Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin current issue

Who Am I Without You? The Influence of Romantic Breakup on the Self-Concept

Slotter, E. B., Gardner, W. L., Finkel, E. J. — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:49:13 PST

Romantic relationships alter the selves of the individuals within them. Partners develop shared friends and activities and even overlapping self-concepts. This intertwining of selves may leave individuals’ self-concepts vulnerable to change if the relationship ends. The current research examines several different types of self-concept change that could occur after a breakup and their relation to emotional distress. Across three studies, using varied methodologies, the authors examined change in both the content (Study 1a and 1b) and the structure of the self-concept, specifically, reduced self-concept clarity (Studies 1 through 3). As predicted, individuals experienced self-concept content change and reduced self-concept clarity post-breakup. Additionally, reduced clarity uniquely predicted post-breakup emotional distress.

On the Social-Communicative Function of Justice: The Influence of Communication Goals and Personal Involvement on the Use of Justice Assertions

Wijn, R., van den Bos, K. — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:49:13 PST

This article reveals how people strategically use justice assertions when attempting to persuade others. In three studies participants communicated about a negative situation they or someone else had experienced and did so in a persuasive manner (Studies 1-3), an accurate manner (Study 1), by asking for an opinion (Study 2), or without a communication goal (Studies 1 and 3). Communicators who had a persuasion goal used more justice-related words than communicators who had a goal to be accurate, asked for an opinion, or had no goal. This was particularly the case when communications were about someone else rather than the participants themselves and for those high in self-monitoring whose identities were known (vs. anonymous). The article concludes that people use justice-related words in attempts to persuade others, but only when they know there is no doubt about their personal involvement. Implications are discussed.

There's No Substitute for Belonging: Self-Affirmation Following Social and Nonsocial Threats

Knowles, M. L., Lucas, G. M., Molden, D. C., Gardner, W. L., Dean, K. K. — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:49:13 PST

Feelings of belonging are closely linked to feelings of self-esteem. This article examines whether these feelings are regulated in a similar manner. Research on self-esteem maintenance shows that self-enhancement strategies are interchangeable; self-esteem threats in one domain instigate indirect self-affirmations in unrelated domains that effectively replace needs to directly address the original threats. From this perspective, when self-esteem threats arise from a lack of belonging, indirect self-affirmations should again be both preferred and effective. However, belonging regulation may be distinct from self-esteem regulation. From this belonging maintenance perspective, indirect affirmations that enhance esteem, but do not directly repair belonging, may be relatively less preferred and effective following belonging threats. Supporting the belonging maintenance perspective, four studies demonstrated that whereas intelligence threats tended to elicit indirect self-affirmations, belonging threats elicited relatively more direct self-affirmations. Furthermore, whereas indirect affirmation strategies effectively repaired intelligence threats they did not effectively repair belonging threats.

The Role of Need Satisfaction in Self-Concealment and Well-Being

Uysal, A., Lee Lin, H., Raymond Knee, C. — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:49:13 PST

The present research tests a model derived from self-determination theory to explain why self-concealment (the tendency to keep distressing personal information secret) is associated with negative well-being outcomes. Two studies tested a model in which self-concealment predicts the thwarting of basic needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, which then results in negative psychological outcomes. Study 1 involved a cross-sectional design. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that the model provided an acceptable fit to the data. Study 2 involved a multilevel design. Participants completed daily measures of self-concealment, need satisfaction, and well-being over 16 days. Results supported the proposed mediation model. Furthermore, the associations between daily self-concealment, daily need satisfaction, and daily well-being were independent of trait self-concealment. Overall, the findings suggest that concealing personal distressing information is detrimental to the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, which in turn predicts negative well-being.

Testing an Integrative Model of Respect: Implications for Social Engagement and Well-Being

Huo, Y. J., Binning, K. R., Molina, L. E. — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:49:13 PST

Prior research demonstrates that feelings of respect affect important aspects of group functioning and members’ psychological well-being. One limitation is that respect has been variously defined as reflecting individuals’ status in the group, degree to which they are liked by the group, and how fairly they are treated in interactions with group members. These different conceptions are integrated in the dual pathway model of respect. The authors tested the model’s prediction that fair treatment from group members shapes attitudes toward the group and self via two distinct pathways: status and inclusion. Findings from a field study supported the model and yielded new insights: Whereas perceptions of status predicted social engagement, liking was more important in predicting well-being (especially among dominant subgroups). Discussion focuses on the utility of the dual pathway model for understanding how respect perceptions are formed and how they affect the welfare of groups and individuals.

