Trust, Mood, and Outcomes of Friendship Determine Preferences for Real versus Ersatz Social Capital Author(s): Melanie

C. Green and Timothy C. Brock Reviewed work(s): Source: Political Psychology, Vol. 19, No. 3, Special Issue: Psychological Approaches to Social Capital (Sep., 1998), pp. 527-544 Published by: International Society of Political Psychology Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3792176 . Accessed: 12/05/2012 22:22
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Vol. Political Psychology, 19,No.3, 1998

Trust, Mood, and Outcomes of Friendship Determine Preferences for Real Versus Ersatz Social Capital
Melanie C. Green and Timothy C. Brock
Department of Psychology Ohio State University

Societal-level social capital ultimatelyrests upon individualattitudesand behaviors. This of studyinvestigatedthe determinants individuals'preferencesfor real versus ersatz social activities. Ersatz social activities are substitutesfor true social interaction;they involve interactionwith media or media charactersratherthan other individuals.Undergraduates (N = 144) chose activitiesfrom pairs of social and ersatzexemplars.Theparticipantswere randomlyassigned to one offour conditions.In two of these conditions, they wrote essays designed to create eithera positive or negativemood; in the othertwo conditions,they read essays designed to highlighteither the costs or benefitsoffriendship.Resultsindicatedthat individuals low in trust were susceptible to situational influences. Low-trustindividuals chose morereal social activitieswhenin a positive moodor whenbenefitsoffriendshipwere salient, whereas they chose ersatz social activities when in a bad mood or when costs of friendship were salient. High-trustindividualsshowed relativelyhigh preferencefor real social interactionsregardless of mood or the salience of costs and benefits. These results suggest that appropriateinterventionsshould overcomelow trustto build social capital. KEYWORDS:trust; socialcapital; socialactivities mood; cognitive priming;

The bonds between individuals can help transform a conglomeration of self-interestedindividualsinto a true community.The way in which these bonds form and are maintainedis a questionof criticalinterestto communityleadersand academics alike. The concept of social capital, defined as "featuresof social organizationsuch as networks,norms,and social trustthatfacilitatecoordination and cooperationfor mutualbenefit"(Putnam,1995a, p. 67), has been the basis for manyrecentattemptsto understand communityfunctioningandcivic engagement. This paperprovidesa psychological perspectiveon social capital,examininghow situational forces andindividualattitudes combineto createbehaviorthateither can enhancesor detractsfrom aggregatesocial capital.
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0162-895X ? 1998 International Society of Political Psychology Publishedby Blackwell Publishers,350 Main Street, Maiden,MA 02148, USA, and 108 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1JF,UK.

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Althoughthe social capitalconceptemergedprimarilyin the sociology literature,recent work, particularly Putnam(e.g., 1993, 1995a, 1995b), has sparked by interestin the concept in political science and politicalpsychology as well. Social capital is posited to be a basis for democratic,healthy societies and to aid in the resolution of collective action problems. Similarly, there is some evidence that social capital improves economic outcomes (Knack & Keefer, 1997). In short, societies with high levels of social capital are presumedto function better on a varietyof dimensionsthanthose societies with less social capital. Putnam (1995a) claimed that social capital (as measured by membership records,time budgets, and responsesto the GeneralSocial Survey) is decreasing in the United States. He considereda variety of possible causes for this decline, includingtime pressure,residentialmobility, and changes in the economy. In the causalfactor. end, however,he indictedthe rise of television as the most important Both partsof Putnam'sthesis-that social capitalis declining, and thattelevision is the reasonwhy-have come underattack.Forinstance,Norris(1996) notedthat Putnam'sanalysisignoredthe contentof television viewing;herdataindicatedthat viewing currentaffairs programsmay promote political and civic participation. and Jackman Miller(1996) have attackedthepoliticalcultureassertionsunderlying the conceptualizationof social capital; in particular,they questioned whether cultureis coherentanddurable,whethercultureis foundonly in the aggregate,and these disputes,the broader whetherit affects economic outcomes.Notwithstanding of individual participationin civic society remains a crucial one for question democraticsociety. Social Capital's IndividualBasis Althoughsocial capitalhas been conceptualizedas a propertyof communities (Coleman, 1990; Putnam, 1993), we believe social capital is rooted in individual choices. As Brehmand Rahn(1997) stated,"it is not, afterall, a 'community'that participatesor builds trust, but the people who comprise that community who belong to civic organizationsand acquire positive feelings toward others"(pp. 1002-1003). When social capitalis conceptualizedon an individuallevel, investigation of psychological processes that may affect social capital-relatedattitudes and behaviorsbecomes important. Individualsmay engage in activities thattend to increase social capital, such as joining civic organizationsor even chattingwith neighbors.Positive attitudes into a greater towardface-to-faceinteractionsandcivic involvementmay translate store of societal social capital. On the other hand, individuals also have the to opportunity immerse themselves in pastimesthat, at least in Putnam's(1995a, 1995b) view, may reducethe communalstoreof social capital.Such activitiesmay include watchingtelevision, or more broadly,choosing to interactwith machines insteadof people. These mechanizedormediatedinteractions-termed "parasocial relationships"in the communicationsliterature(e.g., Rubin, Perse, & Powell,

