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The Effect of Enclothed Cognition on Empathic Responses and Helping Behavior
Abstract
Based on the enclothed cognition framework, we tested whether the physical experience of wearing a tunic and identifying it with a nursing scrub may enhance empathic and helping responding, compared to the solely physical experience of wearing the scrub or associating with its symbolic meaning. Results of Study 1 (United Kingdom; n = 150) showed that participants who wore a tunic and identified it with a nursing scrub reported higher empathic concern and helped more in a punctual scenario, compared to the other two conditions. Results of Study 2 (Spain; n = 100) supported findings from Study 1 and showed that participants who wore a tunic and identified it with a nursing scrub volunteered more hours and showed higher response latency for altruistic motivation relevant words. Thus, the current research supports the enclothed cognition framework and shows that it also affects vicarious emotions and prosocial behavior.
... Participants wearing police uniforms had their attention significantly more drawn to the hoodie image than that of the suit, and there was no difference for the other participants. Like López-Pérez et al. (2016), they also found no significant difference for participants who merely saw the uniform sitting on the desk next to their computer. ...
... These studies demonstrate a breadth of experimental paradigms that all seek to explore the bounds of the enclothed cognition phenomenon. Some studies, most notably those by López-Pérez et al. (2016) and Civile and Obhi (2017), offer supporting evidence of effects that depend on both the significance of a clothing item and on participants actually wearing the outfit rather than merely looking at it or identifying with it. However, there remains relatively little evidence that such effects can influence our core cognitive processes. ...
... Previous research clearly indicates that different clothing choices can change the way that participants describe themselves (Hannover & Kuhnen, 2002) and other measures of self reflection. Furthermore, studies such as those by López-Pérez et al. (2016) and Civile and Obhi (2017) indicate measurable effects that appear to depend on both the significance attached to the clothing and that participants actually wear it. However, we wish to call into question the stronger claim that enclothed cognition has demonstrated effects on how we think rather than just what we think. ...
Adam and Galinsky (2012) motivated their theory of enclothed cognition using experimental results showing that wearing a doctor's coat improved selective attention by reducing errors on incongruent Stroop trials. While many other studies have pursued extensions of this idea, there have been no published replications of this influence on the Stroop effect. This preregistered, direct replication attempt uses equivalence testing and the small telescopes framework from Simonsohn (2015) to argue that such an effect, if it exists, is too small to have been reliably detected under the original design. Theoretically predicted sequential effects as small as 7 ms were successfully detected at alpha=.05, indicating that the failure to find an effect of lab coat is likely not due to power limitations or poor experimental technique.
... Participant wearing a lab coat have increased controlled attention during a matchstick arithmetic problem compared to participants wearing their regular clothes, with wearing the lab coat to affect individual's working memory capacity (Stockum & DeCaro, 2014). In a similar vein, wearing a tunic which is associated with a nurse scrub promotes empathetic and prosocial behavior (López-Pérez, Ambrona, Wilson, & Khalil, 2016). López-Pérez et. ...
... matchstick arithmetic problem compared to participants wearing their regular clothes, with wearing the lab coat to affect individual's working memory capacity (Stockum & DeCaro, 2014). In a similar vein, wearing a tunic which is associated with a nurse scrub promotes empathetic and prosocial behavior (López-Pérez, Ambrona, Wilson, & Khalil, 2016). López-Pérez et. al (2016) reported that empathetic and helping response is enhanced only in participants that had the physical experience of wearing the tuning and have also identified it with its symbolic meaning; whereas participants that have been exposed only to one of the two conditions did not elicited such a behavior. Moreover, in a series of five experim ...
... The overall findings of the study are consistent with prior literature suggesting that clothing experience produce behavioral and cognitive stimulation (Adam & Galinsky, 2012;Stockum & DeCaro, 2014;López-Pérez et al., 2016). Findings on enclothed cognition are underlined by two basic premises; a cloth has power over the wearer's mind if: (a) the cloth is identified with its specific symbolic qualities; and (b) the individual experiences the physical state of wearing the cloth. ...
