Personality and Social Psychology Review recent issues

Predicting Behavior During Interracial Interactions: A Stress and Coping Approach

Trawalter, S., Richeson, J. A., Shelton, J. N. — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:24:59 PDT

The social psychological literature maintains unequivocally that interracial contact is stressful. Yet research and theory have rarely considered how stress may shape behavior during interracial interactions. To address this empirical and theoretical gap, the authors propose a framework for understanding and predicting behavior during interracial interactions rooted in the stress and coping literature. Specifically, they propose that individuals often appraise interracial interactions as a threat, experience stress, and therefore cope—they antagonize, avoid, freeze, or engage. In other words, the behavioral dynamics of interracial interactions can be understood as initial stress reactions and subsequent coping responses. After articulating the framework and its predictions for behavior during interracial interactions, the authors examine its ability to organize the extant literature on behavioral dynamics during interracial compared with same-race contact. They conclude with a discussion of the implications of the stress and coping framework for improving research and fostering more positive interracial contact.

Rejection Elicits Emotional Reactions but Neither Causes Immediate Distress nor Lowers Self-Esteem: A Meta-Analytic Review of 192 Studies on Social Exclusion

Blackhart, G. C., Nelson, B. C., Knowles, M. L., Baumeister, R. F. — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:25:00 PDT

Competing predictions about the effect of social exclusion were tested by meta-analyzing findings from studies of interpersonal rejection, ostracism, and similar procedures. Rejection appears to cause a significant shift toward a more negative emotional state. Typically, however, the result was an emotionally neutral state marked by low levels of both positive and negative affect. Acceptance caused a slight increase in positive mood and a moderate increase in self-esteem. Self-esteem among rejected persons was no different from neutral controls. These findings are discussed in terms of belongingness motivation, sociometer theory, affective numbing, and self-esteem defenses.

Transforming "Apathy Into Movement":The Role of Prosocial Emotions in Motivating Action for Social Change

Thomas, E. F., McGarty, C., Mavor, K. I. — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:25:00 PDT

This article explores the synergies between recent developments in the social identity of helping, and advantaged groups’ prosocial emotion. The authors review the literature on the potential of guilt, sympathy, and outrage to transform advantaged groups’ apathy into positive action. They place this research into a novel framework by exploring the ways these emotions shape group processes to produce action strategies that emphasize either social cohesion or social change. These prosocial emotions have a critical but underrecognized role in creating contexts of in-group inclusion or exclusion, shaping normative content and meaning, and informing group interests. Furthermore, these distinctions provide a useful way of differentiating commonly discussed emotions. The authors conclude that the most "effective" emotion will depend on the context of the inequality but that outrage seems particularly likely to productively shape group processes and social change outcomes.

Sociology: A Lost Connection in Social Psychology

Oishi, S., Kesebir, S., Snyder, B. H. — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:25:00 PDT

For the first half of the 20th century, sociology was one of the closest allies of social psychology. Over the past four decades, however, the connection with sociology has weakened, whereas new connections with neighboring disciplines (e.g., biology, economics, political science) have formed. Along the way, the sociological perspective has been largely lost in mainstream social psychology in the United States. Most social psychologists today are not concerned with collective phenomena and do not investigate social structural factors (e.g., residential mobility, socioeconomic status, dominant religion, political systems). Even when the social structural factors are included in the analysis, psychologists typically treat them as individual difference variables. Sociologist C. Wright Mills famously promoted sociological imagination, or the ability to see distal yet important social forces operating in a larger societal context. By comparing sociological perspectives to psychological perspectives, this article highlights the insights that the sociological perspective and sociological imagination can bring to social psychology.

A Sociopsychological Conception of Collective Identity: The Case of National Identity as an Example

David, O., Bar-Tal, D. — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:25:00 PDT

The present article delineates the complex structure of collective identity by incorporating two levels of analysis. The first, the micro level, pertains to individual society members’ recognition of and categorization as belonging to a group, with the accompanying cognitive, emotional, and behavioral consequences. The second, the macro level, pertains to the notion of collective identity that denotes the shared awareness by constituents of a society of being members of a collective. This level is founded on two pillars: One pillar consists of generic features that characterize the collective identity. These features apply to macro-level collectives and allow a comparison among them. The other pillar is particular and consists of content characteristics that provide the unique features of the collective identity. The conceptual framework is applied to the analysis of the national collective identity as a case example. The contributions and implications of the described conception are discussed.

Acknowledgment of Guest Reviewers

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:25:00 PDT

The Concept of Ego Threat in Social and Personality Psychology: Is Ego Threat a Viable Scientific Construct?

