On Broadening the Cognitive, Motivational, and Sociostructural Scope of Theorizing About Gender Development and Functioning: Comment on Martin, Ruble, and Szkrybalo (2002).

In their article on gender development, C. L. Martin, D. N. Ruble, and J. Szkrybalo (see record 2002-18663-003) contrasted their conception of gender development with that of social cognitive theory. The authors of this commentary correct misrepresentations of social cognitive theory and analyze the conceptual and empirical status of Martin et al.'s (2002) theory that gender stereotype matching is the main motivating force of gender development. Martin et al. (2002) based their claim for the causal primacy of gender self-categorization on construal of gender discrimination as rudimentary self-identity, equivocal empirical evidence, and dismissal of discordant evidence because of methodological deficiencies. The repeated finding that gendered preferences and behavior precede emergence of a sense of self is discordant with their theory. Different lines of evidence confirm that gender development and functioning are socially situated, richly contextualized, and conditionally manifested rather than governed mainly by an intrinsic drive to match stereotypic gender self-conception. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Causal models and the acquisition of category structure.

This article proposes that learning of categories based on cause-effect relations is guided by causal models. In addition to incorporating domain-specific knowledge, causal models can be based on knowledge of such general structural properties as the direction of the causal arrow and the variability of causal variables. Five experiments tested the influence of common-cause models and common-effect models on the ease of learning linearly separable and nonlinearly separable categories. The results show that causal models guide the interpretation of otherwise identical learning inputs, and that learning difficulty is determined by the fit between the structural implications of the causal models and the structure of the learning domain. These influences of the general properties of causal models were obtained across several different content domains, including domains for which subjects lacked prior knowledge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Person categories and social perception: Testing some boundaries of the processing effect of prior knowledge.

Investigated whether stereotypic knowledge would influence social perception in a more realistic setting. In Exp I, 96 undergraduates watched a videotape of a target woman identified either as a waitress or a librarian; Ss more accurately remembered features of the woman that were consistent with their prototype of a waitress (librarian) than features that were inconsistent. The prototype-consistency effect did not interact with the delay time before recognition memory was assessed. In Exp III, 56 Ss learned the occupational information either before or after watching the tape. The prototype-consistency effect from Exp I was replicated. In addition, knowing the target's occupation while watching her led to increased accuracy for both consistent and inconsistent information. The probable role of both encoding and retrieval processes in contributing to this effect is noted. Perceivers' stereotypic prior knowledge influenced their memory of a target person's behavior even in a realistic person-perception situation. Conditions that favor the memorability of consistent vs inconsistent information are discussed. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

One thing follows another: Effects of temporal structure on 1- to 2-year-olds' recall of events.

Investigated whether recall of events by children under 2 years of age is similar to that of older preschoolers and adults. Experiment 1 used elicited-imitation to test 16- and 20-month-olds' immediate and delayed recall (2-week delay) of familiar and novel events. Ordered recall at immediate and delayed test was superior for familiar events and for novel events with causal relations among the elements; ordered recall of novel events lacking causal relations was significantly lower. Experiment 2 tested children's sensitivity to differences in underlying structure of novel events. Nineteen-, 25-, and 31-month-olds organized recall around causal relations, in spite of experimental manipulations that interrupted causally connected pairs of elements. The experiments provide clear evidence that, like preschoolers and adults, children as young as 16 months include temporal order information in their representations of both familiar novel events and that the causal structure of novel events influences their recall. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and mental representation of stereotypes.

A mixed model of stereotype representation was tested. Experiment 1 examined the development of stereotypes about novel groups. Results showed that, at low levels of experience, stereotypic group knowledge is derived from information about particular group exemplars. However, as experience increases, an abstract group stereotype is formed that is stored and retrieved independently of the exemplars on which it was based. Results of Experiment 2 suggest that preexisting stereotypes about well-known groups are represented as abstract structures in memory. These results indicate that stereotypical knowledge is most likely to be exemplar-based in the absence of abstract stereotypes. The implications of these findings for other aspects of stereotyping and social perception are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex stereotypes and social judgment.

Tested the assumption that sexual stereotypic beliefs affect the judgments of individuals in an experiment with 98 male and 97 female undergraduates. No evidence was found for effects of stereotypes on Ss' judgments about a target individual. Instead, Ss judgments were strongly influenced by behavioral information about the target. To explain these results, it is noted that the predicted effects of social stereotypes on judgments conform to Bayes' theorem for the normative use of prior probabilities in judgment tasks, inasmuch as stereotypic beliefs may be regarded as intuitive estimates for the probabilities of traits in social groups. Research in the psychology of prediction has demonstrated that people often neglect prior probabilities when making predictions about people, especially when they have individuating information about the person that is subjectively diagnostic of the criterion. An implication of this research is that a minimal amount of subjectively diagnostic target case information should be sufficient to eradicate effects of stereotypes on judgments. Results of a 2nd experiment with 75 female and 55 male undergraduates support this argument. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual preference biases in counseling: An information processing approach.

