Black Americans suppress emotions when prejudice is believed to stem from shared ignorance

Past research examining lay theories of the origins of prejudice has focused on white Americans and has not considered how Black Americans' lay theories of prejudice may impact emotion regulation following discrimination. Across three samples of Black Americans (N = 419), the present research examined relationships between endorsement of two lay theories of prejudice origins (1, beliefs that prejudice stems from shared social ignorance and 2, that prejudice stems from malice). Stronger beliefs that prejudice stems from shared ignorance were associated with greater expression suppression following experiences of racial discrimination (studies 1b and 2), which was, in turn, associated with psychological distress (study 2). By centering the beliefs and experiences of Black Americans in response to discrimination events, the present research has implications for understanding how emotion regulation following racial discrimination is impacted by marginalized groups' conceptualizations of prejudice. Future research should investigate how these factors impact health disparities.

Deconstructing wisdom through a cultural lens: Folk understandings of wisdom and its ontology in the Philippines and Sri Lanka

In many contemporary societies, misinformation, epistemic arrogance, and intergroup conflict pose serious threats to social cohesion and well-being. Wisdom may offer a potential antidote to these problems, with a recently identified Common Wisdom Model (CWM) suggesting that wisdom involves epistemic virtues such as intellectual humility, openness to change, and perspective-taking. However, it is unclear whether these virtues are central for folk concepts of wisdom in non-Western contexts. We explored this question by conducting focus group discussions with 174 participants from the Philippines and Sri Lanka, two countries facing socio-political and economic challenges. We found that epistemic themes were common in both countries, but more so when participants were asked to define wisdom in general terms rather than to describe how it is acquired or expressed in daily lives. Moreover, epistemic themes were more prevalent among Filipino than Sri Lankan participants, especially when the questions posed were abstract rather than concrete. We discuss how these findings relate to the CWM and the socio-cultural contexts of the two countries, and suggest that a question format should be considered in cross-cultural research on wisdom.

Emotion beliefs: conceptual review and compendium

Laypeople hold richly divergent beliefs about emotion, and these beliefs are consequential. Specific forms of belief that have been investigated include the usefulness, contagiousness, duration, dependence upon intersubjective experience, cognitively mediated properties, malleability, and hindering properties of emotion, just to name a few. Progress in this emerging sub-field of research has been hampered by the lack of a widely accepted definition of emotion belief able to capture all of these dimensions. Correspondingly, there has been a proliferation of different terminologies, constructs, and measures. The present review aims to address these obstacles by defining emotion belief, and subsequently re-considering existing constructs and measures that align with this definition. The latter is presented in the form of a comprehensive compendium of 21 different constructs and associated self-report measures that assess varying components of one's beliefs about emotions in general and/or about their own emotions, and an additional 5 scales that were designed to measure one's beliefs about another's emotions. From the more unified conceptualization of emotion belief presented here, critical areas of future research are highlighted.

A Smartphone-Based Implicit Theories Intervention for Health Behavior Change: Randomized Trial

BACKGROUND

Implicit theories of health describe individuals' beliefs about the malleability of health. Individuals with an incremental theory of health believe that health, in general, is malleable, whereas individuals with an entity theory of health endorse the idea that health is largely fixed and predetermined. Previous research has shown that an incremental theory of health is associated with beneficial health outcomes and behaviors. A mobile health implicit theories intervention could be an effective way to increase health-promoting behaviors in the general population.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to estimate the effect of a smartphone-based intervention designed to promote an incremental theory of health on the frequency of health-promoting behaviors in everyday life. The study used ecological momentary assessment to measure health behavior change.

METHODS

This 2-arm, single-blind, delayed intervention design included 149 German participants (mean age 30.58, SD 9.71 years; n=79 female). Participants were asked to report their engagement in 10 health-promoting behaviors throughout the day for 3 weeks. Participants were randomly assigned to either an early intervention group (n=72) or a delayed intervention group (n=77). The intervention materials, designed to promote an incremental theory of health, were provided to participants after 1 week (early intervention group) or 2 weeks (delayed intervention group) of baseline behavior measurement. Data for this study were collected between September 2019 and October 2019.

