Visual search for emotional expressions: Effect of stimulus set on anger and happiness superiority

Prior reports of preferential detection of emotional expressions in visual search have yielded inconsistent results, even for face stimuli that avoid obvious expression-related perceptual confounds. The current study investigated inconsistent reports of anger and happiness superiority effects using face stimuli drawn from the same database. Experiment 1 excluded procedural differences as a potential factor, replicating a happiness superiority effect in a procedure that previously yielded an anger superiority effect. Experiments 2a and 2b confirmed that image colour or poser gender did not account for prior inconsistent findings. Experiments 3a and 3b identified stimulus set as the critical variable, revealing happiness or anger superiority effects for two partially overlapping sets of face stimuli. The current results highlight the critical role of stimulus selection for the observation of happiness or anger superiority effects in visual search even for face stimuli that avoid obvious expression related perceptual confounds and are drawn from a single database.     

Still Doing Fine? The Interplay of Negative Life Events and Self‐Esteem During Young Adulthood

This longitudinal study investigated the bidirectional relationship between negative life events and self‐esteem during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood (N = 2272). Drawing on theories of human development over the lifespan and just‐world theory, we analyzed age‐graded changes in self‐esteem and their interplay with negative life events at three measurement points over a 12‐year period. We addressed both the short‐term and the longer term effects of single as well as multiple negative life events on changes in self‐esteem (socialization effects). We further investigated whether the pre‐event level of self‐esteem affected the likelihood of negative life events occurring (selection effects) and, finally, whether it had protective effects in terms of helping people adjust to negative events. Latent change models yielded four main findings: (i) self‐esteem increased during young adulthood; (ii) socialization effects were observed over shorter and longer timespans, but (iii) selection effects were only found for multiple negative life events, with low self‐esteem predicting a high number of negative life events; (iv) high pre‐event self‐esteem acted as a protective factor, attenuating declines in self‐esteem after experience of multiple negative life events. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Internal and External Validity of Sluggish Cognitive Tempo and ADHD Inattention Dimensions with Teacher Ratings of Nepali Children

The objective was to evaluate the validity of sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) and ADHD-inattention (IN) symptoms in children from Nepal. Teachers rated SCT, ADHD-IN, ADHD-hyperactivity/impulsivity (HI), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), anxiety, depression, academic impairment, social impairment, and peer rejection dimensions in 366 children (50 % girls) in first through sixth grades (M _age?=?9.35, SD _age?=?1.96) on two separate occasions separated by 4-weeks. Seven of the eight SCT symptoms and all nine ADHD-IN symptoms showed convergent validity (substantial loadings on their respective factors) and discriminant validity (higher loadings on their respective factor than the alternative factor) at both time-points. Across all three separate analyses (assessment 1, assessment 2, and from assessment 1 to assessment 2), higher SCT scores were associated with lower ADHD-HI scores and higher depression, academic impairment, and social impairment scores after controlling for ADHD-IN while higher ADHD-IN scores were associated with higher ADHD-HI, ODD, academic impairment, and peer rejection scores after controlling for SCT. Also, as hypothesized, SCT scores were not related to ODD scores after controlling for ADHD-IN. The study provides the first evidence for the internal and external validity of the SCT dimension relative to the ADHD-IN dimension with teacher ratings of children from Nepal, thereby increasing the validity of the SCT construct beyond North America, Western Europe, South America, and South Korea.     

Risk Factors Associated with Proactive and Reactive Aggression in a Child Psychiatric Inpatient Sample

Proactive and reactive aggression represent distinct functions of aggression that are associated with different risk factors, including individual and contextual characteristics. However, more research evaluating the interactive effects of risk factors is needed. The current study evaluated whether corporal punishment moderated the influence of neighborhood problems and anger coping on proactive and reactive aggression in a child psychiatric inpatient sample of 6 to 13 year olds (n?=?151). Findings were compared across child- and caregiver-reports of aggression. Consistent with expectations, anger coping was more strongly associated with reactive aggression than proactive aggression across informants. In contrast, perceived neighborhood problems were only associated with child-reports of proactive aggression, with corporal punishment moderating this association. Specifically, the association between neighborhood problems and proactive aggression was only evident at high levels of corporal punishment. Treatment implications and future directions are discussed.     

Pushing Archetypal Representational Systems Further

We revived Jung’s Archetypes to characterize what we see as an emerging confluence of evolutionary, embodied, and ecological responses to traditional cognitive models of mental representation. We propose that all humans possess archetypal representational systems that are (a) computationally grounded in perception and action, (b) shaped by learning and culture, and (c) biologically prepared by our ancestral past. Because these functionally modular systems arose in tandem with—and in response to—our increasingly complex social world, one implication is that even the most abstract issues studied in cognitive science may be, at least in part, scaffolded on more ancient social and emotional calculi.     

The effects of an escape extinction procedure using protective equipment on self‐injurious behavior

While escape extinction has shown to be successful in reducing escape maintained self‐injurious behavior, there is limited research on the use of escape extinction with protective equipment for escape maintained self‐injurious behavior. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the effects of an escape extinction procedure paired with the application of protective equipment on the escape maintained self‐injurious behavior of an 8‐year‐old boy diagnosed with autism. Results suggested that escape extinction using protective equipment for safety is an effective approach to decrease head hitting. Rates of self‐injurious behavior during an 18‐month follow‐up were comparable to rates observed in the final intervention phase.     

When the sexes need not differ: Emotional responses to the sexual and emotional aspects of infidelity

This study assessed whether previously reported sex differences in jealousy could be accounted for by other related emotions. Participants were presented with hypothetical scenarios involving both a sexual and an emotional infidelity, then were asked how jealous, angry, hurt, and disgusted they would be (using continuous scales). The results replicate the sex difference in response to sexual and emotional infidelity, demonstrate that it is robust when continuous measures are used, and confirm that it is unique to jealousy. Sex differences did not emerge for anger, hurt, or disgust. Instead, sexual infidelity elicited greater anger and disgust, and less hurt, than emotional infidelity, for both women and men. The results also suggest that it is the jealous response to an emotional infidelity that best discriminates women from men, and that both women and those participants in a serious, committed relationship reported significantly greater intensity in their emotional reactions, as compared to men and those not in a committed relationship.