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In two studies, participants completed an implicit attractiveness task with faces as primes varying on (a) facial features from Afrocentric to Eurocentric and (b) skin tone from dark to light, and target pictures of environmental scenes varying in attractiveness. On each trial, participants were briefly primed with a face. Next, they categorized a target picture as either attractive or unattractive as quickly as possible. In addition, in Study 2, participants rated the same faces on an attractiveness scale. While results of Study 1 showed that when faces were medium in skin tone, participants were more accurate when primed with a Eurocentric face responding to attractive targets, but also more accurate when primed with an Afrocentric face responding to unattractive targets, a more powerful Study 2 failed to replicate this effect. There was no relationship between participants' explicit ratings of attractiveness and accuracy rates in the implicit attractiveness task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a hereditary disorder characterized by disrupted phenylalanine metabolism and cognitive impairment. However, the precise nature and developmental trajectory of this cognitive impairment remains unclear. The present study used a verbal fluency task to dissociate executive and verbal processes in children with PKU (n = 23; 7-18 years) and controls (n = 44; 7-19 years). Data were collected at three longitudinal timepoints over a three-year period, and the contributions of age, group, and their interaction to fluency performance were evaluated. Results indicated impairments in executive processes in children with PKU, which were exacerbated by declining metabolic control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participants rated the attractiveness and racial typicality of male faces varying in their facial features from Afrocentric to Eurocentric and in skin tone from dark to light in two experiments. Experiment 1 provided evidence that facial features and skin tone have an interactive effect on perceptions of attractiveness and mixed-race faces are perceived as more attractive than single-race faces. Experiment 2 further confirmed that faces with medium levels of skin tone and facial features are perceived as more attractive than faces with extreme levels of these factors. Black phenotypes (combinations of dark skin tone and Afrocentric facial features) were rated as more attractive than White phenotypes (combinations of light skin tone and Eurocentric facial features); ambiguous faces (combinations of Afrocentric and Eurocentric physiognomy) with medium levels of skin tone were rated as the most attractive in Experiment 2. Perceptions of attractiveness were relatively independent of racial categorization in both experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This review explores characteristics of facial primes employed in priming studies of racial prejudice and stereotyping. It addresses the role of perceptual, cue-based processing of visual stimuli characteristics in altering racial typicality, and the effects of different moderators. The authors document the nature of variability in primes and moderators used in priming studies (N =96) up to 2009. Methodological and conceptual implications are discussed, along with gaps in the field. Better control over facial primes employed, more accuracy in reporting and open access to procedural information are suggested in an effort to improve the state of racial priming research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participants (N = 59) performed racial typicality ratings and racial categorization of affectively neutral faces. The authors manipulated facial physiognomy, skin tone, and color presentation mode (gray scale vs. color) independently. Participants perceived Eurocentric faces as more European American in the gray-scale presentation mode than in the color mode. Independent of facial physiognomy, the planned effect of skin tone also emerged: Participants perceived dark skin tone faces as more African American than they did light skin tone faces, but this tendency was especially true with faces presented in color. These findings suggest that color presentation mode plays an important role in altering the perceptions of faces on dimensions critical to the study of stereotyping and prejudice. The common use of gray-scale stimuli may exaggerate physiognomy-based perceptions of racial typicality and category membership, but it may diminish skin-tone-based perceptions in comparison with more realistic color presentations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore whether implicit self-evaluations (ISEs) and explicit self-evaluations (ESEs) are differentially susceptible to influence, both were measured after exposure to images of beauty in magazine advertisements or to control advertisements containing no body images. As predicted, female participants' ESEs and body-images were unaffected by idealized images of beauty. However, exposure to such images (as compared to control ads) led to a reduction in the association between beauty and the 3 primed identities (self, in-group, and gender) as well as a reduction in the quantity of snack food consumed while awaiting completion of the study. Together, these findings support the hypothesis that women may not as easily correct for, or protect against, inappropriate social comparisons and other threats to the self on the implicit level, at least in the domain of attractiveness. Moreover, previous research suggesting small effects of advertising's portrayal of women may have underestimated such effects by relying primarily on explicit, self-report measures of body image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weight gain and behavioral patterns during college may contribute to overweight and obesity in adulthood. The aims of this study were to assess weight, exercise, and dietary patterns of 764 college students (53% women, 47% men) during freshman and sophomore years. Students had their weight and height measured and completed questionnaires about their recent exercise and dietary patterns. At the beginning of freshman year, 29% of students reported not exercising, 70% ate fewer than 5 fruits and vegetables daily, and more than 50% ate fried or high-fat fast foods at least 3 times during the previous week. By the end of their sophomore year, 70% of the 290 students who were reassessed had gained weight (4.1 ± 3.6 kg, p < .001), but there was no apparent association with exercise or dietary patterns. Future research is needed to assess the contributions of fat, muscle, and bone mass to observed weight gain and to determine the health implications of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the influence of hypnotic susceptibility, hypnotic condition, and attention demands on the verbal estimates of 30- and 60-second time intervals under both prospective and retrospective paradigms. Hypothesis that prospective judgments would be greater than retrospective judgment across all factors; Non-support generated for the hypotheses generated within the trait-state paradigm.

