Attributes and attributions: Inferring stimulus properties, actors' dispositions, and causes.

Actors' and observers' use of sample base-rate data was explored in 3 experiments with a total of 176 undergraduates. Observers used sample base rates to infer the properties of actors' environments and, by comparing actors' behaviors with sample performance, the actors' attributes. Actors, on the other hand, ignored sample base rates when inferring the properties of stimuli to which they were responding but, surprisingly, used base rates to infer their own attributes. Observers' causal attributions were more sensitive to base-rate information than were actors'. In Exps I and II, actors attributed their behavior to environmental properties even though their behavior was always discrepant from that of the sample. Observers, on the other hand, attributed actors' nonnormative behavior to actors' dispositions. In Exp III, observers attributed actors' behavior more to stimulus attributes and less to actors' attributes when the behavior was similar to (normative) rather than discrepant from (nonnormative) that of the sample. Actors' attributions were not influenced by the consensus manipulation. Data are discussed in terms of the research and theory on the informativeness of consensus. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acting, behaving, and the selfless basis of metaperception.

The desire to create a particular impression of oneself to others is a fundamental interpersonal motive that should be followed by an assessment of the success of the self-presentation. The authors integrate the areas of self-presentation and metaperception in the present research by assigning participants to enact roles during 2 dyadic interactions and measuring the actors' metaperceptions and their partners' trait judgments. They found a high level of accuracy in actors' metaperceptions but no accuracy in partners' trait judgments of the actors. Instead, partners' trait judgments corresponded closely to the actors' interpersonal behavior, indicating that there was little or no "personality leakage" in the actors' behavior. Random assignment to role created a situation in which private self was uncorrelated with public self. Results indicate that actors were able to disregard their self-concepts when determining the impressions they created. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrating dispositions, signatures, and the interpersonal domain.

A person's behavior across situations can be characterized in terms of a mean level (disposition), a dispersion within the person around that mean level, and a stable organization to the pattern of dispersion (signature). The authors' goals were to examine the structure and stability of behavior, both at the level of behavioral dispositions and at the level of behavioral signatures. Participants completed event-contingent records of their social interactions over a 20-day period. Participants recorded their own social behavior (dominant, agreeable, submissive, quarrelsome) in 4 situations defined by the perceived social behavior of their primary interaction partners (agreeable-dominant, agreeable-submissive, quarrelsome- submissive, quarrelsome-dominant). Findings suggest that (a) once the normative influences of situations on behavior are removed, the remaining behavioral variation reflects both consistent cross-situational differences between individuals (dispositions) and consistent situational differences within individuals (signatures); (b) both dispositions and signatures display a 2-dimensional structure in adherence to the interpersonal circle; and (c) both dispositions and signatures constitute stable aspects of personality functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The bias phenomenon in attitude attribution: Actor and observer perspectives.

Research has shown that observers infer correspondent attitudes from behavior that is externally constrained. The present study, with 366 undergraduates, examined (a) the degree to which actors anticipated observers' (Os') manifestation of this bias, (b) the effect of presenting constraint information directly from the actor as compared to the experimenter's instructions, and (c) the relationship between constraint experienced by the actor and the persuasiveness of essays produced under different constraint levels. Essay writers clearly predicted that Os would infer correspondent attitudes even when the position had been randomly assigned to the writer. This was true, to a diminished extent, when the writer was under genuinely high constraint. When actors expected Os to have precise information regarding their actual constraint, they anticipated that Os would recognize the attributional implications of such information. Data from Os corroborated the actors' predictions. When Os were not given this information, their attributions were based solely on essay content and indicated no recognition of the different freedom levels experienced by the essay writers. Essays written under different constraint levels were judged by Os to be generally of similar and fairly respectable persuasiveness. It is suggested that the bias phenomenon may be a consequence of presenting Os with essays more persuasive than they expect from a writer who in fact disagrees with the assignment. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Components and recognition of facial expression in the communication of emotion by actors.