The "Shoulds" and "Should Nots" of Moral Emotions: A Self-Regulatory Perspective on Shame and Guilt

Sheikh, S., Janoff-Bulman, R. — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:49:13 PST

A self-regulatory framework for distinguishing between shame and guilt was tested in three studies. Recently, two forms of moral regulation based on approach versus avoidance motivation have been proposed in the literature. Proscriptive regulation is sensitive to negative outcomes, inhibition based, and focused on what we should not do. Prescriptive regulation is sensitive to positive outcomes, activation based, and focused on what we should do. In the current research, consistent support was found for shame’s proscriptive and guilt’s prescriptive moral underpinnings. Study 1 found a positive association between avoidance orientation and shame proneness and between approach orientation and guilt proneness. In Study 2, priming a proscriptive orientation increased shame and priming a prescriptive orientation increased guilt. In Study 3, transgressions most apt to represent proscriptive and prescriptive violations predicted subsequent judgments of shame and guilt, respectively. This self-regulatory perspective provides a broad interpretive framework for understanding and extending past research findings.

Wolves in Sheep's Clothing: SDO Asymmetrically Predicts Perceived Ethnic Victimization Among White and Latino Students Across Three Years

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:49:13 PST

Dominant groups have claimed to be the targets of discrimination on several historical occasions during violent intergroup conflict and genocide.The authors argue that perceptions of ethnic victimization among members of dominant groups express social dominance motives and thus may be recruited for the enforcement of group hierarchy. They examine the antecedents of perceived ethnic victimization among dominants, following 561 college students over 3 years from freshman year to graduation year. Using longitudinal, cross-lagged structural equation modeling, the authors show that social dominance orientation (SDO) positively predicts perceived ethnic victimization among Whites but not among Latinos, whereas victimization does not predict SDO over time. In contrast, ethnic identity and victimization reciprocally predicted each other longitudinally with equal strength among White and Latino students. SDO is not merely a reflection of contextualized social identity concerns but a psychological, relational motivation that undergirds intergroup attitudes across extended periods of time and interacts with the context of group dominance.

Capitalizing on Multiple Social Identities to Prevent Stereotype Threat: The Moderating Role of Self-Esteem

Rydell, R. J., Boucher, K. L. — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:49:13 PST

One troubling aspect of membership in a stigmatized group is that negative stereotypes about the group’s performance affect one’s personal performance (i.e., stereotype threat). Women who are made aware of the negative stereotype that "women are bad at math" perform worse than women who are not made aware of this stereotype. However, women can use an "escape hatch" to avoid stereotype threat by identifying with another social identity (i.e., college students) that has positive stereotypes for math performance and having greater feelings of self-worth. This research shows that women who had greater self-esteem and were presented with an alternative, positive social identity were buffered from stereotype threat by eliminating working memory decrements responsible for poor math performance. Women lower in self-esteem, however, did not benefit from a positive, alternative social identity when it was available and thus fell prey to stereotype-based working memory and performance decrements.

Regulatory Accessibility and Social Influences on State Self-Control

vanDellen, M. R., Hoyle, R. H. — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:49:13 PST

The current work examined how social factors influence self-control. Current conceptions of state self-control treat it largely as a function of regulatory capacity. The authors propose that state self-control might also be influenced by social factors because of regulatory accessibility. Studies 1 through 4 provide evidence that individuals’ state self-control is influenced by the trait and state self-control of salient others such that thinking of others with good trait or state self-control leads to increases in state self-control and thinking of others with bad trait or state self-control leads to decreases in state self-control. Study 5 provides evidence that the salience of significant others influences both regulatory accessibility and state self-control. Combined, these studies suggest that the effects of social influences on state self-control occur through multiple mechanisms.

Not So Fast: The (Not-Quite-Complete) Dissociation Between Accuracy and Confidence in Thin-Slice Impressions

Ames, D. R., Kammrath, L. K., Suppes, A., Bolger, N. — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:49:13 PST

After decades of research highlighting the fallibility of first impressions, recent years have featured reports of valid impressions based on surprisingly limited information, such as photos and short videos.Yet beneath mean levels of accuracy lies tremendous variance—some snap judgments are well-founded, others wrongheaded. An essential question for perceivers, therefore, is whether and when to trust their initial intuitions about others. In three studies of first impressions based on photos and videos, the authors examined accuracy for Big Five trait judgments as well as corresponding reports of confidence. Overall, perceivers showed a limited ability to intuit which of their impressions were more accurate than others, although a curvilinear effect emerged: In the relatively few cases where perceivers reported an absolute lack of confidence, their accuracy was indeed comparatively low. Across the studies, judgment confidence was shaped by sources at the judgment level and the judge level that were unrelated to accuracy.