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Much of the extant literature regarding generational cohort differences has been conducted on college-educated participants, a potential bias noted by previous researchers. The present study therefore examines generational cohort differences in workplace expectations between professional (i.e., 'white-collar,' largely college educated) and production (i.e., 'blue-collar,' largely non-college educated) workers. Using online survey data from 2,799 union workers employed by the same organization, we compared expectations when first hired as well as current workplace expectations between professional and production workers from three different generational cohorts (i.e., Gen Y, Gen X, and Baby Boomer). We found evidence for generational differences that confirms some of the common characterizations of Gen Y workers; however, this characterization was principally found within our professional subgroup of Gen Y employees. Further, the data suggest that other factors (e.g., workplace experiences, maturation effects) may shape current workplace expectations more than do generational differences. These results suggest that concern over generational differences may be limited to certain workplace expectations and to specific subgroups of employees., Author(s): Sarah Moore[sup.1] , Leon Grunberg[sup.2] , Alan J. Krause[sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) Department of Psychology, University of Puget Sound, 1500 N. Warner St., 98416, Tacoma, WA, USA (2) Department [...]

This study employed expectancy theory and a novel placebo to induce expectancies relative to affective benefits associated with a 15-week introductory Hatha yoga class. Participants in the experimental yoga group (n = 23) wore a silicone bracelet (placebo) during yoga for 6 weeks (placebo phase), were subsequently presented with negative information about the bracelet, then did not wear the bracelet for the next 6 weeks (no-placebo phase). Participants in the control yoga group (n = 22) received no intervention. The Visual Analog Mood Scale (VAMS) and Felt Arousal Scale (FAS) were administered at baseline, twice during the placebo phase: week 2 (acute placebo) and week 7 (6-weekplacebo), and twice during the no-placebo phase: week 8 (acute no-placebo), and week 13 (6-week no-placebo). VAMS results showed a group by placebo phase interaction (p = .013). Planned comparisons indicated higher experimental group VAMS scores for the acute placebo (p = .20, ES = 0.25) and 6-week placebo comparison (p = .02, ES = 0.64). During the no-placebo phase, experimental group VAMS scores reverted to the level of the control group for the acute no-placebo test (p = .40, ES = 0.08) and were lower than the control at the 6-week no-placebo comparison (p = .01, ES = -0.70). No between or within group effects were found for FAS responses (ps > .05). Results suggest that placebo effects may account for some of the affective benefits associated with yoga practice., The effect of exercise on affective change is well documented (Petruzzello, Landers, Hatfield, Kubitz, & Salazar, 1991; Reed & Buck, 2009; Reed & Ones, 2006). Common reported exercise-related affective changes [...]

Sociologists have long used educational expectations to understand the complex mental processes underlying individuals' educational decision making. Yet, little research evaluates how students actually formulate their educational expectations. Status attainment theory asserts that students adopt their educational expectations early based on family background and social influences, and that their educational expectations are driven by a static mental construct as a result. In contrast, recent research based on Bayesian learning theory hypothesizes that students mostly adapt their educational expectations in light of new information about their academic potential. Comparing models of expectations formation in adolescence, we find that students' expectations do not derive from a static mental construct. However, students adapt their educational expectations only modestly and only in response to very large changes in grade point averages. Thus, adolescent educational expectations stabilize early and are rather persistent over time., Introduction In an oft-cited work, Gambetta (1987) poses the question: Are students pushed into their educational attainments by aggregate social influences or do they jump into these attainments by their [...]

Are children's statements about their futures related to outcomes in middle age? In 1966 almost 13,500 children ages 12-13 were asked whether they thought their futures would be worse, similar or better as compared to others of their own age. It was shown that children with low, and surprisingly high, expectations did suffer from increased mortality, economic hardship and weak labor market attachment risks in middle age. Although it cannot be ruled out that expectations worked as self-fulfilling prophesies, the analyses showed that expectations essentially reflected facts known to the children (i.e., upbringing conditions and their own abilities and achievements)., Introduction Do children's expectations predict success or failure over the life course? Are children who think they will do worse than others likely to do so? What about those who [...]