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1985)-do little to foster bonds between individuals.Over the long term, and in the aggregate, these "parasocial"or "ersatz" individual choices may lead to detrimentalsocietal-level effects. ErsatzSocial Capital We referto these alternate,often media-based,activitiesas those thatenhance "ersatz"social capitalratherthanreal social capital.Humansare social creatures, with needs for interactionand belongingness(Baumeister& Leary, 1995). People mightgenerallysatisfy these needs in ways thatincreasesocial capital.They might participatein community events, gather together with friends, or even join a bowling league. It is possible, however, thatthese needs may be met (or partially met) throughothermeans. For some people, or undersome circumstances,watching the television show Friendsmightbe preferableto the workandpotentialcosts of makingreal friendsto fulfill theirbelongingnessand interactionneeds. The parasocialinteractionliteraturehas found that relationshipswith media characters or personalities are more likely when individuals have few other alternatives(e.g., Rosengren & Windahl, 1972); for example, an elderly person with little mobility might have limited outlets for social interaction.Ourresearch moves beyond this purely functionalperspective,positing insteadthatindividuals may actively choose to engage in ersatzactivities,even when real social activities are readily available. A college setting seems an ideal place to test hypotheses relatedto the active choice of realversusersatzactivities,becausesocial interaction opportunitiesare widely available in a university setting. Numerous on-campus clubs and organizationsclamor for membership,dormitoryliving arrangements provide a wealth of social contacts,classroomsbring studentsinto naturalcontact with each otherand provide a common topic of interest,and coffee shops, student unions, and other facilities encouraginginformal interactionsare plentiful-yet studentsmay still engage in ersatz social activities to the exclusion of real social activities. Althoughat first glance it may seem thata television show is a poor substitute for a real-life friendship,there are definite advantagesto mediated interactions, in particularly the short term. For instance, the individualhas full control over a mediatedinteraction;he or she can turnthe television set on or off at will. There is little uncertaintyin the interaction. In addition to the easy and consistent availabilityof television, television charactersor personalitiesare generally predictable. Media characterswill not reject the individual. Furthermore,media personalities never make demands upon the individual, as real friends might. Althoughthe benefits of mediatedinteractionsmay not be as greatas the benefits of actualsocial relationships,the costs are also markedlyreduced. Although Putnam (1995a, 1995b) focused on television as a cause for the decline in social capital,our theory of recourseto ersatz social activities includes otherformsof mediaas well. The rise of the Internet, combinedwith the increasing

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arrayof electronic entertainment programs,deserves considerationas a potential influence on social capital (see Kiesler, 1997). Computergames where players interactwith on-screencharacters for may be a type of substitute social interaction. Internetchat rooms may be closer thantelevision to real social interacAlthough tions, they still do not provide the face-to-face contact that may be necessaryfor the developmentof trustand social networks.Individualscommunicatingvia the computercan more easily hide the truthand take on alternate personas;similarly, each individualcan easily withdrawfrom the interactionsimply by turningoff the have called into questionthe idea thatcomputershelp build computer.Researchers community (e.g., Kling, 1996). Thus, while recognizing a continuumbetween purely real and purely ersatzinteractions,in the currentstudy we have chosen to interactionsas ersatz. classify computer-based We proposethatindividualsmay develop preferencesfor eitherreal or ersatz social capital-promotingactivities. As the above discussion suggests, these real social activitiesmaybe eitherformal(joininganorganization) informal(chatting or with a friend). In our view, both types of interactionmay be precursorsof the societal-level norms and networks described by Putnam (1995a). Furthermore, although organizationalmembershiphas been a key indicatorof social capital, recentresearchsuggeststhatvoluntaryassociationsmay not necessarilybe the best means of promotingcommunity(Mondak& Mutz, 1997). Informalinteractions in may be more difficult to measure,yet are perhapsequally important producing social capital. Preferencesfor either real or ersatz interactionsmay be chronic, such that certainindividualstend to preferto engage in real social interactions, while others choose ersatzforms. Preferencesmay also change based on the situation reliably in which individualsfind themselves. Both internaltendenciesand externalpressures may play a role in outcomes; indeed, one of the basic tenets of social psychology is thatbehavioris determined the interactionof the personand the by situation(Ross & Nisbett, 1991). A psychologicalperspectiveis neededto examine both personal and situationalcauses of preferencesfor real versus ersatz social capital. A diagramof our model of social capital is shown in Figure 1. This figure shows that dispositions and situationsinteractto influence preferencesfor real versus ersatz social activities. These preferences,in turn,lead to participation in eitherreal or ersatzsocial activities.These individualbehaviorsthen contribute to either increased aggregate social capital, as a result of real social activities, or decreasedaggregatesocial capital,as a resultof recourseto ersatzactivities. An Experimental Approach One of the shortcomings muchof the previoussocial capitalresearchis that of it has relied on survey-type data collections, from which causality cannot be determined.Furthermore, survey data generallycannot accountfor the power of

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Figure 1. Model of psychological influenceson social capital.

