Conservatism as a predictor of responses to humour-I: A comparison of four scales

Four conservatism questionnaires (C-Scale; Wilson and Patterson, 1970; POI; Eysenck, 1976; MK; Cloetta, 1983; 16PF-Q1; Schneewind, Schröder and Cattell, 1983) were compared with regard to their ability to predict responses to humour based on the incongruity-resolution structure. We further investigated, whether a prediction of humour responses could be improved by assessing variables like toughmindedness, capitalism, rigidity and intolerance of ambiguity. The results showed that the conservatism scales overlap in their prediction of funniness of incongruity-resolution jokes, sex jokes and rejection of nonsense jokes. Correlations with the other humour scales were specific for certain conservatism questionnaires. A canonical correlation analysis relating the humour scores and the conservatism scales yielded three significant correlations (r_c1 = 0.65, r_c2 = 0.51 and r_c3 = 0.44). Capitalism was also related to appreciation of incongruity-resolution jokes and of sex jokes. The previously found effects of intolerance of ambiguity could be replicated.     

Emotional intelligence as a unique predictor of individual differences in humour styles and humour appreciation

A small amount of research to-date has examined the association between emotional intelligence (EI) and humour styles, however, none of this research has controlled for the effects of personality and socially desirable responding. Furthermore, none of the research has examined the possible associations with humour appreciation, as distinct from humour styles. Thus, a novel audio-visual humour appreciation measure (AVHAM) was developed based on responses to ostensibly humorous video clips. The AVHAM was found to be associated with factorial validity, as three, positively correlated factors emerged (aggressive, children, and animals). Additionally, convergent validity was observed for the AVHAM, as theoretically consistent and moderately sized correlations were observed between the AVHAM and the Humour Styles Questionnaire (HSQ). Finally, incremental predictive validity was found to be associated with self-reported EI and humour styles, but not humour appreciation. The results are discussed in light of the distinction between humour styles and humour appreciation, as well as the unique role of EI in understanding individual differences in humour.     

Emotion space as a predictor of binocular rivalry

In our 1999 report, we examined robustness of a two-dimensional structure of facial expressions of emotion under the condition of some perceptual ambiguity, using a stereo-scope. The current study aimed to replicate and extend the previous work by adding facial photographs of different persons and by measuring participants' perception of stereoscopically presented faces. Multidimensional scaling provided a two-dimensional configuration of facial expressions comparable with the previous studies. Although binocular rivalry was a less frequent phenomenon, it was suggested that the distances between facial expressions in the derived space were a contributing factor in eliciting binocular rivalry.     

The location of sense of humor within comprehensive personality spaces: An exploratory study

The present paper tries to discover the position of sense of humor in personality space. Several definitions of humor are discussed and a review of studies relating personality and humor is given. The authors' conceptualization of humor is introduced and two studies are presented that tried to locate these humor dimensions within personality space. Our humor tests were given to two samples: these samples also had to answer several multidimensional personality inventories to cover the whole domain of temperament (e.g. EPQ, 16PF, FPI, STPI, SSS-IV and STAI). The Humor scores were correlated with each of the personality variables. The factor compositions of the best predictors for a humor category were used to arrive at a tentative hypothesis of the location of dimensions of humor in personality space. The results show that strong relationships between humor and temperament exist. Some of the hypotheses discussed in the literature were supported, but also some new hypotheses were derived from this study. All in all, the results show that the separation of appreciation of humor into the independent components of funniness and rejection is appropriate since they are located in different parts of the personality space.     

Skin conductance responses as predictor of emotional responses to stressful life events

Preferential preattentive processing towards threat has been proposed to play a casual role in the development of anxiety, mainly because it reliably predicts emotional responding to stressful events. However, in the investigation of the predictive value of preferential preattentive processing towards threat, the emotional Stroop task has exclusively being used. This study was designed to prospectively investigate the predictive value of skin conductance reactivity in response to masked (i.e., preattentively perceived) threatening pictures on emotional responding following stressful life events. To collect skin conductance data, the picture perception task was administered to 136 police recruits due to enroll into active duty within 2-4 months. To assess psychological distress following emotionally stressful life events, the impact of event scale were administered approximately 24 months later. Controlling for trait anxiety, analyses indicated that enhanced skin conductance reactivity in response to masked threatening pictures (relative to neutrals) was a strong predictor of emotional responding to stressful life events. This finding support preferential preattentive processing towards threat as a relatively independent factor predictive of emotional responding.     

Infants’ coding of location in continuous space

The ability to code location in continuous space is fundamental to spatial behavior. Existing evidence indicates a robust ability for such coding by 12 months, but systematic evidence on earlier origins is lacking. A series of studies investigated 5-month-olds’ ability to code the location of an object hidden in a sandbox, using a looking-time paradigm. In Experiment 1, after familiarization with a hiding-and-finding sequence at one location, infants looked longer at an object being disclosed from a location 12 inches (30 cm) away than at an object emerging from the hiding location, showing they were able to code location in continuous space. In Experiment 2, infants reacted with greater looking when objects emerged from locations 8 inches (20 cm) away from the hiding location, showing that location coding was more finely grained than could be inferred based on the first study. In Experiment 3, infants were familiarized with an object shown in hiding-and-finding sequences at two different locations. Infants looked longer at objects emerging 12 inches (30 cm) away from the most recent hiding location than to emergence from the other location, showing that infants could code location even when events had previously occurred at each location. In Experiment 4, after familiarization with two objects with different shapes, colors, and sounding characteristics, shown in hiding-and-finding sequences in two locations, infants reacted to location violations as they had in Experiment 3. However, they did not react to object violations, that is, events in which the wrong object emerged from a hiding location. Experiment 5 also found no effect of object violation, even when the infants initially saw the two objects side by side. Spatiotemporal characteristics may play a more central role in early object individuation than they do later, although further study is required.     

