Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Leddo, John; Abelson, Robert P.; Gross, Paget H.

doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.47.5.933pmid: N/A

The "knowledge structure" approach in attribution theory suggests that events interpretable as serving an actor's goals may dispose toward conjunctive explanations. In 2 studies, 68 undergraduates were presented vignettes about an individual undertaking goal-related activities and were asked to assign probability ratings to single explanatory reasons and to their conjunctions. Conjunctive explanations were rated more probable than one or more of their components for both mundane and important actions, for triple as well as simple conjunctions, for both goal-based and precondition-based reasons, and for various average probability levels. Conjunction effects were not found, however, for explanations of why an actor failed to take an action. Three theoretical approaches that might account for these results are compared, and it is concluded that a knowledge structure approach is less problematic than either a multiple-necessary and multiple-sufficient schema approach, or one based on H. J. Einhorn and R. M. Hogarth's (1983) model of causal strength. An attempt is made to reconcile conjunction effects with the "discounting principle" of classical attribution theory. (25 ref)

Felson, Richard B.

doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.47.5.944pmid: N/A

Longitudinal data on 1,718 high school males from the Youth in Transition Project (J. G. Bachman, 1970) were analyzed using structural equation models. Data, which were collected over a 3-yr period, included self-appraisals of academic ability and effort, reports of test anxiety, and scores on measures such as the Quick Test and the Vocabulary scale of the General Aptitude Test Battery. Results suggest that self-appraisals had moderate effects on later grades and that this effect in part reflected greater effort by Ss with positive self-appraisals. Although self-appraisals affected the degree of test anxiety experienced by the Ss, they did not appear to affect grades. There was some evidence that test anxiety interfered with performance on standardized tests. (33 ref)

McCaul, Kevin D.; Maki, Ruth H.

doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.47.5.953pmid: N/A

Processing trait adjectives by encoding them in reference to the self usually facilitates recall for those words, compared with other types of semantic processing. On the basis of data from a between-Ss design, T. J. Ferguson et al proposed that this effect occurs because self-referent encoding is equivalent to rating traits for their desirability since both engage affective evaluations. It is argued that self-reference effects are better studied in within-Ss designs so that the context is similar for different types of processing. The present study, with 17 Ss, used a within-Ss design and revealed that memory was better after encoding traits in terms of self-reference than after rating traits in terms of desirability. Thus, in this type of task, self-reference consistently surpasses most forms of semantic processing, although a satisfactory explanation for this effect requires additional research. (10 ref)

Kelley, Harold H.

doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.47.5.956pmid: N/A

Proposes that the interdependence between persons be described by means of sets of transition lists that specify possible shifts from one outcome (payoff) matrix to another and the manner in which these shifts are controlled. This mode of description overcomes many of the limitations inherent in the use of single outcome matrices and makes possible a delineation of the sequential and temporal constraints under which interdependent persons interact. The recommended method, termed the "list method," employs a set of transition lists to describe each particular interpersonal situation. Each list specifies, for a given point in the interaction, the persons' behavioral options, the possible action of real time or other 3rd parties, and the outcomes and transitions that result from each combination of actions. The list method is explained and illustrated. Its comprehensiveness, potential for systematic analysis, and possible uses are discussed. (25 ref)

Schullo, Stephen A.; Alperson, Burton L.

doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.47.5.983pmid: N/A

Studied homo- and heterosexual relationships with the Extended Personal Attributes Questionnaire (EPAQ) as modified by the interpersonal perception method (IPM). Ss were 20 gay male, 20 lesbian, and 40 heterosexual couples. The F^A+ ) scale of the EPAQ accounted for greater congruence among IPM perspectives than any of the other EPAQ scales (M^A+), M^A–), F^A–)). Positive EPAQ scales showed more consistency among inter- and intrapersonal perspectives than negative scales. Homosexual partners perceived themselves more similar to each other on the F^A+ ) scales than did heterosexual partners. Ss with female partners had higher expectations and greater accuracy in these expectations than those with male partners. Differences within the interpersonal phenomenology of heterosexual couples found in an earlier study by the 2nd author and W. J. Friedman were fully replicated. Treating the M and F scales of the EPAQ as instrumental and expressive traits rather than masculine and feminine sex roles, as suggested by J. T Spence and R. L. Helmreich , clarifies the interpretation of these results. (75 ref)