RESULTS

A paired-samples 2-tailed t test revealed that participants reported a stronger incremental theory after responding to the intervention materials (mean 5.58, SE 0.07) compared with incremental theory measured in an entry questionnaire (mean 5.29, SE 0.08; t148=4.07, SE 0.07; P<.001; 95% CI 0.15-0.43; d=0.33). Multilevel analyses showed that participants reported engaging in health-promoting behaviors more often after being presented with the intervention materials compared with baseline across conditions (b=0.14; t146.65=2.06, SE 0.07; P=.04; 95% CI 0.01-0.28). However, when the analysis was conducted separately for the early and delayed intervention groups, the intervention effect was only significant for the delayed intervention group (b=0.27; t1492.37=3.50, SE 0.08; P<.001; 95% CI 0.12-0.42). There was no significant increase in health-promoting behaviors for the early intervention group (b=0.02; t69.23=0.14, SE 0.11;P=.89; 95% CI -0.2 to 0.23).

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggests that a smartphone-based intervention designed to promote an incremental theory of health is a cost- and time-effective approach to increase the frequency of engaging in health-promoting behaviors. However, research is needed to understand the reasons for the difference in intervention effects between the early and delayed intervention groups. The results of this study can guide the development of future digital health interventions that focus on implicit theories to promote health behavior change.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

DRKS - German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00017379; https://drks.de/search/de/trial/DRKS00017379.

Studying Scripts of Women, Men and Suicide: Qualitative-Method Development and Findings from Nepal

Information about suicidal behavior in Nepal is limited. According to official records, suicide rates were high until the year 2000 and declined thereafter. Official records are considered unreliable and a gross undercounting of suicide cases, particularly female cases. Suicide research in Nepal has been mostly epidemiologic and hospital-based. Little is known about how suicide is understood by Nepali people in general-including dominant suicide attitudes and beliefs in Nepal. Suicide attitudes and beliefs, which are elements of a culture's suicide scripts, predict actual suicidality. Drawing on suicide-script theory, we developed and used a semi-structured survey to explore Nepali beliefs about female and male suicide. The informants were adult (Mage = 28.4) university students (59% male). Female suicide was believed to be a response to the society-sanctioned oppression and abuse that women are subjected to, in their family and community. The prevention of female suicide was viewed as requiring dismantling ideologies, institutions, and customs (e.g., child marriage, dowry) that are oppressive to women, and ensuring that women are protected from violence and have equal social and economic rights and opportunities. Male suicide was believed to be a symptom of societal problems (e.g., unemployment) and of men's psychological problems (e.g., their difficulties in managing emotions). The prevention of male suicide was viewed as requiring both societal (e.g., employment opportunities) and individual remedies (e.g., psychological counseling). This study's findings suggest that a semi-structured survey can be a fruitful method to access the suicide scripts of cultures about which there is limited research.

A growing concern for meaning: Exploring the links between ego development and eudaimonia

Introduction

Eudaimonia, in contrast to hedonia, is theorized to be a more complex type of positive functioning that involves personal growth and is guided by the pursuit of meaning. However, the existing evidence linking eudaimonia to personality development is rather scarce. To fill this gap, we aimed to explore whether ego development is related to eudaimonic well-being and eudaimonic orientations, most notably, the concern for meaning: we explored both the quantitative differences in the presence of meaning and the search for it, as well as qualitative differences in lay theories of meaning.

Methods

Russian-speaking volunteers recruited online (N = 364, aged 18 to 85, 63% female) completed measures of ego development (Washington University Sentence Completion Test), meaning in life (Meaning in Life Questionnaire), lay theories of meaning (and original 20-item measure), hedonic and eudaimonic motives for activities (HEMA), and well-being (Mental Health Continuum-Short Form).

Results

Ego development emerged as a weak, but significant positive predictor of well-being and this effect was fully mediated by the presence of meaning and eudaimonic motives. Latent profile analysis of the items tapping into lay theories of meaning revealed four distinct individual approaches to meaning that mainly differed in the subjective importance and salience of meaning. Participants with stronger concern for meaning revealed higher scores on ego development, both presence and search for meaning, eudaimonic motives, and well-being.

Discussion

The results add to the evidence concerning the links between ego development and well-being and are in line with the theoretical view of eudaimonia as a process of growth guided by personal concern for meaning. The findings suggest that eudaimonia might be more easily attained by individuals at higher stages of personal development.

