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We tested whether individuals can exert control over the expression of attitudinal ambivalence and if this control is exerted with self-presentational concerns. Using the self-presentation paradigm, participants reported more ambivalence about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in a standard and a self-enhancement (present yourself positively) conditions than in a self-depreciation (present yourself negatively) condition, on felt (Experiments 1a and 2a) and potential ambivalence, in its cognitive (Experiments 1b and 2b) and affective components (Experiments 1b and 2c). The role of ambivalent attitudes in conveying a positive social value was confirmed by the fact that the above effect was found on a controversial attitude object (GMOs), but the opposite appeared on a noncontroversial one (e.g., tooth brushing, a truism; Experiment 3). Such a reversal was obtained by directly manipulating the perception of controversy on GMOs (Experiment 4). Attitudinal ambivalence may thus serve an adaptive function, that is, achieving a positive social value.

Although longitudinal studies have consistently shown the positive impact of performance-approach goals (i.e., the desire to demonstrate one's abilities and outperform others) on academic success, they might allow some strategic behaviors such as cheating and surface studying, leaving open the question of the sheer impact of performance-approach goals on cognitive performance. We argued that the pressure to outperform others might generate outcome concerns and thus deplete working memory resources available for the activity, thereby hindering cognitive performance. Three studies carried out in a laboratory context confirmed this hypothesis. During a demanding cognitive task, performance-approach goal manipulation hampered performance (Experiment 1) by generating distractive concerns that drew on the limited verbal component of working memory (Experiment 2). Moreover, this interference was shown to be specifically due to the activation of performance-approach goal-related thoughts during the task solving (Experiment 3). Together, the present results highlight the distractive consequence of performance-approach goals on cognitive performance, suggesting that cognitive resource allocation is divided among the storage, processing, and retrieval of task-relevant information and the activation of normative goal-attainment concerns.

Cet article traite de la manière dont le développement des aspirations professionnelles contribue à la formation d’inégalités entre hommes et femmes sur le marché du travail au travers d’une étude empirique portant sur l’influence du sexe et de la filière scolaire sur les intérêts professionnels d’écoliers suisses. Les résultats indiquent que le croisement de ces deux variables affecte particulièrement les jeunes filles dans une filière à exigences élémentaires en restreignant doublement les options envisageables. Les moyens d’action pour les conseiller-e-s en orientation afin d’accompagner spécifiquement cette population est discutée. This article investigates how the development of career aspirations contributes to the formation of inequalities between women and men in the labor market. More precisely the influence of gender and school level on the professional interests of Swiss schoolchildren was investigated. The results indicate that these two variables reinforce each other and interact and that girls in the lower school stream are especially affected by having, for two distinct reasons, less professional options available. Several practical implications and suggestions in order to improve interventions for career counselors working with this specific population are discussed.

Democracy is positively valued. This positive evaluation extends to a democracy's actions, even if it is to wage war. The authors investigated whether the perceived legitimacy of military interventions depends on the political structure (democratic vs. nondemocratic) of the countries involved and on the aggressor country's popular support for the government's aggressive policy. Participants learned that an alleged country planned to attack another. The political structure of both countries was manipulated in the two experiments. The support of the aggressor's population toward military intervention was measured in Experiment 1 and manipulated in Experiment 2. Both experiments confirmed that military intervention was perceived as being less illegitimate when the population supported their democratic government's policy to attack a nondemocratic country. © The Author(s) 2012.

This research examined the support for international military interventions as a function of the political system and the public opinion of the target country. In two experiments, we informed participants about a possible military intervention by the international community towards a sovereign country whose government planned to use military force against a secessionist region. They were then asked whether they would support this intervention whilst being reminded that it would cause civilian deaths. The democratic or nondemocratic political system of the target country was experimentally manipulated, and the population support for its belligerent government policy was either assessed (Experiment 1) or manipulated (Experiment 2). Results showed greater support for the intervention when the target country was nondemocratic, as compared to the democratic and the control conditions, but only when its population supported the belligerent government policy. Support for the external intervention was low when the target country was democratic, irrespective of national public opinion. These findings provide support for the democracy-as-value hypothesis applied to international military interventions, and suggest that civilian deaths (collateral damage) are more acceptable when nondemocratic populations support their government's belligerent policy. © The Author(s) 2011.

