Children's social sensitivity: Inferring emotions from conflicting cues.

48 preschoolers, 48 1st graders, and 48 6th graders answered questions and told stories about pictures containing (a) situational or facial cues alone, (b) situational and facial cues with congruent emotional implications, or (c) situational and facial cues with conflicting emotional implications. In a 4th condition, a narrative accompanied conflicting-cues pictures. The youngest Ss preferred to base inferences about emotions on facial expressions. This preference decreased with age. Explanations for this finding based on differential comprehension of cues and on the biasing effect of a narrative were ruled out. At all ages, Ss encoded both cues. They preserved in memory the emotional implications of situational cues but tended to reinterpret facial cues when there were conflicting situational cues. There were also developmental changes in the degree to which and the methods by which Ss reconciled the conflicting cues to emotion. Results are discussed in light of previous hypotheses about the development of social sensitivity, and an alternate view is advanced. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Person memory and causal attributions.

Three experiments with 273 college students were conducted to reconcile the apparent contradiction between the well-established finding that initial impressions are resistant to incongruent (ICG) information and the finding that information ICG with an impression is particularly likely to be recalled. Using a procedure similar to that of R. Hastie and P. A. Kumar (1979), a situational or dispositional attribution was provided for a target item, which was either congruent (CG) or ICG with an initial impression. The ICG item was more likely than the CG item to be recalled only when attributed to dispositional causes (Exp I). The congruence of the target had greater impact on impressions when attributed to dispositional causes, particularly when Ss were given little other information about the target (Exps I and II). Exp III revealed that Ss preferred situational attributions for ICG items and dispositional attributions for CG. The authors conclude that Hastie and Kumar's findings may be limited to conditions in which situational attributions for TCG information are not provided. Possible mediators of the effects of causal attributions on recall, and the relation between recall and impressions are discussed. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of the field-dependent and field-independent cognitive styles in academic evolution: A longitudinal study.

To assess hypotheses derived from field-dependence theory about the role of cognitive styles in students' academic development, a group of 1,548 students was followed longitudinally from college entry into graduate/professional school. The Group Embedded Figures Test was administered at college entry. 1,422 Ss were followed through their college careers, and 831 Ss were identified as having applied to graduate or professional school and 550 as having enrolled. In their preliminary choices at college entry, final college majors and graduate/professional school specialties, relatively field-independent students favored impersonal domains requiring cognitive restructuring skills (e.g., sciences) and relatively field-dependent students favored interpersonal domains which do not emphasize such skills (e.g., elementary education). Ss whose college-entry choices were incongruent with their cognitive styles tended to shift to more compatible domains by college graduation or graduate school; Ss with congruent choices tended to remain with their choices. Some tendency was found for students to do better in domains compatible with their cognitive styles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Supreme Court decision making: Cognitive style as a predictor of ideological consistency of voting.

An integrative complexity coding system was used to explore the relations between cognitive style and political ideology among US Supreme Court justices who served on the Court between 1964 and 1978. The integrative complexity of case opinions that Ss authored during their 1st terms on the Court and the overall liberalism–conservatism of their voting records throughout their tenure were assessed. Consistent with past work on cognitive style and political ideology, Ss with liberal and moderate voting records exhibited more integratively complex styles of thought in their early case opinions than did those with conservative voting records. Unexpectedly, these relationships between cognitive style and ideology were more powerful on cases involving economic conflicts of interest than on cases involving civil liberties and rights issues. Results remain significant after controlling for a variety of demographic and background characteristics of the Ss (e.g., age, religion, quality of law school attended) and characteristics of the judicial opinions scored for integrative complexity (unanimous or split-Court, majority–minority status of opinion). Possible explanations for the results and processes that limit the cross-issue generality of relationships between cognitive style and ideology are discussed. (60 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissociation, duality, and demand characteristics in hypnosis.