Illusory Feelings, Elusive Habits: People Overlook Habits in Explanations of Behavior

Habits underlie much of human behavior. However, people may prefer agentic accounts that overlook habits in favor of inner states, such as mood. We tested this misattribution hypothesis in an online experiment of helping behavior (N = 809 adults) as well as in an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study of U.S. college students' everyday coffee drinking (N = 112). Both studies revealed a substantial gap between perceived and actual drivers of behavior: Habit strength outperformed or matched inner states in predicting behavior, but participants' explanations of their behavior emphasized inner states. Participants continued to misattribute habits to inner states when incentivized for accuracy and when explaining other people's behavior. We discuss how this misperception could adversely influence self-regulation.

Belief in Altruistic Motives Predicts Prosocial Actions and Inferences

Are humans ever truly altruistic? Or are all actions, however noble, ultimately motivated by self-interest? Psychologists and philosophers have long grappled with this question, but few have considered laypeople's beliefs about the nature of prosocial motives. Here we examine these beliefs and their social correlates across two experiments (N = 445). We find that people tend to believe humans can be, and frequently are, altruistically motivated-echoing prior work. Moreover, people who more strongly believe in altruistic motives act more prosocially themselves-for instance, sacrificing greater amounts of money and time to help others-a relationship that holds even when controlling for trait empathy. People who believe in altruistic motives also judge other prosocial agents to be more genuinely kind, especially when agents' motives are ambiguous. Lastly, people independently show a self-serving bias-believing their own motives for prosociality are more often altruistic than others'. Overall, this work suggests that believing in altruistic motives predicts the extent to which people both see altruism and act prosocially, possibly reflecting the self-fulfilling nature of such lay theories.

Theories of Creativity in Music: Students' Theory Appraisal and Argumentation

Most research on people's conceptions regarding creativity has concerned informal beliefs instead of more complex belief systems represented in scholarly theories of creativity. The relevance of general theories of creativity to the creative domain of music may also be unclear because of the mixed responses these theories have received from music researchers. The aim of the present study was to gain a better comparative understanding of theories of creativity as accounts of musical creativity by allowing students to assess them from a musical perspective. In the study, higher-education music students rated 10 well-known theories of creativity as accounts of four musical target activities-composition, improvisation, performance, and ideation-and argued for the "best theoretical perspectives" in written essays. The results showed that students' theory appraisals were significantly affected by the target activities, but also by the participants' prior musical experiences. Students' argumentative strategies also differed between theories, especially regarding justifications by personal experiences and values. Moreover, theories were most typically problematized when discussing improvisation. The students most often chose to defend the Four-Stage Model, Divergent Thinking, and Systems Theory, while theories emphasizing strategic choices or Darwinian selection mechanisms were rarely found appealing. Overall, students tended toward moderate theory eclecticism, and their theory appraisals were seen to be pragmatic and example-based, instead of aiming for such virtues as broad scope or consistency. The theories were often used as definitions for identifying some phenomena of interest rather than for making stronger explanatory claims about such phenomena. Students' theory appraisals point to some challenges for creativity research, especially regarding the problems of accounting for improvisation, and concerning the significance of theories that find no support in these musically well-informed adults' reasoning.

Beliefs About Self-Compassion: Implications for Coping and Self-Improvement

Self-compassion-treating oneself with care and understanding during difficult times-promotes adaptive coping and self-improvement. Nonetheless, many people are not self-compassionate. We examined a key barrier people face to treating themselves self-compassionately: their negative beliefs about self-compassion (i.e., that it leads to complacency, indulgence, or irresponsibility). Across three studies, the more people held these negative beliefs, the less self-compassionately they reported responding to a real-world event (Study 2) and hypothetical emotional challenges (Studies 1 and 3). Self-compassionate responding, in turn, predicted adaptive coping strategies and intentions for self-improvement. Experimentally inducing people to hold positive, as opposed to negative, beliefs about self-compassion predicted self-compassionate responding 5 to 7 days later (Study 3). By recognizing and targeting peoples' beliefs, our findings highlight the importance of reducing such beliefs that are barriers to practicing self-compassion, as a means to improve the way people respond to difficult times.

How will this help me? Exploring expectations at the time of intake among first-time users of a college counseling center

The study explored first-time college counseling center clients' preintake expectations of the counseling process and the extent that these expectations were related to confidence that counseling will be effective and attendance after intake. Participants: Participants were 418 first-time counseling clients with complete intake and termination data from September 2013 to April 2016. Methods: New clients reported open-ended counseling expectations which were coded into three distinct categories: don't know, just talking, or beyond talking. Outcome measures include rated preintake confidence that counseling will be effective and client attendance at scheduled follow up session. Results: Regression analysis results indicate that expectations categorized as don't know were associated with lower pretreatment counseling confidence while beyond talking expectations predicted postintake attendance. Conclusions: Simple expectations about how counseling will work are a relevant therapeutic factor to consider in improving outcomes for counseling center clients.

