The closed mind: ‘Experience’ and ‘cognition’ aspects of openness to experience and need for closure as psychological bases for right‐wing attitudes

Openness to Experience and Need for Closure (NFC) are dispositional variables related to social‐cultural right‐wing attitudes. The present study investigated their joint effects. Factor analysis revealed an ‘experiential’ dimension with high loading openness items, and a ‘cognition’ dimension with high loadings for most NFC items and about a quarter of the openness item set. The experiential openness items were weakly related to right‐wing attitudes, demonstrating little predictive value. Conversely, the cognitive openness and NFC items were powerful predictors of right‐wing attitudes, and also played an important role in integrative models, both as a predictor of authoritarianism‐based racism and as a mediator of age related increments in right‐wing attitudes. It is concluded that right‐wing attitudes should be primarily understood in terms of (motivated) cognition, and to a smaller extent in terms of experiential openness. The distinction between ‘experiential’ and ‘cognitive’ openness is critically assessed, and it is asserted that because cognition is a multifaceted construct openness contains more than one cognitive dimension. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self‐Awareness Part 2: Neuroanatomy and Importance of Inner Speech

The present review of literature surveys two main issues related to self‐referential processes: (1) Where in the brain are these processes located, and do they correlate with brain areas uniquely specialized in self‐processing? (2) What are the empirical and theoretical links between inner speech and self‐awareness? Although initial neuroimaging attempts tended to favor a right hemispheric view of self‐awareness, more recent work shows that the brain areas which support self‐related processes are located in both hemispheres and are not uniquely activated during self‐reflective tasks. Furthermore, self‐awareness at least partially relies on internal speech. An activation of Broca’s area (which is known to sustain inner speech) is observed in a significant number of brain‐imaging studies of self‐reflection. Loss of inner speech following brain damage produces self‐awareness deficits. Inner speech most likely can internally reproduce social mechanisms leading to self‐awareness. Also, the process of self‐reflection can be seen as being a problem‐solving task, and self‐talk as being a cognitive tool the individual uses to effectively work on the task. It is noted that although a large body of knowledge already exists on self‐awareness, little is known about individual differences in dispositional self‐focus and types of self‐attention (e.g., rumination versus self‐reflection).     

Ceiling effects make Hughes and Nicholson’s data analyses and conclusions inconclusive

Hughes and Nicholson (2010) suggest that recognizing oneself is easier from face vs. voice stimuli, that a combined presentation of face and voice actually inhibits self-recognition relative to presentation of face or voice alone, that the left hemisphere is superior in self-recognition to the right hemisphere, and that recognizing self requires more effort than recognizing others. A re-examination of their method, data, and analyses unfortunately shows important ceiling effects that cast doubts on these conclusions.     

Medroxyprogesterone acetate impairs memory and alters the GABAergic system in aged surgically menopausal rats

In women, medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) is the most commonly used progestin component of hormone therapy (HT). In vitro, MPA negatively impacts markers of neuronal health and exacerbates experimentally-induced neurotoxicity. There is in vitro evidence that these factors are driven by GABAergic and neurotrophic systems. Whether these effects translate to a negative impact on brain function has not been tested in vivo, clinically or preclinically. Here we evaluate the mnemonic and neurobiological effects of MPA in the surgically menopausal rat. Aged ovariectomized (OVX) rats were given subcutaneous vehicle, natural progesterone, low-dose MPA or high-dose MPA. Multiple cognitive domains were analyzed via the water radial-arm maze (WRAM) and Morris maze (MM). Cognitive brain regions were assayed for changes in the GABAergic system by evaluating GAD protein, the synthesizing enzyme for GABA, and neurotrophins. On the WRAM, both progestin types impaired learning. Further, high-dose MPA impaired delayed memory retention on the WRAM, and exacerbated overnight forgetting on the MM. While neurotrophins were not affected by progesterone or MPA treatment, both progestin types altered GAD levels. MPA significantly and progesterone marginally decreased GAD levels in the hippocampus, and both MPA and progesterone significantly increased GAD levels in the entorhinal cortex. These findings suggest that MPA, the most commonly used progestin in HT, is detrimental to learning and two types of memory, and modulates the GABAergic system in cognitive brain regions, in aged surgically menopausal rats. These findings, combined with in vitro evidence that MPA is detrimental to neuronal health, indicates that MPA has negative effects for brain health and function.     