According to the enclothed cognition perspective the clothes we wear affects our behavioral and psychological processes. This emerging viewpoint on the field of embodied cognition holds that the clothes and their symbolic values can alter mental states, and even enhance high order cognitive functioning. It was hypothesized that wearing a painter's coat would enhance abstract reasoning, measured through performance on a fluid intelligence test. The sample consisted of 129 college students who completed a short form of the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices test (APM), wearing either a painter's coat (painter's-coat), a business suit (business-coat), or their regular clothes (no-coat). The analysis revealed that participants wearing a painter's coat outperformed those in the no-coat condition in a fluid intelligence test. Results indicated that abstract reasoning can be stimulated by wearing clothes that are related with artistic qualities. Future directions should consider a broader perspective of enclothed cognition examining and
... 157). Empirical studies have shown that the symbolic meaning of clothes can influence wearers' psychological processes (36)(37)(38). For example, L opez-P erez et al. (38) found that wearing a nurse's tunic increased empathic concern. ...
... Empirical studies have shown that the symbolic meaning of clothes can influence wearers' psychological processes (36)(37)(38). For example, L opez-P erez et al. (38) found that wearing a nurse's tunic increased empathic concern. Gamble and Walker (37) found that wearing a helmet (vs. a baseball cap) unconsciously activated safety-related concepts. ...
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, mask wearing has become a global phenomenon. How do masks influence wearers’ behavior in everyday life? We examine the effect of masks on wearers’ deviant behavior in China, where mask wearing is mostly a public health issue rather than a political issue. Drawing on behavioral ethics research, we test two competing hypotheses: (a) masks disinhibit wearers’ deviant behavior by increasing their sense of anonymity; (b) masks are a moral symbol that reduces wearers’ deviant behavior by heightening their moral awareness. The latter hypothesis was consistently supported by 10 studies (including direct replications) using mixed methods (e.g., traffic camera recording analysis, observational field studies, online experiments, natural field experiment) and different measures of deviant behavior (e.g., running a red light, bike parking in no-parking zones, cheating for money, deviant behavior in the library). Our research (N = 68,243) is among the first to uncover the psychological and behavioral consequences of mask wearing beyond its health benefits.
... These results therefore suggest that enclothed cognition effects are dependent on the clothing's symbolic meaning and are distinct from those that would be caused by basic priming (Adam & Galinsky, 2012). Indeed, enclothed cognition requires both the physical experience and the attribution of meaning, as the same article of clothing can have different influences based on personal associations with the item (e.g., whether a tunic is identified as a cleaning or nursing uniform; L opez-Pe´rez, Ambrona, Wilson, & Khalil, 2016). ...
... Those who were wary of police abusing their power tended not to show an increase in shooting unarmed targets as a result of wearing a police uniform, whereas those who were supportive of police power were more likely to shoot unarmed civilians while wearing the uniform. This moderating effect of participants' attitudes associated with the article of clothing is consistent with recent research showing that the symbolic meaning of an article of clothing is an independent factor in determining the effect on one's cognitions and behavior (L opez-Pe´rez et al., 2016). Our behavioral findings therefore extend our understanding of enclothed cognition theory by demonstrating that its effects are not limited to general attentional processes, and that the impact of physically wearing symbolic clothing can be influenced by more personal associations. ...
The theory of enclothed cognition proposes that wearing physical articles of clothing can trigger psychological processes and behavioral tendencies connected to their symbolic meaning. Furthermore, past research has found that increases in power are associated with greater approach orientation and action tendencies. In this study, we integrate these two literatures to examine how embodying the role of a police officer through wearing a uniform would affect responses on a reaction-time measure known as the Shooter Task. This first-person video game simulation requires participants to shoot or not shoot targets holding guns or objects. The task typically elicits a stereotypical pattern of responses, such that unarmed Black versus White targets are more likely to be mistakenly shot and armed Black versus White targets are more likely to be correctly shot. Based on the relationship between power and action, we hypothesized that participants who were randomly assigned to wear a police uniform would show more shooting errors, particularly false alarms, than control participants. Consistent with our hypotheses, participants in uniform were more likely to shoot unarmed targets, regardless of their race. Moreover, this pattern was partially moderated by attitudes about the police and their abuse of power. Specifically, uniformed participants who justified police use of power were more likely to shoot innocent targets than those who were wary of it. We discuss implications for police perceptions and the theory of enclothed cognition more broadly.
