Merciless
Selection or indoctrination: Why do economics students donate less than the rest?
Yoram Bauman & Elaina Rose
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, forthcoming
Abstract:
A substantial body of research suggests that economists are less generous than other professionals and that economics students are less generous than other students. Following Frey and Meier (2003), we address this question using administrative data on donations to social programs by students at the University of Washington. Our data set allows us to track student donations and microeconomics training over time in order to distinguish selection effects from indoctrination effects. We find that there is a selection effect for economics majors, who are less likely to donate than other students, and that there is an indoctrination effect for non-majors but not for majors. Women majors and non-majors are less likely to contribute than comparable men.
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Memory Lane and Morality: How Childhood Memories Promote Prosocial Behavior
Francesca Gino & Sreedhari Desai
Harvard Working Paper, February 2011
Abstract:
Four experiments demonstrated that recalling memories from one's own childhood lead people to experience feelings of moral purity and to behave prosocially. In Experiment 1, participants instructed to recall memories from their childhood were more likely to help the experimenter with a supplementary task than were participants in a control condition, and this effect was mediated by self-reported feelings of moral purity. In Experiment 2, the same manipulation increased the amount of money participants donated to a good cause, and self-reported feelings of moral purity mediated this relationship. In Experiment 3, participants who recalled childhood memories judged the ethically-questionable behavior of others more harshly, suggesting that childhood memories lead to altruistic punishment. Finally, in Experiment 4, compared to a control condition, both positively-valenced and negatively-valenced childhood memories led to higher empathic concern for a person in need, which, in turn increased intentions to help.
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Resources Versus Respect: Social Judgments Based on Targets' Power and Status Positions
Alison Fragale, Jennifer Overbeck & Margaret Neale
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
In two experiments, we investigate how individuals' levels of power and status interact to determine how they are perceived by others. We find that power and status have similar, positive, effects on judged dominance. We also find that power has a negative effect on perceived warmth, but status moderates this "power penalty": high power without status is associated with low warmth, but power with status is judged warm. Consequently, we find high status individuals, regardless of power level, are perceived positively - dominant and warm - whereas high power- low status individuals are judged most negatively - dominant and cold (Experiments 1 and 2). As a result, perceivers expect positive interactions with high status individuals, but negative interactions with high power, low status individuals (Experiment 2). These findings provide insight into power and status social judgments, and further our understanding of similarities and differences between these distinct, yet related, constructs.
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Renata Suter & Ralph Hertwig
Cognition, forthcoming
Abstract:
Do moral judgments hinge on the time available to render them? According to a recent dual-process model of moral judgment, moral dilemmas that engage emotional processes are likely to result in fast deontological gut reactions. In contrast, consequentialist responses that tot up lives saved and lost in response to such dilemmas would require cognitive control to override the initial response. Cognitive control, however, takes time. In two experiments, we manipulated the time available to arrive at moral judgments in two ways: by allotting a fixed short or large amount of time, and by nudging people to answer swiftly or to deliberate thoroughly. We found that faster responses indeed lead to more deontological responses among those moral dilemmas in which the killing of one to save many necessitates manhandling an innocent person and in which this action is depicted as a means to an end. Thus, our results are the first demonstration that inhibiting cognitive control through manipulations of time alters moral judgments.
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Peter DeScioli, John Christner & Robert Kurzban
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
People are more willing to bring about morally objectionable outcomes by omission than by commission. Similarly, people condemn others less harshly when a moral offense occurs by omission rather than by commission, even when intentions are controlled. We propose that these two phenomena are related, and that the reduced moral condemnation of omissions causes people to choose omissions in their own behavior to avoid punishment. We report two experiments using an economic game in which one participant (the taker) could take money from another participant (the owner) either by omission or by commission. We manipulated whether or not a third party had the opportunity to punish the taker by reducing the taker's payment. Our results indicated that the frequency of omission increases when punishment is possible. We conclude that people choose omissions to avoid condemnation and that the omission effect is best understood not as a bias, but as a strategy.
