Negative Social Judgments Research Articles

Perceptions of Smoking Stigma Among African Americans: A Qualitative Study.

African Americans/Blacks (AAB) are at increased risk for morbidity and mortality from smoking-related diseases including lung cancer (LC). Smoking stigma is believed to be a primary barrier to health care-seeking for people who smoke. Previous studies illustrate that perceptions of smoking vary across populations. However, little is known about the prevalence of smoking stigmas among AAB. The purpose of this study was to increase understanding of the perception of cigarette smoking by AAB. We conducted free-listing interviews in which individuals listed all-thoughts and feelings regarding smoking and health-related questions with a convenience sample of eligible AAB adults (n = 58) in the Philadelphia region. Additionally, we collected participant self-reported demographic data. Data were cleaned and the salience of each term was computed using Anthropac. Graphical methods were then used to determine salient responses across groups stratified by gender, age, education, and smoking status. The sample had a median age of 51 years and was 67.2% female. Most participants had completed college (58.6%) and had never smoked (74.1%). Regarding their perceptions of people who smoke cigarettes, results showed that "smelly," "health hazard," and "judgment" were the most salient terms among all-participants. Overall, "smelly" and "unhealthy" were salient for both males and females. However, "dental," "dirty," "addictive," and "habit" were also salient among males. Phrases such as "unhealthy" and "addictive" were primarily salient for older participants (>51 years) versus "smelly" for younger participants. The term "smelly" was salient among all-education levels. However, "unhealthy" was also salient among those with less than a 4-year college degree. Moreover, the terms "smelly" and "annoying" were most common among people who smoke as opposed to "health hazard" among people who don't smoke. We observed that the most stigmatizing language was primarily associated with perceptions of negative social interactions, social judgment, and health-related concerns. Future studies are needed to explore how smoking-related stigmas impact patient adherence to smoking cessation programs and LC screening protocols. Little is known about the prevalence of smoking stigmas among AAB. This study explores the AAB perspective of cigarette smoking and related stigmas. Among AAB, smoking is represented by stigmatizing language across gender, age groups, and smoking history. It is primarily associated with negative social interactions, social judgement, and health-related concerns indicating that smoking stigma is a concern for AAB individuals who smoke. Further research is warranted.

Reducing neuroendocrine psychosocial stress response through socio-emotional dyadic but not mindfulness online training.

Stress-related diseases pose significant health risks and show wide prevalence. Empirical evidence suggests that contemplative practices, such as socio-emotional dyadic mental exercises, hold promise in mitigating the adverse effects of stress and promoting psychosocial well-being. This study aimed to investigate the differential effects of two online contemplative mental training programs on the psychosocial stress response: the first involved classic mindfulness practices, while the second incorporated a socio-emotional dyadic approach known as Affect Dyad. The study was conducted as part of the longitudinal CovSocial project's phase 2 in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. 140 individuals participated in the Trier Social Stress Task (TSST), where the psychosocial stress response was assessed with cortisol saliva samples and subjective stress questionnaires in a cross-sectional design after the active training groups finished their intervention period. Participants were randomly assigned to the socio-emotional training group, mindfulness-based training group, or a control group that did not receive any training. Both training programs consisted of a ten-week intervention period with a daily 12-minute app-based mental training practice and weekly 2-hour online coaching sessions led by mental training teachers. Results showed that the socio-emotional Dyad group but not the mindfulness-based group exhibited significantly lower cortisol levels at 10, 20, 30, and 40 minutes after the stressor as well as lower total cortisol output compared to the control group during the TSST, indicating a reduced hormonal stress response to a social stressor. Subjective markers did not show differences between the three groups. These findings indicate that the daily socio-emotional dyadic practice, which emphasizes non-judgmental and empathic listening as well as the acceptance of challenging emotions in the presence of others within one's daily life context, may serve as a protective factor against the adverse effects of psychosocial stress triggered by the fear of negative social judgments. Given the high prevalence of stress-related diseases, such online mental training programs based on dyadic practices may thus represent an efficient and scalable approach for stress reduction.

An Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Reduce Weight Stigma Among Exercise Professionals

Weight stigma is the negative social judgment of people based on their weight. Despite the negative consequences of weight stigma, its prevalence is well-documented including within the physical activity (PA) landscape. Research shows that a wide range of PA-related professionals hold negative attitudes toward fat people, including physical education teachers, kinesiology students, and fitness trainers. This article describes a collaboration across disciplines and fields to develop a weight stigma reduction intervention for exercise professionals. Weight Inclusive Thinking for Fitness Spaces (WIT FITS) is a two-hour, self-paced, interactive online course grounded in the Health at Every Size® paradigm and research-informed strategies for improving exercise professionals’ attitudes toward fatness and fostering weight inclusivity in fitness settings. WIT FITS was the result of a three-year interdisciplinary collaboration with scholars from pedagogy, public health, sport and exercise psychology, and nutrition. Community partners involved in the development, implementation, and evaluation of WIT FITS included body liberation activists, web and instructional designers, and campus recreation leaders.