Background. Despite extensive research on cooperative learning, the debate regarding whether or not its effectiveness depends on positive reward interdependence has not yet found clear evidence. Aims. We tested the hypothesis that positive reward interdependence, as compared to reward independence, enhances cooperative learning only if learners work on a ‘routine task'; if the learners work on a ‘true group task', positive reward interdependence induces the same level of learning as reward independence. Sample. The study involved 62 psychology students during regular workshops. Method. Students worked on two psychology texts in cooperative dyads for three sessions. The type of task was manipulated through resource interdependence: students worked on either identical (routine task) or complementary (true group task) information. Students expected to be assessed with a Multiple Choice Test (MCT) on the two texts. The MCT assessment type was introduced according to two reward interdependence conditions, either individual (reward independence) or common (positive reward interdependence). A follow-up individual test took place 4 weeks after the third session of dyadic work to examine individual learning. Results. The predicted interaction between the two types of interdependence was significant, indicating that students learned more with positive reward interdependence than with reward independence when they worked on identical information (routine task), whereas students who worked on complementary information (group task) learned the same with or without reward interdependence. Conclusions. This experiment sheds light on the conditions under which positive reward interdependence enhances cooperative learning, and suggests that creating a real group task allows to avoid the need for positive reward interdependence.

Cedric et Stephane sont deux etudiants en premiere annee de Psychologie. Lors d’une seance de travaux pratiques, ils cherchent la cause du trouble bipolaire. Cedric avance que l’origine est d’ordre genetique, tandis que Stephane pense qu’elle est a chercher dans l’environnement social du patient. Que va faire Cedric ? Va-t-il se replonger dans ses cours de psychopathologie pour comprendre l’etiologie du trouble ? Ou va-t-il essayer d’affirmer la superiorite de son opinion sur celle de Stephane ? Ou va-t-il plus simplement lui donner raison ? Cette situation de confrontation a un autrui en desaccord est qualifiee par certains auteurs de conflit sociocognitif1. Ce dernier se caracterise par une double incertitude. D’une part, il remet en question la maitrise de la tâche (le versant cognitif du conflit : « Ma reponse est-elle valide ? »). D’autre part, il peut constituer une menace pour la competence (le versant social du conflit : « L’autre est-il meilleur que moi ? »).

Introduction Fabrizio Butera and John M. Levine Part I. Coping with Exclusion: Being Excluded for Who You Are: 1. On being the target of prejudice: educational implications Michael Inzlicht, Joshua Aronson, and Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton 2. To climb or not to climb? When minorities stick to the floor Margarita Sanchez-Mazas and Annalisa Casini 3. Managing the message: using social influence and attitude change strategies to confront interpersonal discrimination Janet Swim, Sarah Gervais, Nicholas Pearson, and Charles Stangor 4. A new representation of minorities as victims Serge Moscovici and Juan Perez 5. Marginalization through social ostracism: effects of being ignored and excluded Kipling Williams and Adrienne Carter-Sowell Part II. Coping with Exclusion: Being Excluded for What You Think and Do: 6. Delinquents as a minority group: accidental tourists in forbidden territory or voluntary emigrees? Nicholas Emler 7. Minority group identification: responses to discrimination when group membership is controllable Jolanda Jetten and Nyla Branscombe 8. Coping with stigmatization: smokers' reactions to antismoking campaigns Juan Manuel Falomir-Pichastor, Armand Chatard, Gabriel Mugny, and Alain Quiamzade 9. Terrorism as a tactic of minority influence Xiaoyan Chen and Arie Kruglanski 10. The stigma of racist activism Kathleen Blee 11. Why groups fall apart: a social psychological model of the schismatic process Fabio Sani Part III. Coping with Inclusion: 12. Multiple identities and the paradox of social inclusion Manuela Barreto and Naomi Ellemers 13. Pro-minority policies and cultural change: a dilemma for minorities Angelica Mucchi-Faina 14. Influence without credit: how successful minorities respond to social cyptomnesia Fabrizio Butera, John Levine, and Jean-Pierre Vernet 15. Influence and its aftermath: motives for agreement among minorities and majorities Radmila Prislin and Niels Christensen.

