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In previous research on the importance of a peer group in shaping and supporting group members' antisocial behavior (e.g., aggression), researchers have focused on the influence of group norms on individuals' behavior. Two potential aspects of variability have been neglected: peers in a group would vary in the strength of influences on individuals, and individuals would vary in the openness to peer influences. Social learning theory and social impact theory suggest that a peer's social status would affect the strength of his/her influences on individuals' behavior. In this study, I investigated how social status is related to the strength of influences of peers in a group on individuals' aggression. Potential moderating effects of group characteristics (i.e., group status and group cohesion) were investigated. Moreover, individual characteristics (i.e., individual status and individuals' beliefs about aggression) were examined as factors which would influence individual member's openness to peer influences. Finally, previous studies have concentrated on the socialization of physical aggression in peer groups. In the current study, both physical and social aggression were investigated. A diverse sample of 7th-grade students (n = 336, mean age = 13.00) participated in this study. Data were collected in the fall (Time 1) and in the spring (Time 2) semesters of 7th grade. Group administration procedures were used to conduct a 45-minute survey session. Both forms of aggression, physical and social aggression, were measured by peer nominations and victim nominations at both time points. The Social Cognitive Map (SCM) procedure was used to identify peer groups in school at Time 1. A total of 245 individual members belonging to 65 groups were included for statistical analyses using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) procedure. Findings showed that after controlling for individual members' aggression at Time 1, individual members' aggression at Time 2 was positively and significantly associated with high-status peers' aggression at Time 1 rather than with low-status peers' aggression at Time 1. This pattern was found for both physical and social aggression. In terms of moderating effects of group-level factors, the association between individual members' physical aggression at Time 2 and high-status peers' physical aggression at Time 1 was found to be stronger in boys' groups than in girls' groups and stronger in a highly cohesive group than in a non-cohesive group. As to moderating effects of individual-level factors, the association between individual members' social aggression at Time 2 and high-status peers' social aggression at Time 1 was stronger for individuals with aggression-encouraging beliefs than for individuals with aggression-nonencouraging beliefs and stronger for low-status individuals than for high-status individuals. In summary, results from this study indicate that, in early adolescence, peers in a group differ in the strength of influences which varies across group and individual characteristics. These findings imply that future researchers should consider the variability in the strength of peer influences and in the openness of individuals to peer influences. In addition, special attention should be given to high-status aggressive youth in future prevention and intervention programs in order to reduce aggression and violence in school. / Psychology

Status is a salient social cue, to the extent that it shapes our attention, judgment, and memory for other people, and it guides our social interactions. While prior work has addressed the traits associated with status, as well as its effects on cognition and behavior, research on the neural mechanisms of status perception is still relatively sparse and predominantly focused on neural activity during explicit status judgments. Further, there is no research looking at the involvement of person-processing networks in status perception, or how we embed status information in our representations of others. In the present study I asked whether person-specific representations in ventral face-processing regions (occipital face area (OFA), fusiform face area (FFA)) as well as more anterior regions (anterior temporal lobe (ATL) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)) contain information about a person’s status, and whether regions involved in affective processing and reward (amygdala, ventral striatum) decode status information as well. Participants learned to associate names, career titles, and reputational status information (high versus low ratings) with objects and faces over a two-day training regimen. Object status served as a nonsocial comparison. Trained stimuli were presented in an fMRI experiment, where participants performed a target detection task unrelated to status. MVPA revealed that face and object sensitive regions in the ATLs and lateral OFC decoded face and object status, respectively. These data suggest that regions sensitive to abstract person knowledge and valuation interact during the perception of social status, potentially contributing to the effects of status on social perception. / Psychology

Race and social class are inherently confounded in the American society/culture—people stereotypically assume poor Black and rich White when only race is specified. However, much of the social psychological literature focuses on either race or social class during stereotype and attitude assessment. This focus is problematic given that different patterns of responses arise when both categories are specified (e.g., rich Black) rather than when only one of the two categories is reported (e.g., Black). Here I report on two pilot studies and two independent studies to examine the unique and combined effects of race and social class on stereotypes, implicit attitudes, explicit attitudes, and decision-making when stimulus race and/or social class are/is manipulated. In Pilot Study 1, I examined general race only and social class only implicit preferences and found overall pro-White/anti-Black and pro-rich/anti-poor preferences. In Pilot Study 2, I examined implicit associations between race and social class. Results confirmed that participants hold implicit rich-White and/or poor-Black associations. In Study 1a and 1b, I directly examined implicit attitudes, explicit stereotypes, and explicit affective responses when both race and social class are specified. Across all measures, participants had more positive attitudes and stereotypes about rich Blacks than rich Whites, rich Whites than poor Whites, and rich Blacks than poor Blacks. Attitudes and stereotypes about poor Whites compared to poor Blacks were more nuanced and were measure dependent. In Study 2, I investigated how race and social class information influences decision-making in a situation resembling a real world scenario (i.e., academic honor society selection processes). The results of this study suggest that the intersection of race and social class might be nuanced for this type of decision-making task, as only marginally significant effects for race appeared. Participants demonstrated lower criterion for Black than White applicants, suggesting that they are more likely to accept Black than White applicants into the honor society. This effect did not vary by target social class. These findings provide important insight into associations between race and social class, how the intersection of race and social class information affects stereotyping and attitudes, and fluctuations in decision-making when both race and social class of an academic honor society applicant are known. Overall, these results suggest that the intersection of race and social class need to be examined together. / Psychology

