Values, valences, and course enrollment: Testing the role of personal values within an expectancy-valence framework.

This study was a test of hypotheses that concerned the enrollment decisions of 444 university students who enrolled in humanities, social science, or science courses at Flinders University in South Australia. The following predictions were developed within the framework of expectancy–value (valence) theory: (a) Enrollment decisions would be related to the subjective value (valence) that students assign to mathematics and English and to their self-concepts of ability in mathematics and English (assumed to relect expectations of success); (b) valence measures would be related to underlying value dimensions (restrictive control, intellectual orientation, and prosocial concern) derived from subjects' ratings of the 18 instrumental values from the Rokeach Value Survey; and (c) gender differences would occur in the responses of male and female students to the measures of values and valences. In general, the results supported these predictions. The findings are discussed in relation to previous research on gender differences in achievement patterns in mathematics and English and in relations to assumptions about relations between expectations and valences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of age and gender on perceived facial attractiveness.

Examined 2 alternative predictions: (1) that Ss would find others similar to themselves as most attractive or (2) that men would prefer younger women and women more mature men. 22 men and 25 women (aged 17–29 yrs), 16 men and 18 women (aged 30–49 yrs) and 18 men and 32 women (aged 50+ yrs) rated the physical attractiveness of 72 photographs of faces from similar age/gender categories. For all groups of Ss, perceived attractiveness declined with age of face, particularly for women's faces. In addition, most groups rated women's faces as more attractive than those of men, the exception being men under 30 yrs, who rated men higher. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mood, self-esteem, and simulated alternatives: Thought-provoking affective influences on counterfactual direction.

Four studies indicated that moods and self-esteem can influence counterfactual thoughts. This was shown for counterfactuals generated for hypothetical situations (Study 1), for recalled life events (Study 2), and for agreement with counterfactual statements after laboratory tasks (Studies 3 and 4). High self-esteem (HSE) and low self-esteem (LSE) persons generated (Studies 1 and 2) or agreed to (Studies 3 and 4) more downward (worse than actuality) than upward (better than actuality) counterfactuals when in good moods, but they diverged in reactions to bad moods: HSE persons thought more about downward counterfactuals, whereas LSE persons thought more about upward counterfactuals. HSE persons felt better after generating downward counterfactuals (Study 2) and took longer to agree to analogous statements (Studies 3 and 4) in bad moods, suggesting attempts at mood repair. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of certain counselor behaviors on perceived expertness and attractiveness.

Examined the effects and the relative contribution of 3 counselor behaviors (nonverbal behavior, jargon, and attire) on perceived expertness and attractiveness. In a factorial design, 120 undergraduates observed an interview with a counselor performing in 1 of 8 combinations of responsive or unresponsive nonverbal behavior, professional or layman's jargon, and formal or casual attire. Ss rated the perceived expertness and attractiveness of the counselor using the Counselor Rating Form. ANOVAs revealed that all 3 independent variables significantly affected the 2 rated dimensions. Nonverbal behavior accounted for most of the variance and differentially affected ratings of expertness and attractiveness, while jargon and attire were much inferior in their relative contribution to Ss' perceptions. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Symmetry and perceived facial attractiveness: A monozygotic co-twin comparison.

Symmetry is a major correlate of physical attractiveness across species, including humans. Investigating the nature of this relationship has been difficult, however, for several reasons, including the facts that variance in symmetry is attributable to more than one source and is often correlated with other variables related to attractiveness. This study assessed the role of facial symmetry in relation to perceptions of facial attractiveness. Some of the natural covariates of symmetry were controlled for by comparing the symmetry and attractiveness differentials between monozygotic co-twins, who are genetically, but not developmentally, identical. The more symmetric twin of a pair was consistently rated as more attractive, and the magnitude of the difference between twins in perceived attractiveness was directly related to the magnitude of the difference in symmetry. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nonverbal behavior and perceived counselor attractiveness and persuasiveness.

Investigated the perception of counselor attractiveness and persuasiveness through the expression of nonverbal behavior. Ss were 20 male and 20 female psychology undergraduates. 2 male and female counselors were trained to portray "affiliative" manner and "unaffiliative" manner. In a repeated measures design, Ss saw 4 different counselors and then rated them on scales measuring perceived attractiveness and persuasiveness. Results indicate that counselors in the affiliative manner condition were perceived as significantly more attractive and persuasive than counselors in the unaffiliative condition. Ss attributed greater attractiveness and persuasiveness to the same nonverbal cues encoded into the roles. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual preference similarity, attitude similarity, and perceived counseling credibility and attractiveness.

