Scott T. Allison

Effects of Cost and Social Influence on Warning Compliance

The behavioral effects of cost and social influence on warning compliance were examined. Participants in several studies performed a chemistry laboratory task using a set of instructions that contained a warning directing them to wear a safety mask and gloves. Cost was manipulated by locating the masks and gloves in either an accessible location (low cost) or a less accessible location (high cost); social influence was manipulated by the presence of a confederate who either did or did not comply with the warning. The results showed reduced compliance with the warning when the cost was high and that the compliance rate was biased up or down depending on the behavior of the confederate. The results from a field study confirmed the social influence effect. Implications of this research for facilitating warning effectiveness and safety are discussed.

Social decision making processes and the equal partitionment of shared resources

Abstract Three experiments investigated the hypothesis that group members will be more likely to use the prominent social decision making rule of “divide equally” when they share resources that are partitioned into equal units than when they share nonpartitioned resources. In Experiment 1, subjects were either the first of 3 or the first of 12 group members to draw from a shared resource that was either partitioned or nonpartitioned. The results showed that subjects were most likely to violate the equal division rule when they were members of 12-person groups drawing from a nonpartitioned resource. Experiment 2 ruled out the possibility that this result was due to the greater size of the nonpartitioned resource for large groups. Experiment 3 examined the idea that peoples ability to divide a nonpartitioned resource equally decreases as the number of members in their group increases. The results showed that although there is some evidence for an inverse relationship between this ability and group size, there is stronger evidence that members of large groups are simply less motivated to divide equally than are members of small groups. These data suggest that a partitioned arrangement of a shared resource may inhibit its overconsumption.

Making Heroes: The Construction of Courage, Competence, and Virtue

People use the term hero frequently in our culture, and most people can easily name several heroes. Our research explores how people think about heroes as well as the determinants of heroic behavior. Peoples heroes may be real-world figures or fictional characters. They are thought to be competent enough to achieve at a high level, moral enough to do the right thing in difficult situations, or both. Peoples conceptions of heroes reflect both schemas about what heroes are like and narrative structures about how they act. We consider the possibility that images of heroes and common hero narratives reflect evolutionarily based archetypes. Given that typical conceptions of heroes include high levels of competence and morality, we consider aspects of self, including self-efficacy, self-affirmation, self-theories of intelligence, self-guides, and self-control that enable people to achieve at high levels and to act morally, even when doing so is difficult. We discuss research showing that peoples needs for heroes prepare them to perceive struggle and to root for underdogs. Work on a death positivity bias and admiration for martyrs illustrates the centrality of self-sacrifice in hero schemas and the perceptions of heroes. Finally, we propose a taxonomy of heroes based on various dimensions of influence such as strength, duration, direction, exposure, and origins. The subtypes of heroes in our taxonomy are Transforming, Transfigured, Traditional, Transparent, Transposed, Tragic, Transitional, Transitory, and Trending. In addition, we consider a Transcendent Hero category, referring to heroes who affect their admirers in ways that combine the influences of other types.

The generalization of outcome-biased counter-stereotypic inferences

Abstract Two experiments assessed the degree to which changes in stereotyped perceptions of target individuals produced by outcome-biased inferences generalized to the target group as a whole. In Experiment 1, subjects read about a group of individuals in either a stereotypically intelligent (professors) or a stereotypically less intelligent (custodians) occupation who participated in a general knowledge quiz-bowl competition. Each group of individuals scored the same number of points, but (depending on condition) were said to have either won or lost the competition because of the criterion needed to win. As expected, subjects perceived individuals to be more intelligent when they won than then they lost, even if actual performance was the same. In addition, perceptions of the target individuals as being more or less intelligent generalized to their occupational membership group as a whole. In Experiment 2, subjects made outcome-biased inferences about sample groups of Asian and Black students and later completed an adjective checklist about the relevant population as a whole. Results indicated that the outcome-biased inferences made about the sample group also generalized (albeit weakly in one case) to the group as a whole, indicating that the occurrence of outcome-biased inferences facilitated stereotype modification. In neither case did outcome biases completely reverse stereotypes.

