Dolores Albarracín

Social and Cultural Psychology

Specific Research Areas: 

Attitudes and social cognition. Motivational processes in attitude and behavior change. Action goals and cognitive processes. Applications of social cognition to disease prevention programs.

Research Synopsis: 

RESEARCH STATEMENT 

I am interested in understanding the influence of social stimuli on the behavior of individuals living in society. In general, my work comprises a social cognitive approach with multiple levels of analysis and is relevant to various areas of psychology (clinical, counseling, cognitive, and developmental psychology), as well as other disciplines (e.g., communication, psychiatry, sociology, economics, neuroscience). The resulting body of work concerns attitudes and social cognition broadly construed, and almost always has implications for understanding and changing behavior. 
 

Theoretical Contributions to Attitudes, Persuasion, Motivation, and Behavior 
 

My studies address the mechanisms underlying specific behaviors as well as more general patterns of activity and evaluation, such as those observed in hyperactivity or mania. I am also interested in changing behavior that increases risk of HIV contraction and the development of other health conditions.

 Social Cognitive Influences on Specific Behavioral Patterns

 Stages of processing: from a social message to behavior. One of my first lines of research examined the sequence of cognitive and motivational events that mediate the impact of persuasive communication on attitudes and behavior. One set of studies (Albarracin & Wyer, 2001) demonstrated that when people have time to think about a persuasive behavior-related message, they form beliefs and evaluations about the behavior outcomes described. Then, these cognitions combine to influence attitudes and behavior. In contrast, when people are not able to think carefully about the message content, they base their attitudes and behavior on the affective feelings they are experiencing at the time. That is, they attribute these feelings to their opinion on the advocated position. In this case, their beliefs and evaluations of specific arguments are formed subsequently to justify the attitude they have already formed. In both cases, people form attitude-consistent beliefs. In one case, however, their beliefs are the determinants of their attitude; in the other case, their beliefs are the consequences.

To my knowledge, this research was the first to detail the cognitive processes that mediate responses to a persuasive message on attitudes, beliefs, and behavior. In particular, it was the first to reveal the order in which these responses occur. This demonstration was important because other models of persuasion assume that beliefs are not involved when people have lower cognitive capacity. In contrast, my work showed that people rationalize their attitudes and behaviors by forming consistent beliefs. These beliefs are likely to strengthen the effects of affective reactions on attitudes. As a result, the influence of affect may be just as long-lasting as the influence of the communicated arguments, if not more. This conclusion is again contrary to the dual-process assumption that heuristic processing has short-lived effects on attitudes. More recent work in the area of persuasion has identified comparative processes leading to attitude change (Albarracin, Wallace, & Hart, 2012), the role of motivational processes in attitude change (Albarracin et al., 2011), as well as belief rationalization in greater detail (Albarracin & McNatt, 2005).

There are other reasons why initial impact on attitudes rather than beliefs can lead to greater maintenance of attitude and behavior change. In another study (Albarracin & McNatt, 2004), we used our previously developed method to study the effects of past behavior (Albarracin & Wyer, 2000). This method excludes the potential cognitive activity that takes place at the time of the behavior. Specifically, participants were led to believe that they had unconsciously supported or opposed a social policy. This feedback had direct effects on attitudes about the policy and its expected outcomes. Interestingly, the direct effects on attitudes were relatively global and easy to recall. As a result, self-perception effects lasted longer than more specific thoughts about the outcomes of the policy. This finding also departed from prior hypotheses  stating that elaboration necessarily produces maintenance of attitude change.

Another series of studies considered the way in which affect contributes to the cognitive response to a persuasive message (Albarracin & Kumkale, 2004). The use of affect as information is well established (Schwarz & Clore, 1983). However, we analyzed the sequence of cognitive activities that underlie this influence. Specifically, we distinguished between the identification of one’s experienced affect and the evaluated relevance of this affect to a particular judgment. We experimentally varied participants’ information processing capacity and motivation to obtain various levels of processing. We showed that the extraneous affect that participants experience has little impact when their level of processing is high and they recognize that affect is not relevant. Extraneous affect also has little impact when level of processing is low and people are unable to attend to this affect. Thus, level of processing has a non-monotonic influence on the impact of affect: impact is greater when processing level is moderate (when people are able to identify affect but are unable to evaluate its relevance) than when processing level is high or low. These findings extend our understanding of the conditions in which affect impacts judgments.

