Low adolescent self-esteem leads to multiple interpersonal problems: A test of social-adaptation theory.

Reports the results of a study that annually monitored the self-esteem and interpersonal problems of over 100 male students during their sophomore, junior, and senior years of high school. Cross-lagged panel correlation differences show that low self-esteem led to interpersonal problems in all 3 time lags when multiple interpersonal problems constituted the dependent variable but not when single interpersonal problem criteria constituted the dependent variable. Results support social-adaptation theory rather than self-perception theory. Implications for the conceptual status of personality variables as causal antecedents and for the assessment of individual differences are discussed. (57 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social exchange theory: An integrative approach to social conformity.

Theoretical and research studies of social conformity are reviewed and integrated through a revised social exchange model. The concept of utility is discarded from the basic economic model in favor of a revealed preference, and this approach is then applied to the existing work on social conformity and approval. The behavior of Ss in conformity and approval studies is assumed to reflect a preference in the manner done in economics. Predictions made from the exchange model are found to be consistent with the existing knowledge about conformity. It is concluded that exchange theory provides a useful vehicle for data integration and generation of new hypotheses about social conformity. The model allows for the process of social conformity to be considered in dynamic terms, treating the influence source and influenced person simultaneously. (7 p. ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive resource theory: Issues for specifying a test of the theory.

F. E. Fiedler et al (see record 1992-34884-001) raise a variety of objections to a study by R. P. Vecchio (see record 1990-17057-001), which addressed the 7 propositions of cognitive resource theory. Their objections, which are essentially based on reservations offered in the article itself, reflect overstatement and are largely unfounded. This article examines each of their objections and reiterates areas that deserve further refinement. Future research related to cognitive resource theory will benefit from a consideration of the original points raised in the author's earlier article. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A prospective test of an integrative interpersonal theory of depression: A naturalistic study of college roommates.

This study tested an integrated interpersonal theory of depression, which combines J. C. Coyne's (1976) interpersonal theory of depression with work on the interplay between self-enhancement and self-consistency theory. Students' (targets') and their same-gender roommates' appraisals of each other, depression and anxiety levels, reassurance seeking, and negative feedback seeking were assessed at Time 1 (T1), and again at Time 2 (T2), 3 wks later. Consistent with the theoretical integration (1) depressed targets reported engaging in more negative feedback seeking than nondepressed targets, and tended to report seeking more reassurance than nondepressed targets at T1; (2) for male (but not female) targets, the combination of negative feedback seeking, high reassurance seeking, and depression at T1 predicted T1 to T2 increases in rejection by roommates; and (3) rejection effects applied to depressive symptoms, but not anxious symptoms or anhedonic mood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interactional approach to interpersonal attraction.

Believing they were exchanging attitude surveys with a stranger, 270 undergraduates of high or low self-esteem (Texas Social Behavior Inventory) were randomly assigned to 0, 50, or 100% attitude similarity conditions. They indicated on the Interpersonal Judgment Scale their attraction to the stranger and estimates of the stranger's probable attraction to them. Attitude similarity significantly affected Ss' attraction to the stranger and estimates of strangers' attraction to the S. Ss closely approximated predictions of D. Byrne and D. Nelson's (1965) formula in estimating attraction from the stranger. Moreover, attitude similarity influenced goodness of fit between formula predictions and attraction estimates and influenced assumptions about attraction reciprocity. Self-esteem did not influence attraction to the stranger or expected attraction from the stranger. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relation of reward contingency and interpersonal context to intrinsic motivation: A review and test using cognitive evaluation theory.

Reviews recent experimental literature on reward contingency effects on intrinsic motivation. Agreement emerges among investigators for most contingency effects when experimental procedures use standard terminology. However, some discrepancies are apparent, especially with respect to performance-contingent effects that both increased and decreased intrinsic motivation relative to task-contingent effects. These discrepancies are discussed in terms of cognitive evaluation theory (E. L. Deci and R. M. Ryan, 1980). An integration of the various effects was tested using 96 college students working on a puzzle-solving activity for whom various reward conditions were in effect. Results of the study and review suggest that it is the relative salience of controlling and informational aspects of rewards that mediate the contingency effects. The importance of the interpersonal context of reward administration for the facilitation or undermining of intrinsic motivation is underscored. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Guilt: An interpersonal approach.

Multiple sets of empirical research findings on guilt are reviewed to evaluate the view that guilt should be understood as an essentially social phenomenon that happens between people as much as it happens inside them. Guilt appears to arise from interpersonal transactions (including transgressions and positive inequities) and to vary significantly with the interpersonal context. In particular, guilt patterns appear to be strongest, most common, and most consistent in the context of communal relationships, which are characterized by expectations of mutual concern. Guilt serves various relationship-enhancing functions, including motivating people to treat partners well and avoid transgressions, minimizing inequities and enabling less powerful partners to get their way, and redistributing emotional distress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Premises of interpersonal theory.

Premises of interpersonal theory are elucidated in order to crystallize its foundations and to point up the utility of discussing psychoanalytic theory on the level of premises. In regard to human psychology, interpersonal theory assumes an inextricable interpenetration of biology and external influences. It therefore questions assigning biology or "biologized" concepts predominance in explaining meaning or the contents of the mind. Biology is implicated in many interpersonal concepts, but not in the form implied in such concepts as drive or inherently arising endogenous states. Rather than an unfolding general nature, interpersonal theory assumes an outcome emerging from the interaction of manifold biological potentials with complex social influences. Such a perspective implies further assumptions about human impressibility, social determinism, psycho/social multidimensionality, complexity, and uniqueness. These assumptions lead to a focus on individual psychology, on character, for example, rather than general psychology, and on holistic/field conceptions of causality rather than the causal linkage of relatively isolated dimensions. ... (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teaching interpersonal relationship skills on campus: A pyramid approach.

