Choosing friends as activity partners: The role of self-monitoring.

Two experiments with 105 undergraduates assessed the involvement of self-monitoring (SM) processes in friendship. Exp I focused on the differential considerations that are involved when high SM and low SM Ss choose friends as partners for leisure-time activities. High SM Ss chose friends as activity partners on the basis of their friends' particular skills in the activity domain. Low SM Ss chose friends as activity partners on the basis of general feelings of liking for their friends. Exp II examined the internal structures of the preferred social worlds of high SM Ss and low SM Ss. High SM Ss preferred relatively partitioned and compartmentalized social worlds in which they would engage in particular activities only with specific partners. Low SM Ss preferred relatively homogeneous and undifferentiated social worlds in which they would spend time with friends who were globally similar to them. Implications for understanding the processes by which individuals facilitate the enactment of their characteristic behavioral orientations, as well as for understanding the nature of friendship itself, are discussed. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in peer and parent influence during adolescence: Longitudinal versus cross-sectional perspectives on smoking initiation.

3,819 6th–11th graders were administered a questionnaire to explore whether the influence of peers or parents on smoking transition differed with age or sex. 69.7% of these Ss completed the questionnaire 1 yr later. Ss were divided into smoking-status groups based on their responses to a self-report smoking measure. Overall findings indicate that both peer and parent influences were significantly predictive of subsequent transitions to higher levels of smoking. Initial onset of smoking among never-smokers was more likely for Ss with more smoking friends and parents, lower levels of parental support, and friends with lower expectations for the Ss' general and academic success. For girls, the transition from experimental to regular smoking was more likely if their friends had more positive attitudes toward their smoking and lower expectations for their general and academic success; for boys, the transition was more likely if their friends had higher expectations for their success. Contrary to previous findings, data indicate that both parents and peers exert a significant influence on adolescent behavior. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychotherapy and friendship: An analysis of the communications of friends.

Conducted 2 studies to investigate communications that occur between friends, since it is often stated that psychotherapy is a type of friendship. In the 1st study, 14 pairs of friends (undergraduates) discussed personal problems. Empathic responses were infrequent in the repertoire of friends trying to be helpful, though such responses constituted a majority of the statements of model Rogerian therapists. In the 2nd study, 160 undergraduates responded to different forms of a questionnaire that presented a friend communicating with empathic, interrogative, expository, and mixed forms of response. Again, Ss indicated that empathic responses were infrequent in their friends' communications. Moreover, Ss indicated that they did not wish friends or therapists to communicate empathically but rather with expository statements. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of group cohesion on the behavioral treatment of smoking.

Investigated the influence of group cohesiveness on 2 multicomponent behavioral treatments of smoking by randomly assigning 72 Ss (mean age 36.4 yrs) to treatment according to an enriched vs standard cohesiveness?×?satiation vs nicotine fading treatment factorial design. Ss completed a brief demographic and smoking history questionnaire prior to treatment and were provided with pocket-sized record booklets to maintain a baseline record of smoking for 1 wk. Results show that enriched cohesiveness Ss scored higher on several indices of cohesion and tended to be more successful over a short term in modifying their smoking behavior. Despite the initial effects of cohesion, substantial relapse occurred in all conditions at follow-up. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Latent Growth Curve Analyses of Peer and Parent Influences on Smoking Progression Among Early Adolescents.

Social influences on smoking uptake were examined in latent growth curve analyses of data from 1,320 youths assessed 5 times during 6th to 9th grade. Initial smoking stage predicted increases in number of friends who smoked, indicating selection; however, initial number of friends who smoked did not predict smoking stage progression, indicating no significant effect of socialization. Associations over time among smoking stage progression, affiliation with friends who smoke, and parenting behaviors were significant, suggesting dynamic, reciprocal relationships. Parental involvement, monitoring, and expectations provided direct protective effects against smoking progression as well as indirect effects, by limiting increases in number of friends who smoke. These results are consistent with the peer selection hypothesis, confirm the powerful association over time of social influences with smoking, and provide the first evidence that parenting behavior may protect against smoking progression by limiting increases in number of friends who smoke. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maintenance of smoking cessation: Effect of follow-up letters, smoking motivation, muscle tension, and health locus of control.

Following smoking-cessation treatment, half of 44 Ss (22–58 yrs) were sent supportive maintenance letters. Letters produced no main effect but reduced smoking in Ss who smoked from habit or who received little pleasure from the sensorimotor stimulation of smoking, perhaps by increasing their awareness of smoking. Letters also reduced smoking in Ss with high muscle tension. Letters increased smoking among opposite S groups and in those believing powerful others could not influence their health. Independent of letter receipt, maintenance was enhanced by internal health locus of control (Multidimensional Health Locus of Control) and hampered by chance control expectancies. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Empathic accuracy in the interactions of male friends versus male strangers.

