Eye'm lovin' it! The role of gazing awareness in mimetic desires

Recent studies showed that people evaluate objects more favorably when these objects are gazed-at by others, an effect coined as “mimetic desire”. In two studies, we tested whether mimetic desire stems from an automatic form of learning by examining one dimension of automaticity, i.e., people's awareness of the object-gaze association. Participants saw 6 neutral art paintings associated with a female gazing toward two of the paintings, away from two of the paintings, and closing her eyes with respect to the last two paintings. After the exposition phase, participants evaluated the paintings and performed a contingency-awareness test. Importantly, participants' responses on this test were genuinely driven by memory and not by inferences from liking. Results show that participants preferred objects that were gazed-at but only when they were aware of the object-gaze association. Hence, despite the adaptive function of joint attention, its impact on valence acquisition does not seem to qualify as an implicit learning process.     

Need for Cognition and the process of lie detection

Four experiments investigated the influence of Need for Cognition on the process of lie detection. According to the basic assumptions of dual process models, only higher Need for Cognition leads to the use of verbal information when making judgments of veracity. People with lower Need for Cognition predominantly use stereotypical nonverbal information for their judgments. In both Experiments 1 and 2, participants saw a film in which nonverbal cues (fidgety vs. calm movements) and verbal cues (low vs. high plausibility) were manipulated. As predicted, when Need for Cognition was lower, only the nonverbal cues influenced participants' judgments of veracity. In contrast, participants with higher Need for Cognition also used the verbal cues. Experiments 3 and 4 tested the hypothesis that higher Need for Cognition leads to better discrimination of truthful from deceptive messages. Both experiments found that participants with higher Need for Cognition achieved higher accuracy at classifying truthful and deceptive messages than participants with lower Need for Cognition.     

Need for Cognition and Choice Framing Effects

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that framing biases in decision making would affect more strongly individuals with relatively low levels of need for cognition (NC). Participants were classified as high or low NC based on responses to a standard scale and subsequently were exposed to one of two framings of a choice problem. Different choice problems were used in each experiment, modeled after those developed by Kahneman and Tversky. Experiment 1 employed a monetary task and Experiment 2 a medical decision-making task. Consistent with expectations, framing effects on choice were observed in both experiments, but only for low NC participants. High NC participants were unaffected by problem framing, showing that they were less susceptible to attempts to alter their frame of reference.     

The Effects of Need for Cognition and Need for Affect on Partisan Evaluations

The voting behavior literature has advanced two prominent theoretical models of partisanship: the social psychological and rational models. Implicit to both stylized models is the assumption that all partisans process information similarly. Yet, growing research in psychology suggests that individuals possess different motivations when evaluating information. We propose that the applicability of the stylized models of partisanship is conditioned on individuals' need for cognition (NFC) and need for affect (NFA), with the social psychological model being most applicable to individuals who have a high NFA and the rational model most applicable to those with a high NFC. To test this proposition, we fielded a survey in which respondents who identified with the two major political parties in the United States (Democrat or Republican) were randomly assigned factual information that depicted either their party or their opposing party in a negative light. Respondents were then asked to assess the actions of that party and subsequently evaluate both political parties. We find evidence that is generally consistent with the proposition that the stylized models of partisanship are conditionally dependent on the extent to which individuals possess a need to engage in effortful thinking or a need to seek out emotions.     

认知需要与战略决策过程之间的关系

认知需要指人们在信息加工过程中是否愿意投入周密的心考以及能否从深入的思考中获得享受．它反映的是人的认知动机。由于企业管理者在决策过程中涉及诸多处理信息和思考问题的环节,认知需要必然在这一过程中起作用。本研究运用情境案例法探讨了在不确定环境下决策者的认知需要与其在战略决策过程中分析环境和判断战略导向的关系。通过相关分析发现高认知需要者在决策过程中更倾向于关注环境、对环境做出积极判断、强调从长远和全面的角度去分析企业战略。     

An Examination of the Short Need for Cognition Scale

The 18-item short Need for Cognition Scale (NCS; Cacioppo, Petty, & Kao, 1984) was administered to 708 female and 510 male undergraduates. Consistent with the findings of Cacioppo et al., a principal components analysis indicated one dominant factor. The findings also suggest that the short NCS is relatively gender neutral in this homogeneous population.     

