Choice Blindness and Preference Change: You Will Like This Paper Better If You (Believe You) Chose to Read It!

Choice blindness is the finding that participants both often fail to notice mismatches between their decisions and the outcome of their choice and, in addition, endorse the opposite of their chosen alternative. But do these preference reversals also carry over to future choices and ratings? To investigate this question, we gave participants the task of choosing which of a pair of faces they found most attractive. Unknown to them, we sometimes used a card trick to exchange one face for the other. Both decision theory and common sense strongly suggest that most people would easily notice such a radical change in the outcome of a choice. But that was not the case: no more than a third of the exchanges were detected by the participants. We also included a second round of choices using the same face pairs, and two stages of post‐choice attractiveness ratings of the faces. This way we were able to measure preference strength both as choice consistency and by looking at measures of rating differences between chosen and rejected options. We found that the initially rejected faces were chosen more frequently in the second choice, and the perceived attractiveness of these faces was increased even in uncoupled individual ratings at the end of the experiment. This result is discussed in relation to Chen and Risen's recent criticism of the Free Choice Paradigm, as it shows that choices can affect future preferences. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Role of Theory and Research in the Practice of Cognitive-Behavioral Couple Therapy: If You Build It,They Will Come

Cognitive-behavioral couple therapy (CBCT), while empirically validated and highly efficacious, does not always have positive results for couples. One factor that may limit the efficacy of this intervention is the way in which therapists are trained to provide this type of therapy. More specifically, there is a need for therapists to gain a solid foundation in CBCT theory in order to maximize treatment results. This paper presents an argument for why an understanding of theory is necessary for therapists in treating couples. Then, this paper presents our training model and how we integrate theory into our training of both graduate student therapists and more experienced clinicians. We take the stance that “if you build it, they will come.”     

Attitude Transference and Deviant Behavior: A Comparative Study in Japan and the United States

Attitude transference is the term that has come to be used to refer to a key process by which one's personal attitudes approving or disapproving of certain behavior reflect those of his or her primary groups and in turn affect his or her conforming or deviant behavior. Cross-cultural comparisons on this and other issues afforded by previous studies, however, have been limited primarily to examining findings that have used different samples and instructions. Drawing on previous literature on cultural variability in individualism, the present study directly tests the hypotheses that although attitude transference operates similarly across cultures, the effects of parental and peer attitudes toward deviance on one's own attitudes should be weaker and stronger, respectively, in Japan compared to the United States. The analysis of identical survey data from college students in the two societies provides mixed support for the hypotheses.     

The Origins of Face Processing in Humans: Phylogeny and Ontogeny

ABSTRACT— Faces are crucial for nonverbal communication in humans and related species. From the first moments of life, newborn infants prefer to look at human faces over almost any other form of stimuli. Since this finding was first observed, there has been much debate regarding the "special" nature of face processing. Researchers have put forward numerous developmental models that attempt to account for this early preference and subsequent maturation of the face processing system. In this article, we review these models and their supporting evidence drawing on literature from developmental, evolutionary, and comparative psychology. We conclude that converging data from these fields strongly suggests that face processing is conducted by a dedicated and complex neural system, is not human specific, and is unlikely to have emerged recently in evolutionary history.     

Feature and Configuration in Face Processing: Japanese Are More Configural Than Americans

Previous work suggests that Asians allocate more attention to configuration information than Caucasian Americans do. Yet this cultural variation has been found only with stimuli such as natural scenes and objects that require both feature‐ and configuration‐based processing. Here, we show that the cultural variation also exists in face perception—a domain that is typically viewed as configural in nature. When asked to identify a prototypic face for a set of disparate exemplars, Japanese were more likely than Caucasian Americans to use overall resemblance rather than feature matching. Moreover, in a speeded identity‐matching task, Japanese were more accurate than Americans in identifying the spatial configuration of features (e.g., eyes). Together, these findings underscore the robustness of culture’s influences on cognition.     

Psychopathic Traits in Adolescence: the Importance of Examining Components in Face Processing,Voice Processing,and Emotional Skill

This study examined relations among interpersonal, affective, and impulsive-irresponsible psychopathic traits, emotional capacities, and recidivism rates in 144 detained adolescents. Emotional skill was conceptualized using a range of constructs, including face and voice processing, emotional intelligence, and self-reported cognitive and affective empathy. In addition, the relation between these concepts and recidivism three years after the initial assessment was examined. Results indicated that interpersonal traits were positively associated with better facial identification of fearful faces, whereas affective traits were associated with worse facial identification of sad and happy faces as well as angry voices. Impulsive-irresponsible traits were associated with reduced emotional intelligence. Differential predictive utility of the three psychopathic traits dimensions was also evidenced. Findings highlight the need to consider the broad concept of psychopathy, but also its underlying dimensions.     

