This research tested a model for responses to perceptions of relational devaluation in newly formed friendships. Relational devaluation is the perception of an unexpected decline in how close, important, or valuable a relationship partner considers the self to be. Borrowed from the theory of hurt feelings (Leary & Springer, 2001), relational devaluation is thought to trigger hurt feelings, which serve as a warning to the self that a given relationship is at risk of dissolution. The proposed model integrated the theory of hurt feelings with research on self-evaluation motivations. The model made the following predictions: (1) When explained situationally (e.g., via external justification), perceptions of relational devaluation should lead to inflexible self-evaluative motivations, which are those that maintain or bolster self-perceptions, such as self-enhancement and self-verification. (2) When no situational explanations are available, perceptions of relational devaluation should lead to flexible self-motivations, which are those that involve attempts to 'objectively' evaluate the self, such as self-assessment and self-improvement. (3 & 4) Regardless of external justification, hurt feelings should derive from perceptions of relational devaluation and inflexible motivations should be activated when relational devaluation is not perceived A 2 (Relational Devaluation) x 2 (External Justification) factorially designed deception study tested the model. After developing closeness with a female experimental confederate, 83 female participants learned via alleged experimenter error that the confederate felt either as close or a lot less close to them than participants had expected. Then participants overheard the confederate's comment to the experimenter that either explained the feedback as a mistake (external justification) or not. Participants' hurt feelings and automatic self-relevant thoughts were measured in addition to trait level affect intensity. Analyses provided no support for the theory of hurt feelings. However, feelings of support were reduced when relational devaluation was perceived either directly from the initial feedback or indirectly when the overheard comment undermined feedback that participants were valued. This indirect relational devaluation also resulted in less positive automatic self-relevant thoughts. Unexpectedly, participants differed more in terms of positive thoughts, which are characteristic of inflexible motivations, than negative thoughts / acase@tulane.edu

Utility analysis is a method used to evaluate human resource decisions on a financial basis. Current methods depend on an assumption that individual performance and value of performance share at least a linear relationship. This study examined several group dynamics factors, expected to be present in a typical organizational setting, which may cause violation of this critical assumption. These factors were group versus individual performance, social norms for effort and performance, and situational constraints. Results of a survey from over 500 computer programmers provided support for the prediction that these factors caused violation of the assumption of a linear, deterministic relationship between performance and value of performance. Computer simulations were then conducted to determine the extent of bias introduced into the utility analysis process resulting from these effects. Results indicated that current methods of estimating selection utility may overestimate true utility by as much as 32 percent. Limitations and extensions of the findings are also discussed / acase@tulane.edu

Previous research (e.g., Gilbert, Pelham, & Krull, 1988) has proposed a stage model of attributional activity, by which perceivers first form dispositional attributions for a target's behavior and then, given sufficient cognitive resources, correct these attributions with more cognitively taxing situational attributions. Other research (e.g., Devine, 1989) has shown that low prejudiced perceivers make a conscious effort not to exhibit potentially prejudiced attitudes or discriminatory behavior. The logic of these two theories was combined in an experiment in which participants discussed aloud possible causes for an African-American target's stereotypic behavior. It was hypothesized that participants low in prejudice and under a low cognitive load, because they were both willing and able to invest their energy to the attribution task, would use more complex explanations and corrections of dispositional explanations in order to account for the target's behavior Participants read about a male African-American target who ostensibly reported enacting behaviors stereotypic for his group. Participants of high or low prejudice and under a low or a high cognitive load proposed aloud possible causes for the target's behavior. It was hypothesized that participants low in prejudice and under a low cognitive load, because they were both willing and able to invest their energy to the attribution task, would engage in more complex attributional activity. Specifically, it was predicted that low-prejudiced participants under low load, compared to high-prejudiced participants and low-prejudiced participants under a high load, would devote more of their discussion to situational explanations and complex 'narrative' explanations, and would show a propensity to correct initial dispositional explanations with situational ones Results partially supported hypotheses, particularly with respect to correction of initial dispositional explanations, indicating that both motivation and ability are necessary for perceivers to engage in the correction phase theorized in Gilbert's model. The advantages of a methodology allowing for spontaneous generation and discussion of attributions, thus providing on-line information about participants' attributional processes, and the implications for both attribution and prejudice research are discussed. Also, the relevance of the present findings to theories of attributional biases and cross-cultural investigations is considered / acase@tulane.edu

