Three studies examine the attributional factors leading to soreness or graciousness in response t... more Three studies examine the attributional factors leading to soreness or graciousness in response to a competitive event as well as the behavioral consequences of adopting a sore or gracious orientation. Study 1 uses a longitudinal field study of the 2008 United States Presidential Primaries and General Election to assess the influence of soreness on attitudes and voting behavior, finding that soreness resulting from the favored candidate losing in the Primaries results in perceptions of unfairness and less actual voting behavior in the General Election. Study 2 uses a field study to assess the relationship between internal and external attributional patterns and soreness as a result of the 2008 Superbowl outcome, finding that attributional patterns, rather than the supported team winning or losing the game predicts soreness. Finally, Study 3 demonstrates that when internal versus external explanations for why both the winner and loser received the outcomes they did are systematically...
This research explores the relationship between self-interest (concern for one’s own outcomes), a... more This research explores the relationship between self-interest (concern for one’s own outcomes), and other-interest (concern for others’ outcomes). A commonly held, but rarely tested assumption is that self-interest and other-interest function in a zero-sum manner. In three studies, we contrast this zero-sum model with a two-factor model in which selfinterest and other-interest can vary independently to determine which model best describes human thought processes. In Study 1, 40 participants chose between pairs of gambles that vary rewards earned by the self and another participant. Two non-correlated factors emerged from factor analysis, the first representing self-interest and the second other-interest. In Study 2, a 38-item interest inventory was constructed, with separate self-interest and other-interest subscales. To assess the reliability and validity of this measure, 83 participants completed the inventory and 8 additional conceptually-related measures. In contrast to the pred...
This study tests the hypothesis that the degree of fit between the power structure and the norms ... more This study tests the hypothesis that the degree of fit between the power structure and the norms of a situation impact perceptions of one's own actions and the actions of others. A hierarchical power structure was created in the standard 2-person prisoner's dilemma by giving one participant prior knowledge of his or her partner's choice on each round. Norms were manipulated by labeling the game either the "Wall Street Game" (which corresponded with the hierarchical power structure), or the “Community Game" (which contrasted with the power structure). Behavior, measured as first round choice between competition and cooperation and average percentage of cooperative choices across all twelve rounds, did not differ across norm or power conditions. However, participants' perceptions of each other and of their own behavior suggest that norms and power guided their interpretations. Even though the same level of cooperation was observed across conditions, Wall...
People tend not to recognize bias in their judgments. Such &a... more People tend not to recognize bias in their judgments. Such "bias blindness" persists, we show, even when people acknowledge that the judgmental strategies preceding their judgments are biased. In Experiment 1, participants took a test, received failure feedback, and then were led to assess the test's quality via an explicitly biased strategy (focusing on the test's weaknesses), an explicitly objective strategy, or a strategy of their choice. In Experiments 2 and 3, participants rated paintings using an explicitly biased or explicitly objective strategy. Across the three experiments, participants who used a biased strategy rated it as relatively biased, provided biased judgments, and then claimed to be relatively objective. Participants in Experiment 3 also assessed how biased they expected to be by their strategy, prior to using it. These pre-ratings revealed that not only did participants' sense of personal objectivity survive using a biased strategy, it grew stronger.
The International journal of eating disorders, 2014
The increasing global health burden imposed by eating disorders warrants close examination of soc... more The increasing global health burden imposed by eating disorders warrants close examination of social exposures associated with globalization that potentially elevate risk during the critical developmental period of adolescence in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The study aim was to investigate the association of peer influence and perceived social norms with adolescent eating pathology in Fiji, a LMIC undergoing rapid social change. We measured peer influence on eating concerns (with the Inventory of Peer Influence on Eating Concerns; IPIEC), perceived peer norms associated with disordered eating and body concerns, perceived community cultural norms, and individual cultural orientations in a representative sample of school-going ethnic Fijian adolescent girls (n = 523). We then developed a multivariable linear regression model to examine their relation to eating pathology (measured by the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire; EDE-Q). We found independent and statistic...
The well-established dissociation between the ventral object and dorsal spatial processing stream... more The well-established dissociation between the ventral object and dorsal spatial processing streams within the visual system suggests a contrast between object and spatial visual cognitive styles. We assessed the validity of this distinction using a self-report questionnaire in a sample of 3839 online participants, and laboratory cognitive tests in a subsample of 196. We found that (1) object and spatial processing preferences were virtually uncorrelated (r=–. 05);(2) men, science majors, and people with videogame ...
This study investigates the separate and joint effects of the inclusion of experts and collaborat... more This study investigates the separate and joint effects of the inclusion of experts and collaborative planning on the performance of analytic teams. Teams either did or did not include members with expert-level task-relevant cognitive abilities, and either did or did not receive an intervention that fostered collaborative planning. Results support the authors' hypothesis that analytic performance requires both task-appropriate expertise and collaborative planning to identify strategies for optimally using that expertise. Indeed, high ...
