The semantic red effect: Processing the word red undermines intellectual performance

Recent research has shown that a two second glimpse of color can have an important influence on affect, cognition, and behavior. The present research examined whether perceiving color is necessary to produce an effect on psychological functioning or whether the mere act of processing a color word might be sufficient. Specifically, four experiments tested the hypothesis that processing the word red undermines intellectual performance, much like actually perceiving the color red. Supportive data were obtained with three different types of subtle manipulation, with three different types of control words, and on two different types of IQ test performance. Worry, but not mood or general arousal, was shown to mediate the semantic red effect, which appears to take place outside of individuals’ awareness. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.     

Using Neuroscience to Broaden Emotion Regulation: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations

Behavioral research on emotion regulation thus far has focused on conscious and deliberative strategies such as reappraisal. Neuroscience investigations into emotion regulation have followed suit. However, neuroimaging tools now open the door to investigate more automatic forms of emotion regulation that take place incidentally and potentially outside of participant awareness that have previously been difficult to examine. The present paper reviews studies on the neuroscience of intentional/deliberate emotion regulation and identifies opportunities for future directions that have not yet been addressed. The authors suggest a broad framework for emotion regulation that includes both deliberative and incidental forms. This framework allows insights from incidental emotion regulation to address open questions about existing work, and vice versa. Several studies relevant to incidental emotion regulation are reviewed with the goal of providing an empirical and methodological groundwork for future research. Finally, several theoretical issues for incidental and intentional emotion regulation are discussed.     

Examining the role of word identification in synonymy judgment

This paper examines the role of word identification in semantic judgment tasks. We argue that word-identification processes can substantially alter the functional properties of semantic judgment tasks. We investigate this empirically by examining the effects of semantic relatedness and relatedness proportion on synonymy judgments of non-synonym pairs. The results demonstrate that semantic relatedness slows synonymy judgments for non-synonym pairs when the relatedness proportion is low, but speeds them when the relatedness proportion is high. The former effect is a replication of traditional findings, while the latter effect reverses these findings. We explain these results by hypothesizing that increasing the relatedness proportion increases the beneficial effects of semantic relatedness in word identification, and this produces the reversal of traditional findings. We close by emphasizing that models of semantic judgment tasks can become more comprehensive by focusing on word identification.     

Integrity Testing and Deviance: Construct Validity Issues and the Role of Situational Factors

Two studies were conducted to investigate relationships among several types of preemployment integrity tests and situational factors which could play a role in employee deviance. In one study, three integrity measures were administered to subjects who were told to assume the role of job applicant for a position in either a large, small, or unspecified organization. Moral development stage, social desirability, and demographic data were collected. While there was some construct consistency across the different integrity measures, the expected relation between honesty and moral development was not found. There was also no difference in integrity test scores as a function of the organizational size manipulation. In a second laboratory study in which subjects were asked to play the role of job incumbents, both size and perceived equity of organizational climate were experimentally manipulated. The dependent measure was a scale of likelihood of engaging in organizationally proscribed behaviors. While again no effect was found for organizational size, those individuals who perceived themselves as employed in an organization in which employees are mistreated tended to report greater likelihood of engaging in organizational deviance. Implications for integrity testing in personnel selection are discussed.     

Heuristic method for label placement in scatterplots

Kuhfeld (1986) has proposed several alternative scatterplot routines with labeled points. To this list is added a heuristic routine that repositions labels to eliminate overlap while attempting to maximize the number of labels presented in a metric plot.I would like to thank the reviewer of a previous version of this paper for several excellent suggestions for future modifications of both the label positioning routine and the overall plotting package.     

The social-cognitive model of achievement motivation and the 2 x 2 achievement goal framework

Two studies examined hypotheses drawn from a proposed modification of the social-cognitive model of achievement motivation that centered on the 2 x 2 achievement goal framework. Implicit theories of ability were shown to be direct predictors of performance attainment and intrinsic motivation, and the goals of the 2 x 2 framework were shown to account for these direct relations. Perceived competence was shown to be a direct predictor of achievement goals, not a moderator of relations implicit theory or achievement goal effects. The results highlight the utility of attending to the approach-avoidance distinction in conceptual models of achievement motivation and are fully in line with the hierarchical model of achievement motivation.     

The effects of interval duration on temporal tracking and alternation learning

On cyclic-interval reinforcement schedules, animals typically show a postreinforcement pause that is a function of the immediately preceding time interval (temporal tracking). Animals, however, do not track single-alternation schedules-when two different intervals are presented in strict alternation on successive trials. In this experiment, pigeons were first trained with a cyclic schedule consisting of alternating blocks of 12 short intervals (5 s or 30 s) and 12 long intervals (180 s), followed by three different single-alternation interval schedules: (a) 30 s and 180 s, (b) 5 s and 180 s, and (c) 5 s and 30 s. Pigeons tracked both schedules with alternating blocks of 12 intervals. With the single-alternation schedules, when the short interval duration was 5 s, regardless of the duration of the longer interval, pigeons learned the alternation pattern, and their pause anticipated the upcoming interval. When the shorter interval was 30 s, even when the ratio of short to long intervals was kept at 6:1, pigeons did not initially show anticipatory pausing-a violation of the principle of timescale invariance.