An Introduction to Item Response Theory Using the Need for Cognition Scale

This paper provides an introduction to two commonly used item response theory (IRT) models (the two-parameter logistic model and the graded response model). Throughout the paper, the Need for Cognition Scale (NCS) is used to help illustrate different features of the IRT model. After introducing the IRT models, I explore the assumptions these models make as well as ways to assess the extent to which those assumptions are plausible. Next, I describe how adopting an IRT approach to measurement can change how one thinks about scoring, score precision, and scale construction. I briefly introduce the advanced topics of differential item functioning and computerized adaptive testing before concluding with a summary of what was learned about IRT generally, and the NCS specifically.     

Intensity of smiling and attractiveness as facial signals of trustworthiness in women

Facial attractiveness is associated with a variety of positive social characteristics including trustworthiness. Variations in smiling, such as the appearance of the Duchenne marker and increased intensity of expression, have likewise been linked with positive judgments of trustworthiness. The study investigated the interaction of the effects of models' attractiveness and their smiling intensity on impressions of perceived trustworthiness. Participants rated the attractiveness and expressivity of neutral, low intensity, and high intensity smiling images of 45 women models. These images were also presented to a second group of participants who rated trustworthiness. Repeated measures analysis of covariance of the effects of attractiveness and manipulated smile intensity on trustworthiness indicated a main effect for smile intensity: increased smile intensity was associated with greater trustworthiness. Attractiveness also contributed to rated trustworthiness independently of smiling intensity. Results suggested there is an additional contribution of facial expression in creating social impressions of trustworthiness.     

The convergent and discriminant validity of the Need for Cognition Scale

This article reports two studies that examined the convergent and discriminant validity of the Need for Cognition Scale (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982). Using samples of college students and prison inmates, need for cognition scores were found to be positively associated with measures of self-esteem, masculine sex role attitudes, absorption, and private self-consciousness. Modest negative associations between need for cognition and measures of public self-consciousness and social anxiety were also uncovered. Need for cognition scores were generally unrelated to measures of feminine and androgynous sex role attitudes, shyness, sociability, and loneliness. These findings add further evidence supporting the construct validity of the Need for Cognition Scale and expand our understanding of the construct of need for cognition.     

The Convergent and Discriminant Validity of the Need for Cognition Scale

This article reports two studies that examined the convergent and discriminant validity of the Need for Cognition Scale (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982). Using samples of college students and prison inmates, need for cognition scores were found to be positively associated with measures of self-esteem, masculine sex role attitudes, absorption, and private self-consciousness. Modest negative associations between need for cognition and measures of public self-consciousness and social anxiety were also uncovered. Need for cognition scores were generally unrelated to measures of feminine and androgynous sex role attitudes, shyness, sociability, and loneliness. These findings add further evidence supporting the construct validity of the Need for Cognition Scale and expand our understanding of the construct of need for cognition.     

The role of desires in sequential impulsive choices

The present research provides evidence for a sequential mitigation effect, which is the phenomenon that participation in a prior impulsive choice task significantly reduces the decision maker’s likelihood of choosing impulsively in a subsequent task. The results of five experiments: (a) provide evidence for the Sequential Mitigation Effect using different study materials and contexts (Experiments 1–3), (b) show that prior impulsive (as opposed to non-impulsive) choice is required for the effect to occur (Experiment 4), and (c) find that the decision maker’s chronic sensitivity to positive and negative outcomes moderates the effect (Experiment 5). The results support the notion that desire for impulsive options functions as a limited motivational resource, and being consumed in the first task, is experienced to a lesser extent in the second task. The sequential mitigation effect may be characterized as a motivational contextual influence on decision making, complementing existing research showing that cognitive context effects influence sequential choices.     

