1,720,990 research outputs found
The Effect of Invisibility on Exploitative Behaviors
No full textInvisibility is an abstract concept captured in film, literature, and social science. It is often desired as a superpower and in fiction portrayed as something that allows self-serving behaviors otherwise prevented by visibility. However, as a social construct used to describe marginalized individuals, it is regarded as largely distressing and disadvantageous. Key to these two opposing conceptualizations is the temporariness or permanence of the invisibility—if temporary and under the control of the individual, it serves the individual’s needs and desires; if permanent, it strips the individual of a sense of meaning and worthiness. The present studies examine invisibility from both perspectives. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate the desirable aspects of temporary invisibility, but also show that people are less enamored with possessing invisibility when its occurrence is permanent or not under the control of the individual. In Study 3, employing a 3-person video telephony paradigm, I test the impact of ostracism—being ignored and excluded—for one of two motives: role prescribed, in which individuals’ roles encourage their social invisibility, and oblivious, in which status differentials render those with lower status invisible. The results show that whereas obliviously ostracized individuals take advantage of their invisibility to prematurely begin a questionnaire, they also show higher levels of personal distress. These results indicate that being unnoticed may have negative psychological impact on individuals while also affording them the opportunity to engage in self-serving, yet possibly socially undesirable, behaviors
Stealing thunder from HIV: Understanding the processes behind timing the disclosure of HIV to potential relationship partners
No full textStealing thunder is a technique used in the courtroom that involves the defendant revealing self-incriminating negative information ( thunder ) before it is revealed by the prosecution in order to reduce its potential negative impact on the jury (Williams, Bourgeois, & Croyle, 1993). The goal of the present research was to examine if stealing thunder would be useful in understanding relationship processes and address mechanisms that could account for its effectiveness. I examined whether stealing thunder with one\u27s HIV+ status could affect an individual\u27s dating potential. Responding to an online survey, 657 gay males read two online profiles, one written by an HIV+ romantic prospect (Alex) and one written by Alex\u27s friend. Participants were randomly assigned to revealer (i.e., who revealed HIV+ status: target, friend, both, or neither) and which profile (Alex\u27s or Alex\u27s friend) they read first. Results indicated that among participants reading the Alex-written profile first, stealing thunder diminished the negative impact of his HIV+ status, resulting in a greater willingness to date and the effect was mediated by Alex\u27s perceived honesty and credibility. These results support the honesty mechanism, while also contributing a real-world strategy for HIV+ males in meeting potential partners. Implications for theory and policy are discussed
Psychological impact of social pain: The pain that doesn\u27t heal
No full textThe mounting evidence of the similarities between social pain and physical pain has led theorists to argue and researchers to provide evidence that the social-pain system may have piggybacked on the brain structure that evolved earlier for physical pain. Seven studies were conducted to examine two important distinctions between social pain and physical pain: (1) people can relive and re-experience social pain more easily and more intensely than physical pain, and (2) people can pre-live and pre-experience social pain more easily and more intensely than physical pain. Studies 1, 2a, 2b, and 3 instructed participants to relive social pain (i.e., to recall a severe social-pain experience) or physical pain (i.e., to recall a severe physical-pain experience), and then compared their ongoing feelings of pain. Study 1 directly asked participants to report their levels of pain using two self-report measures, and found that thoroughly recalling social pain led to a higher level of relived (currently felt) pain than was the case for physical pain. Studies 2a, 2b, and 3 measured participants’ feelings of pain indirectly. Because pain interrupts and impairs cognition, Studies 2a and 2b indexed feelings of pain with cognitive performance, and found that social pain reliving impaired performance on cognitively demanding tasks, as compared with physical pain reliving. In addition, pain decreases sensitivity to physical pressure. Study 3, therefore indirectly assessed pain by measuring participant’s sensitivity to pressure applied to their fingers via a pressure algometer, and found that participants endured higher levels of pressure following social pain reliving than physical pain reliving. Studies 4, 5, and 6 asked participants to pre-live social pain (i.e., to imagine a social-pain experience in the future) or physical pain (i.e., to imagine a physical-pain experience in the future), and measured participants’ feelings of pain thereafter. Study 4 directly asked participants to report their pain using self-report measures, and found that social pain pre-living led to higher levels of pain than physical pain pre-living. Study 5 measured pain indirectly with cognitive performance, and found that social pain pre-living led to worse performance on cognitively demanding tasks than physical pain pre-living. Study 6 assessed participants’ sensitivity toward physical pressure, and found that participants endured more pressure following social pain pre-living than physical pain pre-living. In all, these studies provided converging evidence to support the hypothesized differences between social pain and physical pain. Implications for social psychological research and theories on pain were discussed
