Can boredom help? Increased prosocial intentions in response to boredom

Boredom is typically regarded a nuisance. Past research on boredom depicts this common emotion as a correlate of many detrimental psychological and social factors, including addiction, depression, discrimination, and aggression. We present a more nuanced perspective on boredom. Specifically, we propose and test that state boredom serves an important self-regulatory function with the potential to foster positive interpersonal consequences: It signals a lack of purpose in activity and fosters a search for meaningful engagement. We examined whether boredom can subsequently cause prosocial intentions if the corresponding prosocial behavior is seen as purposeful. As predicted, boredom, which is characterized by a search for meaning (pilot study), promoted prosocial intentions (Experiment 1), in particular when the corresponding behavior was seen as highly meaningful (Experiment 2). Our novel findings suggest that boredom can have desirable consequences and recasts this emotion as not merely good or bad but rather as personally and socially functional.     

Do process simulations during episodic future thinking enhance the reduction of delay discounting for middle income participants and those living in poverty?

Two studies examined whether episodic future thinking (EFT; pre‐experiencing future events) reduces discounting of future rewards (DD). No studies have investigated whether process simulations (i.e., simulating the process of executing a future event) amplify EFT's reduction of DD. Study 1 examined the effect of incorporating process simulations into EFT (N = 42, M_age = 43.27; 91% female, family income = $75,976) using a 2 × 2 factorial design with type of episodic thinking (process, nonprocess/general) and temporal perspective (EFT, episodic recent thinking) as between‐subjects factors. Study 2 replicated Study 1 in a sample of adults living in poverty (N = 36; M_age = 38.44, 88% female; family income = $25,625). The results of both studies showed EFT reduced DD, but process‐oriented EFT did not amplify the effect of EFT. Our findings suggest the key ingredient in EFT's effect on DD is self‐projection into the future. This was also the first study to show EFT improves DD in a sample living in poverty.     

Do causal attributions mediate the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic interest?

Many investigators have demonstrated that task-contingent extrinsic incentives can reduce an individual's interest in some intrinsically rewarding task. Although it has been widely assumed that this “undermining effect” is mediated by the individual's causal attributions for engaging in the task, there has been little independent verification of this notion. In the present study subjects were asked to perform an inherently interesting problem-solving task. Half of the subjects were told that they could earn money by solving the task successfully (Money condition), whereas the other half were not (Control condition). Consistent with previous research, Money condition subjects expressed less liking for the task. In addition, Many condition participants attributed their task performance to less internal causes. Furthermore, across conditions, subjects who attributed their behavior to less internal causes were less apt to enjoy the task. The present data, therefore, more convincingly implicate the mediating role of causal attributions in the relationship between extrinsic rewards and intrinsic interest. Alternative explanations are discussed.     

Do the effects of behaviour modification programs endure?

In a previous study, Jacobson, Bernai and Lopez (1973) reported the results of an investigation in which a profoundly retarded microcephalic teenager without language or verbal comprehension participated in a behaviour modification program. The objective of the program was to facilitate conceptual learning. As a result of participation in the program, the boy acquired behavioural, conceptual, and linguistic skills.The purpose of the present study was two-fold. The first objective was to perform a follow-up investigation 9 months after the termination of the original study, in order to learn whether the effects of the behaviour modification program had endured or were extinguished. The second objective was to investigate the boy's capacity for further learning by having him participate in a second behaviour modification program, this one a language acquisition program. The investigators hypothesised that since the S had acquired verbal behaviour without receiving direct linguistic training (the nonspecific adaptive effects phenomenon; see Murray and Jacobson, 1971). the S would acquire far greater language usage if he were placed in a behavioural program that trained language skills directly. It should again be noted that the S possessed no meaningful speech during the first 18 yr of his life prior to participation in the Conceptual Development Program.     

Help-seeking: testing the effects of task interdependence and normativeness on employees’ propensity to seek help

This study explores the effects of task interdependence (high versus low) and helping norms (supportive versus non-supportive) on propensity to seek help. Participants were most likely to seek help when: (1) task interdependence was high, and (2) supportive help-seeking norms were operative. A 2-way interaction also emerged. Under the non-supportive norms condition, help-seeking was greatest for high versus low levels of task interdependence; when supportive norms were operative, relatively high levels of help-seeking arose across task interdependence conditions. No support for the hypotheses that high self-esteem, high task specific self-efficacy, and low achievement motivation would increase help-seeking was obtained.     

Do we need the power metaphor to construct our interpersonal reality?

In my own attempt to answer the question whether we need the power metaphor to construct our interpersonal relations, I have come to the conclusion that it is not necessary. I advocate the standpoint that the power metaphor is an epistemological/operational instrument which, applied to interpersonal relations, leads to selffulfilling prophecies; the power metaphor realizes itself. Of course, it is necessary to recognize when, under what circumstances, and how we operate with respect to the power metaphor. This knowledge which, when achieved, allows us to correct ourselves and look for alternatives. However, I see it as an epistemological and operational error to deal with the power metaphor as if it were an objective given, independent of the observer, which we cannot avoid, of which we are victims, and to whose construction we do not contribute. It is important for therapists to realize that some clients construct their problems with respect to the power metaphor and act accordingly, explicitly or implicitly. To that extent, knowledge about this construction offers the therapist options which can help him in his therapeutic work to encourage the overpowering of this operational and epistemological instrument-the power metaphor.Originally appeared in a special issue ofZeitschrift fur systemische Therapie (1986),4, 258–268, guest-edited by the author.     

