A unified theory of implicit attitudes, stereotypes, self-esteem, and self-concept

This theoretical integration of social psychology's main cognitive and affective constructs was shaped by 3 influences: (a) recent widespread interest in automatic and implicit cognition, (b) development of the Implicit Association Test (IAT; A. G. Greenwald, D. E. McGhee, & J. L. K. Schwartz. 1998), and (c) social psychology's consistency theories of the 1950s, especially F. Heider's (1958) balance theory. The balanced identity design is introduced as a method to test correlational predictions of the theory. Data obtained with this method revealed that predicted consistency patterns were strongly apparent in the data for implicit (IAT) measures but not in those for parallel explicit (self-report) measures. Two additional not-yet-tested predictions of the theory are described.

Rationalization and internalization

After having been told they were free to accept or refuse, pupils aged 6–7 and 10–11 (tested individually) were led to agree to taste a soup that looked disgusting (phase 1: initial counter-motivational obligation). Before tasting the soup, they had to state what they thought about it. A week later, they were asked whether they wanted to try out some new needles that had supposedly been invented to make vaccinations less painful. Agreement or refusal to try was noted, along with the size of the needle chosen in case of agreement (phase 2: act generalization). The main findings included (1) a strong dissonance reduction effect in phase 1, especially for the younger children (rationalization), (2) a generalization effect in phase 2 (foot-in-the-door effect), and (3) a facilitatory effect on generalization of internal causal explanations about the initial agreement. The results are discussed in relation to the distinction between rationalization and internalization.

Fund-raising on the web: the effect of an electronic foot-in-the-door on donation

In an attempt to test the foot-in-the-door (FITD) technique in a computer-mediated communication context, 1,008 men and women taken at random in various e-mails lists were solicited to visit a web site for the profit of a humanitarian organization. In the FITD condition, subjects were first solicited to sign a petition form and, after that, they were solicited for a donation. In the control condition, the donation solicitation was formulated directly. In all cases, the formulation of the requests was manipulated by the order of the successive HTML pages of the site. Results show that the FITD procedure increases compliance to the final request.

The functions of internet use and their social and psychological consequences

Although the Internet has spawned significant changes in communication and interpersonal behavior, the data concerning the social and psychological effects of its use are equivocal. Drawing on the uses and gratifications model of communications media, it was hypothesized that the social and psychological effects of Internet use depend primarily on the user's reasons and goals for using the technology. That is, the Internet's social and psychological effects depend upon the functions it serves for users. A theoretical model involving the functions of Internet use, dimensions of social integration, and dimensions of psychological well-being was examined. In study 1, participants indicated the primary reasons for which they use the Internet. Principle components analyses indicated that these reasons fell under two empirically robust dimensions accounting for about half of the total variance in Internet use. These dimensions, or functions, were labeled Socio-Affective Regulation (SAR) and Goods-and-Information Acquisition (GIA); SAR may be conceptualized as a social or an affiliative orientation toward Internet use, whereas GIA may be conceptualized as a utilitarian or practical orientation toward Internet use. In study 2, structural equation modeling revealed that Internet use driven by SAR negatively influences psychological well-being by first reducing social integration. However, Internet use motivated principally by GIA appears to have a favorable effect on psychological well-being by first increasing social integration. Implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed.

Differential effects of Ecstasy and cannabis on self-reports of memory ability: a web-based study

Given the legal status of MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine), or Ecstasy, face-to-face access to participants is sometimes difficult. The number of participants in studies of cognitive performance amongst Ecstasy users is variable, with the average being around 30. Access to a larger number of participants is clearly desirable. The present investigation accessed a larger sample size using a web-based design. A website was developed and used for data collection. Prospective memory ability was assessed using the Prospective Memory Questionnaire. Self-report of day-to-day memory performance was investigated using the Everyday Memory Questionnaire. The Drug Questionnaire assessed the use of other substances as well as Ecstasy, allowing a regression design to isolate the contribution of each substance to any variance on the cognitive measures. Preliminary findings (N = 488) indicate that there is a clear double dissociation between the impact of Ecstasy and cannabis. We found that cannabis was associated with reports of 'here-and-now' cognitive problems in short-term and internally cued prospective memory. In contrast, Ecstasy was associated with reports of long-term memory problems, which were more related to storage and retrieval difficulties. Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The effects of promotion and prevention cues on creativity

