What was noted by E. J. hanger (1978) remains true today: that much of contemporary psychological... more What was noted by E. J. hanger (1978) remains true today: that much of contemporary psychological research is based on the assumption that people are consciously and systematically processing incoming information in order to construe and interpret their world and to plan and engage in courses of action. As did E. J. hanger, the authors question this assumption. First, they review evidence that the ability to exercise such conscious, intentional control is actually quite limited, so that most of moment-to-mom ent psychological life must occur through nonconscious means if it is to occur at all. The authors then describe the different possible mechanisms that produce automatic, environmental control over these various phenomena and review evidence establishing both the existence of these mechanisms as well as their consequences for judgments, emotions, and behavior. Three major forms of automatic self-regulation are identified: an automatic effect of perception on action, automatic go...
Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research, Jan 16, 2018
Young adult heavy drinking is an important public health concern. Current interventions have effi... more Young adult heavy drinking is an important public health concern. Current interventions have efficacy but with only modest effects, and thus, novel interventions are needed. In prior studies, heavy drinkers, including young adults, have demonstrated stronger automatically triggered approach tendencies to alcohol-related stimuli than lighter drinkers. Automatic action tendency retraining has been developed to correct this tendency and consequently reduce alcohol consumption. This study is the first to test multiple iterations of automatic action tendency retraining, followed by laboratory alcohol self-administration. A total of 72 nontreatment-seeking, heavy drinking young adults ages 21 to 25 were randomized to automatic action tendency retraining or a control condition (i.e., "sham training"). Of these, 69 (54% male) completed 4 iterations of retraining or the control condition over 5 days with an alcohol drinking session on Day 5. Self-administration was conducted accord...
Happiness can be expressed through smiles. Happiness can also be expressed through physical displ... more Happiness can be expressed through smiles. Happiness can also be expressed through physical displays that without context, would appear to be sadness (tears, downward turned mouths, and crumpled body postures) and anger (clenched jaws, snarled lips, furrowed brows, and pumped fists). These seemingly incongruent displays of happiness, termed dimorphous expressions, we propose, represent and communicate expressers' motivational orientations. When participants reported their own aggressive expressions in positive or negative contexts, their expressions represented positive or negative emotional experiences respectively, imbued with appetitive orientations (feelings of wanting to go). In contrast, reported sad expressions, in positive or negative contexts, represented positive and negative emotional experiences respectively, imbued with consummatory orientations (feelings of wanting to pause). In six additional experiments, participant observers interpreted that aggression displayed...
Journal of personality and social psychology, Jan 15, 2016
Whether at a coffee shop, in a waiting room, or riding the bus, people frequently observe the oth... more Whether at a coffee shop, in a waiting room, or riding the bus, people frequently observe the other people around them. Yet they often fail to realize how much other people engage in the same behavior, and that they, therefore, also are being observed. Because it is logically impossible that people, on average, are the subjects of observation more than they are objects of it, the belief that one watches others more than one is watched is an illusion. Several studies show that people incorrectly believe that they observe others more than other people observe them. We call this mistaken belief the "invisibility cloak illusion." People believe that they observe others more than do other people and that they are generally observed less than are others (Studies 1-3, 5, 6). The illusion persists both among strangers in the same vicinity (Study 2) and among friends interacting with one another (Study 3), and it cannot be explained away as yet another general better-than-average b...
... empathy In: N. Eisenberg and J. Strayer, Editors, Empathy and its development, Cambridge Univ... more ... empathy In: N. Eisenberg and J. Strayer, Editors, Empathy and its development, Cambridge Univ ... L. Berkowitz, Some effects of thoughts on anti-and prosocial influences of media events: A ... FJJ Buytendijk, De wijsheid der mieren, The intelligence of ants, Meulenhoff, Hillsdale, NJ ...
Personality & social psychology bulletin, Oct 24, 2016
Sharing an experience with another person can amplify that experience. Here, we propose for the f... more Sharing an experience with another person can amplify that experience. Here, we propose for the first time that amplification is moderated by the psychological distance between co-experiencers. We predicted that experiences would be amplified for co-experiencers who are psychologically proximate but not for co-experiencers who are psychologically distant. In two studies we manipulated both (a) whether or not a pleasant experience was shared and (b) the psychological distance between co-experiencers, via social distance (Study 1) and spatial distance (Study 2). In Study 1, co-experiencers either were unacquainted (i.e., strangers, socially distant) or became acquainted in the laboratory (i.e., socially proximate). In Study 2, co-experiencers were either in different rooms (i.e., spatially distant) or in the same room (i.e., spatially proximate). In both studies, the pleasant experience was amplified when shared compared with when not shared, but only when co-experiencers were psychol...