Presents a critique of the article 'Toward an Explanation of the UFO Abduction Phenomenon: Hypnotic Elaboration, Extraterrestrial Sadomasochism, and Spurious Memories,' by Leonard S. Newman and Roy F. Baumeister, which appeared in the April 1996 issue of the journal 'Psychological Inquiry.' Limitations of the 'escape from self' explanation for claims of UFO abduction.

Racial conflict between African Americans and Whites has been observed to occur most frequently at two critical points: when African Americans make up approximately 30% of a given group or when African Americans make up approximately 50% of a given group. These two critical ratios are referred to as the J and (inverted) U patterns of racial conflict, respectively. To date, most of the data supporting either the J or U models have been derived from large demographic studies that do not directly assess individual perceptions. Thus, little is known about the individual reactions of members from either racial group to varying percentages of group racial composition. This small-group experiment examined the responses of African-American and White subjects to their inclusion in four-person groups of varying racial compositions. Three racial configurations were created and included the following percentages of African Americans: 25%, 50%, and 75%. The results support the U model of racial conflict. Moreover, the U model fit the data equally well for African Americans and Whites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined observers' impressions of hypothetical actors who succeeded or failed in the presence or absence of self-handicaps. We also investigated the moderating influence of observer individual differences related to strategic self-presentation (i.e., self-esteem and self-handicapping) on observer reactions to the self-handicapping attempts. Results indicated that low self-esteem observers, and observers who were not themselves prone to the use of self-handicaps, were most likely to be influenced by the self-handicapping attempts of others. These results indicate that an impression-management interpretation of self-handicapping must take into account observer characteristics. Results also indicated that self-handicappers were evaluated less favorably overall than were non-self-handicappers, implying that any attributional gains may be offset by generally negative impressions of those who create impediments to success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The two studies reported in this article examined the psychometric properties of the Self-Handicapping Scale (SHS), an individual difference measure of the tendency to engage in behaviors that strategically protect self-esteem. In the first study, initial analyses indicated that the SHS possessed one major factor and several trivial factors. As a result, an abbreviated form of the scale was created: this short form possesses internal consistency higher than that found in the original scale. Correlational analyses with both versions indicated that high self-handicapping was related reliably to high public self-consciousness, high social anxiety, high other-directedness, high depression, and low self-esteem. These relations were stronger when the short form was used, suggesting its psychometric as well as practical utility. In a second study, the validity of the short form was examined by administering it to a sample of students along with a questionnaire that requested information concerning extenuating circumstances that would limit the students' demonstration of ability on a course exam. The ‘excuses’ questionnaire was administered after the first exam and immediately prior to the second exam. High self-handicappers claimed more excuses both after the first exam and prior to the second exam. Taken together, these findings suggest the utility of the abbreviated SHS for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research on the relinquishment of control has assumed that when individuals give up task control they do so because they believe another person possesses a superior and stable controlling response. To date, however, no attempt has been made to assess directly the attributional concomitants of control relinquishment. In the present study, pairs of subjects worked independently on an initial 25-trial task and received feedback indicating that their performance was superior, comparable, or inferior, relative to their partners' performances. On a second task, subjects combined their efforts, but only one could work on a given trial, necessitating a decision concerning how many trials each would attempt to solve. Subjects made these decisions and then evaluated the performances on the first task in terms of quality and causal structure. Results indicated that more trials were allocated to the superior member of the pair when performances on the first trial differed to a high degree. More importantly, allocation of trials to the superior member of the pair was accompanied by attributions for initial task performance that were