A communication that contains a particularly strong intent to influence can easily lose persuasive impact or even bring about a "boomerang" effect. Such "boomerang" phenomena have often been attributed to "psychological reactance," a motivational state created when freedoms are threatened or usurped. Two factors that inhibited reactance were…

It was hypothesized that thought would result in greater attitude polarization than distraction and that this effect would be more pronounced with better developed "schemas" (naive theories) for thinking about the attitude object. (Editor)

The hypotheses of informational cognitive control, based on the idea that being able to predict the occurrence of an unpleasant event facilitates a reduction of its impact, has not received clear support in previous research. This experiment investigates the effects of three variables on subjective reactions to mild electric shock. (Editor/RK)

Three postulates are proposed concerning the manner in which persons infer the validity of propositions that do not necessarily follow logically from the information available. Implications of the proposed postulates for existing formulations of social inference and cognitive organization are discussed. (Editor/RK)

A strong test of exposure effects was made by eliminating confounding demand characteristics through the use of a between-subject design. Each subject viewed novel stimuli at a single frequency level, and then rated them on several affective scales. (Editor)

Evaluates affective and self-disclosure responses to the disclosure of stigmatizing information by an experimental partner. Greater liking and self-disclosure were expected where the partner discloses exclusively to the subject than where he either does not disclose or discloses to everyone. (Author/RK)

After 15 years of research on group induced shifts in individual choice, two hypotheses, social comparison (involving image maintenance) and persuasive arguments (involving attitude change), have emerged as the leading explanatory contenders. This article criticizes the view held by Burnstein and his associates (EJ 128 727) which supports the…

Examines Lerner's work on the justice motive. Central to this view of justice is the notion that people are motivated to eliminate the innocent suffering of others and will do so providing the act of help does not jeopardize the individual's ability to maintain deserved outcomes. (Author/RK)

Do individuals conform to various norms of reward allocation not necessarily in response to internal standards but rather, to win approval from relevant others? This study examined the role of self-presentation in mediating equity, equality, and self-interest within reward allocations. (Editor)

This research tested predictions derived from equitable exchange, social attraction, and normative information theories of self-disclosure. (Editor/RK)

The primary hypothesis examined was that people giving positive evaluations are themselves regarded as more attractive than when they give negative evaluations. Tests whether this holds when reciprocity is not at issue, the situation is realistic rather than role playing, and when there is no possibility of future interaction. (Editor/RK)

The Subject-Verb-Object (S-V-O) approach to social cognition was used to study some traditional balance theory problems and several additional problems as well. (Editor)