Expectancies and the outcome of a career development intervention.

Investigated 2 hypotheses regarding course outcome expectancies of students: (a) Expectancies assessed by E. E. Lawler's (1973) theory are better predictors of outcomes than the more frequently used global ratings of expectancies; and (b) the full Lawler expectancy model is a better predictor of outcome than its component parts. Outcome measures included appropriateness of (determined by the Vocational Preference Inventory), and attitudes toward, educational and vocational choices as well as career exploration behavior. Ss were 85 undergraduates enrolled in an academic course designed to help students make a career choice. The Lawler model of expectancy was not found to be a better predictor of outcome than were the other measures of expectancy. Expectancy–outcome relationships were strongest for attitudinal outcomes and weakest for the career-exploration behaviors. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Responsiveness to threats and incentives, expectancy of recurrence, and distress and disengagement: Moderator effects in women with early stage breast cancer.

Models of neurobiological systems linking personality, motivation, and emotion can be integrated with the expectancy construct to suggest hypotheses about distress and giving up in response to adversity. In 220 women with breast cancer, threat responsiveness—sensitivity of the behavioral inhibition system (BIS)—and incentive responsiveness—sensitivity of the behavioral activation system (BAS)—and expectancies about cancer recurrence were measured. It was predicted and found that high BIS sensitivity interacted with recurrence expectancy to predict elevated distress and disengagement. Low BAS sensitivity (reward responsiveness) also interacted with expectancy of recurrence to predict elevated disengagement. In contrast, high BAS sensitivity (fun seeking) interacted with recurrence expectancy to predict elevated distress. Discussion centers on theoretical implications and possible applications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mediators of a brief hypnosis intervention to control side effects in breast surgery patients: Response expectancies and emotional distress.

Objective: The present study was designed to test the hypotheses that response expectancies and emotional distress mediate the effects of an empirically validated presurgical hypnosis intervention on postsurgical side effects (i.e., pain, nausea, and fatigue). Method: Women (n = 200) undergoing breast-conserving surgery (mean age = 48.50 years; 63% White, 15% Hispanic, 13% African American, and 9% other) were randomized to a hypnosis or to an attention control group. Prior to surgery, patients completed assessments of hypothesized mediators (response expectancies and emotional distress), and following surgery, patients completed assessments of outcome variables (pain, nausea, and fatigue). Results: Structural equation modeling revealed the following: (a) Hypnotic effects on postsurgical pain were partially mediated by pain expectancy (p p = .12); (b) hypnotic effects on postsurgical nausea were partially mediated by presurgical distress (p = .02) but not by nausea expectancy (p = .10); and (c) hypnotic effects on postsurgical fatigue were partially mediated by both fatigue expectancy (p = .0001) and presurgical distress (p = .02). Conclusions: The results demonstrate the mediational roles of response expectancies and emotional distress in clinical benefits associated with a hypnotic intervention for breast cancer surgical patients. More broadly, the results improve understanding of the underlying mechanisms responsible for hypnotic phenomena and suggest that future hypnotic interventions target patient expectancies and distress to improve postsurgical recovery. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Negative reinforcement/negative affect reduction cigarette smoking outcome expectancies: Incremental validity for anxiety focused on bodily sensations and panic attack symptoms among daily smokers.

The present investigation evaluated the incremental validity of negative reinforcement/negative affect reduction smoking outcome expectancies in the prediction of anxious and fearful responding to bodily sensations. Participants included 171 daily smokers (82 women, 89 men; mean age = 25.67 years, SD = 10.54). Consistent with prediction, negative reinforcement/negative affect reduction smoking outcome expectancies were significantly predictive of anxiety focused on bodily sensations and postchallenge intensity of cognitive panic attack symptoms, but not of physical panic symptoms. The observed effects were evident above and beyond the statistically significant variance accounted for by the covariates of anxiety sensitivity, negative affectivity, cigarettes per day, and weekly alcohol use and independent of other smoking outcome expectancy factors. Findings are discussed in terms of the role of negative reinforcement/negative affect reduction smoking outcome expectancies and vulnerability for panic symptoms and psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

ALDH2, ADH1B and alcohol expectancies: Integrating genetic and learning perspectives.

The present study evaluated associations of ALDH2 and ADH1B genotypes with alcohol expectancies and drinking behavior in a sample of Asian American young adults. In addition to assessing global alcohol expectancies, the authors developed a measure of physiological expectancies to evaluate an expectancy phenotype specific to the mechanism by which ALDH2 and ADH1B variations presumably influence drinking behavior. Compared with individuals with the ALDH2*1/*1 genotype, those with the ALDH2*2 allele reported greater negative alcohol expectancies, greater expectancies for physiological effects of alcohol and lower rates of alcohol use. ADH1B was not associated with alcohol expectancies or drinking behavior. Hierarchical models showed that demographic factors, ALDH2 genotype, and expectancy variables explained unique variance in drinking outcomes. Mediation tests showed significant indirect effects of ALDH2 on drinking frequency and peak lifetime consumption through expectancies. These results provide support for influences of genetic factors and alcohol sensitivity on alcohol-related learning and suggest the importance of developing biopsychosocial models of drinking behavior in Asian Americans. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An expectancy model of laboratory preparedness effects.

