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Jessica Boyette-Davis, St. Edward’s University: Words Hurt! An Investigation of the Ability of Mindfulness Meditation to Protect Against the Nocebo Effect
Abstract: The nocebo effect occurs when an individual interprets pain as more intense than they might otherwise simply because another suggested it would be. This phenomenon can negatively impact daily behavior and be especially harmful in clinical settings, such as leading to poorer health outcomes following a procedure. The proposed study tests whether meditation just prior to a painful event can significantly protect against the nocebo effect. Further, it tests whether the performance of this practice can lower concentrations of cholecystokinin, a hormone previously implicated in the nocebo effect.
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Regine Debrosse, Northwestern University: Daily Experiences and Social Class of College Students
Abstract: Students from working class backgrounds have more interdependent tendencies than students from middle and upper class backgrounds. As such, they are likely to have many transactive goals (i.e. goals that they have for close others, share with close others, or help close others pursue). I aim to conduct an experience sampling study examining whether transactive goals lead to goal conflicts in the daily lives of working class students, which may impede their academic achievement.
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Janina Steinmetz, Utrecht University: Impression (Mis)management: How People can Improve Their Self-presentation
Abstract: Although successful self-presenters reap interpersonal benefits, people are often braggarts who focus on their success and competence but neglect seeming likable. I investigate situations that invite suboptimal self-presentation (e.g., dates or job interviews) in which people have the goal to impress and to be liked, but might mistakenly prioritize to impress. I measure individual differences in perspective-taking as a moderator, and test whether actively taking the perspective of the audience helps to prevent suboptimal self-presentation.
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Katherine White, Kennesaw State University: Validating the Conservative Resistance to Change (CRC) Scale
Abstract: There continues to be significant interest in conservative ideology, but no measures exist to directly measure one of its primary facets – resistance to change. The purpose of the proposed research is to validate a scale designed to capture this feature – the Conservative Resistance to Change Scale. Data from two previous samples provide initial evidence of the validity and reliability of this scale, but funds are needed to gather additional data from community members. Results from this research will be presented at the SPSP conference and submitted for publication to Political Psychology.
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Matthew Wice, The New School: Why Conforming is Bad but Showing Solidarity is Good: The Effect of Perceived Motives on Evaluations of Group-Accommodating Behavior
Abstract: Why do people so often rail against conformity yet simultaneously urge people to show solidarity to their compatriots? We propose that evaluations of group-accommodating behavior vary depending on the type of motives attributed to the behavior. We hypothesize that conformity is viewed as more desirable than non-conformity when the behavior is seen as motivated by group interests but less desirable when it is viewed as motivated by self-interest.
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Katherine Wolsiefer, University of Arizona: Altering Implicit Evaluations: Are All Manipulations Created Equal?
Abstract: Although implicit bias interventions have been offered as one route to behavior change, little evidence exists that manipulations of implicit attitudes have downstream consequences for behavior. One reason for this may be because such manipulations could alter implicit attitudes in different ways. These differences in process may also have different consequences for behavior. The proposed research will systematically examine two routes to implicit attitude change and, in a follow-up study, examine the effect of these different processes on behavior.
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Connor Wood, Center for Mind and Culture: Does Social Connectedness Moderate the Relationship between Low Openness and Populist Authoritarianism?
Abstract: The growth of right-wing populism raises questions about the personality and social foundations of ideology. Perceived cultural threat may explain some of right-wing populism’s rise, but it is not clear how personality and social factors affect this dynamic. People with low Openness to Experience may be particularly vulnerable to authoritarian appeals when they perceive societal or economic threats. However, social connectedness may weaken this relationship. A battery of online surveys tests the hypothesis that social connectedness mitigates the effect of personality on authoritarian populism.
