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Research suggests that a variety of educational interventions can be effective for reducing cognitive biases such as the fundamental attribution error (FAE). Specifically, comprehensive FAE education, such as social psychology instruction or targeted training interventions, can reduce the FAE. However, most non-experts in social psychology and members of the public are unlikely to receive such comprehensive FAE education. Instead, they would likely learn about the FAE through informal means outside of educational settings, such as through reading on the Internet. In the current study, we tested whether reading a short and accessible educational passage was effective in reducing the FAE in a between-subjects experiment. Two-hundred forty-four adults from the Reddit community r/SampleSize were randomly assigned to read an online educational passage describing the FAE (treatment) or a biology passage (control) before completing a writer attitude attribution task. Preregistered analyses indicated that participants who read the educational passage self-reported greater understanding of the FAE. However, participants committed the FAE, regardless of whether they read the educational passage. Exploratory analyses suggested that reading the educational passage did not increase perceived FAE understanding for participants with pre-existing FAE knowledge. Additionally, when compared to undergraduate students from previous FAE research, participants who read the educational passage reported lower perceived FAE understanding than undergraduate social psychology students but not general education students. We discuss recommendations for science communicators and future research, including designing enriching FAE materials and assessing FAE reductions in context of real-world behavioral changes., Author(s): Raymond Luong [sup.1] , Ken Butler [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.14709.3b, 0000 0004 1936 8649, Department of Psychology, McGill University, , 2001 Avenue McGill College, H3A 1G1, Montréal, QC, [...]

Despite the widespread use of the term 'cherishing' in the psycho-social literature, very little is known about different aspects of cherishing, and the way it operates in people's lives. Using data collected from Indian sample, this paper develops a measurement of objects of cherishing in order to shed light on the constituents of this wider construct. We conducted seven studies with participants belonging to multiple Indian ethnicities to develop and validate an instrument for objects of cherishing. We define cherishing as a behavioral manifestation characterized by a strong sense of protectiveness, care, and emotional attachment towards a target which we call the objects of cherishing. Our findings reveal that these objects are strongly affiliated with secure attachment. A multi-group confirmatory factor analysis shows that the objects of cherishing instrument has a robust four factor structure which is invariant across the sample, gender and broad ethnic groups included in the study. The present study also reveals concurrent and predictive validity as well as test-retest reliability of the objects of cherishing measurement tool based on a series of studies. Exploration based on this tool provides insights into psycho-social functioning and well-being of people., Author(s): Pratishtha Bhattacharyya [sup.1] , Rabindra Kumar Pradhan [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.463040.5, Xavier School of Human Resource Management, Xavier Institute of Management University, , Bhubaneswar, India (2) grid.429017.9, 0000 [...]

The study replicated research on metacontingencies that used a chessboard simulating a simplified chess game, in a completely online environment, with participants in their homes. Dyads of participants had to work together moving two knights in L-shape. Each trial ended when the knights met in adjacent squares. The squares where the knights should meet (aggregate product [AP]) varied in two conditions, using an ABAB design. In conditions A, knights should meet anywhere on the chessboard, and there was no consequence. In conditions B, the matrix of reinforceable squares was gradually reduced in four phases and knights' encounters were followed by different messages when correct or incorrect (cultural consequences). In group 1, five dyads were allowed to communicate. In group 2, dyads had no access to video call. Results of group 1 corroborate the findings of the original studies that showed a decrease in APs variability from conditions A to B, when communication was allowed. Group 2 showed similar results, therefore extending to the setting that not allowed communication. The online platform XadrezWeb, developed for this study, was an important tool to program the interlocked behavior contingencies and collect data during social isolation. Keywords Metacontingency * selection by consequences * shaping, social behavior * online game * humans, The research field of cultural practices in behavior analysis has developed the term 'metacontingency.' Metacontingency refers to interlocked behavior contingencies that result in aggregate products, which are selected by cultural [...]

The current research examined the effect of group potential-characterized by upward trend-on individuals' preference for groups. In three experiments, participants (Total N = 189) assessed group members' impressions, anticipated future achievements, and willingness to join high-potential moderate-achievement and moderate-potential high-achievement groups. As predicted, anticipated future achievements led to willingness to join in the high-potential groups. Specifically, compared with high-achievement groups, participants formed better impressions of high-potential groups, anticipated higher future achievements of them, and were more willing to join them. Importantly, anticipated future achievements totally mediated the effect of group potential on willingness to join. Future directions of research on moderating roles of stereotypes and culture on preference for group potential are discussed., Author(s): Zhijie Xie [sup.1] [sup.2] [sup.3] , Fangfang Wen [sup.1] [sup.2] , Xiao Tan [sup.1] [sup.2] , Jin Wei [sup.1] [sup.2] [sup.4] , Bin Zuo [sup.1] [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) [...]