The Preemptive Presentation Technique: Getting your Foot in the Door without Making a Request
No full textI propose that people are more likely to comply with a request if the person issuing the request preemptively presents the target with the materials for satisfying that request. By presenting the materials before compliance has been expressed, the requester communicates that they expect compliance, making it more difficult for the target to not comply. I consider this social influence technique in relation to the foot-in-the-door-technique, which is conceptualized as increasing compliance by first gaining compliance with a small request and then asking for the intended favor. I suggest that this conceptualization be expanded to include any compliance attempt that operates by achieving incremental progression towards the target request – including the proposed preemptive-presentation technique. This phenomenon was examined in five experiments (total N = 1,407). In Study 1, participants observed a compliance attempt in which a person requested that someone complete a short survey, and either preemptively handed it to them before they responded, or waited for a response before handing them the survey. Compared to the control condition, participants perceived the requester as having gotten her foot in the door by handing the survey preemptively. Additionally, participants viewed the requester as expecting compliance when the technique was used, and expressed reluctance to use the technique themselves. Studies 2 – 5 investigated the effectiveness of this technique. In Study 2, passersby on a college campus were more likely to stop and complete a survey when the requester handed it to them directly while issuing the request. In Study 3 participants were asked to vandalize a library book as part of a joke. These participants were not more likely to comply when preemptively handed the book, however, a large percentage (82) accepted the book when it was handed to them. In Study 4, participants were asked to volunteer to take part in an uncompensated psychology study on the weekend, and were more likely to agree when the requester preemptively provided them with the signup sheet. In Study 5, I replicated the procedures of Study 4, and included a condition in which the preemptive presentation technique was used, but participants were led to believe that the requester did not expect them to comply. The preemptive presentation technique without expectation did not increase compliance. A meta-analytic synthesis of these four studies indicates a modest, and non-statistically significant effect, r = .11, 95% Confidence Interval [-.02, .23]. Together these results suggest that (1) people do not perceive preemptive presentation as a favor, but they do perceive it as a way to get one’s foot in the door (2) and that the preemptive presentation technique can be effective in gaining compliance with a favor that someone would otherwise be reluctant to perform
Ostracism and aggression: the moderating influence of psychopathic traits
No full textOstracism--being ignored and excluded—threatens a sense of control and increases anger, which can trigger aggression. This thesis investigated psychopathy as a moderator of the ostracism → aggression link. Psychopathy is characterized by poor impulse control and muted emotional response. Ostracized participants experience an initial pain response (reflexive stage), but over time they appraise the situation and fortify basic needs (reflective stage). I hypothesize that the poor impulse control of ostracized individuals with psychopathic traits may exacerbate impulsive aggression in the reflexive stage. However, muted emotional responses to threatening situations may lead individuals with psychopathic traits to be less deliberately aggressive in ostracism\u27s reflective stage. In three studies, psychopathic traits were measured before participants were ostracized or included in a virtual ball-toss game, Cyberball. In Study 1, participants reported their basic need satisfaction and mood immediately after Cyberball (reflexive stage) and then after a minute delay (reflective stage). The reflective stage included measures of aggressive behavior temptations. Contrary to my expectations, psychopathic traits did not moderate significantly the reflexive ostracism effect, but they did moderate effects in the reflective stage; ostracism\u27s impact and the temptation to aggress were reduced for those high in psychopathic traits. In Study 2, I altered the ostracism manipulation to further test if psychopathy could moderate the immediate reaction. I replaced the full ostracism condition with a partial ostracism condition—an ostracism manipulation that increases sensitivity to moderation because of its ambiguity. Aggression was measured by the duration of noise blasts participants set for an opponent during a competitive reaction time task. Partially ostracized participants felt less basic need satisfaction than included participants, but again contrary to my hypothesis, there was no main effect of ostracism or psychopathy, nor were there any significant interactions. Study 3, examined the reflexive and reflective stage aggression hypotheses within the same study by making recovery stage a between-subjects factor. Aggression was measured using aggressive behavior temptations and disliked food (e.g., prunes) allocation. Ostracism lead to lowered basic need satisfaction, worsened affect, and increased aggression in both stages, but psychopathy did not moderate ostracism’s effects. Psychopathy did not consistently moderate the aggression response following ostracism, but in other social exclusion contexts it may be a significant moderator