Addresses the issue of the communication of emotion by actors. In Study 1, the facial behavior of 6 actors portraying emotions as felt or unfelt were analyzed with the Facial Action Coding System. Results indicated that the portrayals of felt emotions were closer to the expression of genuine emotion than the portrayals of unfelt emotions for 3 of the 6 emotions under investigation. Study 2 examined the decoding of actors' portrayals from facial behavior. Decoders were found to be very accurate in recognizing the emotional category but not in judging the encoding condition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Actor–observer differences in information inference and causal attribution.

Conducted 2 experiments with 144 undergraduates to assess (a) differences in the information available to persons trying to understand the causes of their own behavior (actors) vs those trying to understand the causes of another's behavior (observers) and (b) the effects of information differences on causal explanations. In Exp I, actors reported positive behaviors to be less distinctive and more consistent with past behavior than did observers, whereas the reverse was true for negative behaviors. Consistent with this difference, actors attributed desirable behaviors more to their own internal dispositions than did observers, whereas the opposite occurred for undesirable behaviors. In Exp II, when all Ss were given the consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency information generated by actors in Exp I, both actors and observers attributed positive acts more to internal factors than negative acts. When given the information generated by the observers, neither actors nor observers exhibited this bias. Thus, when given the same information, actors and observers no longer showed differences in causal explanations. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptions of peer pressure, peer conformity dispositions, and self-reported behavior among adolescents.

Two samples, consisting of a total of 1,027 6th–12th graders from separate communities, were given measures of peer conformity dispositions (willingness to accede to peer pressure), perceptions of peer pressure, and self-reported frequency of behavior concerning 2 major aspects of teenage life: peer involvement (degree of socializing with friends) and misconduct (drug/alcohol use, sexual intercourse, and minor delinquent behavior). Results indicate that Ss perceived less peer pressure toward misconduct than peer involvement and also were comparatively less willing to follow peers in misconduct. Nevertheless, perceived peer pressure and conformity disposition accounted for more of the variance in self-reported misconduct than in self-reported peer involvement. Age differences were modest and varied among measures and samples. The samples also differed in the magnitude of perceived pressures and conformity dispositions as well as in the degree to which these variables were associated with self-reported behavior. It is concluded that the findings reveal a complexity in adolescent conformity that bears elaboration in future research. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prosocial behavior, noncompliant behavior, and work performance among commission salespeople.

In this study I identified two types of nontask behavior, prosocial and noncompliant, and tested some of their antecedents as well as their relation to work outcomes. Prosocial behavior represented nontask behaviors that benefited the organization, and noncompliant behavior represented nontask behaviors that were dysfunctional to the organization, as rated by supervisors. Need for achievement, satisfaction with material rewards, and low perceived peer competition were related to prosocial behavior. Low need for achievement and low confidence in management were related to noncompliant behavior. Noncompliant behavior was negatively associated with performance, but prosocial behavior was nonsignificant when noncompliant behavior was controlled. A dual-factor theory (Herzberg, 1966) of nontask behavior is proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Awareness of influences on one's own judgments: The roles of covariation detection and attention to the judgment process.

Forty-eight actor participants examined profiles of target persons and judged how much they would like each target. Initial-attention actors were instructed before judging any of the profiles to attend to how target factors influenced their liking judgments. Delayed-attention actors received these instructions after judging the first block of profiles and before judging the second. No-attention actors did not receive these instructions at all. After judging the target profiles, actors estimated how each of several target factors had influenced their liking judgments. Access to covariation information greatly increased the accuracy of observers' causal reports. Covariation detection appeared to make less of a contribution, however, to actors' own causal reports, which displayed a substantial level of accuracy even after we controlled statistically for the possible contributions of covariation detection and shared theories. Contrary to expectations, the attention instructions actually decreased the accuracy of actors' self-reports for the first block of judgments but had no effect on accuracy for the second block of judgments. Results show that some form of privileged self-knowledge contributed to the accuracy of actors' causal reports. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of conceptions of prosocial behavior: Information affecting rewards given for altruism and kindness.

