Fear level as a moderator of false feedback effects in snake phobics.

Assigned 24 high- and low-fear female undergraduates (Wolpe and Lazarus's Fear Survey Schedule) to noise or false heart-rate feedback groups. Ss also completed the S-R Inventory of Anxiousness. In addition, contiguity between the shock-snake stimuli was varied to provide a test of an aversion relief model. As was predicted, low-fear as compared to high-fear Ss approached the snake significantly more after exposure to false heart-rate feedback. The contiguity variable had no effect. Approach behavior and fear of shocks were highly correlated (.86) for low-fear false-feedback Ss only, suggesting that the contrast stimulus may play a significant role in the false heart-rate feedback effect. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Collective self-esteem as a moderator of the frog-pond effect in reactions to performance feedback.

Individuals who perform well within an unsuccessful group have more favorable reactions than equally capable individuals who perform poorly within a successful group. This frog-pond effect appears to occur because people focus on their relative performance standing within their group rather than on their group's overall performance level. It was hypothesized that this effect would be attenuated among people who value their social groups highly because they should be more likely than their counterparts to take into account their group's performance level when evaluating themselves. Four studies supported this reasoning. The frog-pond effect was strongest among individuals with lower collective self-esteem, an individualistic cultural heritage, or a weaker bond toward a particular social group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The differential effects of interpersonal conflict from customers and coworkers: Trait anger as a moderator.

Interpersonal conflict (IC) at work is a frequently experienced type of workplace mistreatment that has been linked to a host of negative workplace outcomes. Previous research has shown that IC can have differential effects based on source, but this has not yet been investigated in terms of customer IC versus coworker IC. To remedy this oversight in the literature, we used a multimethod, multitime point design to compare IC from customers and coworkers experienced by 75 call center employees. Primarily, we investigated burnout, physical health symptoms, and task performance. Results indicated that customer IC was more strongly related to both personal and organizational outcomes. Additionally, trait anger was investigated as a moderator of these relationships, and the results indicated that people who are easy to anger may be more likely to experience negative effects as a result of customer IC. Implications of these findings, limitations, and areas for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Being controlled by normative influences: Self-determination as a moderator of a normative feedback alcohol intervention.

The objectives of this research were to evaluate the efficacy of computer-delivered personalized normative feedback among heavy drinking college students and to evaluate controlled orientation as a moderator of intervention efficacy. Participants (N = 217) included primarily freshman and sophomore, heavy drinking students who were randomly assigned to receive or not to receive personalized normative feedback immediately following baseline assessment. Perceived norms, number of drinks per week, and alcohol-related problems were the main outcome measures. Controlled orientation was specified as a moderator. At 2-month follow-up, students who received normative feedback reported drinking fewer drinks per week than did students who did not receive feedback, and this reduction was mediated by changes in perceived norms. The intervention also reduced alcohol-related negative consequences among students who were higher in controlled orientation. These results provide further support for computer-delivered personalized normative feedback as an empirically supported brief intervention for heavy drinking college students, and they enhance the understanding of why and for whom normative feedback is effective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Investigativeness as a moderator of stress.

Administered a 12 item investigativeness scale with questions on leisure activities, career interests, and preference for challenging or nonchallenging tasks in 2 studies. In Study 1, 59 male and 42 female undergraduates were assessed for negative life events (NLE), mood disturbance (MDB), and sensation seeking. Investigativeness was found to moderate the relationship between NLE and MDB. In Study 2, 161 females suffering from rheumatoid arthritis were assessed for psychological disturbance (PD), pain, (PN), and functional disability (FD). Investigativeness was negatively related to PD, PN, and FD. Findings show that investigativeness operated as a buffer to stressful experiences but did not moderate the relationship between Ss' physical status and their psychological distress. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-efficacy as a moderator of information-seeking effectiveness.

The authors assessed previously unexplored processes by which information seeking and self-efficacy contribute to self-regulatory effectiveness in industrial selling. They assessed the synergistic interaction of inquiry and monitoring with respect to role clarity and tested whether this interaction was further moderated by self-efficacy. Results indicated that the role-clarifying effects of feedback inquiry and monitoring were contingent rather than independent. Role clarity increased as the combination of inquiry and monitoring increased. Furthermore, these joint effects were moderated by self-efficacy, such that high-self-efficacy employees were able to effectively use the combination of inquiry and monitoring to clarify role expectations, whereas low-self-efficacy employees were not. Implications for theory, practice, and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Task difficulty as a moderator of long-range prediction.

