Matching choices to avoid offending stigmatized group members

People (selectors) sometimes make choices both for themselves and for others (recipients). We propose that selectors worry about offending recipients with their choices when recipients are stigmatized group members and options in a choice set differ along a stigma-relevant dimension. Accordingly, selectors are more likely to make the same choices for themselves and stigmatized group member recipients than non-stigmatized group member recipients. We conducted eight studies to study this hypothesis in different choice contexts (food, music, games, books) and with recipients from different stigmatized groups (the obese, Black-Americans, the elderly, students at lower-status schools). We use three different approaches to show that this effect is driven by people’s desire to avoid offending stigmatized group members with their choices. Thus, although prior research shows that people often want to avoid being associated with dissociative groups, such as stigmatized groups, we demonstrate that people make the same choices for self and stigmatized other to minimize offense.     

How eudaimonic and hedonic motives relate to the well-being of close others

Past research has examined the link of eudaimonic and hedonic motives with personal well-being, but less is known about their link with the well-being of close others. Also, empirical data on the link with the well-being of close others would address an ongoing debate regarding whether eudaimonia is egoistic and possibly detrimental to others. Participants completed self-report measures of their typical degrees of eudaimonic and hedonic motivation. We then asked their friends and relatives to tell us how the participant affected their well-being. When entering eudaimonia and hedonia simultaneously as predictors of close other well-being in multiple regressions, only eudaimonia related positively to the well-being of close others. Thus, eudaimonia had a positive, not negative, impact on other people. Furthermore, while past research shows that both eudaimonic and hedonic motives benefit personal well-being, this study suggests that eudaimonic motivation has more positive influences on close others.     

Local and global reference frames for environmental spaces

Two experiments examined how locations in environmental spaces, which cannot be overseen from one location, are represented in memory: by global reference frames, multiple local reference frames, or orientation-free representations. After learning an immersive virtual environment by repeatedly walking a closed multisegment route, participants pointed to seven previously learned targets from different locations. Contrary to many conceptions of survey knowledge, local reference frames played an important role: Participants performed better when their body or pointing targets were aligned with the local reference frame (corridor). Moreover, most participants turned their head to align it with local reference frames. However, indications for global reference frames were also found: Participants performed better when their body or current corridor was parallel/orthogonal to a global reference frame instead of oblique. Participants showing this pattern performed comparatively better. We conclude that survey tasks can be solved based on interconnected local reference frames. Participants who pointed more accurately or quickly additionally used global reference frames.     

Factors Impacting on Career Choices of Technikon Students From Previously Disadvantaged High Schools

Career development is a socially constructed process involving complex interactions among different structures, forces, and systems all constituting spheres of influence. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that influence career decisions. Eighty respondents (40 males and 40 females with mean age of 22 years) participated in the study. Results revealed that family variables of parental high expectations of children and appropriate communications within the family, as well as factors such as prestige statuses of some occupations, school curricular subjects, academic performance, teacher influences, and peer pressure had strong positive influences on career choices. Barriers to career choices identified included finance, lack of appropriate information, poor academic performance, and unsatisfactory career counseling services. Results suggest need for a better approach to career education in schools and counseling services that are adaptive to social, economic, and cultural contexts.     

Emotional impact feedback affects how people remember an analogue trauma event

Do external motivational processes—in the form of social influences—shape people's memories for trauma? In this experiment, we examined the effects of social influence on memory and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomology for an analogue traumatic event. Seventy-two participants watched a distressing film; some received feedback about others' reactions to the film that either emphasised or downplayed the distressing nature of the film; control participants received no feedback. A week later, participants reported their symptoms, rated their memory on a number of characteristics and we tested their memory for the film's content. Participants who received feedback downplaying the film reported fewer PTSD-related analogue symptoms and weaker memory characteristics than their counterparts. The results suggest that people's memory phenomenology and analogue symptoms are influenced by others' feedback, but only when others' reactions downplayed the distressing nature of the film.     