I could continue to describe my research in the areas of selective exposure (Albarracin & Mitchell, 2004; Albarracin, Wang, & Albarracin, 2012); Hart et al., 2009; Hepler & Albarracin, 2013), source credibility (Kumkale & Albarracin, 2004; Durantini, Albarracin, et al., 2006), past behavior (Albarracin & Wyer, 2000), and the relationship between attitude and behavior (Albarracin, Johnson, et al., 2001; Glasman & Albarracin, 2006. However, such a description would be lengthy so I will instead describe other work regarding fragmentary information, general patterns of action and evaluation, and the application of my findings to health promotion.

From fragmentary social information and fragmentary thoughts to attitudes and goals toward performing specific behaviors. Some of my recent work is aimed at understanding how people form specific attitudes and goals based on fragmentary social information and thoughts. We analyzed Joyce’s Ulysses and Woolf’s Jacob’s Room. One conclusion was that people think in a way that has little resemblance to the measures of attitudes, beliefs, or intentions we normally use in research (Albarracin, Noguchi, & Earl, in press). Despite the differences between spontaneous thought and attitude scales, even individuals with very low education levels can report their attitudes and intentions using these scales (Albarracin, Noguchi, & Earl, in press). This divergence encouraged us to study how people translate fragmentary thoughts and social stimuli into coherent, first-person intentions and volitional behavior.

We hypothesized that linguistic propositions emerge when relatively random material in the stream of consciousness is ordered in a way syntactically compatible with a given proposition (Albarracin, Noguchi, & Earl, 2006; Albarracin, Hart, & McCulloch, 2006; Albarracin, Noguchi, & Fischer, 2011). We investigated this possibility by observing how people formed intentions based on the succession of certain words and context. In one study, participants first played the prisoner’s dilemma game and then read a series of words presented on a computer screen one at time. For each word, participants had to state whether or not the word contained the letter m. The series was long and included 5 interspersed synonyms of act (e.g., play) and 5 interspersed synonyms of nice (e.g., fair). In one condition, participants were exposed to the act words, followed by the nice words. In the other condition, participants were exposed to the same words but the nice words preceded the act words.

After the word-detection task, participants played another prisoner’s dilemma game. The prediction was that the implicit proposition act - nice might motivate participants to cooperate because the order suggests an instruction or command. In contrast, the implicit proposition nice - act could be perceived as a compliment, suggesting that participants had already been nice. Thus, this assessment may reduce the perceived need to be nicer on a future game. Supporting these expectations, the act - nice sequence increased cooperativeness from the first to the second game. Correspondingly, the nice - act sequence decreased cooperativeness from the first to the second game. (These effects were not observed when only act or only nice were primed. Thus, the presence of both types of words and their order were key.)

We also assumed that the translation from haphazard streams of consciousness to a coherent discourse depends on social interaction (Albarracin, Noguchi, & Earl, 2006). That is, language is necessary to communicate with others. As a result, the presence of other individuals strengthens people’s ability to develop coherent, first-person intentions. Likewise, adopting an external point of view to observe oneself may increase the chance that the material is syntactically organized. These predictions are being investigated presently.

Other, relatively minuscule linguistic factors influencing cognition and behavior are verb aspect and tense.Some of our studies (Hart & Albarracin, 2009) examined whether describing past actions as ongoing (vs. completed) using the imperfective (vs. perfective) aspect promotes memory for action-relevant knowledge and reenactment of these actions in a future context. In Experiment 1, participants who used the imperfective (vs. perfective) aspect to describe their strategy on a prior interpersonal task were more likely to use this strategy on a later task. Experiment 2 demonstrated that describing behaviors on a task using the imperfective (vs. perfective) aspect increased willingness to resume that task by improving memory for task contents. Experiment 3 found that the effects of the imperfective aspect on memory decayed over time. Experiment 4 showed that the imperfective (vs. perfective) aspect facilitated performance of a future behavior only when the described past behavior was relevant to the future behavior. The last two experiments showed that aspect effects are moderated by memory decay and are behavior-specific (vs. general).