Experiments investigating differential unconditioned stimulus/stimuli (UCS) expectancy during fear-relevant (prepared) and fear-irrelevant (unprepared) stimuli revealed that (1) a UCS expectancy bias is apparent before conditioning, (2) initial differential UCS expectancy appears in spite of instructions informing the Ss of no UCS presentations, (3) differential UCS expectancies to fear-relevant and fear-irrelevant stimuli dissipate with continued nonreinforcement, (4) differential UCS expectancies may be translated into differential skin conductance responses (SCRs) under certain conditions, (5) both UCS expectancy and SCR measures show similar patterns of behavior in the traditional preparedness paradigm, and (6) experiencing conditioned stimulus/stimuli (CS)–UCS pairings appears to reinstate a UCS expectancy bias after it has extinguished. These results are discussed as support for an expectancy model of laboratory preparedness effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived self-efficacy, outcome expectancies, and negative mood states in end-stage renal disease.

Tested A. Bandura's (1977) social learning theory, which hypothesizes that the joint experience of weak efficacy and strong outcome expectancies induces negative mood states. 70 end-stage renal disease patients served as Ss. Perceived self-efficacy was measured via Ss' self-rated control over health and over life in general. Outcome expectancies were assessed on Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale and the Health Locus of Control Scale. The 3 dependent variables were Ss' scores on the Beck Depression Inventory, Self-Esteem Inventory, and self-ratings of helplessness. Data were analyzed using a hierarchical multiple-regression strategy. The efficacy and outcome measures each correlated significantly and uniquely with the 3 dependent variables. Weaker efficacy and weaker outcome expectancies were associated with increased depression, lower self-esteem, and subjective feelings of helplessness. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectancy and phobic level: Effects on desensitization.

Three basic conclusions can be drawn from the current expectancy literature: (a) Expectancy effects have been found when therapeutic and experimental instructions are compared. (b) Expectancy effects have not been found when positive therapeutic and negative therapeutic instructions are compared. (c) Highly phobic Ss display less susceptibility to expectancy effects than moderately phobic Ss. In the present study, 3 instructions (positive therapeutic, negative therapeutic, experimental) accompanying desensitization were compared in combination with 2 levels of fear (high, moderate) in 79 snake-phobic undergraduates (according to scores on the Snake Anxiety Questionnaire, Snake Fear Inventory, and Behavioral Avoidance Test). Expectancy instructions were introduced 6 times during the 4-wk treatment, and the effectiveness of these instructions was demonstrated with independent nonreactive measures of Ss' expectancies. Analysis of self-report, behavioral, and unobtrusive measures of snake anxiety revealed significant main effects for instructions, with positive therapeutic instructions effecting greater reductions in Ss' fears than either negative therapeutic or experimental instructions. Ss' initial phobic levels were unrelated to outcome. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Chronic and temporary distinct expectancies as comparison standards: Automatic contrast in dispositional judgments.

In 4 studies, the authors examined whether making outcome expectancies distinct resulted in their use as comparison standards and, consequently, in contrastive dispositional inferences for a target's behaviors. The expectancies examined were based on either chronic future-event expectancies (Study 1) or temporary, manipulated expectancy standards (Studies 2–4). Analyses revealed that when contextual expectancies were distinct or separable from target information, participants' dispositional judgments were contrasted from them under cognitive load and overcorrected (assimilated to them) under no load. These effects were mediated by participants' behavior categorizations. Evidence suggestive of a proceduralized form of correction for task difficulty and an effortful awareness-based correction for the effects of expectancies also were found. Results are examined in light of recent models of the dispositional inference process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-efficacy and expectancy: Old wine with new labels.

Discusses inconsistent definitions of self-efficacy and outcome expectancies, which have been a source of conceptual confusion. A. Bandura (1977; see also PA, Vols 58:5733 and 71:6766) used the term outcome expectancy in 2 different ways, each implying a different relation to self-efficacy. In tests of ability, self-efficacy had been operationalized in ways that are virtually identical to J. B. Rotter's (1954, 1972, 1982) expectancy construct, and both theories generate identical predictions. In these situations, low self-efficacy does not elicit fear. Bandura's examples of low snake-approach self-efficacy are inconsistent with his method of measuring the construct. Questionnaires purporting to measure people's judgments about their ability to approach a feared stimulus actually measure their willingness to approach the stimulus. Willingness to approach a feared stimulus is affected by anticipated harm, expected anxiety, and the magnitude of expected reinforcements. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-fulfilling effects of stigmatizing information on children's social interactions.