Three studies examine the attributional factors leading to soreness or graciousness in response t... more Three studies examine the attributional factors leading to soreness or graciousness in response to a competitive event as well as the behavioral consequences of adopting a sore or gracious orientation. Study 1 uses a longitudinal field study of the 2008 United States Presidential Primaries and General Election to assess the influence of soreness on attitudes and voting behavior, finding that soreness resulting from the favored candidate losing in the Primaries results in perceptions of unfairness and less actual voting behavior in the General Election. Study 2 uses a field study to assess the relationship between internal and external attributional patterns and soreness as a result of the 2008 Superbowl outcome, finding that attributional patterns, rather than the supported team winning or losing the game predicts soreness. Finally, Study 3 demonstrates that when internal versus external explanations for why both the winner and loser received the outcomes they did are systematically...
This research explores the relationship between self-interest (concern for one’s own outcomes), a... more This research explores the relationship between self-interest (concern for one’s own outcomes), and other-interest (concern for others’ outcomes). A commonly held, but rarely tested assumption is that self-interest and other-interest function in a zero-sum manner. In three studies, we contrast this zero-sum model with a two-factor model in which selfinterest and other-interest can vary independently to determine which model best describes human thought processes. In Study 1, 40 participants chose between pairs of gambles that vary rewards earned by the self and another participant. Two non-correlated factors emerged from factor analysis, the first representing self-interest and the second other-interest. In Study 2, a 38-item interest inventory was constructed, with separate self-interest and other-interest subscales. To assess the reliability and validity of this measure, 83 participants completed the inventory and 8 additional conceptually-related measures. In contrast to the pred...
This study tests the hypothesis that the degree of fit between the power structure and the norms ... more This study tests the hypothesis that the degree of fit between the power structure and the norms of a situation impact perceptions of one's own actions and the actions of others. A hierarchical power structure was created in the standard 2-person prisoner's dilemma by giving one participant prior knowledge of his or her partner's choice on each round. Norms were manipulated by labeling the game either the "Wall Street Game" (which corresponded with the hierarchical power structure), or the “Community Game" (which contrasted with the power structure). Behavior, measured as first round choice between competition and cooperation and average percentage of cooperative choices across all twelve rounds, did not differ across norm or power conditions. However, participants' perceptions of each other and of their own behavior suggest that norms and power guided their interpretations. Even though the same level of cooperation was observed across conditions, Wall...
People tend not to recognize bias in their judgments. Such &a... more People tend not to recognize bias in their judgments. Such "bias blindness" persists, we show, even when people acknowledge that the judgmental strategies preceding their judgments are biased. In Experiment 1, participants took a test, received failure feedback, and then were led to assess the test's quality via an explicitly biased strategy (focusing on the test's weaknesses), an explicitly objective strategy, or a strategy of their choice. In Experiments 2 and 3, participants rated paintings using an explicitly biased or explicitly objective strategy. Across the three experiments, participants who used a biased strategy rated it as relatively biased, provided biased judgments, and then claimed to be relatively objective. Participants in Experiment 3 also assessed how biased they expected to be by their strategy, prior to using it. These pre-ratings revealed that not only did participants' sense of personal objectivity survive using a biased strategy, it grew stronger.
The International journal of eating disorders, 2014
The increasing global health burden imposed by eating disorders warrants close examination of soc... more The increasing global health burden imposed by eating disorders warrants close examination of social exposures associated with globalization that potentially elevate risk during the critical developmental period of adolescence in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The study aim was to investigate the association of peer influence and perceived social norms with adolescent eating pathology in Fiji, a LMIC undergoing rapid social change. We measured peer influence on eating concerns (with the Inventory of Peer Influence on Eating Concerns; IPIEC), perceived peer norms associated with disordered eating and body concerns, perceived community cultural norms, and individual cultural orientations in a representative sample of school-going ethnic Fijian adolescent girls (n = 523). We then developed a multivariable linear regression model to examine their relation to eating pathology (measured by the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire; EDE-Q). We found independent and statistic...
The well-established dissociation between the ventral object and dorsal spatial processing stream... more The well-established dissociation between the ventral object and dorsal spatial processing streams within the visual system suggests a contrast between object and spatial visual cognitive styles. We assessed the validity of this distinction using a self-report questionnaire in a sample of 3839 online participants, and laboratory cognitive tests in a subsample of 196. We found that (1) object and spatial processing preferences were virtually uncorrelated (r=–. 05);(2) men, science majors, and people with videogame ...
This study investigates the separate and joint effects of the inclusion of experts and collaborat... more This study investigates the separate and joint effects of the inclusion of experts and collaborative planning on the performance of analytic teams. Teams either did or did not include members with expert-level task-relevant cognitive abilities, and either did or did not receive an intervention that fostered collaborative planning. Results support the authors' hypothesis that analytic performance requires both task-appropriate expertise and collaborative planning to identify strategies for optimally using that expertise. Indeed, high ...
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Papers by Margaret Gerbasi