Effects of prime task on affective priming by facial expressions of emotion

Priming of affective word evaluation by pictures of faces showing positive and negative emotional expressions was investigated in two experiments that used a double task procedure where participants were asked to respond to the prime or to the target on different trials. The experiments varied between-subjects the prime task assignment and the prime-target interval (SOA, stimulus onset asynchrony). Significant congruency effects (that is, faster word evaluation when prime and target had the same valence than when they were of opposite valence) were observed in both experiments. When the prime task oriented the subjects to an affectively irrelevant property of the faces (their gender), priming was observed at SOA 300 ms but not at SOA 1000 ms (Experiment 1). However, when the prime task assignment explicitly oriented the subjects to the valence of the face, priming was observed at both SOA durations (Experiment 2). These results show, first, that affective priming by pictures of facial emotion can be obtained even when the subject has an explicit goal to process a non-affective property of the prime. Second, sensitivity of the priming effect to SOA duration seems to depend on whether it is mediated by intentional or unintentional activation of the valence of the face prime.     

Virtuous Arguers: Responsible and Reliable

Virtuous arguers are expected to manifest virtues such as intellectual humility and open-mindedness, but from such traits the quality of arguments does not immediately follow. However, it also seems implausible that a virtuous arguer can systematically put forward bad arguments. How could virtue argumentation theory combine both insights? The solution, I argue, lies in an analogy with virtue epistemology: considering both responsibilist and reliabilist virtues gives us a fuller picture of the virtuous arguer.     

A longitudinal study of psychosocial distress in breast cancer: prevalence and risk factors

This longitudinal study was conducted among 102 women with non-metastasic breast cancer to identify the time evolution and prevalence of distress at specific times through diagnosis and treatment of disease: preliminary diagnosis, surgery, definitive diagnosis and chemotherapy. Additionally, the study aimed to examine the role of demographic, medical and psychosocial factors on distress. The results indicated that prevalence of distress was higher at initial diagnosis (25%) than the following time points (approximately 17%). The differences inter-individuals in the levels of distress were observed over the four assessments. No relation between distress and demographic and medical factors was found. However, psychosocial aspects were significant risk factors. Patterns of emotional suppression and specific coping responses like helplessness/hopelessness, anxious preoccupation, cognitive avoidance and fatalism were positively related to distress, whereas fighting spirit and perceived social support showed a protective role. Moreover, helplessness/hopelessness and anxious preoccupation jointly predicted 75% of cases and 98% non-cases of distress. Finally, a mediational model between emotional suppression and distress through helplessness/hopelessness was tested. Results support the necessity of routine distress screening all through the illness. Implications of data for psychosocial interventions with breast cancer patients are highlighted.     

Does power magnify the expression of dispositions?

Conventional wisdom holds that power holders act more in line with their dispositions than do people who lack power. Drawing on principles of construct accessibility, we propose that this is the case only when no alternative constructs are activated. In three experiments, we assessed participants' chronic dispositions and subsequently manipulated participants' degree of power. Participants then either were or were not primed with alternative (i.e., inaccessible or counterdispositional) constructs. When no alternatives were activated, the responses of power holders--perceptions of other people (Experiment 1), preferences for charitable donations (Experiment 2), and strategies in an economic game (Experiment 3)--were more in line with their chronically accessible constructs than were the responses of low-power participants. However, when alternatives had been activated, power holders' responses were no longer more congruent with their dispositions than were the responses of low-power participants. We propose a single mechanism according to which power increases reliance on accessible constructs--that is, constructs that easily come to mind-regardless of whether these constructs are chronically or temporarily accessible.     

Applicant Reactions in Saudi Arabia: Organizational attractiveness and core‐self evaluation

This paper reports findings from a survey into applicant reactions of working adults in Saudi Arabia. A sample of 193 participants from four job functions was obtained, with measures of organizational attractiveness, core‐self evaluation, and applicant reactions to four popular selection methods in the country – interviews, résumés, work sample tests, and references – being included. Findings indicate a notably similar pattern of preference reactions to previous studies in other (Western) countries, affirming arguments for so‐called reaction generalizability. Work sample tests were rated the most favorably followed by interviews, résumés, and references. For specific procedural dimensions, résumés were perceived as the most favorable, followed by work sample tests, interviews, and references. Several significant differences were found across job functions, mostly for interviews and résumés. Significant effects were found between reactions and organizational attractiveness, and between reactions and core‐self evaluation, including some interaction effects. Implications for future research and for practice in employee selection are considered in the conclusion.     

Psychometric characteristics of the Emotional Quotient Inventory, Youth Version, Short Form, in Hungarian high school students

Research on the psychometric characteristics, including factor structure, of measures assessing emotional intelligence improve our understanding of the manifest and latent dimensions of the construct. The factor structure of the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (Bar-On, 1997), despite the popularity of the measure, has been the subject of only a few studies, and there are no data available at all on its 30-item version. The aim of our study was the structural analysis of the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory, Youth Version, Short Form (Bar-On & Parker, 2000). During the multiple-step statistical analysis, confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses and a combined method of these were executed on a sample of 2,380 adolescents (mean age: 17 years, 47.9 % male). The results confirmed the original 5-factor structure (Intrapersonal Emotional Quotient, Interpersonal Emotional Quotient, Stress Management, Adaptability, and Positive Impression). However, only 24 of the original 30 items could be considered as belonging to the scales. Elimination of 6 items resulted in a clearer and more coherent factorial structure, which makes the measure an adequate tool for the assessment of the emotional intelligence of adolescents and young adults in surveys of large-scale samples.     