Le rôle modérateur du harcèlement environnemental au travail dans la relation entre l’attachement au lieu de travail et le soutien organisationnel perçu. Étude auprès d’un échantillon féminin

This article examines the effect of environmental harassment at work in the relationship between attachment to the workplace and perceived organizational support. A survey was conducted via a questionnaire with 304 employees in different professional sectors (commerce, healthcare, teaching, administration) in the public or private sector. Analyses show that (a) attachment to the workplace and environmental harassment at work are strongly associated with perceived organizational support, the former positively and the latter negatively, and (b) two dimensions of environmental harassment at work, namely manipulation of the work environment and manipulation of the personal space, moderate the relationship between attachment to place and perceived organizational support, reducing the effect of this relationship. The practical implications of the research are discussed.     

The give-or-take-some dilemma: An empirical investigation of a hybrid social dilemma

We describe and empirically investigate a hybrid social dilemma that merges give-some and take-some dilemmas by allowing individuals to choose to either give or to take resources from a shared resource pool. Study 1 finds that (a) group size increases the inequality among group members and the likelihood of creating the public good, while reducing the amount of wasted resources; (b) larger bonuses increase provision rates; and (c) asymmetry in the wealth distribution of the group members induces higher levels of inequality of the final outcomes. Following the logic of appropriateness, players with high (low) endowments were more likely to give toward (take from) the shared resource. Study 2 finds that the tendency of the players with high (low) endowments to give (take) is amplified as the difference between endowment levels increased, and the players’ behavior is correlated with, and predictable from, independent judgments of what is perceived as appropriate.     

Environmental attitudes mediate the link between need for cognition and pro-environmental goal choice

Need for cognition is a form of cognitive motivation, which reflects the extent that one actively seeks information and enjoys critical thinking about information. Accordingly, those high in need for cognition seek out and acquire information, resulting in stronger and more stable attitudes. However, need for cognition has yet to be examined in the domain of goal pursuit. Toward that end, we examined how this form of cognitive motivation impacts goal related cognitions. Specifically, how need for cognition influences goal choice. Because need for cognition is a domain-general form of cognitive motivation, we hypothesized that domain-specific attitudes would mediate the relationship between need for cognition pro-environmental goals. This hypothesis was tested in two separate studies. Results demonstrate consistent evidence in support of our hypothesis that environmental attitudes mediate the relationship between need for cognition and pro-environmental goal choice. Results hold implications for goal pursuit research, such that need for cognition can be empirically studied in relation to goal related cognitions and behaviors to the same extent as other forms of cognitive motivation. Moreover, these results suggest that need for cognition can be considered along side previously investigated antecedents of pro-environmental behavior.     

When more is not merrier: shared stressful experiences amplify

ABSTRACT

Sharing experiences with others, even without communication, can amplify those experiences. We investigated whether shared stressful experiences amplify. Participants completed the Cold Pressor Task at the same time as a confederate, or while the confederate completed another task. Importantly, participants in the shared (vs. unshared) condition experienced more sensory pain characteristics and reported more stress over time in relation to the task. Importantly, they reported thinking more about the confederate’s thoughts and feelings. This mentalizing sometimes mediated effects, suggesting the task amplified when participants constructed mental representations of others’ CPT experience (e.g. that it hurts) and incorporated it into their own responses.     

Egoistic,altruistic, and biospheric environmental concerns: A path analytic investigation of their determinants

Swami, V., Chamorro‐Premuzic, T., Snelgar, R. & Furnham, A. (2009) Egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric environmental concerns: A path analytic investigation of their determinants. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 139–145. Previous studies have shown that environmental concerns (ECs) can be reduced to a three‐factor model – comprising altruistic, biospheric, and egoistic concerns – but there have been few studies examining individual difference predictors of ECs. In this study with 203 individuals from a British community sample, we show that biospheric concern was significantly associated with participants’ age, political orientation, Machiavellianism, and the Big Five personality traits of Agreeableness, Emotional Stability, and Conscientiousness. Altruistic concern was significantly associated with sex, age, political orientation, and Machiavellianism, but not the Big Five traits, whereas egoistic concern was not significantly associated with any of these predictors except sex. These results are discussed in relation to previous work on ECs and pro‐environmental behavior.