Abstract: In this paper we review the basic assumptions formulated by Jack Brehm in 1966 in his theory of psychological reactance and we sample some interesting directions of research on reactance that have been carried out by social psychologists during the last 40 years. We conclude that although there has been impressive development in the reactance research, more exciting avenues of investigation lie ahead. Throughout the paper we outline some of these future directions.
A total of 60 young adults responded to vignettes presenting moral dilemmas experienced in caregiving interactions with a family member with dementia. Four types of reasons for deceiving (or not deceiving) a family member with dementia emerged: care reasons (improving the welfare of the person with dementia), justice reasons (universal principles), care-for-others reasons (protecting the welfare of others), and relationship reasons (maintaining the relationship). Care reasons and care-for-others reasons positively predicted moral decisions to lie, whereas justice reasons and relationship reasons negatively predicted these decisions. These findings underscore the importance of understanding the motives underlying deception in dementia relationships.
We manipulated perspective taking and measured romantic intimates' attention to their partners' context. Participants read a letter supposedly from their romantic partner describing the partner's precarious situation (e.g., stress and financial issues) and either imagined their partner's difficult situation (n = 87) or remained objective and detached (n = 85). Afterwards, they drew a picture of their romantic partner in the situation (drawing task) and wrote about the thoughts they had while reading the letter (writing task). As predicted, when adopting their romantic partner's perspective (vs. remaining detached), geographically close intimates focused more on their partner's context, whereas long-distance intimates relied on self-anchoring processes to produce knowledge about their partner's feelings and thoughts in that specific situation. We discuss theoretical, clinical, and therapeutic implications of the findings for the study of differential perspective-taking processes and mechanisms in long-distance and geographically close relationships.
We examine how appraisals of the legitimacy of gender inequality affect men's experience of collective guilt. We tested two potential routes by which perceiving intergroup inequality as legitimate might undermine collective guilt: via reductions in empathy for the disadvantaged outgroup or via reductions in the distress experienced when confronted with the suffering of the outgroup. In the first study ( N= 52), we measured legitimacy appraisals, and in the second experimental study ( N= 73) we manipulated the legitimacy of gender inequality. In both studies, reductions in self-focused distress mediated the effect of legitimacy appraisals on collective guilt, while other-oriented empathy did not. These effects suggest that collective guilt is a self-focused emotion that emerges when members of a dominant group perceive their relationship with a disadvantaged outgroup to be illegitimate.
In two studies, we examined the effects of perspective taking aimed at one's romantic partner, and type of romantic relationship (long-distance vs. geographically close) on sensory specificity. Sensory specificity is defined as selectivity in using sensory dimensions such as visual, acoustical, or tactile, in romantic interactions. Participants were undergraduate students involved in exclusive romantic relationships. In Study 1 (N = 210), a perspective-taking orientation to the partner enhanced sensory selectivity in both types of relationships. In Study 2 (N = 120), in which perspective taking was manipulated, perspective taking caused an increase in sensory specificity for partners living in the same location, and not for those in long-distance relationships. These findings underscore the importance of studying perspective taking in the context of sensory-based romantic interactions. Implications and future directions are discussed.
We propose atransactional model of romantic sensory interactions, according to which male and female intimates adapt to the specific context of their romantic relationships by adopting different sensory domains of interactions with their partners. To test this model, we measured romantic couples' orientations toward using sensory modalities of romantic relating, and the importance of these modalities (N= 137 couples). Although not all hypotheses were supported, the findings suggest that men's relationship satisfaction, passionate love, and liking were driven by a stronger orientation toward touch, whereas women's relationship satisfaction, passionate love, liking, and commitment were predicted by a stronger preference for hearing. Higher differential valuing of touch and bodily sensations predicted higher passionate love for both men and women, suggesting that these sensory modalities have similar functions for both genders — to maintain sexual desire and passionate love for the partner. These findings underscore the importance of romantic couples' differential sensory orientations in maintaining satisfying relationships.
