Physically Attractive Social Information Sources Lead to Increased Selective Exposure to Information

The present research investigated the impact of a social information source's physical attractiveness on selective exposure to decision-relevant information. In two studies, support was found for the hypothesis that physically attractive information sources lead decision makers into being more selective in both searching for (Studies 1 and 2; selective exposure) and evaluating (Study 2; biased assimilation) decision-relevant information. In both studies, the effect was driven by differences in the selection and evaluation of decision-consistent information, that is, physically attractive information sources led to increases in the perceived quality of decision-consistent information as well as increased selective exposure to this information. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Selective Exposure in the Internet Age: The Interaction between Anxiety and Information Utility

The rise of the Internet forces scholars to reevaluate the frequency and nature of political information seeking in the contemporary period. The functionality of the Internet makes passive exposure more difficult, and selective information seeking easier, than in the past. However, people may also use the Internet in a new and directed way—to arm themselves with information to express and defend their views either online or in the real world. The central question we explore in this paper is what explains balanced versus biased information seeking in the era of the Internet? We combine insights from Sears and Freedman (1967 ) with newer work on emotion to predict motivated selectivity: focusing specifically on the interaction between anxiety and information utility. Our central theoretical claim is that anxiety does not simply boost any information seeking; it triggers information seeking that is useful for addressing the problem at hand. Anxiety alone, therefore, does not guarantee a balanced information search. When counterattitudinal information is useful for some reason—for example, to defend their own opinions to others who may disagree—anxious citizens should seek it out. As a consequence, these subjects should learn more specific information about where each candidate stands on the issues. In an experiment we find support for these hypotheses. We conclude that while today's flexible Internet environment may permit selectivity, balanced seeking should still occur under a fairly common set of circumstances.     

Threat, Authoritarianism, and Selective Exposure to Information

We examined the hypothesis that threat alters the cognitive strategies used by high authoritarians in seeking out new political information from the environment. In a laboratory experiment, threat was manipulated through a "mortality salience" manipulation used in research on terror management theory ( Pyszczynski, Solomon & Greenberg, 2003 ). Subjects (N = 92) were then invited to read one of three editorial articles on the topic of capital punishment. We found that in the absence of threat, both low and high authoritarians were responsive to salient norms of evenhandedness in information selection, preferring exposure to a two-sided article that presents the merits of both sides of an issue to an article that selectively touts the benefits of the pro or con side of the issue. However, in the presence of threat, high but not low authoritarians became significantly more interested in exposure to an article containing uniformly pro-attitudinal arguments, and significantly less interested in a balanced, two-sided article. Finally, a path analysis indicated that selective exposure to attitude-congruent information led to more internally consistent policy attitudes and inhibited attitude change. Discussion focuses on the role of threat in conditioning the cognitive and attitudinal effects of authoritarianism.     

Exposure to Sexually Objectifying Media and Body Self-Perceptions among College Women: An Examination of the Selective Exposure Hypothesis and the Role of Moderating Variables

Objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) contends that media that places women’s bodies and appearance at a premium can acculturate women to self-objectify (i.e., to view the self primarily in terms of externally perceivable attributes), or to feel anxious or ashamed of their bodies. However, another unexplored possibility is that antecedent levels of self-objectification, appearance anxiety, and body shame could drive the selection or avoidance of sexually objectifying media. The goals of the present study were two-fold: first, to test the directionality of the associations between exposure to sexually objectifying media and body self-perceptions (i.e., does exposure to sexually objectifying media predict body self-perceptions or vice versa); and second, to explore the possible moderating influence of thin-ideal internalization, global self-esteem, and BMI on the relations between exposure to sexually objectifying media and body self-perceptions. A 2-year panel study of female undergraduates was conducted. The results show that Time-1 trait self-objectification, appearance anxiety, and body shame all negatively predicted Time-2 exposure to sexually objectifying media. Moreover, Time-1 exposure to sexually objectifying media predicted an increase in Time-2 trait self-objectification, particularly among women who were low in global self-esteem.     

The Associations of Patient Demographic Characteristics and Health Information Recall: The Mediating Role of Health Literacy

ABSTRACT

We examined the mediating role of health literacy in the relationships between participant demographic characteristics and health information recall. Baseline data from two studies that focused on hypertensive adults (N = 1190; M = 62.28 years, SD = 11.98; 35.5% female; 45.9% African-American) were analyzed. The final model, which adjusted for recruitment site, indicated that financial status, race, and education were indirectly related to health information recall through health literacy. Increasing education was also directly related to better health information recall. Increasing age was not related to health literacy, but was related to poorer health information recall. The final model fit the data very well, χ²(3) = 0.69, p = .36, RMSEA = .000 (90% CI = .000 to .024),CFI = 1.00. The results suggest that health literacy might be one of the mechanisms underlying the relationships between participant demographic characteristics and poor health outcomes due to inaccurate recall of instructions.     

