Patrick C. Dwyer’s research while affiliated with Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis and other places

Several lines of research document various relational and personal benefits of gratitude and its key behavioral manifestation, expressed gratitude. Integrating these lines, we propose the three-factorial interpersonal emotions (TIE) analytical framework, using two directions of gratitude behavior-expression and receipt of the expression-perspectives of both individuals reporting those behaviors-the acting self and the observing partner-and two temporal scopes to examine gratitude-the dispositional and the situational (operationalized as one's 2-week average thanking behavior and daily variations around the average, respectively). These describe eight (2 × 2 × 2) prototypical aspects of behavioral manifestations of interpersonal emotions such as expressed gratitude. We demonstrate the TIE model using a well-powered dyadic daily-diary dataset of naturally emerging gratitude interactions within romantic couples. Results show all aspects of situational gratitude behavior uniquely forecast daily increases in relationship satisfaction; these effects mediate contemporaneous daily increases in life satisfaction, and are not attributable to self-disclosure, fairness, politeness, or general positivity. Alternatively, although they each show a zero-order effect, many aspects of dispositional gratitude behavior do not exert independent effects on relationship or life satisfaction, nor do they hold against the four nongratitude constructs. Exemplifying the utility of the TIE model, we conclude behavioral gratitude is an everyday phenomenon; it comprises related yet distinguishable interpersonal acts, and can be understood from the different perspectives of the actors involved. Methodologically, our work shows the value of bringing relationship-science techniques to study the social functions of emotions, and generates new questions about gratitude in everyday life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Contrary to the expectations of many, Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The initial shock to her supporters turned into despair for most, but not everyone was affected equally. We draw from the literature on political activism, identity, and self-other overlap in predicting that not all Clinton voters would be equivalently crushed by her loss. Specifically, we hypothesize that pre-election measures of political activism, and level of self-other identification between participants and Clinton–that is, how much a person was “with her”–will interact to predict the level of distress of Clinton voters two months later. Longitudinal data support our hypothesis. Notably, among Clinton voters, greater activism negatively predicted depressive symptoms, and positively predicted sleep quality, but only when participants were highly identified with Clinton. We discuss the implications of the results for theory and research on social action and well-being.

We propose a novel theoretical and empirical approach to studying group-level social functions of emotions and use it to make new predictions about social consequences of gratitude. Here, we document the witnessing effect: In social groups, emotional expressions are often observed by third-party witnesses-family members, coworkers, friends, and neighbors. Emotional expressions coordinate group living by changing third-party witnesses' behavior toward first-party emotion expressers and toward second-party people to whom emotion is expressed. In 8 experiments (N = 1,817), we test this for gratitude, hypothesizing that third-party witnesses will be more helpful and affiliative toward a first party who expressed gratitude to a second party, as well as toward the second party, and why. In Experiments 1-3, participants who witnessed a "thank you" in 1 line of text, expressed to someone who previously helped the grateful person, were themselves more helpful toward the grateful person. In Experiment 4, witnesses of gratitude expressed to someone else via video recording subsequently self-disclosed more to the grateful person, and in Experiment 5 wanted to affiliate more with the grateful person and with the person toward whom gratitude was expressed. Experiments 6-8 used within-subjects designs to test hypothesized behavioral and social-perceptual mechanisms for these effects, with videos of real gratitude expressions. Gratitude may help build multiple relationships within a social network directly and simultaneously. By specifying proximal interpersonal mechanisms for reverberating consequences of 1 person's communicated emotion, the present work advances theory on the group-level functions of emotions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

How does a major natural disaster relate to individuals’ orientation towards society? We collected repeated cross‐sectional surveys before (n = 644) and after the 2010 Chile earthquake (n = 1,389) to examine levels of national identity, prosocial values, helping motivations, and prosocial behaviours in the context of such a calamitous societal event. Our research questions, derived from the literature on helping in times of crisis, considered how natural disasters may implicate identity and prosociality, as well as how identity, prosocial values, and motivations are linked to prosocial action after a disaster. Higher levels of national identity, helping motivations, and disaster‐related helping were found after the earthquake, suggesting that in the aftermath of a disaster, people unite under a common national identity and are motivated to take action related to disaster relief. National identity and prosocial values were closely linked to helping after the earthquake, but specific helping motivations rarely predicted prosocial behaviours. Additionally, proximity to the epicentre was related to higher levels of national identity and participation in reconstruction efforts. These findings contribute to our understanding of people's responses to natural disasters and suggest ways of encouraging prosocial behaviour in the aftermath of unexpected tragic events.

