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Both in their quantity and their quality, informal political conversations can provide an important bellwether for democratic health. However, not everyone is willing to participate in political conversations in all settings, and systematic imbalances in who chooses not to share political attitudes can distort perceptions of public opinion. Using data from three original surveys, including both observational and experimental analysis, we examine people's decisions to initiate political discussions using a psychological framework of self-threat and self-affirmation. We find that political conversations pose a higher level of self-threat when disagreement is probable and the relationship with the potential discussion partner is weaker. High levels of self-threat, measured via self-reported anxiety, are associated with a lower willingness to initiate a political conversation. However, self-threat can be counteracted. While it does not reduce the anxiety associated with a threatening situation, self-affirmation increases people's willingness to initiate a political conversation in higher threat circumstances. This suggests that efforts to find common ground or boost confidence by reflecting on non-political values could increase the pool of people willing to bring up and share their political views. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Black Americans use identity-based self-protective strategies to maintain their explicit self-esteem after a threat to their intelligence. This effect is consistent with the associative-propositional evaluation (APE) model, which suggests that self-protective strategies operate during a propositional process that results in no change in explicit self-esteem. However, the APE model also suggests that implicit self-esteem may be sensitive to an intelligence threat because it increases the accessibility of automatically activated evaluations about Black Americans, namely the stereotype that their group is unintelligent. These hypotheses are tested across two experiments. Method: Black American participants across both experiments (Experiment 1: N = 57; 40 females, Mage = 21.60; Experiment 2: N = 79; 64 females, Mage = 24.86) completed an intelligence test, then were randomly assigned to receive either negative feedback about their performance or no-feedback. Participants then completed measures of implicit and explicit self-esteem. Participants in Experiment 2 also completed a measure of subjective identity centrality. Results: In support of the hypotheses, Black American participants across both experiments who received negative performance feedback on an intelligence test exhibited lower implicit self-esteem compared to those who did not receive feedback. Experiment 2 further demonstrated that this effect emerged only among strongly identified Black American participants. Finally, and consistent with past research, explicit self-esteem was unaffected by negative performance feedback among all participants. Conclusions: This research demonstrates the boundary conditions of Black Americans' adoption of identity-based self-protective strategies to protect their implicit versus explicit self-esteem following an intelligence threat. Public Significance Statement: Black Americans often experience systemic and interpersonal biases stemming from the stereotype that their group is unintelligent. In response to such experiences, Black Americans have developed and adopt self-protective strategies to maintain their explicit self-esteem. The current research suggests that there is a need to identify and develop additional self-protective strategies that protect and maintain implicit self-esteem when Black Americans experience bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in travel and tourism has received much attention in the wake of the pandemic. While societal adoption of AI has accelerated, it also raises some trust challenges. Literature on trust in AI is scant, especially regarding the vulnerabilities faced by different stakeholders to inform policy and practice. This work proposes a framework to understand the use of AI technologies from the perspectives of institutional and the self to understand the formation of trust in the mandated use of AI-based technologies in travelers. Design/methodology/approach: An empirical investigation using partial least squares-structural equation modeling was employed on responses from 209 users. This paper considered factors related to the self (perceptions of self-threat, privacy empowerment, trust propensity) and institution (regulatory protection, corporate privacy responsibility) to understand the formation of trust in AI use for travelers. Findings: Results showed that self-threat, trust propensity and regulatory protection influence trust in users on AI use. Privacy empowerment and corporate responsibility do not. Originality/value: Insights from the past studies on AI in travel and tourism are limited. This study advances current literature on affordance and reactance theories to provide a better understanding of what makes travelers trust the mandated use of AI technologies. This work also demonstrates the paradoxical effects of self and institution on technologies and their relationship to trust. For practice, this study offers insights for enhancing adoption via developing trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the aggressive tendency in college students with different types of high self-esteem in the context of