Perruchet, Cleeremans, and Destrebecqz (2006) reported a striking dissociation between trends in the conscious expectancy of an event and the speed of a response that is cued by that event. They argued that this indicates the operation of independent processes in human associative learning. However, there remains a strong possibility that this dissociation is not a consequence of associative learning and is instead caused by changes in vigilance or sensitivity based on the recency of events on previous trials. Three experiments tested this possibility with versions of a cued reaction time task in which trends in performance could not be explained by these nonassociative factors. Experiment 1 introduced a dual-response version of the task, in which response-related vigilance should be held relatively constant, and Experiments 2 and 3 used a differential conditioning procedure to separate the influence of recent response cue presentation from the recent associative history of the trial events. In all experiments, similar trends in reaction time were evident, suggesting a genuine influence of associative learning on response performance. Experiment 3 demonstrated that the associative contribution to these trends was not caused by commensurate changes in expectancy of the response cue. Keywords: associative learning, expectancy, reaction time, conditioning, human learning DOI: 10.1037/a0019403

Consumers are guided by how they expect an event will make them feel through forecasting and backcasting. In forecasting, consumers consider how their imagined feelings during an impacting event might change over time. In backcasting, they consider how imagined feelings in a future period might be different were the impacting event to happen.

Many previous studies of animal and human learning indicate a processing advantage for cues previously experienced as good predictors of outcomes over those experienced as poorer predictors. Four studies of human associative learning investigated whether learned predictiveness acts at the level of learning (modulating the rate at which cue--outcome associations form), performance (modulating the strength of behavioral responses), or both. In Experiments 1-3, it was found that retrospectively altering the learned predictiveness of cues influenced responding to those cues, demonstrating that learned predictiveness influences performance. Experiment 4 indicates that learned predictiveness also influences learning by demonstrating that the learned predictiveness of a cue affects the acquisition of an association between a novel cue and the outcome with which it is paired. Keywords: human associative learning, cue--outcome association, learned predictiveness

Studies suggest that experience and expectations of intimate partner violence (IPV) among college women may be positively related. We investigated their association using modified versions of two standard measures: the Conflict Tactics Scale and the Multidimensional Emotional Abuse Scale. Five hundred and thirty-four college women completed each measure twice: once based on their partner's actual behaviors and once based on what they expected a male partner would do in a relationship. Results demonstrated that IPV experience and IPV expectations are significantly and positively related. Results also showed that respondents expected more IPV than they reportedly experienced, suggesting that college women may believe that IPV occurs more frequently in others' relationships than in their own. Findings suggest that behavioral interventions for IPV victims should address IPV expectations. Keywords: psychological abuse; physical abuse; college women; dating violence; intimate partner violence

Although people generally are optimistic about the future, they will lower their predictions to brace for bad news when confronting a challenge to their predictions. Three studies examined whether this shift in predictions for self-relevant outcomes extends to predictions for others' outcomes. That is, the authors explored whether people display 'compassionate bracing.' Results reveal that participants did not brace for friends even when their friend faced imminent feedback (Study 1) and even when the outcome was highly important to the friend (Study 2). Participants braced for friends only when the friend's performance had self-relevant implications (Study 3). The authors discuss the implications of these findings for communication and relationship health. Keywords: optimism; expectations; risk judgments; bracing; relationships

The authors tested the limitations of paternalism as an explanation for the third-person effect's behavioral aspect, suggesting that the theory of reasoned action better explains why people are sometimes motivated to act on the third-person effect. This study (N = 600) revealed that the third-person effect can motivate people toward socially desirable action that is not corrective in nature, supporting the theory of reasoned action as a theoretical basis for the behavioral aspect of the third-person effect. Keywords: third-person effect; theory of reasoned action; behavioral component; public service announcements; political advertising

The present study investigated the effects of anticipation on skin conductance while participants were answering a set of questions which included one of concealed knowledge. Two experiments were conducted. In Exp. 1, 26 participants completed one experimental session. Each participant was asked to choose one two-digit number from 10 to 99 and was presented 19 other randomly generated two-digit numbers. The list of numbers was then presented to the participant on a computer screen, with a 60-sec. interval occurring every two questions. The participant-selected number was defined as the target question which was randomly placed within the 4th to 17th item of 20 questions stated as follows: 'Is your selected number.--' The participant was asked to answer 'No' to all questions. The skin-conductance response to each question was measured. In Exp. 2, the experimental procedure was the same as that in Exp. 1 except each participant first answered 10 nontarget questions, then answered a target question with the participant's selected number, and then answered another 10 nontarget questions. There were a total of 21 questions. Analysis indicated participants in both experiments generated the highest mean skin conductance while answering the target questions, followed by lower amplitudes to questions prior to and after the target question. The skin-conductance response pattern can be used to identify the psychological process of anticipation of concealed information.