Psychological distance provides a mechanistic and integrated theoretical framework for multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research; however, its research status and developmental trends remain to be clarified. This study used Citespace, Bibexcel, and Netdraw to construct scientific maps and performed co-word analysis, social network analysis, and cluster analysis of data from 1371 published studies on psychological distance that were retrieved from the Web of Science database. The results and conclusions were as follows: (1) The relevant research identified four periods: an infancy period, exploration period, growth period, and outbreak period. (2) Research on psychological distance has been mainly within the fields of psychology, economics, business, social psychology, and management. (3) Chronologically, the relevant research evolved from an individual psychological level to a social developmental level, and then to an individual behavioral level. (4) Clustering analysis of high-frequency keywords identified six research themes: 'psychological construction process,' 'individual emotions and reactions,' 'social cognition and decisions,' 'marketing and consumer behavior,' 'international trade,' and 'environmental protection and social responsibility.' These themes indicate that studies on psychological distance have involved theory generation, theory driving, and theory diffusion. Finally, this study combined the data and literature analysis to construct a model of developmental trends to highlight possible directions for future research., Author(s): Shanshan Li [sup.1] , Hong Chen [sup.1] , Yan Feng [sup.1] , Feiyu Chen [sup.1] , Congmei Hou [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.411510.0, 0000 0000 9030 231X, School of [...]

This study traces the evolution of a research program that frames the human mind as an embodied social phenomenon. The essay is divided into two parts, the first one focused on historical issues, the second on contemporary developments. The discussion begins with the mind-body problem central to the scholarship in this area and then focuses the changing perspective on consciousness as a symbolically mediated process. Next, the paper surveys the relevant writings of Mead and Vygotsky, tracks the debate about the place of body in interactionist sociology, and connects this debate to current research in neuroscience. The report concludes with reflections on the prospects for embodied sociology and the contribution it can make to the debate about extended mind., Author(s): Dmitri N. Shalin [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) 0000 0001 0806 6926grid.272362.0Department of Sociology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Pkwy, 89154, Las Vegas, NV, USA Neuroscience and [...]

This study traces the evolution of a research program that frames the human mind as an embodied social phenomenon. The essay is divided into two parts, the first one focused on historical issues, the second on contemporary developments. The discussion begins with the mind-body problem central to the scholarship in this area and then focuses the changing perspective on consciousness as a symbolically mediated process. Next, the paper surveys the relevant writings of Mead and Vygotsky, tracks the debate about the place of body in interactionist sociology, and connects this debate to current research in neuroscience. The report concludes with reflections on the prospects for embodied sociology and the contribution it can make to the debate about extended mind., Author(s): Dmitri N. Shalin [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) 0000 0001 0806 6926grid.272362.0Department of Sociology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Pkwy, 89154, Las Vegas, NV, USA Two centuries [...]

In three separate samples, we examine the factor structure and validity of the identification with all humanity scale. Although the measure was originally proposed to contain a single factor, the results of the present studies showed two factors. The first factor contains items reflecting behaviors and feelings suggested by Adler and Maslow (e.g., helping, responsibility, loyalty). The second factor contains items previously used to assess ingroup identification from a social identity perspective. Regression analyses showed that the first factor (Adler/Maslow) is strongly influencing the associations between the identification with all humanity scale and prosocial values. The results highlight the distinction between theoretical perspectives from which ingroup identification measures are conceptualized., Author(s): Stephen Reysen[sup.1] , Justin Hackett[sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) Department of Psychology, Counseling, and Special Education, Texas A&M University-Commerce, 75429, Commerce, TXUSA (2) California University of Pennsylvania, 15419, California, PAUSA [...]

The inclusion of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in schools is a source of stress for teachers. Specialized teachers have, in theory, received special training. To compare the experiences of teachers dealing with students with ASD in different classroom environments. A total of 245 teachers filled out four self-report questionnaires measuring perceived stress, social support, coping strategies, and burnout. Specialized teachers perceive their teaching as a challenge, can count on receiving help from colleagues, use more problem-focused coping strategies and social support seeking behavior, and are less emotionally exhausted than teachers in regular classes. This study highlights that teachers in specialized schools and classes have better adjustment, probably due to their training, experience, and tailored classroom conditions., Author(s): Emilie Boujut[sup.1] [sup.2] , Annika Dean[sup.3] , Amelie Grouselle[sup.1] , Emilie Cappe[sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) Laboratoire de Psychopathologie et Processus de Sante (LPPS-EA4057), Institut de Psychologie, Universite Paris Descartes, [...]

ABSTRACT This article explores the continued significance of lulik for people living in the central highlands of Timor-Leste today, lulik being a term frequently translated as 'sacred'. In contrast to [...]

Pornography is both prevalent and normative in United States' culture; however, little is known about the psychological and relational affects that it can have on men in romantic relationships. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine theorized antecedents (i.e., gender role conflict and attachment styles) and consequences (i.e., poorer relationship quality and sexual satisfaction) of men's pornography use among 373 young adult heterosexual men. Findings revealed that both frequency of pornography use and problematic pornography use were related to greater gender role conflict, more avoidant and anxious attachment styles, poorer relationship quality, and less sexual satisfaction. In addition, the findings provided support for a theorized mediated model in which gender role conflict was linked to relational outcomes both directly and indirectly via attachment styles and pornography use. Finally, psychometric support for the Pornography Use Scale developed for this study is provided. Keywords: pornography, scale, relationship quality, sexual satisfaction, gender role conflict, Pornography refers to the 'the explicit description or exhibition of sexual subjects or activity in literature, painting, pictures, books, films, etc., in a manner intended to stimulate sexual excitement rather [...]

Increasing serotonin decreases quarrelsome behaviours and enhances agreeable behaviours in humans. Antidepressants, even those whose primary action is not on serotonin, seem to increase serotonin function. We suggest that antidepressants act in part by effects on social behaviour, which leads to a gradual improvement in mood. We review the evidence supporting the idea that antidepressants may be moving behaviour from quarrelsome to agreeable. The more positive social responses of interaction partners would initiate a cycle of more positive social behaviour, and this iterative process would result in a clinically significant improvement in mood., Introduction Two important characteristics of antidepressant drugs are that they are not as effective as an ideal antidepressant would be, and there is a delay in their maximal effect. A [...]

