Stigmatized sources and persuasion: Prejudice as a determinant of argument scrutiny.

Two experiments examined the viability of several explanations for why majority group individuals process persuasive messages from stigmatized sources more than those from nonstigmatized sources. in each study. majority group participants who either were high or low in prejudice or were high or low in ambivalence toward a stigmatized source's group were exposed to a persuasive communication attributed to a stigmatized (Black, Experiment 1; homosexual, Experiment 2) or nonstigmatized (White, Experiment 1; heterosexual, Experiment 2) source. In both studies, source stigmatization increased message scrutiny only among those who were low in prejudice toward the stigmatized group. This finding is most consistent with the view that people scrutinize messages from stigmatized sources in order to guard against possibly unfair reactions by themselves or others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Majority and minority influences on restaurant preferences.

Studied how social influence is affected by varying majority and minority size and strength (expertise) in the context of an information-integration task. The authors tested the predictions, derived from social impact theory, that influence by either a majority or a minority would be a multiplicative function of the number and strength of its members and that strength would therefore have more effect for majorities than minorities. 40 undergraduates, exposed to the restaurant preferences of 12 residents of each of 2 cities, were asked how much they would like to eat at each restaurant mentioned. By integrating the information provided, participants could determine the number of high- and low-expertise individuals who liked and disliked each restaurant. Six levels of majority–minority size (unanimous majorities of 1, 2, 4, and 6 and, holding majority size at 4, opposing minorities of 1 and 2), 2 levels of expertise, and 2 directions of influence were varied, with a different restaurant assigned to each of the 24 conditions. Unexpectedly, negative information had no effect on restaurant preference. However, positive information did, and the number and strength of influence sources affected influence largely as predicted. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Majority and minority influence in group negotiation: The moderating effects of social motivation and decision rules.

In organizational groups, often a majority has aligned preferences that oppose those of a minority. Although such situations may give rise to majority coalitions that exclude the minority or to minorities blocking unfavorable agreements, structural and motivational factors may stimulate groups to engage in integrative negotiation, leading to collectively beneficial agreements. An experiment with 97 3-person groups was designed to test hypotheses about the interactions among decision rule, the majority's social motivation, and the minority's social motivation. Results showed that under unanimity rule, minority members block decisions, thus harming the group, but only when the minority has proself motivation. Under majority rule, majority members coalesce at the minority's expense, but only when the majority has a proself motivation. Implications for negotiation research and group decision making are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Positive mood can increase or decrease message scrutiny: The hedonic contingency view of mood and message processing.

Currently dominant explanations of mood effects on persuasive message processing (i.e., cognitive capacity and feelings as information) predict that happy moods lead to less message scrutiny than neutral or sad moods. The hedonic contingency view (D. T. Wegener & R. E. Petty, see record 1994-32368-001) predicts that happy moods can sometimes be associated with greater message processing activity because people in a happy mood are more attentive than neutral or sad people to the hedonic consequences of their actions. Consistent with this view, Experiment 1 finds that a happy mood can lead to greater message scrutiny than a neutral mood when the message is not mood threatening. Experiment 2 finds that a happy mood leads to greater message scrutiny than a sad mood when an uplifting message is encountered, but to less message scrutiny when a depressing message is encountered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Informational influence as a determinant of perceived task characteristics and job satisfaction.

Task characteristics and informational cues about the task were manipulated in a laboratory investigation of the impact of objective task design and informational influence in determining employees' perceptions of task characteristics and job satisfaction. Although a manipulation check involving 33 control Ss confirmed differences between the 2 experimental tasks (enriched and unenriched), results of the experiment with 42 graduate business students showed the major determinant of perceptions of task characteristics (Job Diagnostic Survey—JDS—and the Job Characteristic Inventory) and job satisfaction (JDS) to be informational influence in the form of cues about the task as either enriched or unenriched. Findings suggest that (a) job characteristics may be socially constructed as well as objective realities and that (b) perceptual measures of task dimensions may be susceptible to bias from informational cues. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distance as a determinant of influence in a two-person serial interaction situation.

"Pairs of Ss were placed in a social influence situation requiring judgments of the number of paratroopers seen in briefly exposed photographs… . distance (the size of the discrepancy between S's judgment and his partner's) was systematically varied by intercepting S's written estimate and replacing it with a bogus estimate at a predetermined distance. The amount of influence… is significantly related to distance." (24 ref.) From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:1GE30F. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Schizophrenics as a minority group.

