European Journal of Social Psychology

Keller, Johannes; Bless, Herbert

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.452pmid: N/A

The present research investigates the impact of negative and positive stereotypic expectancies on cognitive test performance. A theoretical framework that relates expectancy effects to self‐regulatory processes as postulated by Regulatory Focus Theory (RFT) is presented. Building on the differential sensitivity hypothesis proposed in this theoretical model, we argue that when self‐regulation in a prevention focus is activated individuals are particularly sensitive with regard to negative cues and therefore negative expectancies are likely to result in poor test performance due to an apprehension about meeting minimal goal standards. Conversely, when self‐regulation is guided by a promotion focus individuals are particularly sensitive with regard to positive cues and hence likely to show impaired performance when confronted with positive expectancies due to an apprehension about meeting maximal goal standards. The results of four experiments, relying on both situational and chronic regulatory focus, support these assumptions. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Greifeneder, Rainer; Bless, Herbert

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.451pmid: N/A

The relationship between level of depressive symptomatology and reliance on the ease‐of‐retrieval heuristic was investigated. In two studies, differences in ease‐of‐retrieval were instigated by means of the paradigm introduced by Schwarz and co‐workers. Subsequently, participants were screened for depressive symptoms with the Allgemeine Depressionsskala (ADS, Experiments 1 and 2) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI, Experiment 2). In both experiments, participants were randomly selected from a non‐clinical population. Results indicate that participants with low levels of depressive symptomatology relied on experienced ease or difficulty, whereas individuals with high levels of depressive symptomatology based their judgment on the accessible content information. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Maass, Anne; D'Ettole, Claudio; Cadinu, Mara

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.440pmid: N/A

Women are surprisingly underrepresented in the chess world, representing less that 5% of registered tournament players worldwide and only 1% of the world's grand masters. In this paper it is argued that gender stereotypes are mainly responsible for the underperformance of women in chess. Forty‐two male–female pairs, matched for ability, played two chess games via Internet. When players were unaware of the sex of opponent (control condition), females played approximately as well as males. When the gender stereotype was activated (experimental condition), women showed a drastic performance drop, but only when they were aware that they were playing against a male opponent. When they (falsely) believed to be playing against a woman, they performed as well as their male opponents. In addition, our findings suggest that women show lower chess‐specific self‐esteem and a weaker promotion focus, which are predictive of poorer chess performance. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Greitemeyer, Tobias; Kazemi, Ellie

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.418pmid: N/A

Previous research (Greitemeyer & Weiner, 2003) has demonstrated that compliance, because of an anticipated reward is attributed more to the person than compliance because of an anticipated punishment. The present research extended these findings to an educational context. Three studies revealed that parents who ask their children to change inappropriate behaviors are more likely to ascribe their children's improvement to the child, if the child was promised a reward, rather than threatened, to receive a punishment if the child did not improve. Moreover, because a child's improved behavior is more likely to be ascribed to the child given a reward as compared to a punishment, parents expect that rewards (as opposed to punishments) are more likely to sustain improved behavior, when the incentive is no longer offered. Finally, participants report to be more likely to induce behavioral change through reward rather than punishment. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Van Yperen, Nico W.; Renkema, Lennart J.

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.425pmid: N/A

The purpose of the present research is to complement and extend previous achievement goal research by emphasizing that great performance may serve as an antecedent of performance‐approach goal adoption, that is, the wish to outperform others. A consistent finding across the three studies is, indeed, that great (perceived) performance and high performance expectancies are associated with the adoption of performance‐approach goals. It is concluded that the process of goal adoption is a dynamic, recursive process in which performance attainment is most likely to operate as both an antecedent and a consequence of goal adoption. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Tostain, Manuel; Lebreuilly, Joëlle