... [17] Similarly, when individuals wear a white coat (indicated as a nurse's coat), they tend to exhibit more pro-social behaviours, such as being more helpful to a stranger. [18] This help can be useful in many cases. However, when benevolent help is unnecessary (over-helping), it can have negative effects. ...
Objective: Previous studies have demonstrated that wearing a white coat affects patients (“the white coat effect”), the individual wearing the white coat (“enclothed cognition”), and the relationship itself between both parties. The aim of our study is to determine whether our perception of an older person differs when they are interacting with a professional caregiver wearing a white coat as opposed to when the caregiver is in civilian clothing. To the best of our knowledge, no study has been conducted on this subject thus far.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we recorded two videos showing an older person with a professional caregiver. The videos are identical except for the caregiver's attire: white coat vs. civilian clothing. 135 volunteers from the general population took part in our online survey and watched one of the two videos. Then, the perception of the older person was evaluated with 10 pairs of opposing adjectives (such as: “independent/dependent”). Participants were asked to move the cursor between the two adjectives. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to compare the perceptions both groups.Results: The results obtained indicate that when the caregiver is wearing a white coat, the older person at their side is perceived as significantly (14.77%) more dependent as opposed to when the caregiver is in civilian clothing. The caregiver is also perceived as significantly more competent when wearing a white coat.Conclusions: Professional caregiver’s wearing a white coat is likely to have an impact on the perception of the older people in contact with said caregivers. Older people may be perceived as more dependent if the nursing staff (at home, in nursing home) wear white coats.
... In drawing from enclothed cognition theory (Adam & Galinsky, 2012), our study also contributes to that line of theorizing. In particular, although initial theorizing did not necessarily preclude the possibility that fluctuations in routine attire could have effects on the cognition and behavior of the wearer, subsequent empirical research has mainly focused on specific pieces of clothing with clear and universal symbolic meanings (e.g., occupation-specific uniforms ;Adam & Galinsky, 2019;López-Pérez et al., 2016;Wang et al., 2021). Thus, by demonstrating that day-to-day work clothing has effects on employees' thoughts and behaviors, our research extends the enclothed cognition lens by offering support for the generalizability of this concept, beyond the boundaries that, to date, have been considered. ...
Do the clothes worn to work impact employees’ thoughts and behaviors? Despite the universal necessity of wearing clothes and the fact that employees make decisions about this daily, organizational scholars have not yet addressed this question. We integrated sociometer and enclothed cognition theories to propose that aspects of clothing—their aesthetics, conformity, and uniqueness—hold symbolic meanings that have implications for employees’ state self-esteem and subsequent task and relational behaviors (i.e., goal progress, social avoidance). We first provide evidence for the nature of the symbolic meanings associated with these three dimensions of work clothing in a set of within-person experimental studies. Then, the results of a 10-day field study of employees from four organizations generally supported our predictions, showing that daily clothing aesthetics and uniqueness had effects on state self-esteem and downstream behavioral consequences. The effects of daily clothing conformity emerged under the condition of greater interaction frequency with others in the workplace. Our manuscript contributes to both major theories from which we draw and further offers theoretical and practical contributions to the literature on organizational clothing.
... In drawing from enclothed cognition theory (Adam & Galinsky, 2012), our study also contributes to that line of theorizing. In particular, although initial theorizing did not necessarily preclude the possibility that fluctuations in routine attire could have effects on the cognition and behavior of the wearer, subsequent empirical research has mainly focused on specific pieces of clothing with clear and universal symbolic meanings (e.g., occupation-specific uniforms ;Adam & Galinsky, 2019;López-Pérez et al., 2016;Wang et al., 2021). Thus, by demonstrating that day-to-day work clothing has effects on employees' thoughts and behaviors, our research extends the enclothed cognition lens by offering support for the generalizability of this concept, beyond the boundaries that, to date, have been considered. ...