self-threat. Methods: A total of 1 000 college students were selected, and the Self-Esteem Scale (SES) and the Implicit Association Test (IAT) were used to screen out the fragile high self-esteem group (the subjects with the first 27% of SES score and the last 27% of IAT score) and the secure high self-esteem group (the subjects with the first 27% of SES score and the first 27% of IAT score) with 64 persons each. The self-threat situation was manipulated through virtual intelligence test, so that both groups received different degrees of self-threat priming. The explicit aggressive behavior and implicit aggressive behavior were evaluated with the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) and Implicit Aggressive Experiment (IAE) respectively. Results: In the absence of threat, there was no significant difference in the scores of AQ and IAE between the fragile high self-esteem group and the safe high self-esteem group (Ps＞ 0. 05). In the situation of self-threat, the scores of AQ and IAE were higher in the fragile high self-esteem group than in the secure high self-esteem group (Ps ＜0. 05). Conclusion: Selfthreat could modulate the relationship between aggressive behaviors of different types of high self-esteem college students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Negative emotions arising from self-threat are ubiquitous and harmful. We propose that the experience of awe awakens the small-self, which in turn alleviates these negative emotions. We examine our theoretical hypotheses in four studies employing various self-threatening situations, using distinct awe manipulations and involving participants from different countries. The participants experiencing awe reported lower levels of negative emotions arising from self-threat compared with those in the neutral (Study 1) and happiness conditions (Study 2). Moreover, we verified that the small-self mediates the alleviating effect of awe on negative emotions through measuring (Study 3) and manipulating the small-self (Study 4). Beyond a set of practical implications for promoting mental health and well-being, our research also provides novel insights into awe, self-appraisal, and self-threat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although personal control is a fundamental human need, research has not yet systematically examined how it functions in consumer and marketplace settings. This article reviews and integrates the existing research on the topic to provide a greater understanding of how personal control and consumer behavior shape and inform one another. We first integrate multiple streams of research to discuss the conceptualization and antecedents of personal control. We then propose an organizing framework that identifies two ways in which feelings of low control shape consumer behavior: through motivating consumers to look for a sense of order and structure in their consumption environments and through motivating consumers to use consumption activities to reestablish feelings of control. We close by highlighting several future research directions for advancing the current understanding of how personal control and marketing relate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both multiculturalism (which involves recognizing and appreciating differences) and racial/ethnic colorblindness (which can involve emphasizing similarities or individual characteristics) are intended to promote intergroup harmony. Nevertheless, these ideologies can backfire when salient. Although this work has sometimes been interpreted to suggest that dominant group members may perceive salient multiculturalism, and non-dominant group members may perceive salient colorblindness, as threatening, it is unclear what about these interethnic ideologies poses a threat and why. The present article draws upon theories of the self-concept to introduce a framework of M ulticulturalism and C olorblindness a s T hreats to the S elf. Specifically, it is proposed that multiculturalism (colorblindness) is potentially threatening to dominant (non-dominant) group members' collective, relational, and personal selves. Dispositional and contextual variables that may moderate perceptions of threat among members of dominant and non-dominant groups, alternative interethnic ideologies to multiculturalism and colorblindness, and potential future research directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to seek if self-affirming activities can be used to increase compliance with group-protective public health policies such as the mandate to wear face masks for the COVID-19 pandemic. Completing a self-affirmation has been shown to increase compliance with health advice when it is beneficial for the self (Sherman & Cohen, 2020). To determine if self-affirming activities, as described by Self-Affirmation theory, increases compliance to health advice that is beneficial for others, the present experiment (N = 106) asked university students to complete a self-affirmation or a control task, read a relevant article, and rate how often they would wear a mask in a variety of situations in a survey. Participants also rated their peers to test if the selfaffirmation would mitigate the difference between how people rate themselves and their peers. This study showed that the self-affirmation caused people to rate themselves and their peers' mask-wearing intentions higher in all situations except in their own homes where there was no change in rating between the two groups, p = .008. The self-affirmation manipulation had no interaction effect