With respect to verb tense, detailed descriptions of a risky behavior written using past vs. present verb tense alters how prior attitudes are used as a basis for intentions, thus indirectly shaping those intentions (Carrera, Munoz, Caballero, Fernandez, & Albarracin, 2012). After reporting their attitudes toward excessive drinking, experimental participants read about an episode of binge drinking that was described using either the past or the present tense. Although intentions were not affected by the verb tense manipulation, prior attitudes more strongly predicted intentions in the past than did the present tense. Moreover, there was less detailed recall of the episode and lower negative emotional experience in the past (vs. present) condition (see also Carrera et al., 2012). We currently continue exploring how the language of our thoughts and intentions shapes behavior.

The role of self-talk in the regulation of behavior. Despite clear indication that human beings silently talk to themselves in the course of their daily lives, we lack a socio-cognitive understanding of the conditions and effects of this form of inner speech. Individuals commonly talk to themselves using the first-person pronoun I but they also talk to themselves as if they were speaking to someone else, using the second-person pronoun you.

What are the conditions that elicit the use of the second pronominal person in self-talk? When people covertly discuss their thoughts, goals, choices, plans, and moves, does using the second-person you strengthen performance and commitment to the goal?  Three studies (Zell et al., 2012) examined the conditions under which people talk to themselves as if they are another person, using the metaphor of a splitting or fragmentation of the self. Fragmented self-talk, defined by the use of the second-person you and the imperative, was specifically expected to arise in contexts requiring explicit self-control. Results showed that fragmented self-talk was most prevalent in response to situations requiring direct behavior regulation, such as negative events (Study 1), experiences of autonomy (Study 2), and action as opposed to behavior preparation or behavior evaluation (Study 3). Therefore, in situations requiring conscious self-guidance, people refer to themselves as you and command themselves as if they were another person. The implications of these findings for behavior change are discussed.

We also conducted three experiments comparing the effects of I and you self-talk on goal-fulfillment intentions and intellectual performance (Dolcos & Albarracin, 2013). Experiment 1 showed that merely writing will you as opposed to will I in an ostensibly unrelated handwriting task produced stronger behavioral intentions. Experiment 2 revealed that giving self-advice about a hypothetical social situation using you yielded better anagram task performance than using I. Experiment 3 showed that self-talk using you while preparing for an anagram task enhanced performance more than self-talk using I. This effect was fully mediated by intrinsic motivation to excel at task and perceived task ease.

Both self-talk and social support have been proposed as instruments of self-improvement, often by empowering, action-promoting messages. Two of our recent experiments (Ireland, Dolcos, & Albarracin, 2013) examined whether writing about a personal problem using an action-promoting discourse from a friend’s perspective provides greater motivational and emotional benefits than writing from one’s own perspective. Experiment 1 found that adopting a friend’s perspective while freely writing about a chosen self-control challenge increased intentions to improve self-control by increasing the positivity of emotions (e.g., pride) expected upon reaching that goal. This effect, however, was only present when the writing had a high frequency of words referencing physical (e.g., move) or mental (e.g., conclude) action. Experiment 2 replicated these effects in a sample of individuals typing a standard prompt designed to contain a high percentage of action words.

