Recent Decreases in Specific Interpretation Biases Predict Decreases in Neuroticism: Evidence From a Longitudinal Study With Young Adult Couples

Engaging in a romantic relationship represents one important life experience in young adulthood that has been shown to catalyze age‐related decrease in neuroticism (Neyer & Lehnart, 2007). The current research builds directly on this finding by investigating one process that underlies the partnership effect. We focused on the relationship‐specific interpretation bias (RIB; Finn, Mitte, & Neyer, 2013), which is the tendency to interpret ambiguous partner and relationship scenarios in a negative way. It was expected that the RIB decreases within relationships in young adulthood and that this decrease in turn predicts long‐term declines in neuroticism. A sample of 245 young adult romantic couples was assessed four times across 9 months. Actor and partner effects of changes in the RIB on changes in neuroticism were analyzed using a dyadic dual change model. Recent time‐to‐time decreases in the RIB predicted one's own (actor effect) decline in neuroticism across 9 months. Similarly, there was a trend for a partner effect. We conclude that changes in biased relationship‐specific interpretations reflect one unique process that contributes to the understanding of romantic relationship effects on personality development.     

Individual and dyadic associations among relational self‐expansion potential,affect, and perceived health

A growing body of literature suggests that specific markers of relationship quality are meaningfully linked to health outcomes. We tested whether relational self‐expansion potential might be one of these markers in cross‐sectional samples of individuals and romantic couples. Study 1 found that greater self‐expansion potential was linked to better perceived physical health via both higher positive affect (PA) and lower negative affect (NA). Study 2 replicated these findings for PA (but not NA) and revealed both actor and partner effects of self‐expansion potential. Results remained robust when statistically accounting for gender, age, body mass index, agreeableness, neuroticism, and perceived partner responsiveness. These findings identify a new relationship‐level “active ingredient” associated with health and have implications for future physical health studies.     

Asymmetric effect of context‐specific color priming on interpretation of ambiguous news articles

In the context of reading a news article as a source to predict the stock price of a company, people's interpretation of the article was biased by the color used as its background. We found that this bias was (a) asymmetric, (b) strengthened with ambiguity, and (c) context specific. First, the color‐priming effect was asymmetric. In Studies 1 and 2, the readers' interpretation was positively biased when the article was presented on a background color that signals up (green in the United States and red in South Korea). The interpretation, however, was not negatively biased when it was presented on a background color that signals down (red in the United States and blue in South Korea). Second, the effect was strengthened with ambiguity. Study 3 showed that the bias was stronger when the article describing the stock price was ambiguous than when it was unambiguous. Third, the effect appeared to be a consequence of the context‐specific experience of an individual. Study 4 showed that the bias was stronger among those who recognized the meaning of a particular color in the context of their stock market.     

Metaperceptions of bias in intimate relationships

Meta-awareness of bias in intimate partner judgments was investigated in 3 studies. In Study 1, participants rated fictional partners in happier relationships as more positively biased in their partner perceptions. In Study 2, participants thought their judgments of their own current partners were positively biased and that they were judged by their partners in a positively biased fashion. Using a sample of couples, Study 3 showed that metaperceptions of bias were anchored to actual levels of bias at the individual and relationship levels. In addition, positive bias was accentuated for traits that were more relevant to mate evaluation. These findings (as expected) suggest that positive bias in partner judgments can be a normative and consciously accessible feature of intimate relationships.     

Intrusive thoughts mediate the association between neuroticism and cognitive function

Although research has established a negative association between trait neuroticism and cognition, little is known about the mechanisms that underlie this relationship. We examined the tendency to experience intrusive thoughts and negative affect as potential mediators of the relationship between neuroticism and cognitive performance. We hypothesized that the tendency to experience intrusive thoughts reflects ineffective attentional control and would account for the relationship between neuroticism and cognitive performance over and above the mediating effect of negative affect. Three hundred seventeen adults (M_age = 49.43) completed a series of attention-demanding cognitive tasks as well as self-report measures of intrusive thoughts, negative affect, and neuroticism. Intrusive thoughts mediated the association between trait neuroticism and cognitive performance beyond negative affect. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the tendency to experience intrusive thoughts is a mechanism through which trait neuroticism influences cognitive performance.     