with the target of rating (self vs. peer) and so did not change how people rated themselves compared to others, p = .60. These results suggest that Self-Affirmation theory can be used to promote group-protective health advice and could potentially make public health campaigns more effective in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting the formation of green development and lifestyle is an important, urgent and arduous development task. Actively promoting ecological civilization construction and cultivating ecological morality are important foundations for promoting the green transformation of lifestyle. How to stimulate ecological moral emotion and promote green consumption is of great significance to realize the harmonious development between man and nature. In this context, this paper takes environmental indebtedness as an example to explore the influence mechanism of environmental indebtedness on green purchase intention based on consumer preference theory. The empirical test results show that: environmental indebtedness can effectively improve green purchase intention; consumer preference plays a partial mediating role in the influence of environmental indebtedness on green purchase intention, and emotional preference plays a greater mediating role; open self-threat and private self-threat moderate the mediating effect of consumer preference to different degrees, and for consumers with high self-threat, the preference and purchase intention of green products generated by environmental indebtedness was lower than that of consumers with low self-threat. Therefore, to promote green consumption, attention should be paid to the ecological moral and emotional education of consumers, to cultivate consumers' cognitive and emotional preference for green products, to improve their income level or to reduce the price of green products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines, in the context of physical education (PE) classes, if having the opportunity to report disadvantages before performing a physical test could reduce students' self-reported level of fear of failure. Forty-six students (31 males, Mage = 14.2 years and 15 females, Mage = 12.5 years) from a middle school and a high school in France participated in the study. A repeated measures design (intra-individual) was used, such that the fear of failure was measured before and after students were given (week 1) or not given (week 2) the opportunity to report disadvantages that could impair their future performance. The main results indicated that when students had the opportunity to report disadvantages, their self-reported level of fear of failure declined before performing the physical test. Conversely, when they had no opportunity to report disadvantages, their self-reported level of fear of failure increased. Implications for educational psychologists and teachers are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the mask model, narcissists portray a hard exterior, but possess a soft core. This presumed fragility has been typically operationalized as a discrepancy between explicit and implicit self-esteem, producing inconsistent findings. A reason for the inconclusiveness may be that narcissism has been tested in situ. We report an experiment (N=209) where narcissists manifested hypervigilance: faster reaction times to self-threatening stimuli when their fragility was subliminally exposed. However, given ampler time (235ms vs. 149ms), narcissists switched from defensiveness to self-regulation: equivalent reaction times to those of non-narcissists. This switch, being rapid and difficult to detect, may explain prior inconclusiveness. Despite transient intrapersonal turbulence in the face of self-threat, narcissists quickly regain their composure and re-establish their granite exterior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We hypothesised that sense of home serves as a buffer against self‐threat. In three experiments, we induced sense of home (vs. control) and assessed its buffering function to threat. Sense of home augmented openness to stereotype threat information (Experiment 1), increased performance on a spatial rotation ability test after stereotype threat (Experiment 2), and reduced the desire for high‐status products following mortality salience (Experiment 3). This "proof of concept" research establishes the buffering potential of sense of home and raises theoretical and practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the premise that individuals are inclined to self-enhance, in temporal self-appraisal (TSA) theory it is suggested that people can motivationally reconstruct subjective distances from their past self to serve that goal. However, given the mixed evidence found in an East Asian cultural context (i.e., Japan), it is important to test the cultural applicability of TSA in a different East Asian culture. Thus we tested the TSA of a Chinese sample, focusing on past-self distance reconstruction. The results supported the prediction suggested in TSA theory, in that participants tended to feel farther away from negative (vs. positive) past experiences. Further, this effect was greater when people were primed with a self-threat (i.e., self-uncertainty salience). These patterns were found independently of whether the past experience was recent (3 months ago) or in the distant past (3 years ago). Implications for cross-cultural applicability of TSA theory are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stereotype threat (ST) refers to the risk