Information Processing at Successive Stages of Decision Making: Need for Cognition and Inclusion-Exclusion Effects

Levin and Jasper's (1995) phased narrowing technique for tracking changes in information usage across successive stages of the decision-making process was combined with Huneke's (1996) “pull-down menu” extension of Payne, Bettman, and Johnson's (1988) software package for generating measures of information processing. Because this technique provided considerable data for each individual subject at each stage, we were able to focus on individual differences in information processing across stages, most notably differences related to need for cognition (NC; Cacioppo & Petty, 1982). In a computerized information search and decision task, 60 college students were first asked to narrow their options for purchasing a notebook computer to form a consideration set and were then asked to make a final choice from this set. At the consideration set formation stage, half the subjects were instructed to adopt a mindset to include options while the other half were asked to exclude options. Especially in the inclusion condition where subjects showed greater narrowing of options, high NC subjects processed information in a more focused manner with greater depth and breadth than did low NC subjects, and the quality of their selections tended to be higher. There was no evidence of widespread shifts in strategy as individuals moved from set formation to final choice but, as a group, high NC subjects were more successful at adaptive decision making.     

Neural time course and brain sources of facial attractiveness vs. trustworthiness judgment

Prior research has shown that the more (or less) attractive a face is judged, the more (or less) trustworthy the person is deemed and that some common neural networks are recruited during facial attractiveness and trustworthiness evaluation. To interpret the relationship between attractiveness and trustworthiness (e.g., whether perception of personal trustworthiness may depend on perception of facial attractiveness), we investigated their relative neural processing time course. An event-related potential (ERP) paradigm was used, with localization of brain sources of the scalp neural activity. Face stimuli with a neutral, angry, happy, or surprised expression were presented in an attractiveness judgment, a trustworthiness judgment, or a control (no explicit social judgment) task. Emotional facial expression processing occurred earlier (N170 and EPN, 150-290 ms post-stimulus onset) than attractiveness and trustworthiness processing (P3b, 400-700 ms). Importantly, right-central ERP (C2, C4, C6) differences reflecting discrimination between “yes” (attractive or trustworthy) and “no” (unattractive or untrustworthy) decisions occurred at least 400 ms earlier for attractiveness than for trustworthiness, in the absence of LRP motor preparation differences. Neural source analysis indicated that facial processing brain networks (e.g., LG, FG, and IPL—extending to pSTS), also right-lateralized, were involved in the discrimination time course differences. This suggests that attractiveness impressions precede and might prime trustworthiness inferences and that the neural time course differences reflect truly facial encoding processes.     

认知需要和警告类型对合取谬误的影响

合取谬误是一种常见的判断偏差,它指的是在不确定条件下,个体评估合取事件及其简单事件发生的概率时,对合取规则系统性偏离的一种现象.实验1 就认知需要类型对合取谬误的影响进行探讨,结果发现高认知需要的被试较不易表现出双重合取谬误和单合取谬误.实验2 探讨了警告类型对合取谬误的影响,结果发现无警告时个体最易表现出单合取谬误,其次是间接警告,最后是直接警告;此外,认知需要与警告类型的交互作用显著,高认知需要的被试在直接警告和间接警告时更少表现出双重合取谬误,在直接警告时更少表现出单合取谬误.     

The factor structure of the Need for Cognition Short Form in a Hispanic sample

The authors conducted a series of studies to validate the factor structure of the English version of the Need for Cognition-Short Form (NFC-SF; J. T. Cacioppo, R. E. Petty, & C. F. Kao, 1984) in a U.S. Hispanic sample. Study 1 is an exploration of the factor structure in 238 Hispanic and relationships between gender and acculturation. Analyses in Study 2 confirmed the factor structure from the sample in Study 1 in a group of 185 U.S. Hispanics. Results indicated that the English version of the NCS-SF has a one-factor structure and is reliable for use with U.S. Hispanics.     

