John V. Petrocelli

Unpacking attitude certainty: Attitude clarity and attitude correctness

Attitude certainty has been the subject of considerable attention in the attitudes and persuasion literature. The present research identifies 2 aspects of attitude certainty and provides evidence for the distinctness of the constructs. Specifically, it is proposed that attitude certainty can be conceptualized, and empirically separated, in terms of attitude clarity (the subjective sense that one knows what ones attitude is) and attitude correctness (the subjective sense that ones attitude is correct or valid). Experiment 1 uses factor analysis and correlational data to provide evidence for viewing attitude clarity and attitude correctness as separate constructs. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrate that attitude clarity and attitude correctness can have distinct antecedents (repeated expression and consensus feedback, respectively). Experiment 4 reveals that these constructs each play an independent role in persuasion and resistance situations. As clarity and correctness increase, attitudes become more resistant to counterattitudinal persuasive messages. These findings are discussed in relation to the existing attitude strength literature.

Panglossian Ideology In The Service Of System Justification: How Complementary Stereotypes Help Us To Rationalize Inequality

According to system justification theory, there is a general social psychological tendency to rationalize the status quo, that is, to see it as good, fair, legitimate, and desirable. This tendency is reminiscent of the dispositional outlook of Voltaires famous character, Dr. Pangloss, who believed that he was “living in the best of all possible worlds.” One of the means by which people idealize existing social arrangements is by relying on complementary (or compensatory) stereotypes, which ascribe compensating virtues to the disadvantaged and corresponding vices to the advantaged, thereby creating an “illusion of equality.” In this chapter, we summarize a program of research demonstrating that (1) incidental exposure to complementary gender and status stereotypes leads people to show enhanced ideological support for the status quo and (2) when the legitimacy or stability of the system is threatened, people often respond by using complementary stereotypes to bolster the system. We also show that (noncomplementary) victim‐blaming and (complementary) victim‐enhancement represent alternate routes to system justification. In addition, we consider a number of situational and dispositional moderating variables that affect the use and effectiveness of complementary and noncomplementary representations, and we discuss the broader implications of stereotyping and other forms of rationalization that are adopted in the service of system justification. From time to time, Pangloss would say to Candide: There is a chain of events in this best of all possible worlds; for if you had not been turned out of a beautiful mansion at the point of a jackboot for love of Lady Cunegonde, if you had not been clamped into the Inquisition, if you had not wandered about America on foot, and had not struck the Baron with your sword, and lost all those sheep you brought from Eldorado, you would not be here eating candied fruit and pistachio nuts. “Thats true enough,” said Candide; “but we must go and work in the garden.” —Voltaire, 1758/1947, Candide or Optimism , p. 144

Factor Validation of the Consideration of Future Consequences Scale: Evidence for a Short Version

Abstract The author examined the factor structure of the 12-item Consideration of Future Consequences (CFC) Scale (A. Strathman, F. Gleicher, D. S. Boninger, & S. Edwards, 1994) among 664 undergraduate university students enrolled in human development courses. A principal-components factor analysis with varimax rotation yielded 2 factors. The author used confirmatory factor analysis procedures to examine the fit of 4 models, according to the principal-components factor analysis findings, with the observed covariance. The author used a number of fit indices to compare the 4 models. Both sets of analysis provided the greatest support for an 8-item short version of the CFC Scale. The author discussed findings in regard to the CFC Scale as an instrument to measure future time perspective.

Attentional Processes in Stereotype Formation: A Common Model for Category Accentuation and Illusory Correlation

Stereotype formation may be based on the exaggeration of real group differences (category accentuation) or the misperception of group differences that do not exist (illusory correlation). This research sought to account for both phenomena with J. K. Kruschkes (1996, 2001, 2003) attention theory of category learning. According to the model, the features of majority groups are learned earlier than the features of minority groups. In turn, the features that become associated with a minority are those that most distinguish it from the majority. This second process is driven by an attention-shifting mechanism that directs attention toward group-attribute pairings that facilitate differentiation of the two groups and may lead to the formation of stronger minority stereotypes. Five experiments supported this model as a common account for category accentuation and distinctiveness-based illusory correlation. Implications for the natures of stereotype formation, illusory correlation, and impression formation are discussed.