of confirming a negative stereotype about one's group. Distinct forms of ST can be elicited based on both the target and the source of the threat. Here, we focused on how peculiar ST sources distinctly impact performance for individuals who face self-based threats. More particularly, we hypothesized that the decrease in performance would be stronger for individuals who face a self-concept threat (triggered by a private self-evaluation) in comparison with those who face an own-reputation threat (triggered by a public evaluation). In two studies, participants were randomly assigned to one of the following experimental conditions: control, self-concept, or own-reputation threat. Results confirmed the hypothesis by showing that participants in the control condition perform better than those in the own-reputation threat condition, who performed better than those in the self-concept threat condition. The contributions of this work as well as the limitations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When people experience threats to important aspects of their self-concept (e.g. power, intelligence, sociability), they often compensate by consuming products that symbolize success, mastery, or competence on the threatened self-domain (within-domain compensatory consumption). Our research examines whether such compensatory consumption is effective in repairing the self-concept. Across seven experiments, we show that whether compensatory consumption is effective depends on the extent to which the connection between the compensatory products and the threatened domains is made explicit. When the connections are made explicit (e.g. through product names and marketing slogans), self-repair is impeded, but when the connections are only implicit (product is inherently symbolic of self-threat domain), self-repair can be successful. We further show that these differential effects of product connection explicitness are mediated by rumination: explicit connections induce rumination about the self-threat, which undermines self-repair, whereas implicit connections cause no rumination, facilitating self-repair. Our research provides a reconciliation of conflicting findings on self-repair in previous research, and also shows that despite the differences in efficacy, consumers compensate regardless of whether product connections are implicit or explicit, which has implications for consumer well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contingent self-worth has been studied as an individual differences variable affecting how self-relevant information is processed. We examined the effects of self-relevant information on contingent self-worth as a dependent variable. In Experiment 1 (N = 79, college students), participants' performance contingency was higher after negative than positive performance feedback. In Experiment 2 (N = 3764, community sample), social approval and appearance contingencies were lower in a social approval condition than in control conditions. Mediation analyses suggested this effect was mediated by enhanced self-esteem. Thus, self-esteem increased due to the very source that participants came to regard as less important: Social approval. Results are explained in terms of sociometer theory and limited introspection abilities: All self-esteem is sensitive to external contingencies, people just become more aware of this when it is threatened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Those high in narcissism may use punishment as a form of covert aggression to assert social dominance. • P’s high in vulnerable narcissism favored more spiteful punishment regardless of self-threat. • Grandiose narcissism was un-related to the endorsement of spiteful punishment. Abstract Individuals high in narcissism have been shown to self-enhance through aggression after self-esteem threats. Research distinguishes between two types of narcissism: grandiose and vulnerable. The present study investigated spiteful punishment (punishments with the chief purpose to inflict harm) as a possible covert, aggressive self-enhancement method. Participants (N = 456) completed measures of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, and then either experienced a self-esteem threat or a control condition. Participants read a vignette about a transgressor and rated their endorsement of a series of punishments. Participants high in vulnerable narcissism endorsed more spiteful punishment compared to those lower in vulnerable narcissism, regardless of self-threat. This suggests that those high in vulnerable narcissism may have a base-line degree of covert antisocial self-enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND In view of the fact that materialism may be caused by feelings of insecurity and low self-esteem, this paper attempts to answer the question of what the role of self-improvement is in the development of materialistic tendencies. