Nao Hagiwara

The Ecology of Automaticity: How Situational Contingencies Shape Action Semantics and Social Behavior

What is the role of ecology in automatic cognitive processes and social behavior? Our motivated-preparation account posits that priming a social category readies the individual for adaptive behavioral responses to that category—responses that take into account the physical environment. We present the first evidence showing that the cognitive responses (Study 1) and the behavioral responses (Studies 2a and 2b) automatically elicited by a social-category prime differ depending on a person’s physical surroundings. Specifically, after priming with pictures of Black men (a threatening out-group), participants responded with either aggressive behavior (fight) or distancing behavior (flight), depending on what action was allowed by the situation. For example, when participants were seated in an enclosed booth (no distancing behavior possible) during priming, they showed increased accessibility of fight-related action semantics; however, when seated in an open field (distancing behavior possible), they showed increased accessibility of flight-related action semantics. These findings suggest that an understanding of automaticity must consider its situated nature.

Why Are Attributions to Discrimination Interpersonally Costly? A Test of System- and Group-Justifying Motivations

In two studies, Whites’ endorsement of system-justifying beliefs predicted increased negativity toward Blacks who blamed negative events on discrimination. Whites’ system-justifying beliefs were not associated with negativity toward Blacks who blamed negative events on other internal causes, external causes, or nondiscriminatory unfairness. These negative reactions toward discrimination claimants were mediated by perceptions that the claimant held dissimilar values and failed to take personal responsibility for outcomes. In both studies, participants’ White Identification did not moderate the relationship between the Black target’s attribution for failure and subsequent negative perceptions of that individual, thus providing evidence against a group-justification explanation of these findings.

Increasing or decreasing interest in activities: the role of regulatory fit.

What makes peoples interest in doing an activity increase or decrease? Regulatory fit theory (E. T. Higgins, 2000) provides a new perspective on this classic issue by emphasizing the relation between peoples activity orientation, such as thinking of an activity as fun, and the manner of activity engagement that the surrounding situation supports. These situational factors include whether a reward for good performance, expected (Study 1) or unexpected (Study 2), is experienced as enjoyable or as serious and whether the free-choice period that measures interest in the activity is experienced as enjoyable or as serious (Study 3). Studies 1-3 found that participants were more likely to do a fun activity again when these situational factors supported a manner of doing the activity that fit the fun orientation-a reward or free-choice period framed as enjoyable. This effect was not because interest in doing an activity again is simply greater in an enjoyable than a serious surrounding situation because it did not occur, and even reversed, when the activity orientation was important rather than fun, where now a serious manner of engagement provides the fit (Study 4a and 4b).

Racial healthcare disparities: A social psychological analysis

Around the world, members of racial/ethnic minority groups typically experience poorer health than members of racial/ethnic majority groups. The core premise of this chapter is that thoughts, feelings, and behaviours related to race and ethnicity play a critical role in healthcare disparities. Social psychological theories of the origins and consequences of these thoughts, feelings, and behaviours offer critical insights into the processes responsible for these disparities and suggest interventions to address them. We present a multilevel model that explains how societal, intrapersonal, and interpersonal factors can influence ethnic/racial health disparities. We focus our literature review, including our own research, and conceptual analysis at the intrapersonal (the race-related thoughts and feelings of minority patients and non-minority physicians) and interpersonal levels (intergroup processes that affect medical interactions between minority patients and non-minority physicians). At both levels of analysis, we use theories of social categorisation, social identity, contemporary forms of racial bias, stereotype activation, stigma, and other social psychological processes to identify and understand potential causes and processes of health and healthcare disparities. In the final section, we identify theory-based interventions that might reduce ethnic/racial disparities in health and healthcare.

Patient, companion, and oncologist agreement regarding information discussed during triadic oncology clinical interactions

Although people with cancer want and need information from their oncologists, patients and oncologists often disagree about what information was discussed during clinical interactions. Most patients have companions present during oncology visits; we investigated whether companions process information more accurately than patients. Specifically, we examined whether patients and companions differed in agreement with oncologists about what was discussed. We also investigated the effect of topic on agreement and patient/companion self‐reported understanding of discussions.

