Anna Baumert

How Victim Sensitivity leads to Uncooperative Behavior via Expectancies of Injustice

According to the Sensitivity-to-mean-intentions model, dispositional victim sensitivity involves a suspicious mindset that is activated by situational cues and guides subsequent information processing and behavior like a schema. Study 1 tested whether victim-sensitive persons are more prone to form expectancies of injustice in ambiguous situations and whether these expectancies mediate the relationship between victim sensitivity and cooperation behavior in a trust game. Results show an indirect effect of victim sensitivity on cooperation after unfair treatment (vs. control condition), mediated by expectancies of injustice. In Study 2 we directly manipulated the tendency to form expectancies of injustice in ambiguous situations to test for causality. Results confirmed that the readiness to expect unjust outcomes led to lower cooperation, compared to a control condition. These findings provide direct evidence that expectancy tendencies are implicated in elevated victim sensitivity and are of theoretical and practical relevance.

PERSOC: A Unified Framework for Understanding the Dynamic Interplay of Personality and Social Relationships

The interplay of personality and social relationships is as fascinating as it is complex and it pertains to a wide array of largely separate research domains. Here, we present an integrative and unified framework for analysing the complex dynamics of personality and social relationships (PERSOC). Basic principles and general processes on the individual and dyadic level are outlined to show how personality and social relationships influence each other and develop over time. PERSOC stresses the importance of social behaviours and interpersonal perceptions as mediating processes organized in social interaction units. The framework can be applied to diverse social relationships such as first encounters, short–term acquaintances, friendships, relationships between working group members, educational or therapeutic settings, romantic relationships and family relationships. It has important consequences for how we conceptualize, understand, and investigate personality and social relationships. Copyright

Justice Sensitivity and the Processing of Justice-related Information

We investigated how Justice Sensitivity (JS) shapes the processing of justice–related information. We proposed that due to frequently perceiving and ruminating about injustices, persons high in JS develop highly accessible and differentiated injustice concepts that shape attention, interpretation and memory for justice–related information. Three studies provided evidence for these assumptions. After witnessing injustice, persons high in JS attended more strongly to unjust stimuli than to negative control stimuli (Study1) and interpreted an ambiguous situation as less just than persons low in JS (Study2). Finally, they displayed a memory advantage for unjust information (Study3). Results suggest that JS involves the availability and accessibility of injustice concepts as parameters of cognitive functioning and offer explanations for effects of JS on justice–related behaviour. Copyright

Immediate affect as a basis for intuitive moral judgement: An adaptation of the affect misattribution procedure

Recent intuitionist accounts have emphasised the role of immediate affective reactions in shaping moral judgement. In two studies, we adopted the affect misattribution procedure (Payne, Cheng, Govorun, & Stewart, 2005; JPSP) to assess immediate affective reactions toward moral stimuli. We investigated how immediate moral affect influences guilt experiences in a moral dilemma (Study 1) and emotional reactions and the rejection decision with regard to an unfair monetary offer in the ultimatum game (Study 2). In Study 1, immediate moral affect had a significant effect on anticipated guilt. In Study 2, immediate moral affect had a direct effect on emotional reactions to the unfair offer and an indirect effect on the rejection decision. Moreover, evidence for a moderator effect of preference for intuition was obtained in both studies. Taken together, these results indicate that immediate moral affect can colour peoples moral inferences and decisions, especially if they trust their intuitions.

Justice-sensitive interpretations of ambiguous situations

The accessibility of concepts related to justice and injustice is proposed as a basic cognitive mechanism underlying the personality trait of justice sensitivity. To provide evidence for this assertion, the manner in which justice sensitivity shapes the interpretation of an ambiguous situation was investigated. It was found that, without priming, and after injustice is primed, persons high in justice sensitivity tend to perceive greater injustice in an ambiguous situation than persons low in justice sensitivity. If the restoration of justice is primed, however, persons high in justice sensitivity tend to interpret the ambiguous situation as more just when compared to persons low in justice sensitivity. Results are discussed with regard to a process-oriented explanation of emotional and behavioural effects of justice sensitivity.