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE Two experiments were carried out (n = 144, n = 126). Half of the participants were exposed to self-threat (failure), which boosts materialistic tendencies, and the others were exposed to self-enhancement (success), which allows maintenance of good self-esteem. In both cases participants were given an opportunity to undertake self-improvement (i.e. redo a task that previously had turned out to be a failure/success). Analyses of materialistic tendencies were based on financial aspirations (study 1) and intentions to purchase luxurious good (study 2). RESULTS The results show that people have lower fiscal aspirations (study 1) and want to buy luxury products less (study 2) when they undertake self-improvement in a self-threat (failure) situation. However, when people undertake self-improvement in a self-enhancement situation (success) they have higher fiscal aspirations (study 1) and want to buy luxury products more (study 2). CONCLUSIONS Self-improvement may be an antidote to materialistic aspirations if undertaken in a self-threat situation, but it may also be a source of materialistic aspirations if undertaken in a self-enhancement situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well known that individuals engage in reactive consumption to address selfdiscrepancy and self-threat and that this consumption may either be symbolically related to the nature of the threat or occur in an unrelated domain. This research proposes a theory for self-worth restoration through the consumption of high-intensity sensory stimuli. Four studies demonstrate that not only do individuals facing selfthreat prefer high-intensity sensory consumption (HISC) but also that this consumption restores their self-worth. This propensity for HISC is negated after individuals are allowed to engage in additional self-affirmation tasks. The findings are documented in both the visual domain (as evidenced by a preference for more intense and saturated colors) and the auditory domain (as evidenced by a preference for louder audio levels). The consumption of high-intensity sensory stimuli elevates individuals' arousal levels, which in turn minimizes rumination on thoughts related to the threat and thus restores one's self-worth. The distractive nature of HISC and its subsequent impact on self-worth restoration is shown to operate regardless of the valence of the sensory consumption. Finally, the propensity for HISC is negated after individuals experience an arousal-elevating threat, providing additional support for the underlying process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When people feel socially threatened and excluded, they could use their mobile phones to reconnect with others and feel better. We assumed that such positive results can occur even if mobile phones are not actively used. Rather, it may suffice if users believe that carrying a mobile phone ensures social connection. This mindset may help users recover a sense of belonging during self-threatening situations. In two experiments, we asked whether the smartphone as a physical device or its symbolic representation can aid in everyday self-threatening situations. In Study 1 (N = 74), participants with their smartphones in their pockets experienced less threatened belongingness than those who were deprived of their smartphones. In Study 2 (N = 419), participants who encountered a smartphone symbol with social apps after feeling socially excluded recovered better than those who encountered a symbol with informational apps, but showed no difference in recovery compared to those who encountered no symbol at all. Findings support the idea that smartphones can 'physically' buffer against social threats and partially serve as subtle reminders of social bonds. • Smartphones as physical devices and symbols represent social bonds and affiliation. • Beyond mere use, they can help users deal with feeling ostracized. • With smartphones in the pocket, users felt less socially threatened than without. • Social app cues reduced feeling ostracized better than information app cues. • Social app cues reduced feeling ostracized not better than providing no cues at all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although abundant research has documented positive interpersonal outcomes of perspective taking, a growing body of evidence indicates that perspective taking can also induce negative interpersonal outcomes—in other words, it backfires. We aim at integrating these seemingly contradictory findings, suggesting that perspective taking backfires when it causes the perspective-taking individual to feel threatened. Threat can emerge from the very act of perspective taking if the target of perspective taking is perceived as too different from the self or if adopting another’s perspective creates the potential for negative self-evaluation. Furthermore, threat may emerge if perspective taking successfully creates perceptions of self-other overlap, but the overlapping characteristics accentuate potentially threatening characteristics of the target. Our theoretical model affords predictions for other conditions in which perspective taking is linked to self-threat and may backfire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employee referral programmes encourage employees to recommend outstanding candidates to their organizations. However, a superior candidate can be a threat to a referee. People tend to not recommend higher performing candidates who have the same strengths as themselves because these candidates can be a threat to their self-positivity. This is known as social comparison bias (Garcia et al., 2010, Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process., 113, 97) and has a tendency to hinder the effectiveness of employee referral programmes. We propose that supervisors will show less social comparison bias than their subordinates. Data taken from the results of three experiments and a field study show that supervisors (vs. subordinates) exhibit less social comparison bias (Studies 1a, 1b, and 2), and we learn that self-threat account for the difference between supervisors and subordinates (Study 