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The role of attractiveness and aggression in high school popularity
Casey Borch, Allen Hyde & Antonius Cillessen
Social Psychology of Education, March 2011, Pages 23-39
Abstract:
This study examines the effects of physical attractiveness and aggression on popularity among high school students. Previous work has found positive relationships between aggression and popularity and physical attractiveness and popularity. The current study goes beyond this work by examining the interactive effects of physical attractiveness and aggression on popularity. Controlling for race and gender, the results indicate that attractive students are seen as more physically and relationally aggressive than those who are less attractive. We also found that those who are both physically attractive and aggressive are perceived to be more popular than those without such characteristics. However, the same interaction showed the opposite effect when predicting sociometric popularity instead of perceived popularity. These results contribute to the understanding of the differences between those who are well-liked (sociometric popularity) and those who are socially visible (perceived popularity), and the unique predictors of these two dimensions of status in the peer group.
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Status Struggles: Network Centrality and Gender Segregation in Same- and Cross-Gender Aggression
Robert Faris & Diane Felmlee
American Sociological Review, February 2011, Pages 48-73
Abstract:
Literature on aggression often suggests that individual deficiencies, such as social incompetence, psychological difficulties, or troublesome home environments, are responsible for aggressive behavior. In this article, by contrast, we examine aggression from a social network perspective, arguing that social network centrality, our primary measure of peer status, increases the capacity for aggression and that competition to gain or maintain status motivates its use. We test these arguments using a unique longitudinal dataset that enables separate consideration of same- and cross-gender aggression. We find that aggression is generally not a maladjusted reaction typical of the socially marginal; instead, aggression is intrinsic to status and escalates with increases in peer status until the pinnacle of the social hierarchy is attained. Over time, individuals at the very bottom and those at the very top of a hierarchy become the least aggressive youth. We also find that aggression is influenced not so much by individual gender differences as by relationships with the other gender and patterns of gender segregation at school. When cross-gender interactions are plentiful, aggression is diminished. Yet these factors are also jointly implicated in peer status: in schools where cross-gender interactions are rare, cross-gender friendships create status distinctions that magnify the consequences of network centrality.
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Karl-Andrew Woltin et al.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, March 2011, Pages 418-424
Abstract:
In three experiments inducing a detailed versus abstract processing style using perceptual (Experiment 1), motivational (Experiment 2), and social (Experiment 3) manipulations, we found that empathic concerns are enhanced in contexts associated with a more detailed processing style (i.e., local perceptual scope, prevention motivation, and low power, respectively). Hence, simple contextual changes known to impact on processing styles may influence empathy beyond individual differences. The present findings are discussed in terms of their implications for empathy research and their relation with research on mood and level of construal.
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Bullies have enhanced moral competence to judge relative to victims, but lack moral compassion
Gianluca Gini, Tiziana Pozzoli & Marc Hauser
Personality and Individual Differences, April 2011, Pages 603-608
Abstract:
Bullying behavior is an immoral action because it humiliates and oppresses innocent victims. Presently unclear is whether bullies bully because of deficiencies in moral competence (knowledge of right and wrong), moral compassion (emotional awareness and conscience concerning moral transgressions), or some combination of these two processes; the same issues arise with respect to victims. We studied a large sample of children (N = 719, 9-13 years) classified as either bullies, victims or defenders to determine whether individual differences in moral competence and compassion are related to these roles. Relative to victims, both bullies and defenders showed advanced moral competence, integrating information about beliefs and outcomes in judging the moral permissibility of an action; victims showed delayed moral competence, focusing on outcome information alone. Paradoxically, despite the advanced moral competence of bullies, they were woefully deficient with respect to their moral compassion when compared to both victims and defenders. These results parallel a growing body of work on adult psychopaths, suggesting dissociation between the knowledge that guides abstract moral judgments and the factors that mediate morally appropriate behavior and sentiments.
