Self-control, an aspect of inhibitory control, is the ability to regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behavior in the face of temptations and impulses. As an executive function, self-control is a cognitive process that is necessary for regulating one’s behavior in order to achieve specific goals.More at Wikipedia
Baumeister, R. F., Vohs, K. D., & Tice, D. M.. (2007). The strength model of self-control. Current Directions in Psychological Science
“Self-control is a central function of the self and an important key to success in life. the exertion of self-control appears to depend on a limited resource. just as a muscle gets tired from exertion, acts of self-control cause short-termimpairments (ego depletion) in subsequent self-control, even on unrelated tasks. research has supported the strength model in the domains of eating, drinking, spending, sexuality, intelligent thought, making choices, and interpersonal behavior. motivational or framing factors can temporarily block the deleterious effects of being in a state of ego depletion. blood glucose is an important component of the energy.”
Ajzen, I.. (2002). Perceived behavioral control, self-efficacy, locus of control, and the theory of planned behavior. Journal of Applied Social Psychology
“Responses of neurons in inferior temporal cortex during memory-guided visual search. j. neurophysiol. 80: 2918-2940, 1998. a typical scene will contain many different objects, few of which are relevant to behavior at any given moment. thus attentional mechanisms are needed to select relevant objects for visual processing and control over behavior. we examined this role of attention in the inferior temporal cortex of macaque monkeys, using a visual search paradigm. while the monkey maintained fixation, a cue stimulus was presented at the center of gaze, followed by a blank delay period. after the delay, an array of two to five choice stimuli was presented extrafoveally, and the monkey was rewarded for detecting a target stimulus matching the cue. the behavioral response was a saccadic eye movement to the target in one version of the task and a lever release in another. the array was composed of one ‘good’ stimulus (effective in driving the cell when presented alone) and one or more ‘poor’ stimuli (ineffective in driving the cell when presented alone). most cells showed higher delay activity after a good stimulus used as the cue than after a poor stimulus. the baseline activity of cells was also higher preceding a good cue, if the animal expected it to occur. this activity may depend on a top-down bias in favor of cells coding the relevant stimulus. when the choice array was presented, most cells showed suppressive interactions between the stimuli as well as strong attention effects. when the choice array was presented in the contralateral visual field, most cells initially responded the same, regardless of which stimulus was the target. however, within 150-200 ms of array onset, responses were determined by the target stimulus. if the target was the good stimulus, the response to the array became equal to the response to the good stimulus presented alone. if the target was a poor stimulus, the response approached the response to that stimulus presented alone. thus the influence of the nontarget stimulus was eliminated. these effects occurred well in advance of the behavioral response. when the array was positioned with stimuli on opposite sides of the vertical meridian, the contralateral stimulus appeared to dominate the response, and this dominant effect could not be overcome by attention. overall, the results support a ‘biased competition’ model of attention, according to which 1) objects in the visual field compete for representation in the cortex, an…”
Muraven, M.. (2010). Building self-control strength: Practicing self-control leads to improved self-control performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
“Self-control performance may be improved by the regular practice of small acts of self-control. ninety-two adults’ self-control capacity was assessed using the stop signal paradigm before they started practicing self-control and again at the end of 2 weeks. participants who practiced self-control by cutting back on sweets or squeezing a handgrip exhibited significant improvement in stop signal performance relative to those who practiced tasks that did not require self-control. participants who did not practice self-control believed that the tasks should improved self-control, engaged in tasks that were effortful and made self-control salient, but did not actually require self-control. supplemental analyses suggested that only practicing self-control built self-control capacity; the improved outcomes cannot be explained by self-fulfilling prophecies, increased self-efficacy or awareness of self-control. the results may have implications for understanding the development of self-control in both children and adults, as well as clinical implications for treating disorders that involve low self-control. ?? 2009 elsevier inc. all rights reserved.”
Muraven, M., Shmueli, D., & Burkley, E.. (2006). Conserving self-control strength. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
“Individuals may be motivated to limit their use of self-control resources, especially when they have depleted some of that resource. expecting to need self-control strength in the future should heighten the motivation to conserve strength. in 4 experiments, it was found that depleted participants who anticipated exerting self-control in the future performed more poorly in an intervening test of self-control than participants who were not depleted, and more poorly than those who did not expect to exert self-control in the future. conversely, those who conserved strength performed better on tasks that they conserved the strength for as compared with those who did not conserve. the underlying economic or conservation of resource model sheds some light on the operation of self-control strength.”
Muraven, M., & Baumeister, R. F.. (2000). Self-Regulation and Depletion of Limited Resources: Does Self-Control Resemble a Muscle?. Psychological Bulletin
“The authors review evidence that self-control may consume a limited resource. exerting self-control may consume self-control strength, reducing the amount of strength available for subsequent self-control efforts. coping with stress, regulating negative affect, and resisting temptations require self-control, and after such self-control efforts, subsequent attempts at self-control are more likely to fail. continuous self-control efforts, such as vigilance, also degrade over time. these decrements in self-control are probably not due to negative moods or learned helplessness produced by the initial self-control attempt. these decrements appear to be specific to behaviors that involve self-control; behaviors that do not require self-control neither consume nor require self-control strength. it is concluded that the executive component of the self–in particular, inhibition–relies on a limited, consumable resource.”
