Cognitive load,trigger salience,and the facilitation of triggered displaced aggression

Researchers hypothesize that a state of limited cognitive processing capacity increases aggression. In the context of the triggered displaced aggression (TDA) paradigm, a 2 (Salience of triggering event: high/low) × 2 (Cognitive load at trigger: yes/no) × 2 (Cognitive load at aggression: yes/no) between participants experiment tested this hypothesis. Results showed that inducing cognitive load in previously provoked participants while they received a triggering provocation augmented aggression toward the target when the latter was highly salient. Affective reactions to the trigger partially mediated this effect. In contrast to expectation, however, inducing cognitive load while participants aggressed against their target did not affect aggression levels. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Perceiving versus inferring movements to understand dynamic events: The influence of content complexity

ObjectivesWhat type of visual presentation is best in helping learners to understand the functioning of a dynamic system and under what conditions? This study investigated the effect of content complexity on perceived cognitive load and performance resulting from studying depicted movements of team play either in an explicit manner (animation) or via arrow symbols (static diagram).DesignA 2 (treatment: diagram vs. animation) × 2 (content complexity: low vs. high) between subjects design was adopted in the experiment.MethodsForty-eight university students were randomly assigned to the four study conditions and required to perform a reconstruction test and rate their perceived cognitive load following the study phase.ResultsData analyses revealed that for low-complexity content, participants exposed to the animation treatment learned more efficiently – based on the combination of learning and cognitive load scores – than those exposed to the diagram treatment. On the other hand, for high-complexity content, participants exposed to the diagram treatment learned more efficiently than those exposed to the animation treatment.ConclusionThe findings stress the importance of considering the task complexity factor when designing and presenting instructional materials to learners.     

Mass Media as Alcohol Educator for Everyone? Effects of Portrayed Alcohol Consequences and the Influence of Viewers’ Characteristics

ABSTRACT

Many correlative and experimental studies indicate that the portrayal of alcohol in the mass media impacts viewers’ alcohol expectancies, attitudes, and behaviors. Based on social cognitive theory, the portrayed consequences and the valence of the character experiencing these consequences are important to consider when investigating the portrayal of alcohol in the mass media. However, experimental studies manipulating character valence and consequences are scarce. This study presents an experimental examination of an adult sample, manipulating the occurrence of consequences (no consequences, positive consequences, and negative consequences), as well as character valence (a positive or negative character). We investigated the effects of media portrayals on positive and negative alcohol expectancies, as well as on attitudes toward alcohol. Furthermore, the moderating role of participants’ level of alcohol consumption was considered. We found main effects only on the negative alcohol expectancies, supporting the differentiation of alcohol expectancies and attitudes. However, the valence of the depicted character did not moderate the impact of the portrayed consequences. Interaction effects of participants’ individual levels of alcohol consumption and portrayals of consequences of alcohol consumption in the mass media were uncovered. This finding has important implications for further research and prevention efforts directed at risk groups.     

Behind the wheel: What drives the effects of error handling?

Existing research comparing error management (a strategy focusing on increasing the positive and decreasing the negative consequences of errors) to error prevention (a strategy focusing on working faultlessly), has identified error management as beneficial for multiple outcomes. Yet, due to various methodological limitations, it is unclear whether the effects previously found are due to error prevention, error management, or both. We examine this in an experimental study with a 2 (error prevention: yes vs. no) × 2 (error management: yes vs. no) factorial design. Error prevention had negative effects on cognition and adaptive transfer performance. Error management alleviated worry and boosted one’s perceived self-efficacy. Overall, the results show that error prevention and error management have unique outcomes on negative affect, self-efficacy, cognition, and performance.     

The Effects of Acute Alcohol Intoxication and Self-Focused Rumination on Triggered Displaced Aggression

An experiment simultaneously examined the effects of acute alcohol intoxication and self-focused rumination on triggered displaced aggression. An ethnically diverse sample of 97 young adult participants (41 men, 56 women) were recruited from a university community and surrounding area. Participants were provoked by an experimenter, randomly assigned to a 2 (alcohol, sober)?×?2 (rumination, distraction)?×?2 (trigger, no trigger) between-participants design, and then given an opportunity to aggress against an undeserving other who was either completely innocent or slightly annoying. Self-focused rumination increased displaced aggression only when participants were triggered by the slightly annoying participant. Alcohol independently augmented aggression.     