The Hispanic Stress Inventory--Adolescent Version: a culturally informed psychosocial assessment

A 2-phase study was conducted to develop a culturally informed measure of psychosocial stress for adolescents: the Hispanic Stress Inventory--Adolescent Version (HSI-A). Phase 1 involved item development through the collection of open-ended focus group interview data (n = 170) from a heterogeneous sample of Hispanic youths residing in the southwest and northeast United States. In Phase 2, we examined the psychometric properties of the HSI-A (n = 1,651), which involved the use of factor analytic procedures to determine the underlying scale structure of the HSI-A for foreign-born and U.S.-born participants in an aggregated analytic approach. An 8-factor solution was established, with factors that include Family Economic Stress, Acculturation-Gap Stress, Culture and Educational Stress, Immigration-Related Stress, Discrimination Stress, Family Immigration Stress, Community and Gang-Related Stress, and Family and Drug-Related Stress. Concurrent, related validity estimates were calculated to determine relations between HSI-A and other measures of child psychopathology and behavioral and emotional disturbances. HSI-A total stress appraisal scores were significantly correlated with both the Children's Depression Inventory and the Youth Self Report (p < .001). Reliability estimates for the HSI-A were conducted, and they yielded high reliability coefficients for most factor subscales, with the HSI-A total stress appraisal score reliability alpha at .92.     

Presymptomatic Testing for Neurogenetic Diseases in Brazil: Assessing Who Seeks and Who Follows through with Testing

Diagnostic tests are available to detect several mutations related to adult-onset, autosomal dominant, neurodegenerative diseases. We aimed to describe our experience in a presymptomatic testing program run by the Brazilian Public Health System from 1999 to 2009. A total of 184 individuals were eligible for presymptomatic testing due to a risk for spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) - SCA3 (80%), Huntington’s disease (11.9%), familial amyloidotic neuropathy (4.3%), SCA1, SCA2, SCA6, or SCA7. Most were women (70%), married (54%), and had children prior to presymptomatic testing (67%). Their mean age at entrance was 34 (SD = 11 years). Educational level was above the average Brazilian standard. After receipt of genetic counseling, 100 individuals (54%) decided to undergo testing; of these, 51 were carriers. Since no individual returned for post-test psychological evaluation, we conducted a subsequent survey, unrelated to test disclosures. We contacted 57 individuals of whom 31 agreed to participate (24 had been tested, 7 had not). Several ascertainment concerns relating to these numerous losses prevented us from generalizing our results from this second survey. We concluded that: decision-making regarding presymptomatic testing seems to be genuinely autonomous, since after genetic counseling half the individuals who asked for presymptomatic testing decided in favor and half decided against it; general characteristics of Brazilians who sought presymptomatic testing were similar to many European samples studied previously; and individuals at risk for SCA3 may be at greater risk of depression. Although no clear-cut reason emerged for rejection of follow-up psychological sessions after presymptomatic testing, this finding suggests adjustments to our presymptomatic testing program are necessary.     

GABA, glutamate, dopamine and serotonin transporters expression on forgetting

Notwithstanding several neurotransmission systems are frequently related to memory formation; forgetting process and neurotransmission systems or their transporters; the role of γ-aminobutyric acid (GAT1), glutamate (EACC1), dopamine (DAT) and serotonin (SERT) is poorly understood. Hence, in this paper western-blot analysis was used to evaluate expression of GAT1, EAAC1, DAT and SERT during forgetting in trained and untrained rats treated with the selective serotonin transporter inhibitor fluoxetine, the amnesic drug d-methamphetamine (METH) and fluoxetine plus METH. Transporters expression was determined in the hippocampus (HIP), prefrontal cortex (PFC) and striatum (STR). Results indicated that forgetting of Pavlovian/instrumental autoshaping was associated to up-regulation of GAT1 (PFC and HIP) and DAT (PFC) while SERT (HIP) was down-regulated; no-changes were observed in striatum. Methamphetamine administration did not affect forgetting at 216 h post-training but up-regulated hippocampal DAT and EACC, prefrontal cortex DAT and striatal GAT1 or EACC1. Fluoxetine alone prevented forgetting, which was associated to striatal GAT1 and hippocampal DAT up-regulation, but prefrontal cortex GAT1 down-regulation. Fluoxetine plus METH administration was also able to prevent forgetting, which was associated to hippocampal DAT, prefrontal cortex SERT and striatal GAT1, DAT or SERT up-regulation, but prefrontal cortex GAT1 down-regulation. Together these data show that forgetting provokes primarily hippocampal and prefrontal cortex transporters changes; forgetting represent a behavioral process hardly modifiable and its prevention could causes different transporters expression patterns.     

A comparative study of general intelligence in Spanish and Moroccan samples

The aim of this study is to fill a gap in intelligence research by presenting data for the average IQ in Morocco and for a comparable sample in Spain. Adult samples were administered the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) (Raven, Court, & Raven, 2001) and scored for the total test and for the three sub-factors of gestalt continuation, verbal-analytical reasoning and visuospatial ability identified by Lynn, Allik, and Irwing (2004). The total test and the three factors have shown satisfactory reliability. Our results for the Moroccan sample show significant relationship between general intelligence factor, gestalt continuation and visuospatial ability with education level and income. Conversely, these variables have been shown to be independent for the Spanish sample. This sample obtained significantly higher scores for the four factors assessed than the Moroccan one. These differences have been found also comparing samples with the same education levels. Finally, the errors percentage for Moroccans has been higher than for Spaniards in all the items, suggesting that the level of difficulty was higher for the Moroccan sample.