In unstructured interactions, male friends were found to be more accurate than male strangers in inferring each other's thoughts and feelings. Plausible reasons for this difference were that friends (1) interacted more and exchanged more information, (2) had more similar personalities and therefore more rapport with each other, and (3) had more detailed knowledge of each other's lives. Data confirmed that the friends did indeed interact more and were more similar in their sociability than the strangers; however, these differences did not account for the friends' greater empathic accuracy. Instead, this was primarily attributable to a difference in knowledge structures, namely, the friends' ability to accurately read their partners' thoughts and feelings about imagined events in another place or time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of group counseling on self-esteem.

Investigated the influence of group counseling on self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and hostility in 3 groups of adult women: 24 middle-class women; 9 women who received provincial social assistance (i.e., longer than 3 mo); and 15 who received city social assistance (i.e., less than 3 mo). All Ss completed pre- and posttests of the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale and the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List before and after a series of group counseling sessions on practical, personal, and social issues. Results show that the women receiving provincial social assistance had significant changes in the level of self-esteem; it is suggested that these women, nearly half of whom were either single or divorced (compared with Ss who received city social assistance who were almost all separated and the middle-class Ss who were almost all married), perceived a need change in their lives. Because of their relatively stable marital and financial status (i.e., husbands gone for some time and social assistance providing funds), they were not forced to spend a good deal of time in self-exploration and were consequently responsive to treatment. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physical disability, physical attractiveness, and social outcomes in children's small groups.

Examined the sociometric status of children with obvious physical handicaps in an integrated (approximately 70% Black, 20% Puerto Rican, and 10% White) summer camp setting containing 61 girls (aged 7.5–14 yrs) and 60 boys (aged 7.75–14 yrs). 23% of Ss had obvious physical handicaps (e.g., spinal injuries, limb deformities), and 33% had some form of chronic illness or physical condition (e.g., sickle cell anemia, pulmonary insufficiency). Ss were interviewed during the 3rd wk of camp on questions concerning who they liked best in their groups and how they made friends. In addition, 12 male and 12 female children from neighboring camps were shown full-body photographs of all Ss and asked to rate them for attractiveness. Results indicate that handicapped Ss were less preferred as friends than their able-bodied peers. Physical attractiveness was also related to sociometric standing, as well as to the presence or absence of a physical handicap. An analysis of the relationship between physical attractiveness and social status for Ss alone indicated that these variables were significantly related for this group. Significant differences were found between obviously handicapped and able-bodied Ss on a knowledge-of-friend-making task; but among the latter group, role-play scores did not differentiate high- from low-status Ss. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of perceived dependency relationships upon conformity to group expectations.

The study was designed to test the hypothesis that "group members perceiving themselves as interdependent for their reward attainment become highly motivated toward the group task." Results generally are in accord with several predictions, one of which is that: "Members of groups who are instrumentally interdependent become more highly motivated toward the group task than Ss who can achieve their goals independently of the others in the group." Another prediction supported by results is that: "Under conditions of instrumental independence, Ss who are told that both they and their teammates can attain a valued goal through the group activity become more highly task motivated than Ss who are told either that only S or Ss partner can attain this goal." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Responding to membership in a disadvantaged group: From acceptance to collective protest.

The question addressed is, when do disadvantaged-group members accept their situation, take individual action, or attempt to instigate collective action? Ss attempted to move from a low-status group into an advantaged, high-status group and were asked to respond to their subsequent rejection. Ss who believed that the high-status group was open to members of their group endorsed acceptance and individual actions. When access to the high-status group was restricted, even to the point of being almost closed (tokenism), Ss still preferred individual action. Disruptive forms of collective action were only favored by Ss who were told that the high-status group was completely closed to members of their group. Ss who believed they were near to gaining entry into the high-status group favored individual protest, while Ss distant from entry were more likely to accept their position. The theoretical and societal implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Friendship choice and performance: Self-evaluation maintenance in children.

Examined the interrelations among performance in school, friendship choices in the classroom, and the importance of various school-related activities for 270 5th- and 6th graders' self-definition, using the self-evaluation maintenance (SEM) model. Ss were administered the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, and 16 teachers rated Ss' performance. Ss named as friends those classmates whose performance (both actual and distorted) was better than their own on irrelevant activities and somewhat inferior to their own on relevant activities. There was also a striking similarity effect. Friends' overall performance was highly similar to the S's own overall performance, and both the Ss and friends performed better on the S's relevant activity than on the S's irrelevant activity. The performance of a distant other, in this case a disliked other, was derogated on both relevant and irrelevant activities. Results support the use of an SEM model and suggest that although friendship choices may indeed be governed by attempts to maintain a positive self-evaluation, individuals do not achieve this goal by choosing as friends those who perform poorly on personally relevant activities. Individuals choose as friends others who are highly similar to themselves in terms of overall ability and who are interested in and perform well on those activities that are consequential to them. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of prior group memberships on subsequent reconnaissance activities.