The effect of ostracism by strangers on romantic relationship evaluations
Full text linkOne behavioral consequence of ostracism is to seek and strengthen connections with others. The current research tests whether a brief episode of ostracism by strangers strengthens targeted individuals\u27 perceptions of their romantic relationship and increases their desire to be closer to their partner. In Study 1a and Study 1b, participants were either included or ostracized by strangers in a Cyberball game, and then completed relationship evaluation measures. Interactions of ostracism and gender emerged, suggesting that as hypothesized, ostracized women tended to evaluate their relationships more positively than included women. However, men who were ostracized tended to evaluate their relationships less positively than those who were included. Study 2 followed similar procedure, and explored control and belonging need-threat and mood as potential mediators, as well as the value of these needs and endorsement of social goals (agentic vs. communal) that may account for this divergent effect of ostracism and gender on relationship evaluations. The Gender X Ostracism interaction was not replicated; however, mediation analyses revealed that threatened-control led ostracized women to perceive their relationship as closer and to desire closeness, and negative mood led ostracized men to be less satisfied with their relationships
Solitude Seeking: The Good, the Bad, and the Balance
No full textThe prevailing literature has provided compelling evidence for the ill effects of solitude on both mental and physical health: for example, solitude thwarts the fundamental need to belong, threatens self-esteem, causes stress and depression, compromises the immune system, increases the risk for heart disease, and shortens life expectancy. However, these conclusions are largely based on studies of ostracism, rejection, loneliness, and solitary confinement – situations in which people are forced into solitude. The current research sought to understand the causes and effects of voluntary solitude. To this end, I proposed and tested a homeostatic model of sociality – solitude, in which people are motivated to optimize well-being by balancing two opposing forces: the desire for social contact, and the desire for solitude. I also anticipated an exception to this model: ostracized individuals may, at least temporarily, seek further isolation. In Study 1, I used qualitative methods (i.e., survey interview), to gather a variety of motives for solitude. The most common motives included coping with negative events, avoiding distractions, and the regulation of emotion. Then, in Studies 2-6, I used quantitative methods (both correlational and experimental studies), to examine whether being ostracized would motivate solitude seeking. In support of this hypothesis, participants’ preference for solitude was found to be positively associated with higher frequencies of chronic ostracism experiences (Study 2), and increased following a brief episode of ostracism, especially among introverts (Studies 3-6). In Study 7, I examined the homeostatic prediction of sociality – solitude. Consistent with this hypothesis, compared to participants who were led to believe their future job would involve fewer social interactions, participants who were led to believe their future job would require frequent social interactions reported higher preferences for solitary leisure activities (e.g., reading a book), but lower preferences for social leisure activities (e.g., attending a party). This effect was robust regardless of variation on trait extraversion. Further, in Studies 8-9, I provided evidence for the benefits of balancing sociality with solitude. Both correlational (Study 8) and experimental data (Study 9) revealed that, not only too much solitude, but too little solitude was associated with less positive well-being outcomes (e.g., need satisfaction, life satisfaction, and mental health). Finally, in Study 10, I employed a longitudinal experiment to test whether college students would better schedule their activities to obtain both social time and alone time if they were instructed to do so. Surprisingly, regardless of instruction, all participants reported that they attempted to balance sociality with solitude. This finding, though unexpected, converges with the results of Study 7, suggesting that people are intrinsically motivated to regulate their social/solitary experience to reach an optimal balance. Taken together, despite (1) the fundamental need to belong, (2) the well-documented ill effects of solitude, and (3) the personality variation in extraversion, my results suggest that individuals seek and can benefit from solitude. Contrary to forced solitude, voluntary solitude serves as a social shelter, that allows individuals to “lick one’s wounds” and “recharge social batteries”. Voluntary solitude appears to follow an optimality principle: too little or too much is not preferred and can have negative consequences. Individuals appear to seek an optimal balance between sociality and solitude; both the desire for social connections and the desire for solitude are essential to human happiness and well-being
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