The Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Domain-Specific and Domain-General Creativity

The Amusement Park Theory of Creativity, which represents both domain-specific and domain-general perspectives of creativity, calls for more research on how individual difference constructs are related to creativity at all ends of the domain-specificity and general spectrum. Toward this goal, this study examined emotional intelligence (using the Emotional Intelligence Scale) in relationship with both a domain-general measure (the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults) and a domain-specific measure (Kaufman Domains of Creativity Scale) in a sample of 281 Chinese undergraduates. Although emotional intelligence demonstrated no relationship with divergent thinking, it did positively predict all five domains of creativity on the self-report measure (ranging from .52 to .77). These findings add to the nuanced relationship between emotional intelligence and creativity and serve as a call for more work of this nature.     

A comprehensive measure of attitudes and behaviour: Development of the Support for Gender Equality among Men Scale

In this article, we develop and validate the 16-item Support for Gender Equality among Men Scale across four studies. Drawing on exploratory (Study 1, n = 322) and confirmatory (Study 2, n = 358; Study 4, n = 192) factor analysis, we determine a two-factor structure: public and domestic support for gender equality. In Study 3 (n = 146) and Study 4, we validate the scale by establishing its relationship with, among others, several prominent measures of sexism, a behavioural measure, and social desirability. The scale fills a psychometric gap in the literature: To date, no validated measure of support for gender equality, measuring both attitudes and behavioural intentions and focusing specifically on men, exists. Considering the recent increase in interest in men as allies of the feminist movement the scale functions as a useful tool to explore the topic in depth in future research.     

Racialized Sexual Discrimination (RSD) in the Age of Online Sexual Networking: Are Young Black Gay/Bisexual Men (YBGBM) at Elevated Risk for Adverse Psychological Health?

Young Black gay/bisexual men (YBGBM) are a highly marginalized population across multiple health outcomes. Most research on YBGBM health has focused on HIV/sexual health, but there is a demonstrable need for research examining racism and psychosocial functioning among this population. Racialized Sexual Discrimination (RSD), also known as sexual racism, is an important but under-investigated phenomenon that may have implications for the psychological health and well-being of YBGBM. This paper provides an overview of empirical research on RSD as experienced by gay/bisexual men of color in online partner-seeking venues. First, the researchers discuss how racialized experiences are a documented online phenomenon, with a variety of manifestations, and identify the potential effects that this phenomenon may have on the psychosocial health of YBGBM, and gay/bisexual men of color as a whole. Second, the researchers synthesize the RSD literature with a broader literature examining psychological well-being across race and sexual orientation. Third, the researchers present a theoretically grounded conceptual model detailing the pathways between RSD and psychological well-being using a stress and coping framework. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research on this topic, including scale development and hypothesis testing.     

The residual spatial abilities of hippocampally lesioned rats can be enhanced by peripheral sympathetic-adrenal interventions

In order to test the possible effectiveness of peripheral interventions with the adrenergic system for the alleviation of certain disorders that typically follow bilateral hippocampal lesions, rats with bilateral lesions of the hippocampus, the overlying neocortex, or sham operations were tested at two postoperative times in the Morris water maze, a frequently used "spatial task." Half of the animals in all groups were exposed to the adrenergic manipulations, i.e., a chronic, 7-day, systemic bretylium regime (5 mg/kg) and, in addition, a peripheral injection of norepinephrine (4 micrograms/kg) 30 min before the start of each training day. The other half received saline chronically and a single saline injection before each training day. Five days of training were given at each of the two training periods. The first began 7 days after surgery while the second began 33 days after surgery. As expected, the hippocampally lesioned animals were severely impaired in the task. The adrenergic treatment produced enhanced performances in the rats with hippocampal lesions at both training sessions, although the improvement was greatest at the later period. Although the animals receiving the pharmacologic treatment located the general area of the hidden platform better than the saline-treated animals with hippocampal lesions, the treated animals were still impaired, swimming directly to the hidden platform on fewer trials than did animals in the other groups.     

The effects of a public address system on the off-task behavior of elementary physical education students

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of teacher feedback delivered via a public address system on the off-task behavior of elementary-school physical education students. A multiple baseline design across three classes was used in this investigation. Results indicated a consistent decline in off-task behavior when the public address feedback system was used.     

Visual speech information for face recognition

Two experiments test whether isolated visible speech movements can be used for face matching. Visible speech information was isolated with a point-light methodology. Participants were asked to match articulating point-light faces to a fully illuminated articulating face in an XAB task. The first experiment tested single-frame static face stimuli as a control. The results revealed that the participants were significantly better at matching the dynamic face stimuli than the static ones. Experiment 2 tested whether the observed dynamic advantage was based on the movement itself or on the fact that the dynamic stimuli consisted of many more static and ordered frames. For this purpose, frame rate was reduced, and the frames were shown in a random order, a correct order with incorrect relative timing, or a correct order with correct relative timing. The results revealed better matching performance with the correctly ordered and timed frame stimuli, suggesting that matches were based on the actual movement itself. These findings suggest that speaker-specific visible articulatory style can provide information for face matching.     

Preference and resistance to change in concurrent variable-interval schedules

Pigeons were trained on a multiple schedule in which separate concurrent schedules were presented in the two components of the schedule. During one component, concurrent variable-interval 40-sec variable-interval 80-sec schedules operated. In the second component, concurrent variable-interval 40-sec variable-interval 20-sec schedules operated. After stable baseline performance was obtained in both components, extinction probe choice tests were presented to assess preference between the variable-interval 40-sec schedules from the two components. The variable-interval 40-sec schedule paired with the variable-interval 80-sec schedule was preferred over the variable-interval 40-sec schedule paired with the variable-interval 20-sec schedule. The subjects were also exposed to several resistance-to-change manipulations: (1) prefeeding prior to the experimental session, (2) a free-food schedule added to timeout periods separating components, and (3) extinction. The results indicated that preference and resistance to change do not necessarily covary.     

Inhibition and superconditioning

Superconditioning is said to occur when learning an association between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and unconditioned stimulus (US) is facilitated by pairing the CS with the US in the presence of a previously established conditioned inhibitor. Previous demonstrations of superconditioning have been criticized because their control conditions have allowed alternative interpretations. Using a within–subjects autoshaping procedure, the present study unambiguously demonstrated superconditioning. The results support the view that superconditioning is the symmetric opposite of blocking.     

Anxiety-related bias in the classification of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions

High- and low-trait socially anxious individuals classified the emotional expressions of photographic quality continua of interpolated ("morphed") facial images that were derived from combining 6 basic prototype emotional expressions to various degrees, with the 2 adjacent emotions arranged in an emotion hexagon. When fear was 1 of the 2 component emotions, the high-trait group displayed enhanced sensitivity for fear. In a 2nd experiment where a mood manipulation was incorporated, again, the high-trait group exhibited enhanced sensitivity for fear. The low-trait group was sensitive for happiness in the control condition. The mood-manipulated group had increased sensitivity for anger expressions, and trait anxiety did not moderate these effects. Interpretations of the results related to the classification of fearful expressions are discussed.