Ironic impact of forming intentions on the completion of behavioral goals. In my prior work I have investigated how intentions give way to and thus facilitate actual behavior (e.g., Albarracin, Fishbein, & Middlestad, 1998; Albarracin et al., 2001; Albarracin & Wyer, 2001). More recently, however, based on my personal observations of how the intention to send an email can lead to falsely recalling having sent the email, we have investigated conditions in which behavioral intentions undermine actual action (Jones & Albarracin, 2013).  Especially for brief, easily enacted, and frequently occurring behaviors, human difficulty in distinguishing mere intent from action can lead to illusory behaviors (i.e., intentions that are misremembered as completed enactments). Over a series of experiments we have confirmed that forming intentions increases false reports of enactment. Another experiment has produced support for the hypothesized role of behavior frequency, with more frequently occurring decisions increasing errors, and we also have confirmation that misrecalling intentions and behaviors produces a failure to act when there is an opportunity to act. This problem connects with another of my current interests in determining how we distinguish physical from mental behaviors, how malleable this classification is, and what judgment criteria come into play.

 Social Cognitive Influences on General Patterns of Behavior

Some of this work has led us to study the generality of goals and attitudes and how specific behaviors comprise a system with interrelated and somewhat interchangeable parts.

General Action and Inaction Goals. Our current work on cognition and motivation addresses what I call general action and inaction goals (Albarracin et al., 2008). Of course, patterns of overall activity and inactivity (e.g., awake/sleep cycles) are regulated biologically in humans and nonhuman animals. However, we argue that similar patterns are also socially and culturally regulated. For example, certain cultures (contemporary US) and certain religions (Christianity and Judaism) appear to prescribe activity to the point where individuals conclude that doing is more important than what they actually do (Hepler, Albarracin, McCulloch, & Noguchi, 2011; Albarracin et al., 2008, JPSP). To advance our understanding of this issue, we have collected experimental data (e.g., Albarracin et al., 2008, 2011), neuro-imaging data (Hepler & Albarracin, 2013), cross-cultural data (Zell et al., 2013; Hepler et al., 2013; Ireland et al., 2013; Jones et al., 2013), and archival data (Noguchi et al., 2011; Xu & Albarracin, 2013). In the lab, participants primed with action words (active, go) engage in more behaviors than participants primed with inaction words (rest, stop). Depending on what behavior is focal given the experimental situation, participants primed with action fold more paper airplanes, exercise more, eat more, learn better, and participate more in politics. In contrast, participants primed with inaction (stop, rest) engage in these behaviors to a lesser extent.

This conceptualization has allowed us to generate behavioral patterns of the type observed in impulsivity/mania vs. depression in the real world (Albarracin, in press; Albarracin, Handley, et al., 2008). In addition, our work has shown that the experimental effects of the primes can derive from general action and inaction goals (e.g., wanting to do something, irrespective of the task, vs. wanting to do nothing, irrespective of how that is achieved). In two experiments using ERPs (Event Related Potentials) during a Go/No Go task, comparing Action, Control, Inaction primes revealed that inaction primes resulted in a significantly larger P3 (Cz, Fz, and Pz) than action primes. This suggests that inaction prompts can elicit inhibitory control processes engaged nonconsciously (a) by stimuli that have never been consciously associated with task-specific inhibitory responses and (b) in the absence of participants’ intentions to modulate inhibitory control as a consequence of the prime stimuli.

The insights from this line of research have important implications for mental health. For example, in a large cross-cultural study, we have linked psychological functioning to socially set goals and different religions (Christianity vs. Buddhism) (Albarracin, 2013). The US exhibits greater impulsivity and less depression than Japan. The differences in impulsivity are mediated by stronger Christian beliefs, more favorable attitudes about action, and less favorable attitudes about inaction in the US than in Japan. Correspondingly, the differences in depression are mediated by stronger Buddhist beliefs, less favorable attitudes about action, and more favorable attitudes about inaction in Japan than in the US.

We believe that one reason for the differences in attitudes about action and inaction has to do with available resources facilitating action, including level of economic development and space. In particular, the availability of dispensable capital and large areas of territory may contribute to setting general action goals in a bottom-up fashion. Once there is accumulation of capital, for example, many new activities are possible (shopping, traveling, trying out new sports, performing more educational activities). The enactment of many activities can instill favorable attitudes about general action via various mechanisms including self-perception. These patterns have received some support in archival analyses and are currently being examined experimentally.