... 4 BARGH the possibility of motivational control (see Fiske, 1989), as well as a considera-tio... more ... 4 BARGH the possibility of motivational control (see Fiske, 1989), as well as a considera-tion of the separate stages of the stereotyping ... recent demonstrations of the effect of having subjects complete questionnaires prior to tests of how they think naturally or" automati-cally" in ...
Chapter 7 The Constructive Nature of Automatic Evaluation Melissa J. Ferguson John A. Bargh New Y... more Chapter 7 The Constructive Nature of Automatic Evaluation Melissa J. Ferguson John A. Bargh New York University Previous research concerning ... In their fourth study, participants were asked to make either approach motions by pulling a lever toward them or avoidance ...
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1207 S1532785xmep0103_4, Nov 17, 2009
Increasingly, people are connecting to the Internet from their homes in order to interact with ot... more Increasingly, people are connecting to the Internet from their homes in order to interact with others. This article discusses research on Internet social interaction in terms of the following questions: What predicts who will look for and form social relationships on the Internet and who won't? How do people present themselves to others over the Internet? How is social interaction on the Internet similar and different from the more traditional forms of interaction? And what are the consequences of participating in Internet groups and interacting with others one-on-one for the individual's self concept and social relationships? The conceptual framework offered here organizes research on the social psychology of the Internet into three time phases (before, during, and after extensive social interactions and group participation) and two distinct types of motivations that drive Internet social behavior (self-related and socially related). After a review of the research on these issues so far we conclude that ...
We welcome the opportunity to summarize our main points from the SPSP debate (“What does the &... more We welcome the opportunity to summarize our main points from the SPSP debate (“What does the 'free'in 'free will'really mean?”, February, 2009); first though we will respond to the additional arguments by Baumeister and Vohs in this issue concerning determinism and causality. We see no problem with the assertions that psychologists need not be strict determinists to practice their science, and that determinism and causality are not the same thing. However, neither of these points is relevant to the basic question of free will. The ' ...
What was noted by E. J. hanger (1978) remains true today: that much of contemporary psychological... more What was noted by E. J. hanger (1978) remains true today: that much of contemporary psychological research is based on the assumption that people are consciously and systematically processing incoming information in order to construe and interpret their world and to plan and engage in courses of action. As did E. J. hanger, the authors question this assumption. First, they review evidence that the ability to exercise such conscious, intentional control is actually quite limited, so that most of moment-to-mom ent psychological life must occur through nonconscious means if it is to occur at all. The authors then describe the different possible mechanisms that produce automatic, environmental control over these various phenomena and review evidence establishing both the existence of these mechanisms as well as their consequences for judgments, emotions, and behavior. Three major forms of automatic self-regulation are identified: an automatic effect of perception on action, automatic go...
Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research, Jan 16, 2018
Young adult heavy drinking is an important public health concern. Current interventions have effi... more Young adult heavy drinking is an important public health concern. Current interventions have efficacy but with only modest effects, and thus, novel interventions are needed. In prior studies, heavy drinkers, including young adults, have demonstrated stronger automatically triggered approach tendencies to alcohol-related stimuli than lighter drinkers. Automatic action tendency retraining has been developed to correct this tendency and consequently reduce alcohol consumption. This study is the first to test multiple iterations of automatic action tendency retraining, followed by laboratory alcohol self-administration. A total of 72 nontreatment-seeking, heavy drinking young adults ages 21 to 25 were randomized to automatic action tendency retraining or a control condition (i.e., "sham training"). Of these, 69 (54% male) completed 4 iterations of retraining or the control condition over 5 days with an alcohol drinking session on Day 5. Self-administration was conducted accord...
Happiness can be expressed through smiles. Happiness can also be expressed through physical displ... more Happiness can be expressed through smiles. Happiness can also be expressed through physical displays that without context, would appear to be sadness (tears, downward turned mouths, and crumpled body postures) and anger (clenched jaws, snarled lips, furrowed brows, and pumped fists). These seemingly incongruent displays of happiness, termed dimorphous expressions, we propose, represent and communicate expressers' motivational orientations. When participants reported their own aggressive expressions in positive or negative contexts, their expressions represented positive or negative emotional experiences respectively, imbued with appetitive orientations (feelings of wanting to go). In contrast, reported sad expressions, in positive or negative contexts, represented positive and negative emotional experiences respectively, imbued with consummatory orientations (feelings of wanting to pause). In six additional experiments, participant observers interpreted that aggression displayed...