Selective Exposure and News Media Brands: Implicit and Explicit Attitudes as Predictors of News Choice

ABSTRACT

Media consumers often lack the motivation, time, or cognitive capacity to select content in a deliberate way; instead, they opt for mental shortcuts. Brands are important in this regard because they simplify decision making. In the present study we investigated whether attitudes toward news media brands predict news choice. It is important that we conceptualized attitudes on two different levels: Although explicit attitudes are defined as overtly expressed, more or less deliberate evaluations, implicit attitudes are defined as automatically activated, gut-level evaluations. The supplementary use of implicit attitudes is consistent with current theorizing highlighting that deeply held and sometimes even unconscious evaluations influence media choice. Using a web-based study, we found that implicit and explicit attitudes toward television brands predicted choice. Each attitude construct predicted variance beyond that predicted by the other. We discuss implications by emphasizing the role of automatic, gut-level decision making in current high-choice media environments.     

Communication of Genetic Information by Other Health Professionals: The Role of the Genetic Counsellor in Specialist Clinics

Many children with chronic genetic diseases are followed by specialty clinics that provide genetic information as part of the care. Health services restrictions in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) can make the wait for an appointment with a genetic counsellor long. We examined whether genetic information was being adequately understood when presented by medical, but non-genetics staff to long term patients, using our national metabolic service as an example. The aim was to inform health professionals about the need or role of a genetic counsellor in a specialist setting. A questionnaire was used to assess knowledge among parents and patients affected by galactosaemia and Maple Syrup Urine Disease (MSUD). Twenty seven families with galactosemia and 10 with MSUD were interviewed in clinic. Comparative analysis showed significant differences in knowledge between parents of children with galactosemia and adult patients (p = 0.001) and between ethnicities (p > 0.05). While parents are well informed, the majority expressed a wish for more information about the condition and its transmission. Adult patients with galactosemia and parents from certain ethnic backgrounds could especially benefit from genetic counselling. This study highlights the need for a genetic counsellor in specialist clinics.     

The Role of the Self in Responses to Health Communications: A Cultural Perspective

To the extent that cultures vary in how they shape individuals' self-construal, it is important to consider a cultural perspective to understand the role of the self in health persuasion. We review recent research that has adopted a cultural perspective on how to frame health communications to be congruent with important, culturally variant, aspects of the self. Matching features of a health message to approach vs. avoidance orientation and independent vs. interdependent self-construal can lead to greater message acceptance and health behavior change. Discussion centers on the theoretical and applied value of the self as an organizing framework for constructing persuasive health communications.     

Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Emetophobia: The Role of Interoceptive Exposure

Emetophobia, or the fear of vomiting, is among the least studied phobias. The literature on the etiology, symptomatology, and treatment of this problem is just beginning to develop. Research to date suggests that for many people with emetophobia, anxiety is triggered by both external and internal factors, but to date only one English-language report describes an intervention that directly targets both external and internal triggers. This paper presents a case in which a cognitive-behavioral treatment (including education about the origin and implications of physical symptoms of anxiety, graduated exposure to feared situations, interoceptive exposure, and cognitive restructuring) was used successfully in the treatment of emetophobia.     

The Effect of Affective States on Selective Exposure to Televised Entertainment Fare1

Subjects were placed into a negative, neutral, or positive affective state and then, ostensibly in a waiting period, provided with an opportunity to watch television. They were free to choose among situation comedy, game show, action drama, and not watching. Time of selective exposure was measured unobtrusively. Compared to other affect-conditions, subjects in the condition of negative affect avoided comedy. Time of exposure in this condition was significantly below that in the condition of neutral affect. The tendency to avoid comedy was stable over the 10-minute test period. Compared to other affect conditions, subjects in the condition of positive affect preferred action drama. Time of exposure in this condition was significantly above that in the condition of neutral affect. Subjects experiencing negative affect watched less action drama over time; in contrast, subjects experiencing positive affect watched more action drama, but less game show. A subsequent investigation showed that hostile comedy tended to be avoided by provoked subjects specifically. Merely frustrated subjects were found to actually prefer such comedy. Furthermore, neither provoked nor frustrated subjects avoided nonhostile comedy. The findings were considered consistent with the proposal that persons select exposure to those materials that hold the greatest promise of providing prompt relief from negative affective experiences.     