Age-related increases in accuracy of children's self and peer perceptions have been found in research as diverse as investigations of gender constancy (Gouze & Nadelman, 1980), children's use of social comparison information (Nicholls, 1978, 1979), perceptions of academic achievement (Stipek, 1981) and studies of intimacy and friendship (Ladd & Emerson, 1984; Diaz & Berndt, 1982). However, evidence concerning the sequence of emergence of these perceptions is inconsistent, and direct comparisons of the two are scarce in the literature. The current work directly compared the relative accuracy of self and peer perceptions and investigated peer and expected peer perceptions as a function of rater and ratee gender Thirty-two children (16 female, 16 male) from two grades (third and fifth) completed five modified versions of the Self Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985a) in order to assess the child's self perceptions, his/her perceptions of one male and one female classmate, and the child's expectations for how those classmates perceive him/her in three areas of competence: scholastic, social and athletic. Children's subjective ratings were compared with objective criteria in each of the competence areas to provide an index of accuracy of ratings Results provided some support for age-related differences in self perceptions, with younger children's self ratings showing less differentiation across competence areas than did the ratings of older children. The ratings that younger children expected to receive from both same- and opposite-sex peers were best predicted by their self ratings while older children appeared better able to distinguish between their self perceptions and anticipated peer ratings Children's peer ratings showed greater cross-domain differentiation than did their self ratings, providing marginal evidence that accurate peer perceptions might emerge prior to accurate self perceptions. However, the most consistent finding concerned children's inaccuracies in predicting the competencies of opposite-sex peers. Self and same-sex peer ratings did not differ significantly while self and opposite-sex peer ratings varied considerably, indicating that questions concerning the relative accuracy of self and peer perceptions cannot be answered without consideration of the issue of gender / acase@tulane.edu

The current study examines the association between perceived sexual orientation discrimination and indicators of well-being in a sample of 362 gay men and lesbian women. Although there are several important differences between gay men and lesbians, whose stigma is not inherently visible, and those with more visible stigmatizing conditions, research regarding perceptions of discrimination and outcomes for ethnic minorities and women is used as a basis for deriving hypotheses suggesting that the experience of sexual orientation discrimination on the job would be associated with reduced well-being, and that social identification and social support would moderate the heterosexism---well-being relationships, indicating a 'buffering' effect against detriments to well-being associated with discrimination. Perceptions of direct discrimination against gays and lesbians on the job were found to be related negatively to life satisfaction, and positively to depression and anxiety. Perceptions of indirect heterosexism, behaviors and features of context which stem from inappropriate assumptions that all employees are heterosexual, were related positively to anxiety symptoms. Relationships between indirect heterosexism and anxiety, life satisfaction, and self-esteem were moderated by some aspects of social support, such that more social support was associated with weaker relationships between heterosexism and well-being indicators. However, no aspects of social support moderated the relationships between direct heterosexism and indicators of well-being. In contrast to results reported in previous studies of ethnic minorities, strength of social identification did not moderate any of the heterosexism---well-being relationships. Limitations of this study and implications of the results are discussed / acase@tulane.edu

A conceptualization of the illusion of control phenomenon as a dispositional variable describing "illusory control proneness" was proposed. One hundred and thirty-nine undergraduate students constituted the sample of the study. The stability of illusion of control across responses, situations, and time was evaluated by assessing the consistency of subjects' perceptions of control over uncontrollable situations across several measures, tasks, and sessions. A games-of-chance paradigm in which subjects participated in illusion of control and neutral conditions of lottery, roulette, and die roll tasks was employed. Subjects completed three dependent measures (i.e., judgment of control, estimate of performance with practice, and prediction of success), and attended two similar experimental sessions. / As hypothesized, a MANOVA with repeated measures revealed that the illusion of control phenomenon was effectively produced with each of the dependent measures, in the three games-of-chance tasks, on both experimental sessions. As predicted, correlational analyses revealed significant positive relationships among the dependent measures, among the games-of-chance tasks, and between the experimental sessions. It was hypothesized that a confirmatory factor analysis would reveal one common factor representing illusory control proneness. While this general model was not supported, an alternative "multitrait-multimethod" model fit the data well, suggesting that illusion of control is better conceptualized as a phenomenon that is essentially specific to given measures and tasks. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-11, Section: B, page: 6090. / Major Professor: Daniel R. Boroto. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