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.404pmid: N/A

The authors of this study suggest that the harm‐punishment link (‘outcome bias’) can be explained by the activation of different judgment processes depending on the outcome severity of an offense: (1) a rational model for mild outcomes in which punishment is necessarily linked to responsibility of the perpetrator; (2) a justification model for severe outcomes in which punishment and responsibility are linked only when assessment order allows the latter to rationalize the former. Participants (126 university students) considered an unintentional road accident with mild or severe outcomes and made judgments of responsibility, punishment, and perceived seriousness of the offense. The results support the authors' hypothesis. In the discussion, the authors suggest different motives of punishment (preventive or compensative justice) which explain why responsibility and punishment are not necessarily linked. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Smith, Steven M.; Fabrigar, Leandre R.; MacDougall, Bonnie L.; Wiesenthal, Naomi L.

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.447pmid: N/A

Despite their intuitive plausibility and prominence in theorizing regarding attitude certainty, past studies have provided equivocal evidence for the role of informational and structural consistency factors in perceptions of attitude certainty. The present research attempted to overcome methodological and conceptual limitations in past research in order to establish that amount, cognitive elaboration, and structural consistency of attitude‐relevant knowledge are in fact determinants of attitude certainty. As predicted, certainty was influenced by experimental manipulations of all three constructs. Mediational analyses suggested that the amount and elaboration of information manipulations were mediated by subjective impressions of knowledge. Subjective impressions of amount of thought partially mediated the effects of manipulated elaboration. Finally, perceived ambivalence mediated the effects of manipulated consistency of knowledge. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Harber, Kent D.; Einev‐Cohen, Michal; Lang, Fran

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.448pmid: N/A

Two studies tested whether psychosocial resources affect perception of another's distress. Participants' had their resources depleted, left unchanged, or boosted by elaborately recalling either someone who had betrayed them, a neutral person, or a close and trusted other, respectively. Participants then listened to disturbing baby cries, and rated how much distress the cries conveyed. As predicted, participants who recalled a betrayal subsequently heard the cries as conveying more distress than did other participants (Study 1). However, recalling a betrayal did not amplify cry ratings if, prior to cry rating, betrayal‐related thoughts and feelings were disclosed (Study 2). The moderating effect of disclosure on cry ratings indicates that boosting resources (disclosure) can counteract the effects of resource depletion (betrayal). Results in both studies remained significant even after controlling for mood. This research is the first to show that social contexts, and emotional disclosure, each affects perception of others' distress. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Pollmann, Monique M. H.; Finkenauer, Catrin; van Dijk, Wilco W.

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.458pmid: N/A

Two factors known to affect the use of self in social prediction, target similarity and order of predictions, are considered in concert to understand how the use of self varies across the prediction of different targets. Replicating earlier studies, we predicted and found that people use the self more when predicting similar others than when predicting dissimilar others. Extending existing studies, we predicted and found order effects for similar others. As predicted no order effects emerged for predictions for dissimilar targets. Because the self is more accessible during the prediction of similar others, it matters whether self‐predictions precede or follow other‐predictions. Feature‐matching theory is proposed as a possible explanation for the emergence of order effects in predictions of similar targets. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Forgas, Joseph P.; Dunn, Elizabeth; Granland, Stacey

doi: 10.1002/ejsp.455pmid: N/A

Based on recent theories of affect and cognition, this unobtrusive field experiment predicted and found that induced positive mood improved real‐life customer service behaviors by less experienced sales staff, but had no effect on the behaviors of experienced long‐term staff in several department stores. Positive or negative mood was unobtrusively induced in sales staff in major department stores by a confederate. A second confederate, blind to the mood induction, then asked employees for help to locate a non‐existent item. The frequency and duration of helpful behaviors in response to the request was recorded. Consistent with Forgas' Affect Infusion Model (AIM), less experienced employees showed a significant mood‐congruent pattern in their responses helping more in a positive than in a negative mood. Long‐term employees who could rely on routine, direct access processing were not influenced by the mood induction. The implications of these findings for contemporary affect‐cognition theorizing and for everyday affective influences on interpersonal behaviors and customer service delivery are considered. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.