Background: Psychopathic offenders inevitably violate interpersonal norms and frequently resort to aggressive and criminal behaviour. The affective and cognitive deficits underlying these behaviours have been linked to abnormalities in functional interhemispheric connectivity. However, direct neurophysiological evidence for dysfunctional connectivity in psychopathic offenders is lacking. Methods: We used transcranial magnetic stimulation combined with electroencephalography to examine interhemispheric connectivity in the dorsolateral and motor cortex in a sample of psychopathic offenders and healthy controls. We also measured intracortical inhibition and facilitation over the left and right motor cortex to investigate the effects of local cortical processes on interhemispheric connectivity. Results: We enrolled 17 psychopathic offenders and 14 controls in our study. Global abnormalities in right to left functional connectivity were observed in psychopathic offenders compared with controls. Furthermore, in contrast to controls, psychopathic offenders showed increased intracortical inhibition in the right, but not the left, hemisphere. Limitations: The relatively small sample size limited the sensitivity to show that the abnormalities in interhemispheric connectivity were specifically related to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in psychopathic offenders. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this study provides the first neurophysiological evidence for abnormal interhemispheric connectivity in psychopathic offenders and may further our understanding of the disruptive antisocial behaviour of these offenders., Introduction Psychopathic individuals show profound impairments in affective functioning and live a life characterized by impulsivity, irresponsibility and recurrent criminal behaviour. Although most research on psychopathy has focused on the [...]

Recent research indicates that suicide rates are elevated in those living at higher altitudes in both the United States and South Korea. A possible mechanism that was proposed is metabolic stress associated with hypoxia. This commentary discusses these results, and also the association between elevated suicide rates and other conditions associated with hypoxia (smoking, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma). Tryptophan hydroxylase may not normally be saturated with oxygen, so mild hypoxia would decrease serotonin synthesis. Low brain serotonin is known to be associated with suicide. Thus, the commentary proposes and discusses the hypothesis that decreased brain serotonin synthesis associated with hypoxia is a mechanism that may contribute to suicide in conditions causing hypoxia. Finally the commentary proposes various studies that could test aspects of this hypothesis., Introduction Thirty years ago Katz (1) discussed the possible clinical implications of the fact that tryptophan hydroxylase and tyrosine hydroxylase are not normally fully saturated with one of their substrates, [...]

Three types of evidence are considered for the view that the propensity of humans to fear snakes is derived from our evolutionary history. It is argued that findings from investigations of adult fears have no specific bearing on the issue, as ontogenic and phylogenic explanations are confounded in such studies. The results of studies of fear acquisition by rhesus monkeys are also considered. These studies are interesting, but their relevance is questionable in the context of earlier studies of fears in chimpanzees, which did not identify a special status for snakes as fear stimuli. A number of studies of snake fears in young children are considered. These studies are promising but far from conclusive. All have methodological and interpretive limitations. It is concluded that it is premature to conclude that snake fears have an evolutionary basis. Key words: snake, evolution, fear, preparedness, Seligman (1970) proposed that many important learning outcomes are a result of biological preparedness. That is, Seligman suggested that a given conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus pairing in classical conditioning [...]

The present study examined risk-taking behavior in relation to sexual and monetary outcomes using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Adult men (n = 61) completed two modified BART tasks (one with monetary outcomes and one with sexual outcomes) and a battery of self-report measures concerning sexual and nonsexual constructs. Several findings are reported. First, risk-taking behavior concerning sexual outcomes can be evoked and quantified using the modified BART task reported here. Second, risk-taking for money was associated with latent factors associated with criminal behavior, drug use, and gambling. Third, risk taking for sexual outcomes was associated with the latent factors of sexual excitability and criminal behavior. Results suggest that stimulus-specific measures of risk taking are better associated with some outcomes. Study findings are discussed in terms of their relevance to laboratory research on the behavioral processes that underlie risky decision making. Key words: risk taking, decision making, sexual, domain specific, Sexual risk behaviors (SRBs; unprotected vaginal, anal, or oral sex) significantly increase the risk of a variety of negative and/or unwanted long-term outcomes. In the United States alone, there are [...]

The present study examined the effectiveness of the Relational Completion Procedure (RCP) in establishing arbitrarily applicable comparative relations after training with either linear (Experiment 1) or non-linear (Experiment 2) arbitrary relations. Linear relations were those presented in a sequential order (i.e., A--B, B--C, C--D, etc.), while nonlinear relations were presented in a nonsequential order (i.e., C--D, B--C, A--B, etc.). After nonarbitrary relational training and testing to establish the contextual functions of MORE THAN and LESS THAN, adults underwent constructed-response nonarbitrary relational training and testing with physically dissimilar stimuli in which they were required to 'complete' relational sentences in the presence of the cues. Next, during arbitrary relational training with abstract stimuli, participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 training groups: All-More (E > D, D > C, C > B, and B > A), All-Less (A < B, B < C, C < D, and D < E), and Less-More (A < B, B < C, D > C, and E > D). Finally, during arbitrary relational testing, probes for mutually entailed relations were followed by probes for 1- and 2-node combinatorially entailed relations. The yield, or percentage of participants passing, was 83% in Experiment 1 and 91.6% in Experiment 2. Our findings demonstrate that the RCP was successful in establishing arbitrarily applicable comparative relations with adults regardless of the order in which the arbitrary relational training trials were presented. Key words: arbitrarily applicable comparative relations, More Than, Less Than, Relational Completion Procedure, constructed response, linear, adults, An extensive empirical literature now attests to the fact that human participants may come to respond in accordance with multiple stimulus relations, such as Same and Opposite, Before and After, [...]

