Does the Stereotypicality of Mothers’ Occupation Influence Children’s Communal Occupational Aspirations and Communal Orientation?

Career development is a lifelong process that starts in infancy and is shaped by a number of different factors during childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Even though career development is shaped through life, relatively little is known about the predictors of occupational aspirations in childhood. Therefore, in the present work we investigate how the stereotypicality of a mother’s occupation (female-dominated/communal vs. non-female-dominated/agentic) influences her young child’s communal occupational aspirations and communal orientation. We conducted two studies with young children. Study 1 included 72 mother–child dyads recruited from childcare centers in Northern Norway (children’s age range: 4½–6 years). Study 2 included 106 mother–child dyads recruited from Norwegian elementary schools (children’s age range: 6 to 13 years). Results from Study 1 showed that the stereotypicality of mothers’ occupation was related to their children’s communal occupational aspirations and children’s communal orientation. In contrast to our predictions and results from Study 1, the stereotypicality of mothers’ occupation was not significantly related to children’s communal occupational aspirations nor their communal orientation in Study 2. In both studies, we found no relationship between mothers’ gender attitudes or share of child care and children’s communal occupational aspirations. The results are discussed in terms of parents’ influence on children’s development of occupational aspirations.

The Effects of Type of Pronouns and Hope Appeals in Supportive Messages About COVID-19

This study examined the role of pronouns in supportive messages and hope appeals in facilitating people's coping with coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). Participants included 256 residents of New York State, and they evaluated hypothetical messages about COVID-19. Results showed that when people have a communal orientation to coping, you-language (vs. we-language) supportive messages led to more emotional improvement. The presence (vs. absence) of hope appeals in supportive messages increased communal coping. We discuss the implications of results in promoting emotion- and action-focused coping.

Compassionate goals predict COVID-19 health behaviors during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

We predicted that people with compassionate goals to support others and not harm them practiced more COVID-19 health behaviors during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic to protect both themselves and others from infection. Three studies (N = 1,143 American adults) supported these predictions and ruled out several alternative explanations. Compassionate goals unrelated to the health context predicted COVID-19 health behaviors better than the general motivation to be healthy (Studies 2 and 3). In contrast, general health motivation predicted general health behaviors better than did compassionate goals. Compassionate goals and political ideology each explained unique variance in COVID-19 health behaviors (Studies 1–3). Compassionate goals predict unique variance in COVID-19 health behaviors beyond empathic concern, communal orientation, and relational self-construal (Study 3), supporting the unique contribution of compassionate goals to understanding health behaviors. Our results suggest that ecosystem motivation is an important predictor of health behaviors, particularly in the context of a highly contagious disease.

Self-interest is overestimated: Two successful pre-registered replications and extensions of Miller and Ratner (1998)

Self-interest is a central driver of attitudes and behaviors, but people also act against their immediate self-interest through prosocial behaviors, voting incongruously with their finances, or punishing others at personal cost. How much people believe that self-interest causes attitudes and behaviors is important, because this belief may shape regulation, shared narratives, and institutional structures. An influential paper claimed that people overestimate the power of self- interest on others' attitudes and behavioral intentions (Miller & Ratner, 1998). We present two registered, close, and successful replications (U.S. MTurk, N = 800; U.K. Prolific, N = 799) that compared actual to estimated intentions, with open data and code. Consistent with the original article, participants overestimated the impact of payment on blood donation in Study 1, ds = 0.59 [0.51, 0.66], 0.57 [0.49, 0.64], and overestimated the importance of smoking status for smoking policy preferences in Study 4, ds = 0.75 [0.59, 0.90], 0.84 [0.73, 0.96]. These replications included two extensions: 1) communal orientation as a moderator of overestimation and 2) a more detailed measure of self-interest in Study 4 (ordinal smoking status). Communal orientation did not predict overestimation, and the ordinal smoking measure yielded similar results to the main study. Verifying the overestimation error informs behavioral theories across several fields and has practical implications for institutions that require trust and cooperation. All materials, data, and code are available at osf.io/57mdc/.

The Role of Gender in Pay-What-You-Want Contexts

This research highlights how gender shapes consumer payments in pay-what-you-want contexts. Four studies involving hypothetical and real payments show that men typically pay less than women in pay-what-you-want settings, due to gender differences in agentic versus communal orientation. Men approach the payment decision with an agentic orientation, and women approach it with a communal orientation. These orientations then shape payment motives and ultimately affect payment behavior. Because agentic men are more self-focused, their payment decisions are motivated by economic factors, resulting in lower payments. Conversely, communal women are more other-focused, and their payment decisions are motivated by both social and economic factors, resulting in higher payments. The findings additionally highlight how sellers can use marketing communications to increase the salience of social payment motives and demonstrate that by doing so, marketers can increase how much men pay without altering how much women pay in pay-what-you-want settings.