Interventions Against Norm Violations Dispositional Determinants of Self-Reported and Real Moral Courage

Moral courage is characterized as a bystander intervention against the norm violations of a perpetrator despite the potential for negative consequences for oneself. We tested a comprehensive set of potential personality determinants of moral courage derived from a model of helping. In Study 1, we used a vignette to assess the self-reported willingness to intervene against a theft. In Study 2, the theft was put into effect, and behavioral reactions were observed. The results of Study 1 showed that moral disengagement, self-efficacy, and social anxiety, which are traits that are known to predict helping, were also related to moral courage intentions. Differently, in Study 2, real moral courage was predicted only by beneficiary sensitivity, a disposition that captures perceptual readiness and affective reactivity to perceived injustice. Our results provide insights into the processes involved in moral courage in a realistic situation and stress the importance of behavioral observations.

Sensibilität für Ungerechtigkeit

Zusammenfassung. Menschen unterscheiden sich in ihrer Sensibilitat fur Ungerechtigkeit. Diese Unterschiede sind stabil und lassen sich uber einzelne Falle von Ungerechtigkeit hinweg generalisieren. Ungerechtigkeitssensibilitat gliedert sich in vier Facetten: Opfersensibilitat, Beobachtersensibilitat, Nutzniesersensibilitat und Tatersensibilitat. Diese Facetten korrelieren systematisch untereinander. Wir stellen Untersuchungen vor, die Zusammenhange der Facetten mit egoistischen und prosozialen Dispositionen und mit egoistischem und prosozialem Verhalten in experimentellen Spielen sowie mit Zivilcourage aufzeigen. In diesen Untersuchungen lassen sich die Facetten klar differenzieren. Wahrend Beobachter-, Nutznieser- und Tatersensibilitat in einem genuinen Bedurfnis nach Gerechtigkeit zu wurzeln scheinen, beinhaltet Opfersensibilitat auch eine selbstbezogene Sorge, ausgebeutet zu werden. Vermittelnde Emotionen differenzieren weiterhin zwischen Beobachter- und Nutzniesersensibilitat: Beobachtersensibilitat f...

Integrating Personality Structure, Personality Process, and Personality Development

In this target article, we argue that personality processes, personality structure, and personality development have to be understood and investigated in integrated ways in order to provide comprehensive responses to the key questions of personality psychology. The psychological processes and mechanisms that explain concrete behaviour in concrete situations should provide explanation for patterns of variation across situations and individuals, for development over time as well as for structures observed in intra–individual and inter–individual differences. Personality structures, defined as patterns of covariation in behaviour, including thoughts and feelings, are results of those processes in transaction with situational affordances and regularities. It cannot be presupposed that processes are organized in ways that directly correspond to the observed structure. Rather, it is an empirical question whether shared sets of processes are uniquely involved in shaping correlated behaviours, but not uncorrelated behaviours (what we term ‘correspondence’ throughout this paper), or whether more complex interactions of processes give rise to population–level patterns of covariation (termed ‘emergence’). The paper is organized in three parts, with part I providing the main arguments, part II reviewing some of the past approaches at (partial) integration, and part III outlining conclusions of how future personality psychology should progress towards complete integration. Working definitions for the central terms are provided in the appendix. Copyright

Measuring Four Perspectives of Justice Sensitivity With Two Items Each

People differ systematically in their vulnerability to injustice. We present two-item scales for the efficient measurement of justice sensitivity from 4 perspectives (victim, observer, beneficiary, perpetrator). In Study 1 using a quota-based sample of German adults, a latent state–trait analysis revealed the factorial validity and high reliabilities of the scales. In Study 2 employing a large random sample, we tested for measurement invariance of the items within the context of our short 2-item scales compared to the original 10-item scales. Multigroup confirmatory factor analyses confirmed that the validity of the indicators and the internal structure of the assessed constructs did not change across item contexts. In both studies, correlations with personality dimensions and life satisfaction provide evidence for the validity of our scales. With the presented instrument, future research can extend scientific knowledge regarding the role of individual differences in reactions to injustice for the explanation of well-being and physical health.

Proposal of a Nonlinear Interaction of Person and Situation (NIPS) model

Marshall and Brown (2006) proposed a Traits as Situational Sensitivities (TASS) Model, which implies a systematic person × situation interaction. We review this model and show that it suffers from several limitations. We extend and modify the model in order to obtain a symmetric pattern of levels and effects for both person and situation factors. Our suggestions result in a general Nonlinear Interaction of Person and Situation (NIPS) Model. The NIPS model bears striking similarities to the Rasch model. Based on the symmetric nature of the NIPS model, we generalize the concept of weak and strong situations to individuals and propose the concepts of weak and strong persons. Finally, we discuss psychological mechanisms that might explain the NIPS pattern and offer ideas for future research.