European Journal of Social Psychology

Stapel, Diederik A.; Marx, David M.

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.369pmid: N/A

The current research addressed the issue of how people use the past to compare and interpret the present. Using the logic of the Interpretation Comparison Model (ICM) we examined two factors (distinctness of past events and ambiguity of target event) that may influence how people make sense of a real world event (the Iraq War) within the context of past events (World War II and Vietnam). Extending earlier ICM studies, we used new manipulations and measures to examine the impact of these two factors. Results show that higher levels of (manipulated as well as measured) distinctness lead to contrastive evaluations about the Iraq War (and involved politicians) as a function of past wars. Lower levels of distinctness lead to assimilative evaluations, but only when the meaning of the target stimulus was somewhat ambiguous. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Sassenberg, Kai; Hansen, Nina

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.358pmid: N/A

The impact of individuals' regulatory focus and the domain of outcomes (non‐gains vs. losses) on the target's affective responses to social discrimination were tested. Based on regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997), it was predicted that a prevention focus would lead to more anger and agitation after social discrimination, because experiencing social discrimination is similar to experiencing failure. This pattern was predicted to be more pronounced when social discrimination was based on losses than when social discrimination was based on non‐gains (i.e., when the in‐group was evaluated more negatively vs. less positively compared to the out‐group). The results of three studies using chronic and situationally induced regulatory focus confirmed these predictions. No effect was found for the promotion focus. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Thomsen, Lotte; Sidanius, Jim; Fiske, Alan Page

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.366pmid: N/A

We argue that the relational model that people use for organizing specific social interactions in any culture determines whether people self‐enhance. Self‐enhancement is not a functional consequence of the (independent or interdependent) cultural model of self. Across three studies, Danes self‐enhanced considerably less than did Americans but were more independent on the Twenty Statements Test, made more individual attributions about social life, made more autonomous scenario choices, and were more independent on the self‐construal scale. Public modesty did not account for these Danish‐American differences in self‐enhancement. However, Danes practiced interpersonal leveling, preferring equality of outcome more than did Americans. This leveling strongly and inversely predicted self‐enhancement within both cultures and mediated Danish‐American differences in self‐enhancement. In contrast, no independence measure systematically predicted self‐enhancement within both cultures nor mediated the cultural differences in self‐enhancement. This dissociation of independence and self‐enhancement demonstrates that self‐enhancing downward social comparisons are not functionally necessary for an independent concept of self. We conclude that social relationships, not the model of the self, mediate the mutual constitution of psyche and culture. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Derks, Belle; van Laar, Colette; Ellemers, Naomi

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.375pmid: N/A

Motivation of stigmatized group members to perform on status‐relevant ‘outgroup’ dimensions can be impaired after ingroup failure. Three experiments examined whether social creativity by valuing ingroup dimensions (dimensions on which an ingroup outperforms an outgroup) can increase motivation and performance on outgroup dimensions. It was hypothesized that under high social identity threat, motivation on the outgroup dimension would benefit from valuing an ingroup dimension. Experiments 1 and 2 show that when social identity threat is increased, low status group members who personally value ingroup dimensions show higher motivation to perform on the outgroup dimension. Experiment 3 shows that the induction of high contextual value of both ingroup and outgroup dimensions improves low status group members' well‐being and motivated performance on the outgroup dimension. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Cox, Cathy R.; Goldenberg, Jamie L.; Pyszczynski, Tom; Weise, David

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.370pmid: N/A

From an existential terror management theory perspective, disgusting stimuli are threatening to human beings because they make salient people's vulnerability to death. Two studies were designed to assess this proposition by measuring implicit death‐related ideation after individuals were presented with stimuli that either were or were not disgusting, under conditions in which the similarities of humans to other animals or the uniquely human aspects of people were made salient. In Study 1, in which rather extreme disgust‐eliciting pictures were used, disgusting stimuli led to higher death‐thought accessibility than neutral pictures regardless of whether or not participants had previously been primed with similarities between humans and other animals. In Study 2, in which milder verbal disgust‐eliciting stimuli were used, disgusting stimuli led to heightened death‐thought accessibility only when human‐animal similarities were first primed. Implications for the regulation and humanization of the human body and its functions are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Karremans, Johan C.