Davis, James H.; Tindale, R. Scott; Nagao, Dennis H.; Hinsz, Verlin B.; Robertson, Bret

doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.47.5.1003pmid: N/A

Assessed the effects of the order in which groups undertake different tasks in a multitask situation, using mock juries. 461 undergraduates watched a videotaped enactment of a criminal trial involving 3 joined charges and then, either individually or as members of 6-person groups, decided on the guilt or innocence of the defendant on all 3 charges in 1 of 3 orders: descending seriousness, ascending seriousness, or no specified order. On the charge of medium seriousness, the proportion of convictions for both individuals and groups was greater in the descending seriousness order. Conviction on earlier charges significantly increased the relative frequency of conviction on later charges. Findings are discussed in relation both to earlier results that support a contrast explanation of such order effects and to the influence of task order on group decision processes in general. (20 ref)

Blass, Thomas

doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.47.5.1013pmid: N/A

Argues that social and personality psychology are becoming increasingly characterized by greater receptiveness to the other's theoretical assumptions, concern with similar problems and the development of similar solutions to those problems, and the tendency of members of one specialty to adopt the methodologies typically identified with the other. Three recent developments are reviewed to substantiate this claim. Several cases are presented that demonstrate the increasing willingness of social psychologists to treat situational and personality perspectives as equally valid approaches to understanding social behavior. Several social-psychological constructs are described, each of which had been first operationalized via experimental manipulations and then later reconceptualized as an individual-difference variable. Interactionism is seen as a logical bridge between the differing orientations of personality and social psychology, and the current enthusiasm over this approach is one that is shared by many in both disciplines. A 3rd area of convergence becomes evident from an examination of the close parallels in the recent histories of attitudes and traits––dispositional concepts that play a central role in social and personality psychology, respectively. Especially notable is the fact that some of the recent strategies for improving trait–behavior consistencies are techniques that have been shown to strengthen attitude–behavior links as well. (4 p ref)

Romer, Daniel; Revelle, William

doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.47.5.1028pmid: N/A

According to R. A. Shweder and R. G. D'Andrade (1980; see also PA, Vol 64:9282), covariation in memory-based ratings of people's behavior is determined more by semantic relations between behavior categories than by actual co-occurrence. They claim therefore that the existence of personality traits is largely a fiction. Contrary to this hypothesis, it is argued that semantics are logically implicated in both the observation and recall of behavior and that support for this assumption can be found if immediate encodings of behavior are as sensitively scaled as subsequent memory-based ratings. Results of a study with 8 graduate students support this conclusion. When immediate encodings were scaled across all behavior categories, the relation between semantics and memory was completely explained by the role of semantics in the immediate encoding of behavior. However, when immediately encoded behavior was simply identified (rather than scaled), support for systematic distortion was obtained. Previous support for the systematic distortion hypothesis may therefore be attributed to the use of too simple a coding scheme for the measurement of immediate behavior. Implications for the existence of personality traits and for personality measurement are discussed. (40 ref)

Cutrona, Carolyn E.; Russell, Dan; Jones, R. Dallas

doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.47.5.1043pmid: N/A

Two studies evaluated the concept of an attributional style, as operationalized by the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ). Study 1, with 1,333 undergraduates, examined the reliability and validity of the ASQ and analyzed the factor structure of the measure. Only weak evidence of a cross-situationally consistent attributional style was found. An attempt to identify Ss who tended to be very consistent in their causal attributions on the ASQ similarly did not provide strong support for the attibutional style concept. In Study 2, the relation between scores on the ASQ and causal attributions for actual negative events, as assessed by the Social Readjustment Rating Scale, were examined among 85 pregnant women. Attributional Style scores were poor predictors of actual causal attributions, and selecting highly consistent Ss did not improve the ASQ's predictive validity. Implications for the attributional style concept and an attributional analysis of depression are discussed. (46 ref)

Wright, Thomas L.; Ingraham, Loring J.; Blackmer, Dana R.

doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.47.5.1059pmid: N/A

35 psychology graduate students in 4 experiential groups rated their attraction to each other after the 6th and 12th weekly meeting. Variance due to relationship effects in attraction was substantially larger than either actor or partner individual difference effects. There were significant individual differences in eliciting but not in giving attraction. Findings extend earlier research and demonstrate the incremental validity of studying relationship effects separately from individual difference effects in interpersonal attraction. The simultaneous study of individual differences and relationship effects offer the possibility of determining the relative contribution of these 2 types of effects. (16 ref)