the situation.Trust,for example, is treatedas a static constructthat will have the same effects on individualbehaviorregardlessof externalinfluences.Controlover methodis desirableto fully understand how situationsaffordedby the experimental situationsmay affect social capital-relatedbehavior.Subjectinghypothesesabout social capital formationto experimentaltests may provide missing pieces of the puzzle; specifically, how do individual dispositions or attitudes interact with situationalfactorsto producepreferencesfor social capital-buildingactivities? College studentsample. The samplefor the currentresearchconsisted solely of college undergraduates. This population limited the investigation of certain such as level of education.However,thereis no reasonto expect thatthe variables, psychological constructs of interest here should differ greatly in non-college samples. Furthermore,a university setting is an ideal place to test hypotheses relatingto individuals'choices of realversusersatzsocial activities,becauseof the wealth of real social options availableto students. Individualdifferences:Trustin others. Individualdifferencesmay play a role in preferencesfor realversusersatzsocial activities.Individual-level variablessuch as trustin othersmay affecta person'slikelihoodof choosing activitiesthatenhance ratherthandetractfrom social capital.Interpersonal trusthas often been treatedas a dependentvariablein social capitalresearch,but following Putnam,we propose

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thattheremay be bidirectional causationbetweentrustandsocial capital.Societies with higherlevels of social capitalmay have citizens who aremoretrustingof one another,but individualswho are more trustingof theirfellows may also be more likely to engage in activities thatcontributeto the common good. In the world outside the laboratory, expect that trustcan be both a cause we and an effect. Individualswho trustothers may engage in communalactivities, which may then lead to increasedtrustand then to furtherinvolvement.The cycle could also be reversed, such that an individualwho lacks trust in others fails to engage with the community,and thus becomes increasinglysuspicious of others is and then increasinglyisolated. This conceptualization supported Brehmand by Rahn's(1997) analysisof GeneralSocial Surveydata,which indicateda reciprocal relationshipbetween civic engagementand trust,with a strongerconnectionfrom participationto trust. We investigated one direction of this potentially cyclical We variable,and examinedits effects relationship: treatedtrustas an independent on individuals'choices of real versus ersatzsocial activities. justified by the fact thattrustin Treatingtrustas a predictorvariableis further is likely to be a relatively stable belief, one that remainsconstantunless people dramaticevents occur in one's life to either shake or restoreone's faith in others. Trustor lack of trustdevelops over the lifespan, and it seems unlikely that one's of general belief in the trustworthinessor untrustworthiness people could be As a one-shot experimentalmanipulation. a strong,stable attitude,it changedby is plausiblethattrustwould influencebehavior. Situationaldeterminantsof real versus ersatz social interactions.Although individualdifferencesinfluence the type of activities in which a person engages, of we have notedthatthe situationis also a powerfuldeterminant behavior.Forthe currentresearch, we focused on two broad types of situations.The first is the affective stateof the individual.The second is whetherthe costs or the benefitsof friendshiphave been recentlyprimed,or activatedin the mind of the person. Mood. Positive mood has been shown to lead to a variety of behavioral consequences(see Isen, 1987,for a review).Happypeople tendto be moresociable, and positive mood may make individualsmore willing to engage in potentially effortfulor risky social interactions. In contrast,stress or negative mood may lead individualsto withdrawfrom social interaction.Previousresearchhas found thatindividualsin negative moods may perceive themselvesas havingless social support(Vinokur,Schul, & Caplan, 1987), which may lead to reducedmotivationto seek out social contact.Individuals in a bad mood may take a more negative view of others,and may thereforewish to avoid social contact. Such people might prefer to seek relaxation through nonsocial means. Outcomes priming.The termprimingrefersto the phenomenonthat"recently and frequentlyactivatedideas come to mind more easily than ideas thathave not been activated"(Fiske & Taylor, 1991, p. 256). Recently activatedconcepts may influence subsequentjudgments (e.g., Higgins, 1989; Higgins, Rholes, & Jones,

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1977). It is possible that bringingto mind the benefits of social interactionsmay lead people to feel morepositively towardsocial interactions. Remindingindividuals of the rewardsthat come from friendshipmay motivate individualsto attain those rewards.Given the choice between real and ersatz social activities, people who are mindful of the joys of interactionwith others may prefer actual social interactions. Friendshipcan be a double-edgedsword, however. Friendscan provide fun, companionship,and supportin time of need, but relationshipswith otherscan also impose costs. Friends requiretime, may need emotional support,or may betray trust.If these costs of friendshipare activatedin a person's mind, that individual may preferto satisfy affiliationneeds with ersatz social activities. Person-situationinteractions.Although mood or priming alone or level of trustalone mightchangepreferencesfor realversusersatzactivities,it is likely that these factors will interactwith one anotherto produce behavior. We examined severalpossibilities. It is possible that selective attentionand/or selective acceptance processes mightbe operating,such thatindividualsmightpay more attentionto or give more weight to communicationsthat are consonant with their existing beliefs, while dismissing inconsistentmessages. Individualshigh in trustmight be more influenced by a positive mood state,or be moreacceptingof benefits-related messages. Conversely, low-trustindividualsmight be more susceptibleto a negative mood state, or more accepting of a cost-related message. The manipulationsmight reinforceindividuals'existing tendencies,makingthemrespondin a moreextreme fashion. Anotherpossibility is thateither high- or low-trustindividualsmight be less affected by momentarymood or calculationsof the outcomes of friendship.For instance,high-trustindividualsmight have enough confidence in the good will of others that they prefer social interactionsover ersatz activities regardlessof the situation. Low-trust individuals might similarly be cynical enough that even positive mood or benefits primingdoes not affect them. Perhapsthe most likely possibility is thatthe level of trustaffects an individual's motivation to engage in social activity. High-trustindividuals may enjoy social interactionand may be internallymotivatedto seek it out regardlessof the situation.On the otherhand, low-trustindividualsmay be less motivatedto seek out social interaction,unless the situation-positive mood or benefits priming,for instance-provides an incentive for them. Thus, the experimentalmanipulations would be most likely to show an effect for the low-trust individuals, whereas high-trustindividualswould show a high preferencefor social activitiesregardless of the situation. Hypotheses. To summarize,we predictedthat individualshigher in trust in othersmay show a greaterpreferencefor real social activities.Similarly,individuals in a positive mood, or for whom the benefits of friendshiphave been made salient,arelikely to preferreal social activities,whereasindividualsin a bad mood

