The Social Risk Hypothesis of Depressed Mood: Evolutionary, Psychosocial, and Neurobiological Perspectives.

The authors hypothesize that depressed states evolved to minimize risk in social interactions in which individuals perceive that the ratio of their social value to others, and their social burden on others, is at a critically low level. When this ratio reaches a point where social value and social burden are approaching equivalence, the individual is in danger of exclusion from social contexts that, over the course of evolution, have been critical to fitness. Many features of depressed states can be understood in relation to mechanisms that reduce social risk in such circumstances, including (a) hyper-sensitivity to signals of social threat from others, (b) sending signals to others that reduce social risks, and (c) inhibiting risk-seeking (e.g., confident, acquisitive) behaviors. These features are discussed in terms of psychosocial and neurobiological research on depressive phenomena. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ego identity, social anxiety, social support, and self-concealment in lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals.

This study examined a model in which the relationship between social anxiety and two dimensions of ego identity (commitment and exploration) was expected to be mediated by social support and self-concealment for a sample of lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals (N=347). Statistically significant paths were found from social anxiety to social support and self-concealment. Statistically significant paths were also found from social support to commitment, exploration, and self-concealment. There were no significant paths from social anxiety to commitment or exploration. Structural equation analyses and bootstrap procedures revealed support for the potential mediational role of social support in the association between social anxiety and the two dimensions of ego identity as well as in the link between social anxiety and self-concealment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Race, social class, religion, and nationality as determinants of social distance.

"In a study of social distance of college students with respect to various social objects, a factorial design with two levels of value of race, social class, religion, and nationality was employed and analyses of variance were computed on social distance scores. For white Ss race and social class were found to be more important determinants of social distance than religion or nationality… . The data are interpreted in terms of a theory of prejudice that employs conformity, cognitive dissonance, and insecurity as its main constructs." (31 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social science, social psychology, and the National Science Foundation.

The approach of the National Science Foundation to the social sciences is characterized as "exploratory, experimental and pragmatic. The social sciences have been given opportunity to demonstrate concretely their practical role in the solution of operating and policy questions… . This experience with a limited social science program, developing in intimate relationship with the natural sciences, has provided a firm basis for consideration by the Foundation of appropriate next steps in achieving that effective integration of the natural and social sciences which will enhance the contribution of all the sciences to the national well-being." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Power, approach, and inhibition.

This article examines how power influences behavior. Elevated power is associated with increased rewards and freedom and thereby activates approach-related tendencies. Reduced power is associated with increased threat, punishment, and social constraint and thereby activates inhibition-related tendencies. The authors derive predictions from recent theorizing about approach and inhibition and review relevant evidence. Specifically, power is associated with (a) positive affect, (b) attention to rewards, (c) automatic information processing, and (d) disinhibited behavior. In contrast, reduced power is associated with (a) negative affect; (b) attention to threat, punishment, others' interests, and those features of the self that are relevant to others' goals; (c) controlled information processing; and (d) inhibited social behavior. The potential moderators and consequences of these power-related behavioral patterns are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between level of disability, psychological problems, social activity, and social networks.

Objective: To test a theoretical model on the relationship between level of disability, psychological problems, social activity, and social networks. Study Design: A repeated cross-sectional study included in 2 representative studies in the general population in Norway. Structural equation modeling was applied to test different models. Results: Activity limitations contribute to the prediction of psychological problems and level of social activity over time, whereas the reverse effects were not demonstrated. However, cross-sectional associations between psychosocial variables and activity limitations were found. Conclusions: The study confirms that activity limitations predict level of psychosocial problems. Although the reverse longitudinal effect from psychosocial problems on activity limitations was not demonstrated, short-term effects cannot be ruled out with the current study design. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment, Social Competencies, Social Support, and Psychological Distress.

In this survey study of 430 undergraduates, elements of the social competencies and interpersonal processes model (B. Mallinckrodt, 2000) were tested. Two social competencies were hypothesized to mediate the direct effects of 2 independent variables, attachment anxiety and avoidance, on 2 outcomes, psychological distress and perceived social support. Social self-efficacy was expected to be a significant mediator only for attachment anxiety. Emotional awareness, construed as low levels of alexithymia, was expected to be a significant mediator only for attachment avoidance. A bootstrap method was used to estimate the significance of indirect effects. Structural equation analyses suggested that, instead of specialized significant parings of one mediator with one independent variable, both social self-efficacy and emotional awareness served as significant mediators for both attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The amygdala and development of social cognition: Theoretical comment on Bauman, Toscano, Mason, Lavenex, and Amaral (2006).