Used an illusory correlation paradigm to measure the effect of stereotyping by mental health professionals on processing information about individuals identified according to sex and sexual preference (SP). 34 23–58 yr old mental health professionals (17 males and 17 females) rated themselves on an SP scale, were presented a series of cards that identified hypothetical persons according to sex and SP, and ascribed to these persons 2 randomly selected stereotypic characteristics associated with 1 of the SP groups. After studying the cards, Ss were asked to make judgments about the relationship between SP and sex and the stereotypic characteristics. Fewer errors were made on those items for which a stereotypic response was congruent with prevailing stereotypes than on those items for which the stereotypic response was incongruent, indicating that stereotyping did affect the processing of information relative to the sex and SP group. Ss had more difficulty correctly processing information attributed to gay men and lesbian women than information attributed to heterosexual men and women. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of instruction in narrative structure on children's writing.

Examined the possibility that direct instruction in story constituents and their interrelations could enhance 4th-grade children's organization in story writing. Whether the special instruction might affect quality, coherence, use of temporal and causal relations, and creativity in writing was also examined. 19 4th graders who scored at a low level on measures of knowledge of narrative structure were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 treatments—instruction in knowledge of story structure or instruction in dictionary-word study. The instruction included a short-term, intensive phase with 6 sessions during 2 wks and a long-term, intermittent phase with 10 sessions during 5 wks. Instruction in narrative structure had a strong positive effect on organization in storywriting and also enhanced quality. There were no differential effects of the 2 treatments on coherence, use of temporal or causal links in writing, or creativity. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pragmatic use of stereotyping in teamwork: Social loafing and compensation as a function of inferred partner–situation fit.

Using 4 experiments, the authors examined how stereotypic information about teammates influences social loafing and compensation during collective tasks. In each experiment, participants performed better on cognitive tasks when there was a poor (vs. good) fit between the stereotypic strengths of their partner and the requirements of the task. This pattern. occurred whether participants used gender stereotypes (Experiment 1) or occupational stereotypes (Experiments 2 to 4) and occurred even when participants only anticipated working on a collective task (Experiment 4). In Experiment 3, the pattern occurred only in the collective (not in the coactive) condition, providing direct evidence for social loafing. Together, these results suggest that people use stereotypes to tune their motivation to optimize the ratio of their own individual effort to the team's expected output. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Property transmission: An explanatory account of the role of similarity information in causal inference.

Many kinds of common and easily observed causal relations exhibit property transmission, which is a tendency for the causal object to impose its own properties on the effect object. It is proposed that property transmission becomes a general and readily available hypothesis used to make interpretations and judgments about causal questions under conditions of uncertainty, in which property transmission functions as a heuristic. The property transmission hypothesis explains why and when similarity information is used in causal inference. It can account for magical contagion beliefs, some cases of illusory correlation, the correspondence bias, overestimation of cross-situational consistency in behavior, nonregressive tendencies in prediction, the belief that acts of will are causes of behavior, and a range of other phenomena. People learn that property transmission is often moderated by other factors, but under conditions of uncertainty in which the operation of relevant other factors is unknown, it tends to exhibit a pervasive influence on thinking about causality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Human agency in social cognitive theory.

The present article examines the nature and function of human agency within the conceptual model of triadic reciprocal causation. In analyzing the operation of human agency in this interactional causal structure, social cognitive theory accords a central role to cognitive, vicarious, self-reflective, and self-regulatory processes. The issues addressed concern the psychological mechanisms through which personal agency is exercised, the hierarchical structure of self-regulatory systems, eschewal of the dichotomous construal of self as agent and self as object, and the properties of a nondualistic but nonreductional conception of human agency. The relation of agent causality to the fundamental issues of freedom and determinism is also analyzed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The prejudiced personality revisited: Personal need for structure and formation of erroneous group stereotypes.

Two studies explored the relation between personal need for structure (PNS) and a reasoning process through which stereotypes may form. Participants viewed information about the performance of group members on intelligence-related tasks and then indicated their inference strategies and impressions of the groups. Results indicated that high-PNS participants were more likely than low-PNS participants to form erroneous group stereotypes. Individual differences in attributional complexity and need for cognition also predicted stereotype formation under some conditions. The effects of PNS and other cognitive personality variables were weakened under conditions in which participants believed that they would have to justify their impressions publicly. Discussion focuses on processes underlying the relation between PNS and stereotype formation and on relations among personality, social context, and social inference. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Out of mind but back in sight: Stereotypes on the rebound.