In October 2007, the Nobel Committee awarded its Peace Prize jointly to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the American politician Al Gore “for their eff orts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change” (Nobel Foundation, 2008 ). Th is award represented the fi rst unambiguous statement by the Committee of the importance of defending the environment. True, the 2004 Peace Prize given to Wangari Maathai mentioned her contributions to sustainable development, but the primary criterion for the award was her work on behalf of “democracy, human rights and women’s rights in particular” (Nobel Foundation, 2008 ). Th us, the 2007 award can be considered a milestone in the decades-old struggle to bring attention to the harmful eff ects of human activities on the environment, a recognition that environmentalists have been waiting for a long time. Or can it? Are the ecology activists who have fought for the preservation of the environment for decades – by joining the words “green” and “peace”, by demonstrating in the streets, by chaining themselves to gates, by spending time in jail – pleased with the 2007 award? Do they feel happy with this highly visible recognition of the cause for which they have so long fought? Or do they feel bitter disappointment that the prize was awarded, not to one or more of their organizations, but instead to two relative newcomers to the cause – an intergovernmental panel and a professional politician? More generally, what are the reactions of minority groups that have succeeded in inducing social infl uence and have not received credit for it? Th is question is at the heart of the issues we address in this chapter. 1 4

Research on achievement goals has demonstrated that mastery goals positively impact achievement-related outcomes, but paradoxically hold an inconsistent relation with academic achievement. We hypothesized that this relationship depends on the reason why students endorse mastery goals—namely, to garner teachers' appreciation (social desirability) or to succeed at university (social utility). First-year psychology students completed a mastery-goal scale in a standard format, with social-desirability instructions and social-utility instructions. Participants' grades on academic exams were recorded later in the semester. Results indicated that students' perceptions of both social desirability and social utility related to mastery goals moderated the relationship between the endorsement of mastery goals and final grades. This relationship was reduced by the increase of perceived social desirability of mastery goals, and strengthened by the increase of perceived social utility of these goals.

Previous studies with university students have shown that resource interdependence during cooperative dyadic work on texts produces two different dynamics in student interaction and learning. Working on complementary information produces positive interactions, but a good quality of information transmission is needed to foster student learning. Working on identical information produces a confrontation of viewpoints but also encourages a threatening social comparison of competence, which can be detrimental for learning. The aim of present study is to test the moderating role of a partner's competence in two peer-learning methods by manipulating a partner's competence through a confederate. Results indicate that a partner's competence is beneficial when students work on complementary information while it is detrimental when students work on identical information.

The present set of studies investigates the role of competitive conflict regulation and informational dependence in peer learning. Previous studies have shown that peer work on identical information produces not only confrontation of viewpoints but also competitive conflict regulation, the latter of which is detrimental for learning. Conversely, working on complementary information produces positive interactions but also informational dependence, and good quality information transmission is needed to foster learning. The present research shows that discussion aids (note-taking and access to the study materials during discussion), a variable related to the quality of informational input, moderated the relationship between information interdependence and learning. This moderation was mediated by competitive conflict regulation: Students who worked on identical information with discussion aids reported more competitive conflict regulation than those without discussion aids, which in turn reduced learning, a pattern that did not appear for students working on complementary information. Moreover, when students worked on complementary information, the good quality of information transmission elicited by discussion aids led to high levels of learning for all students. Contributions to research on resource interdependence, socio-cognitive conflict, and peer learning are discussed.

Two experiments investigated the differential impact of cooperation and competition on strategic information sharing and use in a three-person group decision-making task. Information was distributed in order to create a hidden profile so that disconfirmation of group members' initial preferences was required to solve the task. Experiment 1 revealed that competition, compared to cooperation, led group members to withhold unshared information, a difference that was not significant for shared information. In competition, compared to cooperation, group members were also more reluctant to disconfirm their initial preferences. Decision quality was lower in competition than in cooperation, this effect being mediated by disconfirmation use and not by information sharing. Experiment 2 replicated these findings and revealed the role of mistrust in predicting strategic information sharing and use in competition. These results support a motivated information processing approach of group decision making.

Ninety-three students were exposed to majority and minority influence in an inductive reasoning task. The former induced convergent thinking processes, though its effects were not reducible to mere compliance. The latter activated more divergent constructive processes, supporting the predictions of Conversion Theory.