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Grapes of Wrath: The Angry Effects of Self Control
David Gal & Wendy Liu
Journal of Consumer Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
Prior research has shown that exerting self control can lead to increased aggression. In the present research, we find that exerting self control is associated with angry behavior more broadly. In particular, using a "matched-choice paradigm," we find that after exerting self control people exhibit increased preference for anger-themed content, greater interest in faces exhibiting anger, greater endorsement of anger-framed appeals, and greater irritation to others' attempts to control one's behavior. We speculate on the possible mechanisms underlying these effects, and discuss the theoretical, methodological and practical implications of this research.
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Lack of sleep and unethical conduct
Christopher Barnes et al.
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, forthcoming
Abstract:
We draw from the Ego Depletion model and research on sleep physiology to predict a relationship between lack of sleep and individuals' unethical behavior. Laboratory studies showed that sleep quantity is positively related to self-control resources and negatively associated with unethical behavior. In a cross-sectional field study examining unethical behavior in a variety of work settings, low levels of sleep, and low perceived quality of sleep, were both positively related to unethical behavior as rated by the supervisor, and cognitive fatigue mediated the influence of sleep quantity. In an experience sampling field study, we found similar effects within-individuals. We discuss the role of lost sleep in better understanding unethical behavior in organizations.
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Ruud Hortensius, Dennis Schutter & Eddie Harmon-Jones
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, forthcoming
Abstract:
The relationship between anger and aggression is imperfect. Based on work on the neuroscience of anger, we predicted that anger associated with greater relative left frontal cortical activation would be more likely to result in aggression. To test this hypothesis, we combined transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the frontal cortex with interpersonal provocation. Participants received insulting feedback after 15 min of tDCS and were able to aggress by administering noise blasts to the insulting participant. Individuals who received tDCS to increase relative left frontal cortical activity behaved more aggressively when they were angry. No relation between anger and aggression was observed in the increase relative right frontal cortical activity or sham condition. These results concur with the motivational direction model of frontal asymmetry, in which left frontal activity is associated with anger. We propose that anger with approach motivational tendencies is more likely to result in aggression.
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Facial masculinity is a cue to women's dominance
Michelle Quist et al.
Personality and Individual Differences, May 2011, Pages 1089-1093
Abstract:
Although there is compelling evidence for associations between facial masculinity and indices of dominance in men, comparatively few studies have tested for corresponding associations in women. Here we found that (1) ratings of women's facial masculinity were correlated with their scores on a dominance questionnaire, and (2) prototypes with the average facial characteristics of women with high scores on the dominance questionnaire were judged to be more masculine than prototypes with the average facial characteristics of women with low scores, even when color and texture cues were kept constant to control for effects of makeup use. These findings suggest an association between facial masculinity and dominance in women, complementing prior work reporting that masculine women are perceived to be more dominant than their relatively feminine peers.
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Jack van Honk et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 22 February 2011, Pages 3448-3452
Abstract:
During social interactions we automatically infer motives, intentions, and feelings from bodily cues of others, especially from the eye region of their faces. This cognitive empathic ability is one of the most important components of social intelligence, and is essential for effective social interaction. Females on average outperform males in this cognitive empathy, and the male sex hormone testosterone is thought to be involved. Testosterone may not only down-regulate social intelligence organizationally, by affecting fetal brain development, but also activationally, by its current effects on the brain. Here, we show that administration of testosterone in 16 young women led to a significant impairment in their cognitive empathy, and that this effect is powerfully predicted by a proxy of fetal testosterone: the right-hand second digit-to-fourth digit ratio. Our data thus not only demonstrate down-regulatory effects of current testosterone on cognitive empathy, but also suggest these are preprogrammed by the very same hormone prenatally. These findings have importance for our understanding of the psychobiology of human social intelligence.
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Androgens and competitiveness in men
Coren Apicella et al.
Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economics, February 2011, Pages 54-62
Abstract:
In this study, we investigate the association between a number of hormonal variables (circulating testosterone, facial masculinity, 2D:4D digit ratio, and cortisol) and competitiveness in a sample of 93 men aged 18-23. Competitiveness is measured by self-selection into a competitive setting versus a piece-rate scheme. We find no robust correlations between any of the hormonal variables and competiveness, though there are some suggestive patterns in the data which merit further exploration.