For a variety of reasons, social perceivers may often attempt to actively inhibit stereotypic thoughts before their effects impinge on judgment and behavior. However, research on the psychology of mental control raises doubts about the efficacy of this strategy. Indeed, this work suggests that when people attempt to suppress unwanted thoughts, these thoughts are likely to subsequently reappear with even greater insistence than if they had never been suppressed (i.e., a "rebound" effect). The present research comprised an investigation of the extent to which this kind of rebound effect extends to unwanted stereotypic thoughts about others. The results provide strong support for the existence of this effect. Relative to control Ss (i.e., stereotype users), stereotype suppressors responded more pejoratively to a stereotyped target on a range of dependent measures. We discuss our findings in the wider context of models of mind, thought suppression, and social stereotyping. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethnic bias in counseling: An information processing approach.

Used an illusory correlation paradigm to measure the impact of counselor trainee stereotyping on the processing of information about ethnic groups. 13 Anglo-American and 7 ethnic-minority graduate students in counseling psychology were presented the following information relative to hypothetical persons: stereotypic characteristics, ethnicity, and blood type (a neutral stimulus). Ss were subsequently asked to make judgments about the relationship between ethnicity and stereotypic characteristics as well as between blood type and stereotypic characteristics. Both populations made nearly the same number of errors on the ethnicity items as on blood type items. However, the Anglo-American group made fewer errors on those items for which a stereotypic response was correct than on those items for which the stereotypic response was incorrect, indicating that stereotyping did affect the processing of information relative to ethnicity. This phenomenon was not present for the ethnic-minority group. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the nature of self-monitoring: Matters of assessment, matters of validity.

Notes that an extensive network of empirical relations has been identified in research on the psychological construct of self-monitoring. Nevertheless, in recent years some concerns have been expressed about the instrument used for the assessment of self-monitoring propensities, the Self-Monitoring Scale (SMS) developed by the 1st author (see record 1975-03047-001). Both the extent to which the SMS taps an interpretable and meaningful causal variable and the extent to which the self-monitoring construct provides an appropriate theoretical understanding of this causal variable have been questioned. An examination of reanalyses of studies of self-monitoring, analyses of the internal structure of the SMS, and further relevant data suggests that the measure does tap a meaningful and interpretable causal variable with pervasive influences on social behavior, a variable reflected as a general self-monitoring factor. The evaluation and furthering of the interpretation of this latent causal variable are discussed, criteria for evaluating alternative measures of self-monitoring are offered, and a new 18-item SMS is presented. (88 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Causal status and coherence in causal-based categorization.

Research has documented two effects of interfeature causal knowledge on classification. A causal status effect occurs when features that are causes are more important to category membership than their effects. A coherence effect occurs when combinations of features that are consistent with causal laws provide additional evidence of category membership. In this study, we found that stronger causal relations led to a weaker causal status effect and a stronger coherence effect (Experiment 1), that weaker alternative causes led to stronger causal status and coherence effects (Experiment 2), and that “essentialized” categories led to a stronger causal status effect (Experiment 3), albeit only for probabilistic causal links (Experiment 4). In addition, the causal status effect was mediated by features' subjective category validity, the probability they occur in category members. These findings were consistent with a generative model of categorization but inconsistent with an alternative model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning a theory of causality.

The very early appearance of abstract knowledge is often taken as evidence for innateness. We explore the relative learning speeds of abstract and specific knowledge within a Bayesian framework and the role for innate structure. We focus on knowledge about causality, seen as a domain-general intuitive theory, and ask whether this knowledge can be learned from co-occurrence of events. We begin by phrasing the causal Bayes nets theory of causality and a range of alternatives in a logical language for relational theories. This allows us to explore simultaneous inductive learning of an abstract theory of causality and a causal model for each of several causal systems. We find that the correct theory of causality can be learned relatively quickly, often becoming available before specific causal theories have been learned—an effect we term the blessing of abstraction. We then explore the effect of providing a variety of auxiliary evidence and find that a collection of simple perceptual input analyzers can help to bootstrap abstract knowledge. Together, these results suggest that the most efficient route to causal knowledge may be to build in not an abstract notion of causality but a powerful inductive learning mechanism and a variety of perceptual supports. While these results are purely computational, they have implications for cognitive development, which we explore in the conclusion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

After the facts: Psychology and the study of gender.

Over the past 30 years, psychologists have developed diverse approaches for studying women and gender. One approach, the study of gender differences, assesses the attributes and characteristics of men and women. A second approach conceptualizes gender not in terms of individual difference, but in contextual terms. It focuses attention on social relations, interactive processes, and linguistic practices which structure relations between men and women. Some workers have drawn on qualitative and discursive approaches to explore the processes and practices that produce gender. A third approach, which the author calls feminist skepticism, draws upon postmodern thought and critical psychology. It views psychology and cultural life as mutually constitutive, and examines psychology as a cultural artifact. Workers have also explored how the social relations and work conditions in the field have shaped knowledge. Feminist psychology has yielded a rich body of knowledge about gender, innovative modes of inquiry, and new understandings about psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)