Russell H. Fazio - US grants

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed research links the advances that have accumulated in our understanding of the basic mechanisms by which attitudes form, change, and exert their influence, as well as the procedures by which attitudes can be assessed, to research concerning emotional disorders. A model of attitudes, and the processes by which they guide behavior, underlies research aimed at addressing various issues central to the etiology, assessment, and/or treatment of emotional disorders. The model focuses on the strength of the association in memory between the attitude object and one's evaluation of the object, which determines the accessibility of the attitude and, ultimately, its power. Accessible attitudes generally contribute to effective daily functioning by permitting people to appraise objects easily, without any need for conscious deliberation. However, invalid negative attitudes (as in many anxiety disorders, phobias, and depression) can inhibit the willingness to approach objects or situations that actually are beneficial. Four projects, each involving a series of experiments, are proposed. Each continues a line of work pursued in the past, focusing on the translational value of the conceptual advances and findings for clinical research and practice. Project I seeks to advance understanding of implicit measures of attitude, and examines their utility as tools for the assessment of social anxiety disorder, treatment effectiveness, and risk for relapse. Project II focuses on implicit evaluative conditioning and, ultimately, its efficacy as a procedure for producing change in automatically-activated fears and its value as an adjunct to exposure therapy. Project III concerns the dynamic interplay between attitudes and approach-avoidance behavior, and its consequences for the development and maintenance of invalid negative attitudes, as well as mechanisms by which they might be overcome. Project IV concerns negativity biases-tendencies for the negative to predominate over the positive-in both the learning and generalization of attitudes. The research examines whether these biases function as vulnerability factors that place individuals at risk for the development of anxiety and/or depression. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]

stress; behavior; attitude; mental health;

The proposed research has the long-term objective of providing an understanding of how individuals structure and cope with their social environments. Specifically, the research centers upon the functional value of attitudes and examines the process by which attitudes serve to simplify the behavior of a mentally healthy individual. Attitudes aid individuals to cope with the multitude and variety of stimuli encountered daily and, thus, contribute to effective daily functioning. A model of the various cognitive steps involved in the process by which attitudes guide behavior has been proposed. The model suggests that the necessary steps in this process include (1) that the attitude be activated from memory upon the individual's encountering the attitude subject, (2) that, through selective processing, the now activated attitude influence one's perceptions of the object in the immediate situation and one's definition of the event that is occurring, (3) that this definition of the event direct behavior toward the object. Past research has proven supportive of the model. The proposed work seeks to test the model further and to examine implications of the past research findings. Four projects, each of which involve a series of experiments, are planned. Project I concerns the conditions under which the proposed attitude-behavior process is most likely to operate. Project II examines the validity of the model in the context of social interaction. Project III focuses upon the development of an unobtrusive measure of attitude based upon the extent to which the attitude is activated from memory upon mere observation of the attitude object. Project IV directly examines the model's assumption regarding the functional value of attitudes that are highly accessible from memory and, in so doing, seeks to demonstrate the relevance of highly accessible attitudes to mental health concerns.

The proposed research has the long-term objective of providing an understanding of how individuals structure and cope with their social environments. Specifically, the research centers upon the functional value of attitudes and examines the process by which attitudes serve to simplify the behavior of a mentally healthy individual. Attitudes aid individuals to cope with the multitude and variety of stimuli encountered daily and, thus, contribute to effective daily functioning. A model of the various cognitive steps involved in the process by which attitudes guide behavior has been proposed. The model suggests that the necessary steps in this process include (1) that the attitude be activated from memory upon the individual's encountering the attitude subject, (2) that, through selective processing, the now activated attitude influence one's perceptions of the object in the immediate situation and one's definition of the event that is occurring, (3) that this definition of the event direct behavior toward the object. Past research has proven supportive of the model. The proposed work seeks to test the model further and to examine implications of the past research findings. Four projects, each of which involve a series of experiments, are planned. Project I concerns the conditions under which the proposed attitude-behavior process is most likely to operate. Project II examines the validity of the model in the context of social interaction. Project III focuses upon the development of an unobtrusive measure of attitude based upon the extent to which the attitude is activated from memory upon mere observation of the attitude object. Project IV directly examines the model's assumption regarding the functional value of attitudes that are highly accessible from memory and, in so doing, seeks to demonstrate the relevance of highly accessible attitudes to mental health concerns.

The research has the long-term objective of understanding how individuals structure and cope with their social environments. The work centers upon the functional value of attitudes and examines the processes by which attitudes serve to simplify the behavior of mentally healthy individuals. A model concerning attitudes and their activation from memory has been proposed. The model centers upon the strength of the association in memory between the attitude object and one's evaluation of the object Past research has found the strength of this association to determine the likelihood that the attitude will be activated from memory upon the individual's encountering the object, which, in turn, determines the power and functionality of the attitude. Five projects, each involving a series of investigations, are proposed as a continuation of the various lines of theoretical and empirical work that have been pursued during the past grant period. Project I involves further tests of the PI's recently proposed model of the multiple processes by which attitudes can guide behavior. A relatively spontaneous process based upon automatic attitude activation has been contrasted with a more deliberative process, and the conditions that promote one process over the other have been specified. Project II continues efforts to refine the methodology that we have used to assess the automatic activation of attitudes to the point that it can adequately serve as an indirect, unobtrusive measure of an individual's attitude. Project III centers upon the functional value of accessible attitudes. Recent findings from both laboratory experiments and field studies have demonstrated such functionality. Project III involves a continuation of the field research efforts, which examined entering freshmen's adjustment to college life and obtained evidence of the relevance of accessible attitudes to mental health concerns. Project IV addresses an heretofore unexamined issue, namely, the costs of accessible attitudes. It is suggested that accessible attitudes can leave the individual rather closed-minded and impervious to changes that the attitude object might exhibit over time. Project V examines an implication of the attitude model for persuasion. The planned experiments focus upon the efficacy of a particular persuasive strategy for modifying attitudes that are highly accessible from memory and, consequently, typically resistant to counterpersuasion.