McCullough, M. E., & Willoughby, B. L. B.. (2009). Religion, self-regulation, and self-control: Associations, explanations, and implications.. Psychological Bulletin
“Many of the links of religiousness with health, well-being, and social behavior may be due to religion’s influences on self-control or self-regulation. using carver and scheier’s (1998) theory of self-regulation as a framework for organizing the empirical research, the authors review evidence relevant to 6 propositions: (a) that religion can promote self-control; (b) that religion influences how goals are selected, pursued, and organized; (c) that religion facilitates self-monitoring; (d) that religion fosters the development of self-regulatory strength; (e) that religion prescribes and fosters proficiency in a suite of self-regulatory behaviors; and (f) that some of religion’s influences on health, well-being, and social behavior may result from religion’s influences on self-control and self-regulation. the authors conclude with suggestions for future research.”
Denson, T. F., DeWall, C. N., & Finkel, E. J.. (2012). Self-control and aggression. Current Directions in Psychological Science
“Psychological science has largely neglected the role of self-control in studying aggression. fortunately, the past half decade has witnessed a surge of research on this long-neglected topic, including two self-control-informed integrative theories of aggression. robust experimental evidence demonstrates that self-control failures frequently predict aggression and, conversely, that bolstering self-control decreases aggression. research on rumination also suggests that maladaptive anger regulation decreases self-control and, consequently, increases aggression. advances from social-affective and cognitive neuroscience suggest that the neural mechanisms involved in emotion regulation and cognitive control mediate the relationship between deficient self-control and aggression.”
Ariely, D., & Wertenbroch, K.. (2002). Procrastination, deadlines, and performance: Self-control by precommitment. Psychological Science
“Procrastination is all too familiar to most people. people delay writing up their research (so we hear!), repeatedly declare they will start their diets tomorrow, or postpone until next week doing odd jobs around the house. yet people also sometimes attempt to control their procrastination by setting deadlines for themselves. in this article, we pose three questions: (a) are people willing to self-impose meaningful (i.e., costly) deadlines to overcome procrastination? (b) are self-imposed deadlines effective in improving task performance? (c) when self-imposing deadlines, do people set them optimally, for maximum performance enhancement? a set of studies examined these issues experimentally, showing that the answer is ‘yes’ to the first two questions, and ‘no’ to the third. people have self-control problems, they recognize them, and they try to control them by self-imposing costly deadlines. these deadlines help people control procrastination, hit they are not as effective as some externally imposed deadlines in improving task performance.”
Velliste, M., Perel, S., Spalding, M. C., Whitford, A. S., & Schwartz, A. B.. (2008). Cortical control of a prosthetic arm for self-feeding. Nature
“Self-control is among the most widely studied constructs in the social sciences. for instance, more than 3% of peer-reviewed psychology articles in the past year were referenced by the key word ‘self-control’ or closely related terms. the report by moffitt et al. (1) in pnas substantially advances this growing literature by demonstrating robust predictive associations between childhood self-control and a wide range of consequential life outcomes in a large, nationally representative sample of new zealanders.”
Moffitt, T. E., Arseneault, L., Belsky, D., Dickson, N., Hancox, R. J., Harrington, H., … Caspi, A.. (2011). A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
“Policy-makers are considering large-scale programs aimed at self-control to improve citizens’ health and wealth and reduce crime. experimental and economic studies suggest such programs could reap benefits. yet, is self-control important for the health, wealth, and public safety of the population? following a cohort of 1,000 children from birth to the age of 32 y, we show that childhood self-control predicts physical health, substance dependence, personal finances, and criminal offending outcomes, following a gradient of self-control. effects of children’s self-control could be disentangled from their intelligence and social class as well as from mistakes they made as adolescents. in another cohort of 500 sibling-pairs, the sibling with lower self-control had poorer outcomes, despite shared family background. interventions addressing self-control might reduce a panoply of societal costs, save taxpayers money, and promote prosperity.”
Duckworth, A. L., Gendler, T. S., & Gross, J. J.. (2016). Situational Strategies for Self-Control. Perspectives on Psychological Science
“Exercising self-control is often difficult, whether declining a drink in order to drive home safely, passing on the chocolate cake to stay on a diet, or ignoring text messages to finish reading an important paper. but enacting self-control is not always difficult, particularly when it takes the form of proactively choosing or changing situations in ways that weaken undesirable impulses or potentiate desirable ones. examples of situational self-control include the partygoer who chooses a seat far from where drinks are being poured, the dieter who asks the waiter not to bring around the dessert cart, and the student who goes to the library without a cell phone. using the process model of self-control, we argue that the full range of self-control strategies can be organized by considering the timeline of the developing tempting impulse. because impulses tend to grow stronger over time, situational self-control strategies–which can nip a tempting impulse in the bud–may be especially effective in preventing undesirable action. ironically, we may underappreciate situational self-control for the same reason it is so effective–namely, that by manipulating our circumstances to advantage, we are often able to minimize the in-the-moment experience of intrapsychic struggle typically associated with exercising self-control.”
Muraven, M., Tice, D. M., & Baumeister, R. F.. (1998). Self-Control as Limited Resource: Regulatory Depletion Patterns. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
“If self-regulation conforms to an energy or strength model, then self-control should be impaired by prior exertion. in study 1, trying to regulate one’s emotional response to an upsetting movie was followed by a decrease in physical stamina. in study 2, suppressing forbidden thoughts led to a subsequent tendency to give up quickly on unsolvable anagrams. in study 3, suppressing thoughts impaired subsequent efforts to control the expression of amusement and enjoyment. in study 4, autobiographical accounts of successful versus failed emotional control linked prior regulatory demands and fatigue to self-regulatory failure. a strength model of self-regulation fits the data better than activation, priming, skill, or constant capacity models of self-regulation.”