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or for whom the costs of friendshiphave been made salient are likely to choose we ersatzactivities.Furthermore, were interestedin evaluatingourpredictionthat in contrastto high-trusting people, would be susceptibleto low-trustingpeople, situationalvariationsin mood and outcome primingwhen choosing between real and ersatz social activities. Method (68 Participants.One hundredforty-fourundergraduates males, 76 females) in to from an Introduction Psychology pool participated the experimentfor partial were runin groupsof 10 to 15 in a classroomsetting. course credit.Participants Procedure. Participantswere informed that they would be completing an anonymoussurvey about their everyday lives and leisure activities. Participants had thenfilled out the experimental packetat theirown pace. After all participants completedthe materials,they were debriefed,thanked,and dismissed. receivedinstructions Eachparticipant Situationalmanipulations. corresponding to one of four conditions: writing about a recent good day, writing about a stressful or bad day, reading a story highlighting the benefits of friendship,or readinga storyhighlightingthe costs of friendship.For all conditions,participants exercise"was to help them clear were given the cover storythatthis "imagination theirminds before beginningthe experiment. were told to take about5 minutes In the essay-writingconditions,participants to write abouta recent stressfulday or a recentgreatday. They were instructedto how you felt and what you went throughduringyour [stressful/great] "remember and to "imagineyourself back in that day, as if you were living it all over day," again." reada descriptionof a day in Forthe costs/benefitsmanipulation, participants the life of a "typical"college student.In the benefits of friendshipcondition,this studentmet a roommatefor coffee, borrowednotes from a friendin class, received emotional support from a high school friend, and met interestingpeople at a with neutralevents (e.g., eating dormitory party.These positives were interspersed fast food for lunch)and slightly negativeacademicevents (sittingthrougha boring class). In the costs of friendshipcondition,the roommatedid not show up for the plannedcoffee meeting, a person who had borrowedclass notes failed to return them, a high school friend needed emotional support (leading to heavy time demandsand a high long-distancebill), andthe people at the dormitory partywere with the same neutral These negativeswere interspersed andself-interested. boring events andwith slightlypositive academicevents. Thus,we expectedthe affective tone of the costs and benefits passages to be aboutthe same. variablewas a seriesof forcedchoices dependent Activitychoices. Theprimary were given a list of 12 activitypairsand were between two activities.Participants were instructedto told to choose only one activity from each pair. Participants choose the activity that was most appealingto them at that moment,even if they

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liked or disliked both activities. Eight of the pairs involved choices between activitiesthatpromotereal social capitalandthose thatrely on ersatzsocial capital. In fourof these pairs,the realoptionwas presentedfirst;in the otherfour,the ersatz option was presentedfirst. The remainingfour pairs were filler items unrelatedto social interaction(e.g., "clean out a closet" versus "studyfor class"). The focal pairs were as follows (real option, ersatz option, respectively): talk to a friend, watch a good TV show; get money from a bank teller, get money from an ATM; go out with friends,renta video; go to a club meeting, play computergames; talk on the phone, see a sitcom; volunteer,surf the World Wide Web; hang out with friends,see a movie; join an intramural sportsteam, watch ESPN. measures.Participants completeda measureof theircurrent also mood. Affect rated Using a 7-point scale rangingfrom "notat all" to "verymuch,"participants the extent to which they were feeling each of 12 emotional states (tense, excited, content, angry,afraid,sad,joyful, tired,stressed,relaxed,pleased, and happy). The mood measureandthe activitychoices were presentedin counterbalanced order;half of the participants completed the activity choices first, and half completed the mood measurefirst. Trust.We used the standardNational Election Study (NES) wording to ask abouttheirtrustin otherpeople: "Generallyspeaking,would you say participants thatmost people can be trusted,or can't you be too carefulin dealing withpeople?" answeredon a 7-point scale rangingfrom "peopleare trustworthy" to Participants "can'tbe too careful." We to of Organizational membership. askedparticipants list the organizations which they were currentlya memberor had been a memberwithin the past year.1 Political activity. Participants were given a list of six political activities and were asked to check the ones in which they had engaged.These activitiesincluded being registeredto vote, reading a newspaperarticle about an election issue or political candidate,hearingtelevision news storiesaboutthe election, volunteering with a campaign,writing a letter to an elected official, and "other"(with a space for the personto fill in additionalpolitical actions). Results ManipulationChecksand InitialAnalyses Manipulationcheck:Affectmeasures.We performedtwo separatemultivariate analyses of variance(MANOVAs) on the individualaffect items, one compar-

