Priming in interpersonal contexts: implications for affect and behavior

Priming stereotypes can lead to a variety of behavioral outcomes, including assimilation, contrast, and response behaviors. However, the conditions that give rise to each of these outcomes are unspecified. Furthermore, theoretical accounts posit that prime-to-behavior effects are either direct (i.e., unmediated) or mediated by cognitive processes, whereas the role of affective processes has been largely unexplored. The present research directly investigated both of these issues. Three experiments demonstrated that priming a threatening social group ("hoodies") influences both affect and behavior in an interpersonal context. Hoodie priming produced both behavioral avoidance and several affective changes (including social apprehension, threat sensitivity, and self-reported anxiety and hostility). Importantly, avoidance following hoodie priming was mediated by anxiety and occurred only under conditions of other- (but not self-) focus. These results highlight multiple routes through which primes influence affect and behavior, and suggest that attention to self or others determine the nature of priming effects.     

Can Pragmatists be Institutionalists? John Dewey Joins the Non-ideal/Ideal Theory Debate

During the 1960s and 1970s, institutionalists and behavioralists in the discipline of political science argued over the legitimacy of the institutional approach to political inquiry. In the discipline of philosophy, a similar debate concerning institutions has never taken place. Yet, a growing number of philosophers are now working out the institutional implications of political ideas in what has become known as “non-ideal theory.” My thesis is two-fold: (1) pragmatism and institutionalism are compatible and (2) non-ideal theorists, following the example of pragmatists, can avoid a similar debate as took place between institutionalists and behavioralists by divulging their assumptions about institutions.     

Attempted suicide, self-harm, and violent victimization among regular illicit drug users

Relationships among attempted suicide, nonsuicidal self-harm, and physical assault were examined in 400 regular users of heroin and/or psychostimulants. Twenty-eight percent had episodes of nonsuicidal self-harm, 32% had attempted suicide, and 95% had been violently assaulted. The number of suicide attempts and nonsuicidal self-harm incidents were correlated (ρ = 0.44). There were also significant correlations between the number of assaults and nonsuicidal self-harm incidents (ρ = 0.17), and suicide attempts (ρ = 0.27). The mean age onset for non-suicidal self-harm (18.9 yrs) was significantly younger than that of initial suicide (22.3 yrs). The age at initial physical assault (16.0yrs) was significantly younger than that of nonsuicidal self-harm and initial suicide attempt. Screening for all forms of violence appears warranted when determining suicide risk for this population.     

Enough skill to kill: Intentionality judgments and the moral valence of action

Extant models of moral judgment assume that an action’s intentionality precedes assignments of blame. Knobe (2003b) challenged this fundamental order and proposed instead that the badness or blameworthiness of an action directs (and thus unduly biases) people’s intentionality judgments. His and other researchers’ studies suggested that blameworthy actions are considered intentional even when the agent lacks skill (e.g., killing somebody with a lucky shot) whereas equivalent neutral actions are not (e.g., luckily hitting a bull’s-eye). The present five studies offer an alternative account of these provocative findings. We suggest that people see the morally significant action examined in previous studies (killing) as accomplished by a basic action (pressing the trigger) for which an unskilled agent still has sufficient skill. Studies 1 through 3 show that when this basic action is performed unskillfully or is absent, people are far less likely to view the killing as intentional, demonstrating that intentionality judgments, even about immoral actions, are guided by skill information. Studies 4 and 5 further show that a neutral action such as hitting the bull’s-eye is more difficult than killing and that difficult actions are less often judged intentional. When difficulty is held constant, people’s intentionality judgments are fully responsive to skill information regardless of moral valence. The present studies thus speak against the hypothesis of a moral evaluation bias in intentionality judgments and instead document people’s sensitivity to subtle features of human action.     

Teaching the Material and Teaching the Students: Reflections on Introductory Courses for Non‐Majors

Teaching a required introductory Bible course to non‐majors at a church‐related college presents a number of pedagogical challenges. When considering how to teach such a course in the context of concerns common to the liberal arts, I find myself reflecting on authority. My thoughts on the teaching of this course in my own context are organized around authority understood as a developmental issue, an educational issue, and a religious issue. In each case, I seek to use my discipline and the primary and secondary materials of the course as occasions for the development of capacities that will contribute to the life of students as critical thinkers, creative problem‐solvers, and responsible global citizens.     

The influence of lawyers' questions on witness accuracy,confidence, and reaction times and on mock jurors' interpretation of witness accuracy

Two studies demonstrate the influence of lawyers' complex questions on mock‐witness accuracy, confidence, and reaction times and on the interpretation of witness accuracy by mock jurors. In study one, 32 mock witnesses were shown a short film and then questioned either with lawyers' complex questions or simple alternatives. In Study 2, 20 mock jurors viewed video footage of the mock witnesses assigned to each of the two previous conditions and were asked to rate their confidence in the witnesses' answers. The findings of the two studies indicated that lawyers' use of confusing questions reduce not only accuracy but also speed of response and both witnesses' and jurors' ability to determine accuracy. The implication of these findings is straightforward, lawyers should ask simple questions wherever possible. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of implicit anxiety on the performance of skin self‐examinations

This study examined the effects of implicit anxiety on the performance of skin self‐examinations. It was hypothesized that implicit anxiety would contribute to the prediction of skin self‐examinations beyond the contributions of variables suggested by social‐cognitive models of health behavior. In addition, it was hypothesized that implicit anxiety's impact on self‐examinations would not be influenced by deliberative cognition about efficacy. To test these hypotheses, 128 participants completed measures of explicit anxiety, self and task efficacy, and an implicit associations test designed to measure implicit anxiety. As expected, self‐examination behavior was better predicted when implicit anxiety was added to models containing explicit anxiety and efficacy. Furthermore, thoughts about efficacy did not moderate the effects of implicit anxiety on self‐examination behavior.     

Parenting and Adolescents’ Academic Achievement: The Mediating Role of Goal Engagement and Disengagement

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Prior research has investigated parental behavior and students’ motivation separately as predictors of adolescents’ academic achievement. The...