Affective influences on interpersonal perceptions

Es wird der Frage nachgegangen, inwieweit affektive Einflüsse die interpersonale Wahrnehmung und die Meinungsbildung im sozialen Kontext beeinflussen. Modelle der sozialen Wahrnehmung werden dargestellt und einige theoretische Grundlagen für derartige Effekte entwickelt. Ergebnisse empirischer Untersuchungen (z. B. bei der Selbsteinschätzung, der Partner-Einschätzung oder der Präferierung von Partnern) zeigen deutlich unterschiedliche Ergebnisse in Abhängigkeit von der 'Stimmung' der Untersuchungspersonen. Es wird ein Modell zur Beschreibung dieser Effekte entwickelt und diskutiert. (psz)'What role do feelings play in interpersonal perception? This chapter reviews our empirical research program on affective influences on social judgments, and a new theoretical framework accounting for such effects is presented. In the first section, models of social judgment, and the affect-priming framework are outlined. Empirical work on affective influences on social judgments is reviewed next. Results show robust and reliable mood effects on a variety of social judgments, from simple behaviour interpretations tasks to complex and demanding attribution and interpersonal preference judgments. The role of affect in social judgments by children, in discussion groups, and in field settings is also considered, and evidence for the affect-priming model from reaction-time studies is summarized. In the final section, more recent theoretical formulations are discussed, and a multi-process model able to account for the empirical findings is presented. The implications of these results for everyday social judgments, and for contemporary models of social cognition are considered.' (author's abstract

Mood effects on interpersonal preferences: evidence for motivated processing strategies

In mehreren Experimenten werden die Einflüsse der Stimmungslage auf die Wahl eines Partners (z. B. eines Arbeitspartners, eines Sitzpartners oder eines Gesprächspartners) und die Informationsverarbeitungsstrategien in derartigen Situationen untersucht. Es zeigte sich, daß niedergeschlagene oder traurige Untersuchungspersonen deutlich abweichendes Verhalten zeigen, z. B. in Bezug auf die benötigte Entscheidungszeit oder die Verarbeitung von interpersonalen Informationen. Die Ergebnisse werden interpretiert als Beweis für eine stimmungsabhängige Strategiewahl bei der Verarbeitung von interpersonalen Präferenzen. (psz)'Are interpersonal choices influenced by mood? Three experiments found that information search and decision strategies when selecting a partner are significantly influenced by feeling state and the personal relevance of the task. Personal choices by dysphoric subjects in particular were based on 'motivated processing strategies', looking for, remembering and using more effectively information about rewarding personal characteristics in a future partner. In Experiment 1 (N=60), sad subjects preferred rewarding to competent partners, and remembered better information supporting that choice. In Experiment 2 (N=96), motivated processing led to information selectivity, greater decision speed, and a distinct processing strategy. Experiment 3 (N=42) used computerized stimulus presentation, and found that sad subjects selectively choise and looked at interpersonal information, remembered it better, and were faster in choosing a rewarding partner. The results are interpreted as evidence for motivated mood-repair strategies in interpersonal choices. The implications of the findings for research on interpersonal relations, and for contemporary affect-cognition theories are discussed.' (author's abstract

Interacting crumpled manifolds

In this article we study the effect of a delta-interaction on a polymerized membrane of arbitrary internal dimension D. Depending on the dimensionality of membrane and embedding space, different physical scenarios are observed. We emphasize on the difference of polymers from membranes. For the latter, non-trivial contributions appear at the 2-loop level. We also exploit a ``massive scheme'' inspired by calculations in fixed dimensions for scalar field theories. Despite the fact that these calculations are only amenable numerically, we found that in the limit of D to 2 each diagram can be evaluated analytically. This property extends in fact to any order in perturbation theory, allowing for a summation of all orders. This is a novel and quite surprising result. Finally, an attempt to go beyond D=2 is presented. Applications to the case of self-avoiding membranes are mentioned

Social Cognition and Democracy: The Relationship Between System Justification, Just World Beliefs, Authoritarianism, Need for Closure, and Need for Cognition in Hungary

This research was aimed at examining just-world beliefs, system justification, authoritarianism, and cognitive style in a nationally representative sample (N = 1000) in Hungary, and at relating these phenomena to various demographic and political variables to find out whether the findings in Hungary would differ from its Western counterparts. According to system justification theory, there is a psychological motive to defend and justify the status quo. This theory has been tested several times in North American and Western European samples. The core finding of our study was that Hungarian people, unlike people in Western democracies, did not justify the existing establishment. There was strong pessimism with regard to the idea that the system serves the interests of the people. Members of disadvantaged groups (people with low economic income and/or far right political preference) strongly rejected the system. System justification beliefs were moderately related to just world beliefs, and there was a significant relationship between some aspects of need for closure (need for order, discomfort with ambiguity, and closed-mindedness) and authoritarian beliefs. Need for cognition was only related to one aspect of need for closure: closed-mindedness. The voters of right-wing parties did not display higher levels of authoritarianism than the voters of the left social-democrat party. The role of demographic and political variables, limitations, and possible developments of this research are discussed

How long does it take to pull an ideal polymer into a small hole?