... In social psychology, there is emerging evidence for "enclothed cognition:" the idea that what one wears can influence one's state of mind (Adam and Galinsky, 2012). For instance, wearing a tunic identified as nursing scrubs leads to greater empathy and altruism (López-Pérez et al., 2016), while people wearing police uniforms were more likely to shoot unarmed targets in a video-game simulation (Mendoza and Parks-Stamm, 2020). Might restaurants therefore encourage at-home diners to dress for the meal? ...
In many parts of the world, restaurants have been forced to close in unprecedented numbers during the various Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns that have paralyzed the hospitality industry globally. This highly-challenging operating environment has led to a rapid expansion in the number of high-end restaurants offering take-away food, or home-delivery meal kits, simply in order to survive. While the market for the home delivery of food was already expanding rapidly prior to the emergence of the Covid pandemic, the explosive recent growth seen in this sector has thrown up some intriguing issues and challenges. For instance, concerns have been raised over where many of the meals that are being delivered are being prepared, given the rise of so-called “dark kitchens.” Furthermore, figuring out which elements of the high-end, fine-dining experience, and of the increasingly-popular multisensory experiential dining, can be captured by those diners who may be eating and drinking in the comfort of their own homes represents an intriguing challenge for the emerging field of gastrophysics research; one that the chefs, restaurateurs, restaurant groups, and even the food delivery companies concerned are only just beginning to get to grips with. By analyzing a number of the high-end fine-dining home food delivery options that have been offered (in the UK and in the US) in this narrative review, we highlight a number of promising directions for those wanting to optimize the at-home multisensory dining experience, wherever in the world they might be.
... This is a new take on what is usually called "embodied cognition." Enclothed cognition involves "the co-occurrence of two independent factors-the symbolic meaning of the clothes and the physical experience of wearing clothes" (Adam and Galinsky 2012: 918; see also López-Pérez et al. 2016). 17 In relation to the monastic clothes, enclothed cognition means that the material priming effects of clothes must be seen in consonance with their symbolic meanings (Gilhus 2019). ...
... These studies demonstrate a breadth of experimental paradigms that all seek to explore the bounds of the enclothed cognition phenomenon. Some studies, most notably those by López-Pérez et al. (2016) and Civile and Obhi (2017), offer supporting evidence of effects that depend on both the significance of a clothing item and on participants actually wearing the outfit rather then merely looking at it or identifying with it. However, there remains relatively little evidence that such effects can influence not just what we think, but how we think, as claimed by Adam and Galinsky (2012). ...
Adam and Galinsky (2012) motivated their theory of enclothed cognition using experimental results showing that wearing a doctor's coat improved selective attention by reducing errors on incongruent Stroop trials. While many other studies have pursued extensions of this idea, there have been no published replications of this influence on the Stroop effect. This preregistered, direct replication attempt uses equivalence testing and the small telescopes framework from Simonsohn (2015) to argue that such an effect, if it exists, is too small to have been reliably detected under the original design. Theoretically predicted sequential effects as small as 7 ms were successfully detected at α = .05, indicating that the failure to find an effect of lab coat is likely not due to power limitations or poor experimental technique.
Enclothed cognition refers to the systematic influence that clothes can have on the wearer's feelings, thoughts, and behaviors through their symbolic meaning. It has attracted considerable academic and nonacademic interest, with the 2012 article that coined the phrase cited more than 600 times and covered in more than 160 news outlets. However, a recent high-powered replication failed to replicate one of the original effects. To determine whether the larger body of research on enclothed cognition possesses evidential value and replicable effects, we performed z-curve and meta-analyses using 105 effects from 40 studies across 24 articles (N = 3,789). Underscoring the marked improvement of psychological research practices in the mid-2010s, our results raise concerns about the replicability of early enclothed cognition studies but affirm the evidential value for effects published after 2015. These later studies support the core principle of enclothed cognition-what we wear influences how we think, feel, and act.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to contribute to understanding of employee's relationships with their uniforms and the perceived impact on their experiences at work. An improved understanding of this relationship may provide benefits for both the employee and the organisation. Recognising an ageing workforce and increasing female representation, differences based on gender and age are of interest.
