Summerville, Amy
summera
Recent Submissions
Item Motivated by us But Not by Them: Group Membership Influences the Impact of Counterfactual Thinking on Behavioral Intentions Read More: https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/10.1521/soco.2016.34.4.3
Walker, Ryan J.; Summerville, Amy; Smallman, Rachel; Deska, Jason C.Counterfactual thoughts about “what might have been” allow individuals to improve future outcomes based on insights from past events. Previous research has examined how counterfactuals about the self facilitate future improvement. The current research examined how group membership influences behavioral intentions developed from counterfactuals about another's actions. Participants who read counterfactual-inducing vignettes formed stronger intentions relative to participants who read non–counterfactual-inducing vignettes; this effect was stronger for in-group targets than for out-group targets (Study 1). Furthermore, when group membership was manipulated experimentally, counterfactuals facilitated behavioral intention judgments for in-group targets but not out-group targets (Study 2). Together, the current research demonstrates that group membership can influence the counterfactual-behavioral intention relationship.Item Persuasion and Pragmatics: An Empirical Test of the Guru Effect Model
Martin, Jordan S.; Summerville, Amy; Wickline, Virginia B.Decades of research have investigated the complex role of source credibility in attitude persuasion. Current theories of persuasion predict that when messages are thoughtfully scrutinized, argument strength will tend to have a greater effect on attitudes than source credibility. Source credibility can affect highly elaborated attitudes, however, when individuals evaluate material that elicits low attitude extremity. A recently proposed model called the guru effect predicts that source credibility can also cause attitudinal change by biasing the interpretation of pragmatically ambiguous material. The present studies integrate models of explanatory pragmatics and persuasion in order to empirically assess these hypotheses. Experiment 1 found that text difficulty and attitude neutrality reflect independent persuasion variables. Experiment 2 found that higher source credibility causes more favorable attitudes toward messages eliciting low attitude extremity. Text difficulty was not found to have a significant effect on attitudes. These results confirm the predictions of prior social cognition research but no do not support the guru effect model. The implications of these studies for pragmatics and persuasion research as well as the value of interdisciplinary research between these fields are discussed.Item Some unwritten rules of graduate school, written down
Summerville, AmyAn informal set of of advice, expectations, and “unwritten rules” slightly modified from a version for graduate students in my lab that I prepared for 2 incoming students in the fall of 2017. (The version they got included a few things like specific expectations about managing my lab or names of our department staff that seemed unlikely to be of broad applicability or interest, though I think the former is an important conversation to have. I’ve tried to note the other things that may be idiosyncratic to me but that I’m guessing are broadly true or at least worth discussing.) I am a social psychologist; some of these norms may differ as you move farther from my discipline. Many thanks for the extensive feedback I got from Twitter, including several vastly better written pieces linked here.Item The Regret Elements Scale: Distinguishing the affective and cognitive components of regret
Buchanan, Joshua; Summerville, Amy; Lehmann, Jennifer; Reb, JochenRegret is one of the most common emotions, but researchers generally measure it in an ad-hoc, unvalidated fashion. Three studies outline the construction and validation of the Regret Elements Scale (RES), which distinguishes between an affective component of regret, associated with maladaptive affective outcomes, and a cognitive component of regret, associated with functional preparatory outcomes. The present research demonstrates the RES’s relationship with distress (Study 1), appraisals of emotions (Study 2), and existing measures of regret (Study 3). We further demonstrate the RES’s ability to differentiate regret from other negative emotions (Study 2) and related traits (Study 3). The scale provides both a new theoretical perspective on regret, and a tool for researchers interested in measuring post-decisional regret.Item Functions of personal experience and of expression of regret
Summerville, Amy; Buchanan, JoshuaAlthough learning and preparing for future behavior are well-established functions of regret, social functions have been largely ignored. We suggest a new model of the functions of regret, the Privately Experienced versus Expressed Regret (PEER) model, in which private experience and public expression differentially serve these functions. The current research examined this model using both naturalistic and experimental approaches. In Study 1, we coded tweets about regret posted on social media to examine whether this content emphasized social relationships versus learning and preparation. Study 2 experimentally examined the hypothesized social-closeness function for expression of regrets. Study 3 further examined how privately experienced and publicly expressed regrets differ on the social-closeness and learning and preparatory functions. Studies 4 and 5 confirmed the specific social closeness function rather than global social benefits. This research suggests that the social expression of regret differs from private experience in both form and function.Item How far to the road not taken? The effect of psychological distance on counterfactual direction.
