Beyond priming effects: The role of positive affect and discrepancies in implicit processes of motivation and goal pursuit

Recent research demonstrates that goal pursuit can be instigated without conscious interventions when the mental accessibility of goal representations is enhanced by environmental cues. However, the mechanisms producing this non-conscious, motivational, goal-directed activity are not clearly addressed in the literature. In this chapter we present a framework within which the non-conscious activation of goal-directed behaviour can be understood. The framework departs from the idea that a goal is represented as a desired state and identifies three characteristics of this representation that render non-conscious goal pursuit more likely to occur: its mental accessibility, the discrepancy of the represented state with the actual state, and its association with positive affect. We present findings, largely established in our own labs, that demonstrate the crucial role of these three factors. We will close the chapter by showing how the framework can help to address some of the pressing issues in the research on non-conscious goal pursuit.     

The Effect of Individual Differences in Factor Loadings on the Standard Factor Model

It is shown that the population-covariance matrix of a heterogeneous factor model may be indistinguishable from that of a standard factor model and that the standard likelihood-ratio goodness-of-fit statistic has but little power in detecting loading heterogeneity. The relation between loading heterogeneity and factor score reliability is studied and it is recommended that non-normality of the test-score distributions be tested to use factor scores with more confidence. Substantive justifications for the model assumptions and model-based methods to test specific hypotheses about the loading distribution, are discussed.     

Romaphobia among Serbian and Dutch adolescents: The role of perceived threat,nationalistic feelings,and integrative orientations

This study examines the relationships between nationalism and integration attitudes on one hand, and anti‐Roma prejudice on the other. Using Stephan and Stephan's threat theory, the study analyzes whether and to what extent these relationships are mediated by perceived economic and symbolic threats. Data were collected among 16‐ and 17‐year‐old students in Serbia and The Netherlands. A path analysis shows that perceived economic and symbolic threats mediate the relationships between nationalism and integration on one hand, and Romaphobia on the other. Moreover, the findings show that these relationships are comparable between Serbian and Dutch youth. Levels of threat and Romaphobia differ between countries. Youth in the Netherlands, who barely have contact opportunities with Roma, are characterized by higher threat and Romaphobia scores than Serbian youth, who have proportionally more contact opportunities. Explanations are discussed as well as implications for theory and prejudice reduction in diverse intercultural settings.     

Situational and Personality Factors as Direct or Personal Norm Mediated Predictors of Pro-environmental Behavior: Questions Derived From Norm-activation Theory

Studies that use the norm activation theory (Schwartz, 1977 Schwartz , S. H. ( 1977 ). Normative influences on altruism . In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 10 , pp. 221 – 279 ). New York : Academic Press .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) to explain pro-environmental behavior often focus on personal norms and on two situational activators, i.e., awareness of need and situational responsibility (e.g., Vining &; Ebreo, 1992 Vining , J. , &; Ebreo , A. ( 1992 ). Predicting recycling behavior from global and specific environmental attitudes and changes in recycling opportunities . Journal of Applied Social Psychology , 22 , 1580 – 1607 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The theory's other situational activators, efficacy and ability, and its personality trait activators, awareness of consequences and denial of responsibility, are generally ignored. The current article reports on two studies - a mail survey among the general public (N = 345) and a laboratory experiment among university freshmen (N = 166)–that found that (1) inclusion of additional activators improved the norm activation theory's potential to explain pro-environmental behavior and (2) personal norms significantly mediated the impact of activators on pro-environmental behavior. Theoretical issues and issues concerning environmental management evoked by these results are discussed.     

Social support, coping, life events, and posttraumatic stress symptoms among former peacekeepers: a prospective study

This study examined both cross-sectionally and longitudinally the relationship between social support, coping strategies, additional stressful life events, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among Dutch former peacekeeping soldiers. Two groups of peacekeepers were investigated: 311 peacekeepers who participated in the peacekeeping operation in Lebanon between 1979 and 1985, and 499 peacekeepers who were deployed after 1990. These peacekeepers completed a questionnaire in 1996 and again in 1998. The results show that more negative social contacts and fewer positive social contacts were associated with more PTSD symptom severity. More use of the coping strategies ‘wishful thinking’ and ‘accepting responsibility’ was related to more PTSD symptoms. Conversely, more planful problem solving and seeking social support was related to less PTSD symptom severity. In addition, a bilateral relationship was found between additional stressful life events and PTSD symptom severity. The results indicate that social support and coping strategies may be valuable aspects of prevention and intervention programs.     