An experimental examination of the effects of alcohol consumption and exposure to misleading postevent information on remembering a hypothetical rape scenario

We experimentally examined the effects of alcohol consumption and exposure to misleading postevent information on memory for a hypothetical interactive rape scenario. We used a 2 beverage (alcohol vs. tonic water) × 2 expectancy (told alcohol vs. told tonic) factorial design. Participants (N = 80) were randomly assigned to conditions. They consumed alcohol (mean blood alcohol content = 0.06%) or tonic water before engaging in the scenario. Alcohol expectancy was controlled by telling participants they were consuming alcohol or tonic water alone, irrespective of the actual beverage they were consuming. Approximately a week later, participants were exposed to a misleading postevent narrative and then recalled the scenario and took a recognition test. Participants who were told that they had consumed alcohol rather than tonic reported fewer correct details, but they were no more likely to report incorrect or misleading information. The confidence–accuracy relationship for control and misled items was similar across groups, and there was some evidence that metacognitive discrimination was better for participants who were told that they had consumed alcohol compared with those told they had tonic water. Implications for interviewing rape victims are discussed.     

Meta-analytic moderators of experimental exposure to media portrayals of women on female appearance satisfaction: Social comparisons as automatic processes

Experimental exposure to idealized media portrayals of women is thought to induce social comparisons in female viewers and thereby to be generally detrimental to female viewers’ satisfaction with their own appearance. Through meta-analysis, the present paper examines the impact of moderators of this effect, some identified and updated from a prior meta-analysis and some that have hitherto received little attention. Participants’ pre-existing appearance concerns and the processing instructions participants were given when exposed to media portrayals were found to significantly moderate effect sizes. With regard to processing instructions, a novel and counter-intuitive pattern was revealed; effect sizes were smallest when participants were instructed to focus on the appearance of women in media portrayals, and largest when participants processed the portrayals on a distracting, non-appearance dimension. These results are interpreted through a framework that suggests that social comparisons are automatic processes, the effects of which can be modified through conscious processing.     

Alcohol-related Cues Promote Automatic Racial Bias

Previous research has shown that alcohol consumption can increase the expression of race bias by impairing control-related processes. The current study tested whether simple exposure to alcohol-related images can also increase bias, but via a different mechanism. Participants viewed magazine ads for either alcoholic or nonalcoholic beverages prior to completing Payne's (2001) Weapons Identification Task (WIT). As predicted, participants primed with alcohol ads exhibited greater race bias in the WIT than participants primed with neutral beverages. Process dissociation analyses indicated that these effects were due to automatic (relative to controlled) processes having a larger influence on behavior among alcohol-primed relative to neutral-primed participants. Structural equation modeling further showed that the alcohol-priming effect was mediated by increases in the influence of automatic associations on behavior. These data suggest an additional pathway by which alcohol can potentially harm inter-racial interactions, even when no beverage is consumed.     

Alcohol self‐presentation: the role of impression motivation and impression construction

Two studies examined impression motivation (IM) and impression construction (IC) processes in college freshman alcohol use. In both studies, students completed individual difference measures related to IM and alcohol IC. In Study 1 (n = 232), participants were assigned to IM (low vs. high) and IC (alcohol vs. control) conditions and then created a personal profile. In Study 2 (n = 65), participants reported levels of IM and alcohol IC, and number of drinks during each evening's social interactions for 3 weeks. Situational alcohol IC was positively related to whether participants presented themselves as an alcohol user in their profile (Study 1) and in the amount they drank (Study 2). In Study 2, the association between IC and drinking was moderated by IM.     

The impacts of task relevance and cognitive load on adults’ decision information search

ABSTRACT

Higher relevance may increase older adults’ engagement in cognitively demanding activities; however, whether this effect will maintain when available cognitive resources are limited? Consequently, we investigated the joint impact of task relevance and cognitive load on older and younger adults’ decision search behaviors. We adopted a 2 (age: young/old) × 2 (cognitive load: without load/with load) × 2 (task relevance: high/low) mixed design. Sixty-one younger and 63 older adults completed high-relevance and low-relevance decisions. Our results revealed that older (vs. younger) adults took more time and more alternative-based search before decision-making. Both age groups sampled less information with an additional memory task. Additionally, they spent more time and effort to sample more information on high-relevance (vs. low-relevance) decisions; however, such differences disappeared when with an additional memory task. Task relevance promoted both age groups' search engagement, but this effect was subjected to their available cognitive resources.     

