European Journal of Social Psychology

Schmitt, Michael T.; Spears, Russell; Branscombe, Nyla R.

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.131pmid: N/A

With a sample of international students, we investigated how perceptions of rejection by the host community are related to a sense of identification with other international students. Based on the rejection‐identification model (Branscombe, Schmitt, & Harvey, 1999) we predicted that perceiving prejudice from the host university would be negatively related to psychological well‐being. We expected that group identification with international students would mediate a positive effect of perceived discrimination on self‐esteem, thus suppressing the negative effect of perceiving prejudice on self‐esteem. Consistent with predictions, results supported a model in which identification with international students increased in response to perceiving prejudice and suppressed the costs of perceiving oneself as excluded from the host community. Interestingly, identification with participants' home country was not predicted by perceptions of discrimination. Results are discussed in terms of how minority group members construct group identities in response to the intergroup context. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Jost, John T.; Pelham, Brett W.; Sheldon, Oliver; Ni Sullivan, Bilian

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.127pmid: N/A

According to system justification theory, people are motivated to preserve the belief that existing social arrangements are fair, legitimate, justifiable, and necessary. The strongest form of this hypothesis, which draws on the logic of cognitive dissonance theory, holds that people who are most disadvantaged by the status quo would have the greatest psychological need to reduce ideological dissonance and would therefore be most likely to support, defend, and justify existing social systems, authorities, and outcomes. Variations on this hypothesis were tested in five US national survey studies. We found that (a) low‐income respondents and African Americans were more likely than others to support limitations on the rights of citizens and media representatives to criticize the government; (b) low‐income Latinos were more likely to trust in US government officials and to believe that ‘the government is run for the benefit of all’ than were high‐income Latinos; (c) low‐income respondents were more likely than high‐income respondents to believe that large differences in pay are necessary to foster motivation and effort; (d) Southerners in the USA were more likely to endorse meritocratic belief systems than were Northerners and poor and Southern African Americans were more likely to subscribe to meritocratic ideologies than were African Americans who were more affluent and from the North; (e) low‐income respondents and African Americans were more likely than others to believe that economic inequality is legitimate and necessary; and (f) stronger endorsement of meritocratic ideology was associated with greater satisfaction with one's own economic situation. Taken together, these findings are consistent with the dissonance‐based argument that people who suffer the most from a given state of affairs are paradoxically the least likely to question, challenge, reject, or change it. Implications for theories of system justification, cognitive dissonance, and social change are also discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Allen, Michael W.; Hung Ng, Sik

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.128pmid: N/A

The present studies explored the associations among food's utilitarian benefits, the human values symbolised by meat, individuals' endorsement of those values, and individuals' meat identification, attitudes and consumption. A preliminary study revealed that participants perceived that meat, particularly red meat, symbolises the endorsement of inequality and hierarchy values more than other basic foods. Studies 1 and 2 found that the endorsement of inequality and hierarchy formed the basis to the meat attitudes and consumption of high meat identifiers. Study 2 found that the meat attitudes of high meat identifiers were also founded, though to a lesser extent, in the endorsement of Conservation and rejection of Openness values. Study 1 also showed that food's nutritional benefits did not form the basis of meat consumption among high meat identifiers. Moreover, Study 3 found that informing individuals (in the treatment group) of the nutritional deficiencies of meat did not alter the meat attitudes of high meat identifiers, meat identification per se, or the meat attitudes of individuals who have a predisposition to attend to the symbolic meanings of products. In contrast, the negative nutritional information did produce unfavourable meat attitudes among low meat identifiers and those who have a predisposition to attend to the utilitarian features of products. The formation of meat identification is discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

McAuliffe, Brendan J.; Jetten, Jolanda; Hornsey, Matthew J.; Hogg, Michael A.

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.129pmid: N/A

We conducted two studies to investigate the influence of group norms endorsing individualism and collectivism on the evaluations of group members who display individualist or collectivist behaviour. It was reasoned that, overall, collectivist behaviour benefits the group and would be evaluated more positively than would individualist behaviour. However, it was further predicted that this preference would be attenuated by the specific content of the group norm. Namely, when norms prescribed individualism, we expected that preferences for collectivist behaviour over individualist behaviour would be attenuated, as individualist behaviour would, paradoxically, represent normative behaviour. These predictions were supported across two studies in which we manipulated norms of individualism and collectivism in an organizational role‐play. Furthermore, in Study 2, we found evidence for the role of group identification in moderating the effects of norms. The results are discussed with reference to social identity theory and cross‐cultural work on individualism and collectivism. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Orr, Emda; Mana, Adi; Mana, Yosef