The current study employed a stimulus equivalence paradigm to assess the ability of the recently developed Function Acquisition Speed Test (FAST) to measure the existence and strength of experimentally produced derived relations. Twenty-two participants were exposed to a One-to-Many stimulus equivalence training procedure (A1--B1, A1--C1, A2--B2, A2--C2), followed by testing for derived B1--C1 and B2--C2 relations. All participants were then exposed to a FAST procedure in which a simple common operant response was established for pairs of equivalent stimuli (e.g., B1 and C1) in one block of training. In another bock of training, a common response was established for pairs of nonequivalent stimuli (e.g., B1 and C2). Trial numbers required for participants to reach mastery criteria differed across the two FAST blocks, as expected, but only for those participants who had passed the prior equivalence testing phase. This finding suggest that the FAST procedure functions as both a concurrent measure of stimulus equivalence class emergence and a functional-analytic tool that might assess unreinforced and socially sensitive stimulus relations formed in the world outside the laboratory. Large inter- and intra-participant variations in performances across FAST blocks are discussed. Key words: implicit test, Function Acquisition Speed Test, stimulus equivalence, derived relations, attitude measurement, The Function Acquisition Speed Test (FAST; O'Reilly, Roche, Ruiz, Tyndall, & Gavin, 2012) is an emerging test methodology for assessing participants' histories of relational responding and stimulus relations. The FAST [...]

The relationship between nostalgia and coping during difficult times was explored in 2 empirical studies. In the first, 80 undergraduates, 60 women and 20 men, completed the Nostalgia Inventory, a measure of nostalgia proneness, the COPE Inventory, a dispositional measure of strategies for coping with stressful events, and the Childhood Survey, a survey of impressions of childhood experiences. Nostalgia proneness correlated with use of adaptive coping, including emotional social support, expressing emotions, turning to religion, and suppressing competing activities, and did not correlate with escapist or avoidance strategies, including denial, behavioral disengagement, and substance abuse. Nostalgia proneness was related positively to favorable emotional and behavioral childhood experiences and did not correlate with adverse experiences. Favorable impressions of childhood correlated positively with adaptive coping strategies and inversely with dysfunctional ones, whereas unfavorable childhood experiences correlated positively with dysfunctional coping. Regression analyses suggested that the relationship between nostalgia proneness and certain coping strategies may be mediated in part by childhood experiences. In a second study, 100 undergraduates, 86 women and 14 men, completed the Nostalgia Inventory, recalled autobiographical memories that illustrated how childhood is either special or similar to their present life, and rated their likely use of strategies in dealing with 2 hypothetical problems. Nostalgia proneness correlated with emotional and instrumental social coping and with the goal-directed strategies of planning, taking action, and positive refraining. Further research is recommended to explore the role of childhood memories in coping and to identify mechanisms that mediate the relationship between nostalgia and coping., Nathaniel Hawthorne (1860/1983, p. 978) observed that in every crisis the greatest consolation, derived from the transitoriness of all things, is the realization that 'this, too, will pass away.' Appreciating [...]

College students were presented with 4 events to be explained. Each event was accompanied by either a target explanation or a target and an alternative, and all explanations were causal mechanistic. For each event, participants were also presented with 12 pieces of information. Four of the 12 pieces were causally consistent with the target, 4 with the alternative, and 4 were neutral. Participants were assigned to one of 3 strategy conditions, depending on what they were explicitly told to do: confirm, disconfirm, or evaluate the target explanation. People told to disconfirm were more likely than people in the other conditions to cite, as strategy appropriate, information that was in fact neutral. In addition, across strategy conditions, the presence of an alternative decreased the likelihood of identifying, as appropriate to the strategy, information that was strategy inappropriate. Results are discussed in terms of inference to the best explanation and in terms of confirmation bias., Explanation has been shown to play an important role in a variety of tasks, including categorization (Gelman & Coley, 1990), induction (Sloman, Love, & Ahn, 1998), causal and scientific reasoning [...]

People who text messages often shorten words by eliminating internal letters (e.g., 'climate, clmte'). Although these novel representations (i.e., subset word forms) are not true words, sentence context may prime semantic activation. We hypothesized that if participants are presented with a context sentence prime containing a subset form target word, then participants' performance should improve when the stimulus is presented to the left visual field/right hemisphere (LVF/RH) because the RH is less reliant on correct orthography than the left hemisphere (LH).We also hypothesized that participants' bias of processing novel stimuli is a function of visual field and hemisphere presentation. The results supported the hypothesis. When participants were shown subset word forms in the LVF/RH, their accuracy was significantly greater than when they were shown in the RVF/LH. Additionally, signal detection theory was applied to the results and substantiated the findings that participants' bias toward processing subset and orthographically correct words is a function of visual field and hemisphere presentation., The introduction of modern digital communication technologies such as electronic mail (i.e., e-mail), online instant messaging, and text messaging greatly increases the use and invention of novel language. Indeed, this [...]

