The role of purpose in the organization of information about behavior: Trait-based versus goal-based categories in person cognition.

Three experiments with 120 college students investigated (a) the role of observational purpose in the tendency to employ trait or goal categories in the organization of behavioral information and (b) the effects of goal-based vs trait-based organization of the information on Ss' ability to recall it. Exp I showed that Ss reading and categorizing a series of episodes for the purpose of recalling either the material or empathizing with the main character organized the episodes primarily in terms of the character's goals. In contrast, Ss whose purpose was either to form a personality impression of the character or to predict her future behavior organized the episodes primarily in terms of her traits. Exp II demonstrated that the categorizations produced by recall-oriented Ss in Exp I facilitated the ability of a new sample of Ss to remember the episodes, relative to the categorizations produced by impression-oriented or control Ss. Exp II provided evidence that the relatively goal-based structure of the recall-oriented categories probably mediated the effects observed in Exp II. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Person and situation factors influencing transgression in behavior-problem adolescents.

The transgression behavior (cheating) of 60 behavior-problem adolescents was observed in experimentally defined high-arousal and control situations. Congruent with predictions, more Ss exposed to a high-arousal situation transgressed. Scores on the Behavior Problem Checklist personality dimensions were compared for transgressors (34 Ss) and nontransgressors (26 Ss). As predicted, Conduct-Problem and Socialized-Delinquency subscale scores were significantly higher for transgressors than for nontransgressors. Personality-Problem subscale scores did not differ as predicted. 12 conduct-problem types and 12 personality-problem types were identified, and reanalysis of their data indicated that more conduct-problem types transgressed than did personality-problem types. The transgression behavior of personality-problem types varied across the high-arousal and control situations, whereas that of the conduct-problem types did not. The results are interpreted as further support for the dimensions of H. C. Quay and D. R. Peterson (1975) and for motivation-deficit theories of the behavior of conduct-problem types. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributions, false consensus, and valence: Two field studies.

Two studies, with 1,056 Ss, investigated attitudes, knowledge, and behavior with regard to several environmental issues. Findings demonstrate that observers tend to perceive a false consensus with respect to the relative commonness of their own behavioral choices. This phenomenon was replicated across a variety of behaviors. This bias was not related, however, to Ss' trait inferences of the typical person who would choose a particular alternative. Neither estimated commonness of responses nor Ss' own behavioral choice provided an adequate explanation of the obtained differences in attributional inferences. Results show that Ss made more extreme and confident trait ratings about evaluatively positive behavior, irrespective of their own behavioral choice. Ss' trait ratings were in accordance with L. Ross's (1977) proposal, that Ss make more extreme ratings about dissimilar others, only when Ss rated their own behavioral choice relatively unfavorably compared with the behavioral alternative. Implications for previous investigations dealing with the false consensus effect are outlined, and evaluative and motivational mechanisms are proposed for research on social inference and attributional processes. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of categories of an actor's goals in organizing inferences about a person.

96 female undergraduates made inferences about a target woman described by a list of traits by answering questions that had been prejudged for their relevance to the fundamental goals of either a mother-wife or career woman role. Ss had been primed by neutral terms or by terms related to the contexts of family or career life and had studied the trait list with either an impression or a memory processing set. ANOVA showed that Ss' inferences were fastest and most confident when the questions were congruent with the content of the primed context and Ss had an impression set. As predicted from a theory of action-oriented representation, this effect occurred only when the questions pertained to the more fundamental goals associated with the role. Data are consistent with the theory that social knowledge is mentally represented by schemata of social actions, which include categories of actors and their goals. Results suggest that categories of goals are important building blocks in the representations of specific persons within such schemata. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Diagnostic and confirmation strategies in trait hypothesis testing.

The role of diagnostic and confirmation strategies in trait hypothesis testing is examined. The present studies integrate theoretical and empirical work on qualitative differences among traits with the hypothesis-testing literature. Ss tested trait hypotheses from 2 hierarchically restrictive trait dimensions: introversion–extraversion and honesty–dishonesty. In Study 1, Ss generated questions to test trait hypotheses, and diagnosticity was theoretically defined (e.g., questions associated with nonrestrictive ends of trait dimensions). In Study 2, Ss selected questions from an experimenter-provided list in which diagnosticity was empirically defined. In Study 3, Ss chose between 2 equally diagnostic questions. In each of the studies, Ss showed a primary preference for diagnostic information and a secondary preference for confirmatory information. Ss' preference for diagnostic information suggests that they prefer to ask the most informative questions. The explanation for the confirmation bias is less obvious, and possible reasons for this effect are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Misattribution and speech anxiety.

