Journal of Social Psychology最新文献

Research on how uncertainty affects the preference for prototypical over non-prototypical leaders has produced mixed results. To understand these discrepancies, two studies explored leader status (prospective versus incumbent) as a potential moderator. Participants reported levels of self-uncertainty (Study 1) or were primed with high versus low self-uncertainty (Study 2) before evaluating a prototypical or non-prototypical leadership candidate who was incumbent or prospective. For incumbent candidates, prototypicality predicted more favorable evaluations under low self-uncertainty, but this relationship was weakened under high self-uncertainty. For prospective candidates, prototypicality predicted more favorable evaluations under high self-uncertainty, but this relationship was weakened under low self-uncertainty.

Listeners who interrupt speakers upset the speakers and prevent the benefits of good listening. Interruptions can be avoided with "time-sharing," where each partner listens (silently) for an equal amount of time. Yet, is time-sharing good for all? In an experiment with 50 pairs (95 participants with useable data), participants conversed freely for one minute and were then assigned either to a time-sharing (of three minutes each) or a free conversation condition. Consistent with our hypotheses, speakers in the time-sharing condition showed reduced social anxiety if they were high on narcissism but elevated social anxiety if high on depression, explaining past inconsistent effects of time-sharing.

People with autonomous motives (e.g., personal importance) may use automated strategies to effortlessly sustain goal-directed behavior and overcome obstacles. We investigated whether conscious effort, ease of goal striving, physiological effort, and the number of obstacles encountered mediate relations between motives and goal attainment for a competitive cycling goal. Additionally, half the participants (n = 57) were trained in Mental Contrasting with Implementation Intentions (MCII) - a technique that facilitates development of goal-directed behavior - with remaining participants (n = 54) treated as controls. Conscious investment of effort mediated relations between autonomous motives and goal attainment. Subjective ease of goal striving and physiological effort did not. This result indicates that successful goal striving is not perceived as effortless for autonomously motivated individuals working on competitive goals. Conversely, MCII predicted a reduction in obstacles, which in turn was associated with easier goal striving but not goal attainment. Although MCII did not support goal attainment in the current study, its ability to minimize the influence of obstacles may still be useful for other types of goals or for sustaining long-term goal pursuit.

Previous research in psychology has focused on how confronting racial prejudice affects White people - White perpetrators and bystanders - and reduces their prejudice. We shift the focus to Black people - Black people targeted by prejudice and Black observers - and examine how Black people perceive White people's confrontations. Two hundred forty-two Black participants evaluated White participants' responses to anti-Black comments (i.e., confrontations), which were text-analyzed and content-coded to identify the characteristics that Black participants valued the most. Analyses revealed that Black participants valued confrontations that were coded as direct, targeting the action, labeling the prejudiced action as such, and connecting individual acts of prejudice to systemic racism. Notably, this style of confrontation is not what research suggests is best for White people, for reducing Whites' prejudice. Accordingly, the present work contributes to our understanding of confronting prejudice and the value of centering Black experiences and perspectives rather than White comfort and prejudice.

The purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which mock jurors justified their verdict decisions using moral foundations language. Participants read a trial transcript describing a second-degree murder charge featuring an automatism plea (which negates the physical volition of a crime). They then provided a two-to-three sentence rationale for their verdict choice, which we coded for the contextually-valid presence of words from the Moral Foundations (MF) Dictionary. Mock jurors were most likely to use harm-related language in justifying murder votes. A qualitative description also revealed differences in the content of the justifications.

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.

To determine whether relationship status moderates sexual prejudice, we compared heterosexual men and women's self-reported social distancing toward gay and lesbian targets who varied in relationship status (coupled, single, no information). Relationship status of gay male targets did not affect responses (Study 1): heterosexual men reported increased social distancing toward gay compared to heterosexual male targets, whereas women did not. Similarly, in Study 2, heterosexual men reported increased social distancing toward lesbian compared to heterosexual female targets, but women did not, and men reported decreased social distancing toward single lesbian women. Working from an affordance management approach, Study 3 replicated Studies 1 and 2, testing potential mediators of effects. In particular, heterosexual men reported increased social distancing toward gay male targets, compared to responses from heterosexual women. Moreover, heterosexual women reported increased social distancing toward single, compared to coupled, lesbian targets, mediated through perceptions of undesired sexual interest from the target. This work demonstrates the nuanced nature of sexual prejudice and provides further evidence of the role of perceptions of undesired sexual interest in prejudiced responses toward lesbian and gay individuals.

The current research uses an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) model to predict Facebook users' (N = 376) intentions to protect their privacy online. It aims to replicate and extend Saeri et al. (2014) who found partial support for an extended TPB model that included descriptive norms, perceived risk, and trust. Facebook users completed an online questionnaire assessing attitudes, norms (subjective and group), perceived behavioral control (PBC), perceived risk, trust, privacy concerns, and intentions to protect their privacy online. Results revealed that attitudes, subjective norms, and PBC (i.e. the TPB) predicted online privacy intentions, as well as descriptive group norms and privacy concerns. However, perceived risk, trust, and injunctive group norms were not significant unique predictors of online privacy intentions. The implications for understanding influences on individuals' willingness to protect their privacy online are discussed.

The Two-Dimensional Model of Relational Self-change (TDM) suggests four types of self-change that may be elicited by romantic relationships: self-expansion, self-adulteration, self-pruning, and self-contraction. Previous research has shown that these four types of relational self-change were associated with relational outcomes. Prior research has also shown that positive illusions and expectations in romantic relationships can lead to positive relational outcomes. The current study used a longitudinal design to investigate how the four types of expected relational self-change affect future relationship satisfaction and commitment. Results indicated that participants had higher expected self-changes than their actual self-changes after three months, but their expected self-changes and actual self-changes were correlated. At Time 1 of their relationship, participants' relationship satisfaction and commitment were related to their expected self-changes. However, controlling for Time 1 relationship satisfaction and commitment, expected self-changes predicted commitment, but not relationship satisfaction, three months later.