Orienting and maintenance of gaze to facial expressions in social anxiety

In 2 experiments, the authors tested predictions from cognitive models of social anxiety regarding attentional biases for social and nonsocial cues by monitoring eye movements to pictures of faces and objects in high social anxiety (HSA) and low social anxiety (LSA) individuals. Under no-stress conditions (Experiment 1), HSA individuals initially directed their gaze toward neutral faces, relative to objects, more often than did LSA participants. However, under social-evaluative stress (Experiment 2), HSA individuals showed reduced biases in initial orienting and maintenance of gaze on faces (cf. objects) compared with the LSA group. HSA individuals were also relatively quicker to look at emotional faces than neutral faces but looked at emotional faces for less time, compared with LSA individuals, consistent with a vigilant-avoidant pattern of bias.     

Finding a Between-Person Negative Effect of Self-Efficacy on Performance: Not Just a Within-Person Effect Anymore

Research examining the relationship between self-efficacy and performance has tended to find a positive effect at the between-person level and a weak negative or null effect at the within-person level. This pattern of results has led to a belief that the level of analysis is a key factor in determining the sign of the relationship. Using a between-person experimental design, the authors demonstrate a negative effect for self-efficacy on motivation and quality of performance at the between-person level. A positive effect for self-efficacy on the quantity of tasks engaged, apparently due to the reduction in motivation on each task, was also found. The discussion focused on the relevance of the findings in the debate between social cognitive and control theorists.     

Reasoning as a source of justification

In this essay we argue that reasoning can sometimes generate epistemic justification, rather than merely transmitting justification that the subject already possesses to new beliefs. We also suggest a way to account for it in terms of the relationship between epistemic normative requirements, justification and cognitive capacities.     

The role of implicit and explicit components of exerciser self-schema in the prediction of exercise behaviour

ObjectivesThis study investigated implicit and explicit components of exerciser self-schema and their role in the prediction of exercise behaviour. In addition, the effect of implicit and explicit exerciser self-schema on intention to exercise was examined. Moderation and mediation effects involving exerciser self-schema, in both its implicit and explicit forms, were investigated.MethodMembers of fitness centres and other regular exercisers (N = 98, n_males = 37, n_females = 65) completed a written questionnaire to measure explicit exerciser self-schema and exercise intentions. An exercise Implicit Association Test (IAT) was also administered to measure implicit exerciser self-schema. Actual exercise occurrence was measured one week and two weeks following the initial testing phase.ResultsCorrelations indicated that implicit and explicit components of exerciser self-schema were related but distinct constructs. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that high levels of both implicit and explicit exerciser self-schema improved absolute levels of exercise behaviour. Regression analyses examining the possibility that self-schema moderated the intention–behaviour relationship were not significant for implicit or explicit forms of self-schema. Forced entry regression analyses provided evidence for explicit exerciser self-schema being mediated by intention in its relationship with behaviour.ConclusionsIt is beneficial to consider both implicit and explicit exerciser self-schema when attempting to understand and predict exercise behaviour. Both implicit and explicit exercise self-schema have a direct effect on behaviour, although explicit self-schema also indirectly influences behaviour via intention to exercise.     

Selective attention to threat: A test of two cognitive models of anxiety

Two experiments evaluated differential predictions from two cognitive formulations of anxiety. According to one view, attentional biases for threat reflect vulnerability to anxiety; and as threat inputs increase, high trait anxious individuals should become more vigilant, and low trait individuals more avoidant, of threat (Williams, Watts, MacLeod, & Mathews, 1988, 1997). However, according to a “cognitive-motivational” view, trait anxiety influences the appraisal of stimulus threat value, rather than the direction of attentional bias, and both high and low trait anxious individuals should exhibit greater vigilance for high rather than mild threat stimuli (Mogg & Bradley, 1998). To test these predictions, two experiments examined the effect of manipulating stimulus threat value on the direction of attentional bias. The stimuli included high threat and mild threat pictorial scenes presented in a probe detection task. Results from both studies indicated a significant main effect of stimulus threat value on attentional bias, as there was increased vigilance or reduced avoidance of threat, as threat value increased. This effect was found even within low trait anxious individuals, consistent with the “cognitive-motivational” view. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.     

‘It is safe to use if you are healthy’: A discursive analysis of men’s online accounts of ephedrine use

Ephedrine use in sport is a common practice among men. Less well understood is men’s use of ephedrine as a slimming aid. Arguably fuelled by the ‘war on obesity’ and the drive for muscularity, the Internet has become awash with claims presenting ephedrine as safe. The use of this psychoactive substance can have acute health implications such as tachycardia, arrhythmias and cardiovascular disease. Given the tension between health risk and ephedrine-induced weight loss, how men justify their use of ephedrine becomes an important question. In particular, we wished to analyse how male users talked to others about ephedrine in discussions linked to an online version of a popular men’s magazine. Because we were particularly interested in how men accounted for their ephedrine use, we used discourse analysis to examine their posts. In analysing the data, we noted that a ‘community of practice’ was constructed online categorising legitimate (and barred) users, emphasising the benefits of ephedrine and downplaying health-defeating side effects. Our analysis has clear implications for engaging men who use ephedrine in health promotion interventions.     

Chromatic masking revealed by the standing wave of invisibility illusion

We have used the standing wave of invisibility illusion (Macknik and Livingstone, 1998 Nature Neuroscience 1 144-149) to examine the masking effects produced by a range of stimuli of varying chromatic and luminance contrast content. The pattern of masking was highly selective. Maximum effects were always obtained when the target and mask were identical in terms of their chromatic and/or luminance contrast composition, but were reduced as the angular separation in colour space between them was increased. Masking was of a monopolar nature, indicating the operation of rectified mechanisms selective for different combinations of colour and luminance contrast.