I Manyof ourparticipants were first-yearcollege studentsandmay not yet have hada chanceto become involved in activitiesat the university,butmay have recentlyparticipated high school organizations. in

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ing Good Day versusBad Day and one comparingCosts versusBenefits, to assess the effect of the manipulations the mood measures.2 on For the Good Day/Bad Day condition, ratings of both "excited" [F(1, 70) = 7.31, p < .01] and "happy"[F(1, 70) = 3.57, p < .07] showed effects in the expected direction,such thatthose who wrote abouta good day were more happy and excited. In addition to the individual items, we also examined composite measures,createdby takingthe mean of the positive-affectitems and the mean of the negative-affect items. Although these combined measures did not achieve statisticalsignificance in an ANOVA analysis (ps > .15), the means were in the
expected direction (positive affect: MGoodDay = 4.33, MBadDay = 4.02; negative affect: MGoodDay= 3.38, MBadDay= 3.60).

We did not expect the manipulations outcomes to have a significanteffect of on mood. In a MANOVA analysiscomparingCosts and Benefits and includingall 12 affect items, only "tense"emerged as significantlydifferentbetween the two conditions [F(1, 69) = 10.75, p < .05], with Costs conditionparticipants reporting Examination the composite of greatertensionthanBenefits conditionparticipants. affect measuresshowed no significanteffects, and negligible differencesbetween = = the means, for both positive affect (MBenefits 4.41, MCosts 4.49) and negative = = affect (MBenefits 3.20, MCosts 3.44). In sum, our Good Day/Bad Day manipulationseemed to be creatingdifferences in affect between the groups, and in the expected direction, whereas the Costs/Benefitscondition appearedonly to affect ratingsof "tense,"leading to a generallysimilaraffective profile between the groups.3 Effect of situation manipulationson trust. Because we viewed trust as an independentvariable, we wanted to ensure that trust was not affected by our A manipulations. one-way ANOVA revealedno effect (p > .15) of Experimental Condition on response to the Trust item, indicating that these two factors are of independent.This finding supportedour conceptualization trustas a relatively stable dispositional tendency; individuals' levels of trust were not affected by mood states or by outcome focus. temporary Relationshipof trustand conditionto civic activity.Because our measuresof involved factual questions organizational membershipand political participation we had aboutbehaviorsthatparticipants alreadyperformed, did not expect effects
2 One participantskipped the essay-writing task completely and was droppedfrom all subsequent

of indicatedthatall otherparticipants written had analyses.Examination essays writtenby participants wrote about about either a good or bad day, in accordancewith instructions.Bad-day participants conflicts with roommatesor significant others, academic stress of midtermsand papers, and other wrote about receiving good grades, visiting old friends, or negative events. Good-day participants otherpositive events. Observationby the experimenter indicatedthat all participants assigned to the costs/benefitsconditionreadthe essay before continuingwith the rest of the materials. 3 MANOVA analysisrevealedno significantmaineffects (allps > .10) on any of the mood or activities measuresbased on the orderin which these measureswere presented.Participants' responseswere not significantlyaffected by whetherthey completedthe activitychoices or the affect measuresfirst. Therefore,this factorwas not consideredfurther.

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of experimentalcondition on these measures. However, we were interested in measuringthe relationshipbetween trust and these measures,to see whetherthe patternsobtainedin largersurveys would be replicatedin our smallersample.We conducted ANOVA analyses using a 4 (ExperimentalCondition:good day, bad day, costs, benefits) * 2 (Trust:high or low) design. Individualswere classified as high- or low-trustbased on a median split (median= 4). Dependentvariablesfor these analyses were the number of political activities in which the person had participated (rangingfrom 0 to 6) and the numberof organizational memberships the participant listed for the currentand past year.4 Results indicatedthat, as expected, ExperimentalConditiondid not significantly affect either of the above measures, nor did the interactionof Trust and Condition(allps > .15). However,Trustwas significantlyrelatedto organizational membership[F(1, 115) = 4.62, p < .05] and marginallyrelatedto political activity [F(1, 115) = 2.96, p < .09]. Highly trustingindividuals were members of more organizations and participatedin more political activities, consistent with the constructvalidity. Thus, our measureof trusthad substantial existing literature. Dependent variable computation.To increase the reliability and statistical power of our analyses, we combinedthe activity choices into a single variableby counting the number of real social capital options that an individual chose. Althoughall the items thatconstitutedthe activitychoice index were conceptually related (real versus ersatz), a subset of five items showed greaterreliabilitythan the scale as a whole (Cronbacha for entire index = .47; a for subset = .52). Eliminatingfurtheritems would not increase the reliability of the scale by more than .01. We performedour analysis using this coherent subset of items (talk to friend/TV show, go out with friends/rentvideo, club meeting/computergames, phone talk/sitcom, and hang out/movie). This score could range from 0 (if the individualchose no real social options)to 5 (if an individualchose all realoptions). Recall thatbecause the activity choices were dichotomous(e.g., talk on the phone or see a sitcom), choices of real and ersatz social capital options are perfectly negatively correlated,so a separatemeasureof ersatzchoices would be redundant. Our primarydependentvariablein the following analyses, then, was the number of real social capitalactivities thatthe personchose. Main Analyses Effect of trust and situation on real versus ersatz activity choices. We conducteda 2 (Trust)* 4 (Experimental Condition)ANOVA, using a mediansplit on Trust(range 1 to 7; median = 4). Means are presentedin Table I. First,therewas
4 There was a fair degree of overlap between the organizationslisted by our participants those in and the standardNES list. For example, participantslisted church groups, cultural groups, service organizations,fraternalsocieties, and educationalgroups.Some categories, such as laborunions and in elderly groups,were not represented our sample.

