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In order to combat fraudulent health claims, MacFarlane, Hurlstone, and Ecker (2020) have proposed a taxonomy intended to establish factors that increase susceptibility to such messages. We expand upon the work of MacFarlane and colleagues by highlighting the role of emotions in attitude change, and elaborate upon how emotions may increase susceptibility to fraudulent health messaging. We assert that to produce lasting and persistent attitude change, emotion needs to be incorporated into health care fraud interventions, as well as factual information. We concur with MacFarlane and colleagues that fraudulent health claims are a pressing issue with deleterious consequences, and supplement their work by enumerating the importance of emotion in promoting attitude and behavior change., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Disgust is a cross-culturally recognized emotion that is characterized by avoidant or cautious tendencies. Accordingly, greater sensitivity to disgust may be related to less willingness to take risks. Relatively little research has examined the association between disgust sensitivity and risk-taking propensity. Further, no research to date has taken a domain specific approach to understanding the association between these constructs. Across two studies (N1=98, N2=390) and a mini-meta analysis utilizing two additional datasets (total N=1981), we assessed the extent to which domain specific disgust sensitivity (i.e., Pathogen, Sexual, and Moral) were related to domain specific risk-taking propensity (i.e., Social, Recreational, Health/Safety, Ethical, and Financial). We conducted two cross-sectional studies, with a community and a student sample. Participants completed surveys that included measures of disgust sensitivity and risktaking propensity. Bivariate correlations across the two studies indicated that greater disgust sensitivitywas related to lower risk-taking propensity across almost all domains. However, when controlling for covariance among the disgust sensitivity domains, regression analyses suggested variability in the association between disgust sensitivity and risk-taking propensity depending on domains. Based on mini meta-analysis, sexual disgust sensitivity had the strongest relationships with social risk-taking propensity and health/safety risk-taking propensity, and moral disgust sensitivity had the strongest relationship with ethical risk-taking propensity. These findings suggest the presence of domain specific relations between disgust sensitivity and risk-taking propensity. The domain specific focus may help in utilizing disgust as a factor to decrease certain risky behaviors (e.g., moral disgust for decreasing plagiarism). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Regulatory focus – prevention-focus or promotion-focus – plays a key role in how beneficiaries respond to benefits and benefactors. Two studies illustrated the link between promotion-focus and gratitude, as well as prevention-focus and indebtedness. In Study 1, promotion-focus measures positively correlated with gratitude, and prevention-focus measures correlated with indebtedness. In Study 2, regulatory focus was primed prior to an actual social exchange. Participants completed either promotion- or prevention-focus puzzles, and were then given free raffle tickets. The promotion-focus prime led to increased gratitude toward the benefactor. These findings suggest the important role of the beneficiary’s motivation in social exchange, particularly for increasing sense of thankfulness. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The current study investigated whether intergroup contact through roommate assignment in college dormitories affects the academic well-being of minority and majority students at a predominantly White university. Participants were first-year students randomly assigned to either a majority or minority group roommate. During the beginning and end of their first semester at college, participants completed a questionnaire packet which included ratings of their sense of belonging and identification with their university. At the end of the school year, participants’ official grade point averages (GPA) were also recorded. In general, students randomly assigned to an interracial roommate relationship reported an increased sense of belonging at university at the end of the first semester at college. Specifically for minority students, those randomly assigned to a majority group roommate reported a stronger sense of belonging at university and received a higher GPA than minority students randomly assigned to a minority roommate. Analyses suggested that sense of belonging partially mediated the effect of room type on minority students’ GPA. Room type did not affect majority students’ GPA. These findings have implications for improving academic satisfaction, performance, and retention. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Individuals who have a more adverse reaction to stressful situations are at heightened risk for developing emotional disorders. The current studies aimed to demonstrate that valence biases in attitude generalization relate to individuals' emotional reactivity following a stressful task. Participants played a computer game in which they had to learn whether previously unknown stimuli (i.e., beans) produced positive or negative outcomes. They then had to classify novel stimuli, which varied in resemblance to those employed in the game, as either positive or negative. Attitude generalization, i.e., the extent to which participants weight resemblance to a positive versus negative, is critical to the classification of these novel stimuli, which provided the basis for indexing valence weighting. Participants then completed a stressful anagram task, in which they had three minutes to solve as many anagrams as possible. Half the anagrams were difficult, and half were insoluble, thus creating a failure experience. Mood was assessed before and after the task as a measure of emotional reactivity. In two studies, we observed that for participants initially in a good mood, the extent to which negative attitudes generalized more extensively than positive attitudes was predictive of greater emotional reactivity to the stressful anagram task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Mindfulness is a receptive attention to and awareness of events and experiences as they occur. A substantial body of literature supports the usefulness of mindfulness-based approaches for preventing or reducing emotional distress (e.g., depression and anxiety). However, mechanisms by which mindfulness produces these benefits are still being explored. Cognitive theories of emotional disorder implicate negatively biased cognition as a primary source of distress, and the theoretical literature on mindfulness suggests that it may reduce biased thoughts and judgments. Thus, the present research tested a mediation model in which less negatively biased cognition explains the inverse relation between mindfulness and emotional distress. Participants completed multiple standardized measures of trait mindfulness, negatively biased cognition, and emotional distress. The proposed relations between these constructs then were examined using structural equation modeling. Support was found for a partial mediation model, and possible alternative models were ruled out. These findings highlight a previously unidentified cognitive mechanism to explain the relation between mindfulness and reduced emotional distress. Specifically, mindfulness may reduce negative, maladaptive cognitive styles, which in turn may reduce predisposition to emotional disorders. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Disgust is a universal human emotion that evolved to protect individuals from ingesting harmful substances such as toxins and pathogens. Recent research suggests that disgust is a component of a “behavioral immune system” that encourages individuals to avoid people and situations that could potentially result in bodily contamination. The purpose of the current research was to explore the role of social conservatism in the link between disgust and prejudicial attitudes toward homosexuals. The results of a correlational study (Study 1) indicated that disgust sensitivity was positively correlated with socially conservative values. However, the relation was specific to conservative values regarding intergroup relations and potential contamination. In Study 2, disgust was experimentally manipulated. Inducing disgust resulted in increased prejudicial attitudes toward contact with homosexuals for conservative individuals and reduced prejudice for liberals. The results of these studies support the claim that disgust is part of a “behavioral immune system” that promotes socially conservative value systems and can lead to increased negative attitudes toward outgroups. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Negativity biases, i.e., tendencies for negative features and interpretations to predominate over positive, are known to play a role in the etiology and maintenance of emotional disorders. Both depression and anxiety have been associated with such negative cognitive styles. Recently, Fazio, R.H., Eiser, J.R., and Shook, N.J. [(2004). Attitude formation through exploration: Valence asymmetries. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 293–311] have observed similar valence asymmetries in the domain of attitude formation and generalization. The present research examined the possibility that the extent to which individuals display a learning bias in attitude formation is related to negative cognitive style and emotional disorder symptoms. Participants played a computer game that required learning whether novel stimuli produced positive or negative outcomes. Poorer learning was associated with more negative cognitive style, greater depression, and a tendency toward greater anxiety. Interestingly, these relations were most evident with respect to the learning of the positive stimuli, suggesting that an under-appreciation of positive objects and events may underlie vulnerability to emotional disorders. The potential value of various indices of negativity bias that can be assessed when examining attitude formation and generalization is discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]