Ira J. Firestone

Just world beliefs, perceived stress, and health behavior: The impact of a procedurally just world.

Recent research suggests that a just world view may promote good health while low belief in a just world may deleteriously affect well-being. However, this research is limited in that specific components of justice beliefs that are important to health are not well articulated. Additionally, many potential pathways linking perceived fairness to physical health remain largely unexplored. In the present study, we examined how individual differences in both distributive (outcomes and allocations) and procedural (rules and processes) just world beliefs are associated with stress and health behavior. Participants were recruited from two universities (N = 426) to complete individual differences measures of procedural and distributive just world beliefs, and also measures of perceived stress, health behavior, and physical symptoms. Results suggested that procedural, but not distributive just world views were important to well-being. In particular, belief in a procedurally just world was associated directly with lower perceived stress, and also indirectly with adaptive health behaviors and fewer physical health complaints. In general, these results suggest that beliefs about a procedurally just world may be particularly important to well-being, while also suggesting specific directions and mechanisms for future attempts at developing justice-oriented health interventions. *Portions of this research were conducted while the first author was a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Behavioral and Decision Sciences in Medicine (Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System & University of Michigan), and also a visiting instructor at Albion College (Albion, MI).

Dyad dominance composition effects, nonverbal behaviors, and influence

Abstract The effects of dyad composition on interactive behaviors and the relation of interactive behaviors to social influence were examined. Videotapes of the discussions of 34 pairs of white college men matched by age and FIRO-B control scale were scored for talking time per minute, successful interruptions per minute, relaxation, and visual dominance ratio. These behaviors were related to a measure of social influence in a discussion task based on changes from individual to dyadic solutions for the NASA Moon Survival Problem. MANOVA results show that the speaking time per minute and look-speak ratio of moderate men varied significantly with the dominance rank of the partner. Multiple regression indicated that successful interruptions and postural relaxation predicted personality dominance scores, explaining 13.4% of the trait variance. The personality measure of dominance was correlated to the visual dominance ratio and influence.

Reconciling verbal and nonverbal models of dyadic communication

This paper examines two distinct theoretical descriptions of dyadic communication, the distance-equilibrium and reciprocity formulations, and shows that they carry divergent implications for changes that can occur in interpersonal relations. A review of relevant studies reveals ample support of each model. Reciprocity effects, first identified in disclosure research, also obtain for nonverbal aspects of interaction. Similarly, compensation effects initially discovered for nonverbal research also apply to disclosure. Several suggestions are considered toward reconciling these theories by delimiting their spheres of applicability. These include (a) the mediating role of attraction, (b) the tempo and perception of control over distance change, and (c) initial differences in the level of verbal and nonverbal variables.

Belief in a just world, social influence and illness attributions: evidence of a just world boomerang effect.

Characteristics of individuals and illnesses can both influence receptivity to preventative health messages. We examined whether receptivity to health messages depends on interactions between illness characteristics and dispositional concern for justice. Participants considered the preventability of six illnesses after exposure to a message that manipulated personal responsibility for illness. Paradoxically, participants with strong just world beliefs reported greater preventability for less preventable illnesses, such as brain cancer, when exposed to an unpreventable health message. In parallel, participants with low justice beliefs reported less preventability for lung cancer when exposed to a preventable message. This just world boomerang effect suggests that individual dispositions and illness characteristics can interact in ways that can produce either acquiescence or opposition to persuasive health messages.

Fading techniques and concept learning in children

The utility of stimulus fading as a training technique for attainment of concepts was questioned. Fading on a cue which focused attention toward the criterial aspect of the stimuli (axis of symmetry) produced no better performance than standard discrimination procedures, while fading on an extrinsic dimension yielded significantly poorer performance than did the standard. Possible explanations were discussed in terms of “blocking” effects.

Privacy and Solidarity: Effects of Nursing Home Accommodation on Environmental Perception and Sociability Preferences.

This field study of nursing home accommodations examines the influence of type of living accommodation and personal characteristics upon environmental perception and interaction preferences with regard to privacy and sociability. Ward residents view their dwelling as less secure and feel less able to control social encounters occurring therein than do single room residents. In terms of preferences, however, it is the single room residents who express greater desires for isolation and disclosure restriction. These data and the absence of differences in resident satisfaction, are consistent with an adaptation model of privacy-sociability preference.