Examined hypnotic dissociation (as indexed by the "hidden-observer" method), duality in age regression, and the potential impact of situational cues on these phenomena. 12 high- and 9 low-susceptible undergraduates (as determined by the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale) were tested in an application of the real–simulating paradigm of hypnosis; 10 high- to medium-susceptible Ss were also employed. Inquiry into Ss' experiences was conducted through the experiential analysis technique, which involves Ss viewing and commenting on a videotape playback of their hypnotic session. Results demonstrate that neither the hidden-observer effect nor duality could be explained solely in terms of the demand characteristics of the test situation. The hidden-observer effect was observed in high-susceptible Ss only; all Ss who displayed the hidden-observer effect also displayed duality in age regression. High-susceptible Ss were distinctive in their reports of multiple levels of awareness during hypnosis. Findings are discussed in terms of the cognitive skills that Ss bring to hypnosis and the degree to which the hypnotic setting encourages the use of dissociative cognitive processes. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of differentially significant others on role involvement: An experiment with prison social types.

Examined whether prison social-type behavior is congruent with self or is a function of the significance of different audiences, and assessed the degree of involvement in different roles in the presence of different audiences. 40 adult male prisoners were assigned to 3 experimental and 1 audience group. Results show that (a) when fellow inmates served as audience, the typical prisoner "con" role was rated higher in involvement; (b) when social welfare students comprised the audience, the social worker's role was rated higher in involvement; and (c) involvement in the custodial officer role before a custodian audience was not rated higher. When Ss were classified according to social type, the rated involvement in prisoner roles was congruent with the expectations for each social type. Prison social-type behavior is interpreted as a situational response to specific primary deprivations influenced by the degree of significance of specific audiences. (51 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beyond simple pessimism: Effects of sadness and anger on social perception.

In keeping with cognitive appraisal models of emotion, it was hypothesized that sadness and anger would exert different influences on causal judgments. Two experiments provided initial support for this hypothesis. Sad Ss perceived situationally-caused events as more likely (Exp 1) and situational forces more responsible for an ambiguous event (Exp 2) than angry Ss, who, in contrast, perceived events caused by humans as more likely and other people as more responsible. Exps 3, 4, and 5 showed that the experience of these emotions, rather than their cognitive constituents, mediates these effects. The nonemotional exposure to situational or human agency information did not influence causal judgments (Exp 3), whereas the induction of sadness and anger without explicit agency information did (Exps 4 and 5). Discussion is focused on the influence of emotion on social judgment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of context on spontaneous trait and situational attributions.

The role of background information in the generation of spontaneous inferences regarding a target's behavior was examined. Ss received background information designed to facilitate dispositional inferences, information to facilitate situational inferences, or no background information. All Ss memorized a series of digit lists. After each list, a short paragraph of background information and a single sentence were presented. Cognitive capacity for processing the paragraphs and sentences was manipulated by presenting either difficult or easy digit lists. Cued recall revealed that dispositional background information facilitated trait inferences but did not affect situational inferences. Similarly, situational information facilitated situational inferences about the actor's behavior but had no impact on trait inferences. The ability of dispositional information to facilitate trait-cued recall was not influenced by Ss' cognitive capacity, whereas situational information boosted situational-cued recall only when Ss enjoyed ample capacity. The relevance of this evidence to the 3-stage model of person perception proposed by D. T. Gilbert, B. W. Pelham, and D. S. Krull (see record 1988-26492-001) is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Empathy and the self: Cognitive and emotional influences on the evaluation of negative affect in others.

Used E. T. Higgins's (see record 1987-34444-001) self-discrepancy model to examine the relation of the self to empathy. In Study 1, Ss read about a target displaying either dejection or agitation because of a self-discrepancy. Ss who possessed the self-discrepancy associated with the target's distress showed greater empathic concern, made more situational attributions, and rated the target's reaction as more appropriate. In Study 2, Ss matched the target on affective and cognitive components of the self. Similarity between observer and target on emotional vulnerability was associated with both affective and cognitive empathic effects. Although similarity on attribute accessibility was associated with cognitive empathic effects, it was associated with affective effects only when the attribute produced a self-discrepancy for an observer. Then only feelings of personal distress showed differences. Results establish a link between the self and empathy and show that a number of effects grouped under empathy respond differently to different similarities between observers and targets. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptual complexity and preferred coping strategies in anticipation of temporally predictable and unpredictable threat.