Executive Functions in Children: Associations with Aggressive Behavior and Appraisal Processing

This study investigated whether and how deficits in executive functioning and distortions in appraisal processing are related to subtypes of aggressive behavior. The sample included 83 boys assessed using multi-informant reports and performance measures. Deficits in two executive functions, response inhibition and planning ability were related primarily to reactive aggression. Hostile attributional biases moderated relations between planning ability and proactive and reactive aggression subtypes, with minimal relations between planning deficits and aggression at low levels of hostile attributional bias. As the level of hostile attributional bias increased, the relation between planning deficits and reactive aggression became increasingly large in a positive direction whereas the relation between planning deficits and proactive aggression became increasingly negative. Additionally, hostile encoding moderated the relation between behavioral inhibition and reactive aggressive behavior. Results also suggested a mediational role for response inhibition in the relation between planning ability and reactive aggression.     

If you are vulnerable and you know it raise your hand: Experiences from working in post-tsunami Thailand

Scientific validity has historically been measured against notions of objectivity. However, try as we might, we cannot divorce ourselves from our own personal interests and perceptions that shape the questions we ask, the theoretical filters and methods we choose, and the conclusions we make. We are all human and it is this humanness that is tested and shaped by disasters. Embracing this humanness, this paper reflects upon the experiences and challenges of undertaking longitudinal research in Thailand following the 2004 Tsunami from the perspective of a research student. These include: common logistical and planning challenges in undertaking disaster research in a cross-cultural setting and how positionality, reflexivity, reciprocity and the differing needs of the researcher and participants influence research outcomes. Particular focus is placed on the emotional toll working in unique trauma landscapes has on researchers and the associated threat of secondary trauma stress and vicarious trauma, how this influences a researcher's relationship to place and the ramifications this exchange has on the researcher as a person and their findings. I conclude by offering recommendations on how early career researchers can better prepare for and navigate the disaster landscape and adjustments their mentors and institutions can make to support them.     

Disrupted Face Processing in Frontotemporal Dementia: A Review of the Clinical and Neuroanatomical Evidence

Faces play an integral role in day-to-day functioning, particularly for social interactions where dynamic and rapid processing of information is vital. Analysis of faces allows an individual to ascertain a wide range of information including deciphering mood and identity, with these assessments directing an individual’s subsequent response and behaviours. The prominent social and emotional deficits observed in frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a younger-onset dementia syndrome, may in part reflect a breakdown of the face processing network. Different subtypes of FTD present with divergent patterns of atrophy, although damage is predominantly confined to the frontal and temporal lobes. Specific predictions regarding the role of frontal and temporal regions in face processing have been proposed in the model outlined by Haxby et al. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4(6), 223–233 (2000). This model presents a parsimonious method by which to understand face processing in FTD while concurrently allowing assessment of the predictive value and applicability of such a model. By applying the Haxby model to the existing FTD literature, this review presents both direct and indirect evidence of a breakdown in key elements of the face processing network. The type and degree of breakdown appears to differ as a function of FTD subtype and associated brain atrophy. The evidence presented in this review and its relationship with predictions of the Haxby model provides impetus and direction for future research investigating face processing in FTD.     

Affective Influences on Judgments and Behavior in Organizations: An Information Processing Perspective

This article reviews and integrates recent research in experimental social psychology and organizational behavior demonstrating the pervasive influence that affective states or moods have on judgments, decision making, and behavior in organizations. An information processing theory, the Affect Infusion Model (AIM) is described that can account for many of the empirical findings and also provides a promising theoretical base for future research in this area. The article reviews a range of experimental and applied studies consistent with the predictions of this model, demonstrating the role of information processing strategies in moderating affective influences on organizational behavior. Specifically, we discuss the influence of affect on such work-related behaviors as worker motivation, creativity and performance, interpersonal judgments and communication, performance appraisal judgments and selection interviews, organizational spontaneity, employee flexibility and helpfulness, absenteeism, and bargaining and negotiation behaviors. The implications of the information processing approach for understanding the influence of affect on organizational behaviors are discussed, and we argue for the greater integration of affect into contemporary theorizing and research in organizational settings.     

The Role of Spatial Attention in Nonconscious Processing: A Comparison of Face and Nonface Stimuli

ABSTRACT— Recent findings from the masked priming paradigm have revealed a surprising influence of higher-level cognitive systems (i.e., attention) on nonconscious cognitive processes. These data have effectively undermined the long-standing assumption in cognitive science that nonconscious processes are carried out independently of attention and have quickly led to the opposite view that attention is a prerequisite for nonconscious processes. Here we present evidence for a middle position by showing that the dependence of nonconscious processes on attention varies with the type of information to be processed. Specifically, we found that nonconsciously perceived faces engaged cognitive processes regardless of attention, whereas nonface stimuli engaged cognitive processes only when attended. These qualitatively different patterns suggest two distinct processing routes: one that is modulated by visual attention and one that is not.     

