Idle chatter
The Association of Social Class and Lifestyles: Persistence in American Sociability, 1974 to 2010
Ivaylo Petev
American Sociological Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
Despite the burgeoning research on lifestyles, we have surprisingly little evidence to answer one of the literature's founding questions: Is the association between social class and lifestyles disappearing? I explore this inquiry with data from the past four decades. In analyzing the class-lifestyle association, I examine changes in the variability of lifestyles within and between social classes. Using data from the General Social Survey on informal social ties and formal membership ties to voluntary associations, I derive proxies for lifestyles and examine their relation to social class with latent class models. Results show that social classes' contemporary sociability patterns are substantively similar to traditional descriptions from empirical studies on analogous data from as early as the mid-twentieth century. The association between social classes and sociability patterns shows no sign of having weakened over the past four decades. In fact, recent trends of civic disengagement and social isolation in contemporary U.S. society, which these data corroborate, reinforce class differences in sociability.
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An ironic effect of monitoring closeness
Oren Shapira et al.
Cognition & Emotion, forthcoming
Abstract:
Most theories of goal pursuit underscore the beneficial consequences of monitoring progress towards goals. However, effects of affect labelling and dissociations between experience and meta-consciousness suggest that monitoring may not always facilitate goal pursuit. We predicted that in the case of pursuing interpersonal closeness, intense monitoring of progress would have a detrimental effect. We tested this hypothesis with the intimate conversation procedure, adapted from Aron, Melinat, Aron, Vallone, and Bator (1997). Participants in the closeness-monitoring condition asked themselves every five minutes in the course of a 45-minute interaction with a partner whether they felt any closer to their partner, whereas participants in the control condition monitored the room temperature. As predicted, intense monitoring interfered with achieving a feeling of closeness, as measured by sitting distance between pair members following the intimate conversation procedure. We discuss the possibility that monitoring would also be detrimental for achieving other goals that are internal states.
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Exchange And Cohesion In Dyads And Triads: A Test Of Simmel's Hypothesis
Jeongkoo Yoon, Shane Thye & Edward Lawler
Social Science Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper uses social exchange theory to address a classic question posed by Simmel (1964) regarding dyads and triads. The question is whether exchanges in a triad will generate more cohesion at the group level than exchanges in an isolated dyad. The main hypotheses, integrating several ideas from Simmel and social exchange theories, are as follows. First, triads generate less variability of behavior than dyads, that is, there is more uniformity or convergence. Second, in the context of repeated exchange, we predict higher levels of cohesion in triads relative to dyads. Third, positive emotion or affect has a stronger impact on cohesion in dyads than in triads, whereas uncertainty reduction has a stronger impact on cohesion in triads. To test these hypotheses, an experiment compared isolated dyads to dyads nested in a triadic exchange network. Subjects engaged in exchanges across a series of distinct episodes, using standard experimental procedures from research on relational cohesion (Lawler and Yoon 1996) and exchange networks (Molm and Cook 1995; Willer 1999). Consistent with the hypotheses, the results reveal more convergence of behavior and higher cohesion in triads than in dyads; moreover, uncertainty reduction is the primary basis for cohesion in the triad, whereas positive affect was the primary basis for cohesion in the dyad. These results are discussed in relation to Simmelian dyad-triad dynamics and the theory of relational cohesion.
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Wenhong Chen & Kye-Hyoung Lee
Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, forthcoming
Abstract:
Studies on the mental health implications of social media have generated mixed results. Drawing on a survey of college students (N=513), this research uses structural equation modeling to assess the relationship between Facebook interaction and psychological distress and two underlying mechanisms: communication overload and self-esteem. It is the first study, to our knowledge, that examines how communication overload mediates the mental health implications of social media. Frequent Facebook interaction is associated with greater distress directly and indirectly via a two-step pathway that increases communication overload and reduces self-esteem. The research sheds light on new directions for understanding psychological well-being in an increasingly mediated social world as users share, like, and comment more and more.
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Catalina Toma
Media Psychology, Spring 2013, Pages 199-220
Abstract:
This study uses self-affirmation theory to draw predictions about the effect of Facebook profile self-presentation on two psychological outcomes: users' state self-esteem and their performance in a cognitive task. In an experimental procedure, participants were randomly assigned to examine either their own profiles, which tend to highlight social connectedness and treasured aspects of the self, or a stranger's profile. Afterward, participants reported their self-esteem using an implicit measure that is immune to reporting biases, and completed a serial subtraction task. Results show that a brief exposure to one's own profile raised state self-esteem, but that it hampered performance in a subsequent cognitive task by decreasing the motivation to perform well. The results advance the emerging literature on the effects of online self-presentation and also provide a theoretical contribution to self-affirmation theory.