more stable and global, but not more internal, compared with the evaluation of the inferior member's performance in each dyad. These results are consistent with the presumed conceptual underpinnings of the control relinquishment process and demonstrate an important specificity in the use of causal attribution dimensions. Subjects' affectire reactions were also influenced by performance feedback and indicated that emotional experiences were more negative when subjects performed at an average level as opposed to an above average level. This tendency was greatest, however, when the partner had above average performance. Taken together, these results suggest somewhat different influences of performance feedback on attributions and affect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reexamined Spanos, Hodgins, Stam, and Gwynn's (1984) contention that susceptibility testing order effects generated a relationship between waking analgesia pain reduction and level of hypnotic responsiveness. Undergraduate volunteers with no previous hypnosis experience were randomly assigned to two groups. Group 1 (n = 69) first received a cold pressor pain protocol, and then was administered the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C (SHSS:C). Group 2 (n = 69) was administered the SHSS:C prior to the cold pressor pain protocol. Our findings do not support Spanos, Hodgins et al.'s contention that susceptibility testing order effects generate the often reported relationship between waking analgesia and level of hypnotic responsiveness. We found significant partial correlation coefficients between the SHSS:C and nonhypnotic pain reduction regardless of order of susceptibility testing. Implications regarding the adequacy of design-generated expectancies to explain hypnotic analgesia phenomena were examined. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Previous research by Stam and Spanos suggests that if waking analgesia is followed by hypnotic analgesia, subjects refrain from maximally responding during the waking trial so they report less pain under hypnosis (i.e., a “holdback effect”). This hypothesis was re- examined using more stringent controls. Thirty-six highly susceptible subjects chosen by a combination of the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A and the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups (waking analgesia followed by hypnotic analgesia, waking analgesia followed by waking analgesia, or hypnotic analgesia followed by waking analgesia). Each group received three 60-second immersions of cold pressor pain stimulation (baseline, Immersion 1, Immersion 2) and rated pain using a magnitude estimation and a category rating scale. The obtained results failed to support the hypotheses of a holdback effect or a “reverse-order holdback effect.” Properties of within-subjects and between-subjects designs were considered in explaining the superiority of hypnotic analgesia over waking analgesia typically found in within-subjects models. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

3 types of “posthypnotic suggestion,” based upon factor analytic studies, were administered to high hypnotizable Ss (reals) and to low hypnotizable Ss instructed to simulate hypnosis (simulators) (N = 12 high and 6 low hypnotizable Ss per suggestion). The “posthypnotic suggestions” consisted of instructions given to Ss following a hypnotic induction that, when the posthypnotic cue was later given, they would re-enter the hypnotic state and perform a certain task at that time. Ss were then tested 6 times for durability of “posthypnotic response” during an 8-week period. Responses to the “suggestions” were rated by research assistants (objective scores) and by Ss themselves (subjective scores). There was a significant Trials × Type of “Suggestion” interaction for both types of scores for the reals but not for the simulators, indicating different rates of decline with time for the different “suggestions” for the hypnotic Ss. Depth of reported hypnotic trance during the assessment sessions was found to be strongly related to performance of the “posthypnotic suggestion” for both real and simulating Ss. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents the author's views on his term as editor for the "Basic and Applied Social Psychology" periodical. He would like to make clear some of the goals and ambitions that he has for the journal. Foremost, of course, he hopes to carry on the fine tradition established by past editors who have shaped the journal into a respected publication for basic and applied research in the social sciences. Since its inception, the journal's mission has been to provide a forum for the best work on the boundary between basic and applied social psychology. That mission grows increasingly more timely. We live in an era of enormous social and technological change. Rather than neatly solving society's ills, technological advances have made more apparent the vital role that social scientists will play in tackling the major problems that face us.