Facial emotion recognition,guilt and sub-clinical psychopathic traits: an exploration of mediation effects

Psychopathic traits are associated with a variety of emotional difficulties, including poor facial emotion recognition (FER) and reduced capacity to experience guilt. However, the potential mechanisms through which FER and low guilt-proneness are related to the development of psychopathic traits are not well understood. Using a non-clinical sample (N?=?747), this study investigated the relationship between psychopathic traits, FER ability and guilt-proneness by exploring two alternative mediation models investigating: (a) the mediating effect of FER ability on the relationship between psychopathic traits and guilt-proneness, and (b) the mediating effect of psychopathic traits on the relationship between FER ability and guilt-proneness. FER ability did not significantly mediate the relationship between psychopathic traits and guilt-proneness. However, psychopathic traits did partially mediate the relationship between FER and guilt-proneness for the sad, angry, fearful and disgusted expressions. These findings suggest that psychopathic traits are related to a disruption in typical affective processing and the development of pro-social moral self-conscious emotions.     

NATIVITY AND YEARS IN THE RECEIVING CULTURE AS MARKERS OF ACCULTURATION IN ETHNIC ENCLAVES

The current study was conducted to ascertain the validity of two commonly used markers of acculturation (nativity and years in the receiving culture) in an enclave context. Relationships between these markers and a bidimensional measure of acculturation were examined in a convenience sample of Hispanic immigrant adolescents and their caregivers in Miami. Nativity was examined using adolescent-reported data; approximately half of the youth were U.S.-born and half foreign-born, but all of the caregivers were foreign-born. Years in the receiving culture was examined using both adolescent and caregiver data. Results indicated that nativity was significantly associated with adoption of receiving-culture practices, with a small to moderate effect size. Years in the receiving culture was significantly associated with adoption of receiving-culture practices only for adolescent girls and for female caregivers who immigrated as youth. Neither nativity nor years in the receiving culture explained even moderate amounts of variance in retention or loss of culture-of-origin practices.     

A cross-cultural study of trait self-enhancement, explanatory variables, and adjustment

We investigated trait self-enhancement, explanatory variables, and adjustment in European American (n = 141), Asian American (n = 72), Mexican (n = 141), and Filipino (n = 174) college students. Consistent with trait perspectives, students in all cultural groups rated their traits with moderate to high accuracy, using peer ratings as a criterion. European Americans did not exhibit self-enhancement relative to peers, but both self and peer ratings were higher (i.e., more positive) for European Americans than for the other three groups. Support was found for some, but not all, cultural psychology explanations of self-enhancement. In all cultural groups, self-enhancement was more associated with personal (intrapsychic) adjustment than interpersonal adjustment, as judged by peers. The results provided support for an integration of trait and cultural psychology perspectives.     

Exploring the personality trait of self-monitoring on technology usage of Web portals.

This study explores the personality trait of self-monitoring in Web portal usage by employing the extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) model of Pavlou and Fygenson. A survey of 254 Internet Web portal users was conducted to test the hypothesized model. The results show that our data supported all five individual causal paths postulated in this study. Further, the construct of self-monitoring plays a moderating role in Web portal usage; three of the five moderating hypotheses are supported. Based on the research findings, conclusions and implications are discussed.     

Foucauldian Ethics and Elective Death

Concern with elective-death decisions usually focuses on individuals' competence and understanding of their situations and prospects. If problematic influences on individuals are considered, they almost invariably have to do with matters such as depression and the effects of medication. Too little attention is paid to how individuals, as subjects, are products of both external cultural and social influences on them, and of internal efforts and needs that determine their subjectivity.     

Serving Culturally Diverse Children with Serious Emotional Disturbance and Their Families

Over the coming decades, we can expect that cultural diversity will abound within the U.S. population and the imagery of an American melting pot will long be discarded. One significance of this trend will be the imperative to account for cultural diversity in assessing the needs of children with serious emotional disturbance (SED), to ensure that assessments, diagnoses, and treatments are accurate, fair, and meaningful. To achieve that end, however, will first require that all persons in the fields of education, mental health, social services, and juvenile justice become fully prepared to support children with SED and their families, prepared to bring to the process a sophisticated understanding of the interplay between culture and social behaviors. Nothing less than that level of preparedness will enable practitioners to develop unbiased interventions that competently and sensitively weigh cultural influences and target the needs of diverse students with emotional and behavioral difficulties. In this paper, we present the need for culturally competent practitioners in the area of SED, ways in which service providers can increase their cultural knowledge, and strategies for more effective service with this population.     

Who I am and how I think: The impact of self‐construal on the roles of internal and external reference prices in price evaluations

Drawing from self-construal studies on cognitive styles as well as reference price literature, this research investigates the impact of independent versus interdependent self-construal on consumers' use of internal reference prices (IRPs) and external reference prices (ERPs) during price evaluations. Three experiments reveal that IRPs have a larger impact on price evaluations for participants who are primed with an independent (vs. interdependent) self-construal, whereas ERPs have a larger impact for participants who are primed with an interdependent (vs. independent) self-construal. The differential impact of self-construal on the use of IRPs and ERPs seems to be mediated by a generalized, perceived sense of connectedness/separateness. Implications on reference price research, self-construal and cognitive styles are discussed.     

When are moods most likely to influence consumers' product preferences? The role of mood focus and perceived relevance of moods

This program of research examined the hypothesis that moods are most likely to be used as a source of information in making evaluations and choices when consumers both focus on their moods (i.e., acknowledge and pay attention to their feelings) and perceive that moods are a relevant source of information for forming judgments. Support for this prediction was obtained when the relevance of moods was examined by manipulating relevance instructions, varying advertising cues, and manipulating product type. Further, the boundary conditions under which the combination of mood focus and perceived relevance is most influential on product preferences are identified.     

Gender and developmental patterns of affect, belief, and behavior in simulated injury events

This study examined the hypothesis drawn from epidemiological data that beliefs and affective reactions of male second, fifth, and eighth graders, undergraduates, and adults in response to a series of four simulated bicycle collisions would show decreased expectation and avoidance of injury in comparison to females. This study also contrasted two additional hypotheses, one suggesting an invincibility belief in teenagers, producing a curvilinear age trend, with risky cognitions increasing from second grade, peaking at eighth grade, and then decreasing in adulthood. The other hypothesis suggested that with exposure, risky beliefs increased linearly, due to desensitization to cues of risk. As predicted, female participants did expect more fear and pain, and less exhilaration, and braked sooner after seeing the hazard than male participants. Linear rather than curvilinear age patterns emerged across films, revealing that the youngest participants anticipated more fear and less exhilaration than older participants. These results parallel developmental trends in which females and younger participants who anticipate more serious consequences are at lower risk for bicycle injury than are males, older children, and adolescents. Limitations of this analogue study and potential questions for both future research and the application of injury prevention techniques are explored.