Barker, J. R.. (1993). Tightening the Iron Cage: Concertive Control in Self-Managing Teams. Administrative Science Quarterly
“In this paper, i provide an ethnographic account of how annorganization’s control system evolved in response to a managerial changenfrom hierarchical, bureaucratic control to concertive control in thenform of self-managing teams. the study investigates how thenorganization’s members developed a system of value-based normative rulesnthat controlled their actions more powerfully and completely than thenformer system. i describe the organization and its members and provide andetailed account of the dynamics that emerged as concertive controlnbecame manifest through the members’ interactions. this account depictsnhow concertive control evolved from the value consensus of the company’snteam workers to a system of normative rules that became increasinglynrationalized. contrary to some proponents of such systems, concertivencontrol did not free these workers from weber’s iron cage of rationalncontrol. instead, the concertive system, as it became manifest in thisncase, appeared to draw the iron cage tighter and to constrain thenorganization’s members more powerfully.”
Gailliot, M. T., Baumeister, R. F., Dewall, C. N., Maner, J. K., Plant, E. A., Tice, D. M., … Schmeichel, B. J.. (2007). Self-control relies on glucose as a limited energy source: Willpower is more than a metaphor. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
“The present work suggests that self-control relies on glucose as a limited energy source. laboratory tests of self-control (i.e., the stroop task, thought suppression, emotion regulation, attention control) and of social behaviors (i.e., helping behavior, coping with thoughts of death, stifling prejudice during an interracial interaction) showed that (a) acts of self-control reduced blood glucose levels, (b) low levels of blood glucose after an initial self-control task predicted poor performance on a subsequent self-control task, and (c) initial acts of self-control impaired performance on subsequent self-control tasks, but consuming a glucose drink eliminated these impairments. self-control requires a certain amount of glucose to operate unimpaired. a single act of self-control causes glucose to drop below optimal levels, thereby impairing subsequent attempts at self-control.”
Duckworth, A. L., & Steinberg, L.. (2015). Unpacking self-control. Child Development Perspectives
“Self-controlled behavior refers to actions aligned with valued, longer-term goals in the face of conflicting impulses to seek immediate gratification. in this article, we argue that the psychological processes that contribute to self-controlled behavior can be grouped into two functionally distinct categories: volitional processes facilitate self-controlled behavior and include executive functions as well as learned metacognitive strategies like planning, attention deployment, and psychological distancing. in contrast, impulsigenic processes undermine self-controlled behavior and include reward sensitivity, sensation seeking, and domain-specific cravings. a disproportionate amount of research has addressed the former at the expense of understanding individual and developmental differences in the latter. this imbalance is now being rectified. distinguishing between self-controlled behavior and its antecedent psychological processes helps illuminate normative developmental changes in self-control and points to directions for measurement and intervention.”
Casey, B. J., & Caudle, K.. (2013). The Teenage Brain: Self Control. Current Directions in Psychological Science
“Adolescence refers to the transition from childhood to adulthood that begins with the onset of puberty and ends with successful independence from the parent. a paradox for human adolescence is why, during a time when the individual is probably faster, stronger, of higher reasoning capacity, and more resistant to disease, there is such an increase in mortality relative to childhood. this is due not to disease but, rather, to preventable forms of death (accidental fatalities, suicide, and homicide) associated with adolescents putting themselves in harm’s way, in part because of diminished self-control–the ability to suppress inappropriate emotions, desires, and actions. this article highlights how self-control varies as a function of age, context, and the individual and delineates its neurobiological basis.”
Friese, M., Messner, C., & Schaffner, Y.. (2012). Mindfulness meditation counteracts self-control depletion. Consciousness and Cognition
de Ridder, D. T. D., Lensvelt-Mulders, G., Finkenauer, C., Stok, F. M., & Baumeister, R. F.. (2012). Taking stock of self-control: A meta-analysis of how trait self-control relates to a wide range of behaviors. Personality and Social Psychology Review
“Given assertions of the theoretical, empirical, and practical importance of self-control, this meta-analytic study sought to review evidence concerning the relationship between dispositional self-control and behavior. the authors provide a brief overview over prominent theories of self-control, identifying implicit assumptions surrounding the effects of self-control that warrant empirical testing. they report the results of a meta-analysis of 102 studies (total n = 32,648) investigating the behavioral effects of self-control using the self-control scale, the barratt impulsiveness scale, and the low self-control scale. a small to medium positive effect of self-control on behavior was found for the three scales. only the self-control scale allowed for a fine-grained analysis of conceptual moderators of the self-control behavior relation. specifically, self-control (measured by the self-control scale) related similarly to the performance of desired behaviors and the inhibition of undesired behaviors, but its effects varied dramatically across life domains (e.g., achievement, adjustment). in addition, the associations between self-control and behavior were significantly stronger for automatic (as compared to controlled) behavior and for imagined (as compared to actual) behavior.”
Behavioral economics studies the effects of psychological, cognitive, emotional, cultural and social factors on the economicdecisions of individuals and institutions and how those decisions vary from those implied by classical theory.