Intended responses to romantic partners' annoying behaviours vary with willpower beliefs

When a romantic partner behaves in an annoying way - for example, by leaving a mess - we might respond with frustration or understanding. Responses may vary with contextual factors, including whether the partner could be mentally fatigued or depleted. We hypothesized that limited willpower theorists - who believe self-control diminishes with use - might be especially likely to consider their partner's preceding mental exertion. Two preregistered studies (combined N = 428) examined participants' responses to four hypothetical scenarios. Limited theorists responded more compassionately to infractions performed after fatiguing days than to those performed after relaxing days; non-limited theorists responded more consistently, regardless of context. Beliefs about one's own willpower, rather than beliefs about one's partner's willpower, can affect how people respond to their partner's undesirable behaviours.

Lay Theories of the Wandering Mind: Control-Related Beliefs Predict Mind Wandering Rates in- and outside the Lab

People often fail to keep their mind from wandering. Here, we examine how the tendency to mind wander is affected by people's beliefs, or lay theories. Building on research on lay theories and self-regulation, we test whether differences in people's beliefs about the extent to which mind wandering is controllable affect thought control strategies and mind-wandering rates in daily life and the laboratory. We develop a new scale to assess control-related beliefs about mind wandering. Scores on the scale predict mind wandering (Study 1) and intrusive thoughts (Study 2) in everyday life, thought control strategies and dysfunctional responses to unwanted thoughts (Study 2), and mind wandering during reading in the laboratory (Studies 3-6). Moreover, experimentally induced lay theories affect mind-wandering rates during reading (Studies 4 and 5). Finally, the effectiveness of strategies people can use to reduce their mind wandering depends on their lay theories (Studies 2 and 6).

Lay theories of peace and their influence on policy preference during violent conflict

We often talk about peace as if the concept is self-explanatory. Yet people can have various theories about what peace "is." In this study, we examine the lay theories of peace of citizens embroiled in a prolonged ethnonational conflict. We show that lay theories of peace 1) depend on whether one belongs to the high-power or low-power party and 2) explain citizens' fundamental approaches to conflict resolution. Specifically, we explore the link between power asymmetry, lay theories of peace, and preference for conflict resolution strategies within large-scale samples of Palestinian residents of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and Jewish residents of Israel. Results reveal that members of the high-power group (in this case Jewish-Israelis) are more likely to associate peace with harmonious relationships (termed "positive peace") than with the attainment of justice (termed "structural peace"), while members of the low-power group (in this case Palestinians) exhibit an opposite pattern. Yet both groups firmly and equally interpret peace as the termination of war and bloodshed (termed "negative peace"). Importantly, across societies, associating peace with negative peace more than with positive or structural peace predicts citizens' desire for a solution that entails the partition of land (the Two-State Solution) whereas associating peace with structural or positive peace more than with negative peace predicts citizens' desire to solve the conflict by sharing the land (the One-State Solution). This study demonstrates the theoretical and policy-relevant utility of studying how those most affected by war understand the concept of peace.

Support for Resettling Refugees: The Role of Fixed Versus Growth Mind-Sets

In six studies ( N = 2,340), we identified one source of people's differential support for resettling refugees in their country-their beliefs about whether the kind of person someone is can be changed (i.e., a growth mind-set) or is fixed (i.e., a fixed mind-set). U.S. and UK citizens who believed that the kind of person someone is can be changed were more likely to support resettling refugees in their country (Studies 1 and 2). Study 3 identified a causal relationship between the type of mind-set people hold and their support for resettling refugees. Importantly, people with a growth mind-set were more likely to believe that refugees can assimilate in the host society but not that they should assimilate, and the belief that refugees can assimilate mediated the relationship between people's mind-sets and their support for resettling refugees (Studies 4-6). The findings identify an important antecedent of people's support for resettling refugees and provide novel insights into the science of mind-sets.