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Green and Brock Table I. Mean Numberof Real Social Activities Chosenby Conditionand by Level of Trust Condition Good Day (N = 36) Bad Day (N = 36) 2.25 3.92 Benefits (N = 36) 3.85 3.00 Costs (N = 36) 2.77 3.00 Controla (N = 56) 2.64 3.84

Trust Low High

3.00 3.85

Note. Highernumbersindicategreaterpreferencefor real social activities (range, 1 to 5). data aSupplementary collection; good day versusbad day andbenefits versuscosts were omitted.

a significantmain effect of Trustin the predicteddirection.Results indicatedthat individuals who trusted others more were more likely to engage in real social activities [F(1, 121) = 4.39, p < .05].5 Even more interestingly, this main effect was qualified by a significant interactionbetween Conditionand Trust[F(3, 121) = 5.61, p < .01]. Specifically, the situational manipulations seemed to have a particularlystrong effect on individualswho had generallylow trustin others.Low-trustindividualswho read an essay highlighting the benefits of friendshipshowed a strong preferencefor social activities (M = 3.85), whereaslow-trustindividualswho wrote abouta bad day (M = 2.25) or readaboutthe costs of friendship(M = 2.77) showedparticularly low preferences for social activities (and thus a preference for ersatz social to individualsappeared preferrealsocial activitiesregardless activities).High-trust of theirexperimentalcondition(row 2 of Table I). This interactionsuggestedthat high-trust individuals may have intrinsic motivation to engage in real social activities, whereas low-trustindividualsare susceptible to situationalsources of heightenedor reducedmotivationto engage in real social activities. The above interactionalso reflected a greaterpreferencefor social activities than amonghigh-trustindividualswho wrotean essay (Good Day/BadDay) rather one (Costs/Benefits).Reading an essay may have evoked cognitive procreading esses, whereaswritingabouta personalexperienceelicited affective or emotional states.It may be thatfor high-trustindividuals,the desire to affiliatewith othersis drivenmore by feelings thanby cognitions. Task type, valence, and trust. To explore the Trust x Conditioninteraction more fully, we split our Conditionfactor into two components:a Valence factor (where Benefits and Good Day were treatedas positive, and Costs and Bad Day were treatedas negative) and a TaskType factor(whereGood Day/BadDay were

5 Therewas a significantmaineffect of genderon preferencefor realversusersatzsocial activities [F(1, = 142) = 4.85, p < .05], such that females were more likely to preferreal social activities (Mfemales = Condition 4.85, Mmales 4.23). However, there were no significantinteractionswith Experimental or Trustinvolving gender.

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consideredaffective tasks, and Costs/Benefits were consideredcognitive tasks).6 Thus, we examinedpreferencesfor real versusersatzsocial activities as a function of a 2 (Trust:high, low) * 2 (Valence:positive, negative)*2 (TaskType: affective, cognitive) ANOVA. In this analysis,Trustcontinuedto have a maineffect in the expecteddirection, such that high-trustindividualspreferredreal social activities [F(1, 121) = 4.39, p < .05]. There was also a main effect for Valence, such that positive-condition participantstended to choose more social activities [F(1, 121) = 3.74, p < .06;
= = Mpositive 3.51, Mnegative 2.93]. Thus, the positivity or negativity of the situation

appearedto exert an independentinfluence on social capital-buildingbehavior. The Trust * Task Type interactionwas also significant [F(1, 121) = 12.14, p < .05]. It appearedthat high-trustindividuals showed a greaterpreferencefor social interaction afterengagingin an affective task,as opposedto a cognitive task. Most interestingly,however, there was a significantinteractionof Trustand Valence [F(1, 121) = 4.39, p < .05]. This interaction revealedthatsituationvalence has a greatereffect on low-trustthanon high-trust participants. High-trust participantstendedto preferreal social activitiesregardlessof situationvalence, whereas low-trustparticipants real when they were in a positive preferred social interactions mental state, and ersatzoptions when they were in a negative mental state. The use of this analytic strategy indicated that both effects mentioned above-the greaterinfluence of situationson low-trustindividuals,andthe greater individualswho have engaged preferencefor realsocial activitiesamonghigh-trust in an affective task-contributed to the observedinteraction.7

