To date, prominent theories still disagree on whether the pathological grandiosity that underlies narcissism stems from a defensive, compensatory process in response to insecurity or from years of ...unjustified overvaluation during formative stages of development. Across two studies, we introduce a novel method to test these theories by examining visual representations of self. In Study 1, we measured Self-Concept Clarity and the distortion of (n = 96) participants' self-images (generated using the reverse correlation technique) relative to their actual appearances. In Study 2, we then compared attractiveness ratings of the actual photographs of participants with their self-images generated in Study 1, through judgments made by independent raters (n = 45). Our work revealed that a) lower Self-Concept Clarity predicts self-image distortion, b) the narcissistic desire to conceal flaws mediates this association, and c) self-image distortion led to self-enhancement, consistent with a compensatory reaction to insecurity.
•Our work is the first, to our knowledge, to examine self-image as a visual percept.•Novel use of psychophysical task for studying and assessing narcissism aggrandizement•Findings suggest aggrandizement stems from insecurity, (cf. grandiose fantasy).•Self-image distortion relates to self-image enhancement via narcissistic insecurity.
Investigating Variation in Replicability Klein, Richard A.; Ratliff, Kate A.; Vianello, Michelangelo ...
Social psychology (Göttingen, Germany),
01/2014, Letnik:
45, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Although replication is a central tenet of science, direct replications are rare
in psychology. This research tested variation in the replicability of 13 classic and
contemporary effects across 36 ...independent samples totaling 6,344 participants. In the
aggregate, 10 effects replicated consistently. One effect - imagined contact reducing
prejudice - showed weak support for replicability. And two effects - flag priming
influencing conservatism and currency priming influencing system justification - did not
replicate. We compared whether the conditions such as lab versus online or US versus
international sample predicted effect magnitudes. By and large they did not. The results of
this small sample of effects suggest that replicability is more dependent on the effect itself
than on the sample and setting used to investigate the effect.
Through 3 studies, we investigated whether angularity and roundness present in faces contributes to the perception of anger and joyful expressions, respectively. First, in Study 1 we found that angry ...expressions naturally contain more inward-pointing lines, whereas joyful expressions contain more outward-pointing lines. Then, using image-processing techniques in Studies 2 and 3, we filtered images to contain only inward-pointing or outward-pointing lines as a way to approximate angularity and roundness. We found that filtering images to be more angular increased how threatening and angry a neutral face was rated, increased how intense angry expressions were rated, and enhanced the recognition of anger. Conversely, filtering images to be rounder increased how warm and joyful a neutral face was rated, increased the intensity of joyful expressions, and enhanced recognition of joy. Together these findings show that angularity and roundness play a direct role in the recognition of angry and joyful expressions. Given evidence that angularity and roundness may play a biological role in indicating threat and safety in the environment, this suggests that angularity and roundness represent primitive facial cues used to signal threat−anger and warmth−joy pairings.
Fearful faces convey threat cues whose meaning is contextualized by eye gaze: While averted gaze is congruent with facial fear (both signal avoidance), direct gaze (an approach signal) is incongruent ...with it. We have previously shown using fMRI that the amygdala is engaged more strongly by fear with averted gaze during brief exposures. However, the amygdala also responds more to fear with direct gaze during longer exposures. Here we examined previously unexplored brain oscillatory responses to characterize the neurodynamics and connectivity during brief (~250 ms) and longer (~883 ms) exposures of fearful faces with direct or averted eye gaze. We performed two experiments: one replicating the exposure time by gaze direction interaction in fMRI (N = 23), and another where we confirmed greater early phase locking to averted-gaze fear (congruent threat signal) with MEG (N = 60) in a network of face processing regions, regardless of exposure duration. Phase locking to direct-gaze fear (incongruent threat signal) then increased significantly for brief exposures at ~350 ms, and at ~700 ms for longer exposures. Our results characterize the stages of congruent and incongruent facial threat signal processing and show that stimulus exposure strongly affects the onset and duration of these stages.