The Cynical Genius Illusion: Exploring and Debunking Lay Beliefs About Cynicism and Competence

Cynicism refers to a negative appraisal of human nature—a belief that self-interest is the ultimate motive guiding human behavior. We explored laypersons’ beliefs about cynicism and competence and to what extent these beliefs correspond to reality. Four studies showed that laypeople tend to believe in cynical individuals’ cognitive superiority. A further three studies based on the data of about 200,000 individuals from 30 countries debunked these lay beliefs as illusionary by revealing that cynical (vs. less cynical) individuals generally do worse on cognitive ability and academic competency tasks. Cross-cultural analyses showed that competent individuals held contingent attitudes and endorsed cynicism only if it was warranted in a given sociocultural environment. Less competent individuals embraced cynicism unconditionally, suggesting that—at low levels of competence—holding a cynical worldview might represent an adaptive default strategy to avoid the potential costs of falling prey to others’ cunning.

Gender differences in romantic relationship memories: who remembers? Who cares?

Two studies were conducted to assess patterns of gender differences in memory for romantic relationship events. Results suggested that people believe that women have better memory for romantic relationship events than men, that better relationship memory predicts higher levels of relationship well-being, and that the association between relationship memory and relationship well-being is somewhat stronger for women than for men. Women did tend to have somewhat better relationship memory than men, as assessed via subjective reports from both partners in mixed-sex relationships, and via the number of details partners provided when asked to recall a specific relationship event (i.e., their first date). Consistent with the lay theories, both own and partner's better relationship memory predicted higher levels of relationship well-being; however, the association between better relationship memory and higher levels of relationship well-being was equally strong for both genders. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Patients' beliefs about the causes of myomas: a pilot study from a large European city

INTRODUCTION

Patients usually develop subjective concepts about their illness, which then influences their further health behaviors and treatment decisions. This study aimed to evaluate several possible patient beliefs about the causal factors of illness, in a large sample of women seeking treatment for myomas.

METHODS

From November 2011 to October 2013, all patients at a specialized myoma clinic in a large European city were surveyed about their beliefs about the causes of myomas. We used a modified version of the Patient Theory Questionnaire from Zenz et al., which presented 16 of the most common possible beliefs about the causes of myomas, and asked patients to rate them on a five-point scale of likelihood. Retrospectively, statistical analysis was performed on their answers and sociodemographic data.

RESULTS

Data from 482 patients was included (return rate of 91.5%). The most frequent answers for possible causes were "inherited susceptibility for myomas" (67.3%), "reorganization in the body during a particular phase of life" (63.5%), "stress at work or home" (49.3%) and "an in-born tendency to react to emotional agitation with physical disorders" (41.8%). Significant differences were found for the factors of age, immigration background and self-rated knowledge about myomas.

CONCLUSIONS

It is curious that two of the four most common explanations for myomas were stress and somatization, and were endorsed by nearly half of all patients. Physicians seeing women for myomas should consider that many such patients may have further hidden reasons for seeking medical care.

Is Education a Fundamental Right? People's Lay Theories About Intellectual Potential Drive Their Positions on Education

Does every child have a fundamental right to receive a high-quality education? We propose that people's beliefs about whether "nearly everyone" or "only some people" have high intellectual potential drive their positions on education. Three studies found that the more people believed that nearly everyone has high potential, the more they viewed education as a fundamental human right. Furthermore, people who viewed education as a fundamental right, in turn (a) were more likely to support the institution of free public education, (b) were more concerned upon learning that students in the country were not performing well academically compared with students in peer nations, and (c) were more likely to support redistributing educational funds more equitably across wealthier and poorer school districts. The studies show that people's beliefs about intellectual potential can influence their positions on education, which can affect the future quality of life for countless students.

Views of a good life and allostatic load: Physiological correlates of theories of a good life depend on the socioeconomic context

This research examines the relationship between one's theory of a good life and allostatic load, a marker of cumulative biological risk, and how this relationship differs by socioeconomic status. Among adults with a bachelor's degree or higher, those who saw individual characteristics (e.g., personal happiness, effort) as part of a good life had lower levels of allostatic load than those who did not. In contrast, among adults with less than a bachelor's degree, those who saw supportive relationships as part of a good life had lower levels of allostatic load than those who did not. These findings extend past research on socioeconomic differences in the emphasis individual or relational factors and suggest that one's theory of a good life has health implications.

