Subconscious performance goals: Investigating the moderating effect of negative goal-discrepancy feedback

ABSTRACT

Building on theories of conscious goals and feedback, we investigated the moderating effect of negative feedback on the relation between subconscious goals and performance. In two lab experiments, we manipulated subconscious performance goals and negative feedback about personal performance as well as social comparison information. In Study 1 (n = 80), subconscious goals positively influenced performance in an attention and concentration task when participants had received no feedback and negatively when participants had been confronted with negative performance feedback. In Study 2 (n = 90), additional comparison feedback indicating a higher performance of others led to higher performance of participants with versus without subconscious performance goals. The moderating effect of feedback was visible in self-efficacy, and we found partial support for its mediating role.     

Influencia del tipo de estimulación en el desarrollo de la automaticidad en las tareas de búsqueda visual

Resumen

En este trabajo, tratamos de comparar el desarrollo de la automaticidad en tareas de búsqueda visual cuando se utiliza como estimulación material familiar y no familiar para el sujeto. Los estímulos no familiares empleados eran equiparables a los caracteres alfanuméricos, únicamente se diferenciaban en el grado de familiaridad. Analizamos si se alcanzan los mismos niveles de automatización en ambos casos, y si los factores que afectaban el desarrollo de la automaticidad eran los mismo. Para ello, diseñamos la misma tarea con estimulación familiar y no familiar, y consideramos los diferentes niveles de consistencia y discriminabilidad. Una vez obtenidos y analizados los resultados encontramos que en ambos casos se alcanzaban los mismos niveles de automatización, aunque cuando el material no era familiar se precisaba mayor cantidad de entrenamiento. Además, en este caso, los aspectos perceptivos como la discriminabilidad entre los objetivos y los distractores incidía en el desarrollo de un procesamiento en paralelo.     

Value incongruence,job autonomy,and organization-based self-esteem: A self-based perspective on organizational cynicism

Combining the perspectives of person-environment fit and self-theory, a model was postulated in which both the incongruence between personal and perceived organizational values and job autonomy precede organizational cynicism, while organization-based self-esteem, as a psychological explanation for cynicism, was hypothesized to mediate both relationships. The model and corresponding hypotheses were tested on a sample of 174 Dutch workers. Polynomial regression results indicated that value incongruence and job autonomy add significantly to the prediction of organizational cynicism. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the hypothesized mediating effect of organization-based self-esteem. Results indicated that self-esteem partially mediates both relationships. These results support the conceptualization of organizational cynicism as a self-defensive response to problematic events and circumstances in the work environment.     

Parental Empowerment: Construct Validity and Reliability of a Dutch Empowerment Questionnaire (EMPO)

In this study, the construct validity and reliability of the Empowerment questionnaire (EMPO) that was developed in Dutch youth care was examined. The 12-item EMPO focuses on measuring parental empowerment in raising their children. The three components of psychological empowerment (intrapersonal, interactional, and behavioral) form the rationale for the EMPO. Non-clinical (n?=?673) and clinical (n?=?1,212) data were used. Construct validity was tested by the factorial structure, measurement invariance, correlations with other instruments (PSQ-S and SDQ), and empowerment differences between the two groups. Reliability was determined by testing the internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The results show that the factorial validity of the EMPO was sufficient to good, the EMPO was measurement invariant for various subgroups, and the EMPO scales were negatively correlated with parenting stress (PSQ-S) and child behavioral problems scales (SDQ). Furthermore, the clinical group was less empowered, and the correlation between parental empowerment and child behavioral problems was stronger in this group. In addition, both groups of parents had relatively high scores on the interactional component. In the clinical group, however, parental scores on the interactional component were less correlated with scores on the intrapersonal and behavioral components. Finally, reliability analyses showed a largely sufficient to good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The EMPO seems to be an instrument with sufficient to good construct validity and reliability. Further research is recommended regarding the underlying assumptions, other aspects of validity, representativeness, and the way it should be used as a tool by professionals for supporting parental empowerment.     