Lexical and cognitive development of children learning regional languages: Studies from the Netherlands

Regional language speakers are subject to negative social judgments. In this contribution, I provide an overview of research in the Netherlands with children who are regional language learners against the backdrop of this deficit perspective. Findings on the lexical and cognitive development of children from Fryslân, a northern Dutch province, and Limburg, a southern Dutch province, demonstrate that regional language acquisition is neither associated with language delays nor with any cognitive difficulties. Linguistic overlap between Frisian and Limburgish, on the one hand, and Dutch, on the other hand, results in ample opportunities to share linguistic resources, experiences, and knowledge. Especially unbalanced children benefit from this cross-linguistic overlap because they can make use of their stronger language to perform in the weaker language. Cross-linguistic regularities between the regional and national language are helpful and support performance in the regional language. Results on cognitive effects suggest that regional language learners have some selective attention advantages. Although significant, the effects are small, the advantages do not last long, and they require sufficient exposure to and proficiency in the regional language.

Disability, Stigma, and the Pursuit of Social Justice: Future Research Directions

Disability, stigma, and the pursuit of social justice are interrelated problems that have an impact on how people with disabilities live their lives. Disability is a condition that affects a person’s capacity to do activities or tasks due to their physical, cognitive, or mental limitations. The individual with a disability is frequently the target of stigma, which is a negative social judgment or form of discrimination. The efforts made to guarantee that people with disability have the same rights and opportunities as people without disabilities are referred to as the pursuit of social justice. Barriers to social inclusion and equality for people with disability may be significantly exacerbated by the interaction between stigma and disability. Physical impediments such as inaccessible structures as well as psychological impediments such as prejudices against people with disabilities both exist. These obstacles often make it difficult for people with disability to participate fully in society. To achieve social justice for people with disabilities, advocacy and continued research must be made for the removal of these obstacles, as well as efforts to ensure inclusion and acceptance in all facets of society. This may entail initiatives to improve accessibility, fight prejudice, and stereotypes, and promote the needs and rights of people with disabilities. This conceptual article will analyze the importance of social justice for people with disabilities to build a more inclusive society in which everyone can participate fully and achieve success; it will conclude with recommended directions for future research.

Exposure to nonnative-accented speech reduces listening effort and improves social judgments of the speaker

Prior research has revealed a native-accent advantage, whereby nonnative-accented speech is more difficult to process than native-accented speech. Nonnative-accented speakers also experience more negative social judgments. In the current study, we asked three questions. First, does exposure to nonnative-accented speech increase speech intelligibility or decrease listening effort, thereby narrowing the native-accent advantage? Second, does lower intelligibility or higher listening effort contribute to listeners’ negative social judgments of speakers? Third and finally, does increased intelligibility or decreased listening effort with exposure to speech bring about more positive social judgments of speakers? To address these questions, normal-hearing adults listened to a block of English sentences with a native accent and a block with nonnative accent. We found that once participants were accustomed to the task, intelligibility was greater for nonnative-accented speech and increased similarly with exposure for both accents. However, listening effort decreased only for nonnative-accented speech, soon reaching the level of native-accented speech. In addition, lower intelligibility and higher listening effort was associated with lower ratings of speaker warmth, speaker competence, and willingness to interact with the speaker. Finally, competence ratings increased over time to a similar extent for both accents, with this relationship fully mediated by intelligibility and listening effort. These results offer insight into how listeners process and judge unfamiliar speakers.

A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Language Used in Dove’s Advertisements

The study investigates the use of language in the ‘Real Beauty’ advertising campaign initiated by the care brand Dove from 2006 to 2020 through the lens of Fairclough’s (1989) three-dimensional critical discourse analysis and Wodak’s (2001) historical-discourse analysis. By unfolding the textual elements used in five video advertisements, it aims to examine how the advertiser Dove constructs the beauty image of women through discursive strategies used in the text and investigate the possible ideologies underlying the discourse. The findings indicate that the textual resources used in Dove’s advertisements experienced a discursive construction to reveal the essence of feminism and further explore the connection between female’s negative self-evaluation and social judgment. It concludes that although the changing traits of Dove’s advertisements may not escape from the accusation of legitimating the commercialism, they indeed attempted to empower women with the autonomy to control the vision of beauty and provide solutions to unite women of all ages and with all colors.