Ostracism (Greek: ὀστρακισμός, ostrakismos) was a procedure under the Athenian democracy in which any citizen could be expelled from the city-state of Athens for ten years. While some instances clearly expressed popular anger at the citizen, ostracism was often used preemptively. It was used as a way of neutralizing someone thought to be a threat to the state or potential tyrant. It has been called an “honourable exile” by scholar P. J. Rhodes.[1] The word “ostracism” continues to be used for various cases of social shunning.
Whitehead, D.. (2003). Ostracism. The Classical Review
“In this review, i examine the social psychological research on os- tracism, social exclusion, and rejection. being ignored, excluded, and/or rejected signals a threat for which reflexive detection in the form of pain and distress is adaptive for survival. brief ostracism episodes result in sadness and anger and threaten fundamental needs. individuals then act to fortify or replenish their thwarted need or needs. behavioral consequences appear to be split into two gen- eral categories: attempts to fortify relational needs (belonging, self- esteem, shared understanding, and trust), which lead generally to prosocial thoughts and behaviors, or attempts to fortify efficacy/ existence needs of control and recognition that may be dealt with most efficiently through antisocial thoughts and behaviors. avail- able research on chronic exposure to ostracism appears to deplete coping resources, resulting in depression and helplessness.”
Williams, K. D., & Nida, S. A.. (2011). Ostracism: Consequences and coping. Current Directions in Psychological Science
“Ostracism means being ignored and excluded by one or more others. despite the absence of verbal derogation and physical assault, ostracism is painful: it threatens psychological needs (belonging, self-esteem, control, and meaningful existence); and it unleashes a variety of physiological, affective, cognitive, and behavioral responses. here we review the empirical literature on ostracism within the framework of the temporal need-threat model.”
Robinson, S. L., O’Reilly, J., & Wang, W.. (2013). Invisible at Work: An Integrated Model of Workplace Ostracism. Journal of Management
“This article offers a review, integration, and extension of the literature relevant to ostracism in organizations. we first seek to add conceptual clarity to ostracism, by reviewing existing definitions and developing a cohesive one, identifying the key features of workplace ostracism, and distinguishing it from existing organizational constructs. next, we develop a broad model of ostracism in organizations. this model serves to integrate the relevant findings related to ostracism in organizations and to extend our theorizing about it. we take a decidedly organizational focus, proposing organizationally relevant factors that may cause different types of ostracism, moderate the experience of ostracism at work, and moderate the reactions of targets. we hope this article will provide a good foundation for organizational scholars interested in studying ostracism by providing a framework of prior literature and directions for future study.”
Zadro, L., Williams, K. D., & Richardson, R.. (2004). How low can you go? Ostracism by a computer is sufficient to lower self-reported levels of belonging, control, self-esteem, and meaningful existence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Sebastian, C., Viding, E., Williams, K. D., & Blakemore, S. J.. (2010). Social brain development and the affective consequences of ostracism in adolescence. Brain and Cognition
Ferris, D. L., Brown, D. J., Berry, J. W., & Lian, H.. (2008). The Development and Validation of the Workplace Ostracism Scale. Journal of Applied Psychology
“This article outlines the development of a 10-item measure of workplace ostracism. using 6 samples (including multisource and multiwave data), the authors developed a reliable scale with a unidimensional factor structure that replicated across 4 separate samples. the scale possessed both convergent and discriminant validity, and criterion-related validity was demonstrated through the scale’s relation with basic needs, well-being, job attitudes, job performance, and withdrawal. overall, the present study suggests that the workplace ostracism scale is a reliable and valid measure and that the workplace ostracism construct has important implications for both individuals and organizations.”
Williams, K. D., Cheung, C. K. T., & Choi, W.. (2000). Cyberostracism: Effects of being ignored over the internet. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
“Ostracism is such a widely used and powerful tactic that the authors tested whether people would be affected by it even under remote and artificial circumstances. in study 1, 1,486 participants from 62 countries accessed the authors’ on-line experiment on the internet. they were asked to use mental visualization while playing a virtual tossing game with two others (who were actually computer generated and controlled). despite the minimal nature of their experience, the more participants were ostracized, the more they reported feeling bad, having less control, and losing a sense of belonging. in study 2, ostracized participants were more likely to conform on a subsequent task. the results are discussed in terms of supporting k. d. williams’s (1997) need threat theory of ostracism.”
Zadro, L., Boland, C., & Richardson, R.. (2006). How long does it last? The persistence of the effects of ostracism in the socially anxious. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Hartgerink, C. H. J., Van Beest, I., Wicherts, J. M., & Williams, K. D.. (2015). The ordinal effects of ostracism: A meta-analysis of 120 cyberball studies. PLoS ONE
“We examined 120 cyberball studies (n = 11,869) to determine the effect size of ostracism and conditions under which the effect may be reversed, eliminated, or small. our analyses showed that (1) the average ostracism effect is large (d > |1.4|) and (2) generalizes across structural aspects (number of players, ostracism duration, number of tosses, type of needs scale), sampling aspects (gender, age, country), and types of dependent measure (interpersonal, intrapersonal, fundamental needs). further, we test williams’s (2009) proposition that the immediate impact of ostracism is resistant to moderation, but that moderation is more likely to be observed in delayed measures. our findings suggest that (3) both first and last measures are susceptible to moderation and (4) time passed since being ostracized does not predict effect sizes of the last measure. thus, support for this proposition is tenuous and we suggest modifications to the temporal need-threat model of ostracism.”
