Face-saving and entrapment

Entrapping conflicts are those in which individuals: (1) have made substantial, unrealized investments in pursuit of some goal, and (2) feel compelled to justify these expenditures with continued investments, even if the likelihood of goal attainment is low. It was hypothesized that entrapment (i.e., amount invested) would be influenced by the relative importance individuals attach to the costs and rewards associated with continued investments. Two experiments tested the notion that entrapment would be more pronounced when costs were rendered less important (and/or rewards were made more important). In Experiment 1, half of the subjects were instructed beforehand of the virtues of investing conservatively (Cautious condition), whereas half were informed of the advantages of investing a considerable amount (Risky condition). Investments were more than twice as great in the Risky condition. Moreover, consistent with a face-saving analysis, (1) the instructions had a greater effect on subjects with high rather than low social anxiety, and (2) individuals with high social anxiety who participated in front of a large audience were more influenced by the instructions than were individuals with low social anxiety who participated in front of a small audience. In the second experiment, the importance of costs and rewards were varied in a 2 × 2 design. As predicted, subjects invested significantly more when cost importance was low rather than high. Contrary to expectation, reward importance had no effect. Questionnaire data from this study also suggested that entrapment was at least partially mediated by the participants' concern over the way they thought they would be evaluated. Theoretical implications are discussed.     

Self-esteem,anxiety, and the avoidance of self-focused attention

The present study was designed to provide converging support for the hypothesis that individuals with low self-esteem (low SEs) find self-focused attention more anxiety provoking, relative to people with high self-esteem (high SEs). Subjects were premeasured for their self-esteem and given a brief opportunity to “practice” two tasks that they believed they would be required to perform in a later part of the experiment. One task was practiced in front of a self-focusing stimulus—a large mirror (mirror task)—whereas the other was not (no-mirror task). Subjects evaluated the tasks after they had practiced each one. Consistent with the notion that self-focused attention is more anxiety provoking for individuals with lower self-esteem, it was observed that: (1) relative to high SEs, lowmedium SEs rated the mirror, but not the no-mirror, task as less enjoyable, and (b) low-medium, but not high, SEs preferred to avoid the mirror task for the alleged upcoming part of the experiment. Subjects high in dispositional private selfconsciousness also wanted to avoid the mirror task, particularly if they were also low in self-esteem. Contrary to prediction, success-failure feedback from a previous task had no effect on subjects' task preferences. Theoretical explanations and implications are discussed.     

Dissonance and self-perception: An integrative view of each theory's proper domain of application

The literature concerning the controversy between dissonance and selfperception theories is reviewed. It is proposed that the two theories be regarded not as “competing” formulations but as complementary ones and, furthermore, that each theory is applicable only to its own specialized domain. Self-perception theory, it is suggested, accurately characterizes attitude change phenomena in the context of attitude-congruent behavior and dissonance theory attitude change in the context of attitude-discrepant behavior. Attitude-congruent is defined as any position within an individual's latitude of acceptance; attitude-discrepant as any position in the latitude of rejection. An experimental test of these notions produced confirming evidence. Subjects who were given an opportunity to misattribute any potential dissonance arousal to an external stimulus did not change their attitudes, relative to low choice subjects, if they were committed to endorsing a position in their latitude of rejection. If the commitment concerned a position in the latitude of acceptance, however, these subjects did exhibit attitude change relative to low choice subjects.     

Developmental differences in subjects' associative-learning strategies and performance: Assessing a hypothesis

Fifth-, seventh-, and ninth-grade (11-, 13-, and 15-year-old) subjects were presented with a list of paired associates to learn and were interviewed about the strategies used to learn them. Although a majority of fifth graders reported simply rehearsing the pairs in order to remember them, very few ninth graders relied exclusively on rehearsal. Consistent with a hypothesis advanced by Rohwer (1973), the number of subjects who elaborated some or all of the pairs increased with age. Paired-associate performance increased with age, but the level of paired-associate learning was much more related to the type of strategy reported by the subject than to the age of the subject per se.     