Providing Information to Parents of Children with Mental Health Problems: A Discrete Choice Conjoint Analysis of Professional Preferences

We used discrete choice conjoint analysis to model the ways 645 children’s mental health (CMH) professionals preferred to provide information to parents seeking CMH services. Participants completed 20 choice tasks presenting experimentally varied combinations of the study’s 14 4-level CMH information transfer attributes. Latent class analysis revealed three segments. Open Access professionals (32.2%) preferred that intake workers automatically provide all parents with CMH information. They preferred information prepared by professional organizations and located at accessible settings such as public schools. They responded favorably to the internet as a source of information for parents. Controlled Access professionals (22.2%) preferred information that was approved and recommended by a child’s therapist, prepared by an experienced clinician, and located at hospitals and CMH clinics. Process Sensitive professionals (45.6%) showed a stronger preference for active learning materials with parenting groups and therapist “coaching” calls supporting the knowledge transfer process. Simulations suggested that realizing the benefits of CMH information requires the development of knowledge transfer strategies that align the preferences of professionals with those of the families they serve.     

The Role of Selective Attention in Bilingual Creativity

The study presents a systematic investigation of the cognitive mechanisms of selective attention that potentially mediate the effect of bilingualism on creative abilities. The performance of 90 bilingual college students with different proficiency levels in English was compared on a battery of creativity and cognitive measures. Linguistically advanced bilinguals demonstrated greater abilities to produce original and useful ideas and to think beyond standard categories in creative problem-solving. Two mechanisms of selective attention were identified as contributors to the improvement of bilingual creative abilities. The inhibition of irrelevant information seemed to enhance the capacity to produce original and useful ideas. The facilitation of relevant information was likely to boost the ability to activate a multitude of unrelated concepts and work through the concepts already activated. Bilinguals with different levels of linguistic skills were found to utilize these mechanisms differently and thereby to employ different strategies in creative problem-solving.     

The Role of Exposure to Violence and Psychopathy on Violent Crime Perpetration

Exposure to violence strongly predicts violent behavior. However, not all individuals who are exposed to violence engage in violent behavior. Personality is one factor that influences the translation from exposure to violence to engagement in violent behavior. Previous research in adolescents showed that psychopathy (a personality disorder) mediated the relationship between exposure to violence and violent behavior. However, this research has not: been conducted in adults, despite evidence of instability in exposure to violence and psychopathy across the lifespan; examined the specificity of this relationship to different expressions of psychopathy, such as subcomponent Factors and primary/secondary subtypes; and, considered other environmental experiences that may impact this relationship. In two samples of adults (community [N?=?232] and prison [N?=?313]), psychopathy affected the relationship between exposure to violence and violence (community indirect effect?=?0.03, SE?=?0.02, 95% CI?=?0.004, 0.07; prison indirect effect?=?0.14, SE?=?0.05, 95% CI?=?0.05, 0.25). These effects appeared to be related more strongly to the impulsive-antisocial traits of psychopathy and the secondary (high-anxious) subtype of psychopathy. Results were robust against demographic and other environmental experiences. Ultimately, our findings indicate that psychopathy is an important factor affecting the link between exposure to violence and violent behavior.

     

信息提供者的先前准确性对幼儿选择性信任的影响

作为社会学习的个体,幼儿从3岁起就能根据信息提供者先前准确性的差异对其可信程度进行评估。通过对以往研究效应量的整理分析发现,随年龄增长,幼儿对高先前准确性信息提供者的信任程度表现出增长趋势（3岁幼儿选择的效应量中值为d_询问=0.60,d_赞同=0.61;4岁幼儿的效应量中值为d_询问=0.80,d_赞同=0.96）。在运用先前准确性进行评估时,幼儿主要关注信息提供者是否犯错,灵活使用"整体印象"和"特质推测"两种认知策略对其未来行为进行推测。幼儿能够根据自身对材料的感知对信息提供者的可信程度进行动态调整,其心理理论发展水平和执行功能限制了他们的选择信任,而信息提供者同时具有的社会性因素对幼儿的选择也具有干扰作用（幼儿信任准确的信息提供者的效应量中值为d_询问=-0.03,d_赞同=-0.17）。未来研究可以改进实验范式,进一步探查先前准确性对幼儿选择性信任的影响,拓展信息提供者的呈现方式和其它多重特征,关注不同类别的信息提供者。     

Selective Processing of Threatening Words in Anxiety: The Role of Awareness

In three experiments, high and low trait-anxious individuals were required to classify a centrally located number as odd or even while ignoring spatially separate threat-related or neutral words. It was found that high anxious subjects showed a selective bias to process threatening stimuli when the stimuli were pattern masked after a brief exposure (14msec). However, this automatic processing bias was apparent only under certain conditions: distractors were within focal attention; masked and unmasked distractors were randomly intermixed; or masked trials were presented after unmasked trials. These results suggest that automatic processing biases in high traitanxious individuals are influenced by contextual factors. There was also a suggestion of a qualitative difference in attentional bias between conscious (unmasked) and nonconscious (masked) states, providing evidence for perception without awareness. The theoretical implications of these results are discussed.     

