Group cohesiveness, social norms, and bystander intervention.

Previous research suggests that the larger a group of bystanders is, the less likely any one bystander is to offer a victim help in an emergency. Nearly all of this research has been conducted with unacquainted bystanders, and thus, an important group characteristic—cohesiveness—may have been held at a low level. Two studies with 192 male undergraduates assessed the impact of group cohesiveness on the bystander effect. Study 1 found support for the hypothesis that group size inhibits helping in low-cohesive groups but facilitates helping in high-cohesive groups. Study 2 found support for the hypothesis that the effects of cohesiveness on bystander intervention depend on the salience of the social-responsibility norm: Cohesiveness facilitated helping more when the social-responsibility norm was salient than when it was not. Thus, group cohesiveness is a theoretically critical variable for understanding bystander effect. Results suggest that the effects of group and situation variables depend on the group's meaning to the individual. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

History of the sleeper effect: Some logical pitfalls in accepting the null hypothesis.

The history of research on the sleeper effect prior to 1978 can be divided into 5 stages: (a) initial discovery of the effect, (b) development of the underlying theory, (c) widespread acceptance of the effect and of the discounting cue explanation of it, (d) realization that past operational definitions of the effect were not isomorphic with the conceptual definition, and (e) repeated failure to demonstrate the effect once operational definitions were employed that corresponded to the conceptual definition (P. M. Gillig and A. G. Greenwald, 1974). These failures resulted in an invitation to accept the null hypothesis and to "lay sleeper effect to rest." This article illustrates why it is not justifiable to accept the null hypothesis about the sleeper effect. It is suggested that provisional acceptance of the null hypothesis depends on assuming that all the necessary theoretical, countervailing, statistical, and procedural conditions for an adequate test of the effect have been demonstrably met. It is further suggested that none of the empirical studies prior to 1978 demonstrably succeeded in meeting these conditions. However, adequate tests following the guidelines described by the authors for provisionally accepting the null hypothesis have recently been conducted, and the effect has been repeatedly found. A deductive model of the logical factors that should guide provisional acceptance of the null hypothesis is contrasted with a current model that stresses induction and statistical power analyses. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of social support and relapse prevention training as adjuncts to a televised smoking-cessation intervention.

Smokers registering for a televised cessation program who also expressed interest in joining a support group and who had a nonsmoking buddy were randomly assigned to 3 conditions: no-contact control, discussion, and social support. All Ss received a self-help manual and were encouraged to watch the daily TV program. Ss in the discussion and support conditions were scheduled to attend 3 group meetings (one with a buddy). Social support Ss and buddies received training in support and relapse prevention. A 4th analysis group was composed of Ss who failed to attend any of the scheduled meetings (no shows). There were strong group effects at the end of treatment. Abstinence rates were highest in the social support group, followed, in order, by the discussion group, no-shows, and no-contact controls. The social support group improved outcome by increasing both the level of support and program material use (reading the manual and watching TV). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of biochemical validation of self-reported cigarette smoking on treatment success and on misreporting abstinence.

Investigated the measurement of alveolar carbon monoxide (CO) levels to validate self-reported smoking rates at the end of treatment. 127 volunteer smokers, mostly middle-aged, who were in behavioral smoking-cessation clinics were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions that varied in timing of exposure to information regarding CO measurement: (a) at the beginning of treatment (demonstration of CO measurement, discussion of smoking effects on CO levels, and notification that individual CO levels would be measured at the conclusion of the clinic); (b) at the end of treatment (demonstration, discussion, and notification of CO measurement prior to self-reports of smoking levels); or (c) at the end of treatment (demonstration and discussion of CO measurement subsequent to self-reports of smoking levels). Only 16% of self-reports of abstinence were not verified by CO measurement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A person–situation approach to altruistic behavior.

Examined J. E. Ribal's (see record 1964-00774-001) typology and helping orientation model with regard to 2 interpersonal motives, nurturance and succorance, which define 4 ideal types of orientation toward giving and receiving help. These include altruists, receptive givers, and inner-sustaining persons. Two studies with 219 undergraduates were conducted to test the model. In Study 1, a test to identify the 4 types was validated against other tests of theoretically relevant constructs. In Study 2, altruists, receptive givers, and selfish people were exposed to a request for aid with the promise either of compensation or of no compensation. Helping responses depended on both the personality type and the compensation condition. Altruists helped most when compensation was not expected, but receptive givers helped most when compensation was expected. Implications of the results for definitions of altruism with particular emphasis on the importance of person–situation interactions are discussed. (49 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Empirical tests of the absolute sleeper effect predicted from the discounting cue hypothesis.

Two experiments tested the sleeper effect with respect to persuasion research (i.e., the finding that a persuasive message has a greater delayed than initial impact on Ss' attitudes). These experiments included strong tests of the discounting cue hypothesis because they (a) demonstrably created the conditions that the theory indicated were necessary for the effect to occur, (b) demonstrably minimized the impact of a force known to countervail against the effect, and (c) employed statistical tests that had adequate power to detect the effect should it occur. In Exp I, 161 undergraduates read 1 of 2 persuasive messages accompanied by a discounting cue. All the requirements for a strong test were demonstrably met with 1 message, and an absolute sleeper effect was obtained when attitudes were measured again after 5 wks. In Exp II, 493 undergraduates read a persuasive message and 1 of 5 discounting cues. All the requirements for a strong test were demonstrably met in 3 cue conditions, and absolute sleeper effects were found in each of them after 6 wks. Absolute sleeper effects were not observed in the 2 cue conditions in which the necessary conditions for the effect were not met. It is concluded that absolute sleeper effects can be reliably obtained when all the necessary theoretical conditions are met, a known countervailing force is absent, and the statistical tests have adequate power. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive tuning set, source credibility, and the temporal persistence of attitude change.

Tested the prediction that a transmitter cognitive tuning set confers more persistence of attitude change than a receiver set. 550 undergraduates read an essay with its source defined as high or low credibility and were told to prepare to report on it (transmit) or listen to a similar essay (receive). Persistence of attitude change was measured at 2, 5, or 9 wks. Consonant findings were obtained only when the persuasive message came from a source of low credibility. When the source was of high credibility, findings were reversed and the receiver set conferred more persistence. Exp II (104 Ss) examined the interpretation that, relative to the transmitter set, the receiver set leads to a stronger association between the conclusion of the message and its source and that it is this differential associative strength that mediated the obtained interaction between cognitive tuning sets and source credibility in Exp I. Exp II confirmed that message–source links were stronger with a receiver set than with a transmitter set. Additional data indicated that the transmitter set enhanced Ss' focus on the message and may have highlighted the inconsistency between the cogent message and the low-credibility source. Combined findings suggest that 2 cognitive processes mediated the obtained persistence results, one process based on the strength of the association between the source and message and the other based on the transmitter set sometimes enhancing involvement with a message. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)