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Degrading situations, affiliation and social dependency
Author(s) -
Van Duûren Fr.,
di Giacomo J. P.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-0992(199709/10)27:5<495::aid-ejsp826>3.0.co;2-k
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology , dependency (uml) , vulnerability (computing) , subject (documents) , developmental psychology , computer security , systems engineering , library science , computer science , engineering
Research is reported which shows that degrading situations (e.g. a failure on a test) increase affiliative propensity. Four studies demonstrated that this affiliative tendency of degraded subjects is independent of the potential partner's performance and independent of his/her characteristics. The partners appeared to be equally attractive whether or not they witnessed subject's failure, and whether they were individuals or a group. On the other hand, the affiliative desires of praised subjects seem to be oriented rather towards those who benefit from a similar situation. The motivation underlying affiliative behaviour is discussed with regard to social psychological literature. It is suggested that degraded subjects' affiliative behaviour arises from a search for support and that a socially degrading situation places the subject in a state of emotional dependency which is expressed by a non‐directional affiliative tendency and vulnerability to social influence. ©1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.