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Scholarly evidence on how meta-stereotype threat affects working memory is still lacking. Therefore, this study conducted two experiments to investigate whether negative meta-stereotypes decreased working memory, focusing on the mediating role of emotion and the moderating role of core self-evaluations. Experiment 1 showed that activated negative meta-stereotypes could lead to lower positive emotions, higher negative emotions, and poorer working memory performance. In this context, negative meta-stereotypes affected working memory through reduced positive emotions. Experiment 2 confirmed the results of Experiment 1, showing that the adverse effects of meta-stereotype threat had more substantial effects on working memory in participants with high core self-evaluations. In contrast, such effects were weak in participants with low core self-evaluations. These findings expand on existing literature concerning how meta-stereotype threat affects working memory, mainly by providing new insights into the processes and conditions of the meta-stereotypes threat effect., Author(s): Tiantian Dong [sup.1] , Wei Tong [sup.1] , Wen He [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) https://ror.org/01cxqmw89, grid.412531.0, 0000 0001 0701 1077, Department of Psychology, Shanghai Normal University, , Guilin Road [...]

This study aimed to examine the mechanisms underlying the negative relationship between the feeling of being dehumanized by the organization and employees' job satisfaction. More precisely, we argue that emotional labor (i.e., surface acting) and core self-evaluations act as mediators in this relationship. A total of 326 employees participated in our study. Firstly, the results showed that, independently of one another, both surface acting and core self-evaluations partially mediated the relationship between organizational dehumanization and job satisfaction. Secondly, surface acting and core self-evaluations were found to have serial mediation effects in this relationship. Accordingly, experiencing dehumanization from the organization leads employees to perform more surface acting with deleterious consequences for their core self-evaluations and finally their job satisfaction., Author(s): Nathan Nguyen [sup.1] , Florence Stinglhamber [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.7942.8, 0000 0001 2294 713X, Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, , Place Cardinal Mercier, 10, L3.05.01, [...]

Although sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances are significant features of bipolar disorder and are associated with illness severity and recurrence, less is known about their significance prior to illness onset. Therefore, this study investigated these variables using objective assessment methods within a sample at high-risk of bipolar spectrum disorders. Thirty-one high-risk and 24 age- and gender-matched control participants wore an actigraph for 7 days to obtain sleep and circadian activity data. Self-report measures of mood, bed and get-up times, and cognitive style were also obtained. High-risk participants exhibited greater variability in duration, fragmentation, and efficiency of sleep, shorter sleep duration, and later and more variable bedtimes than controls. They also had lower relative amplitude of activity patterns and made more positive self-appraisals for hypomanic experiences. Logistic regression showed that positive self-appraisal and variability in bedtime significantly discriminated between the two groups. Results suggest that sleep and circadian activity differences are apparent in high-risk participants and, therefore, may not simply represent an artifact of the illness. Such individuals also report cognitive styles consistent with those observed in bipolar patients. Relevance of these results to current evolutions of the instability theory of bipolar disorder is discussed. Keywords: actigraphy; hypomania; circadian rhythms; positive self-appraisal; cognitive style

In order to explore neural activity that accompanies cognitive bias in mood disorders, the authors had clinically depressed and nondepressed controls complete a self-evaluation procedure in which they indicated whether trait words were self-descriptive. Dense-array (256-channel) electroencephalography was recorded. Greater depression and low Positive Affect were associated with decreased endorsement of favorable (Good) traits, and greater anxiety and high Negative Affect were associated with increased endorsement of unfavorable (Bad) traits. For controls, the event-related potential (ERP) showed an enhanced visual N 1 for trials in which Bad traits were endorsed. For depressed participants, this N1 was attenuated, specifically for these endorsed Bad trials. A similar pattern was observed in the P2-medial frontal negativity (P2-MFN) complex, with controls showing an enhanced MFN to the endorsed Bad words, while depressed participants showed an attenuated or absent medial frontal response on these items specifically. Distributed linear-inverse source analysis of the ERP localized the N1 effect to the inferotemporal-occipital cortex and the medial frontal effect to the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. The altered ERP responses in depressed participants may provide clues to the neurophysiological processes associated with negatively biased cognition and self-evaluation in clinical depression. Keywords: depression, anxiety, self-evaluation, limbic system, affective cognition