Previous research suggests that space constraints increase regulation of motor and social activity, but the same constraints may also enhance regulation of impulsive behaviors that are otherwise unrelated to space (Xu & Albarracin, 2013). Supporting this hypothesis, international and US data showed that more densely populated regions have a lower prevalence of overweight and obesity and lower rates of road traffic deaths than less densely populated regions. Manipulating physical space constraints by assigning participants to different-sized rooms, three experiments demonstrated that smaller (vs. larger) spaces yield less motivation to purchase products, less consumption of high-calorie foods, and fewer false alarms in a Go/No-Go task.

General Attitudes. Individuals also differ in the tendency to have positive versus negative attitudes, a trait Hepler and Albarracin (2013) termed the dispositional attitude. In a series of studies, we developed a self-report measure of dispositional attitudes and provided evidence for its convergent/discriminant validity. Other studies demonstrated that dispositional attitudes can be used to predict attitudes toward novel stimuli, even though other affective traits cannot. Yet other research has revealed that dispositional attitudes lead to the formation of disposition-consistent expectations about stimuli and disposition-consistent selective exposure for stimulus information, which in turn mediate the effect of dispositional attitudes on specific attitudes. This work dovetails well with the principle that general goals and attitudes can be the driving force in the formation of specific behavioral and attitudinal patterns.

Applications to Health Promotion

Intervention and Campaign Efficacy in the Prevention of HIV

I am strongly committed to applying psychological theory to the benefit of society, and have concentrated my efforts in modifying behaviors that pose risks to health. For example, my collaborators and I have examined the effectiveness of HIV-prevention campaigns in regards to changing attitudes, behaviors, and related cognitions (Albarracín et al., 2003, 2005; Tannenbaum et al., 2013). Our findings revealed that the persuasive messages communicated in these campaigns successfully increase recipients’ knowledge about HIV. These messages are also effective in promoting more favorable attitudes and intentions toward future condom use. However, on average, these programs bring about no change in actual behavior. Only complex, active programs that strengthen behavioral skills successfully increase condom use (Albarracín et al., 2003, 2005).

Another important finding from this line of research is that the less power a population has (ethnic minority, women, impoverished groups), the more important skills and actual resource provision become (Albarracín et al., 2005). For example, African-American audiences need to be taught self-management skills (how to manage moods, drugs, planning) and also need help obtaining condoms. These things are not as important for a European-American population, which enjoys more power and resources.

Through another meta-analysis, we have recently investigated the types of communicators (message source, counselor) that are most effective for privileged and disenfranchised groups (Durantini et al., 2006). Contrary to the beliefs of US policy makers, who often argue that non-expert community members are better to reach relatively marginalized or powerless groups, we found that women and African-Americans actually increase condom use to a greater extent when experts rather than community members appeal to them. This does not mean, however, that any expert will do; the experts must be similar to the audience in whatever characteristic makes that group distinct. Women respond better to female experts, African Americans respond better to African American experts, and so forth. These findings should have a strong impact on health policy and should also illuminate decisions with respect to affirmative action in admissions to professional and graduate schools.

An ongoing meta-analysis of the efficacy of health promotion campaigns concerns examining effects and theoretical mechanisms associated with fear appeals (Tannenbaum et al., 2013). Fear tactics evoke a polarizing reaction and constitute a controversial research arena. Our meta-analysis of 132 papers yielded 250 independent samples, and demonstrated a positive, linear effect of fear on overall intentions and behavior, particularly when the message encourages self-efficacy. Furthermore, the effects of fear were more positive for one-time rather than repeated behaviors, and for populations with a cultural emphasis on prevention (women, Asians or Asian-Americans, and older groups). This work, however, needs to consider that other persuasive techniques such as behavioral skills training are more powerful for changing behavior, thus leading to relative inefficacy of fear appeals used in isolation (see Albarracin et al., 2005; Earl & Albarracin, 2007).

Selective Exposure to HIV-Prevention Interventions

Disease prevention programs are scientifically designed and tested under the most sterile possible conditions, in an understandable attempt to reduce attrition and self-selection biases (Cook & Campbell, 1979). Ironically, though, these rigorous conditions yield illusory estimates of the effectiveness of these programs in real-world situations. Thus, the true effectiveness of these methodologies when transferred to the real world is, to a large extent, a guess.