Compared interpersonal communication skills training groups led by undergraduate paraprofessional leaders using an interpersonal-process-recall videotape-feedback model with groups using a limited structure encounter group model and no treatment control groups. 16 leaders were used in each type of training group. Interpersonal communication skills were measured in a posttest design with the Personal Orientation Inventory, Affective Sensitivity Scale, and 2 measures of peer relationships (e.g., Wisconsin Relationship Orientation Survey). Participants in the videotape feedback groups (n = 8 in each group) scored significantly higher than did the encounter or control groups. Further applications of the training model for use by paraprofessionals are considered. (23 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A social relations model test of the interpersonal circle.

Argues that D. J. Kiesler's (see record 1983-30243-001) interpersonal circle theory of structure of relationships does not provide a method to distinguish between the influence of individual differences and relationship specific effects. It is suggested that D. A. Kenny and L. LaVoie's (1984) social relations model separates these effects but lacks a comprehensive guide for which domains of interpersonal behavior to study. The present authors use the social relations model to test Kiesler's proposition that complimentarity on the affiliation dimension results in correspondence, whereas complimentarity on the control dimension results in reciprocity. Round-robin analyses of variance (ANOVAs) of 16 graduate students' ratings of each other in experiential groups revealed clear support for correspondence on the affiliation dimension but inconclusive results for reciprocity on the control dimension. Making a bridge between the interpersonal circle and the social relations model highlights the potential importance of 3 perspectives toward relationships: 2 kinds of individual differences across relationships, 1-sided relationship specific effects, and mutual relationship specific effects. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A dissonance theory approach to defensive projection.

It was hypothesized that cognitive dissonance involving the self-concept leads to the use of projection to reduce the dissonance. Ss were given personality tests, and instead of true results received falisified data indicating favorable or unfavorable personality traits—thereby raising or lowering their self-esteem. In the presence of another S, Ss were shown pictures of men and were told this would be an indicator of their latent homosexuality; GSRs were supported to reflect their degree of anxiety. Ss were asked to estimate the reaction of the other S; Ss with high self-esteem tended to attribute a greater degree of responsiveness of the other S to the pictures. The relationship of psychoanalytic and dissonance theory is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A taxonomic approach to Perls's Gestalt theory.

Applied content analysis and cluster analysis to the ideas of F. Perls to develop a taxonomy of Gestalt processes and goals. L. L. McQuitty's classification by multiple linkages method generated 3 goal clusters and 2 process clusters. The goal clusters were titled (a) the organism and environment, (b) self-awareness, and (c) maturation and autonomy. The process clusters were (a) skillful frustration of the client, and (b) the here-and-now. Summaries of the typal groups or clusters are presented, and the implications of taxonomic research in counseling are discussed. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Equity theory and interpersonal attraction.

To test for the effects of high and low interpersonal attraction in conjunction with overpaid, equitably paid, and underpaid forms of compensation, a 2?×?3 factorial experiment was conducted with 66 short-term employees. Interpersonal attraction was induced by providing employees with information that a coworker possessed highly similar versus dissimilar attitudes. Three levels of piece-rate compensation were created for performing a proofreading task (underpaid, 50 cents per page; equitably paid, 75 cents per page; and overpaid, $1.00 per page). Dependent measures included quantity and quality of performance, and indexes of job satisfaction. The results replicated past findings of equity restoration responses (i.e., participants altered quantity and quality of performance to achieve equity) and identified significant interactions for interpersonal attraction and forms of compensation. Coupled with past findings in the attraction literature, the nature of these interactions suggests that interpersonal attraction may play an important role in determining employee equity restoration responses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relational self: An interpersonal social-cognitive theory.

The authors propose an interpersonal social-cognitive theory of the self and personality, the relational self, in which knowledge about the self is linked with knowledge about significant others, and each linkage embodies a self-other relationship. Mental representations of significant others are activated and used in interpersonal encounters in the social-cognitive phenomenon of transference (S. M. Andersen & N. S. Glassman, 1996), and this evokes the relational self. Variability in relational selves depends on interpersonal contextual cues, whereas stability derives from the chronic accessibility of significant-other representations. Relational selves function in if-then terms (W. Mischel & Y. Shoda, 1995), in which ifs are situations triggering transference, and thens are relational selves. An individual's repertoire of relational selves is a source of interpersonal patterns involving affect, motivation, self-evaluation, and self-regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A learning theory approach to research in schizophrenia.

"An attempt has been made to view schizophrenia as a problem in learning theory. The research in conditioning, learning, and generalization in schizophrenia has been reviewed in these terms. It was found that this research supported such an interpretation. An explication of the causes of an acute schizophrenic break and the transition to chronicity was attempted." 79 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The coordinating style construct: An approach to conceptualizing patient interpersonal behavior.

Defines coordinating style as how a patient coordinates contributions to an interaction with an interviewer's contributions and the patient's own contributions at other points in time (i.e., does the patient build on what the therapist says and allow the therapist to respond to what the patient contributes to an exchange?). The construct's psychometric properties were investigated based on assessments of intake interview behavior and improvement in brief action-oriented therapy of 30 outpatients (aged 19–58 yrs). Results indicate that coordinating style can be measured reliably, and they provide support for the construct's convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity and relevance for the establishment of a productive therapeutic relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)