Identity Cue Research Articles

Navigating dual stigmas on social media: How self-disclosure strategies influence public attitudes toward sexual minorities with mental disorders

In light of the rising trend of self-disclosing stigmatized identities on social media and the insufficient understanding of its repercussions on societal attitudes, this study employs an intersectional framework to examine the impact of revealing dual stigmas related to sexual identities and health conditions on destigmatization. Drawing upon the intergroup contact hypothesis and social penetration theory, a national sample of U.S. adults ( N = 1,596) participated in a 3 (sexual identity cue: explicit-cue vs implicit-cue vs no-cue) × 5 (coping with mental disorders: good-coping vs balanced-coping vs poor-coping vs no-coping vs control) between-subjects experiment. Results revealed that while dual stigma disclosure occasionally showed enhanced positive impacts, it never exacerbated stigmatized attitudes compared to single stigma disclosure. In addition, the two self-disclosure strategies interacted to influence destigmatization, mediated by perceived competence rather than perceived authenticity. Implications from the findings are provided.

Volunteering in the Middle of Crisis and Politicization: The Role of Religiosity, Political Ideology, and Personal Experiences in Volunteerism Among Muslims and Christians During COVID-19

Religion is a strong social identity cue that creates in-group and out-group identity. Yet individuals can harbor multiple identities, and a political ideology is another significant identity marker. Similarly, personal experiences with disease also create another social identity where individuals may feel part of the same social group as individuals who have experienced a similar adverse event. How do these identities intersect in an individual’s willingness to volunteer for individuals from and outside their faith during a crisis event? We attempted to answer this question using an original sample of Muslims and Christians and their willingness to volunteer for COVID-19-related causes. We find that stronger religiosity increases volunteering toward individuals in their faith group (in-group). However, conservative beliefs reduce volunteering toward causes outside of an individual’s faith community (out-group). We find that COVID-19 diagnosis increases volunteering, but only when an individual or their family member is hospitalized.

Effect of Gratitude Expression of AI Chatbot on Willingness to Donate

This study aimed to verify the effect of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots’ gratitude expression for a fundraising campaign on recipients’ willingness to donate. The mediating effects of self-efficacy and social worth on the relationship between expressions of gratitude and the willingness to donate were explored. The moderating effect of identity disclosure to enhance the effect of expressing gratitude was also investigated. By conducting a 2 (gratitude expression: absent vs. present) × 3(identity cue: text-only vs. robot vs. human) factorial design experiment with 564 American adults, the AI chatbot’s gratitude expression was found to increase the subject’s willingness to donate. The effect of these expressions of gratitude was mediated by self-efficacy rather than by social worth. However, when the AI chatbot provided a human identity cue, not only was the mediating effect of self-efficacy strengthened but the mediating effect of social worth was also significant.

How does anthropomorphism improve human-AI interaction satisfaction: a dual-path model

With the development of artificial intelligence technology, the application of anthropomorphism has been established as a good design principle. However, the effectiveness of anthropomorphism in smart home assistants is still unclear, as is the mechanism influencing interaction satisfaction. Therefore, we have categorized the anthropomorphic cues of smart home assistants into four dimensions: visual, identity, emotional, and auditory, and constructed a dual-path influence mechanism model of anthropomorphism on interaction satisfaction. Furthermore, we also consider the different influences of different usage contexts. Through two experimental studies, the results show that, in the intimacy influence path, the emotional cue and auditory cue can directly improve interaction satisfaction, and they can further improve interaction satisfaction by affecting intimacy. However, the visual cue has no significant direct effect on interaction satisfaction. The visual cue mainly improves interaction satisfaction through the intermediate effect of intimacy. In the privacy invasion influence path, the emotional cue and auditory cue also further affect interaction satisfaction by affecting privacy invasion. However, the impact of the visual cue and identity cue on privacy invasion was not valid. The study is expected to provide practical guidance for product designers to realize the long-term feasibility and sustainability of products.

