Visual search for emotional expressions: Effect of stimulus set on anger and happiness superiority

Prior reports of preferential detection of emotional expressions in visual search have yielded inconsistent results, even for face stimuli that avoid obvious expression-related perceptual confounds. The current study investigated inconsistent reports of anger and happiness superiority effects using face stimuli drawn from the same database. Experiment 1 excluded procedural differences as a potential factor, replicating a happiness superiority effect in a procedure that previously yielded an anger superiority effect. Experiments 2a and 2b confirmed that image colour or poser gender did not account for prior inconsistent findings. Experiments 3a and 3b identified stimulus set as the critical variable, revealing happiness or anger superiority effects for two partially overlapping sets of face stimuli. The current results highlight the critical role of stimulus selection for the observation of happiness or anger superiority effects in visual search even for face stimuli that avoid obvious expression related perceptual confounds and are drawn from a single database.     

Salespersons’ empathy as a missing link in the customer orientation–loyalty chain: an investigation of drivers and age differences as a contingency

Salespersons’ customer orientation has attracted considerable attention from practitioners and researchers. By distinguishing customer-oriented attitude from behavior, this study sheds light on customers’ perceptions of salespersons’ empathy, as a missing link between customer orientation and customer-related outcomes. Noting the increasing age diversity among salespersons and customers, this study also investigates whether age differences in salesperson–customer dyads moderate the relationships of salespersons’ customer-oriented attitude and behavior with customer outcomes. Finally, this study examines salespersons’ climate perceptions as antecedents of their customer-oriented attitudes. Results of multilevel modeling with data from 164 salespersons and 405 customers reveal that salesperson empathy, as perceived by customers, is an important facilitator of the customer orientation–satisfaction relationship. When there are large age differences, salespersons’ customer-oriented attitude becomes more important for making customers feel understood by salespersons. Regarding antecedents, salespersons’ customer-oriented attitude is influenced by their perceptions of team-member exchange and age-inclusive climate.     

Evaluation of a Web-based introductory psychology course: II. Contingency management to increase use of on-line study aids

In a Web-based general psychology course, students were observed to postpone use of on-line study aids until 2 days prior to examinations, thus negating any influence of advance organizers (Taraban, Maki, & Rynearson, 1999). We attempted to modify this behavior by providing course credit in the form of short quizzes as rewards for using on-line study aids to preview each chapter. Some students received quizzes after previewing frequently asked questions (FAQ); other students received quizzes after previewing chapter outlines. Students who received quizzes for previewing FAQ pages accessed those pages more frequently than did students who received quizzes for previewing outline pages. Increased access to FAQs was associated with higher scores on FAQ-related midterm examination questions. However, the advantage on examination items was not apparent on a cumulative final examination. Navigational structures and reward values need to be considered when one is managing contingencies in Web courses.     

Parents' convergence on sharing and marital satisfaction,father involvement,and parent–child relationship at the transition to parenthood

This study examines determinants of father involvement, the parents' convergence on marital satisfaction, and mothers' and fathers' interactive behavior in dual‐earner families at the transition to parenthood. Sixty dual‐earner Israeli couples and their five‐month‐old firstborn child were interviewed and videotaped in infant–mother and infant–father interactions. Interactions were coded globally for 21 interactive behaviors and composited into measures of parent sensitivity and infant readiness to interact. Five determinants of each parent's involvement in house and childcare were assessed as predictors of parent–infant interactions: the sharing of household and childcare responsibilities, the amount of time each parent spends with the infant during the week and on weekends, and the range of childcare activities the parent typically performs. Marital convergence was indexed by the absolute difference score between mothers' and fathers' marital satisfaction. Father sensitivity was related to the sharing of household and childcare responsibilities, to the amount of time the father spends with the child on weekends (but not during the week), to the range of childcare activities father performs, and to marital convergence. Mother sensitivity was related only to the sharing of responsibilities between spouses. The range of the father's childcare activities predicted maternal interactive sensitivity. Infant readiness to interact with the father, but not with the mother, was related to the sharing of childcare responsibilities, to the range of father's childcare activities, and to marital convergence. Results further specify the differential associations between the marital and the parent–child relationship for mothers and fathers and point to the importance of the father's instrumental involvement in childcare to the development of fathering. © 2000 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Affect regulation and synchrony in mother—infant play as precursors to the development of symbolic competence

