Blind justice: Fairness to groups and the do-no-harm principle

People are reluctant to harm some people in order to help others, even when the harm is less than the forgone help (the harm resulting from not acting). The present studies use hypothetical scenarios to argue that these judgments go against what the subjects themselves would take to be the best overall outcome. When the outcomes in question are income gains and losses for two groups of farmers, subjects judge the harm they would not impose through their action to be smaller than the harm they would impose through inaction. Some subjects refuse to reduce cure rates for one group of AIDS patients in order to increase cure rates more for another group, even when group membership was unknowable to anyone, so that, from each patient's point of view, the change would increase the probability of cure. Likewise, they resisted a vaccine that reduced overall mortality in one group but increased deaths from side effects in another group, even when, again, group membership was unknowable. Some people apply a do-no-harm principle to groups without apparent understanding of how such a principle might be justified in terms of its consequences. The capacity for such judgments makes them vulnerable to learning principles that have no justification at all.     

Risk perception of a chronic threat of terrorism: Differences based on coping types,gender and exposure

High levels of risk perception of terrorism (RPT) may impair an individual's quality of life and welfare. To understand the mechanisms responsible for RPT, this study investigated the association of gender and coping styles with individual differences in two key elements of RPT: perceived control and perceived vulnerability. A convenience sample of 400 Israelis (181 men and 219 women) filled out questionnaires on sociodemographic background, RPT and coping. Employing a multidimensional approach for coping, we divided participants into four coping types: problem-focused (n = 65), emotion-focused (n = 70), mixed (n = 122) and minimal (n = 142). The results indicate that problem-focused coping is associated with higher levels of perceived control than other types of coping and mixed coping is associated with higher levels of perceived vulnerability than other coping strategies. Also, interactions between gender and exposure to terrorism contributed to understanding the differences in perceived control. The discussion addresses gender differences in RPT and coping in the context of traditional gender roles. The study concludes with implications for risk management and therapeutic interventions regarding high levels of fear of terrorism.     

Psychological and social functioning are associated with reports of perceived weight discrimination across eight years

This research uses the Health and Retirement Study to identify psychological and social factors that prospectively predict new reports of perceived weight discrimination among individuals who measure in the obese weight category. Participants (M_age = 66.89, SD = 8.33; 58% women) reported on their personality and social isolation, had a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30, reported no perceived weight discrimination at baseline, and completed at least one assessment over the up to 8-year follow-up (N = 3,064). Eleven percent of participants reported new experiences of perceived weight discrimination. Higher Neuroticism and loneliness at baseline were associated with new reports; Conscientiousness was protective. This research adds to models of weight stigma by identifying psychological and social factors that contribute to reporting new instances of perceived weight discrimination.     

参照依赖和损失规避对个体收入分配公平判断的影响

收入分配公平判断是人们对自己收入所得公平与否的主观评价。通过对参照点和收入金额的控制,探讨参照依赖和损失规避对收入分配公平判断的共同影响。结果发现,(1)民众的收入公平判断受参照点的影响,在有参照点的情景下比无参照点情景下更感觉不公平;(2)不同工资水平下,民众的公平判断具有显著差异,而且民众对低于平均工资的“受损”比高于平均工资同等金额的“受益”赋予的公平感的权重更大,即存在得失感受的不对称;(3)不同的工资参照点、多得和少得的分配结果共同影响民众的公平判断,即损失规避在参照依赖对公平判断的影响中起调节作用。     

Assertive Ads for Want or Should? It Depends on Consumers’ Power

Advertisements using assertive language are commonly seen in marketing communications, yet assertive language has often been shown to be ineffective in communication and even decrease compliance. Recent research began to examine factors that influence the effectiveness of assertive advertising messages, but little research has studied the potential moderating role of consumer‐related factors. The current research fills this gap by investigating the moderating role of consumers’ power. Across five studies, the authors find that for high‐power consumers, assertive ads are effective in promoting want products but ineffective in promoting should products. For low‐power consumers, however, assertive ads are effective in promoting should products but ineffective in promoting want products. Moreover, the authors show that this pattern of results is driven (mediated) by consumers’ perception of the fit between the advertising message and the advertised product. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

The effects of secondary tasks that involve listening and speaking on young adult drivers with traits associated with autism spectrum disorders: A pilot study with driving simulation