Journal of personality and social psychology, Jan 15, 2016
Whether at a coffee shop, in a waiting room, or riding the bus, people frequently observe the oth... more Whether at a coffee shop, in a waiting room, or riding the bus, people frequently observe the other people around them. Yet they often fail to realize how much other people engage in the same behavior, and that they, therefore, also are being observed. Because it is logically impossible that people, on average, are the subjects of observation more than they are objects of it, the belief that one watches others more than one is watched is an illusion. Several studies show that people incorrectly believe that they observe others more than other people observe them. We call this mistaken belief the "invisibility cloak illusion." People believe that they observe others more than do other people and that they are generally observed less than are others (Studies 1-3, 5, 6). The illusion persists both among strangers in the same vicinity (Study 2) and among friends interacting with one another (Study 3), and it cannot be explained away as yet another general better-than-average b...
... empathy In: N. Eisenberg and J. Strayer, Editors, Empathy and its development, Cambridge Univ... more ... empathy In: N. Eisenberg and J. Strayer, Editors, Empathy and its development, Cambridge Univ ... L. Berkowitz, Some effects of thoughts on anti-and prosocial influences of media events: A ... FJJ Buytendijk, De wijsheid der mieren, The intelligence of ants, Meulenhoff, Hillsdale, NJ ...
Personality & social psychology bulletin, Oct 24, 2016
Sharing an experience with another person can amplify that experience. Here, we propose for the f... more Sharing an experience with another person can amplify that experience. Here, we propose for the first time that amplification is moderated by the psychological distance between co-experiencers. We predicted that experiences would be amplified for co-experiencers who are psychologically proximate but not for co-experiencers who are psychologically distant. In two studies we manipulated both (a) whether or not a pleasant experience was shared and (b) the psychological distance between co-experiencers, via social distance (Study 1) and spatial distance (Study 2). In Study 1, co-experiencers either were unacquainted (i.e., strangers, socially distant) or became acquainted in the laboratory (i.e., socially proximate). In Study 2, co-experiencers were either in different rooms (i.e., spatially distant) or in the same room (i.e., spatially proximate). In both studies, the pleasant experience was amplified when shared compared with when not shared, but only when co-experiencers were psychol...
... 4 BARGH the possibility of motivational control (see Fiske, 1989), as well as a considera-tio... more ... 4 BARGH the possibility of motivational control (see Fiske, 1989), as well as a considera-tion of the separate stages of the stereotyping ... recent demonstrations of the effect of having subjects complete questionnaires prior to tests of how they think naturally or" automati-cally" in ...
Chapter 7 The Constructive Nature of Automatic Evaluation Melissa J. Ferguson John A. Bargh New Y... more Chapter 7 The Constructive Nature of Automatic Evaluation Melissa J. Ferguson John A. Bargh New York University Previous research concerning ... In their fourth study, participants were asked to make either approach motions by pulling a lever toward them or avoidance ...
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1207 S1532785xmep0103_4, Nov 17, 2009
Increasingly, people are connecting to the Internet from their homes in order to interact with ot... more Increasingly, people are connecting to the Internet from their homes in order to interact with others. This article discusses research on Internet social interaction in terms of the following questions: What predicts who will look for and form social relationships on the Internet and who won't? How do people present themselves to others over the Internet? How is social interaction on the Internet similar and different from the more traditional forms of interaction? And what are the consequences of participating in Internet groups and interacting with others one-on-one for the individual's self concept and social relationships? The conceptual framework offered here organizes research on the social psychology of the Internet into three time phases (before, during, and after extensive social interactions and group participation) and two distinct types of motivations that drive Internet social behavior (self-related and socially related). After a review of the research on these issues so far we conclude that ...
We welcome the opportunity to summarize our main points from the SPSP debate (“What does the &... more We welcome the opportunity to summarize our main points from the SPSP debate (“What does the 'free'in 'free will'really mean?”, February, 2009); first though we will respond to the additional arguments by Baumeister and Vohs in this issue concerning determinism and causality. We see no problem with the assertions that psychologists need not be strict determinists to practice their science, and that determinism and causality are not the same thing. However, neither of these points is relevant to the basic question of free will. The ' ...
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