84 17–66 yr old homosexual men identified as holding either an activist or a nonactivist stance on gay advocacy rated the counselor's credibility and attractiveness on the Counselor Rating Form after listening to an audiotape-recorded segment of a counseling interview between a male counselor and a male client expressing sexual preference concerns. Ss heard the same counseling interaction except for counselor responses to 2 client questions, one related to counselor sexual preference and one related to counselor stance on gay advocacy. The counselor was rated more Expert, Trustworthy, and Attractive when he stated a sexual preference for men than when he stated a sexual preference for women or refrained from stating a sexual preference. Attractiveness ratings were a function of attitude similarity between the counselor portrayed on the tape recording and Ss in the study. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of age and gender on perceived facial attractiveness: A reply to McLellan and McKelvie.

Comments on B. McLellan and S. J. McKelvie's study (see record 1993-45212-001) investigating the effects of age and gender on attractiveness of photographs of faces. The results of this study are challenged in the context of sociobiological theory for the following reasons: (1) the implicit assumption that facial attractiveness can be used as an indicator of human mate choice is questionable; (2) age categories of Ss choosing photographs of faces were too broad to test the validity of a sociobiological hypothesis; and (3) results were not accurately interpreted. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in attractiveness of elected, rejected, and precluded alternatives: A comparison of happy and unhappy individuals.

In 3 studies the authors compared the responses of self-rated happy and unhappy students in situations involving choice. In Study 1, high school seniors evaluated colleges after applying for admission and then later after making their selections. Happy students tended to be more satisfied than unhappy ones with the colleges they ultimately chose and those they ultimately rejected, and they more sharply devalued the colleges that rejected them. Studies 2 and 3 dealt with postdecisional consequences of less consequential decisions about fancy desserts. In Study 2, unhappy participants sharply derogated the desserts they rejected or were denied, relative to those selected by or for them, whereas happy participants showed no such derogation. These group differences, moreover, proved to be largely independent of self-esteem and optimism. The design of Study 3 helped explicate underlying mechanisms by inducing both groups to distract themselves or to self-reflect. Doing so eliminated all group differences. Implications of the results for the link between cognitive processes and hedonic consequences are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work values: Genetic and environmental influences.

The Minnesota Importance Questionnaire (MIQ), measuring work values, was administered to 23 monozygotic and 20 dizygotic reared-apart twin pairs to test the hypothesis that genetic factors are associated with work values. Both univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. In the univariate analysis, intraclass correlations were computed to estimate the proportion of variability in work values associated with genetic factors for each of the 20 MIQ scales and for the 6 higher-order work value scales. The multivariate analysis used maximum likelihood estimation to separate the genetic and environmental factors for the correlated higher-order scales. Results from both analyses indicated that, on average, 40% of the variance in measured work values was related to genetic factors, whereas approximately 60% of the variance was associated with environmental factors and error variance. Implications for job enrichment and motivation theories are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tool use influences perceived shape and perceived parallelism, which serve as indirect measures of perceived distance.

Targets presented just beyond arm's reach look closer when observers intend to touch them with a reach-extending tool rather than without the tool. This finding is one of several that suggest that a person's ability to act influences perceived distance to objects. However, some critics have argued that apparent action effects were actually due to effects on the judgments rather than on the perception. In other words, the target does not actually look closer, but participants report that it is. To help counter this argument, the current experiments used an indirect measure of perceived distance: Participants reported perceived shape or perceived parallelism. The results revealed that triangles looked shorter and lines looked more horizontal to participants who reached with a tool, and therefore could reach the targets, than they did to participants who reached without the tool. These results demonstrate convergence across multiple types of judgments, a finding that undermines alternative, judgment-based accounts and suggests that the ability to reach an object changes the perceived distance to the object. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The dimensions underlying perceived attitudes: Liberalism and concern for traditional values.