Engendering Culture: The Relationship of Gender Identity and Pressure for Gender Conformity with Adolescents’ Interests in the Arts and Literature

Research indicates that women are more interested in highbrow culture (i.e., the arts—art, music, and theatre—and literature) than men are. Current explanations for women’s higher involvement in highbrow cultural activities primarily focus on adults; overemphasize class-, work- and cultural capital-related explanations; and do not uncover the identity-related and interactional mechanisms behind the gendering of taste during socialization. In the present paper we use gender identity theory and a “doing gender” perspective to understand cultural taste differences between male and female adolescents. Using multilevel analyses on a random sample of 5227 Flemish 7th graders (M _age = 12.18) who completed a survey in their classrooms, we find that higher gender typicality (i.e., identification as a typical male or female) and higher pressure to conform to gender stereotypes are associated with slightly higher interests in arts-, theatre-, and literature-related activities for young women, but with much lower highbrow interests for young men. This difference indicates that identity-related processes and interactional conformity pressures are important mechanisms reinforcing the gendering of cultural tastes. Implications for research on gender, class, and cultural capital, as well as potential ways to make schools safe environments for the expression of gender non-stereotypical cultural tastes, are discussed.     

Does worry affect adjustment to bereavement? A longitudinal investigation

Background and objectives: Repetitive thought is a trans-diagnostic risk-factor for development of psychopathology. Research on repetitive thought in bereaved individuals has focused primarily on clarifying the role of rumination, repetitive thinking about past negative events and/or negative emotions. While detrimental effects of rumination have been demonstrated following bereavement, surprisingly few studies have aimed to clarify the role of worry, repetitive thinking about potential future negative events, in adjustment to loss. This study sought to fill this gap in knowledge. Methods/Design: One hundred eighty-three bereaved individuals (85.3% women) filled out questionnaires on sociodemographic and loss-related characteristics, worry, and symptom measures of depression, anxiety, and prolonged grief. After six months, 155 participants completed worry and symptom measures again. Using multiple regression analyses, concurrent and longitudinal associations between loss-related variables, worry, and symptoms of psychopathology were examined. Results: Main results were that worry was strongly positively associated with symptoms of anxiety, depression and prolonged grief concurrently and also predicted higher levels of anxiety, depression and prolonged grief longitudinally. Conclusions: Findings suggest that worry influences adjustment to bereavement negatively and may be a potential target in grief therapy, especially when aiming to reduce anxiety.     

Automatic goal inferences

The social psychological literature on automatic social inferences has focused on one construct that helps explaining human behavior—traits (e.g., Gilbert, Pelham, & Krull, 1988; Trope, 1986; Winter & Uleman, 1984). The dispositional roots of behavior, however, go beyond relatively stable constructs such as traits to include more transient causes such as one’s intentions and goals. Evidence from young infants and adult chimpanzees, knowledge acquired in the text-comprehension literature and hypotheses derived from the Automatic Causal Inferences framework (Hassin, Bargh, & Uleman, 2002), seems to converge: they all suggest that perceivers may automatically infer goals from behaviors. This paper reports four studies that examine this hypothesis. The first two use surprise cued-recall, and look at goal inferences when the road to goal achievement seems straightforward and when it seems blocked. Studies 3 and 4 use on-line methodologies—probe recognition task and lexical decision—to examine whether these inferences are made at encoding.     

Broadening Ethics Teaching in Engineering: Beyond the Individualistic Approach

There is a widespread approach to the teaching of ethics to engineering students in which the exclusive focus is on engineers as individual agents and the broader context in which they do their work is ignored. Although this approach has frequently been criticised in the literature, it persists on a wide scale, as can be inferred from accounts in the educational literature and from the contents of widely used textbooks in engineering ethics. In this contribution we intend to: (1) Restate why the individualistic approach to the teaching of ethics to engineering students is inadequate in view of preparing them for ethical, professional and social responsibility; (2) Examine the existing literature regarding the possible contribution of Science, Technology and Society (STS) scholarship in addressing the inadequacies of the individualistic approach; and (3) Assess this possible contribution of STS in order to realise desired learning outcomes regarding the preparation of students for ethical and social responsibility.