Wesselmann, E. D., Bagg, D., & Williams, K. D.. (2009). “I Feel Your Pain”: The effects of observing ostracism on the ostracism detection system. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Warburton, W. A., Williams, K. D., & Cairns, D. R.. (2006). When ostracism leads to aggression: The moderating effects of control deprivation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Wolf, W., Levordashka, A., Ruff, J. R., Kraaijeveld, S., Lueckmann, J. M., & Williams, K. D.. (2015). Ostracism Online: A social media ostracism paradigm. Behavior Research Methods
“We describe ostracism online, a novel, social media-based ostracism paradigm designed to (1) keep social interaction experimentally controlled, (2) provide researchers with the flexibility to manipulate the properties of the social situation to fit their research purposes, (3) be suitable for online data collection, (4) be convenient for studying subsequent within-group behavior, and (5) be ecologically valid. after collecting data online, we compared the ostracism online paradigm with the cyberball paradigm (williams & jarvis behavior research methods, 38, 174-180, 2006) on need-threat and mood questionnaire scores (van beest & williams journal of personality and social psychology 91, 918-928, 2006). we also examined whether ostracized targets of either paradigm would be more likely to conform to their group members than if they had been included. using a bayesian analysis of variance to examine the individual effects of the different paradigms and to compare these effects across paradigms, we found analogous effects on need-threat and mood. perhaps because we examined conformity to the ostracizers (rather than neutral sources), neither paradigm showed effects of ostracism on conformity. we conclude that ostracism online is a cost-effective, easy to use, and ecologically valid research tool for studying the psychological and behavioral effects of ostracism.”
Hawkley, L. C., Williams, K. D., & Cacioppo, J. T.. (2011). Responses to ostracism across adulthood. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
“Ostracism is ubiquitous across the lifespan. from social exclusion on the playground, to romantic rejection, to workplace expulsion, to social disregard for the aged, ostracism threatens a fundamental human need to belong that reflexively elicits social pain and sadness. older adults may be particularly vulnerable to ostracism because of loss of network members and meaningful societal roles. on the other hand, socioemotional selectivity theory suggests that older adults may be less impacted by ostracism because of an age-related positivity bias. we examined these hypotheses in two independent studies, and tested mechanisms that may account for age differences in the affective experience of ostracism. a study of 18- to 86-year-old participants in the time-sharing experiments for the social sciences program showed an age-related decrease in the impact of ostracism on needs satisfaction and negative affectivity. a study of 53- to 71-year-old participants in the chicago health, aging, and social relations study (chasrs) showed that ostracism diminished positive affectivity in younger (<60 years) but not older adults. age group differences in response to ostracism were consistent with the positivity bias hypothesis, were partly explained by age differences in the impact of physical pain, but were not explained by autonomic nervous system activity, computer experience, or intimate social loss or stressful life experiences.”
Carter-Sowell, A. R., Chen, Z., & Williams, K. D.. (2008). Ostracism increases social susceptibility. Social Influence
“Ostracism, the act of ignoring and excluding, is a universally applied tactic of social control. individuals who detect ostracism often change their behaviors to be readmitted into the group, even if it means becoming excessively socially susceptible to influence. we tested whether ostracized individuals are more socially susceptible to a subsequent influence attempt. in this study, 65 undergraduates were randomly assigned to a 2 (inclusion or ostracism)?3 (compliance tactic: foot?in?the door, target request only, door?in?the?face) between?participants design. the participants played cyberball and were either included or ostracized, and then they were approached with a request to donate money. despite no differences between the three tactics, ostracism increased compliance across all request types. our discussion focuses on the implications for ostracism?induced social susceptibility. this material is based on work supported by the national science foundation under grant no. 0519209 awarded to the third author. we would like to thank janice kelly for her comments, and jessica bartman, katherine lang, patrick o’brien, vista ritchie, and kirsten zeiser for their excellent acting skills as confederates. ostracism, the act of ignoring and excluding, is a universally applied tactic of social control. individuals who detect ostracism often change their behaviors to be readmitted into the group, even if it means becoming excessively socially susceptible to influence. we tested whether ostracized individuals are more socially susceptible to a subsequent influence attempt. in this study, 65 undergraduates were randomly assigned to a 2 (inclusion or ostracism)?3 (compliance tactic: foot?in?the door, target request only, door?in?the?face) between?participants design. the participants played cyberball and were either included or ostracized, and then they were approached with a request to donate money. despite no differences between the three tactics, ostracism increased compliance across all request types. our discussion focuses on the implications for ostracism?induced social susceptibility. this material is based on work supported by the national science foundation under grant no.0519209 awarded to the third author. we would like to thank janice kelly for her comments, and jessica bartman, katherine lang, patrick o’brien, vista ritchie, and kirsten zeiser for their excellent acting skills as confederates.”
Nezlek, J. B., Wesselmann, E. D., Wheeler, L., & Williams, K. D.. (2012). Ostracism in everyday life. Group Dynamics
“Ostracism is a negative interpersonal experience that has been studied primarily in laboratory settings in which people have been ostracized by strangers and the motives for being ostracized have been ambiguous. this study extended this research by investigating ostracism as it occurs in daily life, focusing on people’s reflective reactions to being ostracized in their daily lives and on the nature of the ostracism they experience. for 2 weeks, 40 participants (adults residing in the community) described what happened each time they felt ostracized using a diary method modeled after the rochester interaction record (rir; wheeler & nezlek, 1977). the questions in the diary were based on williams’s (2007) need-threat model of ostracism. most ostracism episodes were from persons of equal status, and participants reported lower levels of belonging, control, self-esteem, and meaningful existence after being ostracized. participants’ needs were threatened more when friends or close others had ostracized them than when they had been ostracized by acquaintance and strangers, and they reacted more negatively to punitive, defensive, and oblivious ostracism as opposed to role based or ambiguous ostracism. this research suggests that the reflective effects of ostracism can vary as a function of who ostracizes someone and why people feel they have been ostracized.”
