Involuntary processing of social dominance cues from bimodal face-voice displays

Social-rank cues communicate social status or social power within and between groups. Information about social-rank is fluently processed in both visual and auditory modalities. So far, the investigation on the processing of social-rank cues has been limited to studies in which information from a single modality was assessed or manipulated. Yet, in everyday communication, multiple information channels are used to express and understand social-rank. We sought to examine the (in)voluntary nature of processing of facial and vocal signals of social-rank using a cross-modal Stroop task. In two experiments, participants were presented with face-voice pairs that were either congruent or incongruent in social-rank (i.e. social dominance). Participants’ task was to label face social dominance while ignoring the voice, or label voice social dominance while ignoring the face. In both experiments, we found that face-voice incongruent stimuli were processed more slowly and less accurately than were the congruent stimuli in the face-attend and the voice-attend tasks, exhibiting classical Stroop-like effects. These findings are consistent with the functioning of a social-rank bio-behavioural system which consistently and automatically monitors one’s social standing in relation to others and uses that information to guide behaviour.     

视听刺激突显性对视觉主导效应的影响

本研究使用空间任务-转换范式,控制视、听刺激的突显性,探讨自下而上注意对视觉主导效应的影响。结果表明视、听刺激突显性显著地影响视觉主导效应,实验一中当听觉刺激为高突显性时,视觉主导效应显著减弱。实验二中当听觉刺激为高突显性并且视觉刺激为低突显性时,视觉主导效应进一步减弱但依然存在。结果支持偏向竞争理论,在跨通道视听交互过程中视觉刺激更具突显性,在多感觉整合过程中更具加工优势。     

Who should be on the $10 and $20 bills? Preferences based on gender,sexism, race,racism, political affiliation,and political ideology

In June 2015, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that a woman would replace Hamilton on the $10 bill. In April 2016, it announced that Harriet Tubman would replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, instead. After each announcement, we surveyed nationally representative samples of American adults and asked them what they thought of these proposed changes for the $10 bill (Study 1, N = 209) and the $20 bill (Study 2, N = 208). Predictors of currency preferences were gender, race, political affiliation and their respective prejudices and biases—sexism, racism, and political ideology. On the basis of social identity, system justification, and social dominance theories we predicted that privileged groups (i.e., males, Whites) and groups who desire to maintain the status quo (i.e., Republicans, conservatives, sexist and racist individuals) would prefer to leave Hamilton on the $10 bill and Jackson on the $20 bill. Results were consistent with these predictions: Overall, we found that under‐represented groups and more liberal individuals support the proposals from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. These findings suggest a bill of money is not just a piece of paper. The person depicted on U.S. currency can be perceived as an in‐group or out‐group member and this can affect judgements in line with relevant social psychological theories.     

Attitudes to women in society: the role of social dominance orientation and social values

his research assessed the extent to which attitudes to women in society are predicted by the personality trait social dominance orientation (SDO) as well as the values international harmony and equality (INT) and national strength and order (NAT). Respondents were a community sample of adult non‐students (N = 158). Sex differences were observed on INT and attitudes to women. Multiple regression analyses showed sex differences in the extent to which SDO predicts attitudes to women, while no support was found for the view that social attitudes are underpinned by both security and harmony values. The results are discussed with reference to social dominance theory and the nature of the security value domain. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

"Without being in psychoanalysis I would never have dared to become pregnant": psychoanalytical observations in a multidisciplinary study concerning a woman undergoing prenatal diagnostics

As is well known, Freud described the clinical practice of psychoanalysis as the 'loam' of his cultural-theoretical work, an assessment which is shared by many psychoanalysts up to the present, including the authors of this paper. The complex interplay between unconscious phantasies on the one hand, and the real experiences arising from the new possibilities opened up by prenatal diagnostics on the other, is described with reference to a report of an intensive, long psychoanalysis with an analysand from a family burdened with a genetically transmitted illness (haemophilia). The holding and containing function of the analyst enabled this analysand, despite traumatic experiences with the miscarriage of a healthy child triggered by a prenatal diagnosis and the later abortion of a haemophiliac baby, nevertheless to have the courage to go through another pregnancy and give birth to a healthy girl. The intensive clinical investigation of the unconscious phantasies, conflicts and traumas around the prenatal diagnostics proved to be not only therapeutically fruitful for the analysand, Ms F. It also facilitated insights into those individual chances and risks which appear to be an integral part of the opportunities presented by todays prenatal diagnostics and, through them, it lead to a cultural-critical look at the ambivalence of medical-technical progress. These insights, which are only attainable through psychoanalysis, can represent a distinctive contribution of psychoanalysis to a multi-disciplinary dialogue with medical practitioners, geneticists, ethicists and health policy-makers. By referring to a large EU study on 'Ethical Dilemmas due to Prenatal and Genetic Diagnostics', this paper gives a practical example of such a discussion. Ms F. was psychoanalytically interviewed as part of this study, 16 years after the conclusion of her analysis. The summary of these interviews, which is set against the account of the treatment, offers an impressive insight not only into the long-term effects of a psychoanalysis under very particular personal circumstances, but also into the lasting consequences of decisions made in the context of prenatal diagnostics. Finally, the results of the individual case study are brought together with the clinical outcomes of the EU study, and some considerations are formulated concerning the protective and risk factors facing women during and after prenatal diagnostics. The paper is an appeal to psychoanalysts, with their specific competence in dealing with unconscious phantasies and conflicts and their high level of professionalism in dealing with traumatised patients, to get involved in fresh dialogue with prenatal diagnosticians and their patients.     

