Sources of the discontinuity effect: Playing against a group versus being in a group

Intergroup relations tend to be more competitive than relations between individuals. This difference, called the “discontinuity effect,” has been demonstrated under a wide variety of conditions. Two separate explanations for the discontinuity effect were explored in our research. The first explanation is that something about playing against a group leads people to compete. The second explanation is that something about being in a group leads people to compete. The results supported both explanations, although the evidence more strongly favored the effect of being in a group. Distrust mediated both effects.     

The influence of competitive status (winner/loser) on the behavior of male rats in three models of anxiety

Studies indicate that features such as prior stressful experience, strain, gender, and age can influence the behavior of rats in animal models of anxiety. In the present study, we examined the possible influence of competitive status (winner/loser) in three such models: the elevated plus‐maze, the open field, and the social interaction test. One hundred to 135‐day‐old male Wistar rats were conditioned to traverse a straight runway tube to obtain food. Subsequently, two rats were placed at the same time in the runway tube and, being unable to pass each other, one of them pushed the other to the opposite end‐box. The rats were categorized as winners or losers in this competition. One week after the straight runway tube test, the rats were submitted to the anxiety models, where it was observed that winner rats showed greater locomotor activity than the losers in the three models studied. Furthermore, winner rats showed less immobility and higher central and total locomotor activity in the open field and a greater duration of social interaction in the social interaction test. These results suggest that competitive status has an influence on the locomotor activity of rats in animal models of anxiety. However, whether competitive status influences anxiety as assessed in these models is unclear, and further investigations are warranted. Aggr. Behav. 28:164–171, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

群际归因偏好研究综述

群际归因偏好是一种在归因中偏袒内群、贬低外群的现象,是群际偏好在归因中的一种表现.本文首先探讨了其表现形式及产生原因,随后讨论了内群认同强度和群体显著性等的影响因素,最后对未来的研究进行了展望.     

Knowing how they feel: Perceiving emotions felt by outgroups

Individuals can often accurately perceive others’ emotions in a purely interpersonal context. However, when people identify with an important ingroup, they experience distinctive patterns of emotion [Smith, E. R., Seger, C. R., & Mackie, D. M. (2007). Can emotions be truly group-level? Evidence regarding four conceptual criteria. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 431-446]. Thus, in three studies using a variety of meaningful groups, we examine how a salient distinction between groups might influence people’s ability to estimate the emotions of outgroup members. Participants demonstrated substantial though imperfect accuracy in estimating the emotions reported by outgroups. Specific biases affected their estimates, especially the overlap of perceived emotions of the outgroup with the ingroup’s own emotions. Furthermore, there was a general overprediction of outgroups’ negative emotions and underprediction of their positive emotions. Because of the importance of an outgroup’s emotions as potential causes of their behavior, accuracy and biases in group emotion estimation may be consequential for intergroup relations.     

Does peace have a prayer? The effect of mortality salience, compassionate values, and religious fundamentalism on hostility toward out-groups

Religious fundamentalism has been shown to be associated with higher levels of prejudice, ethnocentrism, and militarism, in spite of the compassionate values promoted by the religious faiths that most fundamentalists believe in. Based on terror management theory, we hypothesized that priming these compassionate values would encourage a shift toward less support for violent solutions to the current Middle Eastern conflict, especially when they are combined with reminders of one’s mortality. Study 1 demonstrated that among Americans, religious fundamentalism was associated with greater support for extreme military interventions, except when participants were reminded of their mortality and primed with compassionate religious values. The combination of mortality salience and compassionate religious values led to significant decreases in support for such interventions among high but not low fundamentalists. Study 2 replicated this finding and showed that it depends on the association of the compassionate values with an authoritative religious source; presentation of these values in a secular context had no effect on fundamentalists. Study 3 replicated these effects in a sample of Iranian Shiite Muslims: although a reminder of death increased anti-Western attitudes among participants primed with secular compassionate values, it decreased anti-Western attitudes among those primed with compassionate values from the Koran.     

Infant transfer behavior in humans: A note on the exploitation of young

Human infant transfers filmed in West New Guinea and stored in the archives of Max-Planck Geselschaft are formally described and analyzed relative to reports of similar behavior from nonhuman primates in laboratory and field studies. Motor patterns directed from one individual to another were discriminated and grouped into five categories of behavior ordered according to their relative likelihoods of “damaging aggression” [Fagen, American Naturalist, 115:858–869, 1980]. Transfers generally occurred between two females of different reproductive conditions. Most interactions were directed from the holder of the infant to the infant, demonstrating that the infant is the recipient of most nondamaging as well as potentially damaging behavior. While transfers are characterized by “aggressive restraint,” the least damaging behavior is most likely to precede a transfer and may function to prolong the relative duration of infant holding. Behavior with a relatively high likelihood of damage to the infant by the infant holder is as likely to occur before as after transfer, suggesting that infant transfer behavior in this human society reflects competitive interactions among adult females.     

情绪诱发方法述评

对被试的情绪进行实验诱发已经成为情绪研究的标准方法之一。对情绪材料诱发法(图片诱发法、音乐诱发法、气味诱发法)和情绪性情境诱发法(电脑游戏诱发、博弈游戏诱发和表情/姿势反馈诱发)进行了详细阐述, 并对被试个体差异等情绪诱发的影响因素进行了分析。最后, 在总结和评价现有自豪诱发技术的基础上, 对虚拟竞赛这一经过改良的自豪诱发方法做了简要的介绍。     

各种分类标准在儿童分类中的竞争

在已有研究的基础上进一步考查类概念,颜色、形状和主题关系四种主要分类标准在儿童分类操作中的竞争力;并衡量各分类标准被选择的次序和差别度。被试是４－８岁儿童１５０名。选取儿童熟悉的７个类概念。采用概念同定匹配和配对法。结果表明：在５岁以后类概念呈快速发展,８岁达基本掌握水平;四种分类标准中感知因素竞争力最弱,主题关系在５岁居高峰;各种分类标准强弱的等第次序自６岁后稳定一致;分类标准的差别度随年龄增长而加大,６－７岁是差别度变化的转折点。