The Many Faces of SocialIdentity: Implications for Political Psychology

Social identity is a concept that has been invented and reinvented across the social and behavioral science disciplines to provide a critical link between the psychology of the individual and the structure and function of social groups. This paper reviews the various definitions of social identity as it is used in different theoretical frameworks, drawing distinctions among person-based identities, relational (role-based) identities, group-based identities, and collective identities. The implications of these different conceptualizations of social identity for political psychology are discussed, with a call for integrative theory that draws on all four definitions interactively.     

Peer networks and bullying in schools

This study looked at how the social constellations in school classes relate to bullying problems. Using peer-evaluation questionnaires, the peer networks of children with different participant roles (such as victim, bully, assistant of bully, reinforcer of bully, defender of victim, outsider) were explored. The subjects were 459 sixth-grade-children (218 girls, 241 boys), aged 11 to 12 years, in Finland. The main findings were: 1) Children who tended to behave in either similar or complementary participant roles in situations of bullying formed networks with each other. The individual child's behavior in bullying situations was strongly connected to how the members of his/her network behaved in such situations. 2) Bullies, assistants, and reinforcers belonged to larger networks than did defenders, outsiders and victims. 3) Children outside the networks were most often victims. It was concluded that behavior in bullying situations can be said to be one feature around which the peer networks in school classes are organized. Thus prevention, as well as intervention strategies against bullying should focus not only on individual children, but also on the wider social context of the class.     

Resistance to yielding and the expectation of cooperative future interaction in negotiation

The expectation of cooperative future interaction (ECFI) encouraged especially high joint benefit (the total of the two bargainers' individual outcomes) when resistance to yielding was high, but especially low joint benefit when resistance to yielding was low. Process data suggest that this finding can be explained as follows: When resistance to yielding is high, ECFI encourages problem solving and reduced contentious behavior; when resistance to yielding is low, ECFI encourages a collapse of aspirations. The results support Filley's (1975) dualconcern model and cast doubt on Deutsch's (1973) blanket assertion that a cooperative process leads to constructive conflict resolution.     

Training public-speaking behavior: an experimental analysis and social validation

The effect of an instructional package on public-speaking behaviors was analyzed in two experiments. The instructional package was designed to teach public-speaking trainees to look at the audience, make gestures, and perform a number of speaking behaviors. The results of Experiment I, with a university student serving as the trainee, showed that the percentage of each category of public-speaking target behavior increased only after the instructional package was introduced for that category. The results of Experiment 2, with three low-income paraprofessional staff members of a neighborhood service center serving as trainees, showed that the percentage of target behaviors increased after the instructional package was introduced for the respective trainee. Audience ratings of public-speaking performance were correlated with direct observations of target responses. All trainees showed marked improvements in audience ratings from pretraining to posttraining. This study demonstrated an effective procedure for training public-speaking behaviors.     

Role playing to train elementary teachers to use a classroom management "skill package"

Two teachers who led regular third-grade classrooms in a suburban elementary school were trained via role-playing to use a broad range of social skills in dealing with group behavioral management in the classroom. Teacher training reduced disruptive student behavior during both seat work and group discussions in both classrooms. A measure of student productivity during arithmetic period in one classroom showed significant gains in arithmetic problems correct per day for the middle and bottom thirds of the class, with the bottom third increasing by 76%.     

The effects of confederate prompt delivery style in a standardized social simulation test

Role plays or social simulations are presently one of the most common methods for assessing social skills. Although social simulation techniques have become quite popular, little is known about the psychometric adequacy of many of the role-play instruments which have been developed. This investigation was an attempt to determine certain properties of one particular social skills assessment instrument: the Simulated Social Interaction Test. The effects of various confederate prompt delivery styles on the judged social competency level of subjects in the Simulated Social Interaction Test were examined. Two confederates, one male and one female, were trained to portray three confederate prompt delivery styles: (a) unreceptive, (b) neutral, and (c) receptive. In order to determine if judges would compensate for the different confederate prompt delivery styles, two sets of trained judges rated the levels of skill and anxiety generated by the 30 subjects tested. One set of judges was screened from the confererate delivery while observing the simulation; the other set of judges followed the more common rating procedure (i.e., they were not screened from the confederates' deliveries). Data analysis examined variation in subject performance under each condition and according to each set of judges for both overall social skills and anxiety ratings. Confederate prompt delivery style was found to affect subjects' rated performance. There was also suggestive evidence that judges were sometimes able to compensate for different confederate delivery styles. The practical and theoretical implications of the results are discussed.This study was funded in part by a research grant from the Veterans Administration.     