Limited research has examined the effects of using disclaimers on person perception, and none has examined disclaimer effectiveness. Four studies test whether disclaimers effectively ward off negative judgments regarding the specific disclaimed traits. Study 1 finds that using an arrogance disclaimer ('I don't mean to sound arrogant, but ...') increased judgments of the speaker's arrogance but only when followed by an arrogant comment. Studies 2 and 3 yield similar findings using laziness and selfishness disclaimers. Studies 2, 3, and 4 examine five possible underlying mechanisms regarding why disclaimers can backfire. The most support was obtained for the notion that disclaimers increase an audience's expectations that the speaker will say something consistent with the unwanted trait, which then increases perceptions of that trait in the speaker. We discuss some possible moderating variables as well as some implications of these findings for general impression formation models. Keywords: disclaimers; qualifiers; confirmation bias; impression formation; expectation effects; person perception

This study examined the predictive utility of self efficacy and three types of outcome expectations (physical outcomes, social outcomes, and self-evaluative outcomes) on students' behavioral intentions and actual behaviors in a beginning weight training class. A total of 137 participants (62 men, 75 women: [M.sub.age]-21.4 yr., SD=2.0) completed questionnaires assessing beliefs and intentions toward weight training. Attendance and workout log entries were used as a measure of actual behaviors. Regression analyses indicated that physical outcome expectations and self-efficacy emerged as significant predictors of students' behavioral intentions and actual behaviors. Findings of this study were interpreted from self-efficacy theory.

We assessed parents' beliefs about treatment credibility and effectiveness and examined the influence of these beliefs on subsequent treatment participation. Seventy-six parents completed the Credibility/Expectancies Questionnaire--Parent Version (CEQ-P), and subsequently participated in treatment for their child's clinically referred conduct problems. The key findings were that: (a) the CEQ-P is composed of two components that measure parents' treatment credibility and expectancies; (b) the total scale and each component are internally consistent and have strong test-retest reliability; (c) scores on the CEQ-P are significantly associated with scores on a measure of parent motivation for treatment, supporting the construct validity of this measure; and (d) scores on the CEQ-P at the first clinic visit significantly predict subsequent adherence to treatment procedures above and beyond demographic variables and parent motivation for treatment. This study provides an efficient and psychometrically sound measure of parent beliefs about treatment and demonstrates the importance of such beliefs for subsequent treatment adherence. Keywords Credibility * Expectancies * Motivation * Treatment participation * Child therapy

Participants' expectancies and hypnotic performance throughout the course of a standardized, individually administered hypnotic protocol were analyzed with a structural equation model that integrated underlying ability, expectancy, and hypnotic response. The model examined expectancies and ability as simultaneous predictors of hypnotic responses as well as hypnotic responses as an influence on subsequent expectancies. Results of the proposed model, which fit very well, supported each of the 4 major hypothesized effects: Expectancies showed significant stability across the course of the hypnosis protocol; expectancies influenced subsequent hypnotic responses, controlling for latent ability; hypnotic responses, in turn, affected subsequent expectancies; and a latent trait underlay hypnotic responses, controlling for expectancies. Although expectancies had a significant effect on hypnotic responsiveness, there was an abundance of variance in hypnotic performance unexplained by the direct or indirect influence of expectation and compatible with the presence of an underlying cognitive ability. Keywords: hypnosis, hypnotic suggestibility, structural equation modeling, expectancy theory