For about ten years, I have received NIH funding to explore the effects of selective exposure to HIV-prevention programs. Through laboratory, meta-analytic, and field work (this last at the Alachua, Duval, and Champaign County Health Departments), we measured the impact of the audience characteristics and the type of behavior-change program on actual enrollment and attrition. In one example of experiments from this research line, we tested programs introduced with either the promise of change or with the promise of freedom for the client. In the first randomized controlled trial, we measured acceptance of an HIV prevention counseling session as a function of how the invitation to the program was issued. We found that an empowering, freedom-emphasizing description of the intervention as opening doors for the client produced considerably higher rates of enrollment than promises that the intervention would produce change. In a second randomized controlled trial (now close to completion), we introduced video messages at the end of a first counseling session and measured retention in two subsequent counseling sessions. The videos systematically varied the empowering content as well as describing the intervention as potentially instrumental to the client’s life goals (jobs, housing, education). Preliminary analyses indicate that the instrumental video is more successful in stimulating return and completion of the counseling program.

Selective exposure has been a general interest of mine, as well as using selective exposure as a model to understand recruitment and retention in health promotion interventions. In a meta-analysis by Noguchi et al. (2007), we examined whether exposure to health promotion interventions followed self-validation or risk-reduction motives. The dependent measures included initially accepting to partake in a program and later staying in the program. The results indicated that samples with high knowledge, high motivation, or high condom use were less likely to stay in an intervention than those with low measures. Moreover, there was some selection of interventions based on particular deficiencies of the audience. That is, low-knowledge individuals stayed more than high-knowledge individuals when the intervention was informational. Similarly, low-motivation individuals stayed more than high-motivation individuals when the intervention was motivational. Nonetheless, past condom use exerted the opposite bias. That is, high condom users stayed more than low condom users when the intervention surrounded behavioral-skills training.

Efficacy of Multi-Behavior Health-Promotion Interventions and Underlying Social Cognitive Mechanisms

We are currently developing theory and research to understand how interventions promoting multiple behaviors exert their effects. A meta-analysis of 150 research reports (Wilson et al., 2013) summarized the results of multiple behavior interventions and examined theoretical predictions regarding the number of recommended behavioral and clinical changes in the domains of smoking, diet, and physical activity. The meta-analysis yielded two main conclusions. First, there is a curvilinear relation between the number of recommendations and the observed change, with a moderate number of recommendations producing the highest level of behavioral and clinical change. A moderate number of recommendations attracts attention and engages recipients, ensuring the motivation to implement the recommended changes without making the intervention excessively demanding. Second, this curve was more pronounced when intervention conditions increased the difficulty of the intervention, such as when interventions were resource-demanding (e.g., included behavioral skills training), used lay (vs. expert) facilitators, or involved group (vs. individual) delivery formats. These findings provide important insights that can help guide the design of effective multiple behavior change interventions.

Other analyses of the same dataset have indicated that the direction of the recommendations (an action, such as increasing exercise or vegetable and fruit intake, vs. an inaction, such as quitting smoking or reducing fat intake) is important in determining the efficacy of these programs. Our findings suggest that multi-behavior interventions are more efficacious when the recommendation direction is homogeneous. That is, programs that emphasize reducing fat intake and quitting smoking (two inactions) produce more favorable behavior and clinical changes than programs that recommend increasing vegetable and fruit intake and quitting smoking (an action and an inaction). We are currently also analyzing memory for recommendations in the laboratory, varying not only recommendation numbers but also the direction of potential behavioral combinations.

Summary

In sum, my current research investigates attitudes, behavior, and social cognition at both micro- and macro-levels of analysis (cognitive processes, culture, ethnicity). This research has important real-world implications that I have explored with the help of grants from the National Institutes of Health. My hope is that exploring these processes will increase behaviors that are in the best interest of individuals and the society in which they live.