Balliet, D., & Ferris, D. L.. (2013). Ostracism and prosocial behavior: A social dilemma perspective. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
Goodwin, S. A., Williams, K. D., & Carter-Sowell, A. R.. (2010). The psychological sting of stigma: The costs of attributing ostracism to racism. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Williams, K. D., & Sommer, K. L.. (1997). Social ostracism by coworkers: Does rejection lead to loafing or compensation?. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
“A new theoretical model and research paradigm are introduced to investigate the phenomenon of social ostracism-being ignored by others who are in one’s presence. the authors examined the effects of social ostracism on individuals’ subsequent contributions to a group task. social loafing optically occurs on collective tasks. however; to regain their sense of belonging to the group, the authors expected ostracized individuals to socially compensate-to work harder collectively than coactively. participants were asked to generate as many uses as they could for an object, either coactively or collectively with two others who had either ostracized or included them in an earlier ball-tossing exchange. ostracized females socially compensated, whereas nonostracized females neither loafed nor compensated. ostracized and nonostracized males socially loafed. based on these data and the accompanying attributional and nonverbal analyses, the authors surmised that males and females interpret and respond to social ostracism differently.”
Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome.More at Wikipedia
Whyte, G.. (1989). Groupthink Reconsidered. The Academy of Management Review
“History and the daily newspaper provide examples of policy deci- sions made by groups that resulted in fiascoes. the making of such decisions is frequently attributed to the groupthink phenomenon. a different perspective on the occurrence of policy fiascoes, prospect polarization, is offered. this approach employs, in addition to the pressures for uniformity of groupthink, the notions of framing effects, risk seeking in the domain of losses, and group polarization. the applicability of these theoretical mechanisms to several notorious decision fiascoes, past and present, is discussed.”
Janis, I. L.. (2008). Groupthink. IEEE Engineering Management Review
“The bay of pigs decision makers, as well as other major fiascoes such as the failure to be prepared for the attack on pearl harbour, the korean war stalemate and the escalation of the vietnam war cannot be explained by stupidity. the men involved in these decision making processes comprised some of the greatest arrays of intellectual talent in american history. janis looks at these fiascoes from the standpoint of group dynamics, as explored by kurt lewin, and later by a range of psychologists and behavioural scientists. janis proposes they survived from what he called ‘groupthink’. social psychological experiments have shown that powerful social pressures are often brought to bear by the members of a cohesive group whenever a dissident voice begins to voice his objections to group consensus. there are numerous indications pointing to the development of group norms that bolster morale at the expense of critical thinking. one of the most common norms appears to be that of remaining loyal to the group, and committing to decisions, even when it is clear that policies are working out badly or have unintended consequences. groupthink is a quick way to refer to a mode of thinking that person engage in when concurrence seeking becomes so dominant in a cohesive ingroup that it over rides all other considerations. so members of decision making groups become concerned with the avoidance of harsh judgements of their leaders’ or their colleagues’ ideas. paradoxically, soft headed groups are often hard hearted when it comes to dealing with outgroups or enemies, and find it easy to resort to dehumanzing solutions. they are unlike to pursue alternatives to the aggressive approach. nor are they inclined to raise ethical issues, due to the high levels of regard they hold for the group of which they may belong, that may carry the implication that ‘this fine group of ours, with its humanitarianism and its high minded principles, might be capable of adopting a course of action that in inhumane and immoral’. norms: there is evidence that as the members of a group feel more accepted by others, which is a central feature of increased group cohesiveness, they display less over conformity to group norms. in contrast, the groupthink type of conformity tends to increase as group cohesiveness increases. groupthink involves nondeliberate suppression of critical thoughts as a result of internalization of the group’s norms, which is quite different from deliberate suppression on the b…”
Turner, M. E., Pratkanis, A. R., Probasco, P., & Leve, C.. (2006). Threat, cohesion, and group effectiveness: Testing a social identity maintenance perspective on groupthink. In Small Groups: Key Readings
“Although janis’s concept of groupthink is influential, experimental investigations have provided only weak support for the theory. experiment 1 produced the poor decision quality associated with groupthink by manipulating group cohesion (using group labels) and threat to group members’ self-esteem. self-reports of some groupthink and defective decision-making symptoms were independently, but not interactively, affected by cohesion and threat. experiment 2 confirmed the success of the cohesion manipulation. experiment 3 replicated the poor-quality decision making observed in experiment 1 and provided support for a social identity maintenance perspective on groupthink: groups who operated under groupthink conditions but who were given an excuse for potential poor performance produced significantly higher quality decisions than groups who worked under groupthink conditions alone. the results are used to interpret the groupthink phenomenon as a collective effort directed at warding off potentially negative views of the group.”