Linguistic racism in inter-culture service encounter

Purpose Language plays an important role in a successful service exchange, but it can become a source of discrimination if one party is a non-native speaker in the host country. This study aims to examine the linguistic racism that non-native customers experience in Inter Culture Service Encounters (ICSEs) and delves into factors that contribute to the underlying psychological responses and the behavioral outcomes. Design/methodology/approach A phenomenological approach was used where 16 individuals were interviewed to discover themes through non-native customers' lens using an inductive process. Next, the emerged categories were classified based on extant literature, using a deductive approach. Findings The findings highlight the role of language varieties as a strong social identity cue for non-native customers where the associated stigma makes them see ICSE as a stereotype threat. Most importantly, these experiences shape their future behavior by avoiding direct interactions with the servers and adopting other service channels. Several “social others” influence this process. Originality/value This study explores the notion of linguistic racism in an ICSE from a non-native consumers’ lens and thus adds to this under-researched literature. Using a phenomenological approach, the authors propose a framework focusing on the perception of language-related stigma and discrimination experienced by non-native consumers’ along with possible behavioral responses.

Dual cues: Women of color anticipate both gender and racial bias in the face of a single identity cue

Integrating past research on women of color, stigma transfers, and generalized prejudice, the present research examined the extent to which threats and safety cues to one identity dimension (e.g., gender) results in threat or safety to women of color’s other stigmatized identity dimension (e.g., race). Across three experimental studies (Total N = 638), the present research found support for a dual cue hypothesis, such that Black and Latina women anticipated gender bias from a racial identity threat (Studies 1 and 2) and anticipated racial bias from a gender identity threat (Study 2) resulting in greater overall anticipated bias compared to White women (Study 3). Moreover, Black and Latina women anticipated racial identity safety from a gender identity safety cue (Study 3) supporting a dual safety hypothesis. These studies add to work on double jeopardy by extending a dual threat framework to anticipation of discrimination and highlighting the transferability of threat and safety cues for women of color.

The song structure and repertoire size of Daurian Redstarts (Phoenicurusauroreus) in South Korea

The song repertoire across avian species varies considerably in size, and reliable measurement is important in defining its significance as a target in sexual selection. In this study, the song structure and song repertoire size of the Daurian Redstart (Phoenicurus auroreus) in South Korea were investigated. The songs had major syllable variation rather than song type variation. The average song repertoire size from 20 males was 39.9 ± 5.8 (range: 28-50), based on a syllable type that was appropriate for this species. The songs were structured with three distinguishable parts, where song syllables varied most in the syllable part, and new syllable additions were relatively limited in the whistle and subsyllable parts. Furthermore, new syllables were gradually reduced with an increasing number of males, potentially due to the existence of core syllables in the songs. Our results suggest an individual identity cue may exist in the syllable part of the song and that the less variable whistles within and between individuals may play a role in forming a local dialect. Thus, further research on syllable similarity is needed to find song variations among individuals over greater geographic distances.

Humanizing chatbots: The effects of visual, identity and conversational cues on humanness perceptions

Chatbots are replacing human agents in a number of domains, from online tutoring to customer-service to even cognitive therapy. But, they are often machine-like in their interactions. What can we do to humanize chatbots? Should they necessarily be driven by human operators for them to be considered human? Or, will an anthropomorphic visual cue on the interface and/or a high-level of contingent message exchanges provide humanness to automated chatbots? We explored these questions with a 2 (anthropomorphic visual cues: high vs. low anthropomorphism) × 2 (message interactivity: high vs. low message interactivity) × 2 (identity cue: chat-bot vs. human) between-subjects experiment (N = 141) in which participants interacted with a chat agent on an e-commerce site about choosing a digital camera to purchase. Our findings show that a high level of message interactivity compensates for the impersonal nature of a chatbot that is low on anthropomorphic visual cues. Moreover, identifying the agent as human raises user expectations for interactivity. Theoretical as well as practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Variability of the inter-pulse interval in sperm whale clicks with implications for size estimation and individual identification.

Sperm whales generate multi-pulsed clicks for echolocation and communication with an inter-pulse interval (IPI) determined by the size of their hypertrophied sound producing nose. The IPI has therefore been used to estimate body size and distinguish between individuals, and it has been hypothesized that conspecifics may use IPIs to recognize each other. However, the degree to which IPIs vary within individuals has not explicitly been tested, and therefore the inherent precision of this measure and its applicability for size estimation for researchers and sperm whales alike remain unknown. Here, the variability in IPI from both animal-borne Dtags and far-field recordings from echolocating and communicating sperm whales is quantified. Three different automatic methods (envelope, cepstrum, and cross-correlation) are tested and it is found that the envelope approach results in the least dispersion. Furthermore, it is shown that neither growth, depth, nor recording aspect fully explains the observed variability among clicks recorded from the same individual. It is proposed that dynamics in the soft structures of the nose are affecting IPIs, resulting in a variation of approximately 0.2 ms. Therefore, it is recommended that this variation be considered in IPI studies and that IPIs may have limited functionality as an identity cue among large groups of conspecifics.