2). Moreover, we verify that the difference between supervisors and subordinates in terms of their willingness to provide a recommendation reflects social comparison bias rather than a complementarity concern (Study 3). Practitioner points Positions influence the willingness to provide a recommendation., Supervisors (vs. subordinates) are less threatened by a higher performing other who has the same strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arrogant brands have a multifaceted influence on consumers: Although consumers appreciate arrogant brands as reflecting high status and quality, arrogance can also make consumers feel inferior. Consumers whose self is a priori threatened may consequently “say no to the glow” and avoid arrogant brands. Results from six experiments using fictitious or actual arrogant brands show that when consumers experience prior self-threat, they may avoid brands that convey arrogance in favor of a competing, less-arrogant alternative. Such avoidance helps self-threatened consumers restore their self-perceptions and feel better about themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research investigated whether self-threat biases memory via retrieval-induced forgetting. Results show that people under self-threat whose goal is to restore their self-worth by making prejudicial judgments that deprecate others are more likely to exhibit an enhanced RIF effect for positive items and a reduced RIF for negative items ascribed to a stereotyped target (i.e., homosexual). Overall, the present findings are consistent with the view that motivation can affect the magnitude of RIF effects in person memory and that, in turn, they can serve as mechanisms for justifying desired conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People frequently condemn harmless sexual taboo behaviours. Based on self-affirmation theory, we predicted that providing an opportunity to self-affirm decreases the tendency to morally condemn harmless sexual taboos. In Experiment 1, we found evidence that self-affirmation decreases the moral condemnation of harmless sexual taboos and ruled out that this was due to a decrease in how disgusting participants considered taboo acts. In Experiment 2, we replicated this effect and demonstrated the mediating role of self-directed threat emotions. These results demonstrate that the tendency to morally condemn harmless sexual taboos arises in part from the need to protect self-integrity. We discuss the implications for the role of the self and emotions in moral judgements and interventions aimed at increasing the acceptability of harmless sexual taboos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People's ability to resist cognitive distraction is crucial in many situations. The present research examines individuals' resistance to attentionai distraction under conditions of evaluative pressure. In a series of 4 studies, participants had to complete various attentional tasks while believing their intelligence was or was not under the scrutiny of an experimenter. Using a spatial cuing paradigm. Studies 1 through 3 demonstrated that feeling evaluated led participants to implement stronger feature-hased attentional control, which resulted in more (or less) distraction when iiTelevant information matched (did not match) the searched-for target. Study 4 ruled out the possibility that the above effects were due to voluntary shifts of attention and demonstrated that the control settings implemented under evaluative pressure resulted in stronger goal-contingent response priming. Thus, the way individuals relate to the task--the performance context in which they are--induces strong attentional selection biases. Altogether, the present findings highlight an overlooked form of top-down modulation of attention based on performance self-relevance. Implications for both the current models of attentional control and the current hypotheses on the impact of evaluative pressure on cognition, as well as the consequences for more complex performances, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Personal narratives play an important role in creating a stable sense of self. This study used an experimental design to explore the utility of narrative, in comparison to other mechanisms, (e.g., self-affirmation, distraction), for coping with self-concept threat. Participants (N =331) received false physiological feedback suggesting they were prejudiced and completed one of five repair techniques, as well as pre-study, post-threat, and post-repair measures of affect and self-concept. General high-point narratives and affirmation statements tended to produce greater repair than tolerance-specific narratives and affirmation statements. However, individual differences, including meaning-making, appear to modestly impact the amount of repair in tolerance narratives. Results are discussed in terms of when and how narratives maintain personal meaning in the face of threat. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Stereotype threat can vary in source, with targets being threatened at the individual and/or group level. This study specifically examined the role of self-reputational threat in women's underperformance in mathematics. A pilot study showed that women report concerns about experiencing self-reputational threat that are distinct from group threat in the domain of mathematics. In the main study, we manipulated whether performance was linked to the self by asking both men and women to complete a math test using either their real name or a fictitious name. Women who used a fictitious name, and thus had their self unlinked from the math test, showed significantly higher math performance and reported less self-threat and distraction, relative to those who used their real names. Men were unaffected by the manipulation. These findings suggest that women's impaired math performance is often due to the threat of confirming a negative stereotype as being true of the self. The implications for understanding the different types of threats faced by stereotyped groups, particularly among women in math settings, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When people are confronted with the potential negative physical outcomes of their own health risk behaviour, they experience a self-threat. This threat is felt as negative self-evaluative emotions. We hypothesise that the threat will lead to more private self-evaluative emotions (e.g. regret) in a private social context, whereas more public self-evaluative emotions (e.g. embarrassment) will be felt in a public social context with negative norms. Consistent with our hypotheses, we show that participants anticipate feeling more private self-evaluative emotions when confronted with the negative consequences of their unhealthy behaviour when alone, and more public self-evaluative emotions when in a group (Study 1). They further anticipate more public self-evaluative emotions in response to a health self-threat when the group norm is negative, and more private self-evaluative emotions when the group norm is lenient (Study 2). Finally, in a cross-sectional study amongst smokers, we show that private but not public negative self-evaluative emotions concerning their own smoking habits are positively correlated with the intent to quit smoking (Study 3). These studies show that a distinction needs to be made between public and private self-evaluative emotions, in terms of their antecedents and effects. Theoretical implications and further lines of research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the affective and cognitive impact of humour on coping with self-threat. Research was based on an incongruity concept of humour that specifies humour as a state resulting from appraising an aversive incident as both harmful and as acceptable. An appraisal related procedural priming paradigm was used to induce humour. In Study 1 ( N = 41 female students) the impact of humour on positive and negative affect following self-threat was examined. In Study 2 ( N = 52 students; 94% women) we investigated the consequences of humour for a self-serving interpretation of failure, the awareness of harm, and subsequent performance. Relative to the control condition, humour increased positive affect, while not exclusively affecting negative affect, and increased the tendency for an external attribution of failure, while harm was clearly recognized. However, humour led to poorer subsequent performance, suggesting that humour may also have its costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Individuals conspicuously consume to signal their wealth. As a variant to this economic explanation, four studies explored individual’s psychological need for self-integrity as a potential motivating force for these consumption decisions. Relying on both field and experimental studies, and employing multiple instantiations of high-status goods and self-threat, we demonstrate that individuals consume status-infused products for their reparative effects on the ego. Individuals under self-threat sought ownership of high-status goods to nurse their psychological wounds (Study 1), and when afforded an alternate route to repair their self-integrity, sought these products less (Study 2). Furthermore, among a representative sample of US consumers, low-income individuals’ lowered self-esteem drove their willingness to spend on high-status goods (Study 3). Finally, these high-status goods serve the purpose of shielding an individual’s ego from future self-threats (Study 4). The compensatory role of high-status goods has important implications for consumer decision-making and public policies aimed at reducing consumer debt. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Two studies examined how people deal with conflicts between their self-interest concerns and their striving for fairness. Specifically, the affective reactions to outcome arrangements in which people receive better outcomes than comparable other persons, were studied. These arrangements of advantageous inequity constitute situations in which fairness and self-interest concerns are in conflict. Building on the social psychology of the self, it was predicted, and found, in both field and lab experiments that when people experience a self-threat, they react more positively to arrangements of advantageous inequity than when not experiencing this threat. This supports the view that people's need for positive information about their selves is an important factor in the underlying psychological processes of the way that people deal with conflicts between their fairness and self-interest concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meat-refusers (vegetarians and vegans) are typically derogated by meat eaters because they threaten meat eaters' moral self-image. In two preregistered experiments (N = 323 and N = 243), we examined the effects of communication style on this 'do-gooder' derogation. For this purpose, we developed a paradigm to create moral threat in participants in an online study. Afterwards, participants read