Alcohol and aggression without consumption. Alcohol cues, aggressive thoughts, and hostile perception bias

Researchers and the lay public have long known of a link between alcohol and aggression. However, whether this link results from alcohol's pharmacological effects or is merely an artifact of the belief that alcohol has been consumed (i.e., placebo effect) has been debated. The current experiments examined the propensity for alcohol-related cues to elicit aggressive thoughts and hostile perceptions in the absence of alcohol or placebo consumption. In Experiment 1, participants made faster lexical decisions concerning aggression-related words following alcohol-related primes compared with neutral primes. In Experiment 2, participants who first were exposed to alcohol advertisements subsequently rated the behavior of a target person as more hostile than participants who initially viewed control advertisements. Furthermore, this effect was largest among participants who most strongly associated alcohol and aggression. Findings are discussed in terms of semantic network theory and links in memory between alcohol and its anticipated effects.     

Alcohol and Aggression: Perspectives on Controlled and Uncontrolled Social Information Processing

This paper reviews the main current social cognitive explanations of the effects of acute alcohol consumption on aggression: the cognitive disruption model, the attributional model, and model of automaticity. The cognitive disruption model posits that intoxication affects controlled processing arising from the impairment of executive cognitive functions by alcohol's pharmacological properties. The individual consequently focuses on the most salient and proximal situational factors, thereby spoiling self‐regulatory processes. According to the attributional model, drinkers expect alcohol to mitigate social sanctions following aggression by shifting blame to alcohol. These explicit expectations represent an extrapharmacological cause of the alcohol–aggression link. Finally, the model of automaticity implies that alcohol meanings stored in long‐term memory and activated in drinking contexts automatically trigger aggressive thoughts and behavior without the individual's awareness. The explanation of intoxicated aggression should integrate these co‐etiological social cognitive models that take into account pharmacological as well as extrapharmacological consequences of alcohol consumption.     

情绪对内隐刻板印象表达的调节

采用IAT范式探讨不同情绪对内隐刻板印象表达的调节作用：实验1通过音乐唤醒被试的不同弥散性情绪状态(悲伤vs.愉悦), 并操纵其即时观念(刻板一致vs.刻板冲突), 探讨二者对内隐性别刻板印象表达的影响。实验2通过视频诱发被试不同的指向性情绪(同情vs.厌恶), 研究其如何调节大学生对不同感染途径的艾滋病患者和病毒携带者的内隐刻板印象表达。在此基础上引入四重模型(Quad Model)分析技术, 进一步细化情绪的调节作用究竟发生在认知加工的自动加工过程还是控制加工过程, 以及不同情绪是通过哪些心理成分调节内隐刻板印象的表达。结果表明：(1)当即时观念与刻板印象内容一致时, 积极弥散性情绪促进内隐刻板印象的表达; 反之则会抑制其表达; (2)弥散性情绪通过调节认知加工的自动化加工过程, 进而调节内隐刻板印象的表达, 但未参与调节控制性加工过程; (3)积极效价的指向性情绪会抑制被试对艾滋病患者的内隐刻板印象表达, 消极效价的指向性情绪会促进其表达; (4)指向性情绪通过自动激活成分, 调节内隐刻板印象表达的自动化加工过程; 同时也通过辨识力成分, 参与调节内隐刻板印象表达的控制性加工过程。     

A brief intervention to increase physical activity behavior among adolescents using mental simulations and action planning

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a brief integrated theory-based intervention to increase physical activity (PA) among adolescents over a three-month follow-up period. A 2 (mental simulation: present vs. absent) × 2 (action planning: present vs. absent) × 4 (time: baseline vs. one-month vs. two-month vs. three-month follow-up) mixed-model randomized controlled design was adopted. Adolescents aged 14–15 years (N = 267) completed baseline psychological measures and self-reported PA followed by the relevant intervention manipulation, if appropriate, with follow-up measures collected one, two, and three months later. Results revealed no significant effects for the mental simulation and action planning strategies nor the interaction of the two strategies. However, among participants with low levels of baseline PA, participants in both mental simulation alone and action planning alone groups reported significantly higher levels of PA at one-month follow up than other groups, suggesting that individual intervention components may be effective in low-active adolescents.     