The Role of Semantic Features in Verb Processing

The present study examined the general hypothesis that, as for nouns, stable representations of semantic knowledge relative to situations expressed by verbs are available and accessible in long term memory in normal people. Regular associations between verbs and past tenses in French adults allowed to abstract two superordinate semantic features in the representation of verb meaning: durativity and resultativity. A pilot study was designed to select appropriate items according to these features: durative, non-resultative verbs and non-durative, resultative verbs. An experimental study was then conducted to assess semantic priming in French adults with two visual semantic-decision tasks at a 200- and 100-ms SOA. In the durativity decision task, participants had to decide if the target referred to a durable or non-durable situation. In the resultativity decision task, they had to decide if it referred to a situation with a directly observable outcome or without any clear external outcome. Targets were preceded by similar, opposite, and neutral primes. Results showed that semantic priming can tap verb meaning at a 200- and 100-ms SOA, with the restriction that only the positive value of each feature benefited from priming, that is the durative and resultative values. Moreover, processing of durativity and resultativity is far from comparable since facilitation was shown on the former with similar and opposite priming, whereas it was shown on the latter only with similar priming. Overall, these findings support Le Ny’s (in: Saint-Dizier, Viegas (eds) Computational lexical semantics, 1995; Cahier de Recherche Linguistique LanDisCo 12:85–100, 1998; Comment l’esprit produit du sens, 2005) general hypothesis that classificatory properties of verbs could be interpreted as semantic features and the view that semantic priming can tap verb meaning, as noun meaning.     

Modeling the Information Preferences of Parents of Children with Mental Health Problems: A Discrete Choice Conjoint Experiment

Although materials informing parents about children’s mental health (CMH) problems can improve outcomes, we know relatively little about the design factors that might influence their utilization of available resources. We used a discrete choice conjoint experiment to model the information preferences of parents seeking mental health services for 6 to 18 year olds. Parents completed 30 choice tasks presenting experimentally varied combinations of 20 four-level CMH information content, transfer process, and outcome attributes. Latent class analysis revealed three segments with different preferences. Parents in the Action segment (43%) chose materials providing step-by-step solutions to behavioral or emotional problems. They preferred weekly meetings with other parents and coaching calls from a therapist. The Information segment (41%) chose materials helping them understand rather than solve their child’s problems. These parents were more sensitive to logistical factors such as receiving information in groups, the location where information was available, the modality in which the information was presented, and the time required to obtain and use the information. The Overwhelmed segment (16%) reported more oppositional and conduct problems, felt their children’s difficulties exerted a greater adverse impact on family functioning, and reported higher personal depression scores than those in the Action or Information segments. Nonetheless, they did not choose information about, or solutions to, the problems their children presented. Simulations predicted that maximizing utilization and realizing the potential benefits of CMH information would require knowledge transfer strategies consistent with each segment’s preferences.

Evaluating Decision Makers: The Role of Choice Congruence and Outcome

Two studies were conducted in which decision makers were evaluated by subjects who had agreed or disagreed with the decision maker's choice. Subjects read one of two vignettes describing the alternatives available to the decision maker, indicated which alternative they personally favored, and then learned about the decision maker's choice and the outcome that occurred. Study 1 varied whether the outcomes of the decision maker's choice were positive or negative, and whether the subject's preferred option matched (congruent choice) or did not match (incongruent choice) that of the decision maker. Subjects rated the extent to which they thought the decision maker was worthy of praise (in the case of positive outcomes) or blame (in the case of negative outcomes), and the decision maker's likableness and competence. Results revealed a strong effect of congruence on attributions of praise and blame: More praise was ascribed to an agreeing decision maker and more blame to a disagreeing decision maker. The degree to which the decision maker was seen as likable was affected by congruence only, whereas perceived competence was influenced by both outcome and congruence. Study 2 addresses some methodological issues that were unresolved in Study 1 and replicated the results of the first study, using new stimulus materials and an expanded set of dependent measures.