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The aims of this paper are two-fold: (i) to examine the impact of audience individualism and collectivism orientation on the judgment of strategic self-presentations and (ii) to test whether audience individualism and collectivism orientation would affect the importance of likeability and competence in determining social outcomes. In two studies, participants evaluated modest and boastful presentations in an achievement context. It was found that the more collectivistic the audience was, the more likely the modest presenter was to be rated as likable, competent, and deserving of a desirable social outcome. In contrast, the more individualistic the audience was, the more likely the boastful presenter was to be rated as likeable, competent, and deserving of a desirable social outcome. The importance of likeability and competence in predicting the final social outcome was moderated by audience individualism and collectivism orientation. Likeability was more important in deciding the social outcome for those who were more collectivistic than for those who were less so (Study 1). Competence was more important in determining the social outcome for those who were more individualistic (Study 2). These studies build a potential theoretical bridge between social influence and social perception/social judgment literature. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When only a handful of members from a disadvantaged group occupy positions of power, they are considered tokens. Previous research suggests that observers tend to consider tokenism as an egalitarian practice. Given its ambiguous nature, we hypothesized that reactions to tokenism would be shaped by individuals' sensitivity to inequality. In Study 1, we showed that women (vs. men) and individuals low (vs. high) on social dominance orientation differentiated more between a token and an egalitarian decision in the context of gender-related practices. Similar findings were observed in Study 2, which involved gender and feminist identification as independent variables. Additional support, particularly for the role of social dominance orientation, was found in Study 3, which involved an ethnic token. Together, results demonstrate the role of individuals' chronic sensitivity to inequality in shaping their reactions to token practices. Theoretical and practical implications regarding the effect of tokenism on individuals' evaluations and responses to inequality are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the effect of family identification (one's subjective sense of belonging to and commonality with the family) on self-reported ill-health in 206 Valencian undergraduates, with eight months between Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2). While greater family identification T1 predicted lower ill-health T2, ill-health T1 did not predict family identification T2. Family contact T1 (one's intensity of interaction with family) was unrelated to ill-health T2. This shows that family identification impacts positively on health over time (rather than health impacting positively on family identification over time), and this is not reducible to effects exerted by family contact. These findings indicate that encouraging patients to engage in group activities might produce negligible health gains unless the patient identifies with the group in question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People's perceptions are often distorted in a way that aligns with their desires and goals. We argue that having a goal to affiliate changes the perception of interpersonal distance in a way that may help to fulfil this affiliation goal. As other people are goal-relevant when having an affiliation goal, we expected that people with affiliation goals would estimate the distance between themselves and another person as smaller than people with no affiliation goals. In two studies, we manipulated affiliation goals by priming participants with affiliation or control words. Our main dependent variable was the estimated interpersonal distance between themselves and the experimenter. Results showed that participants primed with affiliation estimated the interpersonal distance as smaller compared with participants primed with control words. We did not obtain reliable differences between the affiliation and control conditions on other distance and height estimations. Our results suggest that having or not having affiliation goals influences people's perception of the distance between them and other people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is considerable evidence that psychological membership of crowds can protect people in dangerous events, although the underlying social-psychological processes have not been fully investigated. There is also evidence that those responsible for managing crowd safety view crowds as a source of psychological danger, views that may themselves impact upon crowd safety; yet, there has been little examination of how such 'disaster myths' operate in practice. In a study of an outdoor music event characterized as a near disaster, analysis of questionnaire survey data ( N = 48) showed that social identification with the crowd predicted feeling safe directly as well as indirectly through expectations of help and trust in others in the crowd to deal with an emergency. In a second study of the same event, qualitative analysis of interviews ( N = 20) and of contemporaneous archive materials showed that, in contrast to previous findings, crowd safety professionals' references to 'mass panic' were highly nuanced. Despite an emphasis by some safety professionals on crowd 'disorder', crowd participants and some of the professionals also claimed that self-organization in the crowd prevented disaster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research demonstrates social support from fellow group members as unique trigger of additional effort and performance in groups. Support-induced effort gains are shown both compared with groups without social support and individual work. Study 1 examined existing beliefs about motivating group work among employees with professional group work experience (n = 130). The results revealed social support as one of the most frequently reported sources of group-induced effort gains. Study 2 explored self-reported effort intentions in group training scenarios among athletes (n = 94). Finally, Study 3 examined performance as a manifest indicator of effort in an experimental persistence task among students (n = 88). The results of Study 2 and Study 3 showed significant gains due to social support in both self-reported effort and manifest performance, respectively. Together, the results demonstrate that receiving social support from fellow group members leads to higher effort in groups at the level of existing beliefs about motivating group work, at the level of effort intentions, and at the level of manifest performance behavior. The observed findings cannot be explained by established sources of motivation gains in groups such as social comparison or social indispensability. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research suggests that women are more likely than men to be selected for leadership positions when organizations are in a performance crisis, a phenomenon labeled the glass cliff. Two scenario studies demonstrate that the glass-cliff effect is attenuated when organizational stakeholders support the decision to appoint a new leader (i.e., indicating that the new leader can rely on social resources). The glass-cliff effect remains when this decision is not fully supported (i.e., indicating that the new leader is unable to rely on social resources). This moderation seems driven by beliefs that men are more likely to possess agentic leadership traits and women more communal leadership traits. When there is no performance crisis, these gendered beliefs are less influential, and thus, social resources do not inform people's leader evaluations. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates discriminatory peer aggression among primary school aged children as a function of minority status (based on nationality, ethnicity, religion) of the target and the relative proportions of minority and majority children in the school. Participants were 925 8- to 12-year-olds attending schools in Britain. Children of minority status were no more likely than children of majority background to experience peer aggression in general. However, minority children were more likely to experience being the victims of discriminatory aggression. Two contrasting predictions were tested: that discriminatory aggression would be more likely when the minority group was relatively small in number or, alternatively, that as the proportions of children of minority backgrounds increased across schools, discriminatory aggression would be greater. The latter hypothesis was supported. Findings also revealed that in schools with a lower minority presence, discriminatory aggression experienced by majority children was significantly lower than that reported by minority children. When the school minority rate exceeded 81%, discriminatory aggression was more commonly experienced among majority children than among minority children. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-sectional research has shown that frequency of self-disclosure to outgroup members mediates the positive relationship between intergroup friendship and outgroup attitudes. The current research investigated the relationship between self-disclosure and attitudes in more depth. New undergraduate students were asked to nominate an ingroup or outgroup friend and then report the intimacy of their disclosures to them, their anxiety and attitudes towards a series of social groups, in the first week of the semester and 6 weeks later. Intimacy of disclosure predicted more positive attitudes towards outgroups over time, but this association was only found among participants who nominated an outgroup friend. In the ingroup friend condition, a negative association was found. These associations were mediated by general intergroup anxiety. These relationships highlight the importance of integrating theories of interpersonal and intergroup relations when investigating intergroup contact. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the role of desired, feared, and expected possible future identity structures in the restructuring of identity after two life transitions. A longitudinal study was conducted on 86 young adults during the transition from school to university and 143 adults during the transition to parenthood. In both samples, pre-transition desires and expectations about the restructuring of identity predicted post-transition actual identity structures. Post-transition emotional well-being was higher among those whose post-transition identity structures more closely matched their initial desires and less closely matched their initial fears, and among those who reported a greater magnitude of identity change. We propose that possible future identity structures play an important role in the identity accommodation process during life-transitions, and that they have significant implications for well-being. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]