{"title":"Empathic listening satisfies speakers' psychological needs and well-being, but doesn't directly deepen solitude experiences: A registered report","authors":"Netta Weinstein , Guy Itzchakov","doi":"10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104716","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104716","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A live discussion experiment was designed to test the effects of highly empathic (vs. moderately empathic) listening on solitude experiences. Participants were assigned to three conditions in which they: 1) Discussed a negative personal experience with a confederate (ostensibly another participant) exhibiting highly empathic listening; 2) Discussed an experience with a confederate exhibiting moderately empathic listening; or, 3) Engaged in a positive reframing exercise. Building on previous listening theory (<span><span>Weinstein et al., 2022</span></span>) and research (<span><span>Itzchakov & Weinstein, 2021</span></span>; <span><span>Itzchakov, Weinstein, et al., 2022</span></span>). We then assessed the two posited mechanisms of autonomy and relatedness and tested the expectations to be in solitude. All participants were instructed to spend ten minutes alone, phones off, and distractions stored away. While highly empathic listening enhanced participants' (i.e. speakers) autonomy and relatedness need satisfaction compared to the other two conditions and predicted initial increases in self- and social-connection, it did not subsequently improve solitude experiences, with no direct effects found predicting self-connection, peaceful affect, loneliness, or self-insight. Indirect effects linked empathic listening to self-connection and self-insight through autonomy satisfaction. While empathic listening fosters immediate psychological need satisfaction in social contexts, deeper listening interventions may be necessary to improve subsequent solitude periods.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48441,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Social Psychology","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 104716"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142929232","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kevin Vezirian , Elisa Sarda , Laurent Bègue , Pierre-Jean Laine , Hans IJzerman
{"title":"“Black-and-White” thinking: Does visual contrast polarize moral judgment? Independent replications and extension of Zarkadi and Schnall’s (2013) Study 1","authors":"Kevin Vezirian , Elisa Sarda , Laurent Bègue , Pierre-Jean Laine , Hans IJzerman","doi":"10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104712","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104712","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Does a black-and-white contrast background lead to more extreme moral judgments? Zarkadi and Schnall (2013) found in their Study 1 (<em>N</em> = 111) that, indeed, exposing English-speaking participants to a black-and-white (versus two other-colored conditions) background polarized participants' judgments in a moral dilemma task. This study supported a moral intuitionist model of moral judgment, lent further support to so-called Conceptual Metaphor Theories (Lakoff & Johnson, 1999), and provided evidence that not only the colors “black” and “white” influence our moral perception, but that the metaphorical associations with the combination of those two colors (i.e., “black-and-white thinking”, Yin-Yang) led people to have more extreme moral judgments. Due to the striking nature of this finding, yet given various factors that undermine confidence in its veracity, we have decided to re-examine the question. A first study conducted on a large French-speaking sample (<em>N</em> = 8602), and two subsequent direct replications conducted on English-speaking samples (<em>N</em> = 365 and <em>N</em> = 215), failed to reveal any influence of background color on the evaluation of a moral dilemma. Numerous exploratory and supplementary analyses, including controlling for relevant covariates associated with variations in morality (e.g., age, gender), did not account for our consistent inability to replicate the original findings. This research suggests that age may influence perceived morality, with older participants (at least in Study 1) viewing Heinz's behavior as more wrong. Overall, this research suggests that it is doubtful that the evaluation of the Heinz's dilemma can be influenced by a subtle black-and-white visual priming.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48441,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Social Psychology","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 104712"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142929233","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Alex Koch , Ron Dotsch , Roland Imhoff , Christian Unkelbach , Hans Alves
{"title":"Ideological beliefs as cues to exploitation-exploration behavior","authors":"Alex Koch , Ron Dotsch , Roland Imhoff , Christian Unkelbach , Hans Alves","doi":"10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104718","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104718","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We argue that one reason why people consider others' ideological beliefs (i.e., progressive vs. conservative) is that people profit by predicting others' exploration behavior from their beliefs. Eight experiments confirmed that people more readily invested in progressives when switching to novel options (i.e., <em>exploration</em>) was more profitable than staying with valuable resources (i.e., <em>exploitation</em>). In contrast, people more readily invested in conservatives when exploitation was more profitable than exploration. Thus, considering others' beliefs may be one means to navigate ecologies with different reward structures, a task that has remained relevant throughout human history and across cultures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48441,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Social Psychology","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 104718"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142929235","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Usman Liaquat , Madeline E. Heilman , Rachel D. Godsil , Emily Balcetis