The present work examined whether men's and women's gender-identities and experiences of gender threats influenced their self-images. Findings across two studies (N = 567) revealed that masculinity ...in men appears to be more precarious than femininity is in women, but when similarly threatened in a given situation both men's and women's anger predicted their construction of gender compensatory self-images. Specifically, in Study 1, participants' definition of the self in terms of gender ingroup (vs. outgroup) traits (a) positively predicted the gender stereotypicality of men's and women's actual photographs and women's constructed self-images, but (b) negatively predicted the gender stereotypicality of men's self-images. Men whose self definitions least strongly prioritized gender ingroup (over outgroup) traits generated the most gender stereotypic self-images, as rated by independent judges. In addition, in Study 2, after being led to believe that they performed like average members of their gender outgroup (i.e., threat condition) on a gender knowledge test, men expressed more public discomfort and were angrier than women. Gender threat (vs. assurance) also indirectly predicted the generation of more gender stereotypic self-images for men, but not women; this effect was significant via serial mediation, through public discomfort and anger. However, extending prior findings, anger (but not public discomfort) was significantly associated with and predicted the construction of feedback contradicting self-images similarly. We discuss the implications of these findings for theory and research on gender-identity, self-image, and compensatory gender threat responses.
•The gendered appearance of a person is predicted by their self-defined gender identity.•Visual images of self reflect a compensatory response to endemic, as well as situational, threats to one's gender identity.•Anger in response to gender threatening feedback predicted the formation of compensatory visual representations of self.•Stereotypic pressure on men and women influences how they mentally visualize their own self-images.
In many social situations, we make a snap judgment about crowds of people relying on their overall mood (termed “crowd emotion”). Although reading crowd emotion is critical for interpersonal ...dynamics, the sociocultural aspects of this process have not been explored. The current study examined how culture modulates the processing of crowd emotion in Korean and American observers. Korean and American (non-East Asian) participants were briefly presented with two groups of faces that were individually varying in emotional expressions and asked to choose which group between the two they would rather avoid. We found that Korean participants were more accurate than American participants overall, in line with the framework on cultural viewpoints: Holistic versus analytic processing in East Asians versus Westerners. Moreover, we found a speed advantage for other-race crowds in both cultural groups. Finally, we found different hemispheric lateralization patterns: American participants were more accurate to perceive the facial crowd to be avoided when it was presented in the left visual field than the right visual field, indicating a right hemisphere advantage for processing crowd emotion of both European American and Korean facial crowds. However, Korean participants showed weak or nonexistent laterality effects, with a slight right hemisphere advantage for European American facial crowds and no advantage in perceiving Korean facial crowds. Instead, Korean participants showed positive emotion bias for own-race faces. This work suggests that culture plays a role in modulating our crowd emotion perception of groups of faces and responses to them.
According to the facial feedback hypothesis, people's affective responses can be influenced by their own facial expression (e.g., smiling, pouting), even when their expression did not result from ...their emotional experiences. For example, Strack, Martin, and Stepper (1988) instructed participants to rate the funniness of cartoons using a pen that they held in their mouth. In line with the facial feedback hypothesis, when participants held the pen with their teeth (inducing a "smile"), they rated the cartoons as funnier than when they held the pen with their lips (inducing a "pout"). This seminal study of the facial feedback hypothesis has not been replicated directly. This Registered Replication Report describes the results of 17 independent direct replications of Study 1 from Strack et al. (1988), all of which followed the same vetted protocol. A meta-analysis of these studies examined the difference in funniness ratings between the "smile" and "pout" conditions. The original Strack et al. (1988) study reported a rating difference of 0.82 units on a 10-point Likert scale. Our meta-analysis revealed a rating difference of 0.03 units with a 95% confidence interval ranging from −0.11 to 0.16.
Responds to the comments made by Monin and Oppenheimer (see record 2014-37961-001), Ferguson et al. (see record 2014-38072-001), Crisp et al. (see record 2014-38072-002), and Schwarz & Strack (see ...record 2014-38072-003) on the current authors original article (see record 2014-20922-002). The current authors thank the commentators for their productive discussion of the Many Labs project. They entirely agree with the main theme across the commentaries: direct replication does not guarantee that the same effect was tested. As noted by Nosek and Lakens (2014, p. 137), ‘‘direct replication is the attempt to duplicate the conditions and procedure that existing theory and evidence anticipate as necessary for obtaining the effect.’’ Attempting to do so does not guarantee success, but it does provide substantial opportunity for theoretical development building on empirical evidence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)
In the original publication of the article under Introduction, the sentence in the second paragraph that reads as, “Therefore, none of the existing studies…Westerners” should read as, “Therefore, ...none of the existing studies on crowd emotion perception allows us to directly compare potential differences between Easterners and Westerners in extracting crowd emotion from groups of faces of Easterners vs Westerners.”
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