Cognitive Schemas as Mediating Variables of the Relationship Between the Self-Defeating Personality and Depression

The current investigation was designed to examine particular maladaptive cognitive schemas as mediating variables of the relationship between the self-defeating personality and depression. A total of 82 mildly to severely depressed adult outpatients, referred for counseling and psychotherapy services, were assessed in terms of self-defeating personality and maladaptive cognitive schema characteristics. Results indicated that 57% of the variance within depression, measured by the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979), was accounted for by the self-defeating personality and five maladaptive cognitive schemas: abandonment/instability; defectiveness/shame; failure; subjugation; and vulnerability to harm. Further, mediation analyses indicated that abandonment/instability and defectiveness/shame statistically mediated the relationship between the self-defeating personality and depression. Results are discussed in light of contemporary theories of depression.

Effectiveness of Group Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for General Symptomatology: A Meta-Analysis.

Outcome studies support the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral approaches for treating various emotional and behavioral problems. The effectiveness of group cognitive-behavioral therapy (GCBT) has received less empirical attention. The current investigation employed meta-analytic procedures to examine various effects from a total of 22 published studies and 8 doctoral dissertations that used GCBT as a therapeutic intervention to reduce general symptomatology. A total of 134 effect sizes yielded an overall pre-to posttreatment weighted mean effect size of. 77 for a wide range of symptomatology treated with GCBT. Twelve of the 30 studies included a no-treatment control group, and these studies yielded a weighted mean effect size of. 13 when comparing pre-and posttreatment levels of symptomatology. Implications for group work practice and research are discussed.

Learning Inhibition in the Monty Hall Problem The Role of Dysfunctional Counterfactual Prescriptions

Despite repeated trials, people consistently fail to learn the solution to the Monty Hall problem (MHP). This research examines the links between learning, counterfactual thinking, and memory for decision/outcome frequencies. Study 1 participants completed 60 MHP trials and listed their thoughts following losses. Results showed that participants tended to counterfactualize switch losses more than stick losses, adhered to the prescriptions of their counterfactuals more frequently following switch losses than any other decisions/outcomes, and were less likely to learn the solution as counterfactuals increased. Furthermore, memory for switch losses was significantly overestimated, and the relationship between counterfactuals and learning was mediated by misestimation of decision/outcome frequencies. In Study 2, counterfactual salience was manipulated. Learning was less likely to occur when counterfactual salience was high than when it was low, a relationship that was again mediated by memory of decision/outcome frequencies. Findings are discussed in light of their theoretical and applied implications.

Who I Am, Who We Are, and Why: Links Between Emotions and Causal Attributions for Self- and Group Discrepancies

Discrepancies between peoples ought selves and their actual selves and their ideal selves and actual selves predict the emotions that individuals experience. The authors predicted that internal versus external causal attributions for self-discrepancies should moderate the relationship between self-discrepancies and emotions, resulting in more refined predictions for both agitationand dejection-related emotions and for two additional types of emotion, namely, anger-related and discontent-related emotions. Results of two studies generally supported the predictions that agitation-related emotions and dejection-related emotions were positively associated with actual-ought discrepancies and actual-ideal discrepancies, respectively, only when causal attributions for the discrepancies were internally based. Angerrelated emotions and emotions of discontent were positively associated with actual-ought and actual-ideal discrepancies, respectively, primarily when causal attributions were externally based. Study 2, which addressed group discrepancies and group-based emotions, generally replicated the findings when group identification was high, yielding a more complex model of the link between discrepancies and emotions.

Examining Readiness for Change: A Preliminary Evaluation of the University of Rhode Island Change Assessment With Incarcerated Adolescents.

Abstract The authors describe use and development of the University of Rhode Island Change Assessment (E. I. McConnaughy, J. O. Prochaska. & W. F. Velicer. 1983) and examine the psychometric properties of scores from incarcerated male adolescents. Cluster analysts revealed 3 unique profiles (Precontemplators, Participators, and Undifferentiated). Im-plications for clinical use with adolescent populations are discussed.

Personality characteristics of male juvenile offenders by adjudicated offenses as indicated by the MMPI-A

The current investigation was designed to identify the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–Adolescent (MMPI–A) scales that discriminate between three general types of criminal offenses among male juvenile offenders and the degree to which selected scales discriminate. Seventy-two male juvenile offenders were classified according to type of offense: crime against person, crime against property, or drug/alcohol offense. Selected scales were examined as discriminant predictors of offense pattern in a descriptive discriminant analysis as well as a classification analysis. Two significant linear discriminant functions emerged. Classification analysis also demonstrated the utility of the MMPI–A in differentiating between type of juvenile offense by correctly classifying 79.2% of the cases. Implications for the use of the MMPI–A with male juvenile offenders are discussed.