A limitation of most comparative bias studies is that they lack an objective criterion against which to assess the accuracy of self-evaluations. Furthermore, comparisons are usually made with large populations or 'average peers' rather than specific others. To assess the robustness of self-enhancement when strong reality constraints are imposed, we created a video dating paradigm in which participants made profiles that they believed would be evaluated by opposite-sex peers. Blocks of seven profiles were created, and participants ranked their own profiles and estimated how others who viewed their videos would rank them (metaperceptions). Each actor was yoked to one observer who saw and ranked the same block of profiles. Despite the presence of an external reality check, participants in all three studies evinced strong self-enhancement tendencies as measured in self-rankings and metaperception judgments that exceeded those provided by observers. Keywords: self-enhancement; self-evaluation; self-views; metaperceptions; social comparison; comparative judgments

Self-judgments can range from inductive (i.e., based on relevant characteristics, behaviors, and past experiences) to deductive (i.e., inferred from general beliefs about the self) depending on the situation. Previous work demonstrated that focusing on positive attributes--particularly under threat--can elicit less inductive self-judgment. In this article, the authors tested the hypothesis that priming negative attributes of the self would lead to more inductive self-judgment. The authors also tested whether focusing on positive attributes would lead to more inductive self-judgment in a context where one is constrained to think inductively. In three studies with disparate manipulations, the authors looked at how well participants' self-reported risk factors for health problems were related to their risk perceptions for these health problems. Both hypotheses were supported. The authors discuss implications of these findings for theoretical approaches to self-judgment and practical concerns about the reliability and validity of self-judgments. Keywords: self-judgment; self-evaluation; induction and deduction; risk perception; self-affirmation

The present study tested a scale which measures core self-evaluation and was applied to two samples of Korean military members (Sample 1 N = 181; Sample 2 N = 280). Analysis indicated that seven items of the original 12-item scale developed by Judge, Erez, Bono, and Thoresen loaded on one factor and were internally consistent. Moreover, scores were correlated, as expected, with the four core traits which have been used as indirect measures of core stir-evaluations (viz., self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, neuroticism, and locus of control), as well as affect and job satisfaction. In sum, results suggest that core self-evaluation can be measured validly in an Eastern culture, and the results should serve as a basis for extending this research in an international setting.

Purpose: Sixty-six women participated in this study, which compared two 16-week motivationally enhanced weight loss interventions. Both intervention groups, which are entitled 'Minimal' and 'Enhanced' throughout the description that follows, received a motivationally enhanced initial face-to-face weight loss session. The initial session was followed by a 16-week Internet behavioral weight loss program, which included a study website with weekly lessons, an online self-monitoring diary form, web links to related sites, and separate message boards. The Enhanced group also received weekly moderated online chat group sessions led using motivational techniques. Results: Both groups lost weight over time (p < 0.001), however the group by time interaction was non-significant (p = 0.19). The Minimal group lost 5.22 [+ or -] 4.72 kg and the Enhanced group lost 3.71 [+ or -] 4.46 kg. In the Enhanced group, online chat session attendance averaged 8.0 of the 16 chats offered. Greater program utilization was associated with greater weight loss in both groups. Conclusions: The addition of weekly motivationally enhanced online chats did not increase weight loss in this study. Further research is needed on the type and frequency of group support that is most desirable and beneficial in Internet weight loss interventions and could also explore building motivation for program utilization. Keywords: Weight loss Internet Self-monitoring Motivation Obesity

To develop measures of consumers' self-evaluative motives of Self-verification, Self-enhancement, and Self-improvement within the context of a mall shopping environment, an initial set of 49 items was generated by conducting three focus-group sessions. These items were subsequently converted into shopping-dependent motive statements. 250 undergraduate college students responded on a 7-point scale to each statement as these related to the acquisition of recent personal shopping goods. An exploratory factor analysis yielded five factors, accounting for 57.7% of the variance, three of which corresponded to the Self-verification motive (five items), Self-enhancement motive (three items), and Self-improvement motive (six items). These 14 items, along with 9 reconstructed items, yielded 23 items retained and subjected to additional testing. In a final round of data collection, 169 college students provided data for exploratory factor analysis. 11 items were used in confirmatory factor analysis. Analysis indicated that the l1-item scale adequately captured measures of the three self-evaluative motives. However, further data reduction produced a 9-item scale with marked improvement in statistical fit over the 11-item scale.