{"title":"Women underrepresented or men overrepresented? Framing influences women's affective and behavioral responses to gender gap in political leadership","authors":"Usman Liaquat , Madeline E. Heilman , Rachel D. Godsil , Emily Balcetis","doi":"10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104709","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104709","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Efforts to promote women in leadership have led to some high profile successes, yet unequal representation of women and men in such positions persists. The media often portrays the gap as women's underrepresentation. We examine whether reframing this gap as men's overrepresentation elicits greater anger and increases intentions and behaviors to remediate the disparity. In a meta-analysis of three pilot experiments (Studies 1a-1c), framing the gap as men's overrepresentation in political (but not business) leadership elicits more anger at the disparity among women perceivers (but not men) and increases perceptions that the gap is unjust. Moreover, we find that anger at the disparity predicts stronger intentions and numerous behaviors to redress the inequality, such as reading more on how change the status quo (Study 1a), writing stronger letters supporting proposed legislation addressing gender disparity (Study 1b), and stronger desire to donate to gender bias reduction programs (Study 1a-1c). In a registered experiment (Study 2) we replicated these findings: men's overrepresentation framing increases women's anger at the gender gap in political leadership and mediates the association between framing and collective action supporting gender parity. We also find only weak evidence that a change in framing elicits a backlash anger response at the rhetorical framing itself. Moreover, making salient the ways in which the social climate is either hostile or sympathetic to women's causes does not moderate the framing effect. Overall, this work suggests that demographic framing influences emotional and behavioral responses to the gender gap in political leadership.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48441,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Social Psychology","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 104709"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142889355","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hairu Wu , Chenjing Wu , Jun Zhang , Yuanxin Hu , Fuqun Liang , Xianyou He
{"title":"Consume humanity: Eating anthropomorphic food leads to the dehumanization of others","authors":"Hairu Wu , Chenjing Wu , Jun Zhang , Yuanxin Hu , Fuqun Liang , Xianyou He","doi":"10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104710","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104710","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Food anthropomorphism, a prevalent and effective marketing tactic, can positively influence consumer perception and purchasing behavior. However, recent scholarly attention has been drawn to the potential negative consequences of consuming anthropomorphized food. The current research focused on how and why food anthropomorphism affected the dehumanization of unfamiliar others and the negative downstream consequences. Five studies (<em>N</em> = 848) were conducted to investigate the impact of both imagined and actual consumption of anthropomorphic food on dehumanizing unfamiliar others. The results showed that food anthropomorphism induced the dehumanization of strangers, a process mediated by the state empathy. Furthermore, the dehumanization caused by eating anthropomorphic food increased the endorsement of harm for murderers. These findings contribute to the current understanding of food anthropomorphism and dehumanization and provide insights for future anthropomorphism strategy management.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48441,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Social Psychology","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 104710"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142889354","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Going at it alone: Zero-sum beliefs inhibit help-seeking","authors":"Shai Davidai","doi":"10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104714","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104714","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>What inhibits people from asking for help? Four studies of fully employed British and American participants (<em>N</em> = 1973, including three pre-registered studies) document the negative effect of lay beliefs about status on help-seeking. Specifically, I find that <em>zero-sum beliefs about status</em>—the belief that one employee's success comes at other employees' expense—discourage people from asking their colleagues for help with work-related problems. The more people view success at their workplace as zero-sum, the less they ask their colleagues for help. Moreover, I find that zero-sum beliefs <em>causally</em> reduce help-seeking and that this is due to people's skepticism about their colleagues' willingness to help (and, to a lesser extent, to their fear that asking for help would harm their status). The paper concludes with a discussion of how zero-sum beliefs can shape people's interactions with their peers and colleagues.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48441,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Social Psychology","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 104714"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-12-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142889356","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Anneloes Kip, Thorsten M. Erle, Willem W.A. Sleegers, Ilja van Beest
{"title":"Choice availability and incentive structure determine how people cope with ostracism","authors":"Anneloes Kip, Thorsten M. Erle, Willem W.A. Sleegers, Ilja van Beest","doi":"10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104707","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104707","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>People vary greatly in their responses to being ignored and excluded by others (i.e., ostracism). Based on previous research, responses to ostracism are typically classified as prosocial, antisocial, and withdrawal behavior. However, studying these behaviors in isolation can limit our understanding of the decision-making process behind these behaviors. Offering multiple response options provides deeper insights into response preferences. Additionally, using a cost-benefit approach to assess behavioral outcomes provides a useful framework for understanding response preferences beyond the mere availability of choices. In five pre-registered experiments (total <em>N</em> = 2145), we manipulated the availability of choice options and incentive structure of different behavioral responses towards the source of ostracism. Our findings reveal that when all options were equally non-costly, ostracized individuals preferred prosocial behaviors (Studies 1–3). When withdrawal offered solitude rather than inactivity, it became just as likely as prosocial responses (Study 4). Despite the potential risk of losing future rewards, withdrawal even became the dominant choice when prosocial and antisocial options incurred immediate costs (Study 5). These findings show how experimental changes can shift the perceived meaning of responses. Overall, our work highlights the importance of considering both choice variety and a cost-benefit framework in understanding coping behaviors in social exclusion research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48441,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Social Psychology","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 104707"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142874106","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jianning Dang , Constantine Sedikides , Tim Wildschut , Li Liu
