Comparing the Effects of Three Online Cognitive Reappraisal Trainings on Well-Being

This experimental training study examined which of three brief online cognitive reappraisal training protocols best enhances well-being and emotion regulation in response to stressful events. Participants were randomly assigned to learn positive reframing, self-distancing, or temporal distancing, and were asked to practice these techniques in their daily lives as interpersonal stressors arose naturally. The control group was instructed to continue regulating their emotions as they naturally would. Compared to the control, all training groups showed decreased negative emotional reactivity to the visualization of a recent stressful event 2 weeks post-training. They also showed a significant increase in general well-being from baseline to post-training. Participants’ change in reappraisal accounted for the training groups’ increased well-being.     

Predicting cognitive control from preschool to late adolescence and young adulthood

In this longitudinal study, the proportion of time preschoolers directed their attention away from rewarding stimuli during a delay-of-gratification task was positively associated with efficiency (greater speed without reduced accuracy) at responding to targets in a go/no-go task more than 10 years later. The overall findings suggest that preschoolers' ability to effectively direct their attention away from tempting aspects of the rewards in a delay-of-gratification task may be a developmental precursor for the ability to perform inhibitory tasks such as the go/no-go task years later. Because performance on the go/no-go task has previously been characterized as involving activation of fronto-striatal regions, the present findings also suggest that performance in the delay-of-gratification task may serve as an early marker of individual differences in the functional integrity of this circuitry.     

Intellectual Humility and Political Polarization: An Exploration of Social Networks,Attitudes, and Affect

Political polarization is increasing in the United States, threatening social harmony. As this threat grows, it is important to identify factors that engender polarization and ways to disrupt them. To this end, we examined the buffering role of intellectual humility against political polarization and the potential mediating role of political heterophily (i.e., affiliation and communication with political outgroup members). Data were collected in five assessments over an eight-month period, beginning one day prior to the 2020 U.S. presidential election (N = 387) and ending in July 2021 (N = 181). Results showed that intellectual humility was associated with (1) less affective and attitudinal polarization (although in some cases this effect was only present among conservatives) and (2) more political heterophily. Cross-sectional and prospective mediation analyses suggested that intellectual humility may act through political heterophily to reduce attitude polarization. Our findings offer support for the notion that intellectual humility buffers against political polarization and provide preliminary evidence for political heterophily as one mechanism of action.     

Refining the theory of basic individual values

We propose a refined theory of basic individual values intended to provide greater heuristic and explanatory power than the original theory of 10 values (Schwartz, 1992). The refined theory more accurately expresses the central assumption of the original theory that research has largely ignored: Values form a circular motivational continuum. The theory defines and orders 19 values on the continuum based on their compatible and conflicting motivations, expression of self-protection versus growth, and personal versus social focus. We assess the theory with a new instrument in 15 samples from 10 countries (N = 6,059). Confirmatory factor and multidimensional scaling analyses support discrimination of the 19 values, confirming the refined theory. Multidimensional scaling analyses largely support the predicted motivational order of the values. Analyses of predictive validity demonstrate that the refined values theory provides greater and more precise insight into the value underpinnings of beliefs. Each value correlates uniquely with external variables.     

Rejection Sensitivity and Vulnerability to Self‐Directed Hostile Cognitions Following Rejection

We examined the hypothesis that rejection increases self‐directed hostile cognitions in individuals who are high in rejection sensitivity (RS). In four studies employing primarily undergraduate samples (Ns = 83–121), rejection was primed subliminally or through a recall task, and self‐directed hostile cognitions were assessed using explicit or implicit measures. Negative or neutral control conditions were used in three of the studies. Measures of RS were obtained in pretesting. High RS participants were more likely than low RS participants to report or show greater self‐directed hostile cognitions in rejection conditions, compared to control conditions. Results held when controlling for depressive symptoms, history of self‐directed hostile cognitions, and general hostility. RS may represent a unique vulnerability for self‐directed hostile cognitions, a predictor of self‐harmful behavior.     

Value tradeoffs propel and inhibit behavior: Validating the 19 refined values in four countries

We assess the predictive and discriminant validity of the basic values in the refined Schwartz value theory by examining how value tradeoffs predict behavior in Italy, Poland, Russia, and the USA. One thousand eight hundred and fifty‐seven respondents reported their values and rated their own and a partner's behavior. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis supported the distinctiveness of the 19 values and the 19 self‐rated and other‐rated behaviors. Multidimensional scaling analyses supported the circular motivational order of the 19 values. Findings affirmed the theorizing that behavior depends upon tradeoffs between values that propel and values that inhibit it. Across four countries, value importance, behavior frequency, and gender failed to moderate the strength of value–behavior relations. This raises the question of the conditions under which the widely cited assumption that normative pressure weakens value–behavior relations holds.     

