William Ickes

Personality, Roles, and Social Behavior

Personality and Roles: Sources of Regularities in Social Behavior For behavioral scientists, whether they identify primarily with the science of psychology or with that of sociology, there may be no challenge greater than that of discovering regularities and consistencies in social behavior. After all, it is such regularities and consistencies that lend predictability to the behavior of individuals in social contexts-in particular, to those events that constitute dyadic interactions and group processes. In the search for behavioral consistencies, two theoretical constructs have emerged as guiding principles: personality and roles. The theoretical construct of personality seeks to understand regularities and consistencies in social behavior in terms of relatively stable traits, enduring dispositions, and other propensities (for example, needs, motives, and attitudes) that are thought to reside within individuals. Because it focuses primarily on the features of individuals, the construct of personality is fundamentally psychological in nature. By contrast, the theoretical construct of roles seeks to understand regularities and consistencies in social behavior in terms of the directive influence of coherent sets of rules and prescriptions that are provided by the interpersonal, occupational, and societal categories of which individuals are continuing members. Because it focuses primarily on features of social structures, the construct of roles is fundamentally sociological in nature.

Self-motivation and adherence to therapeutic exercise

Behavioral compliance or adherence is a fundamental problem in health care, and diagnosis of dropout proneness represents a first step in adherence facilitation. A paper-and-pencil scale was developed to assess self-motivation, conceptualized as a behavioral tendency to persevere independent of situational reinforcements. Scale refinement (N=401) yielded a logically valid and reliable measure with a high internal consistency (α=0.91). Repeated measurements (1 to 5 months) indicated a high degree of scale stability (rsranged from 0.86 to 0.92), reinforcing the conception of self-motivation as relatively enduring and trait-like. Convergent evidence for construct validity was provided by the Self-Motivation Inventorys (SMI) relationship with the Thomas-Zander Ego-Strength Scale (r=0.63) and other more behaviorally specific attitudes (rsranged from 0.47 to 0.58). Discriminant validity was evidenced by minimal overlap with motivational measures of social desirability, health locus of control, and achievement tendency; in each case, less than 10% of the variance in self-motivation was explained. Predictive validity was demonstrated in a variety of naturalistic settings in which perseverant behavior was easily quantified. These included habitual exercise programs for exercise training (N=64), preventive medicine (N=66), and acute exercise (N=48). The diversity of these settings supported the situational invariance of self-motivation. Collectively, these findings provide considerable support for the valid and reliable assessment of sel-fmotivation and for its distinctive utility in enhancing the prediction of perseverant behavior, specifically, adherence to therapeutic exercise.

When the Head Protects the Heart: Empathic Accuracy in Dating Relationships

This study investigated circumstances in which romantic partners may be motivated to inaccurately infer each others thoughts and feelings. Dating couples rated and discussed pictures of opposite-sex people with whom they might later interact in a dating context. Couples evaluated either highly attractive persons or less attractive persons. As predicted, dating partners who were close, who were insecure about their relationship, and who evaluated highly attractive opposite-sex persons displayed the least empathic accuracy when they tried to infer each others actual thoughts and feelings from the videotape of the rating and discussion task. The effects of these variables were additive, and they were mediated by the degree of perceived threat to the relationship. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

Objective self awareness and self esteem

Abstract Based on a theory of objective self awareness three experiments were conducted with undergraduates to test the hypothesis that self-focused attention can alter self esteem levels. In Experiments I and II subjects were exposed either to the sound of their own voices or to the sound of anothers voice, and while listening to the tape-recording they filled out a self esteem measure. Consistent with the theory, subjects whose attention was focused upon themselves by means of exposure to their own tape-recorded voices showed lower self esteem than subjects who heard anothers voice. The impact of the self awareness manipulation on self esteem was greatest when it was first introduced. In Experiment III the variable of positive-negative feedback on a fictitious personality trait was added to the self-focused attention variable. An interaction resulted such that self-focused attention lowered self esteem given negative feedback, while there was a tendency toward the opposite result given positive feedback.