Design/methodology/approach
The study aimed to explore employee views and perceptions of uniform design and potential links to their happiness and productivity at work. An online survey was developed and completed by 2,560 uniform wearers. The data were analysed through descriptive and inferential statistics. Exploratory factor analysis uncovered latent variables from among the large number of survey items. A two-way factorial ANOVA compared perceptions based on gender and age.
Findings
The results suggest participants feel that their uniform has an impact on their happiness and behaviour at work. Differences in responses to their uniform were found based on gender and age. The survey tool enabled consideration of employee views and exploratory factor analysis identified five constructs of uniform design priorities: positive feelings, experience at work, suitability and practicality, tailored to the individual, visibility and brand.
Originality/value
This research is believed to be the first survey exploring the views of UK-based uniform wearers. Key elements of uniform design have been prioritised from the employee perspective to offer an emerging model to understand employee perceptions of uniform design. These findings inform uniform manufacturers and employers in designing and developing uniform to address the needs of employees.
Although increasingly disputed, the white coat uniform is ubiquitous in geriatric care, which may reflect a phenomenon called medicalisation of ageing. This narrative review is the first attempt at integrating several theoretical approaches, such as the “white coat effect” and “enclothed cognition”, in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the use of this clothing item. Based on extensive empirical evidence, we will examine the consequences of wearing a uniform, not only on patients (in this case, older patients) and healthcare professionals, but also on their relationship. The white coat has powerful symbolic functions for healthcare professionals and is still preferred by older adults. However, the negative repercussions of wearing a uniform require us to question its use, particularly in environments where older persons live, such as nursing homes.
The main objectives of this commentary are to discuss the replication study of Adam and Galinsky (2012, Experiment 1) by Burns, Fox, Greenstein, Olbright, and Montgomery, clarify the main idea behind enclothed cognition, supplement the literature review presented by Burns et al., discuss why our original study failed to replicate, and offer potential avenues for future research. Overall, we believe the replication study was conducted competently, and thus the results cast doubt on our finding that wearing a lab coat decreases errors on the Stroop test. At the same time, Burns et al. also identify several successful conceptual replications of our original effects, and we present additional studies that support an enclothed cognition perspective. The sum total of the available data suggests that the core principle of enclothed cognition—what we wear can influence how we think, feel, and act—is generally valid.
Empathy, feeling what others feel, is regarded as a special phenomenon that is separate from other emotional experiences. Emotion theories say little about feeling emotions for others and empathy theories say little about how feeling emotions for others relates to normal firsthand emotional experience. Current empathy theories focus on how we feel emotions for others who feel the same thing, but not how we feel emotions for others that they do not feel, such as feeling angry for someone who is sad or feeling embarrassed for someone who is self-assured. We propose an appraisal theory of vicarious emotional experiences, including empathy, based on appraisal theories of emotion. According to this theory, emotions for others are based on how we evaluate their situations, just as firsthand emotions are based on how we evaluate our own situations. We discuss how this framework can predict empathic emotion matching and also the experience of emotions for others that do not match what they feel. The theory treats empathy as a normal part of emotional experience. (PsycINFO Database Record
(c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).
Individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) increase the ability and tendency to devote greater attentional control to a task—improving performance on a wide range of skills. In addition, recent research on enclothed cognition demonstrates that the situational influence of wearing a white lab coat increases controlled attention, due to the symbolic meaning and physical experience of wearing the coat. We examined whether these positive influences on attentional control lead to negative performance outcomes on insight problem-solving, a task thought to rely on associative processes that operate largely outside of explicit attentional control. Participants completed matchstick arithmetic problems while either wearing a white lab coat or in a no-coat control condition. Higher WMC was associated with lower insight problem-solving accuracy in the no-coat condition. In the coat condition, the insight problem-solving accuracy of lower WMC individuals dropped to the level of those higher in WMC. These results indicate that wearing a white lab coat led individuals to increase attentional control towards problem solving, hindering even lower WMC individuals from engaging in more diffuse, associative problem-solving processes, at which they otherwise excel. Trait and state factors known to increase controlled attention and improve performance on more attention-demanding tasks interact to hinder insight problem-solving.
