Browsing by Subject "Social perception"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Attachment Avoidance and Depressive Symptoms: A Test of Moderation by Cognitive Abilities
    (2014-09-04) Shea, Amanda Marie; Rand, Kevin L.; Stewart, Jesse C.; Cyders, Melissa A.; Ashburn-Nardo, Leslie; Grahame, Nicholas J.
    The substantial interpersonal and economic costs of depression make it imperative to better understand the predictors and moderators of depressive symptoms. The ability to use social support protects people from depressive symptoms, but individuals high in attachment avoidance tend not to use others as sources of support. Research has found that attachment avoidance is related to depressive symptoms in some samples but not in others (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007; Shea, 2011). Thus, there appear to be factors that moderate the relationship between attachment avoidance and depressive symptoms. The present study examined if cognitive abilities that facilitate effective emotion regulation strategies moderate the relationship between attachment avoidance and depressive symptoms. Using a sample of college students, attachment avoidance, cognitive abilities, depressive symptoms, and other indices of psychological distress and well-being were measured and examined for evidence of moderation via hierarchical linear regression. The hypothesis that cognitive abilities moderate the relationship between attachment avoidance and depressive symptoms was not supported (ΔR2 = 0.02, p = .68). Factors contributing to the null findings are discussed and conceptual and methodological suggestions are offered for future research.
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    Human emotions toward stimuli in the uncanny valley: laddering and index construction
    (2015) Ho, Chin-Chang; MacDorman, Karl F.; Pfaff, Mark S.; Fedorikhin, Alexander; Huang, Edgar
    Human-looking computer interfaces, including humanoid robots and animated humans, may elicit in their users eerie feelings. This effect, often called the uncanny valley, emphasizes our heightened ability to distinguish between the human and merely humanlike using both perceptual and cognitive approaches. Although reactions to uncanny characters are captured more accurately with emotional descriptors (e.g., eerie and creepy) than with cognitive descriptors (e.g., strange), and although previous studies suggest the psychological processes underlying the uncanny valley are more perceptual and emotional than cognitive, the deep roots of the concept of humanness imply the application of category boundaries and cognitive dissonance in distinguishing among robots, androids, and humans. First, laddering interviews (N = 30) revealed firm boundaries among participants’ concepts of animated, robotic, and human. Participants associated human traits like soul, imperfect, or intended exclusively with humans, and they simultaneously devalued the autonomous accomplishments of robots (e.g., simple task, limited ability, or controlled). Jerky movement and humanlike appearance were associated with robots, even though the presented robotic stimuli were humanlike. The facial expressions perceived in robots as improper were perceived in animated characters as mismatched. Second, association model testing indicated that the independent evaluation based on the developed indices is a viable quantitative technique for the laddering interview. Third, from the interviews several candidate items for the eeriness index were validated in a large representative survey (N = 1,311). The improved eeriness index is nearly orthogonal to perceived humanness (r = .04). The improved indices facilitate plotting relations among rated characters of varying human likeness, enhancing perspectives on humanlike robot design and animation creation.
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    The impact of the message content of rewards and punishments on the attribution of freedom
    (1973-06-01) Bringle, Robert G.; Lehtinen, Susan; Steiner, Ivan D.
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    The Right Angle: Visual Portrayal of Products Affects Observers’ Impressions of Owners
    (2012-10-01) Schuldt, Jonathon P.; Konrath, Sara H.; Schwarz, Norbert
    Consumer products have long been known to influence observers’ impressions of product owners. The angle at which products are visually portrayed in advertisements, however, may be an overlooked factor in these effects. We hypothesize and find that portrayals of the same product from different viewpoints can prime different associations that color impressions of product and owner in parallel ways. In Study 1, automobiles were rated higher on status- and power-related traits (e.g., dominant, powerful) when portrayed head-on versus in side profile, an effect found for sport utility vehicles (SUVs)—a category with a reputation for dominance—but not sedans. In Study 2, these portrayal-based associations influenced the impressions formed about the product's owner: a target person was rated higher on status- and power-related traits when his SUV was portrayed head-on versus in side profile. These results suggest that the influence of visual portrayal extends beyond general evaluations of products to affect more specific impressions of products and owners alike, and highlight that primed traits are likely to influence impressions when compatible with other knowledge about the target.
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    Social comparison, social networking sites, and the workplace
    (2015) Tomasik, Rachel E.; Ashburn-Nardo, Leslie; Williams, Jane R.; Boyd, Elizabeth
    Although social comparison has been studied for over 60 years, little research has been done to determine the effects it has on the workplace. Moreover, the explosion of social networking sites and their potential impact on the workplace have been largely overlooked by organizational researchers. Therefore, this study will attempt to evaluate the effect social comparison, specifically through social media, has on work relevant outcomes such as one’s job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and entitlement, moderated by materialism (relevance) and job expectations (attainability) of the referent other. Participants selected from an alumni database of a large Midwestern University were asked to view a manipulated Facebook newsfeed page and then complete a brief survey (N=290). A hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to assess the hypotheses. Results, implications, and limitations are also discussed.
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    Toward a neuroscience of interactive parent–infant dyad empathy
    (2013-08) Swain, James E.; Konrath, Sara H.; Dayton, Carolyn J.; Finegood, Eric D.; Ho, S. Shaun
    In accord with social neuroscience's progression to include interactive experimental paradigms, parents' brains have been activated by emotionally charged infant stimuli - especially of their own infant - including baby cry and picture. More recent research includes the use of brief video clips and opportunities for maternal response. Among brain systems important to parenting are those involved in empathy. This research may inform recent studies of decreased societal empathy, offer mechanisms and solutions.