Inferences about actions performed in constraining contexts: Correspondence bias or correspondent inference?

Prior studies of the correspondence bias reveal a tendency for people to base inferences on behaviors they observe, even when these behaviors are highly constrained by the social context in which they occur. Three processes may combine to sustain this effect: (a) an insufficient adjustment of initial estimates caused by the fundamental attribution error (FAE); (b) the reliance on intuitive estimates of the prevalence of traits, attitudes, and other dispositional characteristics in the general population; and (c) the assumption that few situations are so coercive that they negate all freedom of choice. These processes were differentiated in a modification of the Jones-Harris paradigm. Participants estimated a particular attitude's prevalence in the general population before reading an essay written under either high or low choice conditions and taking a probable or improbable position. Inferences were consistent with prior probabilities when the essay expressed a highly probable opinion and consistent with behavior when the essay expressed an unlikely opinion. These results suggest that perceivers make inferences by estimating the probability that the observed behavior reflects a dispositional characteristic and then revising their prior estimates of the probability of that characteristic accordingly. Thanks are extended to William R. Pope for his assistance in all phases of this research, and to Karl Kelley, Joel Cohen, Catherine Lewis, Chris Wetzel, and several anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.     

The Poly-Drug User: Examining Associations between Drugs Used by Adolescents

Based on data from the 2014 Communities that Care Youth Survey, the authors examine the associations between drug use frequencies among 11 drugs. This research represents a step in determining what leads to the use of dangerous drugs like heroin, other opioids, and other not so dangerous substances. Findings indicate the highest association is between marijuana and alcohol use. Most drugs show at least a low to medium association with all other drugs. Findings indicate the difficulty in making gateway assumptions and that poly-drug use determined by peer associations is a better explanation.     

The gestural repertoire of the wild bonobo (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Pan paniscus</Emphasis>): a mutually understood communication system

In animal communication, signallers and recipients are typically different: each signal is given by one subset of individuals (members of the same age, sex, or social rank) and directed towards another. However, there is scope for signaller–recipient interchangeability in systems where most signals are potentially relevant to all age–sex groups, such as great ape gestural communication. In this study of wild bonobos (Pan paniscus), we aimed to discover whether their gestural communication is indeed a mutually understood communicative repertoire, in which all individuals can act as both signallers and recipients. While past studies have only examined the expressed repertoire, the set of gesture types that a signaller deploys, we also examined the understood repertoire, the set of gestures to which a recipient reacts in a way that satisfies the signaller. We found that most of the gestural repertoire was both expressed and understood by all age and sex groups, with few exceptions, suggesting that during their lifetimes all individuals may use and understand all gesture types. Indeed, as the number of overall gesture instances increased, so did the proportion of individuals estimated to both express and understand a gesture type. We compared the community repertoire of bonobos to that of chimpanzees, finding an 88 % overlap. Observed differences are consistent with sampling effects generated by the species’ different social systems, and it is thus possible that the repertoire of gesture types available to Pan is determined biologically.     

Using text analysis software to detect deception in written short‐answer questions in employee selection

This study investigated if word frequencies informed by the Newman‐Pennebaker (NP) and Reality Monitoring (RM) models could classify honest and deceptive responses to short‐answer questions often used in online employee applications. Participants (n = 106; 58% male; M_age = 30.28 years, SD = 8.85) completed two written short‐answer questions both deceptively and honestly. The questions asked participants to describe a notable personal achievement or a time where they had demonstrated interpersonal skills. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count was used to calculate the prevalence of words in various linguistic categories. Deceptive statements contained significantly fewer first‐person singular pronouns, auxiliary verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, and cognitive process words. Results revealed the NP and RM models accuracy at classifying responses varied on question type.     

Ajātasattu and the future of psychoanalytic anthropology. Part I: The promise of a culture

Conclusion Thus, we can see that Obeyesekere’s notion and usage of some psychoanalytic concepts is at variance with Freud’s formulations and with those of standard psychoanalytic theory. This divergence is also evident in Obeyesekere’s formulation of the concept of disconnection, which is arguably the most important construct in the first chapter of The work of culture. Space constraints prevent us taking-up this concept here. So let me now conclude this first part of the essay, and begin part 2 with an examination of ‘disconnection’ in the context of a discussion of Obeyesekere’s accounts of two South Asian ecstatics.     

Women’s Ideals for Masculinity Across Social Contexts: Patriarchal Agentic Masculinity is Valued in Work,Family, and Romance but Communal Masculinity in Friendship

The present study explores women’s ideals for masculinity in different social contexts (work, family/romance, and friendship) and compares how traditional (agentic) and non-patriarchal (communal) masculinity are valued in each context. Survey data were collected from one international (N = 159) and three South African samples (Ns = 86, 100, 161) of women. Results show that although women value patriarchal ideals for masculinity, agentic and communal versions of masculinity are valued differently across contexts. Specifically, traditional agentic versions of masculinity were most valued in the contexts most important to the long-term production of viable identity (family/romance and work). It was only in friendship that non-patriarchal communal masculinity was consistently idealized over traditional agentic masculinity. The results are discussed in relation to hegemonic masculinity (HM) and system justification theory (SJT). Congruent with SJT, women idealized versions of masculinity that may not be in their own or their group’s best interests, but in line with HM, the results emphasized the fluidity of masculinity and that the same individual can simultaneously idealize different versions of masculinity depending on the context. Because stereotypes are both explanations for the status quo and warrants for behaving in one way or another, these collective ideals for masculinity and contextual boundaries may be important obstacles to achieving gender equity.     

Response Primacy in Fear Conditioning: Disentangling the Contributions Of UCS VS. UCR Intensity

The Psychological Record - Debates have ensued over whether fear conditioning is mainly a function of the strength of the aversive unconditioned stimulus (UCS) or the severity and intensity of the...