International audience

The present research examines the ambivalence of achievement goal promotion at university, and more specifically in the psychology curriculum. On the one hand, psychology teachers explicitly encourage mastery but not performance (neither approach nor avoidance) goals. On the other hand, the selection process encourages the endorsement of not only mastery but also performance-approach goals. In fact, it would seem that both performance-approach and mastery goals are valued in a university context. Two pilot studies verified the above assumptions. Subsequently, Experiments 1, 2, and 3 showed that each of these goals corresponds to different aspects of social value. Indeed, high endorsement of mastery goals was associated with being judged as both likable (social desirability) and likely to succeed (social utility). High endorsement of performance-approach goals enhanced social utility judgments but reduced perceived likability. Performance-avoidance goals only enhanced perceived likability. The discussion focuses on the 2 functions of university, namely education (apparent in the official discourse of teachers) and selection (apparent in the university structure), and on the perceived value of achievement goals.

International audience; This article contends that the presence of a coactor leads to a focusing effect whenever this presence represents a threat or a potential threat to self-evaluation. Experiment 1 showed that attentional focusing appears in the presence of an actual (in the case of upward comparison) or potential (in the case of mere coaction) threat to self-evaluation but not in its absence (in the case of downward comparison). Experiments 2 and 3 confirmed that the presence of a coactor affects focusing because the coactor represents a potential threat and showed that introducing a threat in downward comparison can produce a focusing effect. Experiment 4 showed that removing the threat in upward comparison decreases the focusing effect. Experiment 5 confirmed that the effects observed in upward comparison are due to attentional focusing and not to an increase in effort. Contributions to social facilitation, social comparison, and attention research are discussed.

The present study aimed to integrate research on mastery and performance goals into research on sociocognitive conflict (confrontation involving divergent points of view). Participants interacted by discussing conflictual issues in a context enhancing either performance goals, mastery goals, or no goals. The amount of disagreement during the interaction was measured. Results indicated that disagreement predicted epistemic conflict regulation (focused on task comprehension) in the mastery goals condition, but relational conflict regulation (focused on affirmation of competence) in the performance goals condition. Results are discussed in terms of their contribution to the conflict regulation framework.

International audience; The present research tested the hypothesis that the political structure of groups moderates the perceived legitimacy of collective punishment. Participants read scenarios of fictitious summer camps in which unidentified members of one group aggressed members of another group. The political structure of both the offender and the victim groups was described as either egalitarian or hierarchical (defined with democratic or non-democratic decision-making procedures). Perceived legitimacy of collective punishment directed against all members of the offender group was assessed by measuring the acceptability of sanctions administered by an authority and of revenge actions inflicted by members of the victim group. Results showed that collective punishment was evaluated as less legitimate when the offender group was egalitarian and the victim group was hierarchical. Supplementary analyses showed that this effect was mediated by the higher value attributed to members of the offender egalitarian group when the victim group was hierarchical.

Performance-avoidance goals (the desire to avoid performing more poorly than others do) have been shown to have consistently deleterious effects on performance but the effects of performance-approach goals (trying to outperform others) are more complex. Two studies examine uncertainty as a moderator of the effect of performance-approach goals on performance. Experiment 1 shows that manipulated performance-approach goals lead to better performance than do performance-avoidance goals in the absence of uncertainty about performance but when participants learn that a coactor disagreed with them about problem solutions, creating uncertainty, performance-approach goals do not differ from performance-avoidance goals in their effect on performance. Experiment 2 shows that uncertainty also moderates the effects of self-set performance-approach goals. Moreover, the same dynamic occurs with another kind of uncertainty: negative competence feedback.

This experiment examined the effects of epistemic vs. relational conflicts on the relationship with a partner. Students participated to a fictitious computer-mediated interaction about a text with a bogus partner who introduced either an epistemic conflict (a conflict that referred to the content of the text), or a relational conflict (a conflict that questioned participants’ competence). Results indicated that compared to the epistemic conflict, the relational conflict enhanced threat and reduced the perceived contribution of the partner. Moreover, after a relational conflict, participants were more assertive in their answers, justified them to a lower extent, and expressed less doubt than after an epistemic conflict. Results also indicated that the intensity of disagreement predicted different modes of regulation depending on the conflict type. Finally, epistemic conflict elicited better learning than relational conflict.