Nonhuman primate studies, using selective amygdala lesions that spare cortical areas and fibers of passage, have helped to clarify the amygdala's specific contribution to social and emotional behavior. M. D. Bauman, J. E. Toscano, W. A. Mason, P. Lavenex, and D. G. Amaral (2006; see record 2006-09890-001) reported that macaque monkeys (Macaca mulatta) with neonatal neurotoxic amygdala lesions displayed lower rank in social dominance status, reduced aggressive gestures, and enhanced fearful reactions to social cues compared with normal controls and those with neonatal hippocampal lesions when tested as juveniles in a group of peers. These results are discussed in light of a recent study (C. J. Machado & J. Bachevalier, 2006; see record 2006-09890-002) showing that the same selective amygdala damage in adolescent monkeys did not alter presurgical social dominance status. This variability in behavioral changes after selective amygdala lesions underscores the significant interplay between timing of the lesion, genetic traits, and environmental factors and suggests that the amygdala is not the generator of specific emotional responses, but acts as a modulator to ensure that emotional responses are appropriate to the external stimuli and social context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social class, sense of control, and social explanation.

Lower social class is associated with diminished resources and perceived subordinate rank. On the basis of this analysis, the authors predicted that social class would be closely associated with a reduced sense of personal control and that this association would explain why lower class individuals favor contextual over dispositional explanations of social events. Across 4 studies, lower social class individuals, as measured by subjective socioeconomic status (SES), endorsed contextual explanations of economic trends, broad social outcomes, and emotion. Across studies, the sense of control mediated the relation between subjective SES and contextual explanations, and this association was independent of objective SES, ethnicity, political ideology, and self-serving biases. Finally, experimentally inducing a higher sense of control attenuated the tendency for lower subjective SES individuals to make more contextual explanations (Study 4). Implications for future research on social class as well as theoretical distinctions between objective SES and subjective SES are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attentional dysfunction, social perception, and social competence: What is the nature of the relationship?

The aim of this study was to examine the nature of the relationship between attentional dysfunction and social competence deficits in patients with schizophrenia. Attentional functioning, social perception, and social competence were assessed in 56 inpatients. Measures of vigilance and span of apprehension were administered to assess attentional functioning. Social perception was assessed with an audiovisual measure of affect recognition. Social competence was rated from a role-play task. Span of apprehension and auditory vigilance emerged as specific predictors of social competence. Affect recognition was tested as a mediator and a moderator of the relationship between attentional dysfunction and social competence. Affect recognition was found to moderate the relationship between span of apprehension and social competence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dopaminergic activity modulation via aggression, status, and a visual social signal.

Social interaction may elicit aggression, establish social rank, and be influenced by changes in central dopaminergic activity. In the lizard Anolis carolinensis, a sign stimulus (darkening of postorbital skin or eyespots) inhibits aggressive response from opponents, in part because it forms more rapidly in dominant males. The authors report that artificially hiding or darkening eyespots influences central dopaminergic activity, social status, and aggression during dyadic social interaction. All males that viewed an opponent with eyespots painted black became subordinate and exhibited elevated dopamine in raphe, lateral amygdala, and medial amygdala but decreased dopamine in septum and locus ceruleus. In contrast, males that viewed opponents with hidden eyespots (painted green) became dominant and had increased dopamine in striatum, nucleus accumbens, hypothalamus, and combined substantia nigra/ventral tegmental area. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Finding "Meaning" in Psychology: A Lay Theories Approach to Self-Regulation, Social Perception, and Social Development.

Much of psychology focuses on universal principles of thought and action. Although an extremely productive pursuit, this approach, by describing only the "average person," risks describing no one in particular. This article discusses an alternate approach that complements interests in universal principles with analyses of the unique psychological meaning that individuals find in their experiences and interactions. Rooted in research on social cognition, this approach examines how people's lay theories about the stability or malleability of human attributes alter the meaning they give to basic psychological processes such as self-regulation and social perception. Following a review of research on this lay theories perspective in the field of social psychology, the implications of analyzing psychological meaning for other fields such as developmental, cultural, and personality psychology are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Judgment of adjustment by psychologists, psychiatric social workers, and college students, and its relationship to social desirability.

Q-sort arrays of the characteristics of "well-adjusted people" were elicited from psychologists. These were compared one with the other, with ratings by social workers and college students, as well as with the findings of previous research. The results indicated that psychologists as a group seem to agree, social workers are less consistent amongst themselves. There is general agreement between all 3 groups, partial agreement with previous research. The dimension of social desirability was seen to be playing a role in what characteristics were culled as being characteristic of adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Les fondements de la psychologie sociale, 2e édition.

