Journal of Applied Social Psychology

Godshall, Frankling J.; Elliott, Timothy R.

doi: 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1997.tb00279.xpmid: N/A

According to the revised social problem‐solving model, problem solving skills should be associated with cognitive and behavioral attempts to solve or prevent personal problems. We reasoned that the Approach‐Avoidance scale on the Problem‐Solving Inventory (PSI; Heppner, 1988) measures problem‐solving skills as defined in the model, and predicted that scores on this factor would be predictive of health‐compromising behaviors among 96 undergraduate students. An aspect of the problem‐orientation component would be predictive of global health perceptions. Ineffective problem‐solving skills were associated with greater alcohol intake over a 2‐week period, and with more sedentary leisure behavior on retrospective and prospective measures. Perceived control over emotions was predictive of health perceptions, as hypothesized. However, elements of problem solving were unrelated to tobacco use, illicit drug use, and exercise behaviors.

Weenig, Mieneke W. H.; Midden, Cees J. H.

doi: 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1997.tb00280.xpmid: N/A

The knowledge‐gap hypothesis of Tichenor, Donohue, and Olien (1970) states that people from the higher socioeconomic segments of society acquire information at a faster rate than people from the lower socioeconomic segments. The consequence is a growing knowledge gap between the high and low segments. The present study investigates some potential causes for this knowledge‐gap phenomenon by means of data sets from evaluation studies of 3 mass‐media information campaigns. The observed differences in knowledge between low and highly educated respondents could partly be explained by differences in the attention paid to the campaigns but not by differences in information processing.

Robinson‐whelen, Susan; Kiecolt‐glaser, Janice

doi: 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1997.tb00281.xpmid: N/A

It has been suggested that social comparisons become less frequent and less important to one's self‐evaluation, and temporal comparisons become more frequent and more important to self‐evaluation in later life. In this study, the influence of social and temporal comparison appraisals on global self‐ratings in 3 domains (health, income, and memory) was assessed among individuals ranging in age from 53 to 90 years. Although social comparison appraisals were significantly related to self‐ratings in all 3 domains, temporal comparison appraisals were only related to self‐rated memory. There was also no evidence that the effect of social or temporal comparison appraisals on self‐evaluations differed with age among our sample of middle‐aged and older adults. Social comparison appraisal appears to be a viable mechanism by which esteem can be preserved in old age, despite increasing loss and impairment.

Skitka, Linda J.; Robideau, Renee

doi: 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1997.tb00282.xpmid: N/A

Americans vote party lines; nothing predicts election outcomes as well. People may vote party lines because party candidates have views that accurately reflect the positions of their members, because party identification acts as a convenient cue that eliminates the need for greater information search or cognitive processing, or because party classification biases interpretation of other information people have about the candidates. To investigate these competing hypotheses for party effects on voter decision making, participants were presented with a choice between 2 candidates whose policy positions were more inconsistent than consistent with their party identification (Study l), or completely inconsistent with their party identification (Study 2). People voted as a function of party label in Study I, but issue stand emerged as a stronger predictor in Study 2 (although Democrats were more likely to cross party lines than Republicans). These results suggest that party identification influences how other information about the candidate is perceived and processed. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Church, Allan H.

doi: 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1997.tb00283.xpmid: N/A

This paper provides a comparative analysis of behavioral observations made on 152 service providers in a business advisory and professional services firm from 5 distinctly different ratings sources (self, direct reports, peers, supervisor, and clients). Results focused on differences in ratings level and degree of congruence with self‐assessments by observer type. The data suggested that service providers and their clients may have a different perceptual frame of reference than do internal observers (e.g., direct reports, peers, and supervisors). Moreover, congruence in self‐others' ratings was found to be a significant predictor of performance assessments from the same observer source. Implications of these results for the use of multirater appraisal systems are discussed.