Research on helping behavior distinguishes between giving recipients the tools to solve problems for themselves (autonomy-oriented help) and direct solutions not requiring recipients’ involvement (dependency-oriented help). Across three studies, we examined whether individuals can be characterized by dispositional propensities toward offering autonomy-oriented and/or dependency-oriented help. In initial studies, factor analyses revealed the two hypothesized Helping Orientations Inventory scales along with an additional scale capturing opposition to helping, all acceptable in internal consistency and test-retest reliability (Study 1a – 1c). Next, we found that the three scales related in distinct ways to constructs from the intergroup (e.g., social dominance orientation) and interpersonal (e.g., empathic concern) helping literatures (Study 1d and 1e). Additionally, these orientations predicted satisfaction with volunteer behavior (Study 2) and interest in future volunteering (Study 3). Overall, people vary in their helping orientations, and these orientations implicate a range of variables relevant to intergroup and interpersonal helping.

Developing and maintaining a user base that actively contributes to an online community is often essential to a website's success. For many online communities, developing such a user-base can be challenge for web designers. Working from a functionalist perceptive, two studies explored how the individual difference of interdependent self-construal was related to participation and engagement in the online community MovieLens.org. In the first study, we found that those individuals high in interdependent self-construal were particularly unlikely to contribute to the website. In an attempt to increase the online engagement of this type of user, we then created an interactive web feature that tapped into the social motives of those high in interdependent self-construal. This feature allows users to create Top Five movie lists that can be shared with other users. In the second study, we found that interdependent self-construal was associated with more use of the Top Five lists feature, that using this feature was associated with more interest in seeing others' lists, which in turn predicted more interest in MovieLens. Implications for web design and psychological theory are discussed.

Because volunteerism is a planned activity that unfolds over time, people who more frequently focus on the future might also be more likely to initiate volunteerism and sustain it over time. Using longitudinal (Study 1) and experimental (Study 2) paradigms, we investigated whether time perspective, and in particular a person's orientation toward the future, is related to volunteers' beliefs and behavior. In Study 1, a person's dispositional level of future time perspective was closely linked to volunteer beliefs and behavior. In Study 2, people who wrote about the future reported higher intentions to volunteer, and this was particularly true for infrequent volunteers and those with lower levels of dispositional future time perspective. Across two studies, we found evidence that future time perspective, whether a chronic disposition or a pattern of thought elicited by someone else, is linked to volunteer beliefs and behavior.

Although national service programs such as AmeriCorps share many characteristics with volunteerism (such as sustained, prosocial action aimed at community improvement), little research has examined how theory and research relevant to volunteer behavior might help understand such service programs. We used psychological theory from the volunteerism literature to test hypotheses about how the constructs of altruistic personality, role identity, and service motivations relate to AmeriCorps satisfaction, intentions, and behavior. In a longitudinal study of 188 AmeriCorps members, personality, identity, and motivation were all associated with important service experiences and outcomes. Specifically, whereas overall motivation was related to both satisfaction and intentions, altruistic personality and AmeriCorps identity were only related to intentions. Additionally, distinct service motivations were related to specific service experiences and outcomes. Finally, AmeriCorps members who felt that their motivations were satisfied during service tended to more frequently engage in additional voluntary service-related behaviors. We discuss implications of these findings for understanding AmeriCorps service, and for potentially improving public policy initiatives concerning AmeriCorps.

How might psychological science be utilized to encourage proenvironmental behavior? In two studies, interventions aimed at promoting energy conservation behavior in public bathrooms examined the influences of descriptive norms and personal responsibility. In Study 1, the light status (i.e., on or off) was manipulated before someone entered an unoccupied public bathroom, signaling the descriptive norm for that setting. Participants were significantly more likely to turn the lights off if they were off when they entered. In Study 2, an additional condition was included in which the norm of turning off the light was demonstrated by a confederate, but participants were not themselves responsible for turning it on. Personal responsibility moderated the influence of social norms on behavior; when participants were not responsible for turning on the light, the influence of the norm was diminished. These results indicate how descriptive norms and personal responsibility may regulate the effectiveness of proenvironmental interventions.