Interpersonal sensitivity under motive arousing conditions.

A theoretical model of the relationship between motivation and interpersonal sensitivity, based on the Yerkes-Dodson law, was proposed. The primary hypothesis, derived from the model, was that in a judging situation designed to arouse Ss' achievement motivation, the relationship of n Achievement and sensitivity to others in the achievement area will be linear and negative, in contrast to the curvilinear relationship obtained in studies where the achievement motive is not aroused. Ss discriminated between the self-percepts of pairs of fellow participants in a small group discussion and pairs of participants in a group discussion they observed from behind a 1-way window. The correlation between n Achievement and achievement sensitivity was -.61 (p     

The affiliation motive and perceptual sensitivity to faces.

An attempt was made to predict from imaginative measures of the affiliation motive the frequency with which S selects human faces from similar but nonhuman figures in a perceptual task. The Ss were 93 male undergraduates who responded to pictures with imaginative stories scored for n Affiliation. A month later they were introduced to the perceptual task which required that they state which of 4 figures flashed on a screen was clearest, all stimuli being below the recognition threshold. On each trial 1 of the 4 stimuli was a face and the others were similar but affiliation-neutral. Ss high in n Affiliation recognized faces significantly more frequently than those low in n Affiliation. Thus, the predicted relationship between motivation and the perceptual selection of motive-relevant stimuli was supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Performance as a function of motive strength and expectancy of goal-attainment.

"Particular motives (Achievement, Affiliation, Power, etc.) are conceived as latent dispositions to strive for certain goal states (aims) that are engaged in performance of an act when the cues of the situation arouse the expectancy that performance of an act is instrumental to attainment of the goal of the motive. The total motivation to perform the act is conceived as a summation of strengths of all the motives that have been aroused by appropriate expectancies of goal-attainment cued-off by the situation. The relationship of achievement motive (as measured by imaginative TAT stories) to performance is shown to be significantly positive when the expectancy that performance is instrumental to producing a feeling of pride in accomplishment is aroused and few if any other expectancies of goal-attainment are aroused." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

It takes one to know one: Interpersonal sensitivity is related to accurate assessments of others' interpersonal sensitivity.

Interpersonal sensitivity (emotional and social) is the ability to accurately assess others' abilities, states, and traits from nonverbal cues. The authors predicted that individuals' interpersonal sensitivity would be related to accurate judgments of friends' interpersonal sensitivity. Fifty participants were recruited, each bringing a friend to participate in performance-based, self-report, and other-rating measures of emotional and social sensitivity. Interpersonal sensitivity was related to accurate judgments of others' interpersonal sensitivity (the "it-takes-one-to-know-one effect"). Neither gender nor acquaintanceship was directly related to accurate judgments of interpersonal sensitivity, nor did either variable moderate the it-takes-one-to-know-one effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a theory of motive acquisition.

"Too little is known about the processes of personality change at relatively complex levels." Empirical study of the problem is hampered by both practical and theoretical difficulties. Despite difficulties "a program of research has been under way for some time which is attempting to develop the achievement motive in adults." Motives are learned; they are "affectively toned associative networks" arranged in a hierarchy of strength within a given individual. A short course to develop n Achievement in some form or another has been established. 12 propositions dealing with means of producing motive change are specified and discussed. A table of variables (independent, intervening, and dependent) conceived as entering into the motive change process is presented. The "propositions should hold best… narrowly for motives and especially the achievement motive." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing Interpersonal Perceptions Using the Interpersonal Grid.

Three studies were conducted using the interpersonal grid, a method for assessing perceptions of agentic and communal behavior based on the interpersonal circumplex. The 1st examined consistency across perceivers and convergence between perceiver and the perceived person. The 2nd examined whether responses to the interpersonal grid were sensitive to an experimental manipulation of portrayed agency and communion. The 3rd used the interpersonal grid in an event-contingent recording study. The reliability and validity of the measure were supported by findings demonstrating generalizability across perceivers, generalizability across perceptions of events involving the same person, convergence between perceiver and perceived person, and sensitivity to changes in levels of agency and communion. Applications of the interpersonal grid to clinical practice and research are described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The reliability of the achievement motive.

A test of the reliability of a measurement of the achievement motive through the use of projective techniques. The results did not confirm the findings of previous research in this area. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal attraction and attitude similarity.