Identity Matching of Unfamiliar People from Point-Light Biological Motion

Point-light displays (PLDs) (Johansson, 1973) present compelling depictions of humans in motion and contain useful information for action (Dittrich, 1993; Kozlowski & Cutting, 1977) and gender perception (Kozlowski & Cutting, 1978). The few studies that have tested person recognition from PLDs provided weak support for biological motion as an identity cue, but only when participants were asked to name the familiar people depicted. Here, we examined the role of biological motion for identification using an identity-matching task (same or different person) for a large number of unfamiliar identities. We tested a broad range of actions, including walking, running, jumping forward, and boxing. Participants (n = 39) matched identities in 120 pairs of PLDs and responded using a 5-point scale (1: sure the same person to 5: sure different people). Subjects viewed PLD pairs of same action (e.g., both walking) and different actions (e.g., walking and boxing). Results showed performance accuracy well above chance in the same-action condition (mean a-ROC = .70, 95% CI [0.68, 0.73], p < 0.0001). In the different-action condition, accuracy was moderate and also greater than chance (mean a-ROC = .59, 95% CI [0.57, 0.62], p < 0.0001). As expected, identity discrimination was more accurate when the pairs performed the same action rather than different actions (p < 0.0001). For same-action trials, the quality of identity information varied with action type (cf., also Loula et al., 2005). Jumping forward yielded the highest a-ROC score (M=.77, SD=.22), followed by walking (M=.70, SD=.09), and running (M=.63, SD=.21). Boxing yielded the lowest a-ROC score (M=.62, SD=.33). In combination with previous work (Cutting & Kozlowski, 1977; Beardsworth & Buckner, 1981; Loula et al., 2005), the current results suggest that biological motion cues not only provide information reliable for discriminating the identity of familiar people, but also for discriminating unfamiliar identities. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2017

Acquiring variation in an artificial language: Children and adults are sensitive to socially conditioned linguistic variation

Languages exhibit sociolinguistic variation, such that adult native speakers condition the usage of linguistic variants on social context, gender, and ethnicity, among other cues. While the existence of this kind of socially conditioned variation is well-established, less is known about how it is acquired. Studies of naturalistic language use by children provide various examples where children’s production of sociolinguistic variants appears to be conditioned on similar factors to adults’ production, but it is difficult to determine whether this reflects knowledge of sociolinguistic conditioning or systematic differences in the input to children from different social groups. Furthermore, artificial language learning experiments have shown that children have a tendency to eliminate variation, a process which could potentially work against their acquisition of sociolinguistic variation. The current study used a semi-artificial language learning paradigm to investigate learning of the sociolinguistic cue of speaker identity in 6-year-olds and adults. Participants were trained and tested on an artificial language where nouns were obligatorily followed by one of two meaningless particles and were produced by one of two speakers (one male, one female). Particle usage was conditioned deterministically on speaker identity (Experiment 1), probabilistically (Experiment 2), or not at all (Experiment 3). Participants were given tests of production and comprehension. In Experiments 1 and 2, both children and adults successfully acquired the speaker identity cue, although the effect was stronger for adults and in Experiment 1. In addition, in all three experiments, there was evidence of regularization in participants’ productions, although the type of regularization differed with age: children showed regularization by boosting the frequency of one particle at the expense of the other, while adults regularized by conditioning particle usage on lexical items. Overall, results demonstrate that children and adults are sensitive to speaker identity cues, an ability which is fundamental to tracking sociolinguistic variation, and that children’s well-established tendency to regularize does not prevent them from learning sociolinguistically conditioned variation.