We propose that an orientation toward relating to one's romantic partner via multiple sensory channels has beneficial effects for the relationship, especially for long-distance relationships. We used Wicklund's (2004) conceptualisation of full-dimensionality of relating and Brehm's (1999) emotional intensity theory to test the effects of a sensory multidimensional orientation and difficulty of maintaining the romantic relationship on feelings of love and commitment. In Study 1, we tested 55 participants involved in a long-distance romantic relationship and found that a multidimensional orientation fended off the detrimental effects of difficulty of maintaining the relationship: when partners experienced high difficulty, those with a high orientation experienced more positive affect, love, and commitment than those with a low orientation. In Study 2, data from 31 long-distance and 23 geographically-close participants indicated that a high multidimensionality orientation had a greater positive impact in long-distance relationships than in geographically-close relationships. In Study 3, 40 long-distance participants were asked to write about two times when it was either difficult but possible or nearly impossible to maintain their current relationship. Positive affect for the partner, love, and desire to be with the partner in the future were highest for the participants in the possible condition who preferred relating to the partner on multiple sensory channels. Altogether, these studies underline the importance of multidimensional orientation in romantic relationships, especially when intimates perceive maintaining the relationship as being difficult but manageable. Theoretical and practical implications of this new concept of sensory multidimensionality orientation are discussed.
When do male and female managers stop caring about workplace gender inequality and, instead, engage in actions that maintain the status quo? We examined the differences in male and female managers' appraisals of workplace inequality and the role of power in their efforts to enact organizational justice. Specifically, we tested whether managers' injustice standards are a function of their managerial power and gender and whether these standards mediate the effect of managerial power on managers' organizational injustice appraisals and attitudes. An injustice standard is the amount of evidence needed to conclude that workplace gender wage inequality is unfair to female employees. Power was operationalized as economic advantage (i.e., having a higher salary than the salary of female workers; Studies 1 and 2) and as organizational charge (i.e., having managerial responsibilities; Study 2). Managers reported either their ingroup standards (evidentiary injustice thresholds they as members of their gender group set; Ingroup Focus condition) or outgroup standards (injustice thresholds they estimate members of the other gender group set, Study 1; or injustice thresholds they estimated disadvantaged women in the workplace set, Study 2; Outgroup Focus condition). In Study 1 ( N = 268) and Study 2 ( N = 389), injustice standards increase as a function of power for both male and female managers. Injustice standards mediated the effects of power on managers' resistance to efforts to reduce workplace inequality, legitimizations of inequality, and attitudes toward workplace diversity policies. Different strategies for reducing workplace injustice are discussed.
We examined differences in perspective taking and empathic emotions in letters written by young adults with grandparents with dementia (GD; N = 21) versus those with grandparents without dementia (GND; N = 45). College students wrote a letter to either their grandparent with dementia or their grandparent without dementia. The letters were coded for perspective taking and empathic emotions. Perspective taking was operationalized as participants' scores on a perspective-taking orientation scale as well as number of second-person pronouns and number of shared experiences in the letters. Compared with participants in the GND group, those in the GDs group reported greater perspective taking, higher levels of tenderness and empathic distress, but similar levels of sympathy toward their grandparent. These findings suggest that interpersonal interventions should capitalize on family members' higher orientation toward taking the perspective of their family member with dementia and their empathic feelings of tenderness toward that person.
AbstractOne of the most serious challenges inherent in retirement transition is coping with social identity changes. We investigated social identity processes and the role of social engagement during retirement transition by examining the life narratives of recently retired university faculty (14 males and 5 females) from 12 different academic areas. The interviews were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The results revealed one overarching theme—the centrality and importance of academic identity—and 3 identity transition processes with their associated goals: identity continuity, identity change, and identity conservation. Four additional themes captured the manifestations of these identity processes as they play out in the lived experiences of identity transition among these recent academic retirees: awareness of negative aspects in academia and perceived lack of fit between self and academia; social disidentification with academic identity; identity discovery and seeking old and new identities; and embracing old and new identities, including hobby-related and place-anchored activities. Maintaining and transforming parts of their former identities, as opposed to an active search for new connections, was a prevalent strategy among the participants. We discuss implications for designing strategies to better prepare recent academic retirees and academics who are considering retirement to enable a smoother identity transition and improved well-being.