Forewarned is forearmed: Conserving self-control strength to resist social influence

Recent research has shown that resisting persuasion involves active self-regulation. Resisting an influence attempt consumes self-regulatory resources, and in a state of self-regulatory resource depletion, people become more susceptible to (unwanted) influence attempts. However, the present studies show that a forewarning of an impending influence attempt prompts depleted individuals to conserve what is left of their regulatory resources and thus promotes self-regulatory efficiency. As a result, when these individuals are subsequently confronted with a persuasive request, they comply less (Experiments 1 and 3), and generate more counterarguments (Experiment 2) than their depleted counterparts who were not forewarned and thus did not conserve their resources, and they are as able as non-depleted participants to resist persuasion.     

Compulsive Internet Use Among Adolescents: Bidirectional Parent–Child Relationships

Although parents experience growing concerns about their children’s excessive internet use, little is known about the role parents can play to prevent their children from developing Compulsive Internet Use (CIU). The present study addresses associations between internet-specific parenting practices and CIU among adolescents, as well as the bidirectionality of these associations. Two studies were conducted: a cross-sectional study using a representative sample of 4,483 Dutch students and a longitudinal study using a self-selected sample of 510 Dutch adolescents. Results suggest that qualitatively good communication regarding internet use is a promising tool for parents to prevent their teenage children from developing CIU. Besides, parental reactions to excessive internet use and parental rules regarding the content of internet use may help prevent CIU. Strict rules about time of internet use, however, may promote compulsive tendencies. Finally, one opposite link was found whereby CIU predicted a decrease in frequency of parental communication regarding internet use.     

Horizontal and vertical attentional orienting in Parkinson’s disease

Patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) typically suffer from an asymmetric degeneration of dopaminergic cells in the substantia nigra, resulting in right-sided (RPD) or left-sided (LPD) predominance of motor symptomatology. As the dopaminergic system is also involved in attention, we examined horizontal and vertical orienting of attention in LPD (N = 10), RPD (N = 9) and controls (N = 10). Four LPD patients demonstrated left neglect and three LPD patients demonstrated neglect for the upper visual field. LPD patients demonstrated a slower performance in detecting targets in the left hemifield and did not demonstrate a validity effect, unlike RPD patients and controls. RPD patients performed similar to controls, with the exception of one patient showing left and another showing right neglect, and two RPD patients demonstrated lower neglect. In sum, horizontal and vertical orienting of attention can be affected in Parkinson’s disease – particularly in LPD – from very subtle slowing to clinically detectable horizontal and/or vertical neglect.     

How nostalgia infuses life with meaning: From social connectedness to self-continuity

Nostalgia increases meaning in life (MIL), but how so? In four experiments—using varied operationalizations of nostalgia, diverse populations, and complementary methodologies—we identified a serial process. We hypothesized and found, in Experiment 1, that self-continuity boosts MIL. We hypothesized and found, in Experiment 2, that nostalgia increases MIL through self-continuity. Finally, we hypothesized and found, in Experiments 3–4, that nostalgia fosters social connectedness, which plausibly heightens self-continuity, which in turn strengthens MIL. The findings clarify an intricate pathway through which nostalgia renders life more meaningful.     

Holistic face processing can be independent of gaze behaviour: Evidence from the composite face illusion

People tend to perceive identical top halves (i.e. above the nose) of two face stimuli as being different when they are aligned with distinct bottom halves. This composite face illusion is generally considered as the most compelling evidence that facial features are integrated into a holistic representation. Here, we recorded eye‐movements during the composite face illusion in a delayed matching task of top halves of faces. Behavioural results showed a strong composite face effect, participants making more mistakes and taking longer time to match two identical top halves of faces when they were aligned (vs. misaligned) with different bottom halves. Importantly, fixation sites and eye‐movements were virtually identical when the top and bottom parts were aligned (composite illusion) or misaligned (no illusion), indicating that holistic face processing can be independent of gaze behaviour. These findings reinforce the view that holistic representations of individual faces can be extracted early on from information at a relatively coarse scale, independently of overt attention.