The development of in-group favoritism: Between social reality and group identity.

This study examined how social reality restricts children's tendency for in-group favoritism in group evaluations. Children were faced with social reality considerations and with group identity concerns. Using short stories, in this experimental study, conducted among 3 age groups (6-, 8-, and 10-year-olds), the authors examined the trait attribution effects of reality constraints on eye-color differences and national group differences. The results show that the trait attributions of all age groups were restricted by the acceptance of socially defined reality. In addition, when the information about reality was not considered accurate, only the youngest children showed positive in-group favoritism. It is argued that these findings are useful in trying to reconcile some of the divergent and contrasting findings in the developmental literature on children's intergroup perceptions and evaluations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in the perception of women's faces.

It was shown that membership in age or sex categories affects the way in which an individual perceives a woman when presented with her photograph. It is contended that this is a demonstration of the influence of culturally defined roles upon perception. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Individual differences, situational variables, and personality research": Erratum.

Reports an error in the original article by Irwin G. Sarason (Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1962, 65[6], 376-380; (see record 1964-10015-001). On page 379, the second line of Paragraph 1 should read: (p     

Individual differences in judging deception: Accuracy and bias.

The authors report a meta-analysis of individual differences in detecting deception, confining attention to occasions when people judge strangers' veracity in real-time with no special aids. The authors have developed a statistical technique to correct nominal individual differences for differences introduced by random measurement error. Although researchers have suggested that people differ in the ability to detect lies, psychometric analyses of 247 samples reveal that these ability differences are minute. In terms of the percentage of lies detected, measurement-corrected standard deviations in judge ability are less than 1%. In accuracy, judges range no more widely than would be expected by chance, and the best judges are no more accurate than a stochastic mechanism would produce. When judging deception, people differ less in ability than in the inclination to regard others' statements as truthful. People also differ from one another as lie- and truth-tellers. They vary in the detectability of their lies. Moreover, some people are more credible than others whether lying or truth-telling. Results reveal that the outcome of a deception judgment depends more on the liar's credibility than any other individual difference. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Status differences and in-group bias: A meta-analytic examination of the effects of status stability, status legitimacy, and group permeability.

This work examines the moderating effects of status stability, legitimacy, and group permeability on in-group bias among high- and low-status groups. These effects were examined separately for evaluative measures that were relevant as well as irrelevant to the salient status distinctions. The results support social identity theory and show that high-status groups are more biased. The meta-analysis reveals that perceived status stability, legitimacy, and permeability moderate the effects of group status. Also, these variables interacted in their influences on the effect of group status on in-group bias, but this was only true for irrelevant evaluative dimensions. When status was unstable and perceived as illegitimate, low-status groups and high-status groups were equally biased when group boundaries were impermeable, compared with when they were permeable. Implications for social identity theory as well as for intergroup attitudes are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in social loafing: Need for cognition as a motivator in collective performance.

Numerous situational factors have been found to moderate the extent to which individuals engage in social loafing, but few studies have investigated the influence of individual differences on individual motivation within groups. The present study examined whether need for cognition, an individual's tendency to engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive endeavors, moderates social loafing effects. It was predicted that individuals with a high need for cognition would be less likely to loaf on a cognitively engaging task. Individuals with a low need for cognition performed significantly better in the coactive than in the collective condition, whereas individuals with a high need for cognition worked just as hard collectively as coactively. Results were interpreted within the collective effort model (S. J. Karau & K. D. Williams, 1993). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Focusing the spotlight: Individual differences in visual attention control.

A time-course analysis of visual attention focusing (attentional constraint) was conducted in groups of participants with high and low working memory spans, a dimension the authors have argued reflects the ability to control attention. In 4 experiments, participants performed the Eriksen flanker paradigm under increasing levels of speed stress. Conditional accuracy functions were derived to measure the time course of attentional constraint. The data showed that accuracy rates rose toward asymptote at different rates, with participants with high working memory spans reaching peak performance before participants with low working memory spans. The authors interpret these data in terms of a rate of attention constraint model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Judging approachability on the face of it: The influence of face and body expressions on the perception of approachability.