Rim, SoYon; Summerville, AmyUpward and downward counterfactuals serve the distinct motivational functions of selfimprovement and self-enhancement, respectively. Drawing on construal level theory, which contends that increasing psychological distance from an event leads people to focus on highlevel, self-improvement versus low-level, self-enhancement goals, we propose that distance will alter counterfactual direction in a way that satisfies these distinct motives. We found that people generated more downward counterfactuals about recent versus distant past events, while they tended to generate more upward counterfactuals about distant versus recent past events (Experiment 1). Consistent results were obtained for social distance (Experiment 2). Experiment 3 demonstrated that distance affects the direction of open-ended counterfactual thoughts. Finally, Experiment 4 explored a potential mechanism, demonstrating that manipulating temporal distance produced changes in participants’ self-improvement versus self-enhancement motivations when responding to negative events. Future directions and broader implications for self-control, social support, empathy, and learning are discussed.Item Psuedo-dyadic "interaction" on Amazon's Mechanical Turk
(2014-09-17) Summerville, Amy; Chartier, Christopher; Miami University; amy.summerville@miamioh.eduPsychological researchers have begun to utilize Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) marketplace as a participant pool. Although past work has established that MTurk is well suited to examining individual behavior, pseudo-dyadic interactions, in which participants falsely believe they are interacting with a partner, are a key element of social and cognitive psychology. The ability to conduct such interdependent research on MTurk would increase the utility of this online population for a broad range of psychologists. The present research therefore attempts to qualitatively replicate well-established pseudo-dyadic tasks on MTurk in order to establish the utility of this platform as a tool for researchers.We find that participants do behave as if a partner is real, even when doing so incurs a financial cost, and that they are sensitive to subtle information about the partner in a minimal-groups paradigm, supporting the use of MTurk for pseudo-dyadic research.Item Counterfactual-seeking: The scenic overlook of the road not taken
(2011-07-25) Summerville, AmyDecision-makers faced with an opportunity to learn the outcome of a foregone alternative must balance anticipated regret, should that information be unfavorable, with the potential benefits of this information in reducing experienced regret. Counterfactualseeking, the choice to learn more about foregone alternatives, may be a functional, regretregulating strategy for individuals already experiencing regret. Counterfactual-seeking increases in response to dissatisfying outcomes (Studies 1 & 2). Counterfactual-seeking is generally able to reduce dissatisfaction (Study 2), regardless of whether individuals personally chose to view this information or were randomly assigned to do so (Study 3). Moreover, both imaginative (versus factual) thoughts about the foregone option and upward (versus downward) counterfactual thoughts play a role in this improvement in satisfaction (Study 4). Regret thus has a complex influence in how individuals engage with counterfactual information.Item Regret and behavior: comment on Zeelenberg and Pieters
(2011-05-04) Roese, Neal J.; Summerville, Amy; Fessel, FlorianZeelenberg and Pieter's (2007) regret regulation theory 1.0 offers a synthesis that brings together concepts spanning numerous literatures. We have no substantive disagreement with their theory, but instead offer 3 observations to further aid regret researchers studying con- sumer decision making. First, the overall arch of any regret theory must be situated within an understanding of behavior regulation. Second, the distinction between regrets of action versus inaction is best understood in terms of motivational implications, particularly with regard to Higgin's (1998) distinction between promotion and prevention focus. Third, the opportunity principle offers a particularly clear means of summarizing the regulatory consequences of the regret experience. Regret is an emotion pivotal for decision making, and its cognitive under- pinning has and continues to be elucidated in research focusing on counter factual thinking.Item Rush of regret: a longitudinal analysis of naturalistic regrets
(2011-04-07) Summerville, Amy;The current research examines immediate regrets occurring at the time of a meaningful life outcome to better understand influences on real-life regrets. This research used a longitudinal approach to examine both initial severity and the rate of change in immediate regrets. Initial severity was associated with greater past control over the outcome and lower levels of future ability to attain goals relevant to the regret and correct the regretted situation. Regret decreased over time, but less so if it concerned attainable ongoing goals. These contrasting effects of future opportunity on initial severity and change over time support a Dynamic Opportunity Principle of regret. Furthermore, the effects of past opportunity and of actions versus inactions on immediate regrets diverged from past findings about retrospective regrets. Immediate regrets may fundamentally differ from retrospective regrets, and implications for our understanding of regret are discussed.Item Repetitive regret, depression, and anxiety: findings from a nationally representative survey
(2011-04-07) Roese, Neal J.; Epstude, Kai; Fessel, Florian; Morrison, Mike; Smallman, Rachel; Summerville, Amy; Galinsky, Adam D.; Segerstrom, SuzannePast research has established a connection between regret (negative emotions connected to cognitions about how past actions might have achieved better outcomes) and both depression and anxiety. in the present research, the relations between regret, repetitive thought, depression, and anxiety were examined in a nationally representative telephone survey. although both regret and repetitive thought were associated with general distress, only regret was associated with anhedonic depression and anxious arousal. Further, the interaction between regret and repetitive thought (i.e., repetitive regret) was highly predictive of general distress but not of anhedonic depression nor anxious arousal. these relations were strikingly consistent across demographic variables such as sex, race/ethnicity, age, education, and income.Item Multi-measure investigation of the divergence of implicit and explicit consumer evaluations
