Genetic and Environmental Influences on Media Use and Communication Behaviors

A great deal of scholarly work has explored the motivations behind media consumption and other various communication traits. However, little research has investigated the sources of these motivations and virtually no research considers their potential genetic underpinnings. Drawing on the field of behavior genetics, we use a classical twin design study to examine the genetic and environmental influences on nine communication behaviors. Our findings indicate a substantial portion of the total variance in media habits can be attributed to genes, as much as one‐third of the variance in some instances. Mass communication scholars would benefit by paying closer attention to heritability when thinking about the causes as well as the consequences of media traits in contemporary society.     

Visual Attention to Antismoking PSAs: Smoking Cues Versus Other Attention‐Grabbing Features

This study examines how addicted smokers attend visually to smoking‐related public service announcements (PSAs) in adults smokers. Smokers' onscreen visual fixation is an indicator of cognitive resources allocated to visual attention. Characteristic of individuals with addictive tendencies, smokers are expected to be appetitively activated by images of their addiction—specifically smoking cues. At the same time, these cues are embedded in messages that associate avoidance responses with these appetitive cues, potentially inducing avoidance of PSA processing. Findings suggest that segments of PSAs that contain smoking cues are processed similarly to segments that contain complex stimuli (operationalized in this case as high in information introduced) and that visual attention is aligned with smoking cues on the screen.     

How do employees react to leaders’ unethical behavior? The role of moral disengagement

Concerns over unethical leader behavior persist in today's workplace. Although some employees continue to support their leaders after learning of their unethical actions, others do not. In this paper, we integrate social cognitive theory with social information processing theory to propose that the support employees give to leaders who act unethically hinges on their propensity to morally disengage. Specifically, we develop a conditional indirect effects model, wherein moral disengagement propensity mitigates the negative impact of unethical leader behavior on leader-directed support via employees’ perceptions of value congruence with and trust in the leader. The sum result is an improved understanding of when and why employees offer support to versus withhold support from leaders who act in ethically questionable ways.     

Organizational Communication in Emergencies: Using Multiple Channels and Sources to Combat Noise and Capture Attention

This study relies on information theory, social presence, and source credibility to uncover what best helps people grasp the urgency of an emergency. We surveyed a random sample of 1,318 organizational members who received multiple notifications about a large‐scale emergency. We found that people who received 3 redundant messages coming through at least 1 synchronous communication source—for example, phone or face‐to‐face communication—perceived the urgency of the situation the most quickly, whereas those receiving official messages through asynchronous channels—most often text message—had the lowest sense of urgency. Our findings suggest that by understanding people's reactions to various kinds of redundant communication, organizations can design more strategic emergency messages that capture attention.     

Making sense of powerful qualities

According to the powerful qualities view, properties are both powerful and qualitative. Indeed, on this view the powerfulness of a property is identical to its qualitativity. Proponents claim that this view provides an attractive alternative to both the view that properties are pure powers and the view that they are pure qualities. It remains unclear, however, whether the claimed identity between powerfulness and qualitativity can be made coherent in a way that allows the powerful qualities view to constitute this sort of alternative. I argue here that this can be done, given a particular conception of both the qualitativity and powerfulness of properties. On this conception, a property is qualitative just in the sense that its essence is fixed independently of any distinct properties, and it is powerful just if its essence grounds its dispositional role.

     

2D or not 2D? An fMRI study of how dogs visually process objects

Animal Cognition - Given humans’ habitual use of screens, they rarely consider potential differences when viewing two-dimensional (2D) stimuli and real-world versions of dimensional stimuli....     

Cognitive-Behavioral Conjoint Therapy for PTSD: A Case Study of a Transgender Male Co-Parenting With Former Spouse and Perpetrator of Domestic Violence

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms have shown to contribute to intimate relationship discord (Taft et al., 2011). Cognitive-Behavioral Conjoint Therapy for PTSD (CBCT for PTSD; Monson & Fredman, 2012) is an evidence-based treatment for PTSD effective at significantly decreasing PTSD symptoms and increasing relationship satisfaction among dyads (Macdonald et al., 2016). To date, there has only been one case study examining the effectiveness of CBCT for PTSD with a sexual minority couple, (same-sex female couple) leaving uncertainty of the effectiveness of this treatment for other sexual minority couples. This case study examined a married couple’s response to treatment, in which the patient identified as a transgender male and his spouse identified as a cisgender female. The patient was diagnosed with PTSD per a Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5) total score of 45 (of a maximum of 80). On the CAPS-5, the patient reported a first sexual encounter rape at age 15, from his first marriage with his ex-husband, whom he was dating at the time, as his index trauma. Of note, the patient and his wife currently co-parent two children with the patient’s ex-husband, who perpetrated daily sexual assaults for years during their marriage. Pre-treatment relationship happiness for the couple was “a little unhappy” on the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) Relationship Happiness Scale. Patient was also diagnosed with Dysthymia and responded well to continued Bupropion for depression. Following completion of the 15-session CBCT for PTSD protocol, the patient’s diagnosis of PTSD was determined to be in remission as evidenced by a post-treatment CAPS-5 total score of 7. At post-treatment the patient rated his relationship happiness as “happy” and his partner “very happy” on the DAS. The couple demonstrated clinically meaningful changes in areas of PTSD and relationship happiness. Functional improvements were also reported in the patient pursuing new employment and hobbies, improved co-parenting between the patient and his wife, improved sexual functioning, and decreased depression symptoms. Treatment gains were maintained at a 1-month and 3-month follow-up. These results demonstrate the effective use of CBCT for PTSD with a sexual minority couple that has continued co-parenting contact with a perpetrator of domestic violence.