It "was hypothesized that (a) a stranger who is known to have attitudes similar to those of the subject is better liked than a stranger with attitudes dissimilar to those of the subject, (b)… is judged to be more intelligent, better informed, more moral, and better adjusted… and (c)… is evaluated more positively on… four [other] variables." The first 2 hypotheses were confirmed. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4GE13B. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal orientations in clinical groups.

Schutz postulates that 3 factors: inclusion, control, and affection, can account for all or practically all of the variance in interpersonal relationships. The area of inclusion concerns being with or withdrawing from other people. The control area entails dominance and submission. The area of affection relates to liking and disliking. 7 clinical groups including paranoid, hebephrenic, and undifferentiated schizophrenics, obsessive-compulsives, anxiety hysterics, depressives, and normals were utilized. There were 20 Ss in each group. All groups were tested with FIRO-B, the measuring instrument for Schutz' FIRO (Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation) theory. The age and social class of each S was assessed, the latter through the use of the Hollingshead and Redlich Index of Social Position. Reasoning from current clinical concepts and from Schutz' theory, it was assumed that schizophrenics would have more difficulty than other groups in the inclusion area, that obsessive-compulsives would demonstrate most pathology in the area of control, and that anxiety hysterics and depressives would vary to a greater extent than other groups in the affection area. The results partially supported the assumptions regarding the schizophrenics and the anxiety hysterics and depressives. Other differences among the 7 groups on the 6 FIRO-B scales occurred. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expression and inhibition of sex motive arousal in college males.

2 experiments are reported in which time spent sorting pictures of nude females was used as a method for measuring limited sex motive expression in college males. Results indicated that: (a) the average sorting time was less under Inhibitory than Permissive conditions, and (b) there was a tendency for Ss under Permissive conditions to show increasing time scores when degree of prearousal was increased, but there was no such tendency for Ss under Inhibitory conditions. Palmar skin conductance scores tended to show greater increases during serial presentation of nude pictures under Inhibitory than Permissive conditions, thus supporting an interpretation of the reduced sorting time under Inhibitory conditions in terms of sex anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal pathoplasticity in individuals with generalized anxiety disorder.

Recent theories of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) have emphasized interpersonal and personality functioning as important aspects of the disorder. We examined heterogeneity in interpersonal problems in 2 studies of individuals with GAD (n = 47 and n = 83). Interpersonal subtypes were assessed with the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems–Circumplex (Alden, Wiggins, & Pincus, 1990). Across both studies, individuals with GAD exhibited heterogeneous interpersonal problems, and cluster analyses of these patients' interpersonal characteristics yielded 4 replicable clusters, identified as intrusive, exploitable, cold, and nonassertive subtypes. Consistent with our pathoplasticity hypotheses, clusters did not differ with GAD severity, anxiety severity, or depression severity. Clusters in Study 2 differed on rates of personality disorders, including avoidant personality disorder, further providing support for the validity of interpersonal subtypes. The presence of interpersonal subtypes in GAD may have important implications for treatment planning and efficacy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal knowledge and rated leader potential.

"This study investigated the relationship between the possession of interpersonal knowledge about others and the ratings received as to leader potential… . The data indicate that the more interpersonal knowledge nonleader trainees had, the higher were the leader potential ratings they received from trainee leaders and trainee nonleaders." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal types among psychiatric patients.

The aims of the study were to isolate some of the main interpersonal behavior types within a sample of nonpsychotic psychiatric patients in psychotherapy, to determine the constancy of the isolated types across the 3 subsamples of 150 cases, and to identify any systematic differences among them. Each patient was described by his therapists on the 15 factors of the Interpersonal Behavior Inventory. The 4 replicated types were (1) inhibited, submissive, abasive; (2) agreeable, nurturant, sociable; (3) hostile, mistrustful, detached; (4) dominant, competitive, exhibitionistic. Some diagnositc and occupational differences were found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The achievement motive, goal setting, and probability preferences.