Leary, M. R., Terry, M. L., Batts Allen, A., Tate, E. B. — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:24:02 PDT

Although widely invoked as an explanation for psychological phenomena, ego threat has been conceptualized and induced in a variety of ways. Most contemporary research conceptualizes ego threat as a threat to a person’s self-image or self-esteem, but experimental operationalizations of ego threat usually confound threats to self-esteem with threats to public image or decreased control over negative events, leading to an inability to distinguish the effects of threats to people’s personal egos from threats to public image or threats to feelings of control. This article reviews research on ego threat, discusses experimental manipulations that confound ego threat with other processes, and makes recommendations regarding the use of ego threat as a construct in personality and social psychology.

The Egoism and Altruism of Intergenerational Behavior

Wade-Benzoni, K. A., Tost, L. P. — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:24:02 PDT

Some of the most important issues in society today affect more than one generation of people. In this article, the authors offer a conceptual overview and integration of the research on intergenerational dilemmas—decisions that entail a tradeoff between one’s own self-interest in the present and the interests of other people in the future. Intergenerational decisions are characterized by a combination of intertemporal (i.e., behaviors that affect the future) and interpersonal (i.e., behaviors that affect other people) components. Research on intergenerational dilemmas identifies factors that emerge from these dimensions and how they interact with each other to influence intergenerational beneficence. Critically, phenomena that result from the intersection of these two dimensions—such as immortality striving through legacy creation—are especially important in distinguishing intergenerational decisions from other related decision contexts.

Aligning Identities, Emotions, and Beliefs to Create Commitment to Sustainable Social and Political Action

Thomas, E. F., McGarty, C., Mavor, K. I. — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:24:02 PDT

In this article the authors explore the social psychological processes underpinning sustainable commitment to a social or political cause. Drawing on recent developments in the collective action, identity formation, and social norm literatures, they advance a new model to understand sustainable commitment to action. The normative alignment model suggests that one solution to promoting ongoing commitment to collective action lies in crafting a social identity with a relevant pattern of norms for emotion, efficacy, and action. Rather than viewing group emotion, collective efficacy, and action as group products, the authors conceptualize norms about these as contributing to a dynamic system of meaning, which can shape ongoing commitment to a cause. By exploring emotion, efficacy, and action as group norms, it allows scholars to reenergize the theoretical connections between collective identification and subjective meaning but also allows for a fresh perspective on complex questions of causality.

Uniting the Tribes of Fluency to Form a Metacognitive Nation

Alter, A. L., Oppenheimer, D. M. — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:24:02 PDT

Processing fluency, or the subjective experience of ease with which people process information, reliably influences people’s judgments across a broad range of social dimensions. Experimenters have manipulated processing fluency using a vast array of techniques, which, despite their diversity, produce remarkably similar judgmental consequences. For example, people similarly judge stimuli that are semantically primed (conceptual fluency), visually clear (perceptual fluency), and phonologically simple (linguistic fluency) as more true than their less fluent counterparts. The authors offer the first comprehensive review of such mechanisms and their implications for judgment and decision making. Because every cognition falls along a continuum from effortless to demanding and generates a corresponding fluency experience, the authors argue that fluency is a ubiquitous metacognitive cue in reasoning and social judgment.

Announcement: Mark R. Leary Appointed Editor of Personality and Social Psychology Review, 2010--2013

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:24:02 PDT

Announcement: The Society for Personality and Social Psychology's Student Publication Award

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:24:02 PDT

Higher Order Factors of Personality: Do They Exist?

Ashton, M. C., Lee, K., Goldberg, L. R., de Vries, R. E. — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:09:11 PDT

Scales that measure the Big Five personality factors are often substantially intercorrelated. These correlations are sometimes interpreted as implying the existence of two higher order factors of personality. The authors show that correlations between measures of broad personality factors do not necessarily imply the existence of higher order factors and might instead be due to variables that represent same-signed blends of orthogonal factors. Therefore, the hypotheses of higher order factors and blended variables can only be tested with data on lower level personality variables that define the personality factors. The authors compared the higher order factor model and the blended variable model in three participant samples using the Big Five Aspect Scales, and found better fit for the latter model. In other analyses using the HEXACO Personality Inventory, they identified mutually uncorrelated markers of six personality factors. The authors conclude that correlations between personality factor scales can be explained without postulating any higher order dimensions of personality.

A Cybernetic Model of Global Personality Traits

Van Egeren, L. F. — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:09:11 PDT

Neurobehavioral studies of human and animal temperament have shed light on how individual personality traits influence human actions. This approach, however, leaves open questions about how the entire system of traits and temperaments function together to exercise control. To address this key issue, I describe a cybernetic model of control and then apply it to the Big Five (B5) personality traits. Employing evidence from descriptive trait terms, temperamental behavioral processes associated with traits, and empirical correlates of traits, I relate distinct cybernetic processes of self-regulation to the B5 traits. The B5 traits broadly parallel basic cybernetic self-regulation processes. For example, the core behavior activation property of the B5 Extraversion trait can be mapped onto the device output function of automated cybernetic control systems. Implications and limitations of interpreting personality traits in self-regulation terms are discussed.