Bénabou, R.. (2013). Groupthink: Collective delusions in organizations and markets. Review of Economic Studies
“This article investigates collective denial and willful blindness in groups, organizations, and markets. agents with anticipatory preferences, linked through an interaction structure, choose how to interpret and recall public signals about future prospects. wishful thinking (denial of bad news) is shown to be contagious when it is harmful to others, and self-limiting when it is beneficial. similarly, with kreps–porteus preferences, willful blindness (information avoidance) spreads when it increases the risks borne by others. this general mechanism can generate multiple social cognitions of reality, and in hierarchies it implies that realism and delusion will trickle down from the leaders. the welfare analysis differentiates group morale from groupthink and identifies a fundamental tension in organizations’ attitudes towards dissent. contagious exuberance can also seize asset markets, generating investment frenzies and crashes.”
“How should a group with different opinions (but the same values) make decisions? in a bayesian setting, the natural question is how to aggregate cre-dences: how to use a single credence function to naturally represent a collection of different credence functions. an extension of the standard dutch-book arguments that apply to individual decision-makers recommends that group credences should be updated by conditionalization. this imposes a constraint on what aggregation rules can be like. taking conditionalization as a basic constraint, we gather lessons from the established work on credence aggregation, and extend this work with two new impossibility results. we then explore contrasting features of two kinds of rules that satisfy the constraints we articulate: one kind uses fixed prior credences, and the other uses geometric averaging, as opposed to arithmetic averaging. we also prove a new characterisation result for geometric averaging. finally we consider applica-tions to neighboring philosophical issues, including the epistemology of disagreement.”
Lunenburg, F. C.. (2010). Group decision making: the potential for groupthink. Int. J. of Management, Business and Administration
“Http://www.nationalforum.com/electronic%20journal%20volumes/lunenburg,%20fred%20c.%20group%20decision%20making%20ijmba%20v13%20n1%202010.pdf one dysfunction of highly cohesive groups that has received considerable attention is a phenomenon known as groupthink. essentially, groupthink is the tendency of cohesive groups to reach consensus on issues without offering, seekin g, or considering alternative viewpoints. as a result, groupthink has been blamed for decision making fiascoes in politics , the military, as well as in business. in this article, i discuss some famous examples of political and military fiascoes associated with groupthink, some symptoms of groupthink, and ways to avoid groupthink when making group decision s . ___________________________”
Janis, I. L.. (2007). Groupthink: Psychological studies of policy decisions and fiascoes. Sozialpsychologie: Eine Einführung
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“2nd ed. rev. and enl. ed. of: victims of groupthink. 1972. fiascoes. introduction: why so many miscalculations? ; a perfect failure: the bay of pigs ; in and out of north korea: ‘the wrong war with the wrong enemy’ ; pearl harbor revisited: or, why the fortress slept ; escalation of the vietnam war: how could it happen? — counterpoint. the cuban missile crisis ; the making of the marshall plan. — theory, implications, and applications. the groupthink syndrome ; the watergate cover-up: how clever manipulators can get caught in an avoidable quagmire ; generalizations: who succumbs, when, and why ; preventing groupthink.”
McCauley, C.. (1989). The Nature of Social Influence in Groupthink: Compliance and Internalization. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
“I. l. janis’s (1982b) discussion of groupthink is examined to clarify the nature of social influence leading to poor decision making. beginning from janis’s definition of groupthink as premature consensus seeking, the question raised here is whether compliance (public without private agreement) may be as important as internalization (private acceptance of group consensus) in this phenomenon. analysis of the conditions hypothesized by janis to be conducive to groupthink suggests that, contrary to some of janis’s discussion, these conditions conduce to compliance as well as internalization. consistent with this suggestion, a review of the historical examples cited by janis indicates that compliance was an important part of poor decision making in at least two of these cases. the review also indicates that structural conditions, notably promotional leadership and group insulation, predict occurrence or nonoccurrence of groupthink in janis’s examples, but that neither cohesion nor any situational condition is predictive. experimental studies of groupthink are reviewed in light of this analysis, and suggestions are offered for future research. (psycinfo database record (c) 2012 apa, all rights reserved)”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer and statesman. His works include four novels; epic and lyric poetry; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; and treatises on botany, anatomy, and color. In addition, there are numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings by him extant.More at Wikipedia
Related References
Shampo, M. A., & Kyle, R. A.. (1976). Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832).. Journal of the American Medical Association
“Johann wolfgang von goethe (* 28. august 1749 in frankfurt am main; † 22. märz 1832 in weimar), geadelt 1782, war ein deutscher dichter. er forschte und publizierte außerdem auf verschiedenen naturwissenschaftlichen gebieten. ab 1776 bekleidete er am hof von weimar unterschiedliche politische und administrative ämter.”
Jedlicka, A. P., Schwarzacher, S. W., Winkels, R., Kienzler, F., Frotscher, M., Bramham, C. R., … Deller, T.. (2008). Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main. Hippocampus
“Die untersuchungen der vorliegenden arbeit wurden während des zeitraumes märz 2006 bis november 2006 im arbeitskreis von j.p. dr. michael rother im fachbereich molekulare biowissenschaften der universität frankfurt am main am campus riedberg (biozentrum) durchgeführt. die betreuung erfolgte durch j.p. dr.”
Psychology, D. G.. (2012). Gestalt Theory of Perception. Exposure
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“The gestalt theorists were the first group of psychologists to systematcially study perceptual organisation around the 1920’s, in germany. they were johann wolfgang von goethe, ernst mach, and particularly of christian von ehrenfels and the research work of max wertheimer, wolfgang köhler, kurt koffka, and kurt lewin.”