Despite frequent discussions of what it means to be normal in clinical, social, and personality psychology theory, the characteristics of individuals who call themselves normal are little understood. In 5 studies, the authors investigated various hypotheses concerning the nature of normality evaluations. The authors add to recent evidence that normality evaluations represent a distinct dimension of evaluative judgments, showing self-judgments of being normal (versus strange) to be relatively independent from self-judgments of being average (versus unique). Normality evaluations showed positive relations with communal traits such as agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability, and were negatively related to openness to experience. Supporting a broader hypothesis that normality evaluations may he involved in directing or motivating personality development processes, normality evaluations were positively associated with well-being and a sense of fitting in with one's peers, and individuals who felt abnormal felt a heightened sense that they needed to improve their personality. Finally, the personality correlates of normality evaluations were found to change over the lifespan, largely in parallel with the actual mean-level development of personality traits with age. Keywords: normality evaluations, normal, norms, personality development, age norms

People believe that they are better than others on easy tasks and worse than others on difficult tasks. In previous attempts to explain these better-than-average and worse-than-average effects, researchers have invoked bias and motivation as causes. In this article, the authors develop a more parsimonious account, the differential information explanation, in which it is assumed only that people typically have better information about themselves than they do about others. When one's own performance is exceptional (either good or bad), it is often reasonable to assume others' will be less so. Consequently, people estimate the performance of others as less extreme (more regressive) than their own. The result is that people believe they are above average on easy tasks and below average on difficult tasks. These effects are exacerbated when people have accurate information about their performances, increasing the natural discrepancy between knowledge of the self and knowledge of others. The effects are attenuated when people obtain accurate information about the performances of others. Keywords: egocentrism, social comparison, overconfidence, comparative judgment, differential information

In 3 studies, the authors explored the relation between threatening upward social comparisons and performance. In an initial study, participants were exposed to comparison targets who either threatened or boosted self-evaluations and then completed a performance task. Participants exposed to the threatening target performed better than those in a control group, whereas those exposed to the nonthreatening target performed worse. In Study 2, self-affirmation prior to comparison with threatening targets eliminated performance improvements. In Study 3, performance improvements were found only when the performance domain was different from the domain of success of the comparison target. These boundary conditions suggest that increases in performance following social comparison arise from individuals' motivations to maintain and repair self-evaluations. Implications for the study of the behavioral consequences of social comparison are discussed. Keywords: social comparison, self-affirmation, performance, motivation, self-evaluations

Many assume that individuals with a hidden stigma escape the difficulties faced by individuals with a visible stigma. However, recent research has shown that individuals with a concealable stigma also face considerable stressors and psychological challenges. The ambiguity of social situations combined with the threat of potential discovery makes possessing a concealable stigma a difficult predicament for many individuals. The increasing amount of research on concealable stigmas necessitates a cohesive model for integrating relevant findings. This article offers a cognitive-affective-behavioral process model for understanding the psychological implications of concealing a stigma. It ends with discussion of potential points of intervention in the model as well as potential future routes for investigation of the model. Keywords: stigma, conceal, secrecy, disclosure, self-evaluation

In relevant research to date, the impact of self-other similarity on the outcome of social comparison effects is not well understood. The authors argue that the extent to which this similarity is distinctive is a key to understanding such effects. In two experiments, they demonstrate that when self-other similarity is distinctive (unique), assimilation is more likely, whereas when self-other similarity is nondistinctive (common), contrast is more likely. These results suggest that what matters is the type rather than the quantity of similarity: Similarity on one distinctive dimension more readily leads to assimilation than similarity on numerous nondistinctive dimensions. Importantly, these assimilation effects are especially likely to occur when the comparison dimension is unimportant. Contrast is more likely to occur when the comparison dimension is important. Thus, these findings both replicate and extend Tesser's (1988) Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model. Keywords: social comparison; similarity; distinctiveness; self-evaluation; contrast; assimilation