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.371pmid: N/A

Previous research has demonstrated that value‐congruent behaviour is increased after people have considered reasons for or against the value (since values typically lack cognitive support). The present research importantly extends these previous findings. Specifically, based on the reasoning that values can be categorised into different motivational types, it was predicted that considering reasons (i.e. providing cognitive support) for or against a specific value should increase behaviour that expresses a related value. Two studies provided strong support for this central prediction. In Study 1, participants who were asked to consider reasons for or against the values of honesty and loyalty were especially likely to engage in helping behaviour. In Study 2, participants who considered reasons for the value of helpfulness were especially likely to behave in an egalitarian manner (compared to participants who did not consider reasons, and participants who were merely primed with helpfulness). The implications of these findings for when and why considering reasons for a value influences value‐expressive behaviour, as well as some practical implications, are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Nemeth, Charlan Jeanne; Ormiston, Margaret

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.373pmid: N/A

The literature on maintaining versus changing membership of groups has generally favored stable membership, not only for more cohesion and morale but for better performance via comfort and shared experiences. On the other hand, research on the stimulating properties of dissent, debate and diversity would argue for a change in membership in that it would provide access to differing views and stimulate more divergent and creative thought. The present study investigated idea generation when membership was maintained versus completely changed. We predicted and found that maintaining membership increases comfort and also the perception of creativity but not actual creative behavior whereas changing membership results in a less comfortable experience but also an increase in the number and creativity of the ideas generated. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

De Cremer, David

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.368pmid: N/A

The present research examined the effects of endowment size, provision point level and the opportunity to voice one's opinion on contributions in asymmetric public good dilemmas. Results from a first experiment showed that group members endowed with more resources contributed more when the required threshold for obtaining a public good was high rather than low. ‘Rich’ participants who reported that their personal contribution was more critical for success contributed more. However, most groups failed to surpass the high provision point threshold level. Results from a second experiment reveal that ‘rich’ participants given voice, contributed more than ‘rich’ participants not given a voice. Voice contributed to greater feelings of inclusiveness, higher contributions and increased the likelihood that the group surpassed the high provision point level. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Riketta, Michael; Ziegler, René

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.376pmid: N/A

People differ in the extent to which their self‐evaluations fluctuate in response to positive and negative events. This research tests whether self‐ambivalence predicts this self‐evaluative reactivity. Participants first completed measures of self‐ambivalence and baseline self‐esteem. Next, they were induced a success or failure experience in a cognitive task and finally rated their cognitive self‐evaluations (task‐specific ability, state self‐esteem) and affective reactions (self‐feelings, mood). Self‐ambivalence was associated with stronger effects of the success/failure manipulation on cognitive self‐evaluations but not on affective reactions, with baseline self‐esteem controlled. Possible underlying mechanisms are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Atuel, Hazel; Seyranian, Viviane; Crano, William D.

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.377pmid: N/A

This research series replicated and extended earlier findings of Gardikiotis, Martin, and Hewstone (2004), who examined via content analysis UK media representations of numeric majority and minority groups. Using news articles from North and South Dakota, where majority/minority population characteristics mirror those of the UK in terms of number and power, Study 1 replicated the patterns of results found in Gardikiotis et al. Study 2, in which articles from California newspapers were analyzed, yielded findings contrary to Gardikiotis et al. and our Dakota analyses: Minority headlines were more frequent in California, and majority articles were longer than minority articles. Consistent with UK and Dakotas findings, majority headlines in California were associated with politics and identity adjectives, whereas minority headlines were linked to social issues and ethnicity‐based adjectives. Arguably, these differences occurred because in California, unlike the UK and the Dakotas, Whites are not simultaneously the social power and the numeric majority. Variations in power and number associated with majority and minority status were discussed in explaining differences across contexts, and in signaling possible shortcomings in the conceptualization and methods used to investigate minority and majority influence. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.