an essay of a meat-refuser that was either static, confident, and result-oriented; or dynamic, uncertain, and process-oriented. Dynamically communicating meat-refusers were found to elicit less moral threat and be evaluated as less arrogant than static targets. Regardless of communication, meat refusers with non-moral motives were also evaluated as less threatening and arrogant than ethical vegetarians and vegans. We propose that dynamic communication can improve relations between meat eaters and meat-refusers and, thereby, may eventually inspire meat eaters to decrease their meat consumption in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Previous research has focused on enhanced processing as a response to causal uncertainty (CU), but relatively little empirical attention has been given to how CU is activated and the temporal unfolding of this activation. The current research investigates the counterintuitive idea that people inhibit causal uncertainty immediately after its activation. We find that this inhibition weakens over time. Study 1 demonstrates this inhibition effect with self-report uncertainty. Study 2 demonstrates this effect with an implicit accessibility measure. Temporary inhibition of uncertainty may be a general response when uncertainty is activated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents abstracts of studies related to health psychology. They include "The Freshman Year of College: Critical Period for Weight Gain?" "Prevalence and Psychosocial Parameters of Smoking in Cypriot College Students" and "The Impact of Online Support Group Participation Among HIV-Positive Individuals."

Abstract: Numerous studies suggest a cognitive bias for threat-related material in delusional ideation. However, few studies have examined this bias using a memory task. We investigated the influence of delusion-proneness on identity and expression memory for angry and happy faces. Participants high and low in delusion-proneness were presented with happy and angry faces and were later asked to recognise the same faces displaying a neutral expression. They also had to remember what the initial expressions of the faces had been. Remember/know/guess judgments were asked for both identity and expression memory. Results showed that delusion-prone participants better recognised the identity of angry faces compared to non-delusional participants. Also, this difference between the two groups was mainly due to a greater number of remember responses in delusion-prone participants. These findings extend previous studies by showing that delusions are associated with a memory bias for threat-related stimuli. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Prior research on the mere ownership effect demonstrated how mere ownership of an object could affect one's evaluation of an object per se, such as judging an owned object more favorably than an unowned object. Recent research found that mere ownership could also affect one's evaluation of domain specific self - efficacy , such as perceiving the self as having greater efficacy when experiencing mere ownership (vs. without-ownership) of an object. Three studies were conducted to examine the boundary conditions of this efficacy-based mere ownership effect. We propose that the self-enhancing tendency via mere ownership is not simply a positivity effect to restore positive valence in the self-concept, but is contingent on how important the owned object's functional attribute is to the self, especially when the self-concept is threatened. We demonstrated that efficacy-based mere ownership effect occurred only when the self-concept was threatened (vs. not threatened) (Study 1), and when the attributes of the owned object was central (vs. not central) to the idiosyncratic self-concept (Study 2), or culturally-derived self-concept (Study 3). The implications of and future research direction on efficacy-based mere ownership effect are discussed. • Past research found that mere ownership affects object evaluation, we found that it affects self-efficacy evaluation. • The efficacy-based mere ownership effect occurred when participants were under self-threat. • Participants perceived the self to have greater self-efficacy when the owned object has idiosyncratic self-centrality. • Participants perceived the self to have greater self-efficacy when the owned object has high cultural self-centrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite much research on feedback in teaching placement, there is a limited number of interaction studies. Moreover, how student teachers respond to critical mentor feedback remains quite unmapped. This article aims to explore this interactional aspect through the analysis of 12 post-observation sessions. Critical feedback sequences are analysed by face-work theory (Goffman, 1967). Findings suggest that student teachers are deeply concerned about saving face when receiving critical feedback. Their strategies include "contradicting", "withdrawing", and "repairing" face, in addition to "emphasising a self-reflective and progressive face". This article offers insights that may be helpful for communicating critical mentor feedback. Image 1 • When student teachers receive critical mentor feedback in practicum their competence face are threatened. • Student teachers save their competence face by several face work strategies. • Most common strategies are "repairing competence face" and "emphasising a competent self-reflective and progressive face". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]