Objectives. For this article, we evaluated whether measures of prior self-rated health (SRH) trajectories had associations with subsequent mortality that were independent of current SRH assessment and other covariates. Methods. We used multivariable logistic regression that incorporated tour waves of interview data (1993, 1995, 1998, and 2000) from the Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old Survey in order to predict mortality during 2000-2002. We defined prior SRH trajectories for each individual based on the slope estimated from a simple linear regression of their own SRH between 1993 and 1998 and the variance around that slope. In addition to SRH reported in 2000, other covariates included in the mortality models reflected health status, health-related behaviors, and individual resources. Results. Among the 3,129 respondents in the analytic sample, SRH in 2000 was significantly (p < .0001) associated with mortality, but the measures of prior SRH trajectories were not. Prior SRH trajectory was, however, a significant determinant of current SRH. We observed significant independent associations with mortality for age, sex, education, lung disease, and having ever smoked. Discussion. Although measures of prior SRH trajectories did not have significant direct associations with mortality, they did have important indirect effects via their influence on current SRH.

When and why do media-portrayed physically attractive women affect perceivers' self-evaluations? In 6 studies, the authors showed that whether such images affect self-evaluations depends jointly on target features and perceiver features. In Study 1, exposure to a physically attractive target, compared with exposure to an equally attractive model, lowered women's self-evaluations. Study 2 showed that body-dissatisfied women, to a greater extent than body-satisfied women, report that they compare their bodies with other women's bodies. In Study 3, body-dissatisfied women, but not body-satisfied women, were affected by both attractive models and nonmodels. Furthermore, in Study 4, it was body-dissatisfied women, rather than body-satisfied women, who evaluated themselves negatively after exposure to a thin (versus a fat) vase. The authors replicated this result in Study 5 by manipulating, instead of measuring, body dissatisfaction. Finally, Study 6 results suggested that body dissatisfaction increases proneness to social comparison effects because body dissatisfaction increases self-activation. Keywords: social comparison, comparison relevance, mass media, self-evaluation, body dissatisfaction

This study examines the association between race and self-rated health status among Hispanic and non-Hispanic adults in the 2003 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey (N = 241,038). Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of self-rated health as fair/poor for Hispanic Blacks, Hispanic Whites, and non-Hispanic Blacks as compared with non-Hispanic Whites. This study found that, first, Hispanic Blacks were more likely to rate their health as fair/poor than Hispanic and non-Hispanic Whites, and second, there was no difference between Hispanic and non-Hispanic Blacks. Specifically, when compared with non-Hispanic Whites, Hispanic Blacks and Whites were more likely to report their health as fair/poor. However, this association was stronger for Hispanic Blacks. More careful examination of race among Hispanics is imperative to unmask important health variations. Keywords: self-rated health; health status; race and health; Hispanic health

Item response theory (IRT) and categorical data factor analysis (CDFA) are complementary methods for the analysis of the psychometric properties of psychiatric measures that purport to measure latent constructs. These methods have been applied to relatively few child and adolescent measures. We provide the first combined IRT and CDFA analysis of a clinical measure (the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire--SMFQ) in a community sample of 7-through 11-year-old children. Both latent variable models supported the internal construct validity of a single underlying continuum of severity of depressive symptoms. SMFQ items discriminated well at the more severe end of the depressive latent trait. Item performance was not affected by age, although age correlated significantly with latent SMFQ scores suggesting that symptom severity increased within the age period of 7-11. These results extend existing psychometric studies of the SMFQ and confirm its scaling properties as a potential dimensional measure of symptom severity of childhood depression in community samples. KEY WORDS: Screening; childhood depression; SMFQ; item response theory; categorical data factor analysis.

