Stepping Beyond Message Specificity in the Study of Emotion as Mediator and Inter-Emotion Associations Across Attitude Objects: Fahrenheit 9/11, Anger,and Debate Superiority

This experimental research focuses on four distinct, but related theoretical interests regarding the study of emotion and media effects: (a) emotion serving as a potential mediator of the relationship between the consumption of multiple media messages, (b) media messages sparking emotional reactions to attitude objects not specifically referenced or identified in a message, (c) the assessment of inter-emotion relationships across distinct attitude objects, and (d) varied processes of emotion-based influence based on individual-difference attitude object preferences. This work focuses on Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, its effects on anger felt toward President George W. Bush and Senator John F. Kerry, and subsequent perceptions of candidate debate superiority across Bush versus Kerry supporters. Moore's film was found to influence levels of anger felt toward both Bush and Kerry and these emotions were related to subsequent perceptions of debate superiority. Distinct processes of influence were found for previously identified Bush supporters versus Kerry supporters, with Bush anger serving as a mediator for Bush supporters and Kerry anger serving as a mediator for Kerry supporters. Ramifications of this study's findings are outlined and future lines of research are summarized.     

How do world-class cricket batsmen anticipate a bowler's intention?

Four experiments are reported that examine the ability of cricket batsmen of different skill levels to pick up advance information to anticipate the type and length of balls bowled by swing and spin bowlers. The information available upon which to make the predictive judgements was manipulated through a combination of temporal occlusion of the display and selective occlusion or presentation of putative anticipatory cues. In addition to a capability to pick up advance information from the same cues used by intermediate and low-skilled players, highly skilled players demonstrated the additional, unique capability to pick up advance information from some specific early cues (especially bowling hand and arm cues) to which the less skilled players were not attuned. The acquisition of expert perceptual-motor skill appears to involve not only refinement of information extraction but also progression to the use of earlier, kinematically relevant sources of information.     

The expert advantage in dynamic pattern recall persists across both attended and unattended display elements

We examined how differences in attention influence how expert and novice basketball players encode into memory the specific structural information contained within patterns of play from their sport. Our participants were primed during a typical recall task to focus attention on either attacking or defending player formations before being asked to recall the attended or unattended portion of the pattern. Adherence to the instructional set was confirmed through an analysis of gaze distributions. Recall performance was superior for the experts relative to the novices across both the attended and unattended attacking and defensive pattern structures. Expert recall of attacker positions was unchanged with and without attention, whereas recall accuracy for the positions of defenders diminished without attention, as did the novices’ recall of both attack and defense formations. The findings suggest that experienced performers are better than novices at encoding the elements from a complex and dynamic pattern in the absence of focused attention, with this advantage being especially evident in relation to the recall of attacking structure. Some revision of long-term memory theories of expertise will be necessary to accommodate these findings.     

A more democratic and therefore more peaceful world

Democracies, while not more peaceful than other kinds of states in most respects, nevertheless almost never fight each other. The apparent reason is a recognition by the people of such states that other democratically‐governed states share a commitment to individual rights and peaceful conflict resolution within their systems, and the consequent assumption that similar norms can make possible the peaceful settlement of conflicts of interests between such states. Movement toward greater democracy has been occurring in most of the third world and many communist countries; this movement has important implications for the prospect of peace between at least somewhat democratized states, and especially important implications for U.S.‐Soviet relations. Democratization can be assisted by a combination of diplomacy, promotion of international communication, and normative concern for human rights.     

Do emotions have distinct vocal profiles? A study of idiographic patterns of expression

Research on vocal expressions of emotion indicates that persons can identify emotions from voice with relatively high accuracy rates. In addition, fairly consistent vocal profiles for specific emotions have been identified. However, important methodological issues remain to be addressed. In this paper, we address the issue of whether there are individual differences in the manner in which particular emotions may be expressed vocally and whether trained speakers’ portrayals of emotion are in some sense superior to untrained speakers’ portrayals. Consistent support was found for differences across speakers in the manner in which they expressed the same emotions. No accompanying relationship was found between differences in expression and accuracy of identification of those expressions. Little evidence for the superiority of trained speakers was found. Implications of these findings for future studies of vocal expressions of emotion, as well as our understanding of emotions in general, are discussed.     

The associations in our heads belong to us: Searching for attitudes and knowledge in implicit evaluation

Explicitly, humans can distinguish their own attitudes from evaluations possessed by others. Implicitly, the viability of a distinction between attitudes and evaluative knowledge is less clear. We investigated relations between explicit attitudes, cultural knowledge and the Implicit Association Test (IAT). In seven studies (158 samples, N=107,709), the IAT was reliably and variably related to explicit attitudes, and explicit attitudes accounted for the relationship between the IAT and cultural knowledge. We suggest that people do not have introspective access to the associations formed via experience in a culture. Ownership of mental associations is established by presence in mind and influence on thinking, feeling and doing. Regardless of origin, associations are influential depending on their availability, accessibility, salience, and applicability. Distinguishing associations as “not mine” is a self-regulatory act and contributes to the distinction between explicit evaluation, where such acts are routine, and implicit evaluation, where they are not.     

VALIDITY OF THE PEARSON‐JOHNSON TAXONOMY OF COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

Questions constitute an important component of reading instruction and several studies suggest that the Pearson‐Johnson taxonomy of comprehension questions can be applied in classroom situations. However, the validity of the taxonomy has not been directly investigated. The present study was conducted for this purpose and involved 82 fourth‐ and fifth‐grade students. Three research questions were investigated: (1) do mean scores for the taxonomy categories correspond to theoretical expectations regarding difficulty?; (2) do response patterns to questions correspond to taxonomy categories?; and (3) are the relationships among scores on the types of questions logical and to be expected? The results of the study generally conformed to theoretically derived expectations.     

Constrained prose recall and the assessment of long-term forgetting: The case of ageing and the Crimes Test

It has become increasingly clear that some patients with apparently normal memory may subsequently show accelerated long-term forgetting (ALF), with dramatic loss when retested. We describe a constrained prose recall task that attempts to lay the foundations for a test suitable for detecting ALF sensitively and economically. Instead of the usual narrative structure of prose recall tests, it employs a matrix structure involving four episodes, each describing a minor crime, with each crime involving the binding into a coherent episode of a specified range of features, involving the victim, the crime, the criminal and the location, allowing a total of 80 different probed recall questions to be generated. These are used to create four equivalent 20-item tests, three of which are used in the study. After a single verbal presentation, young and elderly participants were tested on three occasions, immediately, and by telephone after a delay of 6 weeks, and at one of a varied range of intermediate points. The groups were approximately matched on immediate test; both showed systematic forgetting which was particularly marked in the elderly. We suggest that constrained prose recall has considerable potential for the study of long-term forgetting.     

Intrusive thoughts and avoidance in breast cancer: Individual differences and association with psychological distress

Abstract

Eighty-five women with newly diagnosed breast cancer were classified on the basis of high and low levels of cancer-related intrusive thoughts and avoidance at diagnosis, and their psychological adjustment was studied prospectively at 3 and 6 months post diagnosis. Patients who initially reported high levels of both intrusive thoughts and avoidance and those who reported high levels of intrusive thoughts but low avoidance experienced the highest levels of anxiety and depression symptoms, and continued intrusive thoughts and avoidance. Patients who were high in avoidance but low in intrusive thoughts also experienced adjustment problems, including increased intrusive thoughts, when compared with patients who were low in both types of symptoms. The findings highlight the value of considering subgroup differences in patterns of intrusion and avoidance as predictors of subsequent psychological adjustment to breast cancer.