Anger at unfair treatment has been called moral outrage. However, moral outrage—anger at the violation of a moral standard—should be distinguished from personal anger at being harmed and empathic anger at seeing another for whom one cares harmed. Across a preliminary experiment and a main experiment, both designed to manipulate the appraisal conditions for these three forms of anger, we found evidence of personal anger and empathic anger, but little evidence of moral outrage. Participants perceived unfair treatment of another, even another for whom they had not been induced to feel empathy, to be as unfair as participants perceived unfair treatment of themselves. But the appraisal conditions that evoked anger were unfair treatment of self and unfair treatment of a cared-for other, not unfairness per se. In the absence of empathic concern, unfair treatment of another evoked little anger. Possible implications for understanding moral emotion and moral motivation are suggested. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Significance testing plays a prominent role in behavioral science, but its value is frequently overestimated. It does not estimate the reliability of a finding, it does not yield a probability that results are due to chance, nor does it usually answer an important question. In behavioral science it can limit the reasons for doing experiments, reduce scientific responsibility, and emphasize population parameters at the expense of behavior. It can, and usually does, lead to a poor approach to theory testing, and it can also, in behavior-analytic experiments, discount reliability of data. At best, statistical significance is an ancillary aspect of a set of data, and therefore should play a relatively minor role in advancing a science of behavior.
The statistical analysis of mediation effects has become an indispensable tool for helping scientists investigate processes thought to be causal. Yet, in spite of many recent advances in the estimation and testing of mediation effects, little attention has been given to methods for communicating effect size and the practical importance of those effect sizes. Our goals in this article are to (a) outline some general desiderata for effect size measures, (b) describe current methods of expressing effect size and practical importance for mediation, (c) use the desiderata to evaluate these methods, and (d) develop new methods to communicate effect size in the context of mediation analysis. The first new effect size index we describe is a residual-based index that quantifies the amount of variance explained in both the mediator and the outcome. The second new effect size index quantifies the indirect effect as the proportion of the maximum possible indirect effect that could have been obtained, given the scales of the variables involved. We supplement our discussion by offering easy-to-use R tools for the numerical and visual communication of effect size for mediation effects.
Compassion has been suggested to be a strong motivator for prosocial behavior. While research has demonstrated that compassion training has positive effects on mood and health, we do not know whether it also leads to increases in prosocial behavior. We addressed this question in two experiments. In Experiment 1, we introduce a new prosocial game, the Zurich Prosocial Game (ZPG), which allows for repeated, ecologically valid assessment of prosocial behavior and is sensitive to the influence of reciprocity, helping cost, and distress cues on helping behavior. Experiment 2 shows that helping behavior in the ZPG increased in participants who had received short-term compassion training, but not in participants who had received short-term memory training. Interindividual differences in practice duration were specifically related to changes in the amount of helping under no-reciprocity conditions. Our results provide first evidence for the positive impact of short-term compassion training on prosocial behavior towards strangers in a training-unrelated task.
In three experiments, participants were faced with a social dilemma in which they could benefit themselves, the group, or other group members as individuals. The results showed that participants who felt high empathy toward a certain individual allocated more resources to the target of empathy, but without reducing the collective good. Then, we adapted the measure of empathy developed by Batson and colleagues (Batson, Ahmad, et al., 1999; Batson, Batson, et al., 1995) to the Spanish context. The results of Experiment 3 supported the existence of a new process: awareness of other individuals present in the social dilemma. It is proposed that this process is independent of those typically studied in research of this field: self-interest, group identification, and the empathy for a specific individual.
We introduce the term “enclothed cognition” to describe the systematic influence that clothes have on the wearer's psychological processes. We offer a potentially unifying framework to integrate past findings and capture the diverse impact that clothes can have on the wearer by proposing that enclothed cognition involves the co-occurrence of two independent factors—the symbolic meaning of the clothes and the physical experience of wearing them. As a first test of our enclothed cognition perspective, the current research explored the effects of wearing a lab coat. A pretest found that a lab coat is generally associated with attentiveness and carefulness. We therefore predicted that wearing a lab coat would increase performance on attention-related tasks. In Experiment 1, physically wearing a lab coat increased selective attention compared to not wearing a lab coat. In Experiments 2 and 3, wearing a lab coat described as a doctor's coat increased sustained attention compared to wearing a lab coat described as a painter's coat, and compared to simply seeing or even identifying with a lab coat described as a doctor's coat. Thus, the current research suggests a basic principle of enclothed cognition—it depends on both the symbolic meaning and the physical experience of wearing the clothes.