6 Theremay be otherdifferencesbetween the task types as well; for instance,

writing an essay may be a more active process than readingone. However, the affect/cognitiondistinctionseemed to be the most theoreticallyinformativeperspectivefrom which to considertask type differences. 7 We emphasizedANOVA analyses here because our observedregressioncoefficients had little to do with predictinghow much trust is needed to cause a person to engage in increasedunits of social activities, or how many more social activities a low-trustperson will engage in when in a positive mood versus a negative mood. We did not have a representative sampleof the population,nor did we attemptto comprehensivelysample from all possible real and ersatz activities. Ourdata suggest that low-trustindividualswho encounterpositive situationswill be more likely to engage in real social activities than in ersatz ones. However, our datadid not allow us to quantifyhow many more social interactionswould occur in a given span of time, nor did the dataprovidebroadanswersto the kinds of questionsthat are typically addressedby regressionanalyses. examinationof the trustmeasuredisclosed some attenuation range,with few people of Furthermore, at the extremes.Individualsmay have been reluctantto endorsethe "extreme" statementthat"people can be trusted" because they did not want to seem overly gullible;correspondingly, appeared it likely thatindividualsdid not want to appear(eitherto themselvesor others)to be completelycynical about the intentionsof others,and this may have led to avoidanceof the otherextremeresponsealternative. Thus, examining the data on the basis of general trust versus general distrustmay more accurately capturepsychological tendencies. Moreover, the use of trust as a dichotomous variable is consistent with previous research;for example,in the NES, individualsmustchoose betweentwo options(peoplecan be trustedversuscan't be too careful).

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Follow-up Data Collection The resultsobtainedin the primaryexperimentclearly indicatedthattrustand situationvalence had an impacton individuals'preferencesfor real versus ersatz social capital-fosteringbehaviors.Specifically, low-trustindividualsseemed esforces, showinggreaterpreferencefor real social pecially susceptibleto situational interactions when in a positive mood or when exposed to the benefitsof friendship, and greaterpreferencefor ersatz activities when exposed to a negative situation. However, these data did not allow us to determinewhether mood and outcome primingwere primarilyraisingpreferencesfor real activities from a baseline level in the positive conditions, whetherthese manipulationswere decreasingpreferences for real social activitiesin the negativeconditions,or whetherbothprocesses were occurring. To addressthis issue, we conducteda supplementary datacollection using the same materialsas in the primarystudy,but includingneithera mood manipulation nor a prime. This new "control"condition was intended to assess high- and low-trust individuals' normal levels of preference for real versus ersatz social activities. Method (N Participants.Undergraduates = 56; 31 males, 25 females) from the same in pool as the primarystudyparticipated groupsof 8 to 12 in a classroomsetting. Materials.Materialsincludedthe trustand activitiesmeasuresof the primary study,but the essay-writingand essay-readingtasks were omitted. Results Effectof truston activitychoices. Once again,we performeda mediansplit on trust(median= 4). One-way ANOVA analysis revealed a significantmain effect of truston numberof real social activitieschosen [F(1, 54) = 12.06,p < .01; Mhigh = trust 3.84; Mlow = 2.64]. In the absenceof any situationalmanipulation, trust then, trusthas a significant impact on activity preferences:People high in trustprefer real activities over ersatzactivities.8 To comparethese baseline levels to the preferencesobtainedunderpositive andnegativemanipulations, computedtwo sets of post hoc analysescomparing we the experimentalgroups (Table I, first four columns) to the baseline group (fifth column), one for the high-trustindividualsand one for the low-trustindividuals. We used the least significantdifferencetest, which is equivalentto t tests between all pairs of means.
8 Although females tended to prefer real versus ersatz social activities, this effect was not reliable

(p > .15) in this datacollection.

Preferences Realversus for Ersatz Social Capital

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In corroborationof the main experiment,the results indicated that among low-trustparticipants, benefits of friendshipconditionincreasedpreferencefor the
= real activities significantly from the control condition (Mdifference -1.20, p < .05).

These findingsindicatedthatthe benefitsmanipulation increasingpreferences was for real social activities from baseline. The good day manipulation had a comparablethoughunreliableeffect. Results also indicatedthat among high-trustparticipants, both cognitive task
conditions differed from baseline (Mdifference, costs = .84, p < .05; Mdifference, benefits

= .84, p < .05). These analyses reflected a lowered preferencefor real activities among high-trustessay readers,regardlessof valence. Discussion Individualchoices and actionsform the basis for aggregatesocial capital,and a psychological perspective can illuminatethese individual-levelprocesses. The currentexperimentwas a first step in investigatingthe situationalforces thatmay influence social capital-building activities, as well as the interactionsbetween individualdifferencesand situationsthatmay determinesuch behavior. Our results indicate that trust in individuals is an importantpredictor of preferencesfor social capital-fostering activities. This finding is consistent with existing theory and data. More important,however, was the discovery that situationalforces could interactwith existing levels of trustin othersto alterchoices of real versus ersatz social activities. Individualswith low trustin others seemed particularlysusceptible to situational forces. To our knowledge, no previous researchhas investigatedthese immediatesituationalinfluences on social capital formation. Breakinga vicious cycle. Must low trustalways lead to lessened participation, which in turnleads to still lower trust?Ourfindings suggest thatsimple situational changes, such as a communicationemphasizingthe benefits of friendship,might increasethe tendencies of low-trustindividualsto engage in socially constructive activities. Engaging in more socially orientedbehaviornot only can increasethe societal storeof social capital,but also can allow the low-trustindividualto benefit from societal social capital by becoming partof civic networks.The person may become more able to use, as well as contributeto, communityresources,and thus the individualand society may both benefit. Even more encouragingis the fact thatourmanipulations were not ostensible advocaciesof differentialpreferencesfor social activities.Participants not hear did a sermonon the benefits of friendship;rather,they simply read abouta day when those benefits were evident. When asked for theircommentsaboutthe story,none of the participantsindicated any awarenessthat the story was intendedto affect theirperceptionsof social interaction.Thus, relatively minorchanges can lead to beneficial effects.