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Alex Koch, Joseph Forgas & Diana Matovic
European Journal of Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Can temporary mood influence people's communication strategies? According to Grice's cooperative principle, conversational utterances should ideally conform to the maxims of quantity, relevance, quality, and manner. Three experiments predicted and found that participants in a negative mood complied significantly better with Grice's maxims than did participants in a positive mood when using natural language to describe a previously observed social event. Experiments 2 and 3 further confirmed that mood influenced communication strategies, and not merely the encoding (Exp. 2) and retrieval (Exp. 3) of the relevant information. These findings are consistent with affect-cognition theories predicting that positive affect promotes a more internally focused and assimilative thinking and communication style, and negative mood promotes more externally focused and accommodative thinking, resulting in the closer observance of communication norms. The relevance of these findings for recent affect/cognition theories is considered, and the practical implications of the results for everyday conversational strategies are discussed.
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A Community of Strangers: The Dis-Embedding of Social Ties
Paolo Parigi et al.
PLoS ONE, July 2013
Abstract:
In this paper we explore two contrasting perspectives on individuals' participation in associations. On the one hand, some have considered participation the byproduct of pre-existing friendship ties - the more friends one already has in the association, the more likely he or she is to participate. On the other hand, some have considered participation to be driven by the association's capacity to form new identities - the more new friends one meets in the association, the more likely he or she is to participate. We use detailed temporal data from an online association to adjudicate between these two mechanisms and explore their interplay. Our results show a significant impact of new friendship ties on participation, compared to a negligible impact of pre-existing friends, defined here as ties to other members formed outside of the organization's context. We relate this finding to the sociological literature on participation and we explore its implications in the discussion.
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Robin Nabi, Abby Prestin & Jiyeon So
Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, forthcoming
Abstract:
There is clear evidence that interpersonal social support impacts stress levels and, in turn, degree of physical illness and psychological well-being. This study examines whether mediated social networks serve the same palliative function. A survey of 401 undergraduate Facebook users revealed that, as predicted, number of Facebook friends associated with stronger perceptions of social support, which in turn associated with reduced stress, and in turn less physical illness and greater well-being. This effect was minimized when interpersonal network size was taken into consideration. However, for those who have experienced many objective life stressors, the number of Facebook friends emerged as the stronger predictor of perceived social support. The "more-friends-the-better" heuristic is proposed as the most likely explanation for these findings.
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Social Isolation and Adult Mortality: The Role of Chronic Inflammation and Sex Differences
Yang Claire Yang et al.
Journal of Health and Social Behavior, June 2013, Pages 183-203
Abstract:
The health and survival benefits of social embeddedness have been widely documented across social species, but the underlying biophysiological mechanisms have not been elucidated in the general population. We assessed the process by which social isolation increases the risk for all-cause and chronic disease mortality through proinflammatory mechanisms. Using the 18-year mortality follow-up data (n = 6,729) from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1988-2006) on Social Network Index and multiple markers of chronic inflammation, we conducted survival analyses and found evidence that supports the mediation role of chronic inflammation in the link between social isolation and mortality. A high-risk fibrinogen level and cumulative inflammation burden may be particularly important in this link. There are notable sex differences in the mortality effects of social isolation in that they are greater for men and can be attributed in part to their heightened inflammatory responses.
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Communication Channels and Word of Mouth: How the Medium Shapes the Message
Jonah Berger & Raghuram Iyengar
Journal of Consumer Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
Consumers share word of mouth face to face, over social media, and through a host of other communication channels. But do these channels affect what people talk about and, if so, how? Laboratory experiments, as well as analysis of almost 20,000 everyday conversations, demonstrate that communicating via oral versus written communication affects the products and brands consumers discuss. Compared to oral communication, written communication leads people to mention more interesting products and brands. Further, this effect is driven by communication asynchrony and self-enhancement concerns. Written communication gives people more time to construct and refine what to say, and self-enhancement motives lead people to use this opportunity to mention more interesting things. These findings shed light on how communication channels shape interpersonal communication and the psychological drivers of word of mouth more broadly.
