The ups and downs of social comparison: mechanisms of assimilation and contrast

Social comparisons influence self-evaluations in multiple ways. Sometimes self-evaluations are assimilated toward a given standard. At other times, they are contrasted away from the standard. On the basis of the selective accessibility model (T. Mussweiler, 2003a), the authors hypothesized that assimilation results if judges engage in the comparison process of similarity testing and selectively focus on similarities to the standard, whereas contrast occurs if judges engage in dissimilarity testing and selectively focus on differences. If these alternative comparison mechanisms are indeed at play, then assimilative and contrastive social comparisons should be accompanied by diverging informational foci on similarities versus differences. Results of 5 studies support this reasoning, demonstrating that assimilation results under conditions that foster similarity testing, whereas contrast occurs under conditions that foster dissimilarity testing. Furthermore, assimilative social comparisons are accompanied by a general informational focus on similarities, whereas contrastive comparisons are accompanied by a focus on differences.     

Self-representation: searching for a neural signature of self-consciousness

Human self-consciousness operates at different levels of complexity and at least comprises five different levels of representational processes. These five levels are nonconceptual representation, conceptual representation, sentential representation, meta-representation, and iterative meta-representation. These different levels of representation can be operationalized by taking a first-person-perspective that is involved in representational processes on different levels of complexity. We refer to experiments that operationalize a first-person-perspective on the level of conceptual and meta-representational self-consciousness. Interestingly, these experiments show converging evidence for a recruitment of medial cortical and parietal regions during taking a first-person-perspective, even when operating on different degrees of complexity. These data lend support for the speculative hypothesis, that there exist a neural signature for human self-consciousness that is recruited independent from the degree of representational complexity to be performed.     

Event-related potentials in adolescents with combined ADHD and CD disorder: a single stimulus paradigm

Some studies of the event-related potentials demonstrated a reduction of the voluntary component P3 (P300 or P3b) in youngsters with the attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or in conduct disorders (CD), and a reduction of the automatic processing component, mismatch negativity, in patients with both ADHD and CD (ADHD+CD). Recently, a passive auditory P3 potential has been elicited by a single stimulus. We therefore tried this potential study in 20 healthy subjects and 20 teenagers with ADHD+CD to search for further evidence of the altered automatic cerebral processing in the latter. Subjects also answered a self-report Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology (DAPP). The patient group scored significantly higher on most DAPP traits that reflect problems of emotion control, showed significantly prolonged P2, N2, and P3, and reduced P3. In all subjects Stimulus Seeking was positively correlated with P3 latencies at Fz, Cz, and Pz, and with P3 amplitude at Cz. This study suggests that youngsters with ADHD+CD had pronounced emotion dysregulation, and prominent deficit in passive attention, as reflected by the automatic processing of auditory stimuli.     

权力不稳定性对权力效应的逆转作用

摘 要 基于权力的趋近-抑制理论，本研究探讨权力不稳定性对权力效应产生逆转作用以及权力动机对这一逆转作用的影响。实验采用角色扮演法和真实任务角色来操纵被试的权力水平和权力不稳定性，以赌博任务中的冒险行为和金钱分配任务中的趋利行为来测量被试的权力趋近/抑制效应。结果发现：权力稳定条件下，高权力被试比低权力被试表现出更多的冒险行为和趋利行为；权力不稳定条件下则相反，低权力被试比高权力被试表现出更多的冒险行为和趋利行为。权力不稳定条件下高权力动机的高权力者相比低权力动机的高权力者倾向给自己分配更少的金额数，表现出更为明显的抑制倾向；而高权力动机的低权力者相比低权力动机的低权力者倾向于提出更高要求的金额数，表现出更为明显的趋近倾向。该研究证实了权力不稳定性对权力效应的逆转作用，而权力动机对这一逆转作用起到增强趋势。     

Working with animals: Implications for employees’ compassion,awe, prosocial behavior,and task performance

Human-animal work represents a collaboration between humans and animals to achieve work goals, and is common in the domains of healthcare, therapy, entertainment, and education. Although the scope and types of human-animal work is diversifying and increasing, organizational scholars have yet to explore its impacts on employees. Drawing from the models of compassion and mind perception theories, we first develop a theoretical model pertaining to the development of compassion as a result of human-animal work. In a study with zookeepers (Study 1), we find that human-animal work evokes the emotion of compassion, which in turn is positively associated with employee prosocial behavior and task performance. These mediated effects are moderated by how employees perceive animals—employees are more likely to experience compassion, and in turn, become more prosocial and work better when they generally perceive animals to be able to experience emotions and bodily sensations. Furthermore, two follow-up studies (i.e., Studies 2 and 3) with employees who engage in human-animal work in Hong Kong and the United States reveal that working with animals evokes awe in addition to compassion, and provides insight into their resultant impact on prosocial behavior and task performance. We end by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of this work.     

Embodied Information in Cognitive Tasks: Haptic Weight Sensations Affect Task Performance and Processing Style

Research in the field of embodied cognition showed that incidental weight sensations influence peoples’ judgments about a variety of issues and objects. Most studies found that heaviness compared to lightness increases the perception of importance, seriousness, and potency. In two experiments, we broadened this scope by investigating the impact of weight sensations on cognitive performance. In Experiment 1, we found that the performance in an anagram task was reduced when participants held a heavy versus a light clipboard in their hands. Reduced performance was accompanied by an increase in the perceived effort. In Experiment 2, a heavy clipboard elicited a specific response heuristic in a two-alternative forced-choice task. Participants showed a significant right side bias when holding a heavy clipboard in their hands. After the task, participants in the heavy clipboard condition reported to be more frustrated than participants in the light clipboard condition. In both experiments, we did not find evidence for mediated effects that had been proposed by previous literature. Overall, the results indicate that weight effects go beyond judgment formation and highlight new avenues for future research.     

Counterfactual and Factual Reflection: The Influence of Past Misdeeds on Future Immoral Behavior

Though the decision to behave immorally is situated within the context of prior immoral behavior, research has provided contradictory insights into this process. In a series of experiments, we demonstrate that the effects of prior immoral behavior depend on how individuals think about, or reflect on, their immoral behavior. In Experiment 1, participants who reflected counterfactually on their prior moral lapses morally disengaged (i.e., rationalized) less than participants who reflected factually. In Experiment 2, participants who reflected counterfactually on their prior moral lapses experienced more guilt than those who reflected factually. Finally, in Experiments 3 and 4, participants who reflected counterfactually lied less on unrelated tasks with real monetary stakes than those who reflected factually. Our studies provide important insights into moral rationalization and moral compensation processes and demonstrate the profound influence of reflection in everyday moral life.     

Transformational Leadership and Followers’ Objective Performance Over Time: Insights From German Basketball

The purpose of this present study is to gauge the usefulness of head coaches’ transformational leadership in predicting followers’ individual, objectively measured performance development over time. The sample encompassed data on 22 coaches and 200 players from German professional basketball. Each player's performance was captured for approximately 20 subsequent games resulting in a sample of 3,905 measurement points. Our analyses revealed significant effects from transformational leadership facets of Articulating a Vision, Fostering the Acceptance of Group Goals, and Providing Individualized Consideration on the development of players’ performance over time.