Benjamin, W.. (1982). Goethe: The Reluctant Bourgeois. New Left Review
“First paragraphe: when johann wolfgang goethe came into the world on 18 august 1749 in frankfurt-am-main, the town contained 30,000 inhabitants. in berlin, the largest town in germany at the time, there were 126,000, whereas both paris and london had already surpassed 500,000. these figures are an important signpost to the political situation in germany, for throughout the whole of europe the bourgeois revolution depended on the big cities. on the other hand, it is a significant fact about goethe that during his entire life he never lost a powerful feeling of antipathy towards living in big towns. he never visited berlin [1] and in later life he paid only two reluctant visits to his native frankfurt, passing the larger part of his life in a small princely town with 6,000 inhabitants. the only cities he ever became more familiar with were the italian centres, rome and naples. goethe was the cultural representative and, initially, the political spokesman of a new bourgeoisie, whose gradual rise can be clearly discerned in his family tree. his male ancestors worked their way up from artisan circles and they married women from educated families or families otherwise higher in the social scale than themselves. on his father’s side his great-grandfather was a farrier, his grandfather was first a tailor and then an innkeeper, while his father johann caspar goethe began as an ordinary lawyer. within a short time, however, he acquired the title of imperial councillor and when he had succeeded in winning the hand of katharina elisabeth textor, the daughter of the mayor, he definitively established his position among the ruling families of the city.”
Ribe, N., & Steinle, F.. (2002). Exploratory experimentation: Goethe, land, and color theory. Physics Today
“Discusses the style of investigation exemplified by johann wolfgang von goethe’s experiments with color called the exploratory experimentation. details of isaac newton’s experimental approach to his study of color; stages in goethe’s experimental procedure; comparison of the research strategies employed by newton and goethe; details of the experiments on color vision by edwin land. insets: box 1. faraday’s synthetic investigation of solenoids;box 2. faraday’s analytic investigation of induction.”
Plathow, M.. (2012). Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – Glaube. Neue Zeitschrift Fur Systematische Theologie Und Religionsphilosophie
“BACKGROUND with marfan (mfs) and loeys–dietz (lds) syndromes have been shown to have abnormal aortic biophysical properties. the purpose of this study was to compare the effects of 12-months of therapy with atenolol or losartan on vascular function in young patients with mfs and lds. methods seventeen patients with mfs or lds were recruited and randomized to treatment with atenolol, 25–50mg, or losartan, 25mg daily. prior to treatment and following therapy, echocardiography for left ventricular size, function and aortic root size was performed. pulse wave velocity (pwv), input (zi, zif) and characteristic (zc, zcf) impedances, arterial stiffness (ep and β-index), total arterial compliance (tac), mean (wm) and total (wt) hydraulic power, efficiency, power cost per unit of forward flow (wt/ci) and brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (fmd) were measured. results the atenolol group consisted of 9 females (17.6years) and the losartan group 7 males and 1 female (17.0years). their height, weight, bsa, bmi, systolic and diastolic blood pressures were similar. baseline to 12-month changes for atenolol and losartan were pwv (20% vs −14%), zi (−2% vs −27%), zc (−20% vs −27%), ep (1%, vs −13%), β-index (10% vs 14%), fmd (11% vs 20%), tac (3% vs 42%), wm (−24% vs 15%), wt (−24% vs 17%), and wt/ci (3% vs 21%). there was a trend for losartan to decrease pwv and stiffness indexes while atenolol decreased power and power/unit flow. conclusion this pilot study suggests that atenolol and losartan may have different mechanisms of action on vascular function. a larger clinical trial is needed to confirm these effects.clinical trials registration nct00593710 (clinicaltrials.gov).”
Goethe, J. W. von. (2006). Zur Farbenlehre (1810). Sämtliche Werke – Münchner Ausgabe
“Die drei goethes reisen nach italien; rom als wichtigstes ziel der italienreisen johann caspar: 1740 überquerter er die alpen bis nach neapel. johann wolfgang: 1787-1788: identische reiseroute;entschied sich in neapel, bis nach sizilien zu reisen. caspar: inschriften werden kopiert, katholiken kommen nicht gut weg. sehen mit eigenen augen als topos rom als wichtigstes ziel der italienreisen goethe: sentimenlae, nicht rationale reise (vs. vater); filippo miller goethe las des vaters buch nicht vor der abreise fokus liegt im aufsatz eher auf neapel august im schatten des vaters tor, v.a. nach neapel; guckt sich auch bilder an, ‘klassisch’ august beschreibt nicht, sondern interpretiert zuhausegefühl (erkennt vieles wieder)”
Bohring, G.. (1967). Ideen zur philosophie der geschichte der menschheit. Deutsche Zeitschrift Fur Philosophie
“Ideen zur philosophie der geschichte der menschheit ist eine geschichtsphilosophische abhandlung johann gottfried herders, die zwischen 1784 und 1791 im verlag von johann friedrich hartknoch in vier teilen erschien. herder, den man neben goethe, schiller und wieland zum „viergestirn” der weimarer klassik zählt, fasste in der abhandlung seine erkenntnisse über die erde und den menschen zusammen, „dessen einziger daseinszweck auf bildung der humanität gerichtet ist, der alle niedrigen bedürfnisse der erde nur dienen und selbst zu ihr führen sollen“.”