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The Role Of Perceived Social Norms On Attitudes And Behavior: An Examination Of The False Consensus Effect, Kathleen Patricia Bauman

Doctoral Dissertations

This paper examined the role of perceived social norms in relation to people's attitudes and behavioral intentions, specifically in regards to the false consensus effect (FCE). People are prone to numerous biases in judgments about peers' beliefs, including overestimating support for their own position (i.e., false consensus). These misperceptions can then shape people's beliefs and guide their behavior. This series of studies assessed the influence of this type of misperception on attitudes and behavioral intentions regarding controversial social issues. Study 1 demonstrated that people displayed false consensus for current social issues. Alterations in wording and order of presentation did not …

Judging Contingencies Accurately: The Effects Of Feedback, Practice, And Self-Efficacy, Steven C. Clark

Doctoral Dissertations

Some psychologists have claimed that people are not good at judging covariation (e.g., Smedslund, 1963; Jenkins & Ward, 1965). This claim, however, has been based on the results of experiments that may not have been optimal for promoting judgmental accuracy (Allan & Jenkins, 1980). Other psychologists have claimed that people are relatively good judges of covariation (e.g., Wasserman, Chatlosh, & Neunaber, 1983; Wasserman & Shaklee, 1984). Common to most of this research is an experimental paradigm in which participants do not ever receive feedback concerning the accuracy of their judgments.

The two experiments in this dissertation were designed to promote …

The Effects Of Actual And Perceived Parental Characteristics On Partner Selection And Perception, Glenn Gehar

Doctoral Dissertations

The present studies were designed to examine the template matching hypothesis, a prediction based on Freud's (1927) psychoanalytic theory which proposes that people choose romantic partners who are similar to their opposite-sex parents. While some research has demonstrated that such a phenomenon does exist for physical characteristics (e.g., Jedlicka, 1984), research on this phenomenon in regards to personality dimensions has been relatively inconclusive. The primary objectives of the present studies were to determine (a) the extent to which people choose partners with personalities similar to their opposite-sex parents, (b) the extent to which people perceive that their romantic partners have …

Perceived Versus Actual Attitude Similarity As Predictors Of Change In Interpersonal Attraction, Andrew Robert Mcgarva

Doctoral Dissertations

The present investigation was intended to identify factors that affect the degree to which interpersonal attraction changes over the course of face-to-face interaction. Participants completed a modified version of Byrne's (1971) attitude questionnaire, the Crowne-Marlowe Social Desirability Scale (1964), and Snyder's Self-Monitoring Scale and were then paired into attitudinally similar, dissimilar, or neutral dyads. Both before and after interacting for 40-minutes, dyads were asked to rate their interpersonal attraction toward their partner. Attitude similarity better predicted post-conversation interpersonal attraction when controlling for pre-conversation attraction than when not controlling for pre-conversation attraction. Social desirability, self-monitoring, and the coordination of vocal activity …

The Multidimensionality Of Illusory Judgments: Reexamination Of Illusion Of Control Research, Paul Keith Presson

Doctoral Dissertations

The present dissertation examines the well-established research paradigm known as the illusion of control. Until now, researchers have employed one basic paradigm which has addressed the illusion of control as a unidimensional phenomenon. In Study 1, 91 female undergraduates were presented with three induction conditions used by previous researchers. Factor analyses showed that judgments from these tasks did not tap into a single process, but rather fell into two types of illusory judgments--belief- and contingency-based. In Study 2, 182 female undergraduates were exposed to the same three induction conditions used in Study 1 plus two additional contingency tasks. As in …

Psychosocial And Sociostructural Determinants Of Mastery: The Context Of Age And Disability, Scott David Schieman

Doctoral Dissertations

The "active" and "potent" self has held a special interest to philosophers, psychologists, and sociologists since the inception of those disciplines. The present research uses sociological perspectives on social comparison and reference group theory to provide a framework for understanding the various dimensions of self-process in the context of age and disability. Specifically, this research examines associations between age, disability, and social status indicators as they impress upon personal agency or mastery.

This study uses secondary data that includes respondents aged 18 and over who resided in any of ten counties in Southwestern Ontario and were part of a two-wave …

Parallels Between Adolescent-Mother And Adolescent-Best Friend Interactions, Katherine A. Black

Doctoral Dissertations

Forty-two adolescents (13-18 years) along with their mothers and best friends participated in this study. Adolescents participated in videotaped interaction tasks with their mothers and with their best friends, in which unresolved problems between the respective dyads were discussed. Attachment, self-esteem, personality, emotional expressiveness, friendship, and mood were assessed with questionnaires. There were four main findings in this study. First, there were positive associations between adolescents' behavior with their mothers and adolescents' behavior with their best friends. There were also positive associations between mothers' behavior with adolescents and adolescents' behavior with best friends. These associations were sometimes mediated by adolescents' …

Repression And Relief: Mood And Cardiovascular Changes Following Threat, Thinking About Threat, And Threat Removal For Repressors And Nonrepressors, Dennis Charles Mitchell

Doctoral Dissertations

Do persons who typically deny their feelings of anxiety also deny relief when a threatening situation ends? Can such persons create relief in themselves by reconsidering the threat and their resources to cope with the threat? The present study sought to answer these questions and to explore more generally the experiential and cardiovascular nature of emotional relief that emerges from coping with the presence of a threat and then realizing that a threat is no longer present. Preselected in terms of whether or not they typically deny feelings of anxiety ("repressive coping style"), 141 college students participated in two series …