Defensive projection is the process of perceiving one's undesirable qualities in others. The present research shows how stereotypes guide and justify the projection of specific traits onto specific group members. In four studies, the authors demonstrated that people who experienced a threat to a specific dimension of their self-concept selectively activated this dimension in a stereotype and derogated stereotyped others on this dimension. They further showed that stereotyped individuals are more likely to serve as targets of projection than are nonstereotyped individuals. These results demonstrate the functional role of stereotypes in guiding and constraining motivated self-enhancement. Keywords: projection; stereotyping; accessibility; self-threat; compensatory self-enhancement

Three studies found that prospective temporal self-appraisals can be part of defensive pessimists' strategy; they felt closer to equally distant negative than positive futures. In Study 1, defensive pessimists felt closer to future failures and reported more negative affect than those considering success. In Study 2, when manipulated negative futures were close, defensive pessimists felt bad and performed well; results suggested that viewing negative futures as close may be part of their natural strategy. Study 3 found that prospective self-appraisals influenced performances through felt preparation. Optimists did not use prospective self-appraisals (Study 1) and their performances were unaffected by manipulated temporal distance (Studies 2 and 3). Discussion centers on prospective self-appraisals and multiple strategies of defensive pessimists. Keywords: defensive pessimism; temporal self-appraisal; future predictions; time

This study examined concordance between adult and child reports of child suicidality using a sample of 1,046 8-year-old children at risk for, or having experienced, maltreatment. Concordance was low with both caregivers and teachers. For children reporting no suicidality, caregiver-child agreement was associated with few transitions in caregiver and low social withdrawal and aggression, and teacher-child agreement was associated with non-White ethnicity, good academic performance, and low thought problems. For children reporting suicidality, caregiver-child agreement was associated with perceptions of child mental health needs, aggression, and somatic complaints, and teacher-child agreement was associated with thought problems.

In a series of studies the Self Salience Model of other-to-self effects is tested. This model posits that self-construal salience is an important determinant of whether other-to-self effects follow the principles of self-enhancement, imitation, or complementarity. Participants imagined interactions (Studies 1 and 2) or were confronted (Studies 3 to 5) with dominant, submissive, agreeable, or quarrelsome person targets. Findings support the prediction that subsequent self-evaluations (Studies 1 to 3) and behaviors (Studies 4 and 5) follow the principles of self-enhancement when the personal self is activated (contrast away from undesirable targets, assimilation toward desirable targets); the principles of complementarity when the relational self is activated (contrast on the dominant--submissive dimension, assimilation on the agreeable--quarrelsome dimension); and the principles of imitation when the collective self is activated (assimilation regardless of desirability or dimension). Keywords: self-enhancement, imitation, complementarity, self-construal, social comparison

Using data from in-depth interviews with 110 women and 68 men, this paper examines the construction and negotiation of the embodied self in infertility. We analyse how the men and women we interviewed construct the body as machine, negotiate loss of control, and experience the perceived failings of the embodied self within the context of dominant discourses of femininity and masculinity. We argue that the failings of the body culminate in a discontinuous embodied self as infertility shatters previously held perceptions of the embodied self and challenges individuals' former conceptualizations of the taken-for-granted link between the body and the self., Se servant de donnees d'interviews en profondeur aupres de 110 femmes et 68 hommes, les auteurs de cet article examinent la construction et la negociation du moi intrinseque dans l'infertilite. [...]

Research suggests that collectivists are more likely to engage in deception and socially desirable responding to maintain good relationships with others. In contrast, individualists are portrayed as candid and sincere because individualism encourages people to 'be yourself.' The authors propose that people with both types of cultural orientations or backgrounds engage in desirable responding, albeit in distinct ways. In Study 1, respondents from the United States compared with those from Singapore, and European Americans compared with Asian Americans, scored higher on self-deceptive enhancement (SDE)--the tendency to see oneself in a positive light and to give inflated assessment of one's skills and abilities--but lower on impression management (IM) by misrepresenting their self-reported actions to appear more normatively appropriate. In Studies 2 to 4, horizontal individualism as a cultural orientation correlated with SDE but not with IM, whereas horizontal collectivism correlated with IM but not with SDE. Further analyses examining (a) individual differences in the tendency to answer deceptively and (b) responses to behavioral scenarios shed additional light on the culturally relevant goals served by these distinct types of socially desirable responding. Keywords: cultural orientation, socially desirable responding, individualism, collectivism