The effects of source cues on online news perception

Among various interface cues, expertise, identity, and bandwagon cues have been consistently found to have significant effects on media users’ perceptions of online news content. To examine the effects of these three types of heuristic cues in the context of online news consumption, the current study involved a 2 (expertise cue: low vs. high)×2 (identity cue: in-group vs. out-group)×2 (bandwagon cue: low vs. high) online experiment. A total of 121 undergraduate students participated in the study. Significant two-way interaction effects between the expertise and bandwagon cues on perceived credibility suggested the positive combined effect of these two cues. Moreover, significant three-way interaction effects among expertise, identity and bandwagon cues indicated that the interaction effects between expertise and bandwagon cues tend to work as a function of the identity cue. While confirming the importance of the identity cue in users’ perceptions of online news, three-way interaction effects confirmed the co-occurrence of heuristic and systematic processing. The interaction effects also suggested that people process news systematically when the recommenders are out-group members, whereas they process news heuristically when the recommenders are in-group members. Theoretical as well as practical implications have also been discussed in this article.

Dissociable identity‐ and modality‐specific neural representations as revealed by cross‐modal nonspatial inhibition of return

There are ongoing debates on whether object concepts are coded as supramodal identity-based or modality-specific representations in the human brain. In this fMRI study, we adopted a cross-modal "prime-neutral cue-target" semantic priming paradigm, in which the prime-target relationship was manipulated along both the identity and the modality dimensions. The prime and the target could refer to either the same or different semantic identities, and could be delivered via either the same or different sensory modalities. By calculating the main effects and interactions of this 2 (identity cue validity: "Identity_Cued" vs. "Identity_Uncued") × 2 (modality cue validity: "Modality_Cued" vs. "Modality_Uncued") factorial design, we aimed at dissociating three neural networks involved in creating novel identity-specific representations independent of sensory modality, in creating modality-specific representations independent of semantic identity, and in evaluating changes of an object along both the identity and the modality dimensions, respectively. Our results suggested that bilateral lateral occipital cortex was involved in creating a new supramodal semantic representation irrespective of the input modality, left dorsal premotor cortex, and left intraparietal sulcus were involved in creating a new modality-specific representation irrespective of its semantic identity, and bilateral superior temporal sulcus was involved in creating a representation when the identity and modality properties were both cued or both uncued. In addition, right inferior frontal gyrus showed enhanced neural activity only when both the identity and the modality of the target were new, indicating its functional role in novelty detection.

Segmental concatenation of individual signatures and context cues in banded mongoose (Mungos mungo) close calls

BackgroundAll animals are anatomically constrained in the number of discrete call types they can produce. Recent studies suggest that by combining existing calls into meaningful sequences, animals can increase the information content of their vocal repertoire despite these constraints. Additionally, signalers can use vocal signatures or cues correlated to other individual traits or contexts to increase the information encoded in their vocalizations. However, encoding multiple vocal signatures or cues using the same components of vocalizations usually reduces the signals' reliability. Segregation of information could effectively circumvent this trade-off. In this study we investigate how banded mongooses (Mungos mungo) encode multiple vocal signatures or cues in their frequently emitted graded single syllable close calls.ResultsThe data for this study were collected on a wild, but habituated, population of banded mongooses. Using behavioral observations and acoustical analysis we found that close calls contain two acoustically different segments. The first being stable and individually distinct, and the second being graded and correlating with the current behavior of the individual, whether it is digging, searching or moving. This provides evidence of Marler's hypothesis on temporal segregation of information within a single syllable call type. Additionally, our work represents an example of an identity cue integrated as a discrete segment within a single call that is independent from context. This likely functions to avoid ambiguity between individuals or receivers having to keep track of several context-specific identity cues.ConclusionsOur study provides the first evidence of segmental concatenation of information within a single syllable in non-human vocalizations. By reviewing descriptions of call structures in the literature, we suggest a general application of this mechanism. Our study indicates that temporal segregation and segmental concatenation of vocal signatures or cues is likely a common, but so far neglected, dimension of information coding in animal vocal communication. We argue that temporal segregation of vocal signatures and cues evolves in species where communication of multiple unambiguous signals is crucial, but is limited by the number of call types produced.