(2011-02-07) Summerville, Amy; Hsieh, Brendon; Harrington, NickThis research extends findings that implicit and explicit attitudes may diverge to a consumer evaluation task using multiple measures of implicit evaluation: Evaluative Movement Assessment (EMA; Brendl, Markman, & Messner, 2005), and Evaluative Priming (Fazio,Jackson, Dunton, & Williams,1995). These measures were significantly associated with each other for both positive and negative implicit attitudes. Neither measure predicted explicit liking of the product or explicit intention to purchase the product. We believe this to be the first such demonstrated divergence in a naturalistic, unconditioned consumer evaluation context. Implicit activation of the product’s emotional benefit (e.g., “relaxation”), as assessed in a lexical decision task (LDT) was not associated with the EMA or evaluative priming, but was significantly associated with both explicit emotional state (e.g., relaxation) and explicit purchase intention; the latter effect was not mediated by explicit emotion.Item Dare to compare: fact-based versus simulation-based comparison in daily life
(2011-02-07) Summerville, Amy; Roese, Neal J.We examined the relative frequency of social, counter factual, past-temporal, and future-temporal comparison in daily life using an experience-sampling method, in which participants were randomly prompted to record thought samples using palmtop computers carried for two weeks. Comparative thought accounted for 12% of all thoughts, and all four comparison types occurred with equivalent frequency. Comparisons may be either fact-based (i.e., based on actuality, as in social and past-temporal comparison) or simulation-based (i.e., based on imagination, as in counterfactual and future-temporal comparison). Because the latter are more “unbounded,” and because greater perceived opportunity invites greater self-improvement, we predicted and found that counterfactual and future-temporal comparison were more likely to be upward (vs. downward) than social and past-temporal comparison. All comparison types focused on approach more than avoidance motives, except for counterfactuals, which showed equivalent focus on both. These findings reveal the prominence of comparative thought in daily life, and underscore the value an integrative theory that describes social, counter factual, or temporal comparison using a common theoretical platform.Item Self-report measures of individual differences in regulatory focus: a cautionary note
(2011-02-07) Summerville, Amy; Roese, Neal J.Regulatory focus theory distinguishes between two independent structures of strategic inclination, promotion versus prevention. However, the theory implies two potentially independent definitions of these inclinations, the self-guide versus the reference-point definitions. Two scales (the Regulatory Focus Questionnaire [Higgins, E. T., Friedman, R. S., Harlow, R. E., Idson, L. C., Ayduk, O. N., & Taylor, A. (2001). Achievement orientations from subjective histories of success: Promotion pride versus prevention pride. European Journal of Social Psychology, 31, 3–23] and the General Regulatory Focus Measure [Lockwood, P., Jordan, C. H., & Kunda, Z. (2002). Motivation by positive and negative role models: Regulatory focus determines who will best inspire us. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 854–864]) have been widely used to measure dispositional regulatory focus. We suggest that these two scales align respectively with the two definitions, and find that the two scales are largely uncorrelated. Both conceptual and methodological implications are discussed.Item Praise for regret: people value regret above other negative emotions
(2011-02-07) Saffrey, Colleen; Summerville, Amy; Roese, Neal J.What do people think about the emotion of regret? Recent demonstrations of the psychological benefits of regret have been framed against an assumption that most people find regret to be aversive, both when experienced but also when recalled later. Two studies explored lay evaluations of regret experiences, revealing them to be largely favorable rather than unfavorable. Study 1 demonstrated that regret, but not other negative emotions, was dominated by positive more than negative evaluations. In both Studies 1 and 2, although participants saw a great deal of benefit from their negative emotions, regret stood out as particularly beneficial. Indeed, in Study 2, regret was seen to be the most beneficial of 12 negative emotions on all five functions of: making sense of past experiences, facilitating approach behaviors, facilitating avoidance behaviors, gaining insights into the self, and in preserving social harmony. Moreover, in Study 2, individuals made self-serving ascriptions of regret, reporting greater regret experiences for themselves than for others. In short, people value their regrets substantially more than they do other negative emotions.Item What we regret most . . . and why
(2011-02-07) Roese, Neal J.; Summerville, AmyWhich domains in life produce the greatest potential for regret, and what features of those life domains explain why? Using archival and laboratory evidence, the authors show that greater perceived opportunity within life domains evokes more intense regret. This pattern is consistent with previous publications demonstrating greater regret stemming from high rather than low opportunity or choice. A meta-analysis of 11 regret ranking studies revealed that the top six biggest regrets in life center on (in descending order) education, career, romance, parenting, the self, and leisure. Study Set 2 provided new laboratory evidence that directly linked the regret ranking to perceived opportunity. Study Set 3 ruled out an alternative interpretation involving framing effects. Overall, these findings show that people’s biggest regrets are a reflection of where in life they see their largest opportunities; that is, where they see tangible prospects for change, growth, and renewal.