Suggests a model in which schizophrenics view themselves as members of a minority group; the aim of the schizophrenic under such a model is to be respected and heard, rather than to be cured. Such a view can be expected to improve the self-concept of relatively intelligent, ambulatory schizophrenics. The minority model implies that the schizophrenic is different but not necessarily less worthy than the normal person. A program is discussed that proposes to teach patients to view themselves as a minority group. Part of the focus of the program lies in viewing schizophrenics as strangers and normal people as natives, thus eliminating the negative connotations associated with the term schizophrenic and the influence of cultural values on diagnosis and treatment. Other program topics discussed include creativity, overinclusiveness, heightened sensitivity, passion, and ecstasy in schizophrenia. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intragroup decision making in intergroup negotiation: Majority/minority effects and hawkishness of member preferences.

Participants took part in an intergroup negotiation. In the first stage participants recorded their individual preferences (i.e., which of several possible options they should strive to achieve during the negotiation) for each negotiation issue. In the second stage they repeated this process as part of a 3-person cooperative group in preparation for the negotiation task. Our results show that the decision aggregation of negotiation teams is driven by 2 factors: The majority/minority status of the members advocating a given option and the extent to which the option advocated by a member was more hawkish (i.e., advantageous to the ingroup) than that of fellow members. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of majority defection and multiple minority sources on minority influence.

A study using the Twelve Angry Men (R. Rose, 1954) paradigm was used to investigate the impact of jury verdicts and numerical minority argumentation on minority influence. Participants were more influenced by the minority when they were given information about majority members defecting to the minority position than when they were not. Although there were no differences among the experimental conditions after the minority's 1st and 2nd arguments, more minority influence occurred when 2 other jurors separately presented the 3rd and 4th minority arguments than when the initial, lone minority singularly presented all of the arguments. The superiority of multiple-source minority argumentation was attributed to multiple sources being viewed as independent or as representing different perspectives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inferred sex differences in status as a determinant of gender stereotypes about social influence.

In 3 experiments, 470 male and 425 female university students read a scenario describing a communicator's attempt to influence a recipient and then judged how much influence would occur. The scenarios in Exp I described a man trying to influence a woman or a woman trying to influence a man. For scenarios in which job titles were omitted, Ss believed that women held lower status jobs than men and that women were more likely to comply behaviorally with men than men were with women. For scenarios in which job titles were included, Ss' beliefs about compliance were based on job status rather than the sex of the stimulus persons. In Exp II, scenarios in which job titles were omitted described an influence attempt between same- or opposite-sex persons. Both the communicator's and the recipient's sex were found to contribute to the greater perceived compliance of women to men (vs men to women). In Exp III, this perceived sex difference in compliance occurred only when the communicator and recipient were employed by the same organization. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differential contributions of majority and minority influence.

Contends that in most studies comparing majority and minority influence, there is an emphasis on influence in the sense of prevailing. Within this context, evidence exists that majorities exert more public influence and that minority influence, when it occurs, tends to operate primarily at the latent level. In the present formulation, it is proposed that the differences between majority and minority influence are more extensive once influence is considered in a broader context and that exposure to persistent minority views fosters greater thought about the issue. Furthermore, this thought tends to be divergent rather than convergent, so that people tend to be better decision makers because they attend to more aspects of the situation and reexamine premises. By contrast, it is proposed that exposure to persistent majority views fosters convergent thinking and leads to an unreflective acceptance of the majority position. Three studies by the author (1976) and by the author and J. Kwan (1985) that directly tested some of the propositions are reviewed, and the formulation is linked to available knowledge in the areas of social cognition, creativity, and problem solving both at the individual and group levels. (64 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Asian Americans as a minority group.

Based on the 1970 US Census and available studies, the status of Chinese, Filipinos, and Japanese is examined. 2 views are presented: Asian Americans as a successful minority group and as an oppressed minority group. It is suggested that (a) statistics regarding income, education, interracial marriage, and mental health need to be critically examined because of prevailing myths and stereotypes and (b) an accurate assessment of the needs and experiences of Asian Americans is necessary in order to provide adequate psychological services. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Victimization as a determinant of eyewitness accuracy.

Eyewitness identification research frequently uses a simulated crime paradigm, yet the witnesses in these studies are seldom themselves the victims of the crime. To the degree a witness is more personally involved (as a victim), eyewitness identification accuracy and confidence might be modified. 66 undergraduates were randomly assigned to 3 eyewitness conditions: no-theft control, impersonal calculator theft, or personalized watch theft. Whereas the victims in the watch-theft condition were more accurate than Ss in the other 2 treatments, they were not significantly more accurate than witnesses to the less personal calculator theft. Eyewitnesses' accuracy was unrelated to their confidence in their identification. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temporal encoding as a determinant of blocking.