Used longitudinal studies of career progress in terms of salary or position attainment to test J. Weitz's (see 40:11) hypothesis that personality variables should predict early in time for high-aptitude Ss and late in time for low-aptitude Ss. Results for 396 maintenance technician trainees followed-up over a 9-yr period and 103 sales trainees followed up over an 11-yr period supported the hypothesis. The Ascendancy scale of the Gordon Personal Profile was found to predict the progress criterion at least 3 yr. earlier for those high, compared to those low on initial training performance. The predictability for low-aptitude Ss appeared to be more complex suggesting that the task, "getting ahead" contained additional personality correlated elements for the latter group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Catastrophizing, acceptance, and interference: Laboratory findings, subjective report, and pain willingness as a moderator.

Objective: The present study investigated the effects of both catastrophizing and the pain willingness component of acceptance on interference in daily activities and task performance during experimentally induced ischemic pain. In addition, the potential moderating role of pain willingness on the relationship between catastrophizing and degree of pain interference was also examined. Design: Sixty-seven persons with chronic low back pain completed measures of catastrophizing, acceptance, and daily pain interference. Participants underwent an ischemic pain induction procedure during which a Stroop-like task was administered. Main Outcome Measures: Self-reported pain interference and observed performance on a Stroop-like task during induced pain. Results: The pain willingness component of acceptance and catastrophizing both contributed significantly to self-reports of pain interference. However, levels of pain willingness had an effect much stronger than the negative effects associated with catastrophizing with respect to observed pain interference during induced pain. Results also indicated that pain willingness serves as a moderator in the relationship between catastrophizing and task performance during induced pain. Conclusion: The pain willingness factor of acceptance and catastrophizing both appear to be strong predictors for self-reported pain interference. During an objective assessment of pain interference, however, pain willingness shows a stronger effect and attenuates the negative impact of catastrophizing on task functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Occupational choice as a moderator of psychotherapeutic approach.

Examines the importance of occupational choice as a variable to guide the practice of psychotherapy. The potential uses of a patient's occupational choice as an unobtrusive measure of personality, defensive orientation, amenability to therapy, and responsiveness to differing types of psychotherapy are demonstrated. Using the well-validated occupational personality typology developed by J. L. Holland (1985), which includes 6 major occupational types (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional), the theory is reviewed and extended by elaborating its implications for psychotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social interest as a moderator of life stress.

Tested 3 hypotheses: (1) Social interest (SI) is of value in ameliorating or eliminating many of the unnecessary problems that occur in human relationships; (2) SI moderates the effect of later life stresses on psychological symptoms; and (3) the negative relation between SI and anxiety, depression, and hostility will be stronger in people who recently have experienced greater stress than in those who have encountered little stress. 74 undergraduates were administered the Social Interest Scale (SIS) and the Social Interest Index (SII), and then the Social Readjustment Rating Scale and the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List 1 yr later. It was found that scores on the SII and the SIS were negatively related to the number of stressful experiences encountered during the following year. Stress was correlated with anxiety, depression, and hostility more strongly among low- than among high-SI Ss, and SI was more negatively correlated with these symptoms among high-stress Ss compared with moderate- or low-stress groups. The SII and the SIS showed somewhat different patterns of results, and possible reasons for these differences are discussed. (49 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributional complexity as a moderator of dissonance-produced attitude change.

The complexity of one's attributional schemas was predicted to attenuate dissonance-produced attitude change after one writes a counterattitudinal essay (favoring yearly tuition increases). In both Experiments 1 and 2, participants high on attributional complexity (AC) exhibited less of a dissonance (choice) effect than those low on AC. The proposed explanation that AC allows for better external justification of a dissonant act was supported in Experiment 2, in which participants listed their reasons for writing the counterattitudinal essay. No support was found for the views that high-AC participants reduce dissonance through "trivialization" or that high-AC participants are more tolerant of dissonance than low-AC participants. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Right-wing authoritarianism as a moderator of the similarity-attraction effect.

We conducted two experiments (n = 155 and 173, respectively) were conducted to test the hypothesis that right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) is a moderator of the similarity-attraction effect in a bogus stranger paradigm (Byrne, 1971). Both experiments employed evaluations of morality and ratings of liking for the bogus stranger. In Experiment 1, the beliefs consisted of the items from the RWA scale. In Experiment 2, the beliefs were specifically designed for the study to deal with the adherence versus violation of conventional norms and values. The similarity- attraction effect was clearly shown in both studies. Regression analyses indicated that RWA was a consistent moderator of the similarity-evaluation effect for judgments of morality, but moderated liking only when the stranger was described in strongly unconventional terms (Experiment 2). The studies are discussed in terms of the concept of symbolic beliefs (Esses, Haddock, & Zanna, 1993) and Rokeach's (1960) theory of prejudice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships among feedback sign, self-efficacy, and acceptance of performance feedback.