82 graduate students, 33 1st graders, and 31 5th graders were presented with information about situations in which one child either helped someone (kindness) or gave something to someone (altruism), with Ss allocating rewards for different actors. Younger children used an additive principle by allocating greater rewards for behavior that led to positive consequences for the actor or avoided negative consequences. Older children and adults utilized a discounting principle by allocating greater rewards for behavior that initially led to no reward or occurred under the threat of harm. Younger and older children allocated greater rewards for altruistic behavior following a previous obligation (facilitory obligation) to the recipient of the act, whereas adults allocated greater rewards for behavior toward a recipient who previously denied a favor to the actor (inhibitory obligation). Ss at all ages allocated greater rewards for actors whose previous behavior was consistently kind or altruistic (high consistency) or who were kind or altruistic to persons other than the recipient described in the stories (low distinctiveness). Results are discussed in terms of causal schemes underlying preconventional and conventional moral judgments and the use of covariation principles in inferences of causality. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Power, approach, and inhibition.

This article examines how power influences behavior. Elevated power is associated with increased rewards and freedom and thereby activates approach-related tendencies. Reduced power is associated with increased threat, punishment, and social constraint and thereby activates inhibition-related tendencies. The authors derive predictions from recent theorizing about approach and inhibition and review relevant evidence. Specifically, power is associated with (a) positive affect, (b) attention to rewards, (c) automatic information processing, and (d) disinhibited behavior. In contrast, reduced power is associated with (a) negative affect; (b) attention to threat, punishment, others' interests, and those features of the self that are relevant to others' goals; (c) controlled information processing; and (d) inhibited social behavior. The potential moderators and consequences of these power-related behavioral patterns are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Freedom of choice and behavioral change.

Used a 3?×?2 (Treatment?×?Population) factorial design with repeated measures (pretest/posttest) to evaluate the effects of perceived freedom of choice on behavior change in a therapy analog study. 90 Ss were assigned to 3 groups that varied in the amount of perceived choice given to Ss in determining the type of training procedure used for speed-reading enhancement. Experimental conditions were crossed with 2 populations of Ss to examine 2 levels of perceived freedom. Half of the Ss were psychology undergraduates required to participate in psychology experiments, and the remaining half were volunteers. The main dependent variable was the amount of change in reading rate. A marginally significant increase in reading speed was obtained by volunteers in comparison to psychology student participants. Ss who perceived that they were given a choice in training procedures improved significantly more in reading speed than Ss who lost the freedom of choice. No changes in reading comprehension were noted. Findings are discussed in terms of the relationship between freedom of choice and performance in a behavior change program. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intentionality and knowledge in children's judgments of actor's responsibility and recipient's emotional reaction.

Two conflicting developmental accounts of how mental states are used in evaluating actors are tested by varying actors' intentionality, foreknowledge of outcome, and the values of motive and outcome. In Experiment 1, children judged a recipient's emotional reaction to three types of event: intended outcome, foreseen accident, and unforseen accident. Both 6- and 7-year-olds used intentionality and knowledge in their judgments of good and bad outcomes. Three-year-olds did not distinguish between accidents differing in actors' foreknowledge, but discriminated between intended and accidental outcomes when the accident was unforseen. In Experiment 2, children judged actor's responsibility for accidentally caused bad outcomes. Seven-year-olds, but not 5-year-olds, blamed actors for foreseen accidents more than for unforeseen accidents regardless of motive value. The results suggest that children use intentionality before knowledge in judgments of action sequences, and that actor's foreknowledge of an outcome influences children's ability to judge the intended/accidental distinction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cooperatively breeding cottontop tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) do not donate rewards to their long-term mates.

This study tested the hypothesis that cooperative breeding facilitates the emergence of prosocial behavior by presenting cottontop tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) with the option to provide food rewards to pair-bonded mates. In Experiment 1, tamarins could provide rewards to mates at no additional cost while obtaining rewards for themselves. Contrary to the hypothesis, tamarins did not demonstrate a preference to donate rewards, behaving similar to chimpanzees in previous studies. In Experiment 2, the authors eliminated rewards for the donor for a stricter test of prosocial behavior, while reducing separation distress and food preoccupation. Again, the authors found no evidence for a donation preference. Furthermore, tamarins were significantly less likely to deliver rewards to mates when the mate displayed interest in the reward. The results of this study contrast with those recently reported for cooperatively breeding common marmosets, and indicate that prosocial preferences in a food donation task do not emerge in all cooperative breeders. In previous studies, cottontop tamarins have cooperated and reciprocated to obtain food rewards; the current findings sharpen understanding of the boundaries of cottontop tamarins’ food-provisioning behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Creating and undermining social support in communal relationships: The role of compassionate and self-image goals.