Human infants and adults generate causal inferences about the physical world from observations of single, novel events, thereby violating Hume's thesis that spatiotemporal cooccurrence from prior experience drives causal perception in our species. Is this capacity unique or shared with other animals? We address this question by presenting the results of three experiments on free-ranging rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta), focusing specifically on their capacity to generate expectations about the nature of completely unfamiliar physical transformations. By using an expectancy violation looking-time method, each experiment presented subjects with either physically possible or impossible transformations of objects (e.g., a knife, as opposed to a glass of water, appears to cut an apple in half). In both experiments, subjects looked longer when the transformation was impossible than when it was possible. Follow up experiments ruled out that these patterns could be explained by association. These results show that in the absence of training or direct prior experience, rhesus monkeys generate causal inferences from single, novel events, using their knowledge of the physical world to guide such expectations. cognitive evolution | expectation | innate representations | primate cognition

Two studies investigated the implications of ethnic minorities' prejudice expectations for their affective and behavioral outcomes during interethnic interactions. In both studies, the more ethnic minorities expected Whites to be prejudiced, the more negative experiences they had during interethnic interactions. This finding held true for chronic prejudice expectations in a diary study of college roommates (Study 1) and for situationally induced prejudice expectations in a laboratory interaction (Study 2). In Study 2, the authors extended this work to examine the relationship between ethnic minorities' prejudice expectancies and their White partners' psychological experience during interethnic interactions. Consistent with predictions, the more ethnic minorities expected Whites to be prejudiced, the more their White partners had positive experiences during interethnic interactions. These divergent experiences of ethnic minorities and Whites have important implications for the psychological success of interactions between members of these groups. Keywords: expectancies; prejudice; interracial interactions; stigma; social interactions

Motivational factors receive little attention in current theories of the placebo effect. Reasons for this position are reviewed, and an argument is made for reconsidering the influence of motivation on the placebo effect. The authors hypothesize that nonconscious goals alter reactions to a placebo expectation. Specifically, the authors predict that the placebo effect is most likely to occur when individuals have a goal that can be fulfilled by confirmation of the placebo expectation. The authors tested this notion in 5 experiments. The results demonstrate the role of motivation in the placebo effect across a variety of symptom domains and via 4 different goal activation techniques. Moreover, this moderating effect occurred for both positive and negative placebo expectations, across different placebo effect measures, and in brief laboratory experiments as well as in lengthier studies. It is argued that theories regarding the placebo effect should incorporate motivational factors. Keywords: expectations, goals, health, placebo effect

An attempt is made to examine how control is exercised in an era of financial transparency. It is concluded that the dynamics of modern capitalism need to be further studied in light of reciprocal expectations and their consequences.

Research showed that people lowered their expectations about an uncertain outcome when self-relevant feedback was involved.

Anecdotal evidence from players and coaches indicates that cognitive processing (e.g., expectations about the upcoming pitch) plays an important role in successful baseball batting, yet this aspect of hitting has not been investigated in detail. The present study provides experimental evidence that prior expectations significantly influence the timing of a baseball swing. A two-state Markov model was used to predict the effects of pitch sequence and pitch count on batting performance. The model is a hitting strategy of switching between expectancy states using a simple set of transition rules. In a simulated batting experiment, the model provided a good fit to the hitting performance of 6 experienced college baseball players, and the estimated model parameters were highly correlated with playing level.

The research examined whether age-related cognitive declines affect performance when people form impressions of others. The results from Experiment 1 showed that young and old participants who held positive expectancies about an individual spent more time processing and had better memory for information that was inconsistent rather than consistent with their expectancies. But participants who held negative expectancies tended to focus on information that was consistent rather than inconsistent with their expectancies. In Experiment 2 the task was made more demanding by limiting the amount of time participants had to form their impressions. Under these conditions, older participants who had positive expectations showed deficits in memory for negative information compared with young participants. As expected, both groups performed similarly when they held negative expectancies for the target. The results suggest that although both older and younger adults process social information similarly under self-paced conditions, older adults may be at a disadvantage processing negative information about positively characterized individuals when the context in which impression formation occurs is cognitively demanding.

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that humans are vigilant for differences between stimuli in the environment by comparing the amount of surprise elicited by unexpected differences versus unexpected similarities. In Experiment 1, participants performed a weight judgment task where their implicit expectancies about the relative sizes of two wooden blocks were violated. For some participants, the unexpected event was that the two blocks differed in size when participants expected them to be similar in size; for other participants, the unexpected event was that the two blocks were the same size when participants expected them to differ in size. Unexpected differences in size produced greater spontaneous expressions of surprise and mirth than did unexpected similarities in size. Experiment 2 replicated the surprise finding when participants' expectancies about weight were violated, rather than size. These findings are consistent with the idea that people are more attuned to differences between stimuli in the environment than to similarities.