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Taking Turns: Reciprocal Self-Disclosure Promotes Liking in Initial Interactions
Susan Sprecher et al.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, September 2013, Pages 860-866
Abstract:
Prior research has provided evidence for the self-disclosure reciprocity effect: self-disclosure promotes further self-disclosure. In this study, we examined a related but distinct issue about self-disclosure reciprocity: the effects of self-disclosure reciprocity (vs. non-reciprocity) on affiliative interpersonal outcomes (e.g., liking) in initial encounters. We manipulated disclosure reciprocity in an experiment that involved pairs of unacquainted individuals participating in a structured self-disclosure activity. Participants in some pairs took turns asking and answering questions in two interactions (reciprocal disclosure). In other pairs, participants either disclosed or listened in an initial interaction (non-reciprocal disclosure) and then switched disclosure roles in a second interaction. Participants who disclosed reciprocally reported greater liking, closeness, perceived similarity, and enjoyment of the interaction after the first interaction than participants who disclosed non-reciprocally. These differences remained after the second interaction, even though participants in non-reciprocally disclosing dyads switched roles (i.e., disclosers became listeners) and therefore experienced extended reciprocity. We concluded that turn-taking self-disclosure reciprocity in the acquaintance process increases the likelihood of positive outcomes (e.g., liking).
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Instructor touch enhanced college students' evaluations
Angela Legg & Janie Wilson
Social Psychology of Education, June 2013, Pages 317-327
Abstract:
Touch between people is associated with several outcomes, including reduced stress, more positive mood, enhanced feelings of closeness, and positive behavioral change. However, the potential utility of touch rarely has been examined in a college sample, with teachers touching their students. In the present study, we used instrumental touch operationalized as teaching students to take their pulse on the wrist; a control group was not touched. We assessed motivation, attitudes toward the instructor and the lecture, and quiz grades based on the lecture. Results indicated that touch increased motivation and attitudes toward the teacher and lecture. We suggest that instructors can use touch as a way to develop rapport, increase student motivation, and improve attitudes toward the instructor and course. Future research should evaluate appropriate forms of touch, possible moderation by student or instructor gender, and potential long-term benefits of using touch in the classroom.
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Vincent Pillaud, Nicoletta Cavazza & Fabrizio Butera
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
We tested whether individuals can exert control over the expression of attitudinal ambivalence and if this control is exerted with self-presentational concerns. Using the self-presentation paradigm, participants reported more ambivalence about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in a standard and a self-enhancement (present yourself positively) conditions than in a self-depreciation (present yourself negatively) condition, on felt (Experiments 1a and 2a) and potential ambivalence, in its cognitive (Experiments 1b and 2b) and affective components (Experiments 1b and 2c). The role of ambivalent attitudes in conveying a positive social value was confirmed by the fact that the above effect was found on a controversial attitude object (GMOs), but the opposite appeared on a noncontroversial one (e.g., tooth brushing, a truism; Experiment 3). Such a reversal was obtained by directly manipulating the perception of controversy on GMOs (Experiment 4). Attitudinal ambivalence may thus serve an adaptive function, that is, achieving a positive social value.
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Friendship network position and salivary cortisol levels
Olga Kornienko et al.
Social Neuroscience, July/August 2013, Pages 385-396
Abstract:
We employed a social network analysis approach to examine the associations between friendship network position and cortisol levels. The sample consisted of 74 first-year students (93% female, ages 22-38 years, M = 27) from a highly competitive, accelerated Nursing program. Participants completed questionnaires online, and the entire group met at one time to complete a series of sociometric nominations and donated a saliva sample. Saliva was later assayed for cortisol. Metrics derived from directed friendship nominations indexed each student's friendship network status regarding popularity, gregariousness, and degree of interconnectedness. Results revealed that (1) individuals with lower gregariousness status (i.e., lowest number of outgoing ties) had higher cortisol levels, and (2) individuals with higher popularity status (i.e., higher numbers of incoming ties) had higher cortisol levels. Popularity and gregariousness-based network status is significantly associated with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity. Implications for prevailing theories of the social determinants of individual differences in biological sensitivity and susceptibility to context are discussed.
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Fame and the social self: The need to belong, narcissism, and relatedness predict the appeal of fame
Dara Greenwood, Christopher Long & Sonya Dal Cin
Personality and Individual Differences, September 2013, Pages 490-495
Abstract:
The present online survey study (Amazon's MTurk; n = 371) investigated links between three different social self-concepts (the need to belong, narcissism, and relatedness) and the appeal of fame. We examined fame attitudes using a newly-devised fame appeal scale (yielding three factors: Visibility, Status and Prosocial), as well as with two items probing frequency of fame fantasizing and perceived realism of becoming famous. Results show that higher belongingness needs were associated with increased appeal of all three fame factors, as well as increased frequency of fantasizing about fame (accounting for age and gender). Narcissism was associated with increased appeal of Visibility and Status, more time spent engaged in fame fantasy, and greater perceived realism of future fame. Finally, Relatedness predicted increased appeal of the Prosocial fame factor only. Findings illuminate the socioemotional underpinnings of fame appeal and the individual differences that may render certain aspects of fame particularly alluring.