The smart gut: Tracking affective associative learning with measures of “liking”, facial electromyography, and preferential looking

We demonstrate here that initially neutral items can acquire specific value based on their associated outcomes, and that responses of physiological systems to such previously meaningless stimuli can rapidly reflect this associative history. Each participant participated in an associative learning task in which four neutral abstract pictures were each repeatedly paired with one of four foods that varied in valence and magnitude. Over the course of learning, participants’ “liking” ratings of and preferences for each picture came to reflect the value of the food with which it was paired. The abstract pictures also elicited physiological responses characteristic of the foods with which they were paired, including changes in facial electromyography (EMG) and preferential looking. A logistic modeling procedure showed that learning parameters, such as the rate at which participants learned the values associated with the pictures, were similar across food outcomes of different value.     

Smile intensity in photographs predicts divorce later in life

Based on social–functional accounts of emotion, we conducted two studies examining whether the degree to which people smiled in photographs predicts the likelihood of divorce. Along with other theorists, we posited that smiling behavior in photographs is potentially indicative of underlying emotional dispositions that have direct and indirect life consequences. In the first study, we examined participants’ positive expressive behavior in college yearbook photos and in Study 2 we examined a variety of participants’ photos from childhood through early adulthood. In both studies, divorce was predicted by the degree to which subjects smiled in their photos.

"HIV testing is so gay": the role of masculine gender role conformity in HIV testing among men who have sex with men

Men who have sex with men (MSM) account for more than half of all new cases of HIV infection in the United States. Yet, many MSM are unaware of their HIV serostatus. Consistent with research indicating that gender role conformity impacts health behaviors, this study examined how masculine norms may influence HIV testing among MSM in the United States. Data from 170 self-identified MSM (age M = 46.45, SD = 12.18) of self-reported negative or unknown HIV serostatus living in the United States were used in this study. About half (52%) of participants reported that they had been tested for HIV within the past 12 months; 48% reported that they had not. Logistic regression was used to examine the association between domains of masculine gender role conformity and HIV testing within the past 12 months, controlling for number of sexual partners in the last 12 months. The masculine norm of heterosexual self-presentation (i.e., desire to be perceived by others as heterosexual) was negatively associated with HIV testing (B = -0.74, SE B = 0.36, O.R. = 0.48, 95% CI [0.24, 0.96]), after controlling for the effect of number of sexual partners. Psychologists and other health professionals may remain mindful of potential implications of HIV testing among MSM, including potential for MSM to view HIV testing as an "outing" procedure.     

Processing Speed and Neurodevelopment in Adolescent-Onset Psychosis: Cognitive Slowing Predicts Social Function

Onset of psychosis may be associated with abnormal adolescent neurodevelopment. Here we examined the neurocognitive profile of first-episode, adolescent onset psychosis (AOP) as compared to typically developing adolescents, and asked whether neurocognitive performance varied differentially as a function of age in the cases compared with controls. A comprehensive neuropsychological battery was administered to 35 patients experiencing a first-episode of a DSM-IV psychotic disorder and to 31 matched controls. Clinicians also rated subjects’ social and role functioning, both at the time of neuropsychological assessment and 1 year later. Although patients displayed a wide range of impairments relative to controls, their most pronounced deficits included verbal memory, sensorimotor dexterity and cognitive processing speed. Among these, only processing speed showed a significant group-by-age interaction, consistent with an aberrant developmental course among AOP patients. Processing speed also accounted for substantial variance in other areas of deficit, and predicted social functioning 1 year later. AOP patients fail to show normal age-related increases in processing speed, which in turn predicts poorer functional outcomes. This pattern is consistent with the view that adolescent brain developmental processes, such as myelination, may be disrupted in these patients.     