Reviews the book, Les fondements de la psychologie sociale, 2e édition edited by Robert J. Vallerand (2006). Social psychology is a fascinating field of research. It enables us to explain collective phenomena as well as interpersonal behaviors and group dynamics. Robert J. Vallerand proposes an exciting scientific voyage into the heart of human social behaviors, constantly stressing the psychological mechanisms which manage them. The scientific contribution of this book is singular; it was it in its first edition and remains with this one a "must" for whoever is interested in social psychology. The foundations of social psychology can definitively and without any doubt be classified as a "classic". (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social comparison, self-stereotyping, and gender differences in self-construals.

Four studies examined gender differences in self-construals and the role of social comparison in generating these differences. Consistent with previous research, Study 1 (N=461) showed that women define themselves as higher in relational interdependence than men, and men define themselves as higher in independence/agency than women. Study 2 (N=301) showed that within-gender social comparison decreases gender differences in self-construals relative to a control condition, whereas between-genders comparison increases gender differences on both relational interdependence and independence/agency. Studies 3 (N=169) and 4 (N=278) confirmed these findings and showed that changing self-construal changes gender differences in social dominance orientation. Across the 4 studies, strong evidence for the role of in-group stereotyping as mediator of the effect of gender on self-construal was observed on the relational dimension but not on the agentic dimension. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Social psychology, an interdisciplinary approach.

Reviews the book, Social psychology, an interdisciplinary approach by Hubert Bonner (1953). According to the reviewer, it has been argued that most textbooks in the social sciences are really written from other textbooks in the same area. Bonner's text seems singularly invulnerable to this complaint. The author has brought together materials from an unusually wide variety of sources and organized them into a book which shows definite signs of some original thinking about how a text in social psychology should be put together, and what should go into it. The reviewer states that in general, Bonner's theoretical position is, for today, not an especially distinctive one. The extent of his concern with the social and cultural context within which behavior occurs, however, is unusual and can be conveyed only in part by the headings of the three main divisions of his book: Social Interaction, the social matrix of behavior; Culture and Behavior, cultural values and personal-social adjustment; Group Dynamics, social change and collective behavior. The reviewer states that this book is particularly useful for students who are interested in getting an understanding of social behavior within the scope of a single course, and who do not intend to do advanced work in the social sciences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Stress Situations, Birth Order, and Psychological Symptoms": Erratum.

Reports an error in the original article by Barbara Snell Dohrenwend and Bruce P. Dohrenwend (Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1966 [6], 71(3) 215-223). The first sentence of the first paragraph on page 222 is incorrect. The correct version is printed here. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1966-08886-001.) Recent conflicting findings raise the issue of whether observed differences in levels of psychological distress of 1st and later borns are a function of their contemporary social situation, or of basic personality defect in 1 or the other group. Hypotheses which might explain conflicting findings are derived from Schachter's work: among Ss exposed to stressors, 1st borns will show more symptoms when social isolation is enforced, and later borns when social interaction is enforced. These hypotheses are tested in a socially isolating sensory deprivation study, and in a community sample including crowded slum dwellers. Both hypotheses are supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Disability, work and social policy—Models for social welfare (Springer series on social work, vol. 2).

Reviews the book, Disability, work and social policy—Models for social welfare (Springer series on social work, vol. 2) by Aliki Coudroglou and Dennis L. Poole (1984). This book is dedicated "to the people of PUSH for their determination and courageous example." PUSH, or "People United for Self-Help," was established in 1970 in Phoenix, Arizona. The book addresses rationally and at times with understandable emotion the social and moral problems of caring for disabled persons; it describes the merits of and need for an advocacy organization like PUSH; and it offers a mainstreaming model that conceivably might provide "occupational opportunity for all disabled workers in the least restrictive environment." While most students of social work, rehabilitation, policy science, sociology, and even psychology or medicine would profit from reading this book, it is not clear as to the audience for which it was written or the role it should play in graduate curricula. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of optimism in social network development, coping, and psychological adjustment during a life transition.

The authors investigated the extent to which social support and coping account for the association between greater optimism and better adjustment to stressful life events. College students of both genders completed measures of perceived stress, depression, friendship network size, and perceived social support at the beginning and end of their 1st semester of college. Coping was assessed at the end of the 1st semester. Greater optimism, assessed at the beginning of the 1st semester of college, was prospectively associated with smaller increases in stress and depression and greater increases in perceived social support (but not in friendship network size) over the course of the 1st semester of college. Mediational analyses were consistent with a model in which increases in social support and greater use of positive reinterpretation and growth contributed to the superior adjustment that optimists experienced. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)