Three studies show that different forms of self-activation have differential influences on the processing of social comparison information. Activating neutral self-conceptions results in defensive processing of threatening social comparison information (Study 1). Participants maintain favorable self-evaluations in the face of upward comparison and rate the upward target of comparison negatively. Activating positive self-conceptions results in nondefensive processing of threatening social comparison information (Study 2). Participants endorse negative self-evaluations following upward comparison and rate the upward target of comparison positively. Activating negative self-conceptions maximizes defensive processing of threatening social comparison information (Study 3). Participants maintain favorable self-evaluations in the face of upward comparison and rate both upward and downward targets of comparison negatively. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for strategies to maintain self-esteem in the face of threatening comparisons. Keywords: self-activation; defensiveness; social comparison; self-processes; self-evaluation maintenance; self-affirmation

People typically evaluate their in-groups more favorably than out-groups and themselves more favorably than others. Research on infrahumanization also suggests a preferential attribution of the 'human essence' to in-groups, independent of in-group favoritism. The authors propose a corresponding phenomenon in interpersonal comparisons: People attribute greater humanness to themselves than to others, independent of self-enhancement. Study 1 and a pilot study demonstrated 2 distinct understandings of humanness--traits representing human nature and those that are uniquely human--and showed that only the former traits are understood as inhering essences. In Study 2, participants rated themselves higher than their peers on human nature traits but not on uniquely human traits, independent of self-enhancement. Study 3 replicated this 'self-humanization' effect and indicated that it is partially mediated by attribution of greater depth to self versus others. Study 4 replicated the effect experimentally. Thus, people perceive themselves to be more essentially human than others. Keywords: essentialism, human nature, infrahumanization self-enhancement

What is the relation between self evaluation and being liked by others? Does being liked by others lead to more positive self-evaluations (as in sociometer theory), or do positive self-evaluations lead to being liked more (self-broadcasting)? Furthermore, what might affect the extent to which self-evaluations are influenced by likability (and vice versa)? The purpose of the present study was twofold. First, it used a naturalistic design to test the direction of the effect between social self-evaluations and others' judgments of likability in real relationships. Second, it examined how individual differences in attachment avoidance and anxiety relate to self-evaluations and likability arid whether attachment differences moderate the relation between the two. Social self-evaluations, actual interpersonal liking, and attachment were assessed in participants taking part in a longitudinal group study. The findings supported the sociometer theory: Being liked by others led to more positive self-evaluations. Both anxious and avoidant attachment predicted lower self-evaluations, and anxious attachment predicted stronger reactions to others' liking (i.e., potentiated the sociometer). These findings have several implications for research on self-evaluation, adult attachment theory, and the importance of integrating interpersonal processes and individual differences. Keywords: interpersonal perception, self-evaluation, self-esteem, sociometer, attachment

Two studies examined self-appraisals in Japanese and Canadian samples. Study 1 included open-ended self-descriptions; Study 2 incorporated indirect measures of self-enhancing tendencies. In Study 1, the content analysis assessed spontaneous evaluations of self and others, private and relational self-statements, reflected appraisals, temporal and social comparisons, and evaluations of objects and events. Canadian participants typically provided self-enhancing self-descriptions. Japanese participants were generally evenhanded rather than self-critical or self-enhancing, although they were more favorable about relational than private aspects of self. In Study 2, Canadian participants reported that proud events felt closer in time and were easier to recall than similarly distant embarrassing events. Japanese participants reported that embarrassing and proud events felt equally far away and were equally memorable. The two studies provide evidence that Canadians possess stronger self-enhancing motivations than do Japanese and enable a cross-cultural analysis of several social psychological theories of self-appraisal. Keywords: culture; self-enhancement; social comparisons; temporal comparisons; self-appraisals

These experiments examined how social interactions with individuals who ostensibly have stereotype-relevant views affect the self-evaluations of stereotype targets. Participants believed they were going to interact, or actually interacted, with a person who ostensibly had stereotype-consistent or stereotype-inconsistent views about their social group. Consistent with shared reality theory, participants' self-evaluations (Experiments 1, 2, and 3) and behavior (Experiment 2) corresponded with the ostensible views of the other person when affiliative motivation was high. This occurred even when it was likely to be detrimental to participants' nonaffiliative outcomes (Experiment 3). Experiment 4 showed that self-evaluative shift away from the ostensible views of another person was a function of social distance motives, also consistent with shared reality theory. Keywords: shared reality theory, self-stereotyping, affiliation, interpersonal interaction, stigma

