When does anger evoke self‐interest and fairness motives? The moderating effects of perceived responsibility for needs

Research has repeatedly demonstrated that anger evokes both self‐interest and fairness motives, but it is unclear what factors determine the evocation of these motives. We examined the idea that the type of relationship, indexed by the perceived responsibility for a partner's needs, moderates the effect of anger on self‐interest and fairness motives by constructing the following hypotheses: Participants will be motivated to protect their self‐interests when they feel anger toward an other who they perceive has the responsibility for needs, while this will not be the case when they feel anger toward an other who they do not perceive has a responsibility for needs (Hypothesis 1), and participants will be motivated to restore fairness regardless of whether the target of anger has a responsibility for needs or not (Hypothesis 2). The Japanese participants in this study rated their anger experiences in terms of the intensity of angry feelings, the perception of responsibility of the other for their own needs, the closeness of the relationship prior to the experience of anger, and the motives that were evoked. Regression analysis supported both hypotheses, implying that concerns related to self‐interest in close relationships reflect the desire for the maintenance of these relationships.     

Religious Values and the Development of Trait Hope and Self‐Esteem in Adolescents

Many studies have noted significant relationships between religious sentiment and psychological adjustment, but few have been able to comment on the direction of influence. We assessed the relationships between religious values, self‐esteem, and trait hope when participants were in grades 11 and 12. The variables showed moderate levels of rank‐order stability. Structural equation modeling revealed that religious values in grade 11 did not predict improvements in self‐esteem in grade 12, but they did predict improvements in hope. In contrast, hope did not lead to increase in religious values. These results held after controlling for personality (Big Five factors and Eysenck's psychoticism factor). Results are discussed with reference to the beneficial effects of religious values in adolescence.     

Self and Social Judgments of Ability: Beyond Distributional Information

ABSTRACT

In a given domain, low-skill individuals typically evaluate the ability level of other people more favorably than high-skill individuals. The current study tests whether this tendency continues to occur even when people have unambiguous distributional information available through which to judge others. Students received distributional information detailing their percentile rank in a statistics course and the percentile rank of another student in the course. Then, students were asked to evaluate their own and the other students' statistics ability. Students evaluated the other person's ability more favorably when their own rank in the course was low rather than high. Therefore, people may use themselves as a standard of comparison when they judge others even when more diagnostic sources of information are available.     

The contribution of self‐deceptive enhancement to display rules in the United States and Japan

Socially desirable responding was tested as a mediator of American and Japanese college student differences in display rules. Americans endorsed the expression of anger, contempt, disgust, fear, happiness, and surprise more than the Japanese. Americans also exhibited more self‐deceptive enhancement than the Japanese, and self‐deceptive enhancement partially mediated country differences on the endorsement of anger, disgust, happiness, and surprise, but not contempt and fear. These findings highlight the role of self‐deceptive enhancement in contributing to expressive display rules and support the point of view that socially desirable responding is a reflection of one's personality and culture rather than a statistical nuisance.     

Shared dialect group identity,leader–member exchange and self‐disclosure in vertical dyads: Do members react similarly?

Drawing upon social identity and status characteristic theories, we examine the reactions of vertical dyad members to shared dialect group identity in Taiwan. Supervisors and subordinates in 179 vertical dyads independently reported their dialect group identity and their perceptions of leader–member exchange (LMX) and self‐disclosure. Results indicate that subordinates reported a more positive LMX with, and greater self‐disclosure to, supervisors who shared their dialect group identity. Supervisors reported greater self‐disclosure to subordinates with the same dialect group identity, but not a more positive LMX. We also discuss implications for organizational demography theory and research.     

In‐group representation and social value affect the use of in‐group identification for maintaining and enhancing self‐evaluation

Individuals with independent self‐construals identify with their in‐group in order to buffer threats to self‐esteem to a greater degree than do those with interdependent self‐construals. This study focused on the effect of the in‐group's social value and representation on this identification process among individuals who reported various real‐world threats to their self‐esteem. We conducted a questionnaire survey for university students and we examined how self‐construal, the in‐group social value, and the in‐group representation either moderate or mediate the relationship between threat to self‐esteem and identification with their academic departments. The results of multiple‐group analyses of structural equation modelling showed that independents who reported more threats to their self‐esteem identified with the in‐group when it was high in social value. In contrast, they did not exhibit in‐group identification when it was low in social value. Interdependents showed less in‐group identification regardless of the in‐group's social value. The representation of the in‐group as a common identity group mediated the relationship between threat to self‐esteem and in‐group identification for independents, whereas the representation of a common bond group played the same role for interdependents. These findings suggest the importance of considering the role of self‐construal and the in‐group social value, along with the representation of in‐group, in understanding in‐group identification in situations of threat to self‐esteem.     

ONENESS AND SELF‐CENTEREDNESS IN THE MORAL PSYCHOLOGY OF WANG YANGMING

Rather than “selfishness,” a more accurate and revealing interpretation of Wang's use of siyuis “self‐centeredness.” One of the main goals in Wang's model of moral cultivation was to attain a state devoid of self‐centered desires. Wang relied a great deal on the exercise and cultivation of an emotional identification and feeling of oneness with others. In this paper, I first provide a brief summary of the role of Wang's concept of siyu in his moral psychology. I then examine key passages in Wang's writings that reveal his nuanced understanding of siyu and, along the way, I draw on empirical research in psychology to help illuminate the significance of Wang's view of siyu to his overall model of moral cultivation.     

Cultural Adaptation of a Cognitive Behavior Therapy Guided Self‐Help Program for Mexican American Women With Binge Eating Disorders

Data on the compatibility of evidence‐based treatment in ethnic minority groups are limited. This study utilized focus group interviews to elicit Mexican American women's (N= 12) feedback on a cognitive behavior therapy guided self‐help program for binge eating disorders. Findings revealed 6 themes to be considered during the cultural adaptation process and highlighted the importance of balancing the fidelity and cultural relevance of evidence‐based treatment when disseminating it across diverse racial/ethnic groups.     

How to administer the Initial Preference Task

Individuals like their name letters more than non‐name letters. This effect has been termed the Name Letter Effect (NLE) and is widely exploited to measure implicit (i.e. automatic, unconscious) self‐esteem, predominantly by means of the Initial Preference Task (IPT). Methodological research on how to best administer the IPT is, however, scarce. In order to bridge this gap, the present paper assessed the advantages and disadvantages of different types of IPT administrations with two meta‐analyses (k = 49; N = 11,514) and a follow‐up experiment (N = 449). As a result, a new type of administration is recommended which (1) treats the effects of the first and the last name initials separately, (2) uses a duplicate administration for reliability reasons, (3) uses the likability as well as the attractiveness item wording and (4) exploits not only letters but also numbers (i.e. birthday number effect) to measure implicit self‐esteem. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.