Do You Mind if I Ask You a Personal Question? How AI Service Agents Alter Consumer Self-Disclosure

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has grown rapidly in the service industry and AI’s emotional capabilities have become an important feature for interacting with customers. The current research examines personal disclosures that occur during consumer interactions with AI and humans in service settings. We found that consumers’ lay beliefs about AI (i.e., a perceived lack of social judgment capability) lead to enhanced disclosure of sensitive personal information to AI (vs. humans). We identify boundaries for this effect such that consumers prefer disclosure to humans over AI in (i) contexts where social support (rather than social judgment) is expected and (ii) contexts where sensitive information will be curated by the agent for social dissemination. In addition, we reveal underlying psychological processes such that the motivation to avoid negative social judgment favors disclosing to AI whereas seeking emotional support favors disclosing to humans. Moreover, we reveal that adding humanlike factors to AI can increase consumer fear of social judgment (reducing disclosure in contexts of social risk) while simultaneously increasing perceived AI capacity for empathy (increasing disclosure in contexts of social support). Taken together, these findings provide theoretical and practical insights into tradeoffs between utilizing AI versus human agents in service contexts.

Stigmatization of Voluntarily Childfree Women and Men in the UK

Abstract. People who choose not to have children may face negative social judgment. Using a UK sample, Study 1 ( N = 199) successfully replicated Ashburn-Nardo’s (2017) finding that childfree targets are perceived as less psychologically fulfilled than targets with children. The effect, however, appeared limited to expected decision regret rather than general fulfillment, which was later confirmed in Study 2 ( N = 329). In contrast to Ashburn-Nardo , our results did not indicate that moral outrage mediates the effect (Study 1), but exploratory findings suggested that perceivers who intend to have children of their own perceive the childfree as morally inferior and less likable (Study 2). Participants’ endorsement of conservative values was not consistently related to negative perceptions of childfree targets.

A Feeling of Otherness: A Qualitative Research Synthesis Exploring the Lived Experiences of Stigma in Individuals with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) consists of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, chronic conditions involving inflammation and ulceration of the gastrointestinal tract. Individuals with IBD may be susceptible to experiencing health-related stigma: experienced, perceived, or internalised social exclusion, rejection, blame, or devaluation resulting from negative social judgements based on the disease. This qualitative research synthesis draws together findings from 38 studies describing lived experiences to develop a unified interpretative account of the experience of stigma in IBD. Analysis developed two categories: ‘The IBD journey’ explores the dynamic ways in which having IBD impacted on individuals’ self-identity and ‘a need to be understood’ examines the tension between wanting to be understood whilst feeling their true experiences needed to be hidden from or were misjudged by the social sphere. The overarching concept ‘feeling of otherness’ highlights that, rather than a static, binary experience, individuals moved across a continuum ranging from the excluding experience of feeling stigmatised and othered, to the inclusive experience of integration. Individuals fluctuated along this continuum across different physical, social, and health contexts. Psychological adjustment to IBD, drawing on experience of adaptive coping, and reconnecting with valued others through illness disclosure strengthened stigma resistance during more challenging times.

The “Joker” laugh: Social judgments towards affective deviants in a sample of young offenders with callous unemotional traits

We assessed negative bias in Colombian young offenders towards affective deviants (those who violate emotional norms). Postulating that affective deviants elicit an “uncanny/creepy” feeling resembling that produced by psychopaths, we explored social judgments of affective deviants in individuals with callous-unemotional (CU) traits. 188 young offenders evaluated a target displaying congruent or incongruent affective displays in response to pictures eliciting positive/negative affect, depending on the condition. Affective deviants were rated as creepier and less trustworthy, and more likely to have bad moral character, than targets who displayed normative affect. Further, affective deviants who displayed positive affect in response to negative stimuli were rated as having worse moral character than those who displayed negative affect in response to positive stimuli. CU traits predicted lower trustworthiness judgments of targets in congruent conditions, but higher trustworthiness judgments of targets in incongruent conditions. CU traits also predicted higher desired social distance and creepiness judgments in congruent conditions. Creepiness ratings correlated with judgments of bad moral character, suggesting that this emotional response may be involved in moral evaluations of strangers. These findings indicate that deviant affective displays produce a variety of negative social judgments, with CU traits playing a role in these social cognitive heuristics.

How Do Schoolchildren View Other Children Who Have Discolored Teeth?

