The effects of group membership and social context on information organization

Self-categorization theory posits that the perception of group members is flexible and determined by the comparative social context as well as by group membership. Subjects read about either four ingroup or outgroup target persons in the context of four additional stimulus persons who were members of either the same group as the target persons (intragroup context) or the other group (intergroup context). Individualized and attribute-wise information organization was assessed on the basis of information clustering in free recall. As predicted, differential processing of ingroup information occurred as a function of the salient social context; in an intragroup context, ingroup information was organized significantly more by person than in an intergroup context. Conversely, ingroup information tended to be clustered more by attribute in an intergroup than in an intragroup context. Clustering of outgroup information was not sensitive to changes in the social context. The results indicate that the perception of group members may be based on more than group membership alone. ©1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Monitoring–blunting coping styles and cognitive symptoms of dental fear

The present study investigates whether monitoring (i.e. vigilant) and blunting (i.e. avoidant) coping styles are associated with cognitive symptoms of dental fear. Results show that monitoring is positively related to the frequency and believability of negative thoughts about dental treatment, and negatively with the ability to control such thoughts. The opposite pattern is found for blunting. That is, blunting correlates negatively with the frequency and believability of negative thoughts, whereas a positive association emerges with cognitive control. These findings are in line with the Monitoring Process Model which proposes that ‘monitors’ (compared to ‘blunters’) generally show greater distress and arousal because of the way in which they cognitively elaborate threat.     

Researchers’ Perceptions of Ethical Authorship Distribution in Collaborative Research Teams

Science and Engineering Ethics - Authorship is commonly used as the basis for the measurement of research productivity. It influences career progression and rewards, making it a valued commodity in...     

Presentation and validation of the Radboud Faces Database

Many research fields concerned with the processing of information contained in human faces would benefit from face stimulus sets in which specific facial characteristics are systematically varied while other important picture characteristics are kept constant. Specifically, a face database in which displayed expressions, gaze direction, and head orientation are parametrically varied in a complete factorial design would be highly useful in many research domains. Furthermore, these stimuli should be standardised in several important, technical aspects. The present article presents the freely available Radboud Faces Database offering such a stimulus set, containing both Caucasian adult and children images. This face database is described both procedurally and in terms of content, and a validation study concerning its most important characteristics is presented. In the validation study, all frontal images were rated with respect to the shown facial expression, intensity of expression, clarity of expression, genuineness of expression, attractiveness, and valence. The results show very high recognition of the intended facial expressions.     

Humour in advertising: An associative processing model

This chapter reviews a research programme on the effects of humour in advertising on positive and negative brand associations and brand choice, and integrates the findings into a single overarching model. Based on the Associative and Propositional Processes Model of Evaluation (Gawronski & Bodenhausen, 2006, 2007, 2011), we propose that repeated pairings of a novel brand with brand-unrelated humour forms positive brand associations, which mediate spontaneous brand choice. This associative process was found to be independent from the level of distraction posed by humour and from awareness of the stimulus pairings. In fact the distraction posed by humour benefits persuasion by preventing negative brand associations. Previous marketing research, which mainly viewed humour as a cue in peripheral processing, was rather pessimistic about the persuasive impact of humour. In contrast, this research programme suggests that a repeated pairing of a brand with humour affects the brand’s underlying associative structure, which may lead to stable attitude changes that guide overt spontaneous brand choice. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

The resentful sucker: Do rewards ease the pain?

In a cross-sectional field study we found, as predicted, that performance differences between members of semi-autonomous teams were associated with feelings of unfairness. On the basis of equity theory we hypothesized that the relationship between performance differences and unfairness feelings would be moderated for suckers, i.e., team members with relatively high performances, who feel highly rewarded for their efforts, either with high financial rewards, with high task rewards, or with high social rewards. The results showed that financial rewards had no moderating effects, but high social rewards and low task rewards moderated feelings of unfairness for suckers.