Brain lateralization of phonological awareness varies by maternal education

Socioeconomic status (SES) has been shown to influence language skills, with children of lower SES backgrounds performing worse on language assessments compared to their higher SES peers. While there is abundant behavioral research on the effects of SES, whether there are differences in the neural mechanisms used to support language skill is less established. In this study, we examined the relation between maternal education (ME), a component of SES, and neural mechanisms of language. We focused on Kindergarten children, at the beginning of formal reading education, and on a pre‐reading skill, phonological awareness—the ability to distinguish or manipulate the sounds of language. We determined ME‐related differences in neural activity by examining a skill‐matched sample of typically achieving 5‐year‐old children as they performed a rhyme judgment task. We examined brain lateralization in two language processing regions, the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and superior temporal gyrus (STG). In the IFG, lateralization was related to ME but not skill: children with low ME showed bilateral activation compared to children with higher ME who showed leftward lateralization. In the STG, there was a skill by ME interaction on lateralization, such that children with high ME showed a positive relation between rightward lateralization and skill and children with low ME showed a positive relation between leftward lateralization and skill. Thus, we demonstrated ME is related to differences in neural recruitment during language processing, yet this difference in recruitment is not indicative of a deficit in linguistic processing in Kindergarten children.     

Mothers’ Mental State Talk and Preschool Children’s Social-Behavioral Functioning: A Multidimensional Account

This study aimed to investigate the multidimensional nature of maternal mental state talk with respect to children’s social-behavioral functioning in a low-income urban preschool sample. Maternal speech data were collected as mothers narrated a wordless picture book depicting a diverse set of mental states to their children (n = 130, 2–4 year olds). Dimensions of maternal mental state talk (i.e., type, direction, causality) were examined with the Coding System for Mental State Talk in Narratives. Approximately half of the sample consisted of higher-risk children who were identified as in need of clinical services by on-site clinicians. Results indicated that mothers’ diversity and causality of mental state talk, their acknowledgement of characters’ negative emotions, and talk about children’s cognitions and their own mental states were associated with children’s socially adaptive behaviors. On the other hand, mothers’ tendency to focus on children’s perceptions during the story-telling task (e.g., “see that?,” “look!”) was linked with lower social competence and internalizing problems. Mothers in the clinical sample used a significantly lower proportion of emotion words compared to mothers in the nonclinical sample. Results suggest that a picture book reading task might provide a cost-effective method for assessing and possibly modifying maternal mental state talk.     

Your ethnic model speaks to the culturally connected: Differential effects of model ethnicity in advertisements and the role of cultural self‐construal

This paper examines self‐construal and consumer self‐referencing as a mechanism for explaining ethnicity effects in advertising. Data were collected from a 2 (participant ethnicity: Turkish versus Kurdish) × 2 (model ethnicity: Turkish versus Kurdish) × 2 (self‐construal: independent versus interdependent) experiment. Results show that (i) individuals with interdependent self‐construal display more positive evaluations towards an in‐group ethnic ad model than do individuals with independent self‐construal; (ii) ethnic minority individuals (Kurdish people) self‐referenced more advertising portrayals of models of a similar ethnicity than models of a different ethnicity, as did ethnic majority individuals (Turkish people); (iii) ethnic minority individuals who experienced high levels of self‐referencing exhibited more favourable attitude towards the advertisement, attitude towards the brand and a higher purchase intention than ethnic minority individuals who experienced low levels of self‐referencing; and (iv) self‐referencing is found to partially mediate the relationship between culturally constructed self‐concept (self‐construal) and ethnicity on consumer evaluations for interdependent subjects. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Achievement orientations from subjective histories of success: Promotion pride versus prevention pride

A new task goal elicits a feeling of pride in individuals with a subjective history of success, and this achievment pride produces anticipatory goal reactions that energize and direct behavior to approach the task goal. By distinguishing between promotion pride and prevention pride, the present paper extends this classic model of achievement motivation. Regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997 ) distinguishes between a promotion focus on hopes and accomplishments (gains) and a prevention focus on safety and responsibilities (non‐losses). We propose that a subjective history of success with promotion‐related eagerness (promotion pride) orients individuals toward using eagerness means to approach a new task goal, whereas a subjective history of success with prevention‐related vigilance (prevention pride) orients individuals toward using vigilance means to approach a new task goal. Studies 1–3 tested this proposal by examining the relations between a new measure of participants' subjective histories of promotion success and prevention success (the Regulatory Focus Questionnaire (RFQ)) and their achievement strategies in different tasks. Study 4 examined the relation between participants' RFQ responses and their reported frequency of feeling eager or vigilant in past task engagements. Study 5 used an experimental priming technique to make participants temporarily experience either a subjective history of promotion success or a subjective history of prevention success. For both chronic and situationally induced achievement pride, these studies found that when approaching task goals individuals with promotion pride use eagerness means whereas individuals with prevention pride use vigilance means. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.