Distance Matching and Distance Equilibrium in the Interview Dyad

ing hypothesis where decreases in distance, such as an approach towards intimacy by one person, are seen as invitations toward matching or reciprocation through increased self-disclosure in another. Supporting this, Jourard and Friedman (1970) report positive relationships between interviewer touching and self-disclosure and subsequent respondent self-disclosure, and Reese and Whitman (1962) found positive effects for interviewer smiling and non-verbal approach on disclosure. Argyle and Dean (1965) have proposed a contrasting distance equilibrium hypothesis: Decreases in distance (e.g., moving toward physical closeness, increased eye-contact, or conversational intimacy) by one person are seen as eliciting compensatory withdrawal by another to restore overall equilibrium. Supporting this, these investigators report negative relationships between eye-contact and physical proximity; Exline, Gray and Schuette (1965) show negative effects of topic intimacy on eye-contact, and even Jourard and Friedman (1970) have shown that eye-contact inhibits self-disclosure. One tentative generalization emerging from these studies, is that matching or reciproe! city obtains within the same communication modality while equilibrium occurs between mode. (e.g., Disclosure produces increased disclosure from others in some studies while producing decreased eye-contact in others). None of the studies discussed above make this point. Examination of these formulations requires a design that co-ordinates repeated measures of interpersonal attitude with an analysis of the impact of controlled distance altering probes on several dimensions of the recipient’s verbal, visual and postural behaviors. Distance matching theory predicts that both interviewer disclosure and eye-contact should in-

Seating Arrangement and Social Influence: Moderated by Reinforcement Meaning and Internal-External Control

The congruence between seating arrangement and reinforcement meaning was investigated as a determinant of social reinforcement effectiveness. Seating arrangement was expected to make social reinforcement more effective if the degree of socialformality associated with it was congruent with the formality associated with the reinforcements meaning. It was also predicted that this relationship would be moderated by locus of control. Internals were expected to be sensitive to the congruence between seating arrangement and reinforcement meaning, but externals only to reinforcement meaning. Subjects in the middle of the I-E dimension were not expected to respond systematically either to seating arrangement or reinforcement meaning. Results confirmed predictions and were related to findings concerning effects of interpersonal distance on social influence.

Time series analyses reveal differential impact of the Alcohol Warning Label by drinking level

Abstract This paper uses time series analysis to examine the impact of the Alcoholic Beverage Warning Label on the attitudes and drinking behavior of 3,572 African American pregnant women. The results indicate that knowledge of the Warning Label increased 3 months after the implementation of the law. Drinking during pregnancy declined after a 7 month lag only among non-risk drinkers, although birthweight showed no trends. This analysis illustrates the importance of controlling for timing, history and behavior of subgroups when studying the impact of a natural experiment.

Gradients of attraction as a function of the fit between social setting and stimulus person characteristics: Studies of the differentiation of attitude

Abstract Two experiments compared three alternative hypotheses concerning differences in attraction to a person across interaction settings: A compartmentalization hypothesis assumes that a persons (As) intimate and nonintimate characteristics only affect attraction to him in intimate and nonintimate interactions, respectively, and that there is no generalization of attraction across levels of intimacy. An intimacy dominance hypothesis assumes that a persons intimacy-related characteristics determine attraction to him at all levels of interaction. Finally, an intimacy threshold hypothesis assumes that a persons intimacy-related characteristics become increasingly relevant to attraction as the intimacy of interaction increases, but that these characteristics need not influence attraction at nonintimate levels of interaction. Experiment 1 supported the compartmentalization hypothesis. Attraction to a formal teacher decreased as the intimacy of the anticipated setting increased, while attraction to an informal teacher increased with increasing setting intimacy. In Experiment 2, agreement on intimate topics promoted liking for a peer while no effect was found for agreement on superficial topics. This effect only emerged for intimate interaction settings, supporting the intimacy threshold hypothesis. High positive correlations between distance preference and attraction were obtained in Experiment 1, while analogous data obtained in Experiment 2 had less clear implications.