U.S. Patriotism and Ideologies of Group Dominance: A Tale of Asymmetry

Abstract

Using a random sample (N = 405) of White and Latino Americans from Los Angeles County, the authors explored whether there is an asymmetrical relationship between U.S. patriotism and two different dimensions of social dominance orientation: group antiegalitarianism and group dominance. Although there was no evidence of asymmetry in the relationship between U.S. patriotism and group antiegalitarianism, there was evidence of consistent asymmetry in the relationship between U.S. patriotism and group dominance. Among Whites (the dominant North American ethnic group) and depending on demographic variables such as age, education, income, and gender, the greater the respondents' tendency to subordinate “inferior groups,” the greater their level of U.S. patriotism. In contrast, among Latino Americans (the major subordinate group in Southern California), the opposite trend was found. Here, higher levels of group dominance orientation were associated with lower levels of U.S. patriotism. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Perpetrators' Freedom of Choice as a Determinant of Responsibility Attribution

Abstract

In the present study, a swindler had high versus low freedom of choice while deciding to commit a crime. He actually swindled Polish university students (involved observers) out of a large versus a small amount of money (high vs. low loss). Other students (noninvolved observers) were informed about the swindler's action. All students suggested the punishment that they believed the swindler deserved (the punishments chosen were used as an index of responsibility attribution). Involved students assigned more severe punishments than noninvolved students did. In the high-loss condition, involved observers were more punitive than they were in the low-loss condition. The judgments of the swindler's victims were determined by the magnitude of their loss; they ignored information about the swindler's freedom of choice. In contrast, the responsibility attributed by the noninvolved observers was influenced by the swindler's freedom of choice, but only in the low-loss condition. Noninvolved observers informed that the swindler had high freedom of choice were insensitive to information about the magnitude of the consequences for the victim.     

Implications of fear of negative evaluation,state anxiety,and implied level of target-dominance on perceptions of personality traits

ABSTRACT

Fear of negative evaluation (FNE), state anxiety (SA), and dominance have consequences for social functioning. The present study assessed how FNE, SA, and a target’s dominance-relevant label are related to perceptions of personality. One hundred seventy-eight participants who scored high or low on FNE underwent a laboratory manipulation of SA, viewed a photograph of a target with a high or low dominance-relevant label, and rated the target on the Big Five personality traits and dominance. FNE and SA were unrelated to perceptions, but the high-dominance label was associated with perceptions of higher dominance, conscientiousness, and openness. In conclusion, judges did use information about others when making initial judgments of personality, but these judgments were not impacted by trait or state psychological distress.     

Are ‘Machiavellian’ Chinese children well‐adapted in the peer group? The relationship between resource acquisition strategies and social functioning and status

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between resource acquisition strategies, social functioning and social status in Chinese children. A sample of nearly 500 Chinese children in elementary schools in Shanghai, China, participated in this study. The authors divided the sample into five resource acquisition strategies; based on self‐reported use of coercive and pro‐social strategies of resource control, they were ‘bistrategic controllers’ (Machiavellians), ‘coercive controllers’, ‘pro‐social controllers’, ‘non‐controllers’, or ‘typicals’. The results revealed that bistrategic controllers were the most effective in resource control, followed by pro‐social and coercive controllers: non‐controllers were the least effective. It also indicated that bistrategic and coercive controllers exhibited poor social functioning and low peer status; in contrast, ‘typical’ controllers emerged as possessing positive social functioning and high peer status. In addition, non‐controllers were not at risk with regard to social competence. The results indicate specific cultural ‘meanings’ of different resource acquisition strategies in Chinese children.