When accuracy hurts, and when it helps: A test of the empathic accuracy model in marital interactions

This study tested predictions from W. Ickes and J. A. Simpsons (1997, 2001) empathic accuracy model. Married couples were videotaped as they tried to resolve a problem in their marriage. Both spouses then viewed a videotape of the interaction, recorded the thoughts and feelings they had at specific time points, and tried to infer their partners thoughts and feelings. Consistent with the model, when the partners thoughts and feelings were relationship-threatening (as rated by both the partners and by trained observers), greater empathic accuracy on the part of the perceiver was associated with pre-to-posttest declines in the perceivers feelings of subjective closeness. The reverse was true when the partners thoughts and feelings were nonthreatening. Exploratory analyses revealed that these effects were partially mediated through observer ratings of the degree to which partners tried to avoid the discussion issue.

Loneliness: A Theoretical Review with Implications for Measurement

The literature on loneliness is selectively reviewed with respect to three major theoretical approaches that have guided research in this area. The authors survey the theory and research associated with the social needs approach, the behavioral/personalityapproach and the cognitive processes approach to loneliness. Specific theoretical perspectives subsumable within each approach (e.g. social developmental, social support) are discussed. The second part of the paper addresses methodological considerations in the measurement of loneliness that are specifically relevant to the major theoretical issues discussed. Potential points of theoretical integration and methodological refinement are noted. In a concluding section, recommendations forfuture research on loneliness are suggested, and the need for a general process model incorporating some of these suggestions is noted.

Support Provision in Marriage: The Role of Emotional Similarity and Empathic Accuracy

The goal of this investigation was to identify microlevel processes in the support provider that may foster or inhibit the provision of spousal support. Specifically, the authors focused on (a) how emotional similarity between the support provider and support seeker and (b) how empathic accuracy of the support provider relate to support provision in marriage. In a laboratory experiment, 30 couples were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions (support provider: man vs. woman) of a factorial design. The couples provided questionnaire data and participated in a social support interaction designed to assess behaviors when offering and soliciting social support. A video-review task was used to assess emotional similarity and empathic accuracy during the support interaction. As expected, greater similarity between the support providers and support seekers emotional responses, as well as more accurate insights into the support-seeking spouses thoughts and feelings were found to be predictive of more skilful support (i.e., higher levels of emotional and instrumental support and lower levels of negative types of support).

The Role of Empathic Accuracy in Adolescents' Peer Relations and Adjustment

This study investigated whether childrens empathic accuracy is associated with their peer relationships and adjustment. It also examined whether, and how, empathic accuracy moderated the known influence of peer relations on adjustment. Participants were 116 (58 boys) fifth-through eighth-graders. At school, child participants completed measures assessing their peer relationships. In the lab, child participants completed a performance-based measure of empathic accuracy and measures of adjustment. Teachers and parents also provided assessments. Results revealed that children who were less adept at inferring other peoples thoughts and feelings were more likely to experience adjustment problems. Empathic accuracy acted as a buffer against adjustment problems when peer relationships were poor: Previously found links between poor peer relationships and poor adjustment were found for adolescents with low empathic accuracy but not for those with high empathic accuracy.

A Basic Paradigm for the Study of Personality, Roles, and Social Behavior

This is the story of a research paradigm: of its conception, “birth,” and subsequent development. This story is particularly appropriate for the present volume because the paradigm it describes is, in many respects, ideally suited to the study of personality, roles, and social behavior.

Posture mirroring and interactional involvement: Sex and sex typing effects

This study investigated the effects of sex (male-male vs. female-female) and sex typing (sex typed-sex typed, sex typed-androgynous, and androgynous-androgynous) on dyadic posture mirroring between strangers in a “waiting room” context. Results revealed a significant interaction between sex composition and sex-typing composition such that among sex-typed pairs, females displayed more posture mirroring than males but among androgynous pairs, the effect was reversed with male dyads showing more posture sharing than female dyads. Results also showed a surprising negative relation between mirroring and rapport as well as a negative correlation between mirroring and verbalization. The suggestion made is that individual action in the form of talk and communal engagement in the form of mirroring may represent different modes of being involved in an interaction.