In Small We Trust: Lay Theories About Small and Large Groups

Day-to-day interactions often involve individuals interacting with groups, but little is known about the criteria that people use to decide which groups to approach or trust and which to avoid or distrust. Seven studies provide evidence for a "small = trustworthy" heuristic, such that people perceive numerically smaller groups as more benevolent in their character and intentions. As a result of this, individuals in trust-sensitive contexts are more likely to approach and engage with groups that are relatively small than those that are relatively large. We provide evidence for this notion across a range of contexts, including analyses of social categories (Studies 1 and 2), ad hoc collections of individuals (Study 3), interacting panels (Studies 4-6), and generalized, abstract judgments (Study 7). Findings suggest the existence of a general lay theory of group size that may influence how individuals interact with groups.

Teaching a lay theory before college narrows achievement gaps at scale

Previous experiments have shown that college students benefit when they understand that challenges in the transition to college are common and improvable and, thus, that early struggles need not portend a permanent lack of belonging or potential. Could such an approach-called a lay theory intervention-be effective before college matriculation? Could this strategy reduce a portion of racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic achievement gaps for entire institutions? Three double-blind experiments tested this possibility. Ninety percent of first-year college students from three institutions were randomly assigned to complete single-session, online lay theory or control materials before matriculation (n > 9,500). The lay theory interventions raised first-year full-time college enrollment among students from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds exiting a high-performing charter high school network or entering a public flagship university (experiments 1 and 2) and, at a selective private university, raised disadvantaged students' cumulative first-year grade point average (experiment 3). These gains correspond to 31-40% reductions of the raw (unadjusted) institutional achievement gaps between students from disadvantaged and nondisadvantaged backgrounds at those institutions. Further, follow-up surveys suggest that the interventions improved disadvantaged students' overall college experiences, promoting use of student support services and the development of friendship networks and mentor relationships. This research therefore provides a basis for further tests of the generalizability of preparatory lay theories interventions and of their potential to reduce social inequality and improve other major life transitions.

Implicit theories of smoking and association with current smoking status

Implicit theories of smoking refer to people's beliefs about whether smoking behavior is something that is changeable (incremental belief) or fixed (entity belief). This study examines implicit theories of smoking and its association with smoking behavior in a nationally representative sample of US adults using data from the Health Information National Trends Survey. The current results show that implicit theories of smoking are associated with smoking. Among former smokers, 90 percent endorsed an incremental belief about smoking compared to 70 percent of current smokers. Our study provides initial evidence for the role of implicit theories of smoking as a psychological factor associated with smoking behavior.

Common Sense Beliefs about the Central Self, Moral Character, and the Brain

To assess lay beliefs about self and brain, we probed people's opinions about the central self, in relation to morality, willful control, and brain relevance. In study 1, 172 participants compared the central self to the peripheral self. The central self, construed at this abstract level, was seen as more brain-based than the peripheral self, less changeable through willful control, and yet more indicative of moral character. In study 2, 210 participants described 18 specific personality traits on 6 dimensions: centrality to self, moral relevance, willful control, brain dependence, temporal stability, and desirability. Consistent with Study 1, centrality to the self, construed at this more concrete level, was positively correlated to brain dependence. Centrality to the self was also correlated to desirability and temporal stability, but not to morality or willful control. We discuss differences and similarities between abstract (Study 1) and concrete (Study 2) levels of construal of the central self, and conclude that in contemporary American society people readily embrace the brain as the underlying substrate of who they truly are.

Growing Fixed With Age: Lay Theories of Malleability Are Target Age-Specific

Beliefs about whether people can change ("lay theories" of malleability) are known to have wide-ranging effects on social motivation, cognition, and judgment. Yet rather than holding an overarching belief that people can or cannot change, perceivers may hold independent beliefs about whether different people are malleable-that is, lay theories may be target-specific. Seven studies demonstrate that lay theories are target-specific with respect to age: Perceivers hold distinct, uncorrelated lay theories of people at different ages, and younger targets are considered to be more malleable than older targets. Both forms of target-specificity are consequential, as target age-specific lay theories predict policy support for learning-based senior services and the rehabilitation of old and young drug users. The implications of target age-specific lay theories for a number of psychological processes, the social psychology of aging, and theoretical frameworks of malleability beliefs are discussed.