The effects of racial attitudes on affect and engagement in racially discordant medical interactions between non-Black physicians and Black patients

The association between physicians’ and patients’ racial attitudes and poorer patient–physician communication in racially discordant medical interactions is well-documented. However, it is unclear how physicians’ and patients’ racial attitudes independently and jointly affect their behaviors during these interactions. In a secondary analysis of video-recorded medical interactions between non-Black physicians and Black patients, we examined how physicians’ explicit and implicit racial bias and patients’ perceived past discrimination influenced their own as well as one another’s affect and level of engagement. Affect and engagement were assessed with a “thin slice” method. For physicians, the major findings were significant three-way interactions: physicians’ affect and engagement were influenced by their implicit and explicit racial bias (i.e., aversive racism), but only when they interacted with patients who reported any incidence of prior discrimination. In contrast, patients’ affect was influenced only by perceived discrimination. Theoretical and clinical implications of current findings are discussed.

Gender Identification Moderates Social Identity Threat Effects on Working Memory

This investigation examined whether gender identification moderates women’s working memory following exposure to situations that threaten the integrity of their gender group. Young adults read sentences that either threatened women’s gender identity (in the social identity threat condition) or did not threaten this identity (in the control condition). During this sentence-reading task, participants were also asked to remember numerous neutral words. Women who were more strongly gender-identified recalled fewer of the neutral words when these words were presented in conjunction with sentences that threatened women’s gender identity compared to when the words were presented with non-identity threatening sentences. More weakly gender-identified women, as well as men, did not show working memory impairments when exposed to threatening as compared to nonthreatening sentences. This study provides insight into who is most vulnerable to experiencing working memory impairments following a threat to their social identity. It also has practical implications for promoting environments that increase the likelihood that members of devalued groups can more optimally draw on their reserves of memory. For instance, workplaces that permit the expression of sexism may find that this behavior actually decreases the performance of female employees who identify with their gender group.

An Analysis of Race-related Attitudes and Beliefs in Black Cancer Patients: Implications for Health Care Disparities.

Abstract:This research concerned relationships among Black cancer patients’ health care attitudes and behaviors (e.g., adherence, decisional control preferences,) and their race-related attitudes and beliefs shaped by (a) general life experiences (i.e., perceived discrimination, racial identity) and (b) experiences interacting with health care systems (i.e., physician mistrust, suspicion about medical care). Perceived discrimination, racial identity, and medical suspicion correlated weakly with one another; mistrust and suspicion correlated only moderately. Race-related attitudes and beliefs were associated with health care attitudes and behavior, but patterns of association varied. Physician mistrust and medical suspicion each independently correlated with adherence and decisional control preferences, but discrimination only correlated with control preferences. Associations among patients’ different racial attitudes/beliefs are more complex than previously assumed. Interventions that target patient attitudes/beliefs and health care disparities might be more productive if they focus on mistrust or suspicion specific to health care providers/systems and their correlates identified in this study.

Physician Racial Bias and Word Use during Racially Discordant Medical Interactions

ABSTRACT Physician racial bias can negatively affect Black patients’ reactions to racially discordant medical interactions, suggesting that racial bias is manifested in physicians’ communication with their Black patients. However, little is known about how physician racial bias actually influences their communication during these interactions. This study investigated how non-Black physicians’ racial bias is related to their word use during medical interactions with Black patients. One hundred and seventeen video-recorded racially discordant medical interactions from a larger study were transcribed and analyzed using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software. Physicians with higher levels of implicit racial bias used first-person plural pronouns and anxiety-related words more frequently than physicians with lower levels of implicit bias. There was also a trend for physicians with higher levels of explicit racial bias to use first-person singular pronouns more frequently than physicians with lower levels of explicit bias. These findings suggest that non-Black physicians with higher levels of implicit racial bias may tend to use more words that reflect social dominance (i.e., first-person plural pronouns) and anxiety when interacting with Black patients.

Should Women Applicants “Man Up” for Traditionally Masculine Fields? Effectiveness of Two Verbal Identity Management Strategies

Due to gender-based bias, women can be at a disadvantage when trying to enter into traditionally masculine fields (e.g., engineering) or job positions (e.g., top management). The present study examined the effectiveness of two verbal gender presentation strategies that women might be able to use to improve their evaluations in traditionally masculine hiring contexts: verbalizing agentic traits (describing oneself in terms of stereotypically masculine traits) and gender acknowledgment. In a laboratory study, 674 participants evaluated either a female or a male applicant applying for a traditionally masculine position in a traditionally masculine field (engineering manager). Results showed that verbalizing one’s agentic traits resulted in favorable fit evaluations for the female applicant but not the male applicant. Further, acknowledging one’s gender resulted in negative personal evaluations for both female and male applicants. Our findings suggest that applicants’ decisions concerning how to manage their gender presentation can influence how they are evaluated and that women seeking entry into traditionally masculine occupations may want to describe themselves in agentic terms and avoid acknowledging their gender.