Understanding communication processes is the goal of most communication researchers. Rarely are we satisfied merely ascertaining whether messages have an effect on some outcome of focus in a specific context. Instead, we seek to understand how such effects come to be. What kinds of causal sequences does exposure to a message initiate? What are the causal pathways through which a message exerts its effect? And what role does communication play in the transmission of the effects of other variables over time and space? Numerous communication models attempt to describe the mechanism through which messages or other communication-related variables transmit their effects or intervene between two other variables in a causal model. The communication literature is replete with tests of such models. Over the years, methods used to test such process models have grown in sophistication. An example includes the rise of structural equation modeling (SEM), which allows investigators to examine how well a process model that links some focal variable X to some outcome Y through one or more intervening pathways fits the observed data. Yet frequently, the analytical choices communication researchers make when testing intervening variables models are out of step with advances made in the statistical methods literature. My goal here is to update the field on some of these new advances. While at it, I challenge some conventional wisdom and nudge the field toward a more modern way of thinking about the analysis of intervening variable effects.
The goal of behavioral control is of central importance in everyday life. When the production of an unwanted action can have deleterious consequences for perceivers, there is considerable virtue in the possession of a mental system that edits its behavioral products to meet the demands of a challenging world. Accordingly, in an attempt to extend existing work on this topic (e.g., Bargh, Chen, & Burrows, 1996), in the present research we investigated the extent to which the automatic elicitation of action may be moderated by features of the task environment and perceivers' goal states. Our findings were unequivocal. When inhibitory cues were present in the environment (i.e., Experiment 1), or perceivers had a competing goal in mind (i.e., Experiment 2), automatic behavioral priming effects were eliminated. We consider the implications of our findings for recent treatments of behavioral priming and action control.
Proposes a 2-stage model of empathic mediation of helping behavior, which holds that taking the perspective of a person in need increases empathic emotion; this in turn increases helping. Ss in 2 experiments learned of another person's need from taped radio broadcasts and were subsequently given an opportunity to offer help to that person. The experiments used different strategies for manipulating empathic emotional response to the other's plight. In Exp I, using 44 male and female undergraduates, the empathic emotion of some Ss was experimentally reduced by a misattribution of arousal technique; in Exp II, using 33 female undergraduates, the empathic emotion of some Ss was experimentally increased by a false feedback of arousal technique. Results of each experiment support the proposed model. Ss who experienced the most empathic emotion also offered the most help. Results of Exp I indicate that perspective taking did not directly affect helping; it affected helping only through its effect on empathic emotion. Motivational implications are discussed. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The present research uses priming techniques to modify commitment to and engagement in future helping behavior. Relative to a control condition, people primed with the exemplar Superman saw themselves as less likely (Studies 1a and 1b), and participants primed with the category superhero saw themselves as more likely (Study 1a), to help in hypothetical situations. Study 2 extended these effects to real-world planned helping behavior, by demonstrating that these primes impacted commitment to future volunteerism. Finally, Study 3 showed that these changes in initial commitment impacted volunteering behavior up to three months after initial exposure. These results demonstrate that fleeting situational primes can impact not only spontaneous behavior, but also future behavior.
Immediate repetition priming for faces was examined across a range of prime durations in a threshold identification task. Similar to word repetition priming results, short duration face primes produced positive priming whereas long duration face primes eliminated or reversed this effect. A habituation model of such priming effects predicted that the speed of identification should relate to the prime duration needed to achieve negative priming. We used face priming to test this prediction in two ways. First, we examined the relationship between priming effects and individual differences in the target duration needed for threshold performance. Second, we compared priming of upright and inverted faces. As predicted, the transition from positive to negative priming as a function of prime duration occurred more slowly for inverted faces and for individuals with longer threshold target durations. Additional experiments ruled out alternative explanations.