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.132pmid: N/A

The study examines how a sample of 210 high‐school immigrant students (ages 14–15) from Ethiopia and the former USSR socially represent their notion of what klitat aliyah (successful adaptation to Israel) means. Prevalent relevant theories—Berry's model of Acculturation Tendencies (BAT), Social Identity Theory (SIT) and Social Comparison Theory (SCT)—suggest three kinds of patterns by which minority or socially weak groups deal with these kinds of situations. These underlying patterns were tested by a 47‐item questionnaire (with a 4‐point Likert‐like scale), constructed from immigrant narratives regarding their klitat aliyah according to SIT, SCT and BAT categories of adaptation strategies. A Guttman non‐parametric Similarity Structure Analysis (SSA) revealed four‐facet organization of items for both males and females in both sub‐samples. These facets, which reflected social representations of Israeli society, were dubbed: Extended Identity, Rivalry Identity, Secluded Identity and Identity Loss. Results did not confirm the underlying categorization of strategies suggested by SIT and SCT, and partially replicated those suggested by BAT. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Stuart, Anne E.; Blanton, Hart

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.133pmid: N/A

Based on attribution theory and the logic of conversational norms, we predicted that image‐based health communications can alter prevalence estimates for health behaviors. In two studies, participants were exposed either to a positively‐framed or negatively‐framed communication advocating for specific health behaviors. As predicted, participants who read a health communication rated healthy behaviors as less common when positive attributes were associated with healthy choices than when negative attributes were associated with unhealthy choices. The second study revealed that this pattern was most pronounced among participants who reported initial uncertainty about behavioral norms. These findings suggest that positively‐framed influence attempts can promote prevalence assumptions that work against the influence attempt. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Ric, François; Scharnitzky, Patrick

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.134pmid: N/A

Theoretical positions lead to diverging predictions regarding the impact of control deprivation on subsequent performance. Learned helplessness research suggests that control deprivation impairs subsequent performance. This effect can be attributed either to a decrease in motivation or to a decrease in attentional resources. In contrast, control motivation hypothesis predicts that control deprivation increases careful processing of incoming information, and thus accuracy performance, unless the task is perceived as ego‐threatening. In order to test these diverging predictions against each other, participants were exposed to zero, one, two, four, six or eight unsolvable (vs. solvable) problems and then asked to complete two letter cancellation tasks. This task allowed independent evaluation of effort expenditure (i.e., the number of letters scanned) and accuracy performance (i.e., percentage of letters correctly marked). Overall, the results were consistent with the predictions of the cognitive explanations of learned helplessness deficit as control deprivation at high levels reduced accuracy performance but not effort expenditure. Unexpectedly, effort expenditure was affected by problem solving activity. These results suggest that control deprivation could heighten motivation and, at the same time, deplete cognitive resources. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mosler, Hans‐Joachim; Brucks, Wernher M.

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.136pmid: N/A

The research on commons dilemmas is characterized by innumerable published findings, each standing relatively isolated from the other. To date there is little integration of the findings under a unified concept. The present contribution aims to integrate already existing findings in a general dynamic model of cooperative behavior in resource crises by means of computer simulation. The model postulates that people base their decisions regarding resource use on both ecological and social information. Whether or not ecological or social information will dominate, however, depends on people's social values, attributions, and their perceptions of the state of the resource. The advantage of the simulation method used is that successful integration of the findings can be shown explicitly, as the simulation then replicates the experimental data. With the model presented here, it is also possible to let variables work together whose interaction has not yet been investigated in real experiments. For instance, the simulation model allows us to hypothesize that people, in dependency upon their resource uncertainty and in dependency upon their attributions, utilize a resource completely differently if the resource is in an optimal or sub‐optimal condition. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Senécal, Caroline; Julien, Etienne; Guay, Frédéric

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.144pmid: N/A

The purpose of the present study was to propose and test a model of role conflict and academic procrastination. This model posits that non‐self‐determined motivations toward school and interpersonal relationships are positively related to role conflict between these two life domains. In turn, role conflict between school and interpersonal relationships is expected to be positively related to academic procrastination. Participants were 292 university students. Results from structural equation modeling supported the model. It thus appears that self‐determination and role conflict are important to foster our understanding of academic procrastination. Theoretical implications of the findings are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.