We tested whether the goal to attain normative superiority over other students, referred to as performance-approach goals, is particularly distractive for high-Working Memory Capacity (WMC) students-that is, those who are used to being high achievers. Indeed, WMC is positively related to high-order cognitive performance and academic success, a record of success that confers benefits on high-WMC as compared to low-WMC students. We tested whether such benefits may turn out to be a burden under performance-approach goal pursuit. Indeed, for high achievers, aiming to rise above others may represent an opportunity to reaffirm their positive status-a stake susceptible to trigger disruptive outcome concerns that interfere with task processing. Results revealed that with performance-approach goals-as compared to goals with no emphasis on social comparison-the higher the students' WMC, the lower their performance at a complex arithmetic task (Experiment 1). Crucially, this pattern appeared to be driven by uncertainty regarding the chances to outclass others (Experiment 2). Moreover, an accessibility measure suggested the mediational role played by status-related concerns in the observed disruption of performance. We discuss why high-stake situations can paradoxically lead high-achievers to sub-optimally perform when high-order cognitive performance is at play.

Solar water disinfection (SODIS) is an uncomplicated and cheap technology providing individuals with safe drinking water by exposing water-filled plastic bottles to sunlight for 6 hours to kill waterborne pathogens. Two communities were visited, and 81 families (40 SODIS users and 41 nonusers) were interviewed. The relationship between several factors and the intention to use SODIS in the future and actual use were tested. The results showed that intention to use and actual use are mainly related to an overall positive attitude, intention to use is related to the use of SODIS by neighbors, and actual use is related to knowledge about SODIS; SODIS users reported a significantly lower incidence in diarrhea than SODIS nonusers. These results suggest that promotion activities should aim at creating a positive attitude, for example, by choosing a promoter that is able to inspire confidence in the new technology.

The present research examines whether mastery and performance goals predict different ways of reacting to a sociocognitive conflict with another person over materials to be learned, an issue not yet addressed by the achievement goal literature. Results from 2 studies showed that mastery goals predicted epistemic conflict regulation (a conflict regulation strategy focused on the attempt to integrate both points of view), whereas performance goals predicted relational conflict regulation (a conflict regulation strategy focused on the evaluation and affirmation of self-competence). Study 1 shows these links via direct self-report measures of conflict regulation. Study 2 shows the same links using the amount of competence reported for the self and for the other as subtle measures of conflict regulation.

D’après de nombreuses recherches (voir Dweck, 1986 ; Nicholls, 1984), les étudiants peuvent poursuivre deux types de buts lorsqu’ils réalisent une tâche d’apprentissage : le but de maîtrise (désir d’apprendre, de développer des connaissances) et le but de performance (désir de mettre en avant ses compétences, ses capacités). Cet article présente une synthèse de travaux portant sur les effets des buts dans la situation particulière où l’étudiant est amené à échanger avec un autre étudiant dont la réponse diverge (situation dite de « conflit sociocognitif », Doise & Mugny, 1997). D’une manière générale, les résultats des études présentées indiquent que le but de maîtrise favorise la régulation épistémique (régulation du conflit centrée sur la tâche, la compréhension du problème). De plus, il rend le conflit bénéfique à l’apprentissage. Le but de performance favorise en revanche la régulation relationnelle (régulation centrée sur l’affirmation de ses compétences) et rend le conflit néfaste à l’apprentissage. For many researchers (see Dweck, 1986; Nicholls, 1984), students can pursue two types of goals when carrying out a learning task: the mastery goal (desire to learn, to develop knowledge), and the performance goal (desire to show one’s own competence). The present paper presents an overview of the research about the achievement goals effects in the specific situation where a student is led to interact with another student whose answer is different from his/her own (the so-called “socio-cognitive conflict”, Doise & Mugny, 1984). As a whole, results show that the mastery goal favors epistemic regulation (a conflict regulation focused on the task, the understanding of the problem). Moreover, it renders conflict beneficial for learning. On the contrary, the performance goal favors relational regulation (a conflict regulation focused on assertion of self-competence) and renders conflict detrimental for learning. Según numerosas investigaciones (véanse Dweck, 1986; Nicholls, 1984), los estudiantes pueden perseguir dos tipos de objetivos cuando realizan una tarea de aprendizaje: el objetivo de dominio (deseo de aprender, de desarrollar conocimientos) y el objetivo de performancia (deseo de poner en evidencia sus competencias, sus capacidades). Los estudios presentados en este capítulo examinan los efectos de los objetivos en la situación particular en la que el estudiante se ve obligado a intercambiar con otro estudiante cuya respuesta difiere (situación llamada de “conflicto sociocognoscitivo”, Doise & Mugny, 1997). De manera general, los resultados de estos estudios indican que el objetivo de dominio favorece la regulación epistémica (regulación del conflicto centrada en la tarea, la comprensión del problema). Además, hace que el conflicto sea benéfico para el aprendizaje. El objetivo de performancia favorece en cambio la regulación relacional (regulación centrada en la afirmación de sus competencias) y hace que el conflicto sea nefasto al aprendizaje. Vielen Forschungsarbeiten zufolge (s. Dweck, 1986; Nicholls, 1984) können Studenten zweifache Ziele beim Lernen verfolgen: die Beherrschung (Hauptanliegen: lernen, seine Kenntnisse erweitern) und die Leistung (Hauptanliegen: seine Kompetenzen, seine Fähigkeiten hervorheben). Die in diesem Kapitel vorgelegten Forschungsarbeiten behandeln die Wirkungen der Zielsetzung in der besonderen Situation, wo der Student mit einem anderen Studenten ins Gespräch kommt, dessen Meinung nicht der eigenen entspricht (Situation des sogenannten „soziokognitiven Konflikts“, Doise & Mugny, 1997). Allgemein gesehen zeigen die Ergebnisse dieser Forschungsarbeiten, dass das Beherrschungsziel die epistemische Regelung fördert (Bei der Regelung des Konflikts steht die Aufgabe, das Verständnis des Problems im Mittelpunkt). Dazu kommt in diesem Fall der Konflikt dem Lernen zugute. Das Leistungsziel fördert dagegen die Beziehungsregelung (Bei der Regelung des Konflikts steht die Behauptung der eigenen Kompetenzen im Mittelpunkt) und macht den Konflikt für das Lernen schädlich.