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Let me sleep on it: Delay reduces rejection rates in Ultimatum Games
Veronika Grimm & Friederike Mengel
Economics Letters, forthcoming
Abstract:
Delaying acceptance decisions in the Ultimatum Game drastically increases acceptance of low offers. While in treatments without delay less than 20% of low offers are accepted, 60-80% are accepted as we delay the acceptance decision by around 10 minutes.
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Amanda Forest & Joanne Wood
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Two studies examined whether perceiving a partner as responsive leads people to be more expressive with that partner, and whether the effects of perceived partner responsiveness on expressivity are moderated by self-esteem. In Study 1, female undergraduates with high or low self-esteem disclosed to a fictitious partner about a sad event. Participants either received an understanding, caring, and validating written response from their ostensible partner or did not receive a response. In Study 2, participants wrote an email, supposedly to another participant, about a sad event and received either a highly responsive or a non-responsive email response. In both studies, partner responsiveness increased expressivity among individuals with low self-esteem but not among individuals with high self-esteem. These results provide the first experimental evidence for Reis and Shaver's (1988) theorizing about responsiveness and self-disclosure.
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Can You Help Me Become the "Me" I Want to Be? The Role of Goal Pursuit in Friendship Formation
Erica Slotter & Wendi Gardner
Self and Identity, April 2011, Pages 231-247
Abstract:
Individuals' relationships often provide pathways to self-change. One pathway involves individuals using others to help them pursue important, self-relevant goals. Past research has demonstrated that individuals prefer existing friends who can help them pursue important goals. The current research expands upon these findings in two studies by demonstrating the role that goal pursuit plays in friendship formation. The current work demonstrates that individuals prefer, largely without their own awareness, to approach potential friends that can help them achieve their goals over those who cannot. The findings also demonstrated that simply expressing the preference for potential friends who could help them achieve their goals predicted individuals feeling that they were subjectively closer to their desired self than they had been previously.
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The trouble with sanctions: Organizational responses to deviant anger displays at work
Deanna Geddes & Lisa Stickney
Human Relations, February 2011, Pages 201-230
Abstract:
This article examines management and coworker reactions to employee anger expressions that violate salient emotion display norms, for example, deviant anger, and explores whether these reactions can promote subsequent positive change at work. Full-time US employees volunteered information about workplace anger expressions they personally witnessed and felt ‘went too far'. Using open-ended survey questions, we identified three categories of deviant anger (physical acts, intense verbal displays, and inappropriate communication), as well as various formal and informal sanctioning and supportive responses initiated by organizational observers. Additional data collection and generalized linear modeling analysis revealed that when coworkers and management responded supportively to the angry employee (rather than with sanctions or doing nothing), favorable change occurred, improving the problematic situation. Implications for future research, management practices, and employee socialization are discussed.
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David Terburg et al.
Psychological Science, March 2011, Pages 314-319
Abstract:
In primates, dominance/submission relationships are generally automatically and nonaggressively established in face-to-face confrontations. Researchers have argued that this process involves an explicit psychological stress-manipulation mechanism: Striding with a threatening expression, while keeping direct eye contact, outstresses rivals so that they submissively avert their gaze. In contrast, researchers have proposed a reflexive and implicit modulation of face-to-face confrontation in humans, on the basis of evidence that dominant and submissive individuals exhibit vigilant and avoidant responses, respectively, to facial anger in masked emotional Stroop tasks. However, these tasks do not provide an ecologically valid index of gaze behavior. Therefore, we directly measured gaze responses to masked angry, happy, and neutral facial expressions with a saccade-latency paradigm and found that increased dominance traits predict a more prolonged gaze to (or reluctance to avert gaze from) masked anger. Furthermore, greater non-dominance-related reward sensitivity predicts more persistent gaze to masked happiness. These results strongly suggest that implicit and reflexive mechanisms underlie dominant and submissive gaze behavior in face-to-face confrontations.