The researchers investigated the moderating role of self-efficacy on feedback acceptance. High-self-efficacy individuals who received repeated negative performance feedback exhibited decreased acceptance of the feedback, whereas those with low self-efficacy did not change in their acceptance. Feedback sign and feedback acceptance also had interactive effects on future self-efficacy. Those with high acceptance of positive and negative feedback after repeated trials exhibited self-efficacy levels consistent with that feedback. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social anxiety and the evaluation of negative interpersonal feedback.

Results of a study with 211 college students indicate that Ss high and moderate in anxiety perceived the same feedback as being more negative than did lows. In addition, high-anxiety Ss had a greater expectancy that others would evaluate them negatively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Orality as a factor in interpersonal yielding.

30 male undergraduates, designated high-oral on the basis of the number of oral and dependent Rorschach responses provided, were paired with 30 low-oral male undergraduates and were asked to reach a consensus regarding a neutral topic on which they had previously disagreed. In contrast to earlier studies on orality and group conformity, the low-oral Ss deferred to the judgment of the high-oral Ss in 20 of 30 dyads. A replication of this study with 20 high- and 20 low-oral male undergraduates confirmed these findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mood as a mediator of place dependent memory.

Converging evidence from 3 studies suggests that how well information transfers from one environment to another depends on how similar the environments feel rather than on how similar they look. Thus, even when target events are encoded and retrieved in the same physical setting, memory performance suffers if the attending affective states differ. Conversely, a change in environment produces no performance decrement if, whether by chance (Experiments 1 and 2) or by design (Experiment 3), the mood at encoding matches the mood at retrieval. These observations imply that place dependent effects are mediated by alterations in affect or mood, and that data that appear on the surface to demonstrate place dependent memory may, at a deeper level, denote the presence of mood dependent memory. Discussion focuses on prospects for future research aimed at clarifying the relations among moods, places, and memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vested interest as a moderator of attitude–behavior consistency.

Two studies examined the hypothesis that the degree to which an individual perceives an attitude as hedonically relevant affects the relationship between attitudes and behavior. In Exp I, 99 undergraduates' willingness to work actively against the passage of a referendum that would raise the legal drinking age was associated with their age and, consequently, the degree to which this change would affect them. In Exp II with 100 college students, Ss who felt strongly that they would be affected either positively or negatively by the imposition of a university-wide senior comprehensive examination were consistent with their expressed attitudes toward the examination. The behavior of Ss who felt that the test would not affect them, however, was not strongly related to their attitude toward it. Ego involvement did not moderate attitude–behavior consistency. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Situation selection as a moderator of response consistency and stability.

Addressed the viability of introducing into the moderator variable literature a distinction between chosen and imposed situations in 2 studies with 62 undergraduates. In Study 1, the relation between recreational activity choices and selected personality traits and the stability of these choices over time was examined. In Study 2, the cross-situational consistency of affective and behavioral responses within self-rated chosen and imposed situations in Ss' everyday lives was examined. Situational choices were found to be relatively stable over a period of 9 mo and to be related in predictable ways to personality dispositions. Distinguishing between chosen and imposed situations produced differences in average cross-situational consistency coefficients, and differences between affective and behavioral responses were also found. Behavior was found to be more consistent within imposed situations. It is concluded that there is support for the claim that self-selection of individuals to situations moderates response consistency and stability. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social acceptance and self-esteem: Tuning the sociometer to interpersonal value.

The authors draw on sociometer theory to propose that self-esteem is attuned to traits that garner others' acceptance, and the traits that garner acceptance depend on one's social role. Attunement of self-esteem refers to the linkage, or connection, between self-esteem and specific traits, which may be observed most clearly in the association between self-esteem and specific self-evaluations. In most roles, appearance and popularity determine acceptance, so self-esteem is most attuned to those traits. At the same time, interdependent social roles emphasize the value of communal qualities, so occupants of those roles have self-esteem that is more attuned to communal qualities than is the general norm. To avoid the biases of people's personal theories, the authors assessed attunement of self-esteem to particular traits indirectly via the correlation between self-esteem and self-ratings, cognitive accessibility measures, and an experiment involving social decision making. As hypothesized, self-esteem was generally more attuned to appearances than to communal qualities, but interdependent social roles predicted heightened attunement of self-esteem to qualities like kindness and understanding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)