30 high-speech-anxious and 30 low-speech-anxious Ss participated in an experiment to test the hypothesis that misattribution would reduce the anxiety of speech-anxious Ss. The present study crosscut misattribution vs no misattribution (control) and high vs low speech anxiety and assessed the impact on Ss' nervous behavior and subsequent speech making. The misattribution concerning bodily preparation for Ss' speech-making events was delivered verbally to 15 speech-anxious and 15 nonanxious Ss prior to their speeches. Results show that misattribution did not significantly affect the behavior of Ss making speeches. Implications for misattribution when personality traits are involved are discussed. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Causal focus and estimates of consensus: An examination of the false-consensus effect.

Examined one of the underlying mechanisms—people's causal attributions for their own behavior—of the "false-consensus effect" (the tendency to overestimate the commonness of one's own attitudes and behavior). It was hypothesized that when people view their responses as the result of external influences, they overestimate the commonness of those responses; when they see their behavior as stemming from their own personal characteristics or experiences, they make more unbiased estimates of consensus. Study 1 tested this notion by having 109 undergraduates make hypothetical behavioral choices and then manipulating their explanations for their choices. As predicted, Ss who were led to cite personal reasons for their choices made lower consensus estimates than Ss who either were led to cite situational reasons or were unconstrained in their explanations. This causal-focus manipulation also had significant effects on Ss' trait ratings of the kind of person who would choose each alternative. Study 2, with 20 undergraduates, extended these results by finding a significant correlation between the extent to which people perceive a false consensus for various issues and the extent to which those issues prompt situational explanations for one's responses. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Feminine self-esteem, self-ratings of competence, and maternal career commitment.

Conducted a study with 71 college females to examine the relationship between self-esteem (as measured by Coopersmith's Self-Esteem Inventory) and self-ratings of competence on Rosenkrantz's Sex-Role Stereotype Questionnaire. Comparisons were made of Ss whose mothers differed in work history and attitudes toward careers. Higher self-esteem was predicted for Ss who rated themselves highly on competence-related traits; this hypothesis was supported. Higher self-esteem and higher self-ratings on competence were expected for Ss whose mothers worked and Ss whose mothers desired a career. Findings were that maternal preference for a career had a positive effect upon Ss' self-esteem and evaluations of their own competence; maternal employment did not. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessment, enhancement, and verification determinants of the self-evaluation process.

The 3 major self-evaluation motives were compared: self-assessment (people pursue accurate self-knowledge), self-enhancement (people pursue favorable self-knowledge), and self-verification (people pursue highly certain self-knowledge). Ss considered the possession of personality traits that were either positive or negative and either central or peripheral by asking themselves questions that varied in diagnosticity (the extent to which the questions could discriminate between a trait and its alternative) and in confirmation value (the extent to which the questions confirmed possession of a trait). Ss selected higher diagnosticity questions when evaluating themselves on central positive rather than central negative traits and confirmed possession of their central positive rather than central negative traits. The self-enhancement motive emerged as the most powerful determinant of the self-evaluation process, followed by the self-verification motive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Person?×?Situation interactions: Choice of situations and congruence response models.

Examined 2 models of person?×?situation interactions using 42 undergraduates. The 1st model (H. A. Murray, 1938) predicts that there is a relation between personality and the situations people naturally choose to be in; the 2nd model (H. J. Eysenck, 1952) predicts that when there is congruence between the situation and personality, a person will experience more positive and less negative affect. These models were investigated by using mood and activity reports gathered on 3,512 occasions sampled randomly from Ss' everyday lives. Situational dimensions were related to some but not all personality variables investigated. Need for order predicted choice of typical situations, and extraversion correlated with time spent recreating socially. However, it was found that Ss did not spend more time in those settings in which they experienced more positive emotions nor less time in those situations in which they experienced more negative affect. In terms of the affect–congruence model, several predicted relations were found, but several others did not reach significance. The failure of the affect–congruence model to be consistently supported was probably because Ss' affect was relatively consistent across situations. Results suggest that although some theoretically meaningful person?×?situation interactions do occur, they are not necessarily strong or easily predictable. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counterfactual thinking: From what might have been to what may be.

Consideration of counterfactual alternatives to negative outcomes, particularly when the counterfactuals change those outcomes, has repeatedly been shown to intensify regret and judgments of blame. Two studies examined the influence of the relevance of the counterfactual to future behavior on Ss' judgments of regret and self-blame after a negative outcome. Results indicated that a dispositional tendency to consider the future consequences of current behavior can ameliorate the negative affect caused by thinking about how a negative outcome could have been avoided. Results also suggested that this amelioration is particularly likely to occur when Ss are induced to focus on the future. These findings are discussed in terms of understanding the positive functions counterfactuals may serve, particularly with respect to the determination of future behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)