Arrogant or self-confident? The use of contextual knowledge to differentiate hubristic and authentic pride from a single nonverbal expression

Two studies tested whether observers could differentiate between two facets of pride—authentic and hubristic—on the basis of a single prototypical pride nonverbal expression combined with relevant contextual information. In Study 1, participants viewed targets displaying posed pride expressions in response to success, while causal attributions for the success (target's effort vs. ability) and the source of this information (target vs. omniscient narrator conveying objective fact) were varied. Study 2 used a similar method, but attribution information came from both the target and an omniscient narrator; the congruence of these attributions was varied. Across studies, participants tended to label expressions as authentic pride, but were relatively more likely to label them as hubristic pride when (a) contextual information indicated that targets were arrogant and (b) no mitigating information about the target's potential value as a hard-working group member (i.e., that success was actually due to effort) was presented.     

Naturalistic outcome of case formulation-driven cognitive-behavior therapy for anxious depressed outpatients

This article describes a case formulation-driven approach to the treatment of anxious depressed outpatients and presents naturalistic outcome data evaluating its effectiveness. Fifty-eight patients who received case formulation-driven cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) in a private practice setting were studied. All received individual CBT guided by a case formulation and weekly outcome monitoring; in addition, 40 patients received adjunct therapies, including pharmacotherapy, which were added as indicated by the case formulation and the results of weekly outcome monitoring. Patients treated with case formulation-driven CBT showed statistically and clinically significant changes in anxiety and depression that were generally comparable to those reported in published randomized controlled trials of empirically supported therapies (ESTs) for single mood and anxiety disorders. Findings support the proposal that anxious depressed patients who have multiple comorbidities and require multiple therapies can benefit from empirically supported treatments guided by a case formulation and weekly outcome monitoring.     

Obey or not obey? Dogs (Canis familiaris) behave differently in response to attentional states of their owners

Sixteen domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) were tested in a familiar context in a series of 1-min trials on how well they obeyed after being told by their owner to lie down. Food was used in 1/3 of all trials, and during the trial the owner engaged in 1 of 5 activities. The dogs behaved differently depending on the owner's attention to them. When being watched by the owner, the dogs stayed lying down most often and/or for the longest time compared with when the owner read a book, watched TV, turned his or her back on them, or left the room. These results indicate that the dogs sensed the attentional state of their owners by judging observable behavioral cues such as eye contact and eye, head, and body orientation.     

Examining the principles in principled conservatism: the role of responsibility stereotypes as cues for deservingness in racial policy decisions

Why do educated conservatives oppose affirmative action? Those in the "principled conservatism" camp say opposition is based on principled judgments of fairness about the policies. Others, however, argue that opposition is based on racism. The present article offers an alternative perspective that may reconcile these contradictory points of view. In 2 studies, the authors show 2 major findings: (a) that conservatives oppose affirmative action more for Blacks than for other groups, in this case women, and (b) that the relationship between conservatism and affirmative action attitudes is mediated best by group-based stereotypes that offer deservingness information and not by other potential mediators like old-fashioned racism or the perceived threat that affirmative action poses to oneself. The authors conclude that educated conservatives are indeed principled in their opposition to affirmative action, but those principles are group based not policy based.     

An examination of two-process theories of false recognition

Contemporary theories of false memory suggest there are two processes that combine to produce false memory: one that increases false memory (error-inflating processes) and one that counteracts false memory (error-editing processes). Two experiments using the DRM paradigm (Deese, 1959; Roediger & McDermott, 1995) explored the influence of manipulating the number of associates studied, study item presentation frequency, backward associative strength, and study time on error-inflating and error-editing processes separately by examining speeded and unspeeded recognition decisions. The results of these studies indicate that (1) increasing the number of associates studied primarily influenced error-inflating processes; (2) increasing backward associative strength increased error-inflating processes and impaired error-editing processes; (3) increasing study item presentation frequency increased both error-inflating and error-editing processes; and (4) increasing study time had a weak effect on error-editing processes. Further, the results of these studies suggest that comprehensive theories of false memory phenomena must propose the existence of two different factors: one that increases false memory and is available early in memory retrieval, and one that usually, but not always, decreases false memory and is available later in retrieval.