European Journal of Social Psychology

Jonas, Eva; Greenberg, Jeff

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.178pmid: N/A

From the perspective of terror management theory, reminders of mortality should intensify the desire to maintain faith in one's own cultural worldview. We investigated this notion with regard to attitudes of Germans toward an important political event, the fall of the Berlin wall and German reunification. We found that when reminded of their own death, people with a supportive attitude toward the German reunification showed a more favourable evaluation of a positive essay about the fall of the Berlin wall and a more negative reaction to a critical essay than participants in the control condition. People with a more neutral attitude toward the reunification on the other hand did not show this effect. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Stott, Clifford; Drury, John

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.183pmid: N/A

This paper addresses the hypothesis derived from self‐categorization theory (SCT) that the relationship between groups and stereotyping will be affected by the social structural conditions within which group interaction occurs. A mixed design experiment (n=56) measured low‐status groups' stereotypes and preferences for conflict with a high‐status outgroup prior to and after within‐group discussion across varying social structural conditions. Over time, participants in (open) conditions consensualized around positive conceptions of the outgroup and endorsed acceptance of their own (low status) position. However, in (closed) conditions participants consensualized around positive conceptions of the ingroup, negative conceptions of the outgroup, and tended towards preferences for collective protest. It is argued that the data support S‐CT's contention that stereotyping and group processes are fundamentally interlinked and that neither can be properly understood in isolation from the dynamics of the surrounding intergroup context. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Broemer, Philip; Diehl, Michael

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.181pmid: N/A

Self‐other comparisons frequently evoke contrastive reactions, especially when the comparison dimension is relevant and when people strive to maintain or preserve a positive self‐evaluation. In three studies, normal‐weight women were asked to gauge satisfaction with their body weight. In Study 1, self‐evaluation was affected by accessible distinctive information either referring to the self or to comparison others. Studies 2 and 3 tested whether the evaluative contrast observed in Study 1 is reduced when shared features receive greater weight. Consistent with the proposition that perceived similarity between self and comparison others renders assimilative reactions more likely, evaluative contrast was markedly reduced when similarities were stressed prior to the comparison process, either by suggesting that one shares certain characteristics with others unrelated to the comparison dimension or by increasing the identification with the comparison other through an intergroup contrast.. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Spiegel, Scott; Grant‐Pillow, Heidi; Higgins, E. Tory

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.180pmid: N/A

Higgins' (2000) theory of regulatory fit proposes that motivational strength will be enhanced when the manner in which people work toward a goal sustains (rather than disrupts) their regulatory orientation. This enhanced motivational strength in turn should improve efforts at goal attainment. In Experiment 1, predominantly promotion‐ and prevention‐focused participants were given the goal of writing a report on their leisure time, and were assigned either eagerness‐ or vigilance‐framed means to use. Promotion/eagerness and prevention/vigilance participants were about 50% more likely to turn in their reports than promotion/vigilance and prevention/eagerness participants. In Experiment 2, participants read either a promotion‐ or a prevention‐framed health message urging them to eat more fruits and vegetables, and were then asked to imagine either the benefits of compliance or the costs of non‐compliance. Promotion/benefits and prevention/costs participants subsequently ate about 20% more fruits and vegetables over the following week than promotion/costs and prevention/benefits participants. The implications of regulatory fit's enhancement of motivational strength are discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Jones, Paul E.

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.187pmid: N/A

Pertinent to the question of projective error, two methodological factors that threaten the descriptive validity of projection measures are considered in conjunction with the effects of item type (abilities vs. opinions). Study 1 examined the effect of experimental paradigm. Compared to the assumed similarity method, projection indices from the consensus method were significantly lower resulting in reduced accuracy. Study 2 focused on measurement sequence effects. Measuring group estimates before self‐ratings produced higher, but more valid projection indices. The ability‐opinion distinction was a factor common to both studies. The effect of item type on accuracy was mediated by projection: accuracy was greater on opinions because projection was stronger. For both item types, measures of projective error implied under‐projection. Whilst the degree of error rests ultimately on paradigm validity, the heuristic value of projection should remain unrealised. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Perugini, Marco; Bagozzi, Richard P.

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.186pmid: N/A

Within attitude theory the concepts of desires and intentions are not differentiated but are often treated as synonyms. However, we argue that there are theoretical reasons for distinguishing between desires and intentions, and we articulate three main criteria, perceived performability, action‐connectedness, and temporal framing, that differentiate between the two constructs. Two studies are reported to test the distinction. Study 1 (n = 188) revealed that desires, compared to intentions, are less performable, are less connected to actions, and are enacted over longer time frames. Study 2 (n = 249) showed, among other things, that the perceived feasibility for actions that are desired and intended is higher than for those that are only desired, but only when the action refers to relatively short time frames (i.e. 1 week or 4 weeks vs. 4 months). The findings are discussed in the light of the distinction between intentions and desires and the role that they play in individual decision making. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Krolak‐Schwerdt, Sabine

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.188pmid: N/A

Three experiments investigated the operation of prototypical person categories, which were either at a superordinate or at a subordinate level of abstraction, on person memory. In Experiment 1, a recognition memory experiment, subjects received person attributes describing fictional target persons, each description pertaining to one of the two abstraction levels. Distractors in the recognition test varied in degree of relatedness to a prototypical category. Distractors that were related to the corresponding category were falsely recognized, if the category was at a superordinate level, but not for a subordinate category. This revealed a significant bias in recognition toward conceptually related but nonpresented items only at the superordinate level. In Experiment 2 which used a conceptual priming procedure subjects responded faster to distractor items related to a superordinate category than to those related to a subordinate category. Experiment 3 replicated the difference between levels of abstraction when subjects' task was to recall rather than to recognize the presented attributes. The findings imply that person categories at different levels of abstraction operate differentially on person memory and restrict assumptions from prototype theory to a superordinate level. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.