The role of self‐image as a predictor of psychotherapy outcome

The present study examined the relationship between self‐image and outcome in psychotherapy. Patients (n = 170) received treatment‐as‐usual at a university clinic, and met diagnostic criteria for mostly anxiety and depression related disorders. Self‐image was measured with the Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB‐I) introject pre and post‐treatment. Using multiple regression analyses, higher levels of Self‐ignore and Self‐blame pre‐treatment predicted a poorer treatment outcome in terms of symptoms (SCL‐90‐R) and interpersonal problems (IIP‐64), respectively. Increase in Self‐love and decrease in Self‐blame (pre to post) predicted reduced symptoms at post‐treatment, whereas decrease in Self‐attack and Self‐control, as well as increase in Self‐affirm, predicted reduced interpersonal problems. The results suggest that self‐image improvement may be important in order to achieve a good outcome in psychotherapy.     

Opinion‐based group membership as a predictor of commitment to political action

Research on group identification has shown it to be a surprisingly weak predictor of intentions to take large‐scale social action. The weak links may exist because researchers have not always examined identification with the type of group that is most relevant for predicting action. Our focus in two studies (one in Romania and one in Australia, both Ns = 101) was on opinion‐based groups (i.e. groups formed around shared opinions). We found that social identification with opinion‐based groups was an excellent predictor of political behavioural intentions, particularly when items measuring identity certainty were included. The results provide clear evidence of the role of social identity constructs for predicting commitment to social action and complement analyses of politicised collective identity and crowd behaviour. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Intolerance of ambiguity as a factor in the appreciation of humour

The relevance of the concept ‘Intolerance of Ambiguity’ within the field of humour has been investigated. It is predicted that intolerant people prefer jokes whose incongruity is solvable whilst rejecting the non-solvable nonsense jokes. Subjects were 134 male students who were asked to complete questionnaires and to rate 120 jokes according to the criteria ‘Funniness’ and ‘Rejection’. Both hypotheses were confirmed by comparison of extreme groups as well as in correlations using the whole sample. Additionally, the predictive value of related variables such as Rigidity, Dogmatism and Conservatism was assessed.     

Parent-peer influence as a predictor of marijuana use.

Although there is some literature which discusses adolescent reference groups, none have utilized reference group theory to examine the relative impact of the parent and peer reference groups and to attempt to predict behavior among teenagers from this knowledge. This study attempts to correct this deficiency by examining the frequency of marijuana use in a nonrandom sample of college students from a large southwestern university. Ordinal type scales and tau-b provide a statistically strong degree of association between the type of reference group orientation and marijuana use. The results of this study show that the influence of the most salient reference group appears to be an important predictor of whether or not an individual may engage in the use of marijuana.     

The MMPI as a predictor of early termination from polydrug abuse treatment.

The MMPI protocols obtained upon admission to an inpatient program for treatment of polydrug abuse were studied to determine if they could identify abusers who terminated prematurely from treatment. Individual scale T scores, profile code types and discriminant scores were evaluated for 104 patients who completed treatment ("stayers") and 72 patients who left prematurely ("quitters"). Although quitters and stayers did not differentiate on primary drug of abuse, age, sex, race, or IQ, quitters were less likely to obtain normal limits or neurotic code profiles, Univariate analyses revealed that quitters obtained higher mean elevations on 6 of the 15 scales studied (F, 4/Pd, 6/Pa, 8/Sc, 9/Ma, A). Discriminant scores based on a stepwise discriminant analysis correctly identified 71% of the study sample, representing a 13.7% improvement over base rate prediction. The probable importance of initial level of psychological discomfort and ability to delay gratification, and the need to examine varied treatment modalities for polydrug abusers identified as at risk for premature termination from treatment were explored.     

The lie scale as a predictor of placebo response

Patients engaged in a trial of mepriprazole on the irritable bowel syndromewere administered the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and the Symptom Rating Test. It was hypothesized that high Lie scorers—‘lacking in insight’—would respond to treatment. There was little difference between the active drug and placebo but the results indicated that it was the low Lie scorers who showed improvement, and are interpreted in terms of a repression-sensitization dichotomy.     

The location of trait emotional intelligence in personality factor space

The construct of trait emotional intelligence (trait EI or trait emotional self‐efficacy) provides a comprehensive operationalization of emotion‐related self‐perceptions and dispositions. In the first part of the present study (N = 274, 92 males), we performed two joint factor analyses to determine the location of trait EI in Eysenckian and Big Five factor space. The results showed that trait EI is a compound personality construct located at the lower levels of the two taxonomies. In the second part of the study, we performed six two‐step hierarchical regressions to investigate the incremental validity of trait EI in predicting, over and above the Giant Three and Big Five personality dimensions, six distinct criteria (life satisfaction, rumination, two adaptive and two maladaptive coping styles). Trait EI incrementally predicted four criteria over the Giant Three and five criteria over the Big Five. The discussion addresses common questions about the operationalization of emotional intelligence as a personality trait.     

The treatment of tension headache—II. EMG ‘normality’ and relaxation

A selected group of patients complaining of severe and chronic tension headache (without muscular abnormality) were given a short 3-week course of relaxation treatment. Half of the subjects received progressive relaxation instructions, while the other half received relaxation plus calming imagery. Both groups showed substantial improvements in pain behaviour and in pain experience. The improvements were synchronous and still present at the 6–8 week follow-up assessment. Although no significant differences were found between the groups, the addition of imagery appeared to produce larger improvements on a number of measures. These results were compared with those reported obtained in a previous biofeedback study and the implications of both the studies were discussed with respect to tension headache and its treatment.