The aim of the current study was to examine how emotional expressions displayed by the face and body influence the decision to approach or avoid another individual. In Experiment 1, we examined approachability judgments provided to faces and bodies presented in isolation that were displaying angry, happy, and neutral expressions. Results revealed that angry expressions were associated with the most negative approachability ratings, for both faces and bodies. The effect of happy expressions was shown to differ for faces and bodies, with happy faces judged more approachable than neutral faces, whereas neutral bodies were considered more approachable than happy bodies. In Experiment 2, we sought to examine how we integrate emotional expressions depicted in the face and body when judging the approachability of face-body composite images. Our results revealed that approachability judgments given to face-body composites were driven largely by the facial expression. In Experiment 3, we then aimed to determine how the categorization of body expression is affected by facial expressions. This experiment revealed that body expressions were less accurately recognized when the accompanying facial expression was incongruent than when neutral. These findings suggest that the meaning extracted from a body expression is critically dependent on the valence of the associated facial expression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The uncertain mind: Individual differences in facing the unknown.

Reviews the book, The uncertain mind: Individual differences in facing the unknown by Richard M. Sorrentino and Christopher J. R. Roney (see record 2000-07377-000). The book under review is located within an important intellectual tradition in psychology, one that speaks to something about human nature. Sorrentino and Roney approach this topic through the study of individual differences in whether people seek out certainty or uncertainty in their lives. While some of us find meaning in terms of the familiar and predictable, others search for meaning in the novel uncertainties of life. This scholarly monograph describes a 15-year program of research, theoretically grounded in both earlier paradigms (e.g., Atkinson's motivational model) and contemporary social cognition. This monograph merits attention by researchers and students interested in social cognition, individual differences, and societal change. The writing is technical, and one would wish for chapter summaries. However, the book is clearly written, well-organized and at times thought-provoking; it is well worth the effort. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gaze cueing of attention: Visual attention, social cognition, and individual differences.

During social interactions, people's eyes convey a wealth of information about their direction of attention and their emotional and mental states. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of past and current research into the perception of gaze behavior and its effect on the observer. This encompasses the perception of gaze direction and its influence on perception of the other person, as well as gaze-following behavior such as joint attention, in infant, adult, and clinical populations. Particular focus is given to the gaze-cueing paradigm that has been used to investigate the mechanisms of joint attention. The contribution of this paradigm has been significant and will likely continue to advance knowledge across diverse fields within psychology and neuroscience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributional biases about the origins of attitudes: Externality, emotionality and rationality.

Pilot work and 3 studies investigated the ways people explain the origins of attitudes. Study 1 examined the use of 3 dimensions (externality, rationality, emotionality) to explain the origin of people's own, in-group, and out-group attitudes. Attributions for own attitudes were the least externally and emotionally based and the most rationally based. By comparison with the out-group, less externality, less emotionality, and more rationality also were attributed to in-group attitudes. Studies 2 and 3 examined the effects of intergroup threat on attributions for in- and out-group attitude positions. Under high threat, more externality and emotionality but less rationality were attributed to out-group attitudes than under low threat. Intergroup differentiation mediated the difference between out-group attributions under high and low threat. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in reaction to meprobamate: A study in visual perception.

An investigation of the effect of meprobamate upon reactions to Necker Cube, Retinal Rivalry, Archimedes Spiral, and Peripheral Span on 68 college-age males, divided equally between drug and placebo conditions by the doubleblind method. No significant relationship appeared between the Maudsley Personality Inventory Extraversion scale and the test scores, nor between the tests themselves, with exception of cube and rivalry (r = + .35, p     

Individual and situational differences in desire for certainty.

The correlation was determined between Ss' extremity of response on several attitude and judgment instruments and scores on a test of desire for certainty. "Significant correlations were obtained between response extremity and test scores, suggesting that individual differences in desire for certainty are consistent from one measure to another." In another study it was shown that the strength of the desire for certainty can be increased and decreased by situational influences. 24 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Microbes, mating, and morality: Individual differences in three functional domains of disgust.

What is the function of disgust? Whereas traditional models have suggested that disgust serves to protect the self or neutralize reminders of our animal nature, an evolutionary perspective suggests that disgust functions to solve 3 qualitatively different adaptive problems related to pathogen avoidance, mate choice, and social interaction. The authors investigated this 3-domain model of disgust across 4 studies and examined how sensitivity to these functional domains relates to individual differences in other psychological constructs. Consistent with their predictions, factor analyses demonstrated that disgust sensitivity partitions into domains related to pathogens, sexuality, and morality. Further, sensitivity to the 3 domains showed predictable differentiation based on sex, perceived vulnerability to disease, psychopathic tendencies, and Big 5 personality traits. In exploring these 3 domains of disgust, the authors introduce a new measure of disgust sensitivity. Appreciation of the functional heterogeneity of disgust has important implications for research on individual differences in disgust sensitivity, emotion, clinical impairments, and neuroscience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Steps toward an evolutionary personality psychology: Individual differences in the social rank domain.