We present scaling estimates for characteristic times $\tau_{\rm lin}$ and $\tau_{\rm br}$ of pulling ideal linear and randomly branched polymers of $N$ monomers into a small hole by a force $f$. We show that the absorbtion process develops as sequential straightening of folds of the initial polymer configuration. By estimating the typical size of the fold involved into the motion, we arrive at the following predictions: $\tau_{\rm lin}(N) \sim N^{3/2}/f$ and $\tau_{\rm br}(N) \sim N^{5/4}/f$, and we also confirm them by the molecular dynamics experiment.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Wandering of a contact line at thermal equilibrium

We reconsider the problem of the solid-liquid-vapour contact-line on a disordered substrate, in the collective pinning regime. We go beyond scaling arguments and perform an analytic computation, through the replica variational method, of the fluctuations of the line. We show how gravity effects must be included for a proper quantitative comparison with available experimental data of the wetting of liquid helium on a caesium substrate. The theoretical result is in good agreement with experimental findings for this case.Comment: 24 laTex pages with 5 EPS figures included. submitted to Phys. Rev

Praise or blame? Affective influences on attributions for achievement

Three experiments showed that mood influences achievement attributions and that cognitive processes underlie these effects. In Experiment 1, happy Ss made more internal and stable attributions for success than failure in typical 'life dilemmas'. In Experiment 2, attributions for real-life exam performance were more internal and stable in a happy than in a sad mood. Dysphoric moods resulted in self-critical rather than self-enhancing attributions, contrary to motivational theories, but consistent with cognitive models and the clinical literature on depression. In Experiment 3 this pattern was repeated with direct self vs. other comparisons, and for self-efficacy judgments. The results are interpreted as supporting cognitive rather than motivational theories of attribution biases. The implications of the results for clinical research, and contemporary affect-cognition theories are considered

Adsorption of a random heteropolymer at a potential well revisited: location of transition point and design of sequences

The adsorption of an ideal heteropolymer loop at a potential point well is investigated within the frameworks of a standard random matrix theory. On the basis of semi-analytical/semi-numerical approach the histogram of transition points for the ensemble of quenched heteropolymer structures with bimodal symmetric distribution of types of chain's links is constructed. It is shown that the sequences having the transition points in the tail of the histogram display the correlations between nearest-neighbor monomers.Comment: 11 pages (revtex), 3 figure

On the reciprocal interaction between believing and feeling: an adaptive agent modelling perspective

An agent’s beliefs usually depend on informational or cognitive factors such as observation or received communication or reasoning, but also affective factors may play a role. In this paper, by adopting neurological theories on the role of emotions and feelings, an agent model is introduced incorporating the interaction between cognitive and affective factors in believing. The model describes how the strength of a belief may not only depend on information obtained, but also on the emotional responses on the belief. For feeling emotions a recursive body loop between preparations for emotional responses and feelings is assumed. The model introduces a second feedback loop for the interaction between feeling and belief. The strength of a belief and of the feeling both result from the converging dynamic pattern modelled by the combination of the two loops. For some specific cases it is described, for example, how for certain personal characteristics an optimistic world view is generated in the agent’s beliefs, or, for other characteristics, a pessimistic world view. Moreover, the paper shows how such affective effects on beliefs can emerge and become stronger over time due to experiences obtained. It is shown how based on Hebbian learning a connection from feeling to belief can develop. As these connections affect the strenghts of future beliefs, in this way an effect of judgment ‘by experience built up in the past’ or ‘by gut feeling’ can be obtained. Some example simulation results and a mathematical analysis of the equilibria are presented

Localization in simple multiparticle catalytic absorption model

We consider the phase transition in the system of n simultaneously developing random walks on the halfline x>=0. All walks are independent on each others in all points except the origin x=0, where the point well is located. The well depth depends on the number of particles simultaneously staying at x=0. We consider the limit n>>1 and show that if the depth growth faster than 3/2 n ln(n) with n, then all random walks become localized simultaneously at the origin. In conclusion we discuss the connection of that problem with the phase transition in the copolymer chain with quenched random sequence of monomers considered in the frameworks of replica approach.Comment: 17 pages in LaTeX, 5 PostScript figures; submitted to J.Phys.(A): Math. Ge