A blocking paradigm with rats was used to evaluate whether different temporal information is encoded in simultaneous rather than forward associations. During Phase 1, the blocking CS was simultaneously or forward paired with a unconditioned stimulus/stimuli (UCS). During Phase 2, the pretrained CS occurred in compound with a novel target CS that was paired in a simultaneous or forward manner with the UCS. Forward pretraining resulted in more blocking of a forward than a simultaneously trained target CS, and simultaneous pretraining resulted in more blocking of a simultaneously than a forward trained target CS. Thus, greater blocking occurred when the blocking and blocked CSs had the same temporal relation to the UCS. The results support the temporal coding hypothesis and question the necessity of predictive information in blocking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex as a determinant of driving skills: Women drivers.

"An auto driver's behavior was judged either dangerous or safe in an unusual, stressful, but relatively safe situation. This behavior was found to be related to the driver's sex at the 0.00001 level of confidence." Dangerous incidents were usually associated with females. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Response expectancy as a determinant of experience and behavior.

Reviews research on placebos, hypnosis, and fear reduction that indicates that response expectancies, defined as expectancies of the occurrence of nonvolitional responses, generate corresponding subjective experiences, the genuineness of which has been substantiated by corresponding changes in behavior and physiological function. The means by which response expectancies affect experience, physiology, and behavior are hypothesized to vary as a function of response mode. The generation of changes in subjective experience by corresponding response expectancies is suggested to be a basic psychological mechanism. Physiological effects are accounted for by the mind–body identity assumption that is common to all nondualist philosophies of psychology. It is argued that the effects of response expectancies on volitional behavior are due to the reinforcing properties of many nonvolitional responses. Research also indicates that classical conditioning appears to be one method by which response expectancies are acquired, but response expectancy effects that are inconsistent with a conditioning hypothesis have also been documented. (134 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affect as a determinant of egotism: Residual excitation and performance attributions.

Investigated the influence of outcome-related affect on subsequent causal attributions. After working on a social skills test, 66 male college students engaged in physical exercise. Ss were given success or failure feedback on the test 1, 5, or 9 min after the exercise. Excitation transfer theory suggests that the residual arousal from the exercise in the 5-min condition would elevate the positive and negative affective states elicited by success–failure feedback. Thus, increased attributional egotism in the 5-min condition was predicted. Findings show that Ss preferred internal factors to explain success, whereas external factors were blamed for failure. Ego-defensive attributions following failure and ego-enhancing attributions following success were more pronounced in the 5-min condition than in the other conditions. Results support the idea that outcome-related affect mediates egotistical performance attributions. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perception of abilities as a determinant of performance.

Studied the relationship between performance effectiveness and perceived possession of required abilities among 64 clerical workers in a public organization. The hypothesis that high performers perceive themselves as having more or higher levels of job-required abilities than do poor performers was supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Performance as a function of increased minority hiring.

Examined the impact of increasing the percentage of hires (above the T. A. Cleary [1968] fair-hiring level) from minority groups with demonstrated lower average job performance. Increased minority hiring resulted in only a small performance loss, even when minority hiring exceeded the minority applicant representation. However, when minorities were hired at a rate equal to or greater than their applicant representation, the expected performance loss among the hired minorities was much greater than performance loss across all hires. More important, the discrepancy in performance between majority and minority hires increased as minority hiring increased. With minority hiring above the level of minority applicant representation, this discrepancy exceeded the population difference in performance between the 2 groups. These findings suggest additional considerations when raising minority hiring above minority applicant representation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thought confidence as a determinant of persuasion: The self-validation hypothesis.

Previous research in the domain of attitude change has described 2 primary dimensions of thinking that impact persuasion processes and outcomes: the extent (amount) of thinking and the direction (valence) of issue-relevant thought. The authors examined the possibility that another, more meta-cognitive aspect of thinking is also important--the degree of confidence people have in their own thoughts. Four studies test the notion that thought confidence affects the extent of persuasion. When positive thoughts dominate in response to a message, increasing confidence in those thoughts increases persuasion, but when negative thoughts dominate, increasing confidence decreases persuasion. In addition, using self-reported and manipulated thought confidence in separate studies, the authors provide evidence that the magnitude of the attitude-thought relationship depends on the confidence people have in their thoughts. Finally, the authors also show that these self-validation effects are most likely in situations that foster high amounts of information processing activity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)