This application is a request for a Senior Scientist Award. The proposed research has the long-term objective of understanding how attitudes aid individuals in structuring and coping with their social environments. The work centers upon the functional value of attitudes and examines the processes by which attitudes serve to simplify, the behavior of mentally healthy individuals. A model concerning attitudes, their automatic activation from memory, and the processes by which they guide judgments and behavior underlies the proposed research. The model centers upon the strength of the guide judgements association in memory between the attitude object and one's evaluation of the object. Past research has found the strength of this association to determine the accessibility of the attitude from memory--which, in turn, determines the power and functionality of the attitude. Accessible attitudes are thought to simplify the ongoing day-to-day existence of individuals by permitting them to appraise objects easily and quickly without any need for conscious deliberation and, thus, relieving them from some of the demands and stresses of the social environment. A number of projects are proposed as a continuation of the various lines of theoretical and empirical work that have been pursued in the past. Project I centers on tests of the model of attitude-behavior processes in the domain of racial attitudes and prejudice. The experiments employ a novel methodology that provides a valid, unobtrusive estimate of automatically-activated racial attitudes, and an individual difference measure of motivation to control prejudiced reactions. The influence of these automatic and controlled processes on behaviors, and in situations, that vary in the degree to which they provide an opportunity for deliberation and control is examined. Project II concerns the influence of attitude accessibility on the categorization of target persons who can be thought of in multiple ways and in particular, the trait inferences that are made about such targets. Project III seeks to develop an additional, and more broadly usable, methodological tool that can be employed to assess automatically-activated racial attitudes and, hence, further the discipline's understanding of prejudice. Project IV employs the theoretical model and methodological techniques to illuminate some of the origins and consequences of racial attitudes. Additional ongoing research concerning the costs and benefits of accessible attitudes and the possibility of de-automatizing such attitudes also is summarized. The SSA is intended to facilitate (a) the execution of these many and varied projects, (b) the PI's many active collaborations with colleagues from other research institutions, and (c) the PI's continued involvement with the mentoring of Ph.D. students.

DESCRIPTION (Provided by applicant): The social psychology graduate training program at Ohio State has been providing the nation with new Ph.D.'s for over 30 years. It is guided by a group of nine (and soon to be ten) full-time faculty whose primary affiliation is with the program. Societal problems derive more and more from the dilemmas and temptations faced by typical people in typical settings. Drug use, employee absenteeism, domestic violence, poor diet choices, smoking, and drinking and driving all illustrate the kinds of concerns addressed by theory and research in social psychology. The social program at Ohio State offers its students research training enabling them to tackle such problems throughout their research careers. The program has four features that distinguish it from other training centers in social psychology. First, the program adopts a multi-level integrative approach toward graduate training. Problems in society are multiply determined, and their solutions must be based on that recognition. Pre- and postdoctoral training components are designed to equip students with the conceptual and methodological tools required to examine social psychological phenomena from multiple levels of analysis. Second, the program is organized around five core principles: scientific competence, scholarship and scientific integrity, personal responsibility, priority setting, and the sovereignty of each student. These principles are operationalized through the structure of coursework, research activities, and mentoring in the program. Third, the program provides an integrated and synergistic relationship between training in basic and applied research. Through their research involvement, students learn both that there is nothing so practical as a good theory and that nothing fosters a good theory more than a perplexing practical problem. Fourth, and finally, the program is distinguished by the quality and collegiality of both students and faculty. Faculty and students are high visibility, seminal contributors to the field. A training grant (that supports both predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees) for the social psychology training program will substantially facilitate the program's ability to contribute scholars to the field with the multi-level analytic skills needed to address the practical problems faced by individuals in today's society.

In the current COVID-19 pandemic, one approach to minimizing the spread of the virus focuses on people?s behavior ? social distancing. Since the start of the pandemic, government leaders and health experts have requested citizens to follow social distancing directives. Despite this repeated message and despite the fact that many people are taking the message seriously, many others are violating the new norms. That raises important questions: who is and who is not complying, and why? Understanding why people choose not to practice social distancing is crucial for designing effective public service campaigns. This research investigates who complies, what specific beliefs should be addressed, and what factors make public campaigns believable. The project seeks to identify the factors that lead to greater compliance for the greater good, and will inform future public service campaigns.

A series of studies examines how social distancing behaviors vary as a function of belief systems. An innovative measure of social distancing is developed ? one that is more behavioral in nature than the typical survey. The critical beliefs that are to be examined stem from a conceptual framework regarding a directive as involving three essential components. One is the source -- someone is requesting people to change their behavior. A second is the surrounding context -- the request is in response to some challenge. The third component is the target -- the persons to whom the request is addressed. Belief systems relevant to each of these three components are expected to influence the likelihood that people will comply with the request. As a result, an entire network of beliefs is expected to influence how people respond and why. Some individuals? belief systems will lead them to view the request favorably, thus promoting appropriate social distancing behaviors. Others will reach more negative conclusions and subsequently refuse to take directives seriously. Once the concerns about the pandemic have lessened, study participants will be re-contacted and asked to again respond to social distancing behavioral scenarios and to indicate if they had experienced virus symptoms in the interim. Those follow-up data will shed light on the relationship between individuals? social distancing behaviors and their subsequent likelihood of infection. The research aims to inform theory regarding social compliance processes, and will provide a stronger foundation for developing future public service campaigns.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.