Part 1: Problem Solving. P. Johnson-Laird, The Shape of Problems. J. Evans, Insight and Self-insight in Reasoning and Decision Making. Part 2: Deductive Reasoning. W. Schaeken, J. Baptiste van der Henst, It's Good to be Wrong: An Analysis of Mistakes in Relational Reasoning. J.A. Garcia-Madruga, F. Gutierrez, N. Carriedo, J.M. Luzon, J.O. Vila, Working Memory and Propositional Reasoning: Searching for New Working Memory Tests. R. Byrne, C. Walsh, Resolving Contradictions. Part 3: Pragmatics, Hypotheses, and Probabilities. J.P. Caverni, S. Rossi, J-L. Peris, How to Defocus in Hypothesis Testing: Manipulating the Initial Triple in the 2-4-6 Problem. G. Politzer, L. Macchi, The Representation of the Task: The Case of the Lawyer-Engineer Problem in Probability Judgement. Part 4: Probabilistic Judgement. D. Over, Naive Probability and Its Model Theory. V. Girotto, M. Gonzalez, Probabilistic Reasoning and Combinatorial Analysis. Part 5: Social and Emotional Aspects of Decision Making. D. Green, Affect and Argument. F. Butera, C. Buchs, Reasoning Together: From Focusing to Decentering. E. Shafir, E. Carlisle, Heuristics and biases in attitudes towards herbal medicines.