The stigmatizing effects of negative expectancies were examined in observations of interactions between children with and without a behavior problem. Ss were 68 pairs of unacquainted boys in Grades 3–6. In each dyad, a normal boy was either told that his partner had a behavior problem or given no expectancy; this expectancy manipulation was crossed with the partner's actual diagnostic status with respect to hyperactivity. The perceiver's expectancy that their partner had a behavior problem as well as the actual diagnostic status of the target adversely affected the boys' interactions. Behavioral data suggest how the expectancies were communicated to the target. The processes underlying interpersonal expectancy effects and the ways in which a childhood stigma can act as a self-fulfilling prophecy are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol outcome expectancies as socially shared and socialized beliefs.

Alcohol expectancies are important predictors of alcohol involvement in both adolescents and adults, yet little research has examined the social origins and transmission of these beliefs. This paper examined alcohol outcome expectancies collected in a cohort-sequential longitudinal study of 452 families with children followed over seven waves. Children completed interviews every 6 months, and parents completed interviews annually. Eighteen of 27 alcohol expectancies were highly consensual, being endorsed by significantly more than 67% of the mothers and fathers. These consensual expectancies were also highly stable over a 3-year period. Over the same period, children increased their adoption of both the positive and negative consensual alcohol expectancies. Unconditional latent growth modeling showed that piece-wise growth models with a transition at age 12 fit the data best. Both the positive and negative consensual expectancies were adopted at a faster rate between ages 8.5 and 11.5 than between ages 12 and 13.5. For negative expectancies, there was no further growth between ages 12 and 13.5. Taken together, these findings support the conceptualization of alcohol outcome expectancies as socially shared and transmitted beliefs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-efficacy and outcome expectancy mechanisms in reading and writing achievement.

Examined the relation between self-efficacy and outcome expectancy beliefs and achievement in reading and writing. Most of the 153 subjects were White, middle-class undergraduate students. Efficacy for reading and writing tasks and component skills and outcome expectancies that reading and writing are important for realizing life goals were assessed. Reading achievement was measured by the Degrees of Reading Power test and writing achievement was measured by a holistically scored writing sample. Results from regression analysis indicated that self-efficacy and outcome expectancy beliefs jointly account for significant variance in reading achievement with self-efficacy being the stronger predictor and that self-efficacy, but not outcome expectancy, accounts for significant variance in writing achievement. Canonical correlation analysis identified a single underlying dimension linking beliefs and achievement for reading and writing, with reading beliefs and achievement contributing most strongly to the relation. Results are discussed as they relate to previous research and needed areas of future study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Outcome expectancies and gambling behavior among urban adolescents.

This project sought to identify adolescent outcome expectancies for gambling and to evaluate their relation to gambling behavior among a sample of urban adolescents. In a preliminary study, 50 outcome expectancies were identified on the basis of a literature review or generated after surveying 35 urban high school students. These expectancies were then administered to 1,076 urban high school students. Rates of at-risk and problem gambling were 14.6% and 12.7%, respectively. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed on randomly selected halves of the sample and identified 5 expectancy domains. In a structural equation model, material gain, negative affect, and positive self-evaluation displayed significant positive relations, and negative social consequences and parent disapproval displayed significant negative relations, to gambling behavior. The model explained 48% of the variance in gambling problems and 58% of the variance in gambling frequency. These results demonstrate the salience of gambling-related cognitions in understanding the gambling behavior among these at-risk youth and suggest that expectancies may be important prevention targets for this population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hassles, coping, and depressive symptoms in an elderly community sample: The role of mood regulation expectancies.

To extend research on the role of expectancy in coping, 96 individuals aged 65 yrs or older (M?=?74.46, SD?=?6.28) from non-nursing-home residential communities and organizations completed measures of daily hassles, situational coping responses, depressive symptoms, and generalized expectancies for negative mood regulation, defined as beliefs about one's ability to alleviate a negative mood. Scores from the Negative Mood Regulation Scale (S. J. Catanzaro and J. Mearns, 1990) were negatively associated with avoidant coping and depressive symptoms, independent of hassles and coping responses. As in college student samples, active coping was positively related to depressive symptoms, but only when negative mood regulation expectancies were controlled. The relations of hassles and expectancies with coping responses were weaker than those found previously in younger samples. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Response expectancy as a determinant of experience and behavior.