Conceptualized the coping strategies of vigilance and avoidance as information search patterns, which were viewed from an information-processing perspective. Conceptual complexity (measured here by the Paragraph Completion Test) was examined as a mediator of response to environmental stress. The major issues of interest were whether (1) the choice of a vigilant or avoidant coping strategy would be related to individual differences in conceptual complexity level, (2) differences in complexity level would be related to patterns of physiological arousal and subjective anxiety, and (3) the cognitive performance of conceptually complex and simple Ss would be differentially affected by variations in environmental threats. 120 female undergraduates served as Ss. Contrary to expectation, the results indicate that when anticipating a temporally unpredictable shock, conceptually simple Ss were more vigilant (behaviorally and cognitively) and reported more subjective anxiety than conceptually complex Ss. Results also indicate that the conceptually complex Ss exhibited higher levels of skin conductance overall than the conceptually simple Ss. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of construal processes in overconfident predictions about the self and others.

Overconfident behavioral predictions and trait inferences may occur because people make inadequate allowance for the uncertainties of situational construal. In Studies 1–3, Ss estimated how much time or money they would spend in various hypothetical, incompletely specified situations. Ss then offered associated "confidence limits" under different "construal conditions." In Study 4, Ss made trait inferences about someone they believed had responded "deviantly," again with situational details unspecified and construal conditions manipulated. In all 4 studies, Ss who made predictions or trait inferences without being able to assume the accuracy of their situational construals offered confidence limits no broader than those of Ss who made their responses contingent on such accuracy. Only in conditions where Ss were obliged to offer alternative construals did they appropriately broaden their confidence limits or weaken their trait inferences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive complexity and primacy-recency effects in impression formation.

Ss were presented with 1 block of univalent information about a person, recorded their impression of him, and were then presented with a 2nd block of information opposite in valence to the 1st, about the same person. 3 independent variables were used: cognitive complexity, sex, and order of presentation of the information. As was hypothesized, cognitive complexity was significantly related to susceptibility to recency effects after hearing the last block of information: Ss high in complexity changed somewhat in the direction of the most recent information, arriving at an ambivalent final impression, while lows changed markedly, arriving at an extremely univalent final impression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of sex guilt on interpersonal pleasuring.

Two experiments (120 undergraduate males) investigated whether conceptualization of sex guilt could be extended to an interpersonal physical pleasuring paradigm. In Exp I, low-guilt (as determined by the Mosher Forced-Choice Guilt Inventory) Ss administered more overall pleasure to a female confederate than did high-guilt Ss. In Exp II, in addition to a main effect for guilt, high-guilt Ss administered significantly lower levels of pleasure when they anticipated further interaction with the confederate than when they did not. Low-guilt Ss administered slightly more pleasure when they anticipated further interaction with the confederate. Results are not consistent with D. L. Mosher's (see PA, Vols 39:9269 and 40:4236) hypothesis that low-guilt Ss are more sensitive to situational cues than high-guilt Ss. It is suggested that the inconsistency was a function of the reinforcement value of interpersonal pleasuring. Although previous research required Ss to make responses that had little apparent reinforcement value, the nature of the pleasuring response did appear to have reinforcement value for both low- and high-guilt Ss, since they increased their levels of pleasuring over trials. A 3rd experiment (24 Ss) that failed to find a relationship between hostility-guilt and pleasuring provided strong support for the relation between sex guilt and interpersonal pleasuring. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex of subject and sex composition of the group as determinants of reward allocations.

