Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Ashmore, Richard D.; Solomon, Michael R.; Longo, Laura C.

doi: 10.1177/01461672962211001pmid: N/A

A functional framework for the perception of female physical attractiveness suggests that, at the least, perceivers should differentiate sexual (sexy), youthful, nonsexual (cute), and up-to-date clothed and groomed (trendy) dimensions. Further, it was hypothesized that these content-specific varieties of good looks would covary with physical features (the stimulus cues used by perceivers to decode particular attractiveness continua) and also with psychological inferences (the stereotypic expectations linked to each appearance dimension). Using 96 photographs of female professional fashion models as stimuli, a free-sorting method coupled with a multidimensional scaling analysis provided support for both of these expectations. Also, the results suggest areas of both convergence and divergence in how college student males and females view physical attractiveness in women.

Winke, Michaela; Bless, Herbert; Biller, Barbara

doi: 10.1177/01461672962211002pmid: N/A

Experienced ease of thought generation was found to affect the impact of thought valence on attitude judgments. Participants generated either three or seven arguments that were either in favor or opposed to a specific issue. After generating three arguments, which was experienced as easy, participants' reported attitudes reflected the implications of their arguments, but this was not the case after generating seven arguments, which was experienced as difficult. In contrast, yoked participants who had read the arguments generated by the first group and consequently had lacked the subjective experience in thought generation were influenced more strongly by having been exposed to seven arguments rather than three. The results suggest that individuals use their subjective experience that accompany thought generation for the construction of their attitudes.

Ryan, Carey S.

doi: 10.1177/01461672962211003pmid: N/A

The accuracy of Blacks' and Whites' in-group and out-group stereotypes was examined by comparing judgments of the stereotypicality and dispersion of Black and White first-year college students with the stereotypicality and dispersion of self-ratings provided by random samples of group members. Accuracy was assessed using perceived-actual discrepancies and within-subject sensitivity correlations. Consistent with social identity theory, discrepancies revealed greater overestimation of stereotypicality and underestimation of dispersion in Blacks' judgments. But consistent with the notion that out-group information is more useful to Blacks than to Whites, sensitivity correlations revealed that Blacks' judgments of the out-group were as accurate as their judgments of their in-group, whereas Whites were more sensitive in judgments of their own group than the out-group. Participants were also more sensitive in their judgments of the White target group. Familiarity was generally unrelated to accuracy, but some evidence suggested that ethnocentrism may influence accuracy.

Kenney, Robert A.; Schwartz-Kenney, Beth M.; Blascovich, Jim

doi: 10.1177/01461672962211004pmid: N/A

It is proposed that followers' implicit leadership theories for appointed and elected leaders considered worthy of influence consist of expectations organized around category prototypes. An assessment of college students' leader prototypes yielded 14 key appointed leader behaviors and 19 key elected leader behaviors. Subsequent investigations provided evidence for the existence of this leader category. Participants, for whom a leader-worthy-of-influence category was suggested, seemed to rely on associated prototypes during a leader behavior recognition task. They selectively recognized category-consistent information more than did a control group. Results are discussed with relation to the synthesis of the universal and situation-contingent behavior and trait approaches for predicting leadership effectiveness, leader selection and training, and cross-situational comparisons of leader categorizations.

Bouas, Kelly S.; Komorita, S. S.

doi: 10.1177/01461672962211005pmid: N/A

Face-to-face discussion has been shown to increase cooperative behavior in social dilemmas. Two general explanations of this effect were tested: group identity (concern for fellow group members' outcomes) and perception of consensus (degree of agreement perceived among group members on how to respond to the dilemma). Undergraduate students participated in four person groups in one of four experimental conditions. The four conditions differed in common fate (interdependent outcome in a lottery), face-to-face discussion of the dilemma, discussion of an important (irrelevant) issue, and no discussion (control). Results indicate that (a) the common fate manipulation neither aroused group identity nor enhanced cooperation, (b) group identity may not be sufficient to elicit cooperation in a social dilemma, and (c) the most plausible explanation of group discussion effects is members' perceived consensus to cooperate.

Shackelford, Todd K.; Buss, David M.

doi: 10.1177/01461672962211006pmid: N/A

Over evolutionary history, different benefits have been gained and lost from long-term mateships, friendships, and coalitions. Humans have evolved psychological mechanisms that are sensitive to cues to possible diversion of benefits to people outside the relationship. Mateships, friendships, and coalitions are predicted to share some of the same benefits but also to differ in some of the resources conferred. Accordingly, the psychological mechanisms sensitive to betrayal are predicted to operate in the same manner in those domains in which benefits are common across relationships and to operate differently in those domains in which benefits are unique to relationship type. Three interpersonal domains are investigated with regard to perceived betrayal: extra relationship intimate involvement, intrarelationship reciprocity, and relationship commitment. Eight hypotheses are tested across the three relationship domains via perceived betrayal judgments. Results support a model of betrayal entailing some degree of domain specificity but also some generality across domains.

Crandall, Christian S.; Martinez, Rebecca

doi: 10.1177/01461672962211007pmid: N/A

Research on antifat attitudes in the United States has shown the position of antifat attitudes in an ideological network and the importance of attributions of control to prejudice against fat people. To test the role of blame and ideology in antifat prejudice, the authors compared attitudes among students in the United States and Mexico. Mexican students were significantly less concerned about their own weight and more accepting of fat people than were U.S. students. Antifat attitudes in the United States were part of a social ideology that holds individuals responsible for their life outcomes and may derive from attributions of controllability over life events. Attributions of controllability were significantly less important in Mexico for predicting antifat attitudes, and antipathy toward fat people showed no evidence of being part of an ideological network. Prejudice toward fat people in the United States appears to have a significant ideological component.

Britt, Thomas W.; Bonieci, Kurt A.; Vescio, Theresa K.; Biernat, Monica; Brown, Lisa M.

doi: 10.1177/01461672962211008pmid: N/A

A person × situation approach to the study of intergroup anxiety is offered in which anxiety in intergroup encounters is viewed as a transaction between the individual and the environment. An individual difference measure of intergroup anxiety toward African Americans is developed, and studies assessing the scale's reliability and validity are presented. The utility of a person × situation approach is shown in an experiment in which participants high or low in intergroup anxiety were told they would interact with either a European American or an African American. Participants high in intergroup anxiety who were supposed to interact with an African American evidenced the highest state anxiety, perceived the interaction as most difficult, and viewed their partners as most dissimilar from themselves. Issues surrounding sources of intergroup anxiety and the relationship between intergroup anxiety and prejudice are discussed.