"This study deals with the effect of individual differences in strength of achievement motive on… goal setting… [and] preferences for imaginary bets equated for expected monetary value but differing in probability of winning… . Measures of n Achievement were obtained by content analysis of responses to the French Test of Insight. Persons with high n Achievement scores were assumed to have relatively stronger motives to approach success and those with low n Achievement scores relatively stronger motives to avoid failure… . The results are consistent with the theory concerning motivational determinants of risk taking behavior and constitute evidence of the… effects of individual differences in… achievement motive… in games of chance as well as… skill." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal trust as a factor in communication.

A written questionnaire given to individuals in a large government research laboratory, inquired about attitudes about changes in a research program, attitudes of trust toward each other, reports as to whether they had discussed the new program, and estimates of each other's attitudes about the program. The data support the hypothesis that "a communicator, B, who lacks trust in the recipient of his communication, A, tends to be motivated to conceal his own attitudes about an issue, X, in communicating with A. The accuracy of A's perceptions is impaired accordingly." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal Problems and the Outcome of Interpersonally Oriented Psychodynamic Treatment of GAD.

The present study tested hypotheses concerning interpersonal problems and the course of brief psychodynamic treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). The authors found that the largest changes from pre- to post-therapy were evident for the Nonassertive, Exploitable, and Intrusive subscales of the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems. Relatively small changes were seen on the Overly Nurturant subscale, which was hypothesized to be most relevant to GAD. Changes in interpersonal problems were significantly associated with improvement in symptoms and worry. Brief dynamic therapy was not found to uniquely improve interpersonal problems compared with supportive therapy, although the psychodynamic approach was statistically and clinically superior to supportive therapy on symptomatic remission rates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Give a person power and he or she will show interpersonal sensitivity: The phenomenon and its why and when.

The goal of the present research was to investigate whether high or low power leads to more interpersonal sensitivity and what potentially mediates and moderates this effect. In Study 1, 76 participants in either a high- or low-power position interacted; in Study 2, 134 participants were implicitly primed with either high- or low-power or neutral words; and in Study 3, 96 participants were asked to remember a situation in which they felt high or low power (plus a control condition). In Study 4, 157 participants were told to identify with either an egoistic, empathic, or neutral leadership style. In all studies, interpersonal sensitivity, defined as correctly assessing other people, was then measured using different instruments in each study. Consistently, high power resulted in more interpersonal sensitivity than low power. Feeling respected and proud was partially responsible for this effect. Empathic power as a personality trait was related to more interpersonal sensitivity, and high-power individuals who adopted an empathic instead of an egoistic leadership style were more interpersonally sensitive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal perceptions of open-hearth foremen and steel production.

For management personnel of 4 open-hearth shops, interpersonal perception (measured by means of Assumed Similarity tests which reflect how similar or different a person describes his most and his least preferred work companions) was significantly related to group effectiveness measures based on the time to complete a "heat" of steel. "These results are consistent with the hypothesis that more effective groups have supervisors who tend to predict different responses for their most—and least—preferred co-workers." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal knowledge and individual and group effectiveness.

"Measures of discrepancy between an objective group preference hierarchy structure of members and an individual estimate of this preference hierarchy structure were obtained for members of infantry rifle squads who had scored high and low on a criterion field problem." It was found that the appointed leaders, popular individuals, and members of effective groups were better able to estimate the preference hierarchy structure than were non-leaders, less popular individuals, and members of ineffective groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Extension of the rejection sensitivity construct to the interpersonal functioning of gay men.

On the basis of recent evidence suggesting that gay men are particularly likely to fear interpersonal rejection, the authors set out to extend the rejection sensitivity construct to the mental health concerns of gay men. After establishing a reliable and valid measure of the gay-related rejection sensitivity construct, the authors use this to test the mediating effect of internalized homophobia on the relationship between parental rejection of one's sexual orientation and sensitivity to future gay-related rejection. The present data support this mediational model and also establish rejection sensitivity's unique contribution to unassertive interpersonal behavior in the context of internalized homophobia and parental rejection. The authors conclude that gay-related rejection sensitivity is a useful construct for clinicians working with gay men given the impact that past gay-related rejection can have on their gay clients' present cognitive-affective-behavioral functioning. The authors discuss the possibility of revising rejection-prone schemas in clinical work with gay men. Future research is necessary to further examine the internal processing and interpersonal functioning of gay men by using existing constructs (or modifications of them) that are likely to be particularly relevant to the unique concerns of this population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)