Social Psychology Commons^™

Social Support In Marriage: Translating Research Into Practical Applications For Clinicians, Kieran T. Sullivan, Lauri A. Pasch, Kathleen A. Eldridge, Thomas N. Bradbury

Psychology

How spouses support one another may be important in understanding and preventing marital distress, but has received relatively little attention. Instead, the behavioral model of marriage and corresponding treatment protocols have focused on the importance of good conflict management skills in preventing and treating marital distress. This paper outlines recent research indicating that couples social support skills predict marital outcome two years later, above and beyond conflict management skills. These results indicate that successful prevention and treatment programs may need to incorporate support skills training as well as conflict management training. Practical implications of this research are outlined, and specific …

Gender Differences In College Students' Attributions For Success And Failure, Anna Hutton

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Attributions for success and failure have been the topic of much research. One area of focus is that of gender differences. Research has produced highly inconsistent results, but many believe that differences exist in the way men and women attribute success and failure. The present study was designed to identify differences in the ways college men and women make attributions for success and failure and to determine whether there are gender differences in attributions for success and failure in ego-involved areas. Three hundred and ninety undergraduate students completed the Collegiate Attributions Scale. Results showed that (a) college students are more …

Stereotyping And Self-Presentation: Effects Of Gender Stereotype Activation, Chi-Yue Chiu, Ying-Yi Hong, Ivy Ching-Man Lam, Jeanne Ho-Ying Fu, Jennifer Yuk-Yue Tong, Venus Sau-Lai Lee

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Recent research has shown that the presence of stereotype-relevant environmental cues can inadvertently bias people's judgments of others in the direction of the stereotype. The present research demonstrated analogous activation effects on self-stereotyping. In two experiments, the effects of stereotype activation on the tendencies to stereotype others and to self-stereotype were examined. Experiment 1 tested whether incidental exposure to gender-related materials might activate gender stereotypes and hence affect perception of another person. Experiment 2 investigated gender stereotype activation effects on female and male high school students' self-presentation behaviors. The results showed that incidental exposure to stereotype-relevant environmental cues increased both …

What Makes A Life Good?, Laura A. King, Christie N. Scollon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Two studies examined folk concepts of the good life. Samples of college students (N=104) and community adults (N=264) were shown a career survey ostensibly completed by a person rating his or her occupation. After reading the survey, participants judged the desirability and moral goodness of the respondent's life, as a function of the amount of happiness, meaning in life, and wealth experienced. Results revealed significant effects of happiness and meaning on ratings of desirability and moral goodness. In the college sample, individuals high on all 3 independent variables were judged as likely to go to heaven. In the adult sample, …

Functional Relations Among Constructs In The Same Content Domain At Different Levels Of Analysis: A Typology Of Composition Models, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Composition models specify the functional relationships among phenomena or constructs at different levels of analysis (e.g., individual level, team level, organizational level) that reference essentially the same content but that are qualitatively different at different levels (M. T. Hannan, 1971, K. H. Roberts, C. L. Hulin, & D. M. Rousseau, 1978, D. M. Rousseau, 1985). Specifying adequate composition models is a critical component of good multilevel research. A typology of composition models is proposed to provide a framework for organizing, evaluating, and developing constructs and theories in multilevel research. Five basic forms of composition are described and illustrated. Implications of …

Perceiving And Feeling Personal Discrimination: Motivation Or Inhibition For Collective Action?, Mindi D. Foster, Kimberley Matheson

Psychology Faculty Publications

Relative deprivation and group consciousness theories differ in their predictions of how personal discrimination and personal discontent will be related to taking collective action. According to relative deprivation theory, assessments of personal status should be unrelated to taking collective action.

In contrast, group consciousness theories suggest that while perceiving personal discrimination is necessary for collective action to occur, feelings of personal discontent may inhibit it. Female students completed questionnaires assessing their perceptions of, and affective responses to personal discrimination, as well as their participation in collective actions. A hierarchical regression analysis found that personal discrimination and discontent interacted such that …

Objectivist Vs. Subjectivist Views Of Criminality: A Study In The Role Of Social Science In Criminal Law Theory, Paul H. Robinson, John M. Darley

All Faculty Scholarship

The authors use social science methodology to determine whether a doctrinal shift-from an objectivist view of criminality in the common law to a subjectivist view in modern criminal codes-is consistent with lay intuitions of the principles of justice. Commentators have suggested that lay perceptions of criminality have shifted in a way reflected in the doctrinal change, but the study results suggest a more nuanced conclusion: that the modern lay view agrees with the subjectivist view of modern codes in defining the minimum requirements of criminality, but prefers the common law's objectivist view of grading the punishment deserved. The authors argue …

Testing Competing Theories Of Justification, Paul H. Robinson, John M. Darley

All Faculty Scholarship

Present criminal law theory reflects a disagreement over the underlying theory of the justificatory principle, and thus the proper legal formulation of such defenses. At the core of the debate about the principle is the following question. Are justification defenses given because the actor's deed avoids a greater harm, or because she acted for the right reason? The deeds theory of justification justifies conduct that avoids a greater harm, because the conduct is conduct that we would be happy to tolerate under similar circumstances in the future: that is, because the actor has done the right deed. The reasons theory …