Effects of Dysphoria on Maternal Exchange Dispositions

Defining dysphoria as subclinical depression, we explored the extent to which maternal dysphoria influences the quality of relationships within the family and evaluated whether the effect of dysphoria on family relationships is selective or general and whether dysphoric effects on maternal behavior are similar or different when ratings of maternal behaviors are made by mothers versus observers. We expected that dysphoria would have general rather than selective effects on family relations rated by mothers and observers. In a sample of 40 American families at risk of child abuse or neglect, we found that maternal dysphoria did have significantly negative effects on mother-to-child and mother-to-parenting-partner relations, suggesting that maternal dysphoria has general rather than selective effects.     

Depressive Cognition: A Test of Depressive Realism Versus Negativity Using General Knowledge Questions

This research is an examination of whether cognition in depressed individuals incorporates a realistic view of the world or a general tendency toward negativity. Participants provided two types of probability judgments of the likelihood that they correctly answered general knowledge questions: the probability that they correctly answered each of the individual questions and an aggregate judgment, after completing the questionnaire, of the percentage of all the questions they thought they had correctly answered. These tasks generally elicit overconfidence and accuracy in nondepressives. In accord with theories of both depressive realism and general negativity, in their item-by-item assessments of their answers to the individual questions, depressed participants demonstrated less overconfidence than nondepressed participants. In accord with the theory of general negativity but not with the theory of depressive realism, however, depressed participants demonstrated underconfidence in their aggregate judgments. The implications of these findings on theories of depressive cognition are discussed.     

Youth-caregiver Agreement on Clinical High-risk Symptoms of Psychosis

Early identification of individuals who will go on to develop schizophrenia is a difficult endeavor. The variety of symptoms experienced by clinical high-risk youth make it difficult to identify who will eventually develop schizophrenia in the future. Efforts are being made, therefore, to more accurately identify at-risk individuals and factors that predict conversion to psychosis. As in most assessments of children and adolescents, however, both youth and parental report of symptomatology and resulting dysfunction are important to assess. The goals of the current study were to assess the extent of cross-informant agreement on the Structured Interview for Prodromal Symptoms (SIPS), a widely-used tool employed to determine clinical high-risk status. A total of 84 youth-caregiver pairs participated. Youth and caregiver raters displayed moderate overall agreement on SIPS-rated symptoms. Both youth and caregiver ratings of youth symptomatology contributed significantly to predicting conversion to psychosis. In addition, youth age and quality of youth-caregiver relationships appear to be related to cross-informant symptom ratings. Despite differences on individual SIPS domains, the majority of dyads agreed on youth clinical high-risk status. Results highlight the potential clinical utility of using caregiver informants to determine youth psychosis risk.     

Judgments of Sexual Harassment Court Case Summaries

Understanding third-person judgments of sexual harassment is important because of their role in bystander intervention, popular opinion, and perhaps even labeling experiences as harassment. We employed Brunswikian principles of representative design (sampling from natural environments and allowing environmental factors influencing judgments to intercorrelate) and multiple regression plus relative weight analyses to examine judgments about summaries of actual U.S. sexual harassment court cases. Potential factors influencing judgments (cues) were identified and coded by raters. Results suggest that naturally occurring cues were intercorrelated to some extent, and people use different aspects of these rich situations to make judgments. We also found that some less-studied cues (i.e., target's withdrawal from the workplace, number of incidents) are more important than that the previous research would suggest, while some often-studied cues (i.e., status of the harasser, target's response to the harasser) are less important. Participants overall used very few cues, even when many were available. Future research should employ Brunswik's representative design to use more realistic scenarios that allow for intercorrelated, naturally occurring cues. Especially if results can be replicated, theories about how judgments of sexual harassment are made can be developed that reflect the complex realities of sexual harassment judgments that our study revealed. Representative design could also be employed to help theory development in other scenario-based areas of organizational research. Ours is the first study of judgments of sexual harassment that used a Brunswikian approach to study actual court case summaries. This has allowed for a unique examination of this complicated phenomenon.     

The Importance of Spiritual Consumption,Religious Expression and Subjective Well-Being among Christians in the US during COVID-19

Journal of Religion and Health - Uncertainty, fear, and distress have become prevalent in the lives of U.S. residents since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The unpredictable reality of...