羞怯与非羞怯大学生在早期面孔加工中的差异——来自ERP的电生理学证据

羞怯与社会认知密切相关,而面孔识别是人们社会生活中的一项重要的社会认知功能。目前关于羞怯的电生理学研究大多关注表情的效价效应和面孔的新旧效应对羞怯个体面孔加工的影响,却忽视了羞怯个体在基本的面孔识别能力——面孔-物体识别中可能存在的认知神经差异。因此,本研究采用ERP技术,使用GO/Nogo范式的面孔-物体识别任务,对17名羞怯大学生和17名非羞怯大学生在面孔结构编码中的N170成分进行考察,以期发现不同羞怯水平大学生在早期面孔加工中的认知神经差异。本研究发现,非羞怯大学生对面孔结构具有加工优势,识别面孔时,非羞怯大学生的N170波幅显著大于羞怯大学生的N170波幅,识别物体时则不存在组间差异;N170是面孔识别的特异性成分,面孔诱发的N170波幅显著大于物体诱发的N170波幅;识别面孔时,N170表现出大脑右半球的加工优势。     

You are my best friend: Commitment and stability in adolescents’ same‐sex friendships

A 2‐wave longitudinal study among 678 early and 317 middle adolescents investigated the applicability of Rusbult’s investment model to adolescent best friendships and tested its usefulness in predicting friendship stability. Results showed that satisfaction, quality of alternatives, and investments predict commitment in friendships, both concurrently and over time. Furthermore, investment model variables predicted friendship stability and, among stable friendships, predicted the tendency to switch best friends. Commitment mediated the effects of satisfaction, investment, and alternatives on tendency to switch. As expected, gender and age differences were found in that alternatives were more important for older adolescents and associations among model variables were stronger for girls. Overall, the investment model proved useful in predicting commitment and stability in adolescents’ best friendships.     

It Works Both Ways: The Relationship Between Exposure to Sexual Content in the Media and Adolescent Sexual Behavior

Using a longitudinal Web-based survey of adolescents 14–16 years of age, we estimate regression models where self-reported sexual behavior and content analytic-based exposure to sex in the media are related cross-sectionally and longitudinally. We find evidence for both cross-sectional nonrecursive and prospective longitudinal relationships even after adjusting for both established predictors of sexual behavior (e.g., physical development, having a romantic partner, parental monitoring, peer and parental norms, respondent's age) and of exposure to sexual media content (e.g., time the respondent goes to bed, extracurricular activities, television in the bedroom, total time spent with television, music, video games, and magazines). Sexually active adolescents are more likely to expose themselves to sex in the media and those exposed to sex in the media are more likely to progress in their sexual activity. These findings are consistent with others in the literature that demonstrate a causal effect of exposure to sexual content on sexual behavior but extend established results by also looking at the causal effect of sexual behavior on exposure both cross-sectionally and over time.     

"You learn and learn and learn.... and then you are an adult": parental perceptions of adolescence in contemporary Swaziland

The developmental period of adolescence is explored in Swaziland from a multidisciplinary perspective. The study compares early anthropological research with contemporary interviews of Swazi parents. While the Swazi language, siSwati, does not have a term for "adolescent," there is evidence of a definite developmental period which could be defined as adolescence. Parents view this period as being qualitatively different from childhood and adulthood, but they also have gender-related interpretations of its nature and length. While biological maturation (especially menarche for females) is viewed as a vital step in becoming an adult, behaviors must be learned during this time (i.e., "adolescence") before one is completely of adult status.     

Face processing and name retrieval in an anomic aphasic: names are stored separately from semantic information about familiar people

Recent models of face recognition have proposed that the names of familiar people are accessed from a lexical memory store that is distinct from the semantic memory store that holds information about such things as a familiar person's occupation and personality. Names are nevertheless retrieved via the semantic system. If such models are correct, then it should be possible for a patient to have full access to semantic information about familiar people while being unable to name many of them. We report this pattern in an anomic aphasic patient, EST, whose inability to recall the names of familiar people occurred in the context of a general word-finding problem. EST showed a preserved ability to access semantic information from familiar faces, voices, and spoken and written names and to process facial expressions, but he was unable to name many familiar faces. These findings are compatible with current models of face processing and challenge models which propose that names are stored alongside semantic information in a general-purpose long-term memory store.