Physiological and cognitive effects of expressive dissonance

Emotional well-being depends in part on affect modulation. The present study extends research on emotion regulation by assessing the physiological and cognitive effects of a novel response-focused regulation strategy, termed 'expressive dissonance.' Expressive dissonance refers to the incongruence between an emotional state (e.g., sadness) and a behavioral expression (e.g., a smile). Fifty-five participants watched a series of sad film clips in which they were asked to either naturally watch or express the opposite of what they were feeling. Results suggest that persons using the expressive dissonant strategies evidenced greater sympathetic arousal and performed worse on subsequent memory tasks than persons in the natural-watch conditions.     

The similarities between cognitive dissonance and guilt: Confession as a relief of dissonance

It is proposed that dissonance is similar to the feeling of guilt. If they are in fact analogous, and confession relieves guilt, then one implication is that confession would relieve dissonance. This experiment tested this prediction using a standard induced compliance paradigm. Forty-five undergraduate subjects were assigned to either a no-choice condition, a choice-confession condition, or a choice-no-confession condition. The results indicate that confession does relieve dissonance. Further, as predicted, a negative correlation was found between attitudinal shift and guilt. The implications of the findings concerning the mechanisms of confession are discussed.     

The similarities between cognitive dissonance and guilt: Confession as a relief of dissonance

It is proposed that dissonance is similar to the feeling of guilt. If they are in fact analogous, and confession relieves guilt, then one implication is that confession would relieve dissonance. This experiment tested this prediction using a standard induced compliance paradigm. Forty-five undergraduate subjects were assigned to either a no-choice condition, a choice-confession condition, or a choice-no-confession condition. The results indicate that confession does relieve dissonance. Further, as predicted, a negative correlation was found between attitudinal shift and guilt. The implications of the findings concerning the mechanisms of confession are discussed.     

Dealing with dissonance: A review of cognitive dissonance reduction

This article provides an overview of research about cognitive dissonance reduction. Over the past 60 years, researchers have produced significant theoretical and empirical contributions from cognitive dissonance theory. One of the challenges that remains for dissonance theory going forward is a deeper examination of the process of dissonance reduction. I describe the various reduction strategies that have been investigated followed by models that have been proposed to understand an individual's use of dissonance reduction strategies. I then highlight a series of factors that can help us move research about dissonance reduction forward. These factors can be broadly subsumed under characteristics of the reduction mode and characteristics of the dissonance arousal. I conclude by suggesting that examination of these factors in studies that present multiple reduction modes to participants will provide a better understanding of the process of dissonance reduction.     

Anchoring effects on performance judgments

Three studies were conducted investigating the effects of irrelevant anchors on performance judgments. Both a lab and field study demonstrated that an alternative anchoring manipulation that did not involve an explicit comparative question had effects on performance judgments similar to a traditional anchoring manipulation. The final study examined whether the anchoring effects were more likely when the anchor was highly applicable to the final judgment. The results indicated that both highly applicable and low applicable anchors produced an anchoring effect, but the highly applicable anchors had a larger effect on performance judgments. Evidence was also found for asymmetrical anchoring effects. In two of the three studies, high anchors increased performance judgments relative to the control group, whereas low anchors were not significantly different from the control group.     

Psychophysiological effects of emotional dissonance in a face-to-face service interaction

Abstract

Current research demonstrates that requirements to express emotions which are not genuinely felt in the particular situation (emotional dissonance) are associated with negative long and short-term effects. The aim of the present study was to investigate: (a) the psychophysiological short-term effects of emotional dissonance in a face-to-face service interaction and (b) the moderating role of gender and neuroticism. In total, 32 women and 27 men were instructed to play the role of a service employee, who had to interact with an angry and rude customer. Half of the sample was given information that the organization expected them to be friendly (emotional dissonance), the other half was told they were expected to act naturally and show their genuine feelings (no emotional dissonance). Subjective and behavioral responses revealed that participants in the “friendly” condition modulated their emotional expressions to a greater extent than those in the “naturally” condition. Participants in the “friendly” condition showed stronger systolic and diastolic blood pressure responses. Furthermore, hierarchical regression analyses yielded that gender and neuroticism partly moderated the association between emotional dissonance and participants' psychophysiological response.     