The Affective Expectation Model contends that affective expectations shape affective experience. Specifically, it argues that affective experiences are generally assimilated toward expectations when the two are congruent or when a discrepancy between the two is not noticed. When a discrepancy exists and is noticed, however, affective experiences should be contrasted from the expectation. Two experiments using psychology undergraduates (Ns = 122 and 105) were conducted to test whether the individual-difference variable optimism-pessimism moderates these effects. It was hypothesized that optimists, because of their tendency to overlook contradictions, are less likely to recognize when an affective expectation is disconfirmed and thus often assimilate their affective reactions toward expectations. However, it was hypothesized that pessimists, because of their greater sensitivity to contradictions, are more likely to notice when an experience is discrepant from an expectation and thus often contrast their affective reactions from expectations. The results supported these hypotheses.

Auditory sequences of tones were used to examine a form of stimulus-driven attending that involves temporal expectancies and is influenced by stimulus rhythm. Three experiments examined the influence of sequence timing on comparative pitch judgments of two tones (standard, comparison) separated by interpolated pitches. In two of the experiments, interpolated tones were regularly timed, with onset times of comparison tones varied relative to this rhythm. Listeners were most accurate judging the pitch of rhythmically expected tones and least accurate with very unexpected ones. This effect persisted over time, but disappeared when the rhythm of interpolated tones was either missing or irregular.

How do spouses evaluate their interactions with each other? Although spouses' appraisals of their interactions with their partners influence relationship outcomes, it is not clear how such appraisals are formed. The current study examined the role of expectancy confirmation processes in evaluations of relationship interactions. A sample of 82 newlywed couples engaged in two videotaped problem-solving interactions and reported their marital satisfaction, expectations prior to each interaction, and appraisals after each interaction. Structural equation modeling revealed that (a) spouses' prior expectations directly affected appraisals of their interactions and completely mediated the indirect effects of marital satisfaction and (b) behavior did not mediate the association between expectations and appraisals but instead influenced appraisals independently. Results suggest that partners' behaviors may be a pathway through which initially positive beliefs about close relationships can deteriorate, despite expectancy confirmation processes that operate to maintain them.

Hindsight bias in economic expectations was investigated with particular focus on the moderating effects of attitudes. Stronger hindsight bias was expected for subjectively favorable economic developments. Six months before and after the introduction of the euro as the official book currency of the European Monetary Union, participants rated the probabilities of several economic developments. Results show that hindsight bias occurs with economic expectations and that it is moderated by attitudes. Euro supporters showed stronger hindsight bias for positive economic developments than for negative ones, whereas euro opponents showed the opposite pattern. The results support the notion that hindsight bias is a reconstruction bias in which self-serving tendencies can influence the reconstruction selectively for favorable and unfavorable outcomes.

The purpose of the investigations was to dissociate processes of task preparation from task execution in the task-switching paradigm. The basic assumption was that task repetitions have 2 advantages over task shifts: an activation advantage as a result of the execution of the same task type in the pretrial, and an expectation advantage, because participants, in general, implicitly expect a repetition. In Experiments 1-3, the authors explicitly manipulated expectancies by presenting cues that announced a shift and/or a repetition with probabilities of 1.00, .75, .50, or .25. Increasing latencies with decreasing probability for shifts and repetitions show that the expectation advantage can be equalized by preparation. However, the activation advantage represented by constant shift costs between tasks of the same probability is not penetrable by preparation. In Experiments 4 and 5, the authors found evidence that preparation involves activation of the expected task and inhibition of distracting tasks.

Pleasantness and intensity ratings of beverages served in containers congruent and incongruent with expectancy were assessed. Past research has shown that the violation of food expectancies, e.g., color, taste, temperature, leads to more negative evaluations of food. Thus, it was hypothesized that beverages sampled from a container incongruent with expectancy, e.g., beer from a coffee cup, would be rated less favorably than the same beverage sampled from a container congruent with expectancy, e.g., beer from a beer bottle. 61 participants evaluated three beverages (beer, orange juice, and hot chocolate) in three containers (bottle, glass, and cup) using 11-point rating scales for pleasantness and intensity. Analysis indicated beverages were rated as significantly more pleasant in containers congruent with expectancy, as well as rated more intense when presented in bottles. These results further address the effects of violating expectations on producing negative hedonic evaluations.