ABSTRACTObjectives:Facial look and expression affect how people are viewed by others. This study aimed to evaluate how schoolchildren in the Emirate of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates view their peers who have discolored teeth.Materials and Methods:A cross-sectional study using randomized cluster sampling of Sharjah public schools was conducted. A previously developed and validated social attribute questionnaire was utilized to determine children’s dental appearance-related judgments. Children aged 11–14 years were given photographs of subjects either with discolored teeth or without, and they were asked to rate them using six positive and five negative signifiers. The total attribute score (TAS) ranged from 11 (most negative) to 44 (most positive). A linear regression analysis and t-tests were performed to determine the effects of gender and age in mean TAS.Results:TAS was significantly lower among discolored teeth photographs when compared with photographs without teeth discoloration (P = 0.004). TAS was found to be significantly higher with increased age (P = 0.035), but gender had no significant effect.Conclusion:Teeth discoloration resulted in more negative social judgment between Sharjah schoolchildren and their peers.

Exploring 10–15-year-old patients’ perspectives of fixed orthodontic treatment

To explore and understand young people's perspectives of fixed orthodontic treatment. In particular, understanding how young people perceived and experienced having a fixed appliance and how their experiences can change during their treatment. Qualitative study carried out longitudinally. In-depth qualitative interviews carried out in participants' homes, video diaries recorded by participants when and where they wish. Fifteen patients aged 10-15 years undergoing NHS fixed appliance treatment. Data were collected by in-depth interviews and video diaries throughout the participants' course of orthodontic treatment. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Young people's friends, family and social media influenced how young people felt about the appearance of their teeth. Young people can perceive negative social judgements are made about them based on the appearance of their teeth; however, the appearance of the brace was not a concern. For some of the young people, the presence of the brace formed a rite of passage throughout adolescence. Pain and discomfort caused by fixed appliances was expected and tolerated and felt normal with time. Young people's perceptions about appearance are influenced by people around them and social media. The physical feeling of the brace was normalised, although it did affect young people's lives.

Designing Entrepreneurial Experiments: Knowledge Acquisition Through ""Minimum Viable Products

Research on entrepreneurial experimentation suggests that designing economic experiments is useful in learning about opportunities. Specifically, entrepreneurs are encouraged to rapidly experiment with “minimum viable products” as learning artifacts to acquire information from markets about products. Nonetheless, this research has yet to consider the social implications of rapid experimentation; there is a lack of theoretical understanding of how entrepreneurs can design experiments without incurring negative social evaluations from external audiences. To resolve this problem, we leverage Herbert Simon’s science of the artificial as a meta-framework to explain why and how learning artifacts can enhance learning efficiency while simultaneously inducing negative social judgments. We then propose a set of contingencies that influence the relationships between the aesthetic design of learning artifacts and their structural environments. We conclude with theoretical and practical implications for understanding the strategic design of learning artifacts to learn about markets and products while managing negative social judgments.

0252 Influence of Sleep on Negative Social Judgment

Abstract Introduction Sleep plays an important role in emotional regulation. Emotional regulation can be disrupted by psychosocial stress, including social judgment. It is not known whether sleep can regulate emotions arising from social judgment. The aim of this study is to determine if sleep can reduce emotional reactivity associated with negative social judgment. Methods On day one, subjects participated in a social judgment task (SJT) in the morning, followed by a nap or wake condition. Subjects’ physiological responses to social judgment task (skin conductance and heart rate) and mood were measured before and after the SJT, after the nap/wake condition, and once on day three. Results Mood ratings decreased after social judgment for all subjects, but increased following the nap intervention. Mood ratings improved after the 2 day delay. There were no changes in social status. Skin conductance during judgment decreased for subjects in nap condition, but not wake. After a 2 day delay, skin conductance decreased across subjects, with those in nap condition experiencing greater decrease. Heart rate response during social judgment exposure decreased only for those in nap group, with a 2 day delay showing decreased heart rate response across all subjects. Conclusion A nap directly following social judgment buffers negative response to the experience by decreasing emotional reactivity as measured by mood, skin conductance, and heart rate response. No differences were found between nappers and non-nappers on day three, suggesting that sleep benefits emotional reactivity associated with the stress of social judgment and that these benefits can happen with a nap or a night of sleep, more than a period of wake. Support University of California, Irvine.

Adolescent Smoking in Secondary Schools that Have Implemented Smoke-Free Policies: In-Depth Exploration of Shared Smoking Patterns.

