Negative affect and interpersonal rejection among prison inmates in a therapeutic community: a social relations analysis.

The authors used D. A. Kenny's social relations model to examine J. C. Coyne's interpersonal theory of depression among a clinical sample of well-acquainted prison inmates. Members of 12 therapy groups (N = 142) diagnosed with a substance abuse disorder completed a self-report measure of depression and anxiety and indicated their desire to interact with other group members. There was both consensus about which group members were rejected and individual differences in the participants reported desire for future interaction with other group members. Those reporting high levels of depressive negative affect were most likely to be rejected. Those lowest in positive affect indicated the least desire for future interaction with others.     

Inferring Social Disposition by Sound and Surface Appearance in Infancy

Adults automatically infer a person’s social disposition and future behavior based on the many properties they observe about how they look and sound. The goal of the current study is to explore the developmental origins of this bias. We tested whether 12-month-old infants automatically infer a character’s social disposition (e.g., whether they are likely to “help” or “hinder” another character’s goal) based on the sounds and visual features those characters display. Infants were habituated to 2 characters, 1 that possessed more positive properties (e.g., a soft, fluffy appearance and a happy-sounding laugh) or more negative properties (e.g., a sharp, pointy appearance and a deep, ominous laugh). During test trials, we observed that infants looked longer at events that involved characters engaging in social actions toward another that were inconsistent rather than consistent with the valence of how they looked and sounded during habituation. Two control conditions support the interpretation that infants’ responses were based on an inferred causal relationship between a character’s features and its disposition rather than on some noncausal associations between the positive and negative valences of the characteristics and actions. Together, these studies suggest that infants are biased to connect an agent’s audiovisual features to their social behavior.     

How are stereotypes maintained through communication? The influence of stereotype sharedness

Recent research has suggested that interpersonal communication may be an important source of stereotype maintenance. When communicated through a chain of people, stereotype-relevant information tends to become more stereotypical, thus confirming the stereotypes held by recipients of communication. However, the underlying mechanisms of this phenomenon have yet to be fully determined. This article examines how the socially shared nature of stereotypes interacts with communication processes to maintain stereotypes in communication chains. In 3 experiments, participants communicated a stereotype-relevant story through 4-person chains using the method of serial reproduction. Manipulations included the extent to which communicators believed their audience and other community members shared and endorsed their stereotypes, and also the extent to which they actually shared the stereotypes. The shared nature of stereotypes was found to be a strong contributor to rendering the story more stereotypical in communication. This is discussed in relation to the maintenance of stereotypes through communication.     

Effects of emotion on oxytocin,prolactin, and ACTH in women

Research on both non-human mammals and humans has raised interest in the role that oxytocin may play in human attachment and attachment-related emotions. This study examined changes in plasma oxytocin, prolactin, and ACTH concentrations in response to laboratory-induced positive and negative emotions related to close, interpersonal relationships. Participants were 32 female volunteers recruited from university communities. During positive emotion induction, oxytocin decreased over time (F(1,3) = 4.41, p < 0.007), prolactin increased (F(1,3) = 4.80, p < 0.004) and ACTH remained constant. During negative emotion induction, prolactin levels increased (F(1,3) = 2.81, p < 0.05), ACTH decreased only after the induction terminated (F(1,3) = 4.02, p < 0.01) and oxytocin remained constant. While oxytocin decreased during positive emotion, this finding contrasted previous research that showed decreases in response to negative emotion. In conclusion, plasma oxytocin levels were not reliably altered by positive or negative emotion induction. While prolactin and ACTH were expected to decrease over time due to diurnal variation, they instead either increased or remained level during emotion induction, or decreased only after the induction. Overall, the degree of change in circulating hormones in response to happy and sad emotions was very small and possibly not functionally significant.     

Methodological issues in interviewing and using self-report questionnaires with people with mental retardation

In this article the authors review methodological issues that arise when interviews and self-report questionnaires are used with people with mental retardation and offer suggestions for overcoming some of the difficulties described. Examples are drawn from studies that use qualitative methodology, quantitative studies assessing different question types, and studies reporting on the development of instruments measuring psychiatric symptoms, self-concept, and quality of life. Specific problems that arise with respect to item content (e.g., quantitative judgments, generalizations), question phrasing (e.g., modifiers), response format (e.g., acquiescence, multiple-choice questions), and psychometric properties (factor structure and validity) are discussed. It is argued that because many self-report questionnaires include questions that have been found to be problematic in this population, more attention needs to be paid to establishing the validity of such measures and to clearly defining the population for which the instrument is designed.     

Introspection on uncertainty and judicious help‐seeking during the preschool years

Little is known about the mechanisms underlying a ubiquitous behavior in preschoolers, help‐seeking. We tested the hypothesis that preschoolers' awareness of their own uncertainty is associated with help‐seeking. Three‐, 4‐, and 5‐year‐olds (N = 125) completed a perceptual identification task twice: once independently and once when they could request help from a confederate whose competence level was manipulated. Consistent with our hypothesis, participants sought help more frequently on trials for which, when required to answer independently, they expressed lower confidence. Children in the bad‐helper condition were slower to respond after receiving help than those in the good‐helper condition. Finally, females and children with more advanced theory of mind were more likely to seek help, identifying additional factors that relate to help‐seeking.     

Friendship Work on Facebook: Young Adults' Understandings and Practices of Friendship

Young adults use social networking sites (SNSs) such as Facebook to engage as friends, yet there has been little systematic research that has investigated their sense‐making of friendship in relation to their uses of Facebook, as well as how Facebook as a socio‐technical system interacts with their friendship practices. Twelve friendship discussion groups were conducted in urban and non‐urban New Zealand, with 26 women and 25 men aged 18–25 years, in same and mixed‐gender groups. Our social constructionist thematic analysis showed the young adults made sense of friendship through themes of ‘fun times together’, an ‘investment’, ‘protection’ and ‘self‐authenticity’, and these meanings were enacted in particular ways within Facebook. This SNS was used primarily for enjoying friendship and ‘investing in’ friendships, and friendship protection was required to maintain friends' online privacy. Facebook provided a way to demonstrate self‐authenticity within friendship relationships through censored ‘show off’ self‐displays and favoured friendship activities. Facebook supported, disrupted and modified these particular friendship understandings by broadening the audience for friendship actions and intensifying friends' responses through 24/7 accessibility and instantaneous activity notifications. These interactions between friendship understandings and Facebook as a socio‐technical system demonstrate how friendship was reinforced, negotiated and re‐worked through this online context. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.