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It was also encouragingthatthese situationalchanges-even a bad day or the reducepreferences primingof the costs of friendship-tended not to substantially for social activitiesin individualshigh in trust.These high levels of preferencefor real over ersatz social activities were maintainedby high-trustindividuals,even thoughtherewas some reductionin such preferencesin those conditionsin which costs or benefits were made salient. Of course, it is likely that extreme situations (becoming a victim of crime, for instance) would affect both individuals'preferences for activitiesand theirtrustin others,but everydayevents appearunlikelyto have a negative impacton high-trustindividuals'communityparticipation. We speculate that the reductionin social activity preferencefor high-trust to individualsin the cognitive conditionscould be attributed the likelihood that in contrast low-trusting donotroutinely mullthecosts to persons, high-trusting persons, of of theirconsideration the "calculus" andbenefitsof social interactions. Although the than was likely more novel for high-trusting for low-trusting persons, friendship for individuals showeda greater still preference realsocialactivities. high-trust In Moodmanagement. comparisonto enduringforces in the world,mood may seem transient. However,if a low-trustindividualtakesthe first step towardsocial interaction while in a good mood, the effects may continueeven afterthe mood has thanwatchtelevision, passed.Forinstance,if the personchose to call a friendrather the friendmight returna call at a latertime. If happy feelings led a personto join an intramural team, the expectations of teammatesthat the person show up for games would be a force towardan improvedsocial networklasting long afterthe initial action. Furthermore, researchshows that individualscan, to some extent, self-regulatemood, and are able to choose situationsthat will evoke particular mood states (e.g., Wegener & Petty, 1994). One type of intervention,then, might be to aid people's routineselection of positive situations. Influence of television content. Our findings parallelthose of Norris (1996) and Shah(1998), which indicatedthattelevision contentcould affect social capital outcomes. Our results suggest that one way that television can influence social capital-related behavior choices is by priming perceived outcomes of social If interactions. two low-trustindividualswatchthe same amountof television, but one is watching Little House on the Prairie, where the benefits of family and communityare extolled, and the otheris watchingMelrose Place, where self-interest,betrayal,and blackmailare everydayoccurrences,these individualsmight respondvery differentlyin theirchoices of subsequentactivities.9 Use offorced-choiceformat. Life proffersan arrayof possible choices; at any given time, we could choose to engage in any of an immense varietyof activities.
9 In contrast, Uslaner (1998) found that television content did not influence trust or participation. television contentmightbe most likely to However,our findings suggest thatthe effects of particular thanin a generalsurveyof viewing rather be observedimmediatelyafterviewing a particular program, in his habits.Furthermore, measuresfocus primarilyon membership voluntaryorganizations; hence, could not be observed. effects on informalsocial interactions

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In our experiment,however, participantswere limited to a choice between two activities.Despite the varietyavailablein real life, we believe thata forced-choice measureis most appropriate. given a ratingscale, a person could ratereadinga If However,time good novel, visiting a relative,andexercising as equally attractive. is a zero-sumcommodity,and the individualwould likely have to choose only one of those equally attractiveoptions. Our forced-choice format capturedthis realworld trade-off;individualsmay enjoy both going to club meetings and watching television, but can only do one at a time. Behavioralmeasures.One limitationof ourresearchis thatwe measuredonly thanactualbehaviors.A worthwhilegoal forfuture preferencesfor activities,rather studies would be to assess actual behavior. However, the design of our study allowed us to assess preferencesbetween multiplebehaviorpairs,which would be more difficultif actualbehaviorwere involved.More important, studytook the our first step in isolating key predictors,and therebyprovided a reasonablebasis for comprehensivebehavioralassessment. Studysample. Althoughour experimentincludedonly undergraduate participants, we believe thatthe same psychological processes would be presentin other individuals as well. The operationalizationof the constructs might have to be changedslightly for a broadersample.For example, older adultsmight readabout a middle-classworkerratherthana college student;similarly,they mightbe given the option of joining a city league sports team ratherthan an intramural team. the underlyingpsychological constructsand processes are hypotheNonetheless, sized to be universal. In sum, our study indicates how social capital-building processes can be examinedin a psychological frameworkand influencedby plannedinterventions. We have moved beyond staticconceptionsof trustin othersto show how situations can interactwith individualtendencies in determiningchoices of activities-activities thatmay eitherpromoteor discouragethe formationof societal-level social capital. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thankJenniferGarst,Jeffrey Strange,Jeffery Mondak,and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper. The authorsalso thankthe membersof the 1997-1998 Brock Lab Group(Beth Elson, Jill Jacobson, Orie Kristel, Amy Myerson, Michael Puente, and S. Christian Wheeler) for valuable input at various stages of the research. Correspondence related to this article may be addressed to either author at the Departmentof Psychology, Ohio State University, 1885 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210. E-mail: green.347@osu.edu,brock.1@osu.edu

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