抑郁症人群的心境一致性认知偏向

心境一致性认知偏向指的是抑郁病人的认知加工偏向负性情绪效价, 简称认知偏向。大量行为学、电生理学以及脑成像学的研究显示该认知偏向主要包括知觉偏向、注意偏向、记忆偏向以及解释偏向。该认知偏向以加工偏向负性、积极偏向缺失以及认知控制受损为特点, 且是杏仁核等边缘系统对负性信息过度激活、纹状体对正性信息激活不足以及额区激活模式异常三个相应脑机制协同作用的产物。目前此领域存在各认知偏向之间联系不清楚、认知偏向和抑郁症的因果关系难以确定以及各研究结果不一致等有待回答的问题, 这些重要问题值得引起该领域未来研究者的注意。     

Moody and thin-skinned? The interplay of neuroticism and momentary affect in older romantic couples

Neuroticism is associated with heightened reactivity to social stressors. However, little is known about the micro-processes through which neuroticism shapes – and is shaped by – affective experiences in close relationships. We examine the extent to which momentary affect is coupled with one’s relationship partner, whether the strength of this coupling differs depending on levels of neuroticism, and whether this coupling and partner’s overall level of positive or negative affect prospectively contribute to differential (rank-order) changes in neuroticism. Older couples (N = 82, aged 67–93 years) rated their momentary affect six times per day for one week and provided ratings of trait neuroticism at baseline and 18 months later. Multilevel models revealed that among individuals high in neuroticism, individual positive affect was more closely coupled with partner positive affect compared with individuals low in neuroticism. Moreover, neuroticism decreased over time in those participants who showed a higher degree of coupling with partner positive affect and also had a partner with higher overall positive affect. In contrast, neuroticism increased in individuals whose partner had lower overall positive affect. Similar effects were not observed for negative affect. Our findings highlight how relationship partners contribute to daily affective experiences and longer-term changes in neuroticism.     

Evaluating a dual‐process model of risk: affect and cognition as determinants of risky choice

In three studies we addressed the impact of perceived risk and negative affect on risky choice. In Study 1, we tested a model that included both perceived risk and negative affect as predictors of risky choice. Study 2 and Study 3 replicated these findings and examined the impact of affective versus cognitive processing modes. In all the three studies, both perceived risk and negative affect were shown to be significant predictors of risky choice. Furthermore, Study 2 and Study 3 showed that an affective processing mode strengthened the relation between negative affect and risky choice and that a cognitive processing mode strengthened the relation between perceived risk and risky choice. Together, these findings show support for the idea of a dual‐process model of risky choice. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Forced choice reaction time paradigm in children with separation anxiety disorder, social phobia, and nonanxious controls

Cognitive distortions refer to cognitive processes that are biased and therefore yield dysfunctional and maladaptive products (e.g., interpretation bias). Automatic aspects of information processing need to be considered and investigating these aspects requires forms of assessment other than self-report. Studies focussing on the specificity of cognitive biases across different types of anxiety disorders in childhood are rare. Thus, a forced choice reaction time paradigm with picture stimuli was used to assess the interpretation bias in anxious children online. The study investigated disorder-specific interpretation bias in 71 children with separation anxiety disorder (SAD), 31 children with social phobia, and 42 children without mental disorders, aged 5–13 years. Results indicated that children with SAD rated ambiguous separation pictures as significantly more unpleasant and more arousing than nonanxious children. However, no support was found that children with SAD and social phobia interpret ambiguous separation or social pictures in a more negative way than nonanxious children. Furthermore, no group differences were found in reaction times to all picture categories.     

Neuroticism and well-being? Let's work on the positive rather than negative aspects

The present studies show that certain cognitive strategies (e.g. savoring, practicing gratitude) enable individuals high in neuroticism to maintain or recover their positive emotions. In Study 1, participants (regardless of neuroticism differences) felt positive about a pleasant event if they savored it; however, dampening the event caused individuals high but not low in neuroticism to feel less positive. Study 2 showed that being grateful for things in their lives helped participants maintain their affect balance after a positive mood induction, or regain their affect balance after a negative mood induction. This research is thus the first step toward illuminating how people (including individuals high in neuroticism) could improve their momentary affect via the alternative route of maintaining or increasing positive emotions, rather than the traditional solution of reducing negative emotions.     