Looking at the actor's face: Identity cues and attentional focus in false memories of action performance from observation

Observing another's actions can induce false memories of self-performance. We investigated whether such observation inflation depends on the discriminability between the self and the observed actor. Discriminability was manipulated by presenting actions either with or without a key visual identity cue, i.e., the actor's face. We also examined whether self–other confusions in the face-visible condition depend on attentional focus (directed to the observed action vs. the actor's face). In the action-only condition, observation inflation was significant and greater than in the face-visible conditions, in which the effect was moderated by attentional focus: It persisted under an action focus but was eliminated under a face focus. Findings for correct memories of self-performance suggest that the reduced effect is not merely due to weaker encoding of the actions themselves. We conclude that self–other confusions in action memory are constrained by the availability of distinctive non-self cues during observation, and sustained by a visual focus on observed actions.

Understanding Bias toward Latinos: Discrimination, Dimensions of Difference, and Experience of Exclusion

White–Black relations have historically been the defining form of intergroup relations in the study of prejudice and discrimination. The present article suggests that there are limitations to applying this model to understanding bias toward other groups and proposes that a comprehensive view of the dynamics of the Anglos’ bias toward Latinos requires consideration of the distinctive elements of this form of intergroup relations. In four empirical studies, we experimentally document discrimination against Latinos (Study 1), explore the potential dimensions that underlie bias against Latinos (Study 2), and examine the effect of a particular social identity cue, accentedness, on perceptions of acceptance and belongingness of Latinos and members of other groups (Studies 3 and 4). These studies consider general processes of prejudice and identify how particular facets of bias against Latinos can shape their experiences and, taken together, illustrate how understanding bias against Latinos can reciprocally inform contemporary theories of prejudice.

Identity Cues: Evidence From and for Intra‐Individual Perspectives on Positive and Negative Stereotyping1

Traditional stereotyping research has adopted an intergroup perspective: Comparisons are made between ways in which targets belonging to different social groups are stereotyped. We adopt an intra‐individual perspective and examine how a single target, belonging to multiple social groups, is stereotyped differently based on identity cues. Participants interacted with a partner (a research confederate) in a series of e‐mail exchanges. The partner used e‐mail addresses that subtly cued either the partner's gender identity, the partner's ethnic identity, or neither identity. This subtle identity cue led participants to stereotype their partners in very different ways, biasing recall in directions consistent with the positive and negative stereotypes associated with the different identities cued. Applications of the findings to the problems that stereotypes create are discussed.

Activating the Self-Importance of Consumer Selves: Exploring Identity Salience Effects on Judgments

Two studies examine the identity salience construct in a judgment formation context. Study 1 manipulates identity salience by heightening the self-importance of a consumer social identity, resulting in systematic changes in purchase intent of an identity relevant product. Study 2 shows that judgments of identity relevant stimuli are a function of exposure to an identity cue and the consumer's measured self-importance associated with the identity, particularly when the identity is diagnostic to the judgment. These results are discussed in terms of how they extend prior work on social identity, product preference formation, and attitude change.

Recognizing the un-real McCoy: priming and the modularity of face recognition.

Fodor (1983) has proposed that face perception is carried out by an informationally encapsulated module, whose operation is unaffected by context or expectancies. We tested the modularity hypothesis by examining whether discriminations between normal and distorted versions of famous faces can be primed, either by the name of an associated person (semantic context) or by a valid cue as to the identity of the target face (expectancy). A preliminary experiment showed that, in the absence of priming, discriminations between normal and distorted versions of a face were unaffected by whether the target faces were familiar or not, confirming that these judgments tap perceptual, not postperceptual (semantic), coding processes. In Experiment 1, accuracy was significantly higher when target face pairs were preceded by related name primes, as compared with unrelated ones. In Experiment 2, reaction times were significantly faster for targets preceded by a valid identity cue than for targets preceded by an invalid one. Neither effect could be explained as a speed-accuracy tradeoff. These results fail to support Fodor's conjecture that face processing is encapsulated.

Corporate identity cues: The significance of the sales force

This paper seeks to determine the relative strength of the sales force as a corporate identity cue for pharmaceutical companies, as perceived by one of their most important and influential stakeholders, doctors. The research indicates that the sales force is deemed to be the third most important identity cue and that there is a high degree of correlation between the corporate image and the way the sales force is considered. The paper then determines which attributes of the sales force are the most significant according to doctors, and ranks knowledge/expertise, credibility and the ability to provide reliable and accurate information as the top three key attributes. Major pharmaceutical companies are ranked according to corporate image, sales force performance and their individual perceived capabilities against each of the main sales force attributes. The implication for management is that greater attention to particular sales force attributes may result in a stronger corporate image.