In the thought suppression literature the completion of one suppression and one expression phase is called an indulgence cycle. The current study aimed to determine the effects on thought frequency of entering multiple indulgence cycles. Participants were assigned to one of two groups. The repeated suppression group was required to complete 3 suppression and 3 think free phases in alternating fashion. The suppress think free group was required to complete I suppression phase before entering 5 think free phases. Participants pressed a spacebar to report each unwanted target thought occurrence. Participants in the repeated suppression group experienced maintenance of the number of unwanted thought intrusions in both suppression and think free phases, whereas those in the suppress think free group experienced a significant decline in target thought occurrence. The maintenance effect of engaging in repeated suppression attempts is discussed., Thought suppression is the attempted removal of unwanted thoughts from consciousness (Wegner, Schneider, Carter, & White, 1987). Repeated empirical demonstrations have found that attempted thought suppression may be ineffective and [...]

The susceptibility of eyewitnesses to verbal suggestion has been well documented, although little attention has been paid to the role of nonverbal communication in misinformation. Three experiments are reported; in each, participants watched footage of a crime scene before being questioned about what they had observed. In Experiments 1 and 2, an on-screen interviewer accompanied identically worded questions with gestures that either conveyed accurate information about the scene or conveyed false, misleading information. The misleading gestures significantly influenced recall, and participants' responses were consistent with the gestured information. In Experiment 3, a live interview was conducted, and the gestural misinformation effect was found to be robust; participants were influenced by misleading gestures performed by the interviewer during questioning. These findings provide compelling evidence for the gestural misinformation effect, whereby subtle hand gestures can implant information and distort the testimony of eyewitnesses. The practical and legal implications of these findings are discussed., The reliability of eyewitnesses' memory has been a key issue in forensic research, and a wealth of studies have highlighted eyewitnesses' sensitivity to misleading postevent information. Most notably, studies have [...]

Previous studies have found that potentially dangerous stimuli are better at capturing attention than neutral stimuli, a finding sometimes called the threat superiority effect. However, non-threatening stimuli also capture attention in many studies of visual attention. In Experiment 1, the relevance superiority effect was tested with a visual search task comparing detection times for threatening stimuli (guns), pleasant but motivationally relevant stimuli (food), and neutral stimuli (flowers and chairs). Gun targets were detected more rapidly than both types of neutral targets, whereas food targets were detected more quickly than the neutral chair targets only. Guns were detected more rapidly than food. In Experiment 2, threatening targets (guns and snakes), pleasant but motivationally relevant targets (money and food), and neutral targets (trees and couches) were all presented with the same neutral distractors (cactus and pots) in order to control for the valence of the distractor stimulus across the three categories of target stimuli. Threatening and pleasant target categories facilitated attention relative to neutral targets. The results support the view that both threatening and pleasant pictures can be detected more rapidly than neutral targets., Amid an array of objects and scenes, certain things seem to capture attention more than others. In laboratory research using visual search or restricted awareness techniques, faces displaying angry (Esteves, [...]

The similarity between moral and visceral disgust is a current topic of debate. One method of investigating this issue has been to examine the use of language. Prior work has shown that the words disgust and anger are often used interchangeably to describe offense toward immoral behavior involving harm (autonomy violations), whereas 'grossed out' is reserved for viscerally repulsive stimuli. Based on these findings we developed a questionnaire and tested 126 undergraduates for how they used the words disgusted, angry grossed out, and morally right or morally wrong to rate various responses toward ethics of autonomy social situations. We found that grossed out was least endorsed for these transgressions and that ratings on this measure did not correspond to ratings of moral wrongness. Moreover, individual differences in visceral disgust sensitivity had no association with participants' evaluations or use of any of the descriptors. By contrast, ratings for angry and disgusted were equivalently and highly endorsed for autonomy violations, and the ratings given with these descriptors also corresponded to the ratings given for moral wrongness. These findings add to growing evidence that moral disgust is not visceral (gross) but rather appears to be representative of anger even though autonomy violations are often labeled as 'disgusting.', From a functionalist perspective, emotions are adaptive solutions to environmental stimuli that help promote our survival by eliciting sets of coordinated appraisals, communicative gestures, physiological responses, and action tendencies that [...]

A controlled trial was conducted to investigate the effect of a brief mindfulness-based intervention on the frequency, and difficulty in 'letting go' of anxious self-statements. Each day for a week participants in the treatment group (n = 28) listened to the Leaves on a Stream mindfulness exercise (LeJeune, 2012), while those in the control group (n = 29) listened to a passage of prose of equal duration. The mean scores of both groups improved from pre- to post-intervention. However, after intervention, the treatment group did not display lower frequency or difficulty in letting go of anxious self-statements than the control group. Explanations for, and practical implications of, these results are discussed. Key Words: Mindfulness, decentering, anxiety, negative cognitions, The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of the mindfulness based exercise Leaves on a Stream (LeJeune, 2012) on frequency, and difficulty in 'letting go' of, [...]

