Journal of Social Psychology最新文献

To understand how laypeople define empathy, Hall, Schwartz, and Duong (2021) asked U.S. participants to rate how well items from various empathy measures matched their own definitions. The current paper (N = 549) is a replication of Hall, Schwartz, and Duong (2021, Study 2) using a highly similar study procedure, with a small extension consisting of items from an emotional contagion scale. We conducted a multi-group CFA to test the replicability of Hall et al.'s model, but the factor structure was not replicated. As an extension, we conducted an exploratory graph analysis (EGA), that revealed a similar factor structure, though some items were discarded due to poor fit. Additionally, the ranking of the items (i.e. what the participants saw as closest to their definition of empathy) shows the same pattern as in the original study. We consider this to be a successful partial replication of Hall et al.'s (2021) findings.

Two experiments examined online information sharing. Specifically, we explored a situation in which a proximate secondhand source repeated information of an obscure factual nature that was derived from an originating source with a discrepant or similar credibility level. Secondhand information did not always increase or decrease the perceived validity of information. Rather, the perceived validity of secondhand information depended on the relationship between the credibility level of the secondhand source and its originating source. We used a weighted averaging model as an overarching account of our results. We also discuss differences between information sharing and research findings in the attitude, rumor, and truth effect literatures as well as future research directions and implications for social media and online information sharing.

Empathy is susceptible to contextual cues that alter empathic reactions. When empathy is associated with unbearable discomfort, anticipated emotional pain, or financial burden, people tend to downregulate it. Reduced empathy has destructive consequences, but to date, the contextual antecedents of reduced empathy in close relationships due to perceived costs remain unexplored. In three studies (N = 733), we examined how the perceived cost of empathy influenced empathic responses toward close friends. When empathizing with a friend involved sharing negative emotions or where the friend hindered a valuable opportunity, participants consistently showed reduced empathy for friends. Moreover, they allocated less time to spend with their friends. These findings suggest that the perceived cost undermines empathic experiences in friendship. When people perceive a downside of empathy, their close friends may no longer be within the sphere of empathic concern.

Numerous terms are frequently used to refer to poor people (i.e. "needy," "impoverished"). Despite ostensibly used to refer to the same social category, little research has investigated how different labels impact perceptions of the poor. Three studies investigated how different labels for poor people differentially predicted dehumanization of the poor and, in turn, opposition to welfare. Study 1 identified (from 20) labels that participants indicated similar familiarity and referred to the same social category but differed in valence. Studies 2 and 3 had participants indicate their dehumanizing perceptions of poor people varying in label and indicate their support for welfare programs. Results indicated that "Broke" people were dehumanized more than "In Need" people despite referring to the same social category. In turn, greater dehumanization predicted less support for welfare policies designed to benefit the poor. Discussion surrounds the importance of understanding the language surrounding discussions of the poor and welfare.

This study determined the relation of Implicit Age Bias among respondents aged 20-59 years of age to the 2020 Alzheimer's disease (AD) prevalence among residents 65 years and over with the 48 contiguous American states as analytic units. This implicit measure of state ambient ageism correlated .69 with state AD prevalence and persisted in multiple regression equations considering several controls including older adult poverty rate, high school graduation, bachelor's degree attainment, and multiple chronic conditions. Based on stereotype embodiment theory, the assumption is that the influence of external state-level age bias combined with the personal experiences of state residents leads to the general internalization of negative age stereotypes and ultimately to higher state AD prevalence. The speculation is that such internalization at the individual level leads to adoption of unhealthy behaviors and stress accumulation that eventually produces immunological deficiencies, infections, and inflammation conducive to AD onset and progression.

Within the current manuscript, we assumed that national narcissism should be linked to poor emotion recognition skills and negative emotionality. In a series of four mixed-methodology studies, we found positive relations between national narcissism and one's own impairment of emotion recognition, lower levels of facial emotion recognition, and higher levels of antagonistically oriented emotions. We also demonstrated that an inability to recognize emotions of others (characteristic for national narcissism) may, in turn, translate into dehumanization of in-group and out-group. By highlighting these relations, we argue that group defensiveness can be linked to a specific form of emotionality.

This study examined the predictive effect of day-to-day variations in sleep on self-reported social motivation and social activity in 126 parents of young children with sleep problems. Controlling for other sleep factors, worse subjective sleep quality predicted less morning sociability and social motivation throughout the day. Unexpectedly, longer sleep duration predicted less social activity the following day. Sleepiness at wakeup predicted morning sociability, but not social motivation or activity throughout the day. This highlights the importance of good sleep quality for motivation to socialize, but also the complexity of investigating the relationship between sleep and social measures in daily life.

Although previous research has explored how social comparison influences types of consumer behaviors, little attention has been paid to the impact on variety-seeking. This study investigates how variety-seeking behavior serves as a compensatory tool for consumers to cope with the threats posed by upward comparison. Through four experimental studies, we find that upward comparison (vs. downward comparison) motivates consumers to restore their sense of control by engaging in more variety-seeking (Studies 1, 2, and 3). However, this effect is contingent on the type of relationship orientation. In competitive relationships, receiving information about someone else's excellence diminishes self-development, reduces the sense of control, and leads to an increase in variety-seeking. Conversely, in cooperative relationships, information about someone else's excellence helps achieve a desired goal, thereby weakening the impact of upward comparison on the sense of control (Study 4). The findings significantly contribute to the understanding of consumer behavior in the context of social comparison and have important implications for marketing strategy.

In this paper, we use data from a longitudinal online study to examine how characteristics of prosocial behaviors influence the level of positive affect they produce. Although much work has found that prosocial behaviors benefit those who enact them, the question remains if and how these effects vary based on characteristics of those acts. Using models that adjust for co-occurrence among act characteristics, we find that positive affect produced by prosocial acts is greater for those acts that: involve giving money or items, are seen as unusually kind, elicit positive feedback, and are varied over time. However, we find that the actor's relationship to the beneficiary, reaping benefits from prosocial acts, and the number of successive acts made no difference in terms of resultant positive affect. We conclude with a discussion of potential mechanisms explaining these differing effects and explore practical implications for kindness interventions.

This study tested the notion of ideological asymmetry, which proposes that conservatives are more prejudiced than liberals. It involved 682 self-identified conservative (n = 383) and liberal (n = 299) perceivers (MTurk workers; 54% female) who evaluated a target person's professional attributes, personal character, and job suitability based on the target's social media posts. The results did not support ideological asymmetry as both conservative and liberal participants negatively evaluated an ideologically opposite target. Interestingly, liberals showed three times more bias than conservatives. This study better supports a worldview conflict hypothesis, an alternative to ideological asymmetry, with both sides showing indirect aggression in an apolitical setting.