Do children need to learn to collaborate?: The effect of age and age differences on collaborative recall

We used a collaborative recall task to explore the nature and consequences of children's interaction with another child at the same or different age. Ninety-six children memorised word lists for recall. In a first condition children recalled collaboratively: in a pair with another child. In a second condition children recalled words independently (this made possible the creation of “nominal” pairs for comparison). Pairs were either composed of two 7-year-olds, two 9-year-olds, or a 7- and a 9-year-old. Older pairs, like adults, showed a net negative effect of collaborative recall. However, younger children showed no effects of collaboration. Analyses of the different contributions offered by each child in a pair, and of measures of social dominance suggest that older children dominate social aspects of interaction and recall when paired with a younger child. We argue that younger children may lack full awareness of the role of interaction as a forum for the co-construction of knowledge.     

On the representation of intentions: Do personally relevant consequences determine activation?

The intention-superiority effect describes shorter latencies for reactions to stimuli intended for future enactment, relative to stimuli associated with no enactment or canceled enactment. Previous attempts to demonstrate an intention-superiority effect for other types of tasks—for instance, observing the experimenter executing actions—have not yielded an intention-superiority effect. A reason for this could be that the typical enactment task was associated with a higher degree of personal relevance than were other laboratory-based tasks and that task importance or its consequences heighten the accessibility of intention-relevant materials. In two experiments, we demonstrate an intention-superiority effect for different types of tasks (e.g., monitoring a video clip) when task realization has personally relevant consequences in terms of a performance evaluation. In contrast, we found no intention-superiority effect when future enactment had no personally relevant consequences for participants. These findings imply that the intention-superiority effect is not restricted to actions but occurs generally for relevant plans.     

The effects of redundant communications on the behavior of listeners: Does a picture need a thousand words?

Using a referential communication paradigm, two types of, informative messages, contrastive and redundant, were compared developmentally in terms of their relative effects on the accuracy of listeners' responses as a function of task variables. Contrastive messages contained the minimal information necessary to distinguish a referent from a nonreferent. Redundant messages contained additional information. We predicted that redundant messages would be more effective than contrastive ones when the stimulus array was too complex for a listener to notice all aspects of it in the allotted time. Also manipulated were the order of presentation of the message and array and the delay between the two in order to determine how these factors would contribute to task complexity. Subjects were first-and third-graders and college students. The stimuli were drawings of cartoonlike figures. The results confirmed our predictions for the older subjects but not for the younger ones. The discussion of the data centered on why the picture-message sequence, was a more difficult sequence than the message-picture one for all age groups.     

Is interpolation cognitively encapsulated? Measuring the effects of belief on Kanizsa shape discrimination and illusory contour formation

Contour interpolation is a perceptual process that fills-in missing edges on the basis of how surrounding edges (inducers) are spatiotemporally related. Cognitive encapsulation refers to the degree to which perceptual mechanisms act in isolation from beliefs, expectations, and utilities (Pylyshyn, 1999). Is interpolation encapsulated from belief? We addressed this question by having subjects discriminate briefly-presented, partially-visible fat and thin shapes, the edges of which either induced or did not induce illusory contours (relatable and non-relatable conditions, respectively). Half the trials in each condition incorporated task-irrelevant distractor lines, known to disrupt the filling-in of contours. Half of the observers were told that the visible parts of the shape belonged to a single thing (group strategy); the other half were told that the visible parts were disconnected (ungroup strategy). It was found that distractor lines strongly impaired performance in the relatable condition, but minimally in the non-relatable condition; that strategy did not alter the effects of the distractor lines for either the relatable or non-relatable stimuli; and that cognitively grouping relatable fragments improved performance whereas cognitively grouping non-relatable fragments did not. These results suggest that (1) filling-in effects during illusory contour formation cannot be easily removed via strategy; (2) filling-in effects cannot be easily manufactured from stimuli that fail to elicit interpolation; and (3) actively grouping fragments can readily improve discrimination performance, but only when those fragments form interpolated contours. Taken together, these findings indicate that discriminating filled-in shapes depends on strategy but the filling-in process itself may be encapsulated from belief.     

Eyes on the prize or nose to the grindstone? The effects of level of goal evaluation on mood and motivation

These studies tested the hypothesis that evaluating goal feedback in terms of a primary, longer term goal can be risky for future motivation. Study 1 was a 2 x 2 experiment in which framing level (primary goal/subgoal) and feedback valence (success/failure) were manipulated for participants during a verbal skills task. In the primary goal failure condition, there was increased negative mood and decreased positive mood and expectancy for subsequent trials, even while controlling for goal difficulty and importance. Study 2 was an 8-week study throughout which participants were asked to evaluate their progress regarding a primary goal (class grade goal) or subgoal (weekly study hours goal), and success or failure varied naturally. When progress was lacking, participants in the primary goal condition experienced the largest decreases in mood and expectancy. These results suggest that it is optimal to evaluate goal progress at the lower, subgoal level, particularly after failure feedback.     