While most studies of emotion recognition in Asperger's Syndrome (AS) have focused solely on the verbal decoding of affective states, the current research employed the novel technique of using both nonverbal matching and verbal labeling tasks to examine the decoding of emotional body postures and facial expressions. AS participants performed as accurately as controls at matching fear body postures, but were significantly less accurate than controls verbally identifying these same stimuli. This profile arguably indicates that that while the AS participants were aware that the fear body posture stimuli represented a distinct emotion, they were unsure as to which specific emotion. In addition, the AS participants took significantly longer than the controls to respond to anger body posture stimuli on a matching task. However, in contrast to previous studies, AS and control participants did not differ significantly in their responses to facial expression stimuli, in terms of either accuracy or response times. Keywords Asperger's * Autism * Body posture * Facial expression * Emotion, Introduction Generally considered to be a form of High-Functioning Autism (HFA; Miller and Ozonoff 2000), Asperger's Syndrome (AS) is estimated to affect approximately 0.092 % of the population (Gillberg et [...]

Unmitigated communion (UC) refers to the tendency to sacrificially care for others while failing to protect one's own needs within intimate relationships. Two studies were conducted to develop a new [...]

Rejection sensitivity (RS) is a trait that may affect the quality of social relationships. Individuals high in RS exhibit maladaptive behaviors and poor interpersonal skills. RS develops from early childhood experiences of rejection. We examined whether one's past time perspective (positive or negative) predicted RS regardless of reported past social experiences. Two studies measuring demographics, Big Five personality factors (Study 1) as well as childhood rejection experiences (Study 2), and the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory found that even after controlling for such variables, more past-negative time perspective led to higher RS while more past-positive time perspective led to lower RS. We discuss how past social rejections and time perspective may interact and discuss future work on the two constructs. Key words: rejection sensitivity, time perspective, interpersonal relations, cognitive processes, Social rejection is a fundamental aspect of human interactions. Williams (2001) estimated that over a course of a lifetime, the average person experiences thousands of instances of social exclusion. Although [...]

The comprehensive exchange between Noel Carroll and Peter Kivy, which took place in 2007, addressed key issues in the relationship between music and affect. More than in any prior philosophical debate on this topic, experimental psychologists' methods and data played a significant role. However, to a nontrivial extent, the findings--perhaps especially the dubious--were misconstrued or misused, usually without acknowledging the existence of contrary data-based opinion within the psychology of music itself. Therefore, one objective of the present article is to identify the specific problematic features and shed light on the broader context shared by the two disciplines. A complementary goal is to examine contributions to philosophers' transgressions by music psychologists' insufficiently conscientious reporting, frequent overgeneralizations, and unawareness of philosophers' critical arguments. Another objective is to examine the current status of key concepts--the relevant music, basic emotions, mood, expression, induction, movement and dance, and methods (including introspection and experimental procedures)--thus perhaps enabling the discussion of music and affect to proceed with fewer misunderstandings. Finally, the article moves beyond the initial debate and builds on a remarkable agreement of philosophical and psychological opinion on a key issue (the induction of non-basic emotions by absolute music) to reach a new conceptual ground., I. Introduction The starting point of this article was an extensive and detailed exchange that took place in 2007 between Noel Carroll and Peter Kivy, both philosophers of music (Laura [...]

Young people perceive loneliness as a distressing emotional experience associated with sadness and boredom. Also, feelings of loneliness may be associated with psychosocial and emotional problems during adolescence. The aim of this study was to investigate whether perceived social competence mediated the cross-sectional relationship between sport participation and loneliness in young people when controlling for age, sex, shyness, and non-organized physical activity. This cross-sectional study consisted of 2,055 pupils (995 boys and 1,060 girls) from 38 schools in Norway, with a mean age of 15.3 years. In addition to normal theory regression procedures, bootstrapping techniques were used to test the hypothesized indirect effect. Findings revealed that sport participation was inversely associated with loneliness mediated by perceived social competence. This indirect effect was evident when controlling for age, sex, non-organized physical activity and shyness. Findings suggest that sport participation during adolescence is indirectly associated with lower level of loneliness through higher level of perceived social competence. One may argue that sport participation during adolescence can contain important social components that help meet young peoples' social needs and expectations, which in turn may prevent feelings of loneliness. Keywords Sport participation * Loneliness * Perceived social competence * Non-organized physical activity * Shyness, Introduction Loneliness is thought to be a common experience, especially during adolescence (Heinrich and Gullone 2006; Perlman and Landolt 1999). Loneliness may be defined as a negative emotional response to [...]

Procrastination, putting off until tomorrow what one had intended to do today, is a well-known phenomenon in everyday life. In an attempt to understand the character of procrastination, a large body of research has been accumulating over the last 40 years. The present study was to evaluate the need to distinguish between procrastination in different life-domains by gathering first hints as to whether procrastination is domain specific or domain general. In an online survey on 260 students (mean age = 23.56; SD = 3.74) the procrastination frequency in 6 different life-domains (academic and work, everyday routines and obligations, health, leisure, family and partnership, social contacts) was examined. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and the analysis of mean-level differences revealed that procrastination is domain specific, but not extremely so. The results encourage further investigations into the domain specificity of procrastination and suggest that future diagnoses of and interventions for procrastination will profit from considering the life-domain procrastination occurs in. Keywords Procrastination * Academic procrastination * Life-domains * Domain specificity, Procrastination, putting off until tomorrow what one had intended to do today, is a well-known and frequently experienced phenomenon. Procrastination is usually defined as 'the purposive delay in the beginning [...]