Conducted 2 studies with 322 undergraduates in which the sex composition of the group was systematically varied. In Study 1, sex of the low-input group member determined allocation norm choice. In Study 2, which differed from other research in the area in that triads had to arrive at an allocation decision through free, unrestricted communication, equality was the dominant choice in all conditions. To understand when and why sex differences occur and to integrate the present results with past research, the variables affecting sex differences in allocation behavior were explored. Results indicate that women and men differ in their interpersonal orientations, which generally leads them to differentially prefer equality and equity. However, situations differ in the extent to which equity or equality is appropriate, with sex composition of the group considered as a situational demand. It was found that sex differences will most likely occur when situational demands are weak or ambiguous and that members of each sex will attempt to change the situation to make it congruent with their interpersonal orientation. It is suggested that sex differences and support for equity have been exaggerated in past research by restricting research to same-sex groups in settings in which equity is congruent with the situational demands. (60 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affective-cognitive consistency and the effect of salient behavioral information on the self-perception of attitudes.

85 undergraduates with well or poorly defined prior attitudes toward being an environmentalist/conservationist were identified by assessing the structural consistency between the affective and cognitive components of their attitudes. After Ss completed 1 of 2 versions of a questionnaire designed to make salient either past pro- or anti-ecology behaviors, their final attitudes were assessed. The hypothesis that the self-perception account of attitude expression holds primarily for individuals with poorly defined prior attitudes was supported: Low-consistency Ss, with presumably poorly defined attitudes, expressed postmanipulation environmentalist attitudes that were congruent with the pro- or anti-ecology behaviors made salient by the questionnaire manipulation. The additional finding that high-consistency (vs low-consistency) Ss' beliefs on 5 ecology-related issues were more highly intercorrelated supports the assumption that the consistency construct appropriately indexes the degree to which individuals possess well-defined attitudes. A comparison of theory and research on self-schemata with research on the affective–cognitive consistency variable suggested that the latter may be a useful measure of attitude schematicity. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Naturally occurring mood and learning: Comment on Hasher, Rose, Zacks, Sanft, and Doren.

Comments on the failure of L. Hasher et al (see record 1986-03061-001) to find mood-congruent learning (MCL), which occurs when Ss learn more about materials that are congruent with their moods (e.g., depressed Ss learn more sad material). Hasher et al argued that moderately depressed college students may be qualitatively different from clinically depressed patients and mood-induced Ss, in whom MCL has been observed. Although the present authors accept the findings of Hasher et al, they suggest that MCL may be a general though small effect that is present among normal college students as well. (54 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivation, model attributes, and prosocial behavior.

Examined the personality and situational effects that influence prosocial behavior. 112 safety- and esteem-oriented (as measured by a sentence-completion test) undergraduates were exposed to an emergency situation wherein the experimenter was ostensibly injured by an "explosion." Results indicate that there were significant situational and personality determinants of helping and imitative behavior. Overall, there was more help when Ss were interacting with an active vs a passive model. Esteem-oriented Ss were more likely to initiate helping behavior and were more strongly influenced by high-competence models. In contrast, safety-oriented Ss helped less overall and were more influenced by high-status models. Results are discussed in terms of a Person?×?Situation paradigm of prosocial behaviors. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety and perceptual structure: Individual differences in neuropsychological function.

Studied the cognitive performance of 24 high and 36 low trait anxious undergraduates under conditions of high and low situational stress, using tasks requiring greater contribution of the right or left hemisphere. In addition, a perceptual task was adapted from visual information processing research to assess Ss' global or analytic approaches to perception; if anxiety increased the left hemisphere's contribution to perception, anxious Ss might be expected to be more analytic and detail oriented. Results show no significant differences on left hemisphere tasks but a significant interaction of trait by state anxiety for right hemisphere tasks: Low trait Ss performed better and high trait Ss performed more poorly under situational stress. Trait anxiety showed a significant main effect on visual information processing strategy, low Ss tending to be more global and high Ss tending to process the stimulus analytically. Results support the utility of a neuropsychological model in describing the effects of emotion on perception. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)