Motivations underlying attitudes: regulatory focus and majority versus minority support

Drawing on regulatory focus theory, the present work examined the motivations underlying intergroup attitudes expressed under conditions of majority versus minority support. In two studies, participants expressed their attitudes towards equality and non‐discrimination of foreigners and were informed that the equality and non‐discrimination principle was supported by either a majority or a minority. Regulatory focus was assessed as the extent to which participants felt promotion‐related and prevention‐related emotions when acting either inconsistently or consistently with the egalitarian principle. Results provided evidence supporting the hypothesis that attitudes are related to prevention emotions when supported by a majority, but to promotion emotions when supported by a minority. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Maladaptive personality traits and psychopathology in childhood and adolescence: the moderating effect of parenting

This study examines child and adolescent psychopathology from a maladaptive trait perspective, incorporating both parental and child ratings of parenting as a moderator of the personality-psychopathology association. Hierarchical moderated regression analyses were conducted on a combined sample of referred and nonreferred children and adolescents (N=862, parental ratings of parenting and N=396, child ratings of parenting). The results indicated positive main effects of maladaptive traits on externalizing and internalizing problems, and positive main effects of parental negative control on externalizing problems. Significant interactions were found for Disagreeableness and Emotional Instability with parental Negative Control and for Disagreeableness x Positive Parenting in explaining externalizing problems. The discussion focuses on the contribution of these findings to a better understanding of the trait-psychopathology relationship at young age.     

The basolateral amygdala is necessary for learning but not relearning extinction of context conditioned fear

Extinction of conditioned fear involves new learning that inhibits but does not eliminate the original fear memory. This inhibitory learning is thought to require activation of NMDA receptors (NMDAr) within the basolateral amygdala (BLA). However, once extinction has been learned, the role played by the BLA during subsequent extinction procedures remains unknown. The present study examined the role of neuronal activity and NMDAr activation in rats receiving their first or second extinction of context fear. We found that BLA infusion of DL-APV, a competitive antagonist of NMDAr, depressed fear responses at both the first and second extinction. It impaired learning extinction but spared and even facilitated relearning extinction. BLA infusion of muscimol, a GABA(A) agonist, produced a similar outcome, suggesting that DL-APV not only blocked NMDAr-dependent plasticity but also disrupted neuronal activity. In contrast, infusion of ifenprodil, a more selective antagonist of NMDAr containing the NR2B subunit, did not depress fear responses but impaired short- and long-term inhibition of fear at both the first and second extinction. Therefore, we suggest that relearning extinction normally requires NMDAr containing the NR2B subunit in the BLA. However, simultaneous blockade of these receptors and neuronal activity in the BLA results in compensatory learning that is able to promote long-term re-extinction. These data are consistent with a current model that attributes fear extinction to interactions between several neural substrates, including the amygdala and the medial prefrontal cortex.     

To whom does voice in groups matter? Effects of voice on affect and procedural fairness judgments as a function of social dominance orientation

The authors investigated the effects of voice--the opportunity to provide input in decision-making processes--on perceptions of procedural fairness. In particular, the authors studied the moderating role of social dominance orientation (SDO) in shaping this relation. SDO is an important individual differences variable that causes people to favor unequal relationships within and between social groups. Results revealed that voice was more strongly related to fairness judgments when participants had a high rather than low SDO. Moreover, positive affect mediated this moderation effect. The authors interpreted these results to indicate that high-SDO participants were especially sensitive to voice manipulations because such manipulations enhance perceptions of control over group resources and outcomes. The authors conclude by discussing alternative explanations based on other fairness theories.     

It all sounds the same to me: Sequential ERP and behavioral effects during pitch and harmonicity judgments

The representation of complex sounds was examined by comparing both behavioral and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to the change or repetition of fundamental frequency (f0) and harmonicity. In the pitch task, participants were asked to categorize the incoming stimulus as either low or high, regardless of harmonicity, and in the harmonicity task, participants indicated whether the stimulus was tuned or mistuned, regardless of pitch. Over three experiments, participants were faster in responding to pitch than to harmonicity. As a result of this asymmetry, behavioral and ERP data showed that irrelevant changes in harmonicity had little impact on performance during the pitch task, whereas harmonicity judgments were impeded by irrelevant changes in f0. These data are consistent with both general horse-race accounts of processing and specific accounts of mistuning detection that posit prior f0 registration. In addition, ERP components N2 and P3 were modulated by both intertrial contingency and task instructions, revealing the further influence of top-down mechanisms on concurrent sound segregation.     

Does materialism predict racism? materialism as a distinctive social attitude and a predictor of prejudice

Previous research reported that Right‐Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) constitute the individual's ideological space and are strong dispositional determinants of racism. In the present study, materialism was examined as a third social attitude and a potential predictor of racism. In a student (N = 183) and heterogeneous adult sample (N = 176) analyses revealed that RWA, SDO and materialism constitute three separate dimensions and that each of them explains a unique part of the variance in racism. In addition, Structural Equation Modelling showed that the relationship between materialism and racism was largely mediated by selfish motives. In the discussion we go further into the role of materialism as a third social attitudinal dimension. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.