A driver’s license is key to independence for many young adults, including those with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). However, individuals with ASDs may face special challenges when learning to drive. If effective driver training is to be devised for this demographic, it is important to determine the nature of these challenges. Driving inherently requires multitasking (e.g. steering, speed maintenance, navigation, hazard detection) and drivers are routinely obligated to combine driving with the demands of listening and responding to others, as occurs during driving lessons. Given that individuals who display traits associated with ASDs may have special difficulties with secondary tasks and especially those that involve socialization, we examined the effects of secondary tasks that involve listening and responding to questions while driving. We compared performance when simply driving (the control condition), driving while listening (the audiobook condition), and driving while listening and speaking (the prompt: answer condition). The autism spectrum quotient (AQ:Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Skinner, Martin, & Clubley, 2001), a commonly used self-report questionnaire intended to measure traits associated with ASDs in research, was used to identify young drivers with more and fewer traits related to ASDs in a community sample, (None had a clinical diagnosis of ASD.) Consistent with studies of drivers clinically diagnosed with ASDs, we found that high AQ scorers reported greater mental and physical demand, effort, and frustration when driving, and showed more moment-to-moment variability in lane position and hazard reaction compared to low AQ scorers as measured in a driving simulator. Differences between the low and high scorers were typically largest when secondary tasks were imposed, but the predicted interaction between drive condition and AQ group only emerged in terms of steering variability.     

Modelling the acceptance of fully autonomous vehicles: A media-based perception and adoption model

As the technology matures, fully autonomous vehicles (AVs) are on the corner. This calls for exploring the factors that might influence potential users’ perception and acceptance of AVs. Limited existing studies related to acceptance modeling investigated the effects of media and human on fully AVs’ beliefs. Hence, a media-based perception and adoption model (MPAM) is developed to investigate how information and opinion (from mass media and social media) affect human self-perception (including self-efficacy and subjective norms) and product value perception (including perceived usefulness and risks), which in turn drive users’ adoption intention to private AVs and public AVs as well. Through a questionnaire survey, 355 samples from two universities were collected in Beijing. The structural equation model results confirm that media channels have salient effects on consumer and product with different emphases. Mass media enhances potential users’ self-efficacy of fully AVs, while social media strengthens subjective norms. Both usefulness and risks of AVs are perceived simultaneously via mass media, whereas risks perception can be significantly eliminated by social media. All constructs of user’s self-perception and product perception are verified to drive users’ intention to using AVs and public AVs. Besides the theoretical and modeling contributions, practical implications are provided for the marketers and stakeholders in the early stages of AVs launch.     

Motivational climate,psychological needs,and personal and social responsibility in youth soccer: Comparisons by age group and competitive level

ObjectivesWe used a developmental lens to examine age group and competitive level differences on motivational climate dimensions, psychological needs satisfaction, and personal and social responsibility as well as relationships among variables, in line with basic psychological needs theory.DesignWe used a cross-sectional, correlational design.MethodGirls and boys age 8–13 on recreational and select soccer teams completed a survey.ResultsA 2 × 2 MANOVA showed main effects for age group and competitive level: early adolescents reported greater punishment for mistakes and autonomy compared to children; select players reported greater mastery climate dimensions and personal responsibility compared to recreational players. For all groups, path analyses revealed perceptions of cooperative learning were indirectly associated with personal and social responsibility, through coach and/or teammate relatedness.ConclusionsPatterns of relationships by age group and competitive level are discussed in reference to developmental literature. Results highlight the value of using a developmental approach to understand how coaches can promote youth soccer players’ psychological and social well-being.     

经济不平等对阶层流动感知的影响及其机制

经济不平等是影响阶层流动感知的重要因素。研究发现,经济不平等可能抑制、也可能提升阶层流动感知。在梳理两者之间复杂关系的基础上,本文提出了经济不平等影响阶层流动感知的作用机制模型。经济不平等可能通过影响不同的心理过程,继而对阶层流动感知产生抑制或提升作用;此外,两者关系也会受到微观个体因素和宏观社会因素的调节,从而呈现出不同的关系模式。未来研究应进一步考察和完善经济不平等影响阶层流动感知的整合模型。     

With a little help from my friends: A computational model for the role of social support in mood regulation

The growing interest in the role of social support in mental and physical health has led to the development of several intelligent systems that aim to use social mechanisms to simulate healthy behaviour. In this paper a computational model of a human agent is presented which describes the effect of social support on mood. According to the literature, social support can either refer to the social resources that individuals perceive to be available or to the support that is actually provided in problematic situations. The proposed model distinguishes between both roles of social support. The role of social network characteristics has been taken into account, as an individual can perceive or receive social support through his/her social network. In addition, the number of connections (friends), strength of ties (relationships), social isolation and social integration have been studied. Simulation experiments have been done to analyze the effect of the different types of support in different scenarios and also to analyze the role of various social network characteristics on the mood level. It is shown that support can help to reduce the induced stress and thus can contribute to healthy mood regulation and prevention of depression. The presented model provides a basis for an intelligent support system for people with mood regulation problems that take the social network of people into account.