Collaborative Research Testing Affect Control Theory: Restoring the Challenged Identities of Others

University Of Iowa, Iowa City IA

Investigators

Abstract

The investigators will conduct a series of experiments that focus on crucial substantive implications of modeling social interaction as the result of a cybernetic process of meaning control whereby actors behave so as to maintain meanings in the situation. Affect Control Theory describes a control system between identities and actions, with identity meanings acting as a reference level for interpreting social interactions. Specifically, it suggests that people will not only try to maintain their own identities, but will also strive to restore the identities of others with whom they are interacting. The theory also incorporates the restorative actions of other actors into the model. If another person in the interaction takes a restorative action, it may restore the meanings so that no further reparation is necessary. The studies described here propose to test these key predictions that differentiate Affect Control Theory from the other major control perspective. Study one challenges (negatively deflects) the identity of an alter, and tests to see whether this challenge evokes restorative behavior from ego. Study two creates an atypically positive interaction for the alter, to see if this evokes negative behavior by ego toward the alter (as predicted to be restorative of original meanings). Study 3 draws on pre-test results that indicate two alternative means of restoring another's challenged identity. Here, the investigator use computer-regulated interaction to make available alternative means of restoring another's identity. The prediction involves the substitutability of different behaviors for meaning restoration. Study four elaborates the substitutability of restorative action hypothesis. The investigators will test whether or not a restorative act by one actor affects the probability of another actor's engaging in a restorative act. Study five examines whether or not the identity of the actors influences the effect of the restorative behavior. Taken together, the five experiments explore how we go about maintaining the identities of others, and how the social situation in which we are embedded affects those restorative efforts.