Institutional theories of art define works of art within a context of surrounding social relations, and in terms of their functions as the loci for specific social activities. The best known example of an institutional theory of art is that of George Dickie. While Dickie's attempts to define art in terms of behavioral patterns occurring within the "artworld" are significant, he ultimately fails to explicate the institutional basis of aesthetic behavior. Indeed, Dickie leaves obscure the complex social basis for any human institutional behavior. / The deficiencies of the theory may, however, be remedied with a thorough description of the intersubjectivity of aesthetic creation and appreciation. Toward this end, the pragmatic interactionism of John Dewey and the social behaviorism of George Herbert Mead are of use in reconstructing the institutional theory of art. / To execute this reconstruction, I draw upon Dewey's account of human propensities to respond creatively to novel situations arising in the everyday interactions between living creatures and a world--responses that reach apotheosis in artist production. Appreciation, too, has its place in reconstruction for it is yet another interactive response, one that mirrors structurally the gestures of creating artists. And here the precision of Mead's attention to the interactive behavioral basis for human communication and sociality complements Dewey's analysis. / Finally, my pragmatic reconstruction of the institutional theory clarifies the functional roles that one may fill within the artworld, may be used to ground an analysis of the unique value of the artworld as a social institution. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-03, Section: A, page: 0835. / Major Professor: Eugene F. Kaelin. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

Fifty depressed and fifty nondepressed undergraduate students assigned to categories on the basis of their scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) viewed two short therapy vignettes on video tape depicting the interaction of a "therapist" employing a cognitive-behavioral intervention (Beck) and a "therapist" employing a Self analytic intervention with a depressed "patient". Subjects indicated their initial mood prior to viewing the videos on an adjective checklist, and again after each video. Subjects filled out questionnaires after each video regarding the interaction of the "therapist" with "parient", and also gave verbal appraisals of the "therapists". The results indicated that the Beck "therapist" was viewed as more coercive and demanding than the Self "therapist" by both groups. The depressive found the Self "therapist" more appealing on most ratings of positive attributes and gave the Beck "therapist" higher ratings on most negative attributes. Both groups believed that the Self "therapist" would help the "patient" acquire greater self-efficacy with successful intervention compared to the Beck "therapist". The results are discussed in relation to interpersonal theory and implications for therapeutic intervention. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-03, Section: B, page: 0911. / Major Professor: Jack E. Hokanson. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.

There has been a proliferation of research into elite communication frames and framing effects among political scientists in recent years. A growing number of scholars have challenged many of the early assumptions regarding single-exposure frames and the broader impact of elite messages encountered in mass media broadcasting on citizen opinion. In addition, many scholars have been investigating the consequences of the "new media system" on the ways partisan information processors are exposed to and acquire political information. Yet, to date, no line of social scientific inquiry has attempted to merge these related directions of research into a cohesive framework that incorporates the information environment into a study of framing and framing effects. In the present study a quasi-experimental research design and a mock political website are utilized to examine the effects of competing elite messages on citizen opinions about domestic nuclear power plant construction when, as is the character of the contemporary media environment, citizens as consumers are able to choose and select the types of sources and messages they encounter. The results presented here suggest that partisanship does affect the types of information consumers view on a political website, especially when they are only able to choose a single article or message. However, when the environment is manipulated to become competitive, with consumers forced to select multiple articles, most consumers prefer to encounter balanced sets of information. These findings reveal that under some circumstances individuals are, in fact, ideologically biased -- especially individuals with crystallized partisan identities -- but that on many occasions people seek to hear both sides of an argument when acquiring new political information.

Who wins and loses in politics often depends on the relative strengths of competing groups. To increase their strengths and prevalence, groups often engage in mobilization efforts. How and when these attempts work is the topic of my dissertation. I take a micro approach by exploring the specific ways that varying rhetorical strategies enhance the likelihood of successful mobilization. Specifically, I combine rational choice and psychological theories to generate hypotheses concerning the role of thresholds (rules that determine how far the group is from its goal), the stakes involved in the decision, and source credibility in moderating the success of frames in increasing group participation. I then test these predictions in a series of three experiments---a voting game laboratory experiment, a mobilization survey-experiment, and a public goods laboratory experiment. I find evidence that group-based mobilization is most successful when moderators reinforce the mobilization messages, suggesting that identity-based politics have a greater underlying rational (i.e., instrumental) component than previously thought. The findings of this project have significant implications for the role of mobilization and identity in politics.