The authors examined the roles of self-esteem and perceived social support in moderating the relationship between dual social expectations (instrumentality and expressivity) and well-being. Participants were 166 female and 87 male students in an urban community in the midwestern United States. After the authors controlled for the main effects of instrumental and expressive expectations, social support, as predicted, moderated the relationship between dual expectations and well-being: With higher levels of social support, higher levels of dual expectations were associated with higher levels of well-being; with lower levels of social support, higher levels of dual expectations were associated with lower levels of well-being. Contrary to predictions, however, self-esteem did not moderate the relation between dual expectations and well-being. The discussion focuses on the importance of social resources in enhancing the potential benefits of dual expectations in interpersonal contexts. Key words: dual expectations, expressivity, instrumentality, self-esteem, social support, well-being, ********** FOR MANY YEARS, psychologists have debated the contribution of androgyny --the coexistence of traditionally masculine, or instrumental, characteristics and traditionally feminine, or expressive, characteristics--to psychological health (Bern, 1974; Spence, [...]

This study was developed by a group of Israeli and Palestinian researchers for the purpose of examining social knowledge of young people in the conflicted region of the Middle East. The article examines the relations between measures of interpretations of the past (perceptions of legitimacy and emotional reactions toward the historical 'narratives' of Israelis and Palestinians) and measures of expectations of the collective future, as reflected in conflict resolution beliefs. Data were collected from December 1999 to February 2000 (before the present crisis [2000-2002] in Jewish-Palestinian relations) among representative samples of high school students (Grades 10 and 12): 1,183 Palestinians in the Palestinian National Territories and 1,188 Israeli Jewish students. The results are discussed from developmental, social, and cultural perspectives.

How do people feel about unexpected positive and negative outcomes? Decision affect theory (DAT) proposes that people feel displeasure when their outcomes fall short of the counterfactual alternative and elated when their outcomes exceed the counterfactual alternative. Because disconfirmed expectations provide a counterfactual alternative, DAT predicts that bad outcomes feel worse when unexpected than when expected, yet good outcomes feel better when unexpected than when expected. Consistency theories propose that people experience displeasure when their expectations are disconfirmed because the disconfirmation suggests an inability to predict. According to consistency theories, both good and bad outcomes feel worse when unexpected than when expected. These two theoretical approaches were tested in three studies. The results consistently support DAT.

In four Pavlovian conditioned lick-suppression experiments, rats had two conditioned stimuli (CSs X and A) independently paired with footshock, followed by pairings of a compound of A and X with the footshock. On subsequent tests with CS X, less conditioned suppression was observed than in control subjects that lacked the compound AX [arrow right] footshock trials. This overexpectation effect was reversed through posttraining extinction of CS A, a result consistent with both performance- and acquisition-focused models of retrospective revaluation. However, only performance-focused models could account for how posttraining increases or decreases in the A--footshock temporal interval attenuate the overexpectation effect.

This article discusses the relationship between self-perception, exercise behavior, and health expectancy in women.

This article examines the effects of a cognitive intervention on alcohol-related outcome expectancies in a sample of male and female college students. Findings indicate that participation in the cognitive intervention resulted in reduced alcohol expectancies in all subjects but female participants increased alcohol consumption after the intervention.

This article examines social factors that influence unmarried parents' expectations regarding marriage. Findings indicate that unwed parents feel optimistic about marriage immediately following the child's birth but that substance abuse problems, physical violence, interpersonal conflict, and gender distrust significantly diminish expectations about marriage.

This article examines the relationship between alcohol-related expectancies, personality traits, situational variables, and the likelihood of aggressive behavior. Findings indicate that there are significant associations between personality-related aggression proneness, situational cues, and expectations of aggressive behavior but alcohol consumption alone has only a minor influence on expected behavioral outcomes.

Research in which subjects estimated time duration suggests accuracy estimation declined as standard intervals differ from context rates. Judgment of time was most accurate when standard time intervals ended as anticipated, given the context rate.