Four studies were conducted to test the notion that whether one competes against or cooperates with a comparison target can serve as an important determinant of the direction (contrast or assimilation) of self-evaluative social comparison effects. In Study 1, cooperative--competitive orientation was treated as an individual difference variable, and it was shown that social comparison led to contrast for individuals with a more competitive orientation, whereas assimilation occurred for individuals with a more cooperative orientation. Study 2 replicated this result, treating cooperative--competitive orientation as a contextual variable. In Study 3, it was demonstrated that to obtain this pattern of results it is not necessary for perceivers to believe that they will be either competing or cooperating with the comparison target. Simply activating the relevant concepts is sufficient. The final studies demonstrated that competition activates a 'difference' focus and cooperation activates a 'similarity' focus. Keywords: social comparison, self-evaluation, competition, cooperation, assimilation, contrast

The role of 2 components of psychological disengagement (discounting and devaluing) in the relation between personal relative deprivation and self-esteem was explored in 3 samples of policewomen. Path analyses conducted with the 3 samples revealed that stronger feelings of personal relative deprivation resulted in stronger discounting of work evaluations, which in turn led to devaluing the importance of police work. A negative relation between discounting and self-esteem was observed in all samples. Other related outcomes of disengagement, professional withdrawal and stress, were also evaluated. Keywords: relative deprivation, psychological disengagement, self-esteem

The effects of self evaluation on the P300 event-related potential (ERP) were explored with 56 participants (16 men, 40 women; M age = 23.4 yr., SD = 1.2) across three conditions. The conditions included (1) a standard ERP auditory oddball discrimination between a random target (15% occurrence) and standard stimuli (85% occurrence), (2) the oddball task followed by the additional cognitive task of maintaining a mental count of the target tones, and (3) the oddball task followed by the additional cognitive task of self-evaluating whether they felt surprised by the current occurrence of the target tone. The added cognitive requirements for Conditions 2 and 3 required the subjects to maintain a cognitive readiness for the secondary stimulus-related task during their sensory discrimination response for the standard oddball task. During the self evaluation condition, the P300 amplitude was significantly larger across all recording locations than the regular oddball condition and the cognitive count condition.

Objective: The level of response (LR) to alcohol is an intermediate phenotype related to the alcoholism risk, with a heritability of at least 0.4 as estimated from alcohol challenge experiments. A measure of LR that can be used in adolescence at a time close to the first drinking experience, and that is less expensive than alcohol challenge experiments, is the Self-Rating of the Effects of Alcohol (SRE) Questionnaire. This questionnaire contains questions related to the number of drinks required for up to four different effects early in the drinking career ('first five' score). The familial characteristics of SRE responses have been estimated in adults; however, no study has evaluated familial and potential genetic components of the first five SRE score in adolescents. This article presents data regarding the familial nature of SRE-based scores among a sample of teenagers. Method: As part of the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism Phase II (follow-up) Protocol, SRE scores were available on 251 females and 236 males ages 13-19 years. These analyses compare the correlations among father-offspring, mother-offspring, sibling pairs and comparable unrelated individuals. Results: For the 487 subjects, correlations among first-degree relatives ranged from 0.14 to 0.22 and were all significant. Correlations among comparable unrelated pairs ranged from 0.02 to 0.06 and were nonsignificant. When males and females were evaluated separately, the pattern of results, with higher correlations among first-degree relatives than among unrelated individuals, was similar, although, perhaps reflecting fewer subjects, correlations were more variable. Conclusions: Although not providing a definitive evaluation of heritability, the results are consistent with a potential proportion of the variance related to genes for first five SRE scores of between 0.3 and 0.4. These results parallel previously published data in adults and are similar to heritability estimates for LR on alcohol challenges. The data support the potential use of the first five SRE score in adolescents as a measure of LR in genetic and environmental model-based studies in young populations for whom the evaluation of LR is taking place at a time close to the onset of drinking. (j Stud. Alcohol 66: 62-65, 2005), A LOW LEVEL of response (LR) to alcohol is one of several independent, genetically influenced characteristics or phenotypes that have an impact on the risk for alcohol abuse and dependence [...]