1,134 college freshmen completed an orientation questionnaire assessing their experiences in high school groups and expectations about college groups. 220 Ss were also interviewed later about their behavior toward campus groups at an activities fair. Ss whose experiences in high school groups were more positive tried harder to identify potentially desirable college groups, primarily because they believed that belonging to such groups would be useful for achieving personal goals. Ss with prior experience in relevant high school groups used that experience to evaluate similar college groups and thus made more realistic (less optimistic) evaluations of those groups than did Ss without prior experience. Among Ss who wanted to join a college group, those who had belonged to a relevant high school group behaved differently at the activities fair than did those who had not. Ss with prior experience were more likely to approach their chosen group at the activities fair and to avoid other groups there of a similar sort. (52 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Variability in peer group perceptions: Support for the "controversial" sociometric classification group.

Examined whether there would be greater variability in children's perceptions of Ss in a controversial group than in their perceptions of peers in other sociometric classification groups. 480 3rd–5th graders nominated 3 same-sex children as best friends and 3 same-sex children as least-liked peers and rated each of their same-sex peers on 8 social roles and a liking scale. On the basis of the sociometric nominations, Ss were identified as being of popular, average, neglected, rejected, or controversial sociometric status. The 8 social roles were grouped to form 3 clusters labeled aggression, prosociability, and withdrawal. Ss were assigned variability scores that were the standard deviation of the ratings they received from their peers. Consistent with their sociometric classification, controversial sociometric group Ss evidenced higher variability scores on the liking ratings and on the withdrawal and prosociability clusters. In addition to providing support for the controversial sociometric classification, these results suggest the possible value of considering variability measures in conjunction with traditional cumulative or central tendency measures of sociometric status. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transactional analysis of the reciprocal links between peer experiences and academic achievement from middle childhood to early adolescence.

This study tested a transactional model of reciprocal influences regarding students' peer experiences (peer acceptance, peer rejection, and friends' academic achievement) and students' academic achievement from middle childhood to early adolescence. This longitudinal model was tested on 452 students (198 girls), mostly Caucasian and French speaking, who were assessed yearly from Grades 2 through 7. Structural equation models revealed that, for boys and for girls, higher academic achievement predicted (a) increases in peer acceptance from Grades 2 through 6, (b) decreases in peer rejection from Grades 2 through 4 (through Grade 5 for girls), and (c) increases in friends' achievement from Grades 4 through 7. Also, rejection predicted decreases in academic achievement from Grades 3 through 5. These results suggest that academic achievement is a good predictor of peer group status in middle childhood and that high-achieving students start selecting each other as friends as they enter early adolescence. These data also suggest that peer rejection in childhood may disrupt future academic achievement. Possible mediating mechanisms, as well as peer selection and influences in the context of social development, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Close friend and group influence on adolescent cigarette smoking and alcohol use.

The relative influence of adolescents' closest friends and their friendship group on their cigarette smoking and alcohol use was investigated in a short-term, longitudinal study of 1,028 students in the 6th, 8th and 10th grades in 2 school systems. The amount of influence over the school year was modest in magnitude and came from the closest friend for initiation of cigarette and alcohol use. Only the friendship group use predicted transition into current cigarette use, whereas only the close friend use predicted transition into current alcohol use. Both group and close friends independently contributed to the prediction of adolescents' drinking to intoxication. No difference in the amount of influence, was found between stable and unstable close friendships or friendship groups; neither grade nor gender of the adolescents related to the amount of influence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social identification effects in group polarization.

Tested a model of group polarization derived from social identity theory, proposing that if group members conform to group norms, attitude polarization could occur only if group members perceive those norms as more extreme than they "objectively" are. In Exp I, 60 undergraduates perceived attitude-relevant information attributed to speakers who were categorized as a group as representing a more extreme position of the issue than when the same information was attributed to noncategorized individuals. Attitude polarization occurred when Ss believed the information came from their in-group. As predicted, this polarization resulted from Ss' adoption of the "extremitized" in-group norm. In Exp II, categorization was manipulated by focusing 42 Ss on their group performance or on their individual performance. When Ss were focused on their group membership, group norms were perceived as more extreme, and attitude polarization due to conformity to these extremitized norms occurred. When Ss were focused on their individual performance, no extremitization occurred, and attitudes shifted to a more neutral position on the issue. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of smoking outside workplaces on non-regular smokers

The introduction of workplace smoking bans has resulted in smokers smoking outside their workplaces (exiled smoking). Social identity theory postulates that this may cause antagonism between smokers and non-smokers, or where non-smokers were friends with smokers, pressure on non-smokers to smoke. This study examines perceptions and beliefs about exiled smoking in 166 non-smoking workers. They saw smokers as having a work benefit not available to them, but otherwise they were generally not drawn to the activity. Half had joined smokers outside for breaks, but of these only one-third had ever smoked. Those would smoked reported that they did not have a regular pattern of joining the same group of smokers. Although it may provide a conduit for susceptible non-smokers to take up smoking, exiled smoking does not appear to influence those who are not otherwise vulnerable.