In the field of counseling the thinking-feeling-acting (T-F-A) trichotomy provides several advantages over conventional approaches to select counseling methods. Hutchins developed the TFA system and a corresponding instrument, the Hutchins Behavior Inventory (HBI), to assess a client’s thinking-feeling-acting orientation. Factors influencing the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains of human functioning have been identified, but past research often led to conflicting or unsatisfying results. Some researchers claim that there are significant cognitive, affective, and psychomotor gender differences, whereas others describe the effects of gender as nonexistent. The influences of socioeconomic status on an individual’s level of thinking, feeling, and acting have rarely been studied, and, by and large, the question of whether or not human functioning is situation specific has been theoretically addressed rather than empirically researched. In this study path analysis and the LISREL methodology were used to investigate to what extent thinking-feeling-acting orientations are dependent on gender, socioeconomic status, and the situational context. The Hutchins Behavior Inventory was used to assess the TFA orientations of 172 resident counselors at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The effects of gender and socioeconomic status on thinking, feeling, and acting were minimal, whereas relatively strong influences of situational context on thinking and acting were found. These results provided some evidence that the TFA system does not discriminate on the basis of sociodemographic factors but that counseling professionals should give careful consideration to the specific situation under which behavior is assessed. In addition, arguments were presented showing that HBI scores are not all of an ipsative nature and thus are suitable for statistical analyses. Further evidence was provided that the HBI is a reliable instrument consistently measuring thinking-feeling-acting orientations. / Ph. D. / incomplete_metadata

Yes / We investigated how carers of people with dementia evaluate their standing in their community and wider society, and if this is related to ‘living well’. We used baseline data from the Improving the experience of Dementia and Enhancing Active Life programme and found that carers rated their standing in society higher than in their local community. Higher evaluations of both were associated with enhanced life satisfaction, well-being and quality of life. Initiatives that increase support or engagement in the community or wider society may help to increase carers’ perceptions of their social status, enhancing their ability to ‘live well’. / The IDEAL study was funded jointly by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) through grant ES/L001853/2. The ESRC is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). ‘Improving the experience of Dementia and Enhancing Active Life: a longitudinal perspective on living well with dementia. The IDEAL-2 study’ was funded by the Alzheimer’s Society, grant number 348, AS-PR2-16-001.

Wilson (1980) argued that social class has superseded race as the most important determinant of life chances for black Americans. His statements have sparked a heated debate in the sociology of race relations. This dissertation is an empirical test of the “declining significance of race" thesis in relation to the quality of life of black Americans. It assumes that "life chances” include not only economic criteria but also the possibility of attaining a happy, satisfying, and healthy life. Two perspectives on the relationship between race and well-being were distinguished. The “class" perspective identifies the source of the problems blacks face as increasingly a class phenomena rather than one of race. The “race” perspective sees race as increasingly the source of the problems blacks face. These two perspectives were tested using data from three different sources: the NORC General Social Survey; the Quality of American Life, 1971 and 1978 (Campbell and Converse, 1971, 1978); and Americans View Their Mental Health, 1957 and 1976: Selected Variables (Veroff, Douvan and Kulka, 1978). The effects of race and class (and other demographic variables) were compared across the years of each survey on selected measures of subjective well-being. The results revealed a persistent race effect on all of the quality of life measures except for the scales measuring psychiatric symptoms. Most of the race effects persisted even when controlling for social class, sex, marital status, and age across all the years examined. These results support the "race" perspective that “being black" is detrimental to the psychological well-being of blacks regardless of their social class status. There was, however, no discernible trend of race increasing or declining in significance--only its continuing significance. / Ph. D.

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It is the purpose of this investigation to determine within the limitations of the study the relationship in the classroom between social class status as measured by an accepted instrument and social acceptance as measured by a sociometric test.

The purpose of this study was (1) to investigate the changes in sociometric status that resulted when first grade children were taught some art or craft that they could teach to others in their class, (2) to note concomitant behavior changes as reported by their teachers and as noted by their experimenter, and (3) to compare the distribution and increase of decrease of votes received, votes given and mutual attractions in experimental groups with a control group.