Implicit Theories of Change and Stability Moderate Effects of Subjective Distance on the Remembered Self

Temporal self-appraisal theory suggests that people can regulate current self-view by recalling former selves in ways that flatter present identity. People critique their subjectively distant (but not recent) former selves, creating the illusion of improvement over time. However, this revisionist strategy might not apply to everyone: People with fixed (entity) beliefs may not benefit from critiquing even distant selves. In three studies, we found that implicit theories of change and stability moderate the effects of subjective distance on the remembered self. In all studies, participants rated past selves portrayed as subjectively close or distant (controlling calendar time). Incremental theorists (but not entity theorists) were more critical of their subjectively distant (but not recent) past attributes. We found the same pattern when measuring existing implicit theories (Studies 1, 2) or manipulating them (Study 3). The present research is the first to integrate temporal self-appraisal theory and the implicit theories literature.

Folk beliefs about genetic variation predict avoidance of biracial individuals

People give widely varying estimates for the amount of genetic overlap that exists between humans. While some laypeople believe that humans are highly genetically similar to one another, others believe that humans share very little genetic overlap. These studies examine how beliefs about genetic overlap affect neural and evaluative reactions to racially-ambiguous and biracial targets. In Study 1, we found that lower genetic overlap estimates predicted a stronger neural avoidance response to biracial compared to monoracial targets. In Study 2, we found that lower genetic overlap estimates predicted longer response times to classify biracial (vs. monoracial) faces into racial categories. In Study 3, we manipulated genetic overlap beliefs and found that participants in the low overlap condition explicitly rated biracial targets more negatively than those in the high overlap condition. Taken together, these data suggest that genetic overlap beliefs influence perceivers' processing fluency and evaluation of biracial and racially-ambiguous individuals.

How people explain their own and others' behavior: a theory of lay causal explanations

A theoretical model is proposed that specifies lay causal theories of behavior; and supporting experimental evidence is presented. The model’s basic assumption is that different types of behavior trigger different hypotheses concerning the types of causes that may have brought about the behavior. Seven categories are distinguished that are assumed to serve as both behavior types and explanation types: goals, dispositions, temporary states such as emotions, intentional actions, outcomes, events, and stimulus attributes. The model specifies inference rules that lay people use when explaining behavior (actions are caused by goals; goals are caused by higher order goals or temporary states; temporary states are caused by dispositions, stimulus attributes, or events; outcomes are caused by actions, temporary states, dispositions, stimulus attributes, or events; events are caused by dispositions or preceding events). Two experiments are reported. Experiment 1 showed that free-response explanations followed the assumed inference rules. Experiment 2 demonstrated that explanations which match the inference rules are generated faster and more frequently than non-matching explanations. Together, the findings support models that incorporate knowledge-based aspects into the process of causal explanation. The results are discussed with respect to their implications for different stages of this process, such as the activation of causal hypotheses and their subsequent selection, as well as with respect to social influences on this process.

Cultural and age differences in beliefs about depression: British Bangladeshis vs. British Whites

This study examines beliefs about depression as a function of ethnic background (British Bangladeshis vs. British Whites) and age. A total of 364 participants completed a 65-item questionnaire, containing general questions regarding depression and anti-depressive behaviour; the causes of depression, and treatments for depression. The hypotheses were broadly supported; there were significant interactions between ethnicity and age, which generally revealed an increasingly negative attitude towards depression with increasing age amongst British Bangladeshis. Older British Bangladeshis believed depression was an illness that brought a sense of shame and loss of dignity to the individual and his or her family, and they also favoured a lay referral system for sufferers. They also had more superstitious beliefs about depression than both younger British Bangladeshis and British Whites. A pattern of increasing negativity with increasing age was not evident amongst the British Whites, but older individuals in both groups tended to believe that depression was not helped by psychological intervention. The attitudes towards depression in the young was similar (and generally positive) in both ethnic groups. These findings highlight the necessity to provide more culturally sensitive and accessible services for migrant communities – particularly amongst older individuals.

The etiology of mental disorders: public endorsement of traditional Chinese beliefs in Macau

BACKGROUND

Public beliefs concerning the causes of mental disorders are important in their effective treatment. The relative importance of public beliefs related to the etiology of mental disorders among Chinese populations and their relationship to other attitudes to mental disorders are poorly understood.

AIMS

To investigate the endorsement of beliefs related to the etiology of mental disorders in Macau, in particular, traditional Chinese beliefs, and to explore their relationship to general attitudes towards mental disorders.