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Marco Brambilla, University of Milano-Bicocca: The Social Perception of Supererogatory Behavior
Abstract: Research revealed that the more moral a behavior is, the more the person enacting the behavior is liked. Research, however, blurs the distinction between two classes of moral behavior: the ought and the good. Extraordinary (i.e., supererogatory) actions are treated as an extreme case along the continuum of good, moral actions. We propose that supererogatory actions are qualitatively different from other moral actions and that actors performing supererogatory actions are not simply perceived as positive.
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Pascal Burgmer, University of Cologne: Anxious and Egocentric ... yet Empathic? The Differential Effects of Anxiety on Cognitive and Affective Mentalizing
Abstract: Does being scared influence how we think and feel about the minds of others? Only few studies have addressed the impact of anxiety on cognitive perspective taking, and even fewer studies have looked at affective empathy. To our knowledge, no study has explored whether and how anxiety might differentially influence cognitive versus affective facets of mentalizing. We propose four studies that test whether anxiety decreases cognitive mentalizing while it increases affective mentalizing.
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Andrew Geers, University of Toledo: Patient-Provider Interactions: Does Practitioner Race Matter?
Abstract: Positive patient-provider interactions significantly benefit both patients and physicians. Little is known, however, regarding the obstacles for achieving such positive encounters. We will use the Stereotype Content Model to examine the novel hypothesis that provider race and ethnicity alter patient’s perceptions of providers’ warmth and competence, emotions, and subsequent behavioral tendencies. Results will advance scientific knowledge on the daily interactions of a rapidly diversifying health care workforce and will have timely intervention implications.
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India Johnson, Elon University: An Ally You Say? Framing Role Models as Allies to Promote Belonging Among Women of Color in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math
Abstract: Women of color (WOC) are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Consequently, developing effective techniques attracting WOC to STEM is critical. We examine if framing a White male scientist as an ally can potentially increase WOC’s belonging in STEM environments. In addition, we propose whether a White male ally increases WOC’s belonging will depend on the type of allyship (e.g. supports women, racial minorities, or WOC).
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Bradley Mattan, University of Chicago: Interplay of Perceiver Status, Target Status, and Status Dimension in Visual Perspective-Taking Bias
Abstract: In many species, high status is valued and attracts attention. However, humans (most of whom are low/middle status) frequently value and attend to our ingroups. I will examine how perceiver and target status guide attention to competing visual perspectives under three operationalizations of status: SES, dominance, or prestige (Experiments 1–3). If likeability drives effects, participants should prefer high-SES/prestige and low-dominance perspectives. If ingroups drive effects, then perspective taking should be sensitive to self-reported status.
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Liad Uziel, Bar-Ilan University: Utilizing a Desire for More Self-Control into an Effective Facilitator of Self-Control
Abstract: Self-control is highly adaptive. Notwithstanding, research shows that having a desire for more self-control leads to impaired self-control ability by reducing self-efficacy. The present 3-month field-experiment (N=300) will test two intervention procedures that seek to affect participants’ perceptions of their capacities and motivations, thus making self-control challenges appear more attainable. Following the interventions, having a desire for more self-control is expected to facilitate—rather than impair—self-regulation, to be tested in real life settings.
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Joseph Vitriol, Lehigh University: The First Step is to Admit There’s a Problem: Identifying Factors that Reduce Defensive Dismissal of Implicit Racial Bias Feedback
Abstract: Self-awareness is of central importance to anti-bias interventions and prejudice-regulation. The current research will evaluate strategies designed to reduce defensive responding to implicit racial bias feedback—an area largely neglected by scholars. Some preliminary work indicates that activating egalitarian goals and increasing the perceived controllability of bias expression can reduce defensive responding. The proposed study builds on these findings by experimentally testing each feature of this intervention separately to evaluate their relative impacts and longitudinal effects.
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Nida Bikmen, Denison University: White Americans' Smiles in Same-race and Interracial Interactions
Abstract: Do White Americans display more genuine (Duchenne) smiles or more deliberate (non-Duchenne) smiles during interracial interactions as opposed to same-race interactions? White undergraduates will be randomly assigned to interact with either same-race (White American) or different-race (African or Latina American) partners. Their smiles will be coded by investigators certified in Facial Action Coding System. It is predicted that Whites will display more non-Duchenne smiles in interracial versus same-race interactions in order to mask interracial anxiety.