In 2 studies, the authors examined whether relationship goals predict change in social support and trust over time. In Study 1, a group of 199 college freshmen completed pretest and posttest measures of social support and interpersonal trust and completed 10 weekly reports of friendship goals and relationship experiences. Average compassionate goals predicted closeness, clear and connected feelings, and increased social support and trust over the semester; self-image goals attenuated these effects. Average self-image goals predicted conflict, loneliness, and afraid and confused feelings; compassionate goals attenuated these effects. Changes in weekly goals predicted changes in goal-related affect, closeness, loneliness, conflict, and beliefs about mutual and individualistic caring. In Study 2, a group of 65 roommate pairs completed 21 daily reports of their goals for their roommate relationship. Actors' average compassionate and self-image goals interacted to predict changes over 3 weeks in partners' reports of social support received from and given to actors; support that partners gave to actors, in turn, predicted changes in actors' perceived available support, indicating that people with compassionate goals create a supportive environment for themselves and others, but only if they do not have self-image goals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Commitment to social deprivation and verbal conditioning.

Control Ss who experienced high prior deprivation of a reinforcing stimulus (approval) responded more with a reinforced response in a verbal conditioning situation than Ss less deprived. Other Ss committed themselves to undergoing postexperimental deprivation of social reinforcement after the same high prior social deprivation. A model suggested by dissonance theory predicted that such Ss who committed themselves for lower rewards would experience greater dissonance; the greater the dissonance, the more could Ss justify their decisions and reduce dissonance by reducing their motive for social reinforcement, consequently behaving in the conditioning situation as Ss who had low motivation for social reinforcement. As expected, experimental Ss in the High Dissonance condition who committed themselves for low reward ($1.00) responded less to social reinforcement, i.e., they showed a smaller increase in response strength of emission of verbal behavior than Control Ss or Low Dissonance Ss who committed themselves for high reward ($5.00). (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived probability, perceived severity, and health-protective behavior.

It seems obvious that 2 key attributes of health hazards, their perceived probability and perceived severity, do not act independently on the motivation to engage in protective behavior. If a health problem is perceived to have no chance of occurring, there should be no interest in acting against it, regardless of how serious it might be. Nevertheless, researchers seldom observe the expected interaction between probability and severity. A case study approach was used to examine how probability and severity combine to influence interest in protection. Ratings of motivation to act, probability, and severity for 201 hazards were collected from 12 participants, and data were analyzed for each person separately. Analyses revealed the expected Probability?×?Severity interaction. Additional calculations showed why it is difficult to detect this interaction using between-subjects designs. The data also revealed that people are surprisingly insensitive to variations in hazard probability when probabilities are in the moderate to high range. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self as actor, active observer, and passive observer: Implications for causal attributions.

D. T. Miller et al (see record 1975-21040-001) distinguished between active observers (those on the receiving end of an actor's behavior) and passive observers (onlookers of an event involving an actor and an active observer). Following the concept of hedonic relevance, it was hypothesized that active observers would attribute the actor's behavior to personal dispositions of the actor more strongly than passive observers. In a series of hypothetical emotional events, 24 male undergraduates were depicted either as actors ("You like Ted"), active observers ("Ted likes you"), or passive observers ("Ted likes Paul"). They then rated the degree to which the actor, active observer, or some "other reason" had caused the given event. Although the actor–observer effect was obtained overall, an interaction between S role and positivity of verb indicated that it occurred much more strongly in negative-verb than positive-verb events. That is, Ss, either as actors or active observers, tended to deny their responsibility for negative events but did not claim praise for positive events. Implications for the effects of egotism on attribution are discussed. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)