Summary : Achievement goals, study strategies, and intrinsic motivation : presentation of a research field and validation of the French version of Elliot and McGregor's (2001) scale Research on achievement goals has highlighted four goals orienting students' activities in academic tasks : performance-approach (proving one's own abilities), performance-avoidance (avoiding showing incompetence), mastery-approach (trying to understand and master the task), and mastery-avoidance (avoiding misunderstanding and not mastering the task). These four goals have different effects, especially on studys strategies, and on intrinsic motivation. The first part of the article presents the research field of achievement goals. The second part presents a study validating in French Elliot and McGregor's (2001) achievement goal questionnaire comprising the above four dimensions. The translated scale was completed by 164 second-year psychology students. Factor analyses revealed a four-dimensional structure. Moreover, Cronbach's alphas showed that all sub-scales have good reliability. Finally, regression analyses provided evidence of the good external validity of the scale. Indeed, as expected, the performance-approach goal tended to predict positively surface studying. The performance-avoidance goal predicted negatively deep studying and positively surface studying and disorganization. The mastery-approach goal was a good predictor of deep studying and intrinsic motivation. Finally, the mastery-avoidance goal predicted positively disorganization and negatively intrinsic motivation. In sum, all the results obtained with the English version of the scale are reproduced here with its French version. Key words : scale, achievement goals, study strategies, intrinsic motivation., Résumé Les recherches sur les buts d'accomplissement soulignent l'existence de quatre buts qui peuvent orienter l'attention des étudiants lorsqu'ils réalisent une tâche : le but de performance-approche (démontrer ses compétences), performance-évitement (éviter de montrer ses incompétences), maîtrise-approche (comprendre et maîtriser la tâche) et maîtrise-évitement (éviter la non-maîtrise de la tâche). Ces quatre buts diffèrent quant à leurs effets sur les stratégies d'études et la motivation intrinsèque. La première partie de cet article présente le champ de recherche. La seconde présente une étude qui valide en français l'échelle d'Elliot et McGregor (2001), comprenant ces quatre buts. L'échelle traduite a été soumise à 164 étudiants de deuxième année de psychologie. Les analyses factorielles confirment une structure en quatre dimensions, et les alphas de Cronbach montrent la fiabilité des sous-échelles. Enfin, les analyses de régression démontrent la validité externe de l'échelle. En effet, les deux buts de performance (approche et évitement) prédisent l'étude de surface. Le but de performance-évitement prédit également la désorganisation, et négativement l'étude profonde. Le but de maîtrise-approche prédit l'étude profonde ainsi que la motivation intrinsèque ; le but de maîtrise-évitement la désorganisation et la motivation intrinsèque (négativement). Ces résultats reproduisent donc dans leur intégralité les résultats obtenus avec la version anglaise de l'échelle. Mots clés : échelle, buts d'accomplissement, stratégie d'étude, motivation intrinsèque., Darnon B., Butera F. Buts d'accomplissement, stratégies d'étude, et motivation intrinsèque : présentation d'un domaine de recherche et validation française de l'échelle d'Elliot et McGregor (2001). In: L'année psychologique. 2005 vol. 105, n°1. pp. 105-131.

International audience; Literature on inductive reasoning shows that when testing hypotheses, people are biased toward the use of confirmatory strategies (P. C. Wason, 1960). In the present article, the authors presented 2 studies showing how people use confirmation and disconfirmation strategies during actual interaction in problem solving. Study I showed that participants were able to learn to use disconfirmation when confronted with a low-competence, nonthreatening partner. When the partner was high in competence (thereby threatening the participant's competence), participants used confirmation, even when the partner used disconfirmation. In Study 2, the authors aimed at generalizing the aforementioned results by exploring the hypothesis that disconfirmation stems from the possibility of diverging from norms. Participants who were confronted with the violation of a conversational norm used a high proportion of disconfirmation, whatever the source of influence. When there was no violation but there was a low-competence partner, the proportion of disconfirmation was high; when there was no violation but there was a high-competence partner, the proportion of disconfirmation was low. The authors discussed the interpersonal functions of confirmation and disconfirmation.

The present research tested the hypothesis that the political structure of conflicting groups moderates perceived legitimacy of intergroup aggression. In two experiments, participants read scenarios of fictitious summer camps in which members of one group aggressed members of another group. The political structure of both the perpetrator and the victim groups was described as either egalitarian (defined with democratic decision-making procedures) or hierarchical (authoritarian decision-making procedures). Results of both experiments showed that aggressions perpetrated by members of egalitarian groups at the expense of members of hierarchical groups were evaluated as less illegitimate than aggressions committed in the three remaining conditions. This effect is discussed as a function of the higher social value attributed to democratic groups.

This article proposes an integration of Festinger’s (1954) social comparison theory and Baron’s (1986) distraction–conflict theory of the social facilitation–inhibition effect, which successfully predicts attentional focusing in coaction when social comparison represents a distraction. Two experiments confronted participants with the illusory conjunction task ( Treisman, 1998 ), where illusions occur because of the lack of attentional processing of central cues. If coaction, like upward comparison, is distracting and thereby enhances the attention allocated to central cues (here the target’s features) at the expense of peripheral cues (here distractors), then a reduction should be found in the illusions. Experiment 1 indeed showed a lower rate of conjunctive errors under upward comparison than under downward comparison. Experiment 2 specified that this effect was due to downward comparison effectively reducing distraction, with upward comparison only maintaining it, as compared to mere coaction.