{"title":"AI as a companion or a tool? Nostalgia promotes embracing AI technology with a relational use","authors":"Jianning Dang , Constantine Sedikides , Tim Wildschut , Li Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104711","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104711","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recent research has indicated that nostalgia is associated with, or fosters, favorable responses to innovative technology and in particular artificial intelligence (AI). However, prior studies failed to differentiate between the relational and functional uses of AI agents, resulting in an incomplete understanding of the role that nostalgia plays in facilitating acceptance of innovation. The current research seeks to fill this gap. We hypothesized that nostalgia is associated with, or engenders, more favorable responses to AI agents used for relational purposes (i.e., as companions) than functional purposes (i.e., as tools for task completion). We obtained support for this moderation model in three preregistered studies (Σ<em>N</em> = 1100). Nostalgia was associated with (Study 1) or increased (Studies 2 and 3) favorability toward AI agents with a relational, but not functional, use. This pattern was due to the stronger role of nostalgia-induced social connectedness in predicting favorable responses to AI agents with a relational (vs. functional) use (Study 3). We discuss implications for the human-technology interaction.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48441,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Social Psychology","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 104711"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142874107","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"It is not only whether I approach but also why I approach: A registered report on the role of action framing in approach/avoidance training effects","authors":"Marine Rougier , Mathias Schmitz , Ivane Nuel , Marie-Pierre Fayant , Baptiste Subra , Theodore Alexopoulos , Vincent Yzerbyt","doi":"10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104697","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104697","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Research on approach/avoidance training (AAT) effects shows that approach (i.e., reducing the distance between the self and a stimulus) leads to more positive evaluations of stimuli than avoidance (i.e., increasing the distance between the self and a stimulus). The present experiments relied on a grounded cognition approach to extend this finding by investigating the framing-dependency of AAT effects on facial representations of target stimuli. In a Preliminary Experiment, using antagonistic types of approach (affiliative vs. aggressive) and a reverse correlation paradigm, we found that approach led to more positive facial representations than avoidance when approach was portrayed as affiliative, but this effect decreased and tended to reverse (i.e., yielding more negative facial representations) when approach was portrayed as aggressive. Two registered experiments extended these results while also addressing important limitations of the Preliminary Experiment. First, to prevent any contrast emerging from the joint use of approach and avoidance, Experiment 1 isolated the unique effects of affiliative approach, aggressive approach, and avoidance compared to a control action. We also explored whether aggressive approach and avoidance (two negatively valenced yet distinct actions) produced negative effects characterized by divergent outcomes on facial features (e.g., weak vs. dominant). Second, Experiment 2 tested the importance of the experiential component of approach/avoidance actions by comparing the AAT with a mere instructions condition. Results of Experiments 1 and 2 proved consistent with a framing-dependency of AAT effects. Unveiling the framing-dependency of AAT effects challenges some of the current theoretical views on AAT effects.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48441,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Social Psychology","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 104697"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142825054","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yang Xiang , Jenna Landy , Fiery A. Cushman , Natalia Vélez , Samuel J. Gershman
{"title":"People reward others based on their willingness to exert effort","authors":"Yang Xiang , Jenna Landy , Fiery A. Cushman , Natalia Vélez , Samuel J. Gershman","doi":"10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104699","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104699","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Individual contributors to a collaborative task are often rewarded for going above and beyond—salespeople earn commissions, athletes earn performance bonuses, and companies award special parking spots to their employee of the month. How do we decide when to reward collaborators, and are these decisions closely aligned with how responsible they were for the outcome of a collaboration? In Experiments 1a and 1b (<span><math><mi>N</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>360</mn></math></span>), we tested how participants give bonuses, using stimuli and an experiment design that has previously been used to elicit responsibility judgments (<span><span>Xiang et al., 2023a</span></span>). Past work has found that responsibility judgments are driven both by how much effort people actually contributed and how much they could have contributed (<span><span>Xiang et al., 2023a</span></span>). In contrast, here we found that participants allocated bonuses based <em>only</em> on how much effort agents actually contributed. In Experiments 2a and 2b (<span><math><mi>N</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>358</mn></math></span>), we introduced agents who were instructed to exert a particular level of effort; participants still rewarded effort, but their rewards were more sensitive to the precise level of effort exerted when the agents decided how much effort to exert. Together, these findings suggest that people reward collaborators based on their <em>willingness</em> to exert effort, and point to a difference between decisions about how to assign responsibility to collaborators and how to incentivize them. One possible explanation for this difference is that responsibility judgments may reflect causal inference about past collaborations, whereas providing incentives may motivate collaborators to keep exerting effort in the future. Our work sheds light on the cognitive capacities that underlie collaboration.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48441,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Social Psychology","volume":"116 ","pages":"Article 104699"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142701955","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}