“COMMUNAL ORIENTATION PREDICTING MARITAL FLOURISHING: ANALYZING MODERATED-MEDIATION MODEL OF EXPRESSION AND REGULATION OF EMOTIONS AMONG MARRIED SAMPLE.”

The current research explores the role of communal orientation, emotional expressivity and emotional regulation to determine marital flourishing of married population.Data is collected from married individuals belonging to diverse social, economic and professional backgrounds using standardized self-report questionnaires. The study uses survey research design. SPSS 21 version analyses the data using correlations, regression and moderated-mediated models. Results indicatethat communal orientation is significant predictor of marital flourishing. Findings also reveal that moderation of emotion expressivity and mediation of emotion regulation buffers the relationship between communal orientation and marital flourishing amongst married population.The current researchcarries implications for relationship counselors, family researchers and positive psychologists.

Self-interest Is Overestimated: Two Successful Pre-registered Replications and Extensions of Miller and Ratner (1998)

Self-interest is a central driver of attitudes and behaviors, but people also act against their immediate self-interest through prosocial behaviors, voting incongruously with their finances, or punishing others at personal cost. How much people believe that self-interest causes attitudes and behaviors is important, because this belief may shape regulation, shared narratives, and institutional structures. An influential paper claimed that people overestimate the power of self-interest on others’ attitudes and behavioral intentions (Miller & Ratner, 1998). We present two registered, close, and successful replications (U.S. MTurk, N = 800; U.K. Prolific, N = 799) that compared actual to estimated intentions, with open data and code. Consistent with the original article, participants overestimated the impact of payment on blood donation in Study 1, ds = 0.59 [0.51, 0.66], 0.57 [0.49, 0.64], and overestimated the importance of smoking status for smoking policy preferences in Study 4, ds = 0.75 [0.59, 0.90], 0.84 [0.73, 0.96]. These replications included two extensions: 1) communal orientation as a moderator of overestimation and 2) a more detailed measure of self-interest in Study 4 (ordinal smoking status). Communal orientation did not predict overestimation, and the ordinal smoking measure yielded similar results to the main study. Verifying the overestimation error informs behavioral theories across several fields and has practical implications for institutions that require trust and cooperation. All materials, data, and code are available at osf.io/57mdc/

Peers as Culturally Relevant Change Agents

As the United States’ school-age population has become increasingly diverse, it is critical that the curricula, instruction, assessments, and interventions in schools are culturally relevant, reflecting the values and lived experiences of children and families. In this chapter, we posit that peer-mediated interventions are viable strategies that can be used to improve the cultural relevance of interventions in schools. After reviewing culturally relevant school-based service delivery, we offer four reasons supporting the use of peers as culturally relevant change agents: (a) communal orientation, (b) preference for racial/ethnic match, (c) overcoming cultural mismatches in schools, and (d) near peer modeling.

Peer Perceptions of Communal Narcissism and Communalism in At-Risk Adolescents

The present study extended research on the relation of communal narcissism in adolescents with self- and peer-reported personality and behavior. Although communal narcissism may be associated with negative peer perceptions, a communal orientation that does not also convey superiority (i.e., communalism) may be viewed more favorably. Self- and peer-perceptions were investigated as a function of communal narcissism and a non-narcissistic communal orientation (i.e., by altering the Communal Narcissism Inventory to reflect more humble self-views). Participants were 246 adolescents, ages 16–19 years, who were attending a quasi-military residential program for youth who have dropped out, or were at-risk of dropping out, of school. Communal narcissism and communalism were significantly interrelated. Communal narcissism was negatively associated with unique variance in self-reported empathy, whereas communalism was positively associated with self-reported empathy and more strongly related to peer-reported prosociality. The role of superiority in communal domains in adolescent self-perception and peer relationships is discussed.

Dishonesty during a pandemic: The concealment of COVID-19 information

Honest disclosures of COVID-19 behaviors and symptoms is critical. A sample of adults on MTurk ( N = 451, 20–82 years of age) were asked if they have concealed social distancing practices, COVID-19 symptoms, and quarantine instructions, as well as how they evaluated others’ COVID-19 concealment. Those who believed they had contracted COVID-19 engaged in greater rates of concealment and evaluated concealment more positively compared to those without the virus. As age and communal orientation increased, COVID-19 concealment behaviors decreased, and evaluations of this concealment were rated more negatively. Implications for public health initiatives and psychological theory on concealing health information is discussed.