status); all others reflected characteristics of the target language. Thus, although influences across languages exist, word recognition in L2 by proficient bilinguals is primarily determined by within-language factors, whereas cross-language effects appear to be limited. An additional comparison of the bilingual data with a native control group showed that there are subtle but significant differences between L1 and L2 processing.     

Intelligence Failure and Need for Cognitive Closure: On the Psychology of the Yom Kippur Surprise

This paper uses newly available evidence to shed light on the circumstances and causes of the 6 October 1973 Yom Kippur surprise attack of Egyptian and Syrian forces on Israeli positions at the Suez Canal and the Golan Heights. The evidence suggests that an important circumstance that accounts for the surprise effect these actions managed to produce, despite ample warning signs, is traceable to a high need for cognitive closure among major figures in the Israeli intelligence establishment. Such a need may have prompted leading intelligence analysts to "freeze" on the conventional wisdom that an attack was unlikely and to become impervious to information suggesting that it was imminent. The discussion considers the psychological forces affecting intelligence operations in predicting the initiation of hostile enemy activities, and it describes possible avenues of dealing with the psychological impediments to open–mindedness that may pervasively characterize such circumstances.     

Social psychology circa 2016: A field on steroids

This paper considers the current state of the field in social psychology. On the one hand, we have made enormous progress in integrating our research with other disciplines, reaching out to general public and using our knowledge toward addressing major societal ills. On the other hand, social psychology has been recently mired in a crisis of confidence concerning the appropriateness of our methods and the robustness of our findings. We propose that shifting our attention to theory, method, and application, as well as away from a pervasive “outcome focus,” can extricate social psychology from its current doldrums and allow it to realize its potential as an indispensable social science.     

Physical Threat and Self‐Evaluative Emotions in Smoking Cessation1

Negative self‐evaluative emotions (e.g., feeling dissatisfied with oneself, feeling stupid) are considered to indicate a threat to the self that can be caused by an external physical threat (e.g., smoking). A sample of 363 smokers was tested twice, with an interval of 8 months. Prospective analyses showed that self‐evaluative emotions mediated the relationship between the other psychological factors and quitting activity. In turn, the relationship between self‐evaluative emotions and quitting activity was mediated largely by intention to quit. The results indicate a primary role of self‐evaluative emotions in the motivation to quit smoking, and this should be taken into account when designing smoking‐cessation interventions.     

Constructing Productive Engagement: Pre-engagement Tools for Emerging Technologies

Engagement with stakeholders and civil society is increasingly important for new scientific and technological developments. Preparation of such engagements sets the stage for engagement activities and thus contributes to their outcomes. Preparation is a demanding task, particularly if the facilitating agent aims for timely engagement related to emerging technologies. Requirements for such preparation include understanding of the emerging science & technology and its dynamics. Multi-level analysis and socio-technical scenarios are two complementary tools for constructing productive engagement. Examination of the emergence of nanotechnologies in the food packaging sector demonstrates how these tools work. In light of recent policy demands for responsible innovation, but also more generally, the role of organizers of engagement activities is one that deserves reflection insofar as it can extend beyond that of preparation and facilitation.     

Women's meta-perceptions of attractiveness and their relations to body image

The present study examined meta-perceptions of attractiveness among women. More specifically, ratings were collected about how women thought their partner, family and friends, and strangers would view their physical attractiveness. In an online survey, 1287 Dutch women (aged 19-80 years) answered questions concerning meta-perceptions of attractiveness, demographic data, body mass index (BMI), body image (Body Areas Satisfaction Scale, self-rated general physical attractiveness, and actual-ideal weight discrepancy), and self-esteem. Results showed that women's meta-perceptions of attractiveness reflected the level of closeness of the relationship with the other person, with the most positive meta-perceptions reported for the partner, followed by those for family and friends, and the least positive meta-perceptions for strangers. Meta-perceptions were strongly related to body image, self-esteem and BMI. Self-ratings of attractiveness appeared to be lower than all meta-perceptions of attractiveness, suggesting that women are aware of their own negative self-bias and/or other people's positive bias.     

Social comparisons in the classroom: an investigation of the better than average effect among secondary school children

The better than average (BTA) effect refers to the tendency for the majority of people to rate themselves as being higher on positive attributes and lower on negative attributes than other people. The present study examined the occurrence of the BTA effect on five important characteristics among 15,806 first-year secondary school Dutch students. In addition, it explored the influence of students' gender, cultural background, and ability level on their evaluations of characteristics relative to their classmates. Results yielded small BTA effects, with the exception of the item “being eager to get high grades,” on which the effect was much larger. In addition, larger BTA effects were found among boys than girls, but this difference could not be attributed to actual differences in performance. Likewise, larger BTA effects were found among ethnic minority students from Turkish and Moroccan backgrounds than ethnic majority students, but this difference also could not be attributed to actual differences in performance. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.