Individual differences in causal uncertainty.

Weary, Gifford; Edwards, John A.

doi:10.1037/0022-3514.67.2.308

Cited by 113 publications

(171 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Indeed, different areas of research have demonstrated the effects of uncertainty for a variety of important goals. For instance, goals for prediction and control are served by attribution processes (Heider, 1958), and the effects of uncertainty in relationship to these goals are the focus of work on Causal Uncertainty (CU; Weary & Edwards, 1994). In addition to prediction and control, other important goals threatened by uncertainty include group identification (the focus of Uncertainty Identity Theory; Hogg, 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One common theoretical perspective on uncertainty is that it poses a potent self-threat. From Heider (1958) to Weary and Edwards (1994) and Hogg (2007), certain types of uncertainty are portrayed theoretically as aversive, and as a threat to prediction and control needs. This self-threat conceptualization of uncertainty suggests that self-enhancing manipulations might reduce some of uncertainty's effects, an idea that has received limited attention.…”

Section: Uncertainty and Religious Reactivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Uncertainty and religious reactivity: Uncertainty compensation, repair, and inoculation

Wichman

2009

Euro J Social Psych

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Recent research conducted in Western, democratic societies indicates that temporary uncertainty inductions lead to intolerance of religious dissent, increased conviction in religious attitudes, and even increased support for holy war. Past and current conflicts based on religious ideology underscore the danger such responses to uncertainty can pose. This paper responds to the need to learn how to control responses to uncertainty. After having confirmed through pilot testing that uncertainty increases self‐report religious faith, two subsequent studies investigate different techniques to control compensatory responses to uncertainty. Study 1 demonstrates that uncertainty‐induced increases in religiosity can be eliminated by a post‐uncertainty directed positive recall writing task. Study 2 presents evidence for an uncertainty “inoculation,” whereby a pre‐uncertainty self‐affirmation exercise can protect against uncertainty compensation effects. These findings, in combination with a consideration of previous research, offer insight into how undesirable uncertainty compensation effects might be reduced and even prevented. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Uncertainty and Religious Reactivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncertainty and religious reactivity: Uncertainty compensation, repair, and inoculation

Wichman

2009

Euro J Social Psych

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“…For example, compared to low scorers, high scores have stronger links between their moods and their thoughts (e.g., Petty, Schumann, Richman, & Strathman, 1993), their thoughts and their attitudes (see Cacioppo et al, 1996), and their attitudes and their behaviors (e.g., Cacioppo, Petty, Kao, & Rodriguez, 1986). They report less uncertainty about the nature of cause and effect relationships in the social world (e.g., Weary & Edwards, 1994) and possess more complex schemata for explaining human behavior (Fletcher, Danilovics, Fernandez, Peterson, & Reeder, 1986). They are also more prone to the effects of subtle priming cues on behavioral and attitudinal responses (e.g., Petty et al, 2008).…”

Section: Conscientiousnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Task-contingent conscientiousness as a unit of personality at work.

Minbashian¹,

Wood²,

Beckmann³

2010

Journal of Applied Psychology

110

141

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This article may not exactly replicate the nal version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record.Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-pro t purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details.

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“…Participants also completed the Causal Uncertainty Scale (CUS). The CUS measures chronic individual differences in causal uncertainty beliefs (Weary & Edwards, 1994). This scale consists of 14 items that express uncertainty about the causes of positive and negative events that happen to the self and others (e.g., "I do not understand what causes most of the good things that happen to me," "When I see something bad happen to others, I often do not know why it happened").…”

Section: Pilot Study 1: Stereotype Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thirty introductory psychology students received packets containing 36 behavior statements followed by the CUS (Weary & Edwards, 1994). For each of the 36 statements, participants were asked to rate on an 11-point scale how useful each piece of information would be in predicting a person's GPA (-5 = very diagnostic of a low GPA, 0 = not diagnostic at all, 5 = very diagnostic of a high GPA).…”

Section: Pilot Study 2: Target Behaviorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Causal Uncertainty and Stereotype Avoidance: The Role of Perceived Category Fit

Tobin¹,

Weary²,

Brunner³

et al. 2009

Social Cognition

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Past research has found that high levels of causal uncertainty (cu) are associated with less reliance on available stereotypes. In the current research, we examined lack of category fit and a consequent movement along the impression formation continuum as the underlying process. Participants who were high or low in cu read about an honors student or junior. They learned 10 details: 5 suggested a low gPA and 5 suggested a high gPA. We found that high compared to low cu participants relied on the honors student stereotype less and predicted a lower gPA in the honors student condition. This effect was mediated by perceived typicality. high compared to low cu participants thought the target resembled a typical honors student to a lesser extent. In addition, an examination of participants' open-ended comments about the target revealed that high compared to low cu participants were further along the impression formation continuum.People have a primary need to understand cause-and-effect relations in the social world (Heider, 1958). Unfortunately, the causal structure of social events often is complex, vague, and difficult to verify. Our causal analyses, therefore, frequently are probabilistic and may be associated with beliefs and feelings that we do not completely comprehend reality. Consider the seemingly happily married couple who suddenly files for divorce or, worse, the shooting of students and teachers at Virginia Tech. Both such events likely would give rise to questions about how well we understand the underlying causal structure. Both might well result in a search for more information to repair our state of knowledge about the world in which we live.

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Individual differences in causal uncertainty.

Cited by 113 publications

References 39 publications

Uncertainty and religious reactivity: Uncertainty compensation, repair, and inoculation

Uncertainty and religious reactivity: Uncertainty compensation, repair, and inoculation

Task-contingent conscientiousness as a unit of personality at work.

Causal Uncertainty and Stereotype Avoidance: The Role of Perceived Category Fit

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