“Now He Belongs to the Ages”: The Heroic Leadership Dynamic and Deep Narratives of Greatness

When legendary South African president Nelson Mandela passed away on December 5, 2013, the world responded with an outpouring of heartache for the loss mixed with reverence for his heroic leadership. Foremost among the tributes to Mandela was a statement made by US president Barack Obama, who observed that Mandela “no longer belongs to us. He belongs to the ages” (Parnes, 2013). Obama surely was aware that his words mirrored those made a century and a half earlier by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton upon the death of President Abraham Lincoln. Of Lincoln, Stanton is said to have uttered, “Now he belongs to the ages,” although some claim that Stanton actually said, “Now he belongs to the angels” (Gopnik, 2007). Whether ages or angels, Stanton’s meaning was as clear as that of Obama. When extraordinary, transformative leaders perish, we construct rhetoric to ensure that their life legacies transcend the small time period in which they lived. Our language forges great leadership in eternity.

Warning compliance : behavioral effects of cost and consensus

Two laboratory experiments were conducted to examine the behavioral effects of cost and consensus on warning compliance. Subjects performed a chemistry demonstration task using a set of instructions that contained a warning directing them to wear a safety mask and gloves. In Experiment 1, cost was manipulated by locating the masks and gloves in either an accessible location (low cost) or a less accessible location (high cost). In Experiment 2, consensus was manipulated by the additional presence of a confederate subject who either did or did not comply with the warning. The results showed reduced compliance to the warning when the cost was high, and that the compliance rate was biased up or down depending on the behavior of the confederate. Implications of this research for facilitating warning effectiveness and safety are discussed.

Group attribution errors and the illusion of group attitude change

Abstract The group attribution error refers to peoples tendency to use a groups decision to attribute correspondent attitudes to its members, even when information is available that indicates that all members do not support the decision. Three experiments were conducted to investigate the role of this phenomenon in the perception of group attitude change over time. Subjects in these studies were informed that a group had made two decisions on an issue, roughly 6 months apart, and that the proportion of members in favor of the decision was roughly the same at both times. A group decision rule in operation at the time of each decision was either the same at both times, producing identical decisions, or it differed across time, producing inconsistent decisions. Study 1 found that subjects were more likely to infer that the groups attitudes had changed over time when the two decisions differed than when they were consistent. Moreover, there was a significant relationship between the degree to which attitudes were believed to have changed and the degree to which correspondent inferences were generated at the time of each decision. Study 2 replicated this result using a different procedure and also showed that the ascription of attitudes to members at the time of each group decision was associated with the perception of reduced attitudinal variability within the group. Study 3 eliminated a possible alternate explanation of the findings.

The “Frozen in Time” Effect in Evaluations of the Dead

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that evaluations of the dead are more resistant to change than are evaluations of the living. In Experiment 1, perceivers formed an impression of a target person who performed either a moral or an immoral action and then either died or remained alive. Perceivers were later given new inconsistent information about the targets morality. The results revealed that perceivers’ original impressions of the target were significantly less likely to change in response to the inconsistent information when the target was believed to be dead than when she was believed to be alive. Experiment 2 replicated the effect in impressions of real-world targets. The implications of these findings for research on posthumous impression processes are discussed.

What Do Playboy Playmates Want? Implications of Expressed Preferences in the Construction of the “Unfinished” Masculine Identity

Although the literature on mate preferences indicates that women prefer men with both stereotypic masculine traits, such as strength and assertiveness, and stereotypic feminine traits, such as nurturance and sensitivity, men are encouraged to adopt identities that include only stereotypic masculine traits. This discrepancy produces gender-based role strain for men caught between the desires of women and the demands of social convention. We suggest that the centerfold text published in Playboy magazine provides a useful social infrastructure to help men develop more broadly defined conceptualizations of masculinity. In our analysis of Playboy playmate centerfold texts, we found that playmates expressed a preference for men who included stereotypic feminine attributes in their identities. In the context of attempting to be more attractive to women such as Playboy playmates, the adoption of feminine attributes can be readily justified and help men experience less gender-based role strain.

Reflexivity in the Pornographic Films of Candida Royalle

Both conventional wisdom and prior scholarship indicate that women typically find pornography less appealing than men. Recently, researchers have suggested that the sexually explicit films of Candida Royalle represent a new form of pornography that is more attractive to women. We examined the films of Candida Royalle in terms of reflexivity, a film technique that draws attention to film conventions and the filmmaking process within the context of a film. We identify three reflexive processes that operate in Candida Royalle’s films and consider how they may contribute to the development of a subject space that makes her films more appealing to women, in comparison to traditional pornographic films. The benefits of this new subject space are considered.