Two studies were carried out during university workshops, and analyzed the effects of resource interdependence on student‐student interactions, and the impact of these interactions on performance. Students worked cooperatively, either on complementary information (positive resource interdependence) or on identical information (resource independence). In Study 1, analysis of videotaped interactions revealed that working on complementary information produced more positive interactions; however this was not sufficient to prevent students who had no direct access to the information from being disadvantaged, because of informational dependence. In Study 2, with simpler texts allowing better information transmission, performance was favored when students worked on complementary information. Moreover, working on identical information not only enhanced confrontations of point of views, it also elicited competence threat. Further analysis revealed that competence threat mediated resource interdependence effect on ...

Patriotism has been described by several authors as a rigid and stable construct. It is argued that this might lead to a deterministic conception of citizenship. in which citizens of a certain country are supposed to react in a predetermined way, as far as factors affecting attachment to the country are concerned. It is proposed that such a view conceals the fact that people’s relations to the country, even affective relations such as attachment, are political relations, and therefore, should be affected by the political activity of the State. This view received some support from an experimental study in which French citizens expressed their level of blind and constructive patriotism (Schatz & Staub, 1997) after having been exposed to a bogus national law that favored either immigrants (pro-outgroup only), nationals (pro-ingroup only), or both. Blind patriotism appeared stable across contexts, whereas constructive patriotism varied. Implications for the study of patriotism and citizenship are discussed.

Summary : Social comparison of competencies and social influence in aptitude tasks. This article proposes a model accounting for social influence dynamics in aptitude tasks. It is a development of the model proposed by Butera, Gardair, Maggi and Mugny in 1998, which proposed that four influence dynamics resuit from the conjunction ofhigh vs. low competence ofthe source and low vs. high competence ofthe target. It was argued that a high-competence source most often induces very little influence over an equally competent target, and induces mostly manifest influence over a low competence target. Moreover, a low-competence source was believed to have a deep influence only when facing equally incompetent targets ; no influence was expected in front of a higher-competence target. The present model introduces a supplementary factor : The presence vs. absence of identity threat, induced by the social context of comparison of competencies. It is argued that high-competence sources induce a competence threat most of the time, which is not the case for low-competence sources. The new model predicts the dynamics of influence that are supposed to appear when competence threat in reduced in the confrontation with a high competence source, and induced in the confrontation with a low-competence source. Experimental illustrations of these dynamics are reported. Key words : social influence, social comparison, competence, identity threat., Résumé On propose un modèle visant à rendre compte des dynamiques d'influence dans les tâches d'aptitudes. Ce modèle est une extension de celui déjà proposé par Butera, Gardair, Maggi et Mugny (1998). Ce dernier avançait quatre dynamiques d'influences selon le haut ou bas degré de compétence de la cible d'influence d'une part et de la source de l'autre. Il était proposé qu'une source compétente n'obtenait le plus souvent aucune influence sur des cibles d'égale compétence et seulement de l'influence manifeste sur des cibles incompétentes. Une source incompétente quant à elle n'était censée obtenir de l'influence qu'à un niveau profond face à des cibles d'égale incompétence, et aucune sur des cibles de compétence supérieure. La présente extension tient compte d'un paramètre supplémentaire, la présence ou l'absence de menace pour l'identité de la cible introduite par le contexte de comparaison sociale. Il est argué que les sources compétentes introduisent le plus souvent une menace, tandis que ce n'est pas le cas des sources incompétentes. Le modèle considère les modifications des dynamiques du modèle précédent qu'on peut attendre lorsque le contexte d'influence évacue cette menace lors de confrontations avec une source compétentes et l'introduit lors de confrontations avec une source incompétente. Un premier étayage expérimental de ces dynamiques est proposé. Mots clés : influence sociale, comparaison sociale, compétence, menace de l'identité., Mugny Gabriel, Butera F., Quiamzade Alain, Dragulescu Agatta, Tomei Alexander. Comparaisons sociales des compétences et dynamiques d'influence sociale dans les tâches d'aptitudes. In: L'année psychologique. 2003 vol. 103, n°3. pp. 469-496.

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