Large numbers of adolescents smoke during school hours, despite the implementation of smoke-free school policies (SFSPs). Studies about SFSPs predominantly analyse smoking as individual behaviour, yet there is increasing recognition that smoking should be understood as social behaviour. We explored shared smoking patterns specifying where, when, and with whom, and social meanings about why groups of adolescents smoke in two Dutch schools that have implemented SFSPs. Surveys among adolescents were held to obtain contextual information about the schools. Four focus group discussions and fourteen individual interviews were held with adolescents to identify shared smoking patterns in each school. Two shared patterns were identified at a school where 17% of students smoked daily: Dependent smoking and Rebellious smoking. Both built on pro-smoking norms and underscored the benefits of smoking. Three shared patterns were identified at a school where 3% of students smoked daily: Social bonding smoking, Low-profile smoking and Smoking-friendly event smoking. These built on anti-smoking norms and helped smokers cope with negative social judgements related to smoking. We conclude that adolescent smoking during school hours is embedded in diverse shared smoking patterns. Future studies should develop more understanding about how to deal with adolescents’ shared smoking patterns that decrease the effectiveness of tobacco policies.

Disciplining the Female Student Body: Consequential Transference in Arguments for School Dress Codes

Based on an examination of news coverage from 2013 to mid-2018, this article analyzes rhetoric in favor of school dress code policies. I illustrate how women’s bodies are problematized in order to manifest grounds for regulating female attire. By employing pragmatic lines of argument, pro-dress code rhetors foster what I term consequential transference. Because pragmatic arguments rely on identifying consequences, questions of agency are implicit, as presuppositions of who is responsible for the consequences are embedded into the fabric of the discourse. In this case, dress code defenders paint female immodesty as responsible for several harmful potentialities, including negative social judgments, sexual harassment, and the distraction of male students in the classroom. I assert that pragmatic argumentation is a serviceable tool for underwriting misogynistic culture because consequential transference warrants female regulation and punishment by diminishing the accountability of other actors.

Visible Enamel Defects in Adolescents: How Do their Peers View Them?

ABSTRACTAimThe present study was aimed to determine whether adolescents make social judgments about other children who have noticeable enamel imperfections.Materials and methodsTwo schools with very different socio-economic profiles were selected using a stratified random sampling method. Children aged 13–14 years (school class 9) and 15–16 (school class 11) were randomly selected from these schools totaling to a sample size of 200. Half the participants rated full-face photographs of a boy and girl without an enamel defect, and the other half-rated the same two photographs with the digitally modified incisors. The photographic subjects were rated on a four-point Likert's scale consisting of six positive and five negative descriptors.ResultsBased on the gender of the photographic subject, the mean total attribute score was almost identical. However, it was lower for photographic subjects showing enamel defects as compared to those without.ConclusionThe dental appearance can influence value judgments in children.Clinical significanceIt is important to treat the enamel lesions and various developmental defects of the enamel as it may lead to a negative social judgment by peers.How to cite this articleNayak UA, Pawar A, Kappadi D, Prajapati D, Roy KJ, Wadhwa S. Visible Enamel Defects in Adolescents: How Do their Peers View Them?. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent, 2018;11(6):479-482.

‘What sort of diabetes have I got?’ The importance of a label

‘What sort of diabetes have I got?’ The importance of a label

Social judgments, frontal asymmetry, and aggressive behavior in young children: A replication study using EEG

Early in their lives young children are confronted with social judgments by peers. Previous studies have shown that in adults negative social judgments are associated with more aggressive behavior. However, little is known about the relation between social judgments and aggressive behavior, or the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms, in early childhood. We developed the Social Network Aggression Task - Early Childhood (SNAT-EC) to examine the mediating role of frontal EEG asymmetry in the relation between social judgment and aggressive behavior in 4–6 year old children. To replicate our findings, we included three samples: a pilot sample, test sample 1 and test sample 2 (total N = 78). In the SNAT-EC, children receive positive, negative and neutral social judgments about their chosen cuddly animal by same-aged unfamiliar peers. EEG was acquired to measure frontal asymmetry during the processing of social judgments. Aggressive behavior was measured as the duration of a button press with which children could destroy balloons of the judging peer, thus reducing the number of remaining balloons for that peer. We used a within-subject mediation model to test whether frontal asymmetry mediated the effect of social judgment (negative vs. positive) on aggressive behavior. Results show that the SNAT-EC robustly elicits more aggressive behavior in response to negative social judgments about the cuddly animal compared to positive judgments. Meta-analysis revealed a large combined effect size (r = .42) for the relation between negative (vs. positive) social judgments and aggressive behavior. However, frontal asymmetry in response to the social judgments did not mediate the relation between social judgment and aggressive behavior. Future studies should search for other neural mediators to bridge the brain-behavior gap between social judgments and aggressive behavior, in particular in early childhood.