Abnormalities in early visual processes are linked to hypersociability and atypical evaluation of facial trustworthiness: An ERP study with Williams syndrome

Accurate assessment of trustworthiness is fundamental to successful and adaptive social behavior. Initially, people assess trustworthiness from facial appearance alone. These assessments then inform critical approach or avoid decisions. Individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) exhibit a heightened social drive, especially toward strangers. This study investigated the temporal dynamics of facial trustworthiness evaluation in neurotypic adults (TD) and individuals with WS. We examined whether differences in neural activity during trustworthiness evaluation may explain increased approach motivation in WS compared to TD individuals. Event-related potentials were recorded while participants appraised faces previously rated as trustworthy or untrustworthy. TD participants showed increased sensitivity to untrustworthy faces within the first 65–90 ms, indexed by the negative-going rise of the P1 onset (oP1). The amplitude of the oP1 difference to untrustworthy minus trustworthy faces was correlated with lower approachability scores. In contrast, participants with WS showed increased N170 amplitudes to trustworthy faces. The N170 difference to low–high-trust faces was correlated with low approachability in TD and high approachability in WS. The findings suggest that hypersociability associated with WS may arise from abnormalities in the timing and organization of early visual brain activity during trustworthiness evaluation. More generally, the study provides support for the hypothesis that impairments in low-level perceptual processes can have a cascading effect on social cognition.     

Religiosity, Religious Doubt, and the Need for Cognition: Their Interactive Relationship with Life Satisfaction

Previous research has found a consistent, negative relationship between holding religious doubts and mental well-being, and a small positive relationship between religiosity and mental well-being. To assess the interrelationship between religious doubt, religiosity, and need for cognition on life satisfaction, a survey was administered to an almost exclusively Christian sample of 192 Americans drawn from undergraduates and alumni of a small mid-western college, undergraduates from a small south-eastern college, and several churches from the metro-Detroit area. Zero-order correlations revealed relationships between religiosity and life satisfaction, as well as religious doubt and life satisfaction. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that the three-way interaction of religiosity, religious doubt, and the need for cognition was predictive of life satisfaction. Significant two-way interactions also emerged for both gender and religiosity, and gender and religious doubt as predictors of life satisfaction. Based upon these findings, counseling applications are discussed, and the importance of probing for interactions in research on religious influences on well-being is espoused. Portions of this research were presented at the 2004 Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Honolulu, HI.     

The role of suggestions and personality characteristics in producing illness reports and desires for suing the responsible party

For this project, 92 students entered an abandoned theater room in an old basement of the university where sand was scattered throughout. The purpose of the study was to experimentally demonstrate that psychological suggestions could produce illness reports and to explore who is most likely to say that they would sue for personal damages. The students filled out the Trait-State Anger Scale and two subscales, Anger Temperament and Anger Reaction (C. D. Spielberger, G. A. Jacobs, S. Russell, & R. S. Crance, 1983) as well as the Costello-Comrey Anxiety Scale (G. C. Costello & A. L. Comrey, 1967), the Hardiness Inventory (S. C. Kobasa, 1982), the Pennebaker Inventory of Limbic Languidness (J. W. Pennebaker, 1982), and, embedded in the Hardiness Inventory, measures of current illness as a result of exposure to the basement room. Half the participants were met by a confederate student who claimed to be cleaning up the remains of a production of "Lawrence of Arabia," and the other half were met by a confederate construction worker who claimed that "The stuff will tear up your skin and your lungs." Those in the experimental groups who perceived danger and scored low in the hardiness dimension of challenge were more likely to report symptoms of illness. Willingness to file a law suit was predicted by a model including perceived danger and the personality characteristic of anger reactivity.     

Recognition of emotional facial expressions: the role of facial and contextual information in the accuracy of recognition

Recognition of emotional facial expressions is a central area in the psychology of emotion. This study presents two experiments. The first experiment analyzed recognition accuracy for basic emotions including happiness, anger, fear, sadness, surprise, and disgust. 30 pictures (5 for each emotion) were displayed to 96 participants to assess recognition accuracy. The results showed that recognition accuracy varied significantly across emotions. The second experiment analyzed the effects of contextual information on recognition accuracy. Information congruent and not congruent with a facial expression was displayed before presenting pictures of facial expressions. The results of the second experiment showed that congruent information improved facial expression recognition, whereas incongruent information impaired such recognition.