A comprehensive evolutionary personality psychology can be developed by identifying individual differences within each of the evolved systems that regulate social behaviour. We developed a questionnaire measure of social rank style, defined as individual differences in preferred strategies for pursuing, defending, and, when necessary, relinquishing social rank. The 17-item Rank Style with Peers Questionnaire (RSPQ) comprises three nearly independent scales: dominant leadership, coalition-building, and ruthless self-advancement. A series of studies demonstrated that: (a) the RSPQ’s, factor structure is robust; (b) the three rank style variables are not redundant with the five-factor traits or adult attachment styles; (c) they are related in theoretically expected ways to adjustment outcomes, to agentic and communal interpersonal behaviours, and to social reputations; (d) they predict group and individual performance outcomes relevant to organisational psychology; and (e) they are related in theoretically expected ways to psychopathology, including social anxiety disorder and depressive symptoms. Future directions for research on social rank styles and prospects for an evolutionary personality psychology are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual skill differences and large-scale environmental learning.

Spatial skills are known to vary widely among normal individuals. This project was designed to address whether these individual differences are differentially related to large-scale environmental learning from route (ground-level) and survey (aerial) perspectives. Participants learned two virtual environments (route and survey) with limited exposure and tested on judgments about relative locations of objects. They also performed a series of spatial and nonspatial component skill tests. With limited learning, performance after route encoding was worse than performance after survey encoding. Furthermore, performance after route and survey encoding appeared to be preferentially linked to perspective and object-based transformations, respectively. Together, the results provide clues to how different skills might be engaged by different individuals for the same goal of learning a large-scale environment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Working memory capacity and categorization: Individual differences and modeling.

Working memory is crucial for many higher-level cognitive functions, ranging from mental arithmetic to reasoning and problem solving. Likewise, the ability to learn and categorize novel concepts forms an indispensable part of human cognition. However, very little is known about the relationship between working memory and categorization, and modeling in category learning has thus far been largely uninformed by knowledge about people's memory processes. This article reports a large study (N = 113) that related people's working memory capacity (WMC) to their category-learning performance using the 6 problem types of Shepard, Hovland, and Jenkins (1961). Structural equation modeling revealed a strong relationship between WMC and category learning, with a single latent variable accommodating performance on all 6 problems. A model of categorization (the Attention Learning COVEring map, ALCOVE; Kruschke, 1992) was fit to the individual data and a single latent variable was sufficient to capture the variation among associative learning parameters across all problems. The data and modeling suggest that working memory mediates category learning across a broad range of tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: Implications for affect, relationships, and well-being.

Five studies tested two general hypotheses: Individuals differ in their use of emotion regulation strategies such as reappraisal and suppression, and these individual differences have implications for affect, well-being, and social relationships. Study 1 presents new measures of the habitual use of reappraisal and suppression. Study 2 examines convergent and discriminant validity. Study 3 shows that reappraisers experience and express greater positive emotion and lesser negative emotion, whereas suppressors experience and express lesser positive emotion, yet experience greater negative emotion. Study 4 indicates that using reappraisal is associated with better interpersonal functioning, whereas using suppression is associated with worse interpersonal functioning. Study 5 shows that using reappraisal is related positively to well-being, whereas using suppression is related negatively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A social psychological study of ethnonyms: Cognitive representation of the in-group and intergroup hostility.

Ethnonyms (M. G. Levin & L. P. Potapov, 1964; from the Greek roots meaning "a national group" and "name") are the names an in-group uses to distinguish itself from out-groups. There has been no social psychological research to date exploring the effects of ethnonyms. The authors report the results of 3 studies examining the potential effects of various features of ethnonyms on intergroup behavior. Analyses of archival data indicate that among indigenous African cultures (Study 1), indigenous Native American cultures (Study 2), and African Americans (Study 3), intergroup hostility was greater among in-groups characterized by less complex ethnonyms. Discussion considers the implications of these results and suggests new directions for research in the social psychological study of ethnonyms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Priming and habituation for faces: Individual differences and inversion effects.

Immediate repetition priming for faces was examined across a range of prime durations in a threshold identification task. Similar to word repetition priming results, short duration face primes produced positive priming whereas long duration face primes eliminated or reversed this effect. A habituation model of such priming effects predicted that the speed of identification should relate to the prime duration needed to achieve negative priming. We used face priming to test this prediction in two ways. First, we examined the relationship between priming effects and individual differences in the target duration needed for threshold performance. Second, we compared priming of upright and inverted faces. As predicted, the transition from positive to negative priming as a function of prime duration occurred more slowly for inverted faces and for individuals with longer threshold target durations. Additional experiments ruled out alternative explanations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)