Two studies identified and labeled the dimensions that people use to judge others' attitudes. In the 1st study, 50 male and 50 female undergraduates viewed pairs of attitude statements drawn from 1 or 2 large sets. For each pair of statements, Ss judged whether or not a person who agreed with one statement in the pair would be likely to agree with the other. The dimensions of liberalism and traditional values were found to underlie perceived attitudes. Validity was confirmed in a 2nd study with 60 male and 60 female undergraduates who rated the characteristics of hypothetical people who agreed strongly with particular statements. Results suggest that there is a common structure to people's perceptions of others' attitudes. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Environmental and genetic influences on dimensions of perceived parenting: A twin study.

Investigated determinants of E. S. Schaefer's (see record 1965-12269-001) 3 dimensions of perceived parenting by administering a shortened Children's Reports of Parental Behavior Inventory to 46 pairs of identical twins and 43 pairs of fraternal twins (mean age 17 yrs) residing with their natural parents. There were neither sex main effects nor Sex?×?Zygosity interactions. Although a significant difference between monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) correlations was observed for Acceptance vs Rejection (A–R), a test of the equal environments assumption showed that it was violated for this dimension. Unequal environments had a greater effect on perceptions of maternal A–R than on paternal A–R. MZ and DZ correlations for 2 other parenting dimensions, Firm vs Lax Control and Psychological Control vs Autonomy, were about equal and significant. Thus, with a possible exception of paternal A–R, environmental influences appear to be responsible for Ss' resemblance in perceptions of parenting behaviors. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of personal values, perceived surveillance, and task labels on task preference: The ideology of turning play into work.

In Exp I, with 34 male and 26 female undergraduates, Ss who endorsed the work ethic spent more free-choice time performing the target activity that had been labeled as work than did Ss who opposed the work ethic. The effect was eliminated or reversed if the activity had been labeled as a leisure pastime. Exp II, with 19 male and 21 female undergraduates, demonstrated that the relation between personal values and task preference was mediated in some Ss by a belief that the experimenter would know what they did, whereas other Ss seemed unaffected by that belief. Implications for intrinsic motivation and for attitude-behavior consistency are discussed. In particular, "turning play into work" by means of explicit labels may increase intrinsic motivation among persons who truly value work. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Values and assumptions about values and assumptions.

Responds to comments by I. A. M. Nicholson, E. H. McWhirter, D. R. Ramm, and R. N. Sollod (see records 1998-00122-009, 1998-00122-010, 1998-00122-011, and 1998-00122-012) regarding I. Prilleltensky's (see record 1997-04451-002) article on the moral implications of psychological discourse and action. It is stated that these 4 authors, by commenting in a respectful fashion, show that they share the value of mutual understanding and the assumption that the best way to make progress in a discussion is through dialogue rather than moral exclusion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of work values on job choice decisions.

Work values have been receiving increased research attention. E. C. Ravlin, B. M. Meglino, and their associates have recently conceptualized and provided measurement of work values. Although the effects of work values on job satisfaction, commitment, and individual decision making have been studied, work values have not been explicitly linked to job choice decisions. Using a sample of professional degree students and a policy-capturing design, the authors examined the influence of organizational work values on job choice in the context of job attributes that have been shown to affect this decision process. Organizational work values significantly affected job choice decisions. Individuals were more likely to choose jobs whose value content was similar to their own value orientation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Considering the best choice: Effects of the salience and accessibility of alternatives on attitude–decision consistency.

The authors examined how the presence or absence of specified alternatives influences which alternatives are considered and what choice is made. The accessibility of alternatives as a moderator of the correspondence between attitudes and decisions also was investigated. In Study 1, the accessibility of alternatives was an important determinant of choice when decision options were unspecified. The results of Studies 2 and 3 suggest that the potential for attitude-decision correspondence is high when (a) the decision context makes the alternatives salient or (b) alternatives are easily accessed from memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of personal liking, perceived ability, and value of prize on choice of partners for a competition.

"Ss who were told… that they had high ability at… [a] task were strongly inclined to choose partners who also had high skill, even though such choices meant abandoning their original personal preferences and working with their originally less preferred classmates." Monetary remuneration was seen to affect choice by these Ss. "Ss who were told they themselves had low skill scores continued to choose partners according to their original liking preferences, even though the monetary payoff increased." From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4GE98W. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)