Peer identification and empirical validation of problematic interpersonal situations of male drug addicts

The present research was concerned with identifying and validating the problematic interpersonal situations of male veteran drug addicts. In Study I, 20 addicts self-monitored the situations with which they had difficulty coping and their associated characteristics throughout a 2-week period. Fifty situations were obtained and then rewritten into specific interpersonal scenarios. In Study II, a second group of 36 addicts and a comparison group of 20 disabled veterans rated the commonality and difficulty of each scenario along seven-point scales. Univariate ANOVAs found that five scenarios received ratings greater than four on both scales and were associated with significantly higher ratings by the addicts. These preliminary scenarios may serve as role-play situations during social-skills assessment and training and may provide further information regarding the interpersonal determinants of relapse occasioned in the natural environment. The need for controlled comparison studies using behavioral measures and an overall improvement in the methodological rigor of research in the area is discussed.The authors acknowledge the editorial comments of Ted D. Nirenberg, Ph.D., on an earlier draft of this paper. Portions of these data were presented at the Fifth World Congress on Behavior Therapy, Washington, DC.     

Transport risk evaluations associated with past exposure to adverse security events in public transport

The current study aims to examine differences in risk evaluations according to whether individuals have been exposed to adverse security events in transport during the last five years. In addition, a path model is tested where risk evaluations predict intentions to use public transport and use of such transport in these groups. The results are based on a survey conducted in a randomly obtained representative sample of the Norwegian urban public (n = 1043). The results showed that individuals who had been exposed to adverse security events in public transport reported substantially higher risk perception of experiencing security issues in such transport than those who were not exposed. Exposed individuals also reported higher probability judgements and more worry of experiencing injury in public transport. The path model showed that high probability judgements of experiencing injury in public transport were related to a lower intention of using such transport, whereas corresponding worry in the private motorized sector predicted a stronger intention to use public transport. Demand for risk mitigation in the public transport sector was found to be more relevant for intentions to use public transport than similar demands in the private motorized sector. The path model and coefficients were not found to differ significantly according to exposure to security events in public transport. The findings are discussed in relation to the role of negative risk experiences for risk evaluations in transport.     

Patterns of emotional availability between mothers and young children: Associations with risk factors for borderline personality disorder

Emotional availability (EA) characterizes a warm, close relationship between caregiver and child. We compared patterns (clusters) of EA on risk factors, including those for borderline personality disorder (BPD). We sampled 70 children aged 4 to 7 years from low socio‐economic backgrounds: 51% of whose mothers had BPD. We coded filmed interactions for EA: mothers' sensitivity, structuring, non‐intrusiveness, non‐hostility, and children's responsiveness to, and involvement of, mothers. We additionally coded children's over‐responsiveness and over‐involvement. Using person‐centred analyses, we identified four clusters: high functioning, low functioning, asynchronous (mothers above average on two of four dimensions and children below), and below average. Mothers in the low‐functioning cluster had lower income, less social support, more of the borderline feature of negative relationships, and more depression than did mothers in the high‐functioning cluster. The children in the low‐functioning group had more risk factors for BPD (physical abuse, neglect, and separation from, or loss of caregivers, and negative narrative representations of the mother–child relationship in their stories) than did children in the high‐functioning group. The asynchronous group included older girls who were over‐responsive and over‐involving with their mothers in an apparent role reversal. Interventions targeting emotional availability may provide a buffer for children facing cumulative risks and help prevent psychopathology.

Highlights

• This paper investigated how mother‐child emotional availability (warmth and closeness) relates to risk factors for borderline personality disorder, including mother‐child role reversal.
• In filmed mother‐child interactions, low emotional availability was associated with risk for borderline personality disorder and role reversal was more likely for older girls.
• Findings support the cumulative risk hypothesis and may inform interventions to improve mother‐child emotional availability to prevent the development of psychopathology.

     

决策权力和社会角色对混合动机冲突决策的影响

以最后报价谈判问题为实验材料,考察了混合动机冲突情境中决策权力和社会角色的影响。结果表明:(1)决策权力对决策者的决定有显著影响。拥有分配权的决策者倾向于采取竞争策略,拥有要求权的决策者倾向于采取平均分配策略,拥有否决权的决策者倾向于采取合作策略。(2)社会角色对决策者的决定有显著影响。与陌生人角色相比,担任好朋友角色的决策者决定得到的点数明显地更低。