The effects of unvocalized music on short-term memory

The studies reported here investigated the role of background music in verbal processing. The experiment was a partial replication of Salame and Baddeley (1989), where the effect of music on the recall of digits, was examined, but included an additional key condition where participants heard instrumental music without the words usually associated with it. In this case we used nursery rhymes. In addition, articulatory suppression was manipulated as a tool to look at the role of working memory in the task. The relationship between long-term memory and working memory was further explored by using an implicit memory task to examine verbal memory effects for words associated with the music but not actually heard. The results indicated that background, instrumental music, long-associated with words, significantly impairs concurrent verbal processing. These long-term memory effects on working memory were, however, not associated with implicit memory effects, and no priming was observed.     

The effects of unvocalized music on short-term memory

The studies reported here investigated the role of background music in verbal processing. The experiment was a partial replication of Salame and Baddeley (1989), where the effect of music on the recall of digits, was examined, but included an additional key condition where participants heard instrumental music without the words usually associated with it. In this case we used nursery rhymes. In addition, articulatory suppression was manipulated as a tool to look at the role of working memory in the task. The relationship between long-term memory and working memory was further explored by using an implicit memory task to examine verbal memory effects for words associated with the music but not actually heard. The results indicated that background, instrumental music, long-associated with words, significantly impairs concurrent verbal processing. These long-term memory effects on working memory were, however, not associated with implicit memory effects, and no priming was observed.     

Anchoring effects on early autobiographical memories

Studies of childhood memory typically show that our earliest memories come from between three and four years of age. This finding is not universal, however. The age estimate varies across cultures and is affected by social influences. Research from the judgments and decision-making literature suggests that these estimates might also involve a judgment under uncertainty. Therefore, they might be susceptible to less social influences such as heuristics and biases. To investigate this possibility, we conducted two experiments that used anchoring paradigms to influence participants’ estimates of their age during early autobiographical memories. In Experiment 1, participants answered either a high-anchor or a low-anchor question, and were warned that the anchor was uninformative; they went on to estimate their age during their earliest autobiographical memory. In Experiment 2, we replicated Experiment 1 and extended the design to examine additional early autobiographical memories. In both experiments, participants in the low-anchor condition gave earlier age estimates than those in the high-anchor condition. These results provide new insights into the methods used to investigate autobiographical memory. Moreover, they show that reports of early autobiographical memories can be influenced by a relatively light touch – a change to a single digit in a single question.     

Knowledge matters: Anchoring effects are moderated by knowledge level

Previous research into the relationship between knowledge level and anchoring effects has led to mixed conclusions. This paper presents four studies that used a diverse set of stimuli and paradigms to further investigate this relationship. In Study 1, greater knowledge was associated with smaller anchoring effects—both when knowledge was measured using subjective self‐assessments and when using an objective knowledge measure. In Study 2, participants from the USA and India tended to exhibit smaller anchoring effects when answering questions about their own country as compared with questions about the other country. In Study 3, higher knowledge was associated with smaller anchoring effects when examined at an idiographic level. Finally, in Study 4, providing participants with information designed to increase their knowledge led to a decrease in anchoring effects. The consistency of the results across our four studies provides evidence that anchoring effects are moderated by knowledge level in many situations. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Semantics of Anchoring

Previous research has demonstrated that judgmental anchoring effects—the assimilation of a numeric estimate to a previously considered standard—are semantic in nature. They result because the semantic knowledge about the target object that is activated during the comparison with the anchor influences the absolute judgment. In addition to this semantic influence, the numeric anchor value itself may also yield an effect under specific conditions. The present research was designed to examine the relative strength of both mechanisms and explore their boundary conditions. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate that semantic anchoring effects are more potent than purely numeric effects. Study 3 further suggests that purely numeric effects only operate if accessible semantic knowledge is inapplicable to the critical judgment so that semantic influences are incapacitated. The implications of these findings are discussed from the perspective of an integrative model which differentiates between two stages of anchoring. Whereas purely numeric influences appear to be limited to the stage of anchor selection, the actual comparison with the target involves more elaborate semantic processes.     