This study tested whether cues associated with promotion and prevention regulatory foci influence creativity. The authors predicted that the "risky," explorative processing style elicited by promotion cues, relative to the risk-averse, perseverant processing style elicited by prevention cues, would facilitate creative thought. These predictions were supported by two experiments in which promotion cues bolstered both creative insight (Experiment 1) and creative generation (Experiment 2) relative to prevention cues. Experiments 3 and 4 provided evidence for the process account of these findings. suggesting that promotion cues, relative to prevention cues, produce a riskier response bias (Experiment 3) and bolster memory search for novel responses (Experiment 4). A final experiment provided evidence that individual differences in regulatory focus influence creative problem solving in a manner analogous to that of incidental promotion and prevention cues.

Food choice ideologies: the modern manifestations of normative and humanist views of the world

Two studies examined whether everyday food choice motives (FCMs) and abstract values constitute food choice ideologies (FCIs), whether these ideologies reflect the same normativism-humanism polarity as Tomkins' theory suggests to reflect ideologies in general, and whether various dietary groups endorse FCIs in different ways. In Study 1, 82 female participants filled in the Food Choice Questionnaire, a short version of Schwartz's Value Survey, and Tomkins' Polarity Scale. The results reflected four FCIs: ecological ideology (EI), health ideology (HI), pleasure ideology (PI) and convenience ideology (CI). Study 2 (N=144) replicated the results for ecological and health ideologies but not for pleasure and convenience ideologies. In both studies, EI, which was typical for vegetarians, was associated with a humanist view of the world, whereas HI was related to a normative view of the world. The results suggest that food choice has become a new site where one expresses one's philosophy of life.

Bad is Stronger than Good

The greater power of bad events over good ones is found in everyday events, major life events (e.g., trauma), close relationship outcomes, social network patterns, interpersonal interactions, and learning processes. Bad emotions, bad parents, and bad feedback have more impact than good ones, and bad information is processed more thoroughly than good. The self is more motivated to avoid bad self-definitions than to pursue good ones. Bad impressions and bad stereotypes are quicker to form and more resistant to disconfirmation than good ones. Various explanations such as diagnosticity and salience help explain some findings, but the greater power of bad events is still found when such variables are controlled. Hardly any exceptions (indicating greater power of good) can be found. Taken together, these findings suggest that bad is stronger than good, as a general principle across a broad range of psychological phenomena.

Zur Wechselwirkung von Medien und Motorik

Zusammenfassung: In einem Experiment wurde der Einfluß motorischer Komponenten von Annäherungs- vs. Vermeidungsverhalten auf die Bewertung der FDP untersucht. Während der Betrachtung einer 5-minütigen Sequenz aus einer politischen Fernsehdokumentation über die FDP sollten die TeilnehmerInnen entweder den Arm von sich strecken (Armstreckung), ihn beugen (Armbeugung) oder ihn in den Schoß legen (Kontrollgruppe). Frühere Forschung zum Körper-Feedback ( Cacioppo, Priester & Berntson, 1993 ) zeigt, daß Armbeugung mit einem Annäherungsverhalten und Armstreckung mit einem Vermeidungsverhalten assoziiert ist und diese sich auf Urteile auswirken. Die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Studie legen dar, daß TeilnehmerInnen unter solchermaßen induziertem Annäherungsverhalten (Armbeugung) die FDP als sympathischer beurteilen und sie für kompetenter halten als TeilnehmerInnen unter Vermeidungsverhalten (Armstreckung). Darüber hinaus gaben TeilnehmerInnen mit Annäherungsverhalten eine höhere Wahlprognose für die FDP ab als solche mit Vermeidungsverhalten. Die Ergebnisse werden auf dem Hintergrund bestehender Theorien zum Körper-Feedback diskutiert und ihre Implikationen für die Werbe- und Medienpsychologie aufgezeigt.