Is madness medical disease, problems in living, or social labeling of deviance? Does the word merely refer to behavior peculiar enough to be disturbing? Are the mad mad because of mental, physical, or environmental vulnerabilities? No one knows the answers to these questions because there is no scientific validation for any theory or specific causes of madness. Nonetheless, a view of madness as medical/bodily disease has been receiving concrete and rhetorical support from the government mental health bureaucracy, Big Pharma, mental health lobby groups, the organized profession of psychiatry, hundreds of thousands of providers of mental health services and countless books and articles. This article explores the role that medicalized language and its use by seven noted historians of psychiatry (Norman Dain, Albert Deutsch, Gerald Grob, Roy Porter, Charles Rosenberg, Andrew Scull, and Edward Shorter) might have played in shaping the contemporary view of madness as mental illness. The evidence we uncover suggests that historical 'facts' about madness, much as psychiatric 'facts' supporting the disease model, are shaped by belief, bias, error or ambiguous rhetoric rather than the facts of the matter. Keywords Psychiatry * History * Madness * Mental illness * Medicalization * Psychiatric language * Mental health, Introduction Thousands of volumes have been written over the centuries about the true nature and definition of madness. Yet, as the medical historian Roy Porter notes, our current definitions depend [...]

Hypotheses were tested as explanations for why men and women have specific hair color preferences for mates. Traditional evolutionary psychology approaches suggest that men should prefer light hair on women because it signals youth and health, while women should desire dark hair on men because it signals maturity and stability. Repeated exposure predicts people prefer the hair color on mates they are exposed to most frequently. Uniqueness implies that men and women should desire the least prevalent hair colors on potential mates because of its scarcity and rarity. Findings primarily support traditional evolutionary psychology predictions and occasionally the repeated exposure hypothesis, but not uniqueness predictions. Sex and regional differences indicate that social and evolutionary processes combine to influence hair color preferences. Keywords Repeated exposure * Uniqueness * Evolutionary psychology * Hair color preferences * Sex differences * Regional differences * Mate preferences, Attracting the attention and desire of potential mates can be a difficult and discouraging task (Hendrick and Hendrick 2001). Men and women go to great lengths to gain the attention [...]

The Thurstone Verbal Fluency Test, Vandenberg Mental Rotation Test, and NEO-FFI personality test were administered to 182 university participants (126 female, 56 male). The men scored higher than the women on the spatial test, and the women scored higher than the men for the verbal fluency test, as reported by others. Women reported more extraversion and agreeableness than men. Extraversion was correlated with verbal fluency for both sexes. For the men, verbal fluency was also positively associated with agreeableness, and for the women, verbal fluency was associated with openness and conscientiousness. No relationships between personality and spatial ability were found. Thus, the relationships between cognitive variables and personality factors differed between the sexes. These findings are discussed in terms of the common frontal neural substrate of verbal fluency and these aspects of personality, as well as the inherently social nature of language as a communication tool. Keywords Verbal fluency * Personality * Sex differences, There has been a renewed interest in the relationship of personality variables to cognitive variables, as well as an interest in mapping these variables onto brain structure. Older reports include [...]

The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is an alternative/augmentative communication protocol designed to help children and adults with autism and related disabilities to engage in functional communication. The protocol was developed over a number of years and was based on Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior. Publications about the application and effectiveness of PECS have grown steadily. However, there also are many misconceptions about the protocol and its implementation. This paper reviews some of the research associated with PECS, describes several myths and misconceptions, and attempts to clarify many of the issues raised. Key words: PECS, verbal behavior, communication training, AAC, The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) was developed over a number of years beginning in the late 1980s. Lori Frost, a speech-language pathologist, and I worked within a statewide public [...]

The purpose of this review is to introduce the reader to the concepts of delay and probability discounting as well as the major empirical findings to emerge from research with humans on these concepts. First, we review a seminal discounting study by Rachlin, Raineri, and Cross (1991) as well as an influential extension of this study by Madden, Petry, Badger, and Bickel (1997). In doing so, we describe the general procedure used for assessing discounting and the resulting form of the obtained discounting functions. With this as background, we review additional empirical findings that have emerged over the last 20 years, by addressing issues such as time consistency and preference reversals, magnitude effects, and the gain--loss asymmetry. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of more recent developments and their implications for the future of this growing area. Key words: delay discounting, probability discounting, choice, impulsivity, risky behavior, decision making, The topics of delay and probability discounting have received substantial empirical and conceptual attention in recent years (Madden & Bickel, 2010). Delay discounting refers to the decrease in the subjective [...]

The tip-of-the-tongue experience (TOT) is a universal phenomenon in which a speaker Cannot fully produce a word that he or she believes will eventually be recalled and could easily be recognized. The purpose of the current experiment is to determine how variables such as word concreteness and word frequency influence TOT rates. Participants were shown word definitions that varied (low vs. high) on the basis of concreteness and frequency and were provided with the opportunity to report the corresponding word. Low-frequency words produced higher TOT rates, as previously reported in the literature (e.g., Harley & Bown, 1998); however, the current study is the first to demonstrate that words with low concreteness also lead to higher TOT proportions. Key words: tip-of-the-tongue, concreteness, word frequency, lexical retrieval, The purpose of the current experiment is to investigate the potential effect of word concreteness on the rate of tip-of-the-tongue experiences (TOTs), in addition to replicating word-frequency effects reported in [...]