音乐干预对自闭症儿童语言障碍的影响

语言障碍是自闭症的核心症状之一,改善自闭症儿童的语言障碍对其日常生活具有重要意义。诸多研究证实音乐干预能够明显改善自闭症儿童的语言障碍。从干预材料的角度出发,音乐干预包括将音乐刺激与语言刺激严格匹配的音乐干预方法以及将音乐作为学习背景的音乐干预方法,二者均能有效促进自闭症儿童的语言表达和交流。目前最有代表性的自闭症语言障碍的音乐干预方法包括听觉动作通路训练(AMMT)、基于旋律的语言沟通治疗(MBCT)以及背景音乐干预方法。音乐干预方法的发展今后需着眼于音乐类型的选择、音乐与其他活动的结合,同时兼顾不同自闭症儿童群体的适用性以及音乐干预在生活中的推广。     

Judgment processes in motivation: Anchoring and adjustment effects on judgment and behavior

The behavioral correlates of human judgment have received little attention from judgment and decision making researchers. One behavioral domain that provides for the study of judgment-behavior relations is task motivation (i.e., the allocation of time and effort to a task). Judgments of contingent relations are primary components of several theories of motivation, including expectancy theories and the theory of behavior in organizations proposed by Naylor, Pritchard, and Ilgen (1980). The characteristics of heuristic judgment processes are hypothesized to affect contingency judgments and thus behavioral allocations of time and effort. This paper examines the effects of the anchoring and adjustment heuristic upon (a) judgments of future effort and performance and (b) upon actual allocations of time and effort using several types of anchoring information. Results indicate that both irrelevant and relevant information have strong anchoring effects on effort and performance judgments, but do not have concomitant effects on behavior. Implications for the role of judgment in motivation and for the link between judgment and behavior are discussed.     

同胞冲突及其解决:家庭子系统的影响

同胞冲突是指在一个完整的家庭中, 具有相同生身父母的两个或多个人在行为、目标或活动上所表达出的不相容, 其通常表现为争吵和敌对情绪以及相互间的攻击行为。父母干预同胞冲突的方式分为孩子中心策略、控制策略和不干预策略。家庭系统理论指出, 家庭是一个有等级结构的、动态的系统, 这个系统中的子系统(包括父母婚姻关系、亲子关系和同胞关系)是相互联系、相互影响的。基于这一理论, 探讨家庭子系统对同胞冲突的影响, 整合建构同胞冲突的理论假设模型, 以便从多路径的角度去分析同胞冲突的产生机制。未来的研究需要对同胞冲突及其相关概念进行区分或整合, 关注父母干预同胞冲突的方式的影响因素, 并且以发展的眼光去看待同胞冲突。     

中-西方音乐对情绪的诱发效应

研究基于西方音乐与中国音乐调性规则的异同,采用主观评定指标(情绪效价、唤醒度、紧张度)和生理指标(皮电、指脉率、指温),实验1考察了西方大调和小调在采用不同稳定性和声结构下的情绪诱发效应;实验2考察了中国宫调和羽调在采用不同稳定性和声结构下的情绪诱发效应。研究发现:(1)大调和宫调诱发了正性情绪,小调和羽调诱发了负性情绪,低稳定和声结构诱发的效价低于高稳定和声结构;(2)低稳定和声结构诱发的唤醒度高于高稳定和声结构;(3)大调条件下,低稳定和声结构诱发的紧张度高于高稳定和声结构;(4)低稳定和声结构诱发的皮电高于高稳定和声结构;(5)低稳定和声结构诱发的指脉率高于高稳定和声结构;(6)大调诱发的指温高于小调,宫调诱发的指温高于羽调。表明调性对情绪的诱发效应具有一定文化普遍性,调性诱发的情绪成分具有领域一般化特征。