Memory for memory

Participants read short passages and 1 day later they answered questions via telephone about the passages (text facts) and about the experimental session (event facts). They were telephoned again 6 weeks later and answered the same questions about text and event facts. They also answered new questions about whether they remembered the answers they had given in the initial telephone interview (recall for prior memory performance). Although participants accurately remembered the majority of past memory successes, they were poor at remembering past memory failures. After being provided with the correct answer and tested again, the participants' performance improved somewhat, especially for memory failures. This suggests that some errors in recalling past forgetting might have been due to correctly remembering the answer previously given, but failing to realize that it had been wrong. These findings have implications for a variety of situations in which people are queried about past memory performance.

The Social Desirability Scale-17 (SDS-17)

Summary: Four studies are presented investigating the convergent validity, discriminant validity, and relationship with age of the Social Desirability Scale-17 (SDS-17). As to convergent validity, SDS-17 scores showed correlations between .52 and .85 with other measures of social desirability (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Lie Scale, Sets of Four Scale, Marlowe-Crowne Scale). Moreover, scores were highly sensitive to social-desirability-provoking instructions (job-application instruction). Finally, with respect to the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding, SDS-17 scores showed a unique correlation with impression management, but not with self-deception. As to discriminant validity, SDS-17 scores showed nonsignificant correlations with neuroticism, extraversion, psychoticism, and openness to experience, whereas there was some overlap with agreeableness and conscientiousness. With respect to relationship with age, the SDS-17 was administered in a sample stratified for age, with age ranging from 18 to 89 years. In all but the oldest age group, the SDS-17 showed substantial correlations with the Marlowe-Crowne Scale. The influence of age (cohort) on mean scores, however, was significantly smaller for the SDS-17 than for the Marlowe-Crowne Scale. In sum, results indicate that the SDS-17 is a reliable and valid measure of social desirability, suitable for adults of 18 to 80 years of age.

The social construction of the personal past and its implications for adult development

This article examines conversational recounting about experiences as a potential mechanism by which people socially construct themselves and their worlds over the life span and the resulting implications for understanding adult development. Two principles governing conversational recounting of past events are proposed: coconstruction (the joint influences of speakers and contexts on conversational reconstructions of past events) and consistency (the influence of a conversational reconstruction on subsequent memory). Operating together, the principles provide an account for how autobiographical memory is socially constructed. In addition, the principles may illuminate how conversations about the past can influence the development of identity in adulthood.

On Introspection and Self-Perception: Does Self-Focused Attention Enable Accurate Self-Knowledge?

How is introspection related to accurate self-perception? Self-focused attention is said to facilitate accurate judgments of cognitive aspects (attitudes, standards, and attributions) and somatic aspects (sensations, arousal, physical symptoms, emotions) of self. The present skeptical review concludes that the “perceptual accuracy hypothesis” is unsupported. There is simply little direct evidence, and the indirect evidence is better explained by objective self-awareness theory's core tenet: Self-focus increases consistency motivation. Most studies have also failed to appreciate the complexity of establishing the accuracy of self-judgment. The authors discuss some conceptual issues that future work should recognize, such as the logics of accuracy research, the role of honesty standards in accurate self-reports, differences in self-perception and object perception, and the implications of different self-theories for accuracy.

Attitudes towards high achievers in sport: an adaptation of Feather's Tall Poppy Scale

A sport-specific version of Feather et al.'s (1991) Tall Poppy Scale, the Sportsperson Attitude Scale, was correlated with measures of global self-esteem, deservingness, and aspects of perfectionism. Total Negative Attitude and Favour Fall were negatively correlated with estimates of how much high-profile sports performers deserved their present high position. while Favour Reward and global self-esteem were positively correlated with estimates of deservingness. All measures demonstrated adequate reliability. All three SPAS subscales were found to be significantly correlated with High Personal Standards (HPS), a measure of perfectionism with theoretical but undocumented relationships to tall poppy attitudes. Regression analyses revealed that HPS and deservingness were significant predictors of tall poppy attitudes. It was concluded that the Sportsperson Attitude Scale would benefit from further refinement, but that the current version possesses adequate integrity for use in studies of attitudes toward high achievers in sport.