You May Worry,But Can You Recognize Threats When You See Them?; Neuroticism,Threat Identifications,and Negative Affect

The present studies sought to investigate the hedonic consequences of threat-identification skills at low and high levels of neuroticism. Such skills were assessed in terms of both speed (Study 1) and accuracy (Study 2) of identifying threatening objects in cognitive tasks. As predicted, threat-identification skills interacted with trait neuroticism in predicting subjective experiences. Specifically, individuals high in neuroticism experienced lower levels of negative affect during their everyday lives if they were also skilled in identifying threats in the cognitive tasks (Studies 1-2). Such skills did not matter at low levels of neuroticism. This interactive pattern was also replicated in the context of life domain satisfaction (Study 2). The results support the view that avoidance motivation encompasses multiple component processes, including some that are cognitive in nature, and specifically extends self-regulatory views of neuroticism. Of most importance, our data indicate that threat-identification skills can be hedonically beneficial, rather than costly, at high levels of neuroticism.     

敌意解释偏向与攻击的关系

敌意解释偏向是一种认知加工偏向, 指个体将模棱两可信息以敌意的方式进行解释的倾向, 它会对个体的攻击行为产生影响。攻击也会影响个体的敌意解释偏向:作为一种人格特质, 高攻击性使个体更容易产生敌意解释偏向; 作为一种行为反应, 攻击对敌意解释偏向具有发展和强化作用。敌意解释偏向和攻击之间可能存在循环关系。两者关系会受到性别、年龄以及人格特点等因素影响。未来研究需要改进敌意解释偏向与攻击的测量工具, 使测量更为直接、客观; 拓展两者不同亚类之间的交互研究, 以全面系统地了解两者之间的关系; 深入探究情绪在敌意解释偏向与攻击行为关系中的作用; 整合信息加工过程, 探究它们的交互作用对攻击行为的影响等。     

Neuroticism and Affective Priming: Evidence for a Neuroticism-Linked Negative Schema

Neuroticism has been hypothesized to systematically relate to semantic memory networks favoring negative affect, but no studies using affective priming tasks have established this link. The present two studies, involving 145 undergraduate participants, sought to provide initial evidence along these lines. Study 1 used a task in which participants were asked to judge their emotions in the past, whereas Study 2 used a perceptual identification task in which participants merely had to identify the word in question. In both studies, neuroticism was positively correlated with negative affective priming, but not positive affective priming. The studies suggest that neuroticism systematically relates to the inter-connectivity of negative affect with semantic memory systems, whether involving the self-concept (Study 1) or not (Study 2). These results are novel and important in understanding individual differences in neuroticism and their affective processing correlates.     

Does “feeling down” mean seeing down? Depressive symptoms and vertical selective attention

Prior research reveals that the encoding of affective stimuli is biased in a metaphorically consistent manner (e.g., good = up; bad = down). For example, negative words are evaluated faster if they are presented in a low versus high vertical position. The present studies extended this view by investigating whether such biases also correlate with individual differences in emotional experience. Specifically, in two studies, we examined whether vertical metaphor would be useful in understanding negative affect as manifested in neuroticism and depressive symptoms. We found support for this premise. That is, the higher the neuroticism (Studies 1 and 2) or depressive symptoms (Study 2) of participants, the faster they were to respond to or detect lower (versus higher) spatial attention targets. These results suggest that negative affect in general, and depressive symptoms in particular, appear to bias selective attention in a direction that favors lower regions of physical space.     

无法忍受不确定性与担忧：对记忆偏差与解释偏差的检验

旨在是探索记忆偏差与解释偏差在无法忍受不确定性(IU)与个体担忧之间的机制作用。实验1采用伴随学习任务范式,计算被试对中性词语和不确定词的回忆量。结果发现,IU对记忆偏差的预测不显著,记忆偏差在IU与担忧倾向之间的中介作用不显著。实验2采用情境评估任务范式收集被试在不确定情境下的担忧评分和解释倾向。结果发现,IU可以正向预测被试在不确定情境下的担忧评分,被试对情境的解释倾向在IU与担忧评分的关系中起到中介作用。概言之,高IU个体存在一定的信息加工偏差     