Reviews research on placebos, hypnosis, and fear reduction that indicates that response expectancies, defined as expectancies of the occurrence of nonvolitional responses, generate corresponding subjective experiences, the genuineness of which has been substantiated by corresponding changes in behavior and physiological function. The means by which response expectancies affect experience, physiology, and behavior are hypothesized to vary as a function of response mode. The generation of changes in subjective experience by corresponding response expectancies is suggested to be a basic psychological mechanism. Physiological effects are accounted for by the mind–body identity assumption that is common to all nondualist philosophies of psychology. It is argued that the effects of response expectancies on volitional behavior are due to the reinforcing properties of many nonvolitional responses. Research also indicates that classical conditioning appears to be one method by which response expectancies are acquired, but response expectancy effects that are inconsistent with a conditioning hypothesis have also been documented. (134 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Irrational beliefs and the arousal of emotional distress.

Evaluated the extent to which endorsement of irrational beliefs as measured by the Irrational Beliefs Test (IBT) was associated with subjective, physiological, and cognitive indices (e.g., Trait scale of the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory and Fear of Negative Evaluation Questionnaire scores) of emotional distress in response to a stressful event delivered in a controlled experiment. 62 undergraduates served as Ss. Beliefs relevant to the stressor were more associated with negative cognitions than was either a belief less relevant to the stressor or general irrational thinking. However, a measure of the fear of negative evaluation was more frequently associated with measures of distress than were irrational beliefs. The equivalent and perhaps greater predictive utility of a more parsimonious, less inferential individual difference variable was interpreted as challenging the construct validity of the IBT and perhaps questioning the necessity of postulating the existence of irrational beliefs in accounts of the arousal of emotional distress. (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affect, expectancies, urges, and smoking: Do they conform to models of drug motivation and relapse?

Social-learning models of drug motivation and relapse often include the constructs of affect and drug expectancies. Most research has taken a molar approach to examining relations between these constructs and level of drug use. An experiment examined the roles of affect and expectancies in multiple measures of situation-specific motivation to smoke tobacco. Undergraduate smokers (n?=?101) received either a positive or negative mood manipulation (false feedback on an intelligence test). Self-reported urge was influenced by both negative affect and expectancies for positive reinforcement from smoking. Actual consumption was related only to smoking expectancies and only among abstaining smokers. affect by expectancy interactions were also found. Findings support a limited role of affect and expectancies in smoking motivation. Poor coherence among the motivational indexes challenges the assumptions of existing models of drug motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental alcohol involvement and adolescent alcohol expectancies predict alcohol involvement in male adolescents.

Current models of adolescent drinking behavior hypothesize that alcohol expectancies mediate the effects of other proximal and distal risk factors. This longitudinal study tested the hypothesis that the effects of parental alcohol involvement on their children's drinking behavior in mid-adolescence are mediated by the children's alcohol expectancies in early adolescence. A sample of 148 initially 9–11 year old boys and their parents from a high-risk population and a contrast group of community families completed measures of drinking behavior and alcohol expectancies over a 6-year interval. We analyzed data from middle childhood (M age = 10.4 years), early adolescence (M age = 13.5 years), and mid-adolescence (M age = 16.5 years). The sample was restricted only to adolescents who had begun to drink by mid-adolescence. Results from zero-inflated Poisson regression analyses showed that 1) maternal drinking during their children's middle childhood predicted number of drinking days in middle adolescence; 2) negative and positive alcohol expectancies in early adolescence predicted odds of any intoxication in middle adolescence; and 3) paternal alcoholism during their children's middle childhood and adolescents' alcohol expectancies in early adolescence predicted frequency of intoxication in middle adolescence. Contrary to predictions, child alcohol expectancies did not mediate the effects of parental alcohol involvement in this high-risk sample. Different aspects of parental alcohol involvement, along with early adolescent alcohol expectancies, independently predicted adolescent drinking behavior in middle adolescence. Alternative pathways for the influence of maternal and paternal alcohol involvement and implications for expectancy models of adolescent drinking behavior were discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Purposefully biased interactions: Reducing heterosocial anxiety through self-perception theory.

A treatment for heterosocial anxiety based on D. J. Bem's (1972) self-perception theory, involving use of prearranged, purposefully biased interactions with members of the opposite sex, was compared with an imaginal therapy technique and a no-treatment control group. In addition, Ss in treatment groups received either a positive or negative expectancy for treatment outcome. Instruments included the Situation Questionnaire and the State scale of the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory. Results for 80 heterosocially anxious college males indicate that although the imaginal technique had a highly significant effect on self-report measures when Ss had a positive expectancy, little happened if they had a negative expectancy. Moreover, the imaginal technique had little or no effect on behavioral and physiological measures with either expectancy condition. The biased interaction technique, unaffected by expectancy, caused significant changes in all 3 modes of responding and for both expectancy conditions. Results suggest that the biased interaction treatment, whereby the focus was on the observation of one's own successful performance in an area in which difficulty is normally encountered, was more effective for reducing anxiety than an imaginal technique in which the focus was on a client's internal states. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)