Additional evidence from a paradigm for inferring discriminative processes in children and adults

A previously developed paradigm which incorporates a correlational methodology into an experimental context was used in the present study to specify more definitely the attribute(s) underlying verbal discrimination learning under normal conditions. In the case of fifth- and sixth-grade children, it was found that frequency theory is sufficient to account for performance on the task. However, older subjects were less homogeneously reliant on the frequency attribute. While many older subjects appeared to utilize frequency cues, others adopted strategies that resulted in the utilization of attributes other than frequency.     

Brief report: On becoming a group therapist

Clinicians have become group therapists via many routes, either voluntarily or not. Group psychotherapy itself has had a checkered history, in that it has often been seen as an ancillary or a second choice form of treatment. Indeed, we know that there is a growing number of well-respected clinicians who are not only not ambivalent about being seen as group clinicians, but embrace this reality as a primary clinical identity. It has occurred to us that no one has looked deeply at this developmental path or what facilitates or inhibits movement along this path. This article is a preliminary attempt to initiate this line of study.     

Influence of children's positive self-perceptions on donating behavior in a naturalistic setting

The present study investigated the effects of self-perceptions on the donating behavior of 43 fourth-grade students. The children had two opportunities to donate gum to another class. Half of the students received feedback after the first donation period indicating that they were particularly generous. These children subsequently gave more than children in the control group (p<.05). Sociometric measures indicated that the perceptions children had of themselves and others were related to donating. The results were similar for both males and females. Children process new information into their cognitive systems. The resulting cognitions help guide future behaviors.     

Training in consultation

Conclusions This paper has pointed out some important goals, techniques, and dilemmas associated with consultation training and it has reviewed some of the relevant literature. A variety of ideas have been presented that should be useful to the trainer devising a workshop, a course, or a series of programmatic training experiences. In addition to describing key goals for training, the training techniques included readings, writing projects, and other didactic exercises, as well as modeling, role-playing with feedback, andin vivo practice with feedback. However, it should be noted that one important issue that has been ignored in the literature on consultation training is theconsultee (Meyers, Note 2). Effective consultation would be more likely if consultees receiving training regarding the knowledge base of consultation and the skills necessary to be an effective consultee.This paper was prepared while the author served as Visiting Scientist to the Center for Prevention Research, National Institute of Mental Health. Views expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Institute.     

Breaking-up is hard to study: A review of two decades of dissolution research

The dissolution of romantic relationships can be conceptualized in many ways, from a distressing event or a consequential life decision to a metric of a relationship's success. In the current review, we assess how relationship science has approached dissolution research over roughly the past 20 years. We identified 207 studies (from 195 papers) published between 2002–2020 that captured relationship dissolution events and coded the papers for relevant features. The most common methodological approach to studying breakups was a self-report study (92%) in which relationships were tracked over time (72%) and breakups were treated as an outcome variable (79%). These results suggest that most research on dissolution has focused on predictors of it, rather than processes required to uncouple and circumstances surrounding the breakup itself. Coding revealed heterogeneous theoretical approaches, with the most common perspective across papers—social exchange/interdependence theory—informing only 15% of the papers coded. A majority (61%) of samples were representative of the nations, regions, or localities in which the studies were conducted. Yet, samples still tended to be disproportionately comprised of young, white individuals from Western countries. We conclude by discussing potential avenues for moving our understanding of relationship dissolution forward.     

A hot new way to measure aggression: Hot sauce allocation

Laboratory experiments investigating aggressive behavior have operationalized and assessed aggression in a variety of ways; however, these measures are often problematic because they do not create a situation in which participants perceive potential for real harm to come to the target, there is a risk of actual harm to the target, or they are too familiar to participants. To overcome these limitations, we developed a new method for measuring aggression, specifically, the amount of hot sauce administered to a target known to dislike spicy foods. We summarize a series of experiments assessing theory‐based hypotheses regarding aggression in which this measure is employed. We then briefly consider the strengths and limitations of this new measure. Aggr. Behav. 25:331–348, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.