Reading Group's Schedule of Winter/Spring 2018

Jan. 12: Wu J., Balliet D and Van Lange P (2016) Reputation, gossip and human cooperation, Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 10, 350-364

Abstract: Why do people cooperate? We address this classic question by analyzing and discussing the role of reputation: people cooperate to maintain a positive reputation in their social environment. Reputation is a key element fueling a system of indirect reciprocity, where cooperators establish a good reputation and are thus more likely to receive future benefits from third parties. The tendencies to monitor, spread, and manage each other’s reputation help explain the abundance of human cooperation with unrelated strangers. We review research on the phenomenon of reputation-based cooperation in the domains of how people manage their reputation in response to varying cues of reputation, when reputation can promote cooperation, and individual differences in reputation management. We also propose three directions for future research: group stability and reputation-based cooperation, solutions to cope with noise and biased reputation, and the relative efficiency of positive versus negative reputation systems.

 

Jan. 19: Saját kutatás / own research: Flóra a kísérletekről

 

Feb. 9: Saját kutatás / own research: Srebrenka

 

Feb. 23: Wu Youyou, David Stillwell, H. Andrew Schwartz, et al. (2017): Birds of a Feather Do Flock Together: Behavior-Based Personality-Assessment Method Reveals Personality Similarity Among Couples and Friends. Psychological Science, Vol 28, Issue 3.

Abstract: Friends and spouses tend to be similar in a broad range of characteristics such as age, educational level, race, religion, attitudes, and general intelligence. Surprisingly, little evidence has been found for similarity in personality—one of the most fundamental psychological constructs. We argue that the lack of evidence for personality similarity stems from the tendency of individuals to make personality judgments relative to a salient comparison group, rather than in absolute terms (i.e. reference-group effect), when responding to the self-report and peer-report questionnaires commonly used in personality research. This work employs two behavior-based personality measures to circumvent the reference-group effect. The results based on large samples provide evidence for personality similarity between romantic partners (N = 1,101; rs = .20 to .47) and between friends (N = 46,483; rs = .12 to .31). We discuss the practical and methodological implications of the findings.

 

Mar. 2: Saját kutatás / own research: Gergő

 

Mar. 9: Stark, T. H., Flache, A., & Veenstra, R. (2013). Generalization of positive and negative attitudes towards individuals to outgroup attitudes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39, 608-622.

Abstract: The generalization of attitudes toward individual outgroup members into attitudes toward the outgroup as a whole can affect intergroup relations. However, little is known about the relative strengths of the generalization of negative and positive interpersonal attitudes into attitudes about the outgroup. The unique contribution of negative (disliking) interpersonal attitudes to intergroup attitudes was examined and its strength was compared with the effect of positive (liking) interpersonal attitudes, using cross-sectional (Study 1; N = 733, age 10-12) and longitudinal data (Study 2; N = 960, age 12-13). Disliking uniquely contributed to respondents' outgroup attitudes. The generalization of interpersonal liking and disliking was about equally strong in both studies. This underpins the importance of examining the effects of both positive and negative intergroup contact experiences on the formation of outgroup attitudes.

 

Mar. 23: Saját kutatás / own research: Martina

 

Apr. 13: Saját kutatás / own research: Szabolcs

 

Apr. 20: Saját kutatás / own research: Anikó

 

Apr. 27: Peters, K., Kashima, Y., & Clark, A. (2009). Talking about others: Emotionality and the dissemination of social information. European Journal of Social Psychology, 39(2), 207-222.

Abstract: There is evidence that we may be more likely to share stories about other people to the extent that they arouse emotion. If so, this emotional social talk may have important social consequences, providing the basis for many of our social beliefs and mobilising people to engage or disengage with the targets of the talk. Across three studies, we tested the situated communicability of emotional social information by examining if the ability of emotionality to increase communicability would depend on the emotion that was aroused and the identity of the audience. Study 1 showed that participants were more willing to share social anecdotes that aroused interest, surprise, disgust and happiness with an unspecified audience. Study 2 provided a behavioural replication of these findings. Study 3 showed that the communicability of emotional social talk did vary with audience identity (friend or stranger). Together, these findings suggest that emotional social events (particularly those that arouse disgust and happiness) are likely to become part of a society's social beliefs, with important consequences for the structure of social relationships.

 

May 4: Joshua E. Marineau, Giuseppe (Joe) Labianca, Gerald C. Kane (2016) Direct and indirect negative ties and individual performance, Social Networks 44, 238-252.

Abstract: We argue and find that negative ties are not always liabilities to workplace performance. Instead, negative ties can be beneficial depending on how socially distant they are from the person (i.e., whether they are direct or indirect negative ties), and how those ties are embedded with other ties. Results from a field study at a large life sciences company show that an employee’s number of direct negative ties is related to poorer performance, as rated by that individual’s supervisor. However, indirect negative ties can either be beneficial or liabilities to performance, depending on whether they are embedded in “open” or “closed” triadic structures.

 

May 11: Saját kutatás / own research: Martina Szabó

 

May 18: Saját kutatás / own research: Márti és Dóri

 

May 25: Vito Tassiello, Sara Lombardi, Michele Costabile (2018): Are we truly wicked when gossiping at work? The role of valence, interpersonal closeness and social awareness. Journal of Business Research, Volume 84, p. 141-149

Abstract: This paper questions the belief that gossip is always damaging and that people are more interested in negative than in positive information about others. Starting from this, we seek to understand whether a certain valenced gossip (positive vs. negative and malicious vs. non-malicious) is more likely to be spread in the workplace. We test this relationship through three experimental studies by considering the moderating effect of the social linkages among the actors involved in the gossip. We found that positive and non-malicious gossip are more likely to be shared with co-workers especially when the gossip object belongs to the receiver's social group and when the gossiper reckons that the receiver may verify the news heard. We interpret these results with the lens of impression management, in that people transmit certain gossip to their co-workers with the aim of gaining social status and reputation within their organization, fostering their social bonds.

 

Jun.1: Saját kutatás / own research: Lilla (előadja), Károly, Dóri és Márti

 

Jun 8: Interns