We analyzed stimulus class formation in a human study and in a connectionist model (CM) with a yes/no procedure, using compound stimuli. In the human study, the participants were six female undergraduate students; the CM was a feed-forward back-propagation network. Two 3-member stimulus classes were trained with a similar procedure in both the human participants and the model. During training, the compound stimuli A1B1, A2B2, B1C1, B2C2 were associated with the yes response, and A1B2, A2B1, B1C2, B2C1 were associated with the no response. During testing, we probe the emergence of the yes and no responses in the presence of new compound stimuli (Aid, A2C2, AlC2, A2C1). Four participants and five out of six runs of the CM exhibited stimulus class formation. These results show the usefulness of the yes/no procedure for simulating stimulus class formation in a CM in contrast with the models inspired in matching-to-sample procedures. Key words: connectionist modeling, stimulus class formation, compound stimuli, yes/no procedure, adult humans, Stimulus classes or categories have been defined as stimulus sets that occasion common responses in a specific context; such sets include stimuli involved in an explicit learning history and new [...]

The present study investigated the effect of the presence of the experimenter on behavioral sensitivity to contingency change. In history training, college students were exposed to differential reinforcement of low rate (DRL) and fixed-ratio (FR) schedules, and in testing, to a fixed-interval (FI) schedule. For the control group, instructions were never provided, whereas for the without-observer and with-observer groups, inaccurate instructions were given (variable ratio [VR], fixed time [FT], and differential reinforcement of high rate [DRH], respectively). The experimenter was present during testing for the with-observer group. In history training, DRL response rates were lower than FR rates with or without instructions. In testing, the control and without-observer groups showed lower response rates and a more efficient behavioral patterning than did the with-observer group. These results indicate that instruction following was affected by the presence of the experimenter despite a history of no reinforcement for such behavior, and they suggest that instructional control may be strengthened by social contingencies. Key words: reinforcement history, instructions, monitoring, social control, behavior sensitivity, History effects are concerned with the contribution of past reinforcement and punishing contingencies to the acquisition and maintenance of current behavior. For studying such effects, researchers have employed an experimental [...]

One member of each pair of 52 undergraduates, referred to as a learner, was trained BC conditional discriminations, with B stimuli as the samples and C stimuli as the correct comparisons. Responses of the learner were either reinforced or punished by another member of each pair, an instructor, who had previously mastered AC conditional discriminations, with A stimuli as the samples. The B sample stimuli were presented simultaneously with the A stimuli so that only the instructor could see the latter. Each learner mastered the BC conditional discriminations from his or her instructor, regardless of whether the learner saw the instructor in advance or not. Performance was less accurate when the B stimuli corresponded 83.3% with the A stimuli than when they corresponded 100%. These results extend previous findings on private events obtained from only two of eight pairs when the stimuli always corresponded. Key words: private events, conditional discrimination, teaching, social interactions, key press, humans, Private events have generally been defined structurally as those that occur within the skin of a person (Anderson, Hawkins, & Scotti, 1997) and functionally as events that are directly accessible [...]

In the current study, 3 participants with a history of problem gambling were exposed to computerized slot machine play consisting of outcomes that depicted wins, losses, and near misses (2 out of 3 identical slot machine symbols). Participants were asked to rate each type of outcome in terms of its closeness to a win on a scale of 1 to 10 before and after a brief acceptance and commitment therapy intervention. The intervention, which was specifically designed to address one type of rule following in gamblers called the near-miss effect, was delivered via a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation within a brief experimental session. Results were evaluated within a multiple-baseline-across-participants design and demonstrated a decrease in the near-miss effect after intervention. Implications for treatment of problem gambling are discussed. Key words: problem gambling, near-miss effect, treatment, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), As legal provision of gambling opportunities continues, the search for effective treatment for pathological gambling should follow suit. The prevalence rates of problem and pathological gambling combined are almost 3% [...]

The current article examined patterns of adult responding to arbitrary more-than and less-than relations across a range of real-world tasks. Previous research had reported weak performances on specific types of comparative relations presented in an automated task but also demonstrated that these could be significantly improved with feedback and nonarbitrary trial presentations. The current research sought to replicate these findings and explore the remediation of relational responding in more real-world tasks. The findings demonstrated that weaknesses in comparative relations were also recorded on these tasks, but feedback and nonarbitrary trials were equally effective in this context. The implications of the research for the further development of interventions for remediating deficits in relational responding are discussed. Key words: relational frame theory, relational responding, remediation, Numerous studies have provided empirical support for the types of relational repertoires suggested by relational frame theory (RFT), and for the operant nature of this behavior (Dymond & Barnes, 1996; [...]

The effects of social praise contingent on either usual (conventional) or unusual (unconventional) responses during an object uses task were assessed on measures of generalized creativity in two novel, unrelated tasks. Participants were 20 older adults, ages 63 to 89 years (M = 80.90), who were recruited from a joint skilled nursing and assisted living facility. In a counterbalanced within-subjects design, participants completed both experimental conditions across two sessions separated by 6 to 10 days. Consistent with learned industriousness theory, social praise contingent on unconventional responses during the initial task was associated with increases in both objective and subjective measures of creativity in subsequent tasks. These findings indicate that social praise contingent on creative responses functioned as reinforcement and can increase generalized creativity in older adults living in a residential care setting. Key words: creativity, social reinforcement, older adults, residential care, generalization, learned industriousness theory, Creativity may be defined as 'the generation of novel behavior that meets a standard of quality or utility' (Eisenberger, Haskins, & Gambleton, 1999, P. 308). Beginning in middle age and [...]