Threat to Life and Risk-Taking Behaviors: A Review of Empirical Findings and Explanatory Models

Ben-Zur, H., Zeidner, M. — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:09:11 PDT

This article reviews the literature focusing on the relationship between perceived threat to life and risk-taking behaviors. The review of empirical data, garnered from field studies and controlled experiments, suggests that personal threat to life results in elevated risk-taking behavior. To account for these findings, this review proposes a number of theoretical explanations. These frameworks are grounded in divergent conceptual models: coping with stress, emotion regulation, replenishing of lost resources through self-enhancement, modifications of key parameters of cognitive processing of risky outcomes, and neurocognitive mechanisms. The review concludes with a number of methodological considerations, as well as directions for future work in this promising area of research.

A Melding of the Minds: When Primatology Meets Personality and Social Psychology

Brosnan, S. F., Newton-Fisher, N. E., van Vugt, M. — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:09:11 PDT

Social and personality psychology and behavioral primatology both enjoy long histories of research aimed at uncovering the proximate and ultimate determinants of primate—human and nonhuman—social behavior. Although they share research themes, methodologies, and theories, and although their studied species are closely related, there is currently very little interaction between the fields. This separation means that researchers in these disciplines miss out on opportunities to advance understanding by combining insights from both fields. Social and personality psychologists also miss the opportunity for a phylogenetic analysis. The time has come to integrate perspectives on primate social psychology. Here, the authors provide a historical background and document the main similarities and differences in approaches. Next, they present some examples of research programs that may benefit from an integrated primate perspective. Finally, the authors propose a framework for developing a social psychology inclusive of all primates. Such a melding of minds promises to greatly benefit those who undertake the challenge.

Commonality and the Complexity of "We": Social Attitudes and Social Change

Dovidio, J. F., Gaertner, S. L., Saguy, T. — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:06:08 PST

The present article explores the complex role of collective identities in the development of intergroup biases and disparities, in interventions to improve orientations toward members of other groups, and in inhibiting or facilitating social action. The article revolves around the common ingroup identity model, examining general empirical support but also acknowledging potential limitations and emphasizing new insights and extensions. It proposes that the motivations of majority group members to preserve a system that advantages them and the motivations of minority group members to enhance their status have direct implications for preferred group representations and consequent intergroup relations. In particular, the effects of majority group members' preferences for a common, one-group identity and minority group members' preference for a dual identity (in which differences are acknowledged within the context of a superordinate identity) are considered in terms of intergroup attitudes, recognition of unfair disparities, and support for social action.

A New Look at Emotional Intelligence: A Dual-Process Framework

Fiori, M. — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:06:08 PST

In this article, the author provides a framework to guide research in emotional intelligence. Studies conducted up to the present bear on a conception of emotional intelligence as pertaining to the domain of consciousness and investigate the construct with a correlational approach. As an alternative, the author explores processes underlying emotional intelligence, introducing the distinction between conscious and automatic processing as a potential source of variability in emotionally intelligent behavior. Empirical literature is reviewed to support the central hypothesis that individual differences in emotional intelligence may be best understood by considering the way individuals automatically process emotional stimuli. Providing directions for research, the author encourages the integration of experimental investigation of processes underlying emotional intelligence with correlational analysis of individual differences and fosters the exploration of the automaticity component of emotional intelligence.

The Agony of Ambivalence and Ways to Resolve It: Introducing the MAID Model

van Harreveld, F., van der Pligt, J., de Liver, Y. N. — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:06:08 PST

People are generally averse toward conflict between beliefs and/or feelings underlying their attitudes—that is, attitudinal ambivalence. This review integrates literature on attitudinal ambivalence with theories on decision making and coping strategies to gain a better understanding of when and how people deal with feelings of ambivalence. First it shows that ambivalence is experienced as being particularly unpleasant when the ambivalent attitude holder is confronted with the necessity to make a choice concerning the ambivalent attitude object; then, incongruent evaluative components of the attitude become accessible, and feelings of uncertainty about the potential outcomes arise, which may involve the anticipation of aversive emotions. Several coping strategies are employed when ambivalence is experienced as unpleasant. Emotion- and problem-focused coping strategies are discussed. The article concludes with a discussion of the MAID (model of ambivalence-induced discomfort), which aims to describe the consequences of ambivalence.

The Strong Situation Hypothesis

Cooper, W. H., Withey, M. J. — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:06:08 PST

A conventional wisdom in personality and social psychology and organizational behavior is that personality matters most in weak situations and least in strong situations. The authors trace the origins of this claim and examine the evidence for the personality-dampening effect of strong situations. The authors identify the gap between claim and evidence and suggest an agenda for future research.