This study examined aspects of self-assessment, a metacognitive ability, and oral narrative production in 401 children between 5 and 12 years of age. Oral narrative production was evaluated through the [...]

This study investigated the intergroup perceptions of 2 social groups. English adolescents aged 14-15 years were asked to make causal attributions for various positive and negative behaviors performed by members of an in-group and an out-group. In the first condition (n = 45), participants rated members of their own peer group and members of a peer group to which they did not belong. Participants in the second condition (n = 45) rated English adolescents and members of a national out-group (either France or Germany). Results showed that participants in both conditions reported perceptions that were biased towards the formation of a favorable in-group evaluation. However, the relationship between intergroup discrimination and identification with the in-group was in the expected direction for participants in the peer group condition only. This observation is explained in terms of the potential level of identity threat posed by the prevalent intergroup context. KEY WORDS: adolescent peer groups; social identity; causal attribution.

A person-oriented approach was used in a study of age identification among community-dwelling older people. The study was based on 8-year follow-up data; 843 persons aged 65-84 were involved in the first phase of the study, and 426 persons aged 73-92, in the second phase. Loosely, on the basis of the distinction between successful, usual, and pathological aging (Rowe & Kahn, 1987, 1997), participants were grouped according to their self-ratings of cognitive and physical functioning as 'Positive,' 'Negative,' and 'Others.' Participants possessing at least 4 out of the 5 criteria used as indicators of successful aging in the study (no illness or injury presenting problems in daily life, no health problems imposing limitations on hobbies, self-rated cognitive functioning better than satisfactory, age-comparative functional capacity as good, and no signs of depression) were assigned to the 'Positive' group. The results showed these individuals typically to have a more youthful age identity, indicated by a lower feel age and thus a lower subjective age-perception score, lower mental, physical, and look ages, and a less frequently reported sense of age weighing on them. Moreover, this group reported a higher ideal age and had a chronological age satisfaction score closer to 0, suggesting higher satisfaction with chronological age. Also a tendency to set the onset of old age later and a willingness to live to 100 years of age were features that were more characteristic of the 'Positive' than the other groups. The findings, supported by multivariate analyses, were in line with those of previous variable-oriented studies on age identification, suggesting that an association exists between perceptions of personal aging and physical and psychological well-being.

This research investigated stability and change in the self-appraisal of having lived up to one's abilities from midlife to later aging. The subjects were 185 participants in the Terman Study of the Gifted, who had been asked to rate themselves with respect to living up to their abilities in 1960 (at an average age of 48) and in 1996 (at an average age of nearly 85). While there was a positive relation between self-appraisal at the 2 times, net change favored a more positive appraisal in aging. Those who rated themselves positively at both times had more positive personality characteristics in early to mid-adulthood, more education, better self-rated health in midlife, somewhat higher ambition in early adulthood and midlife, and greater satisfaction with their achievement in early aging. Those who changed positively in their self-appraisal, as compared with those with a negative later self-appraisal, had somewhat better education, better self-rated health in midlife, higher level occupations, and greater satisfaction with their achievement in early aging. Self-appraisals in later aging were related to current life satisfaction. The results are discussed in terms of the role of the self-concept and the self-narrative in life-span development.

Using data from the 1992 and 1994 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this study described reasons reported by pre- and early-retirement populations for perceived changes in global health status over a 2-year period. It then analyzed the association between self-perceptions of change and the actual changes in objective health conditions, controlling for demographics, emotional health status, and the changes in work status and health-affecting habits. The results were compared to the determinants of self-ratings of health at wave 2. Existing or increasing impairments in functional abilities were found to contribute to self-perceptions of decline. However, a diagnosis of new chronic disease and the experience of a major medical event per se did not universally contribute to self-perception of decline. The relationship between cross-sectional self-ratings of health and objective health conditions was more straightforward. Self-perception of improvement among people with serious health problems most likely owed to medical interventions and improvement in symptoms, the most frequently mentioned reasons for perceived improvement, and reflected the subjects' selective optimization and resiliency.