The effects of alcohol and the salience of aggressive cues on triggered displaced aggression

Alcohol increases the aggression-augmenting effects of provocation. Theories of alcohol and aggression suggest that impaired cognitive processing induced by acute intoxication leads individuals to process aggression-inducing social cues differently depending on whether they are high or low in salience. We examined the effects of intoxication and aggressive cue salience within the triggered displaced aggression paradigm. An ethnically diverse sample of 74 primarily young adult participants (40 men and 34 women; M=23.28, SD=3.14 years) were recruited from the university community and surrounding area. All participants were provoked by an experimenter, randomly assigned to a 2 (alcohol condition: alcohol vs. placebo) x 2 (trigger salience: high vs. low salience) between-subjects design, and then given the opportunity to aggress against the undeserving triggering agent. As expected, intoxication combined with a salient triggering cue elicited the most displaced aggression among all conditions. These results provide the first evidence that the effect of alcohol on triggered displaced aggression is moderated by the salience of the triggering event.     

Validation,Persuasion and Recycling: Capitalizing on the Social Ecology of Newspaper Use

Two experiments used clinical validation to increase scrutiny of messages posted in public settings. The first experiment used a 2 (validation: no/yes) × 2 (persuasion: none/"it is important") factorial design to develop messages about newspaper recycling. The prompt (no validation/no persuasion) had little impact on newspaper recycling, but the other 3 signs all resulted in increased recycling while the signs were in place. After signs were removed, recycling remained significantly higher than baseline (marginally significant for validation/persuasion). At the end of the study, number of cognitions favoring recycling was significantly higher in the validation-only condition and was lower in the validation/persuasion condition. Experiment 2 tested whether signs would have more impact if they were sensitive to the social ecology of newspaper recycling; that is, readers' tendency to leave newspapers behind so others may read them. Messages based on a 2 (message: validation-only/validation plus persuasion) × 2 (ecology: no social ecology/social ecology) factorial design supported social ecology's importance. Furthermore, because of the increased sharing in the social ecology conditions, total numbers of newspapers used was significantly lower in those buildings. Validation only yielded sustained behavior change in both Experiments 1 and 2, supporting additional research on the question of whether validation can, by itself, lead to cognitive elaboration and self-persuasion.     

The effects of alcohol consumption and expectancies in an experimental date rape analogue

This study examined the impact of perceived token resistance and the psychological and pharmacological effects of alcohol consumption on men's discrimination of when a female wants her partner to stop his sexual advances. In a 2 (alcohol vs. no alcohol) × 2 (expectancy vs. no expectancy) × 2 (perceived token resistance vs. no resistance) randomized factorial design, male college students were exposed to an audiotape of a date rape. Before listening, participants were told that on the previous date the woman did not resist sexual contact or that she initially objected to the contact but the man was able to obtain the level of intimacy he desired. Relative to participants assigned to the no-alcohol expectancy or no-alcohol consumption group, participants in the alcohol expectancy and alcohol consumption groups took significantly longer to determine that the man should refrain from attempting further sexual contact. The implications of the findings are discussed.This investigation was carried out by the first author under the supervision of the second author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.     

Gender and Context Differences in Alcohol Expectancies

Abstract

In 2 studies, the authors investigated gender and context effects of alcohol expectancies among U.S. college students. In Study 1, they examined the responses of 771 women and 493 men to the Sexual Enhancement (SE) subscale and the Relaxation and Tension Reduction (TR) subscale of the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire (S. A. Brown, B. A. Christiansen, & M. S. Goldman, 1987). They found no gender differences when they controlled for drinking quantity. When they controlled for drinking frequency, the men scored significantly higher on the TR subscale than the women did. In Study 2, also among U.S. college students, 41 women and 21 men first imagined that they were on blind dates or in long-term relationships and then completed the SE and TR subscales. On the SE subscale, the women scored higher in the relationship context than in the blind-date context, whereas the men did not vary between contexts. All the participants also reported more tension-reduction expectancies in the relationship context than in the blind-date context.     

Reconceptualizing Cultivation: Implications for Testing Relationships Between Fiction Exposure and Self-Reported Alcohol Use Evaluations

ABSTRACT

This article responds to calls for conceptual clarification in the media effects domain by providing a definition for attitudinal cultivation effects. Our definition contains 5 core characteristics: the (a) linear effects of (b) repeated media exposure on (c) the evaluation as given by memory associations (d) strengthened by and (e) valenced in line with those media messages. We reason that, when accepting this definition, the cultivation hypothesis predicts effects of repeated media use on evaluations to primarily occur at the level of gut evaluations given by automatically activated memory associations. Corroborating this logic for the effects of alcohol use portrayals in television fiction, we find the relationship between fiction exposure and self-reported alcohol use evaluations to be (a) moderated by speed of expressing those evaluations and (b) mediated by responses to self-reports tapping into gut feelings. The implications of these findings for future media effects studies are discussed.