Positive Affect and Flexibility: Overcoming the Precedence of Global over Local Processing of Visual Information

Previous findings on the relationship between positive mood and global processing are often based on visual matching tasks that involve a choice between global and local strategies. Preferences for global processing in positive mood, however, do not imply a reduced ability to process locally. The present experiment tested the assumption that positive affect increases flexibility in cognitive processing as indicated by the ability to overcome global precedence, and to respond rapidly to non-dominant (local) features when the task necessitates it. Consistent with expectations, participants responded significantly faster to local targets after positive compared to neutral and negative prime words. The typical precedence of global over local processing observed after neutral and negative prime words was reversed after positive prime words. Findings support the assumption that positive affect increases cognitive flexibility. Furthermore, findings suggest that mood-related preferences in global versus local processing cannot be generalized to processing ability.     

Interpretation bias and social anxiety: does interpretation bias mediate the relationship between trait social anxiety and state anxiety responses?

Two studies aimed to examine whether high socially anxious individuals are more likely to negatively interpret ambiguous social scenarios and facial expressions compared to low socially anxious individuals. We also examined whether interpretation bias serves as a mediator of the relationship between trait social anxiety and state anxiety responses, in particular current state anxiety, bodily sensations, and perceived probability and cost of negative evaluation pertaining to a speech task. Study 1 used ambiguous social scenarios and Study 2 used ambiguous facial expressions as stimuli to objectively assess interpretation bias. Undergraduate students with high and low social anxiety completed measures of state anxiety responses at three time points: baseline, after the interpretation bias task, and after the preparation for an impromptu speech. Results showed that high socially anxious individuals were more likely to endorse threat interpretations for ambiguous social scenarios and to interpret ambiguous faces as negative than low socially anxious individuals. Furthermore, negative interpretations mediated the relationship between trait social anxiety and perceived probability of negative evaluation pertaining to the speech task in Study 1 but not Study 2. The present studies provide new insight into the role of interpretation bias in social anxiety.     

抑郁症患者工作记忆内情绪刺激加工的特点及其机制

抑郁症患者在工作记忆内情绪刺激加工的特点为倾向于加工与负性心境一致的材料, 被认为是抑郁症认知易感性的核心特征。目前研究者们围绕抑郁症工作记忆中央执行系统三个子功能的情绪刺激加工特点及其作用机制进行了大量研究, 发现在更新功能上, 患者难以移除负性情绪信息, 且在正性信息的加工上存在缺损; 在抑制功能上, 患者难以抑制无关负性情绪信息进入工作记忆; 在转换功能上, 患者情绪材料转换困难的研究证据尚不充分。神经生理与脑成像的研究初步表明, 工作记忆中的情绪刺激加工与抑郁症患者背外侧前额叶和前扣带回的功能激活水平异常有关。未来研究需评估工作记忆三个子功能对抑郁症状的差异性贡献及在情绪刺激加工上的统一性, 并探究其随疾病发生发展变化的轨迹, 谨慎选取并评估不同情绪刺激材料指标的诱发效应及其对工作记忆功能的独特影响。在此基础上, 深入探究工作记忆内情绪刺激加工的神经机制, 为工作记忆偏向矫正干预的临床应用及其预期效果提供理论依据和方向。     

Neurotic contentment: a self-regulation view of neuroticism-linked distress

The present hypotheses were guided by four premises, which were systematically examined in six studies involving 409 undergraduate participants. The first premise, established by prior work, is that trait neuroticism is closely associated with avoidance-related goals. The second premise, however, is that neuroticism may be uncorrelated with cognitive tendencies to recognize threats as they occur, and subsequently to down-regulate them. In support of this point, all six studies found that neuroticism was unrelated to post-error behavioral adjustments in choice reaction time. The third premise is that post-error reactivity would nonetheless predict individual differences in threat-recognition (Studies 1 and 2) and its apparent mitigation (Study 3), independently of trait neuroticism. These predictions were supported. The fourth premise is that individual differences in neuroticism and error-reactivity would interact with each other in predicting everyday experiences of distress. In support of such predictions, Studies 4-6 found that higher levels of error-reactivity were associated with less negative affect at high levels of neuroticism, but more negative affect at low levels of neuroticism. The findings are interpreted in terms of trait-cognition self-regulation principles.