A MODIFIED BELIEF THEORY OF PREJUDICE EMPHASIZING THE MUTUAL CAUSALITY OF RACIAL PREJUDICE AND ANTICIPATED BELIEF DIFFERENCES

The belief theory of prejudice introduced by M. Rokeach stated that racial prejudice is the result of the anticipation of belief differences. The unidirectional causal relationship implied is criticized as oversimplified. Research, supporting the belief theory is examined, with conceptual and experimental deficiencies noted. A new formulation is proposed which emphasizes mutual causality between racial prejudice and anticipated belief differences. Two studies supporting that view are presented in which belief communications were presented as tape-recorded interviews or speeches, with the race and social class of the communicator first having been manipulated. The interrelationships between communicator’s race, specific communication topic, and subject’s prejudice level on the dimensions of felt similarity of the subject to the communicator are seen as supporting the mutual causation formulation

Attraction Increases and Decreases as a Function of Emotion-Attribution and Appropriate Social Cues

To study the impact of startle-induced arousal on attraction, blindfolded subjects in a “vestibular function” study were startled by a loud noise accompanying the sudden backward tilt of the dental chair in which they were seated. In Study I startled male subjects indicated (on a “postexperimental” questionnaire) greater attraction toward a pretty female experimenter than did control subjects. Study II demonstrated the reverse, with startled male subjects disliking a male experimenter more than controls. In Study III, female subjects startled by a male experimenter indicated greater attraction than controls, although the pattern of their responses differed from males. While an attempt to induce misattribution of arousal to a (placebo) pill (Study IV) or to a noise (Study V) with “arousal” side effects resulted in negligible attenuation effects on the startle-attraction relationship, in Study VI the imposition of a delay period between startle and experimenter ratings resulted in reduced ratings of attraction. The role of arousal in romantic attraction is briefly discussed, and the relevance of these data to theories of emotion is considere

The role of emotion in moral socialization

The major aim of this chapter is to discuss a research program designed to assess emotion-cognition-behavior relationships in moral decision making. While pursuing that aim, I will discuss the relationship of that research to some of the more enduring theoretical issues in emotion. Theories of emotion wax and wane across a more extended time frame than is typical for theoretical approaches in many other areas in psychology. Perhaps these extended cycles of emotion theory result from the relative difficulty in the recent past in doing definitive research within the area of human emotion. The field was thereby insulated from sudden shifts in focus precipitated by dramatic research relevant to basic theory. Following an introduction of some modern theoretical issues in the area of emotion and the development of peripheral-dimensional theory and research, a brief review of literature is presented showing the impact of the intensity of emotional arousal on moral decision making. Several studies are then presented that were designed to demonstrate that one\u27s interpretation of the meaning of emotional arousal moderates the effectiveness of the arousal in facilitating resistance to temptation. Using a paradigm in which emotional symptoms were misattributed to a placebo pill (or not, in the control group), it was shown that cheating on a vocabulary test was significantly increased by the misattribution to the pill of symptoms of peripheral arousal. Following another brief review of related emotion-attribution research based upon hypotheses derived from a peripheral-dimensional approach to emotion, some conflicts are highlighted in what seems at first to be a smooth progression of support for the peripheral-dimensional approach. Presented next is a series of studies on self-control with children, in which the experience of emotion (feeling good or bad) was attributed to internal (the child\u27s own behavior) or to external (others knowing about the child\u27s behavior) causes. The attribution of emotional experience to internal causes was shown to have powerful self-control facilitating effects on difficult watching assignments in detection-proof situations. Those findings are discussed in relation to the larger literature on moral socialization. A third research series is then presented that demonstrates that adult cheating rates too may be affected by giving adults different explanations of the meaning of emotional experiences in moral decision making. In the context of a reading comprehension test, when adults read that the tension experienced during temptation is a sign that one may be about to violate one\u27s own values, they cheated less on a subsequent vocabulary test than if they had read that emotional tension during temptation is related to past (often currently irrelevant) punishment. We concluded that, as with self-control in children, the meaning adults attribute to their emotional response (not peripheral-arousal symptoms) is crucial in self-control. This section concludes with a discussion of the interaction of moral schemas and emotion-attribution processes during moral decision making. The role of emotion in resistance to temptation is then discussed from a developmental perspective. Explanations are advanced for how the progression from more intense emotional responses in younger children to the more symbolic and mild representations of emotional states in adults may still result in emotion-mediated self-control. Approaches to socialization that facilitate a more internal basis for conscience are discussed, and the role of inherited temperament differences in fostering internal and external emotion-attribution dispositions is discussed. Subsequently, some evidence from the research of others concerning the possible link between temperament and internality is presented and discussed. Finally, the broad theoretical issues concerning the nature of emotion with which the chapter began are reengaged in light of the evidence from our research. The state of the evidence concerning the importance of arousal feedback from different body areas is discussed, and conclusions are discussed concerning the relative merit of dimensional and discrete approaches to emotion

Intellectual Performance as a Function of Repression and Menstrual Cycle

Performance on complex (Space Relations and Verbal Reasoning) and simple (Digit Symbol) tests was investigated as a function of Byrne\u27s Repression-Sensitization (RS) dimension, phase of menstrual cycle and premenstrual-menstrual (PM) symptomatology in a group of females not taking oral contraceptives. Two control groups, consisting of males and females taking oral contraceptives, were included. Equivalent tests were given at two sessions two weeks apart. Analysis of the Space Relations Test as a function of menstrual phase and Repression-Sensitization indicated the predicted interaction effect of phase by RS with poorest performance for the menstruating repressor group (p \u3c .02), but the predicted deterioration by the premenstrual repressor group was not observed. Similar analysis for the Verbal Reasoning Test yielded an interaction effect of phase by RS (p \u3c .03) and a main effect for phase (p \u3c .05). As predicted, differences on the Digit Symbol test did not reach significance. Substituting PM symptomatology for RS, a significant effect was obtained only for phase on Verbal Reasoning Test (p \u3c .05). Results were interpreted as indicating a reactive nature of repression, so that during menstruation, repression may interfere particularly with performance on complex tasks. The three subject groups did not differ significantly on any of the three tests; however, trends in the present data corroborated those quoted in the literature

Catecholamine Training Effects from Exercise Programs: A Bridge to Exercise-Temperament Relationships

Three studies were conducted to test whether a catecholamine training effect results from a long-term aerobic exercise program. Study 1 showed significant increases in urinary adrenaline and noradrenaline following moderate mental stress/challenge for male aerobics subjects after a semester of training. Control groups of nonexercisers and continuously in-condition marathoners showed no comparable pre- to post semester catecholamine increases. Male and female Aerobics subjects were contrasted with nonexercisers across a semester in Study 2; the hypothesis was confirmed that postsemester increases in catecholamines occurred only following an episode of mental challenges/stress, and not following base-rate-rest conditions. Under conditions of more active challenge than in Studies 1 and 2, women subjects in Study 3 provided directional but nonsignificant support for the Study 2 findings. The results are discussed in the context of literature on the relationship of catecholamine availability during challenge/ stress to temperament and on the relationship of aerobic training to temperament. At a theoretical level, the question is discussed of increased catecholamine availability being a likely mediator in the exercise program to temperament relationship