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Shai Davidai, The New School for Social Research: Perceptions of economic inequality and upward social mobility
Abstract: Recent research has shown that Americans systematically overestimate the degree of economic mobility in the United States. I propose to examine the relationship between perceptions of economic inequality and perceptions of upward mobility. Specifically, I will examine two opposing hypotheses: that people overestimate upward mobility as a defense mechanism against the threat of economic inequality (an inequality-mobility link), and that people overestimate mobility due to an underestimation of true levels of inequality (an equality-mobility link).
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Lisa Hoplock, University of Manitoba: Improving Empathic Accuracy Through an In-Class Intervention Provided via Videoconferencing
Abstract: Empathic accuracy- the ability to accurately detect what someone is thinking or feeling- is an important skill, especially for nurses in providing client-centred care. We aim to test an adapted intervention delivered via teleconference that will help student nurses engage in empathic discussions with family caregivers. We predict that students’ empathic accuracy will be greater in the intervention condition compared to the control condition. Results will elucidate the feasibility of conducting the intervention via videoconferencing.
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Simon Howard, Marquette University: The Message: Conscious Hip-Hop Lyrics Reduce Stereotype Threat for Black Americans
Abstract: The present study will be the first to investigate whether the detrimental effects of stereotype threat on Blacks’ academic performance can be mitigated through exposure to hip-hop lyrics that affirm Black identify. Black participants will be put in a situation that induces stereotype threat. Next, they will be exposed to different genres of music before taking a challenging test. It is hypothesized that conscious hip-hop will act as a buffer to stereotype threat for Blacks.
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Bryan Koenig, Washington University in St. Louis: Moral punishment: How much is enough?
Abstract: People want wrongdoers to be punished, but how severe a punishment do they want—and why that amount? In the proposed research, a series of experiments compare people’s preferred punishment fines for a thief with that thief’s gain and his victim’s losses, all in US dollars. We will use these comparisons to evaluate among punishment calibration points predicted by traditional deterrence theory, traditional retribution theory (just deserts), welfare tradeoff theory, and fitness differential theory.
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Ioana Latu, Queen's University Belfast, UK: Psychological well-being and coping with blatant homophobia in a sample of Romanian gay men
Abstract: Social biases are becoming more explicit, one example being a new wave of blatant homophobia in Romania, inspired by conservative political action. In the current study I plan to investigate how Romanian gay men cope with such increasingly explicit and aggressive homophobia, and how these coping responses predict their psychological well-being. I will investigate both explicit and implicit coping responses and predict that personality factors may also moderate the coping – well-being relationship.
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Andrew Luttrell, College of Wooster: Using Moral Arguments to Persuade People With Moral Conviction: A Test of Matching Effects vs. Attitude Strength
Abstract: Moral beliefs and convictions play a critical role in the formation and change of people’s attitudes toward a variety of topics. Thus far, however, little research has tested the efficacy of morally framed persuasive appeals, and no research has considered how an audience’s initial moral conviction determines the efficacy of morally driven counter-attitudinal persuasive messages. Two studies are proposed to clarify this important gap and shed light on the role of morality in persuasion processes.
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Angela Pirlott, Saint Xavier University: Perceived Threats to the Religious Ingroup Engage Moral Disgust toward, Aggression against, and Expulsion of LGB Individuals to Prevent Religious Ingroup Contamination
Abstract: Although large body of literature has forged the connection between religiosity and anti-LGB prejudices, the current work extends the previous literature by arguing that religion operates like an ingroup, and accordingly, perceived threats from LGB individuals to religious ingroup values, norms, and cohesion should predict moral disgust, attempts to prevent LGB individuals from spreading their norm-violating behavior, and expulsion from the group if the behavior fails to cease.