This study examines relationships between organizing processes of affective communication in infancy and the development of symbolic competence. Thirty six mother—infant dyads were observed at 3 and 9 months, and 32 dyads were reassessed at 24 months. Mother's and infant affective states during face-to-face play at 3 and 9 months were coded in .25-second frames. The underlying structure of infant affect and the time-lag synchrony between mother and infant affective states were assessed with time-series analyses. In addition, interactions at 3 and 9 months were assessed for the global level of infant positive affect and maternal affect attunement. At 2 years, three dimensions of symbolic competence were evaluated: symbolic play, verbal IQ, and the child's use of internal states words. Infant affect regulation at 3 months, defined by the existence of a non-random, stochastic-cyclic organization of affective states, predicted all three domains of symbolic competence at 2 years. Maternal synchrony and attunement each had an independent contribution to the prediction of symbolic play and internal state talk. The microanalytic and global indices of affect each added meaningfully to the prediction of symbolic functioning. The organization of behavioral sequences into coherent affective configurations is discussed as a possible precursor to the general capacity to develop symbols. © 1997 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health     

Emotion differentiation dissected: between-category,within-category,and integral emotion differentiation,and their relation to well-being

Emotion differentiation, the ability to describe and label our own emotions in a differentiated and specific manner, has been repeatedly associated with well-being. However, it is unclear exactly what type of differentiation is most strongly related to well-being: the ability to make fine-grained distinctions between emotions that are relatively closely related (e.g. anger and irritation), the ability to make larger distinctions between very distinct emotions (e.g. anger and sadness), or the combination of both. To determine which type of differentiation is most predictive of well-being, we performed a comprehensive meta-analysis across six datasets. We examined the correlations between these three types of differentiation and several indicators of well-being (depression, emotional clarity, and self-esteem). Results showed that individuals differentiated most between very distinct emotions and least between more related emotions, and that an index computed across emotions from both the same and different emotion categories was most strongly associated with well-being indicators.     

Human faces capture attention and attract first saccades without longer fixation

Human faces attract attention, evidenced by reaction time (RT) advantages over non-face stimuli in visual search tasks. In the current study, participants’ eye movements were tracked during a search task to test how the attentional capture of faces is related to looking behaviour. On each trial, participants were cued with a category name (automobiles, birds, chairs, dogs, faces, bodies, or plants). An array of images, one exemplar from each category, was then presented until participants indicated whether the target matched the cue. Results showed that faces as targets resulted in faster search times and were more likely to capture first fixations. Fixations on faces were also shorter compared to other categories. Faces captured attention, attracting first fixations, and participants appeared to be more fluent at processing faces, resulting in shorter fixations. Reaction time advantages for faces could be due to both attention capture and ultra-rapid processing.     

Depression and resilience mediate the relationship between traumatic life events and ill physical health: results from a population study

We set out to investigate the mediating roles of depression, resilience, smoking, and alcohol use, in the relationship between potentially traumatic life events and objective and subjective, physical and mental health in a single study. A face-to-face, population-based survey was conducted in Hong Kong (N = 1147). Information on health conditions and traumatic life events was obtained, and participants completed measures of subjective physical and mental health, depression, and resilience. Smoking and drinking were not significant mediators of the relationship between life events and both objective and subjective health. Depressive symptomatology was found to mediate the relationship between life threatening illness and subjective physical health, the relationship between abuse (physical and sexual) and subjective mental health, and the relationship between the death of a parent/partner and subjective mental health. Resilience was found to mediate the relationships between multiple traumatic life events and subjective physical and mental health. Our results indicate that psychological factors rather than biological are important mediators of the relationship between life events exposure and health. Our findings provide evidence that depressive symptomatology has a mediating role only in the case of specific potentially traumatic life events and that resilience is only a critical factor in the face of exposure to multiple traumatic events, rather than single events. Our results also indicate that behavioural factors, such as smoking and drinking, are not significant mediators of the relationship between life events and health.