Do age-related differences in episodic feeling of knowing accuracy depend on the timing of the judgement?

The current study investigated whether there were age-related differences in episodic feeling-of-knowing (FOK) accuracy and whether accuracy was influenced by when the FOK judgements were made. Younger and older participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions that manipulated the timing of the FOK in relation to cued recall and associative recognition. Age-related differences in FOK accuracy were not reliable either when the FOK was immediate or when it was delayed. Moreover, FOK accuracy was above chance for both age groups. Remember/Know (RK) judgements correlated reliably with FOKs for unrecalled words for both age groups and did not vary by FOK timing. The invariance in FOK accuracy occurred despite robust age differences in associative cued recall and associative recognition, as well as age differences in recollection as measured by RK judgements. The findings are inconsistent with the argument that there is a general age deficit in episodic FOK accuracy. Possible reasons for discrepant findings in the literature are discussed.     

Who responds to surveys? Assessing the effects of nonresponse in cross-sectional dyadic research

The purpose of this study was to adapt Goodman and Blum's procedure for assessing the effects of nonrandom sampling in longitudinal research to a cross-sectional study of dyads. To demonstrate the impact of survey nonresponse on means, variances, and relationships between variables, data were collected from a sample of 311 recruiter-applicant pairs. Of the variables included in this investigation, only one (recruiter competence) significantly predicted the likelihood of responding. In addition, there were differences in the means and variances of respondents and nonrespondents on some of the variables included in this study. However, there were no differences in the relationships between independent and dependent variables for the respondent group compared with the entire group of respondents and nonrespondents. In sum, the results suggest that nonresponse does not bias the relationships between variables.     

Do you really expect me to apologize? The impact of status and gender on the effectiveness of an apology in the workplace

We examine the effectiveness of apology following a workplace offense, as influenced by the achieved or ascribed status (i.e., professional status or gender) of the parties involved. A total of 780 undergraduates participated in a scenario experiment. The results demonstrate that apologizing is more effective than not apologizing. Yet apology is most effective when the apologizer is a male, a manager or is a male apologizing to a female. Moreover, apology expectancy mediates the relationships between the apologizer's status and the apology's effectiveness: Apologies are less expected from managers and males than from subordinates and females, and the less expected they are, the greater their effectiveness. Apology expectancy has a unique effect unrelated to the apologizer's sincerity and perceived motive.     

How might the discrepancy in the effects of perceptual variables on numerosity judgment be reconciled?

It has been claimed that a genuinely abstract numerical representation would be capable of representing the numerosity of any set of discrete elements independently of the attributes of the individual elements. In practice, however, perceptual variables, such as element size, density, and others, affect numerosity judgment. In this study, we examined how perceptual variables affect the performance of numerosity judgments under the control of factors such as amount of practice and set size. In Experiment 1, we introduced the numerosity comparison task to less experienced observers in order to examine the effect of element size and array area. In Experiment 2, we examined whether and how practice would influence precision and accuracy in numerosity comparison and demonstrated that the effects of perceptual variables mostly disappeared. In Experiment 3, we examined whether the effect of practice could transfer to the performance in different stimulus conditions. Taking the results together, we demonstrate that differences in practice might be the source of inconsistent results for perceptual variables.     

Redintegration and lexicality effects in children: Do they depend upon the demands of the memory task?

The effect of long-term knowledge upon performance in short-term memory tasks was examined for children from 5 to 10 years of age. The emergence of a lexicality effect, in which familiar words were recalled more accurately than unfamiliar words, was found to depend upon the nature of the memory task. Lexicality effects were interpreted as reflecting the use of redintegration, or reconstruction processes, in short-term memory. Redintegration increased with age for tasks requiring spoken item recall and decreased with age when position information but not naming was required. In a second experiment, redintegration was found in a recognition task when some of the foils rhymed with the target. Older children were able to profit from a rhyming foil, whereas younger children were confused by it, suggesting that the older children make use of sublexical phonological information in reconstructing the target. It was proposed that redintegrative processes in their mature form support the reconstruction of detailed phonological knowledge of words.     

Do the effects of a family intervention on alcohol and drug use vary by nativity status?

To examine whether the intervention effects of Familias Unidas, compared to community practice, on Hispanic adolescent alcohol and drug use varies by nativity status (i.e., U.S.-born and foreign-born). A total of 213 eighth grade Hispanic adolescents with behavior problems and their primary caregivers were assigned randomly to one of two conditions: Familias Unidas or Community Control. Participants were assessed at baseline and at 6, 18, and 30 months post baseline. Results showed that, the effects of Familias Unidas on alcohol use was moderated by nativity status. Specifically, Familias Unidas was efficacious in preventing/reducing alcohol use for U.S.-born youth, but not foreign-born. No moderating effects were found for drug use. These findings suggest that prevention interventions may be more efficacious in preventing/reducing alcohol use among certain Hispanic adolescent subgroups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).