METHODS

A survey of 361 members of the public measured attitudes towards 32 possible causes of mental disorders as well as contact with and social distance from individuals with a mental disorder.

RESULTS

The results indicated that traditional Chinese beliefs were ranked with relatively low importance compared with psychosocial causes. Traditional beliefs related to two underlying factors and were significantly higher in participants with lower education levels. There was a significant negative correlation between endorsement of traditional beliefs and contact with individuals with a mental disorder and a significant positive correlation between endorsement of traditional beliefs and desired social distance from individuals with a mental disorder.

CONCLUSION

Factors underlying traditional Chinese beliefs concerning the causes of mental disorders are associated with more negative attitudes towards individuals with a mental disorder, with such beliefs more strongly endorsed by those with relatively lower education levels.

Lay theories of smoking and young adult nonsmokers' and smokers' smoking expectations

This study investigated the relationship between lay theories of cigarette smoking and expectations to smoke. An incremental lay theory of smoking entails the belief that smoking behavior can change; an entity theory entails the belief that smoking behavior cannot change. Undergraduate nonsmokers and smokers completed a survey that assessed lay theories of smoking and smoking expectations. Results demonstrated that lay theories of smoking were differentially associated with smoking expectations for nonsmokers and smokers: stronger incremental beliefs were associated with greater expectations of trying smoking for nonsmokers but lower expectations of becoming a regular smoker for smokers. Implications for interventions are discussed.

Treatment hurts: Lay theories of graded exposure in the treatment of four anxiety disorders

Objective

This paper concerned the perceived suffering/side effects caused by various well-known treatments for personal problems. It looked at whether people understood whether potentially painful treatments that confront negative aversive affect were effective or not.

Method

In total, 106 participants completed a long questionnaire assessing the ‘psychological pain’ ratings of 30 psychotherapy treatments, varying in fear exposure, for four relatively common anxiety disorders: social phobia, agoraphobia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and obsessive compulsive disorder.

Results

Factor analytic results revealed four clear factors underlying lay efficacy beliefs of psychotherapy interventions, varying in fear exposure: talking therapies, fear confrontation, fear avoidance, and alternative therapies. Talking therapies were rated the most effective across all disorders, but also the most painful. Fear avoidance therapies were rated the least effective and, along with alternative medicine, the least painful. Treatments involving fear exposure were rated the most painful. Regression analysis revealed talking therapies to be rated more efficacious by younger subjects than older subjects.

Conclusion

Most people seem able to differentiate between the efficacies of interventions for different anxiety disorders and hold consensually held optimistic conceptions about the usefulness of psychotherapy treatments and counseling that involve fear exposure, despite knowledge of the psychophysical side effects that these therapies often entail. They favored talking cures over others, but that may have been due to misleading items in the questionnaire.

Lay theories of gender identity disorder

This study examined lay theories regarding gender identity disorder (GID). Pilot interviews were completed with participants (n = 10) regarding their views on possible causes and treatments of GID. Participants (mainly young British people and students; n = 124) then completed a questionnaire that was based on the interviews and a review of the salient literature on lay theories. As hypothesized, participants believed most in biomedical causes and treatments of GID. Factor analysis (with varimax rotation) identified 4 factors in relation to causes of GID: upbringing and personal factors, pregnancy and brain abnormalities, environmental factors, and biomedical causes. Five factors that were identified in relation to the cure/treatment of GID were psychological assistance and personal factors, extreme medical and behavioral changes, alternative therapies, external factors, and medical treatments. The results indicated that participants neither agreed nor strongly disagreed about causes and cures regarding GID, but that these beliefs were logically related. Limitations, particularly of sampling, were considered.

White Americans' Genetic Lay Theories of Race Differences and Sexual Orientation: Their Relationship with Prejudice toward Blacks, and Gay Men and Lesbians

This study examined the relationship between White Americans' genetic explanations, conceptualized as genetic lay theories, for perceived racial differences and for sexual orientation, and attitudes toward Blacks, and gay men and lesbians, respectively. Considering contrasting public discourse surrounding race and sexual orientation, we predicted that genetic lay theories would be associated with greater prejudice toward Blacks, but less prejudice toward gay men and lesbians. The findings, based on a representative sample of 600 White Americans, were consistent with expectations. Results are discussed in relation to the literature on essentialism and implicit theories of the malleability of traits. The present research broadens our view of lay theories by showing how they support either prejudice or tolerance, depending on the target group.