Manipulated deindividuation and valence of costume cues in a 2 × 2 factorial design. P. G. Zimbardo's (1970) theory of deindividuation suggests that deindividuation should disinhibit antisocial behavior independent of cue valence, and should reduce any influence due to cues. The theory of K. J. Gergen et al (1973) suggests that cues may have increasing influence, given deindividuation, and that deindividuation may increase prosocial behavior, given positive cues, and increase antisocial behavior, given negative cues. Results support Gergen's position. Given options to increase or decrease shock level received by a stranger, no main effect was found for deindividuation. There was a main effect for costume cues, and an interaction of cues with deindividuation, with deindividuation facilitating a significant increase in prosocial responses in the presence of positive cues and a nonsignificant increase in antisocial responses in the presence of negative cues. Also cues interacted with trial blocks, prosocial behavior increasing with positive cues and antisocial behavior increasing with negative cues over trial blocks. (12 ref)
The empathy-altruism hypothesis claims that prosocial motivation associated with feeling empathy for a person in need is directed toward the ultimate goal of benefiting that person, not toward some subtle form of self-benefit. We explored two new egoistic alternatives to this hypothesis. The empathy-specific reward hypothesis proposes that the prosocial motivation associated with empathy is directed toward the goal of obtaining social or self-rewards (i.e., praise, honor, and pride). The empathy-specific punishment hypothesis proposes that this motivation is directed toward the goal of avoiding social or self-punishments (i.e., censure, guilt, and shame). Study 1 provided an initial test of the empathy-specific reward hypothesis. Studies 2 through 4 used three procedures to test the empathy-specific punishment hypothesis. In Study 5, a Stroop procedure was used to assess the role of reward-relevant, punishment-relevant, and victim-relevant cognitions in mediating the empathy-helping relationship. Results of these five studies did not support either the empathy-specific reward or the empathy-specific punishment hypothesis. Instead, results of each supported the empathy-altruism hypothesis. Evidence that empathic emotion evokes altruistic motivation continues to mount.
The construct of empathy may be located conceptually at several different points in the network of interpersonal cognition and emotion. We discuss one specific form of emotional empathy--other-focused feelings evoked by perceiving another person in need. First, evidence is reviewed suggesting that there are at least two distinct types of congruent emotional responses to perceiving another in need: feelings of personal distress (e.g., alarmed, upset, worried, disturbed, distressed, troubled, etc.) and feelings of empathy (e.g., sympathetic, moved, compassionate, tender, warm, softhearted, etc.). Next, evidence is reviewed suggesting that these two emotional responses have different motivational consequences. Personal distress seems to evoke egoistic motivation to reduce one's own aversive arousal, as a traditional Hullian tension-reduction model would propose. Empathy does not. The motivation evoked by empathy may instead be altruistic, for the ultimate goal seems to be reduction of the other's need, not reduction of one's own aversive arousal. Overall, the recent empirical evidence appears to support the more differentiated view of emotion and motivation proposed long ago by McDougall, not the unitary view proposed by Hull and his followers.
Firstly to test alcohol abusers attentional bias towards alcohol-related stimuli. Secondly, to shed light onto other factors that may influence the alcohol Stroop effect by considering variables including mood status in the analyses. Finally, to examine severity of dependence on Stroop performance.
Repeated measures with alcohol versus control group as the between participant factors and within participant factors were the reaction times to different types of stimuli. Standard multiple regression was used to determine predictors of Stroop performance. A repeated measures design was used with severity of dependence as the between participant factors and Stroop reaction times as the within participant factors.
South and East London, UK.
Sixty-four alcoholics in treatment and 64 community controls from general practice participated in the study.
Alcohol dependence severity was measured using the SADQ, mood was measured with the POMS-SF and a computerised emotional Stroop task was employed to measure attentional bias.
Regardless of demographic factors and mood status, alcoholics responded significantly slower to alcohol-related than neutral words when compared to controls. When severity of alcohol dependence was used as between participant factors, no significant differences were found with Stroop performance between high and low alcohol severity groups.
Alcohol-related stimuli are distracting to heavy users of alcohol, independent of demographic, mood and dependence status. Findings offer insight into the development of alcohol dependence and the issues that surround the alcohol Stroop paradigm.