Covering up what can't be seen: concealable stigma and mental control

Article Abstract:

Author's Abstract, COPYRIGHT 1999, American Psychological Association, Inc. In these studies the authors examined the effects of concealing a stigma in a social interaction relevant to the stigma. An interview paradigm called for undergraduate female participants who either did or did not have eating disordered characteristics to play the role of someone who did or did not have an eating disorder (ED) while answering stigma-relevant questions. The data suggest that the participants who concealed their stigmas become preoccupied with the control of stigma-relevant thoughts. In Study 1, participants with an ED who role-played not having and ED exhibited more secrecy, suppression, and intrusive thoughts of their ED and more projection of ED-related thoughts onto the interviewer than did those with an ED who role-played someone with an ED or those without an Ed who role-played someone without an ED. This finding was replicated in Study 2, and the authors found both increasing accessibility of ED-related words among those participants with concealed stigmas during the interview and high levels of accessibility following the interview.

United States, Stigma (Social psychology)

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Fuzziness of nonverbal courtship communication unblurred by motion energy detection

Article Abstract:

Author's Abstract, COPYRIGHT 1999, American Psychological Association, Inc. A new method for the assessment of qualitative description of nonverbal behavior (automatic movie analysis) is introduced. This model-free method does not use any assumptions on the structure and organization of nonverbal behavior. Cross-cultural comparison (Germany, Japan) of unobtrusively filmed initial interactions between 2 opposite-sex strangers revealed no consistent courtship repertoire of directly observable behavior categories. Furthermore, an extensive analysis of gaze behavior and speech revealed differences between the countries but also showed no consistent relation to interest. Motion energy detection demonstrated in both cultures that female movement quality score (number of movements, duration, size, speed, and complexity) covaries with female interest. This effect is in concordance with the theory that in early stages of interactions manipulative efforts occur in order to avoid possible deception in high-risk situations.

Japan, Germany, Sexual attraction, Courtship

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On recollections lost: when practice makes imperfect

Article Abstract:

Author's Abstract, COPYRIGHT 1999, American Psychological Association, Inc. Recent research has demonstrated that the act of remembering can prompt forgetting or, more specifically, the inhibition of specific items in memory (M.C. Anderson & B.A. Spellman, 1995). This line of inquiry was extended through an investigation of the process and consequences of retrieval-induced forgetting in social cognition. Across 3 studies, the findings clarify several unresolved issues in the psychology of forgetting. First, it was demonstrated that retrieval-induced forgetting extends to issues in social cognition (Experiment 1). Second, forgetting can be elicited even in task contexts in which perceivers are highly motivated to remember the presented material (Experiment 2). Third, forgetting is not moderated by the amount of retrieval practice that perceivers experience (Experiment 3). These findings are considered in the context of recent treatments of cognitive inhibition and goal-directed forgetting.

United Kingdom, Memory

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