This article examines the effects of coping and action self-efficacy on behavioral intentions and preventative nutrition. Results indicate that action self-efficacy, perceptions of health risks, and outcome expectancies were correlated with behavioral intentions while coping self-efficacy was related to adherence to a low-fat, high-fiber diet for six months.

This study applies a life-course approach and retirement migration theory to develop a model of future housing expectations and actual moves for a random sample of men and women in late midlife. Results suggest that late-midlife workers and retirees expect to age in place; expectations to live in highly supportive environments are uniformly low. Older, nonmetropolitan respondents with less education and more years in their homes express the strongest expectations that they will age in place. Those people who rent their homes, have weaker ties to their communities, and have more symptoms of depression tend to foresee a move in the future. However, physical health of respondents and their spouses do not predict future housing expectations. Prior expectations about aging in place, residential history, and life-course changes in marriage and retirement predict actual moves within the next two years, with differing patterns for men and women.

We used Rotter's (1954, 1982) social learning theory and Kirsch's (1985, 1999) response expectancy extension thereof to clarify distinctions between coping-related expectancies (beliefs about the outcomes of coping efforts) and coping dispositions (tendencies to use particular coping responses), specifically focusing on the role of generalized expectancies for negative mood regulation (NMR) as a predictor of individual differences in coping and well-being. Two studies using structural equation modeling provided support for direct and indirect associations between NMR expectancies and symptoms of depression. In Study 1 NMR expectancies predicted situational avoidance coping responses and symptoms of depression and anxiety, independent of dispositional avoidance coping tendencies. In Study 2, NMR expectancies were associated with depressive symptoms, concurrently and prospectively, independent of dispositional optimism and pessimism. Both studies indicated that NMR expectancies are more strongly associated with depressive symptoms than with symptoms of anxiety and physical illness. Results underscore the importance of distinguishing between expectancies and other personality variables related to coping.

This paper reports the results of two studies investigating judgements made by spider phobics about the potential threatening consequences (unconditioned stimulus, UCS, expectancies) associated with their phobic stimulus, fear-relevant (FR) stimuli, and fear-irrelevant (FI) stimuli. Using a 'thought experiment' UCS expectancy paradigm, the studies reported found that (1) spider phobics reported significantly higher UCS expectancies to spider stimuli than nonphobics, (2) spider phobics consistently underestimated the probability of aversive consequences following FI stimuli and (3) this underestimation of UCS expectancies to FI stimuli in phobics was not the result of a contrast effect resulting from sequential FR and FI judgements. This differential effect may have important implications for the kind of mechanism which mediates judgements about phobic consequences. These findings suggest that the dimensions on which phobic stimuli are categorised may be 'stretched' in the case of phobics and that this gives rise to the comparative underestimation of threat associated with FI stimuli but also makes phobics more vulnerable to acquiring other phobias.

The contribution of attachment styles to social intimacy and expectations of friends was investigated in Caucasian American and Korean young adults. Koreans scored higher on preoccupied attachment, lower on intimacy, and lower on friendship expectations. In regression analyses, secure attachment contributed positively and dismissive attachment contributed negatively to intimacy and positive expectations; culture added significantly to the equations, with Korean students reporting less intimate relationships with friends and more negative expectations than Caucasian Americans.

This study indicates that motivation, created by a mental comparison of a positive future to the negative aspects of the present, is a powerful variable in the relationship between expectations and behavior.

Violations of expectations have been advanced as an explanation for how people make veracity judgments, and previous research has found that unexpected weird behavior is rated as less honest than expected normal behavior. The current experiment (N = 728) varied norms and expectations independently to test four alternative models of veracity judgments. The models included a normative expectation model, an expectancy violation sufficient model, a model based on Expectancy Violation Theory, and a norm violation model. The data were consistent with a norm violation model. Aberrant behavior, whether expected or unexpected, was rated as less honest than normative behavior. Neither expectation violation nor actual message veracity affected deception judgments. These data provide additional evidence of the primacy of behavior over prior expectations in the evaluation of face to face communication.

This study investigated the relationship between constructs of personal control and exercise attendance. Results indicate that behavioral intention and capacity beliefs, or individual expectations about action-specific behaviors, were more powerful predictors of attendance than beliefs related to outcomes.