When and Why Mimicry is Facilitated and Attenuated

Although people tend to mimic others automatically, mimicry is facilitated or attenuated depending on the specific context. In the current paper, the authors discuss when mimicry is facilitated and attenuated depending on characteristics of situations, targets, and observers. On the basis of the review, the authors propose a new model – the Associated Reactions to Actions in Context model (ARAC) – to explain why and when mimicry is facilitated and attenuated. ARAC proposes that when people observe an action, reaction‐to‐action neurons fire. Which reaction is elicited depends on the (learned or innate) association with an action in that context. Thus, when mimicry is rewarding in a specific context, this response is facilitated. When mimicry is damaging, this response is attenuated, and another reaction may be facilitated instead. The authors discuss the added value of the ARAC model compared to other models explaining the elicitation of behavioral reactions.     

Courting on the beach: how team position implicitly influences decision-making in beach volleyball serves

Masters, van der Kamp, and Jackson [2007. Imperceptibly off-centre goalkeepers influence penalty-kick direction in soccer. Psychological Science, 18, 222–223] demonstrated that a goalkeeper in soccer penalty kicking standing marginally to one side of the goal’s centre unconsciously influences a penalty takers’ goal side selection. In two experiments, we examined whether the positions of the receiving players in beach volleyball affect a player’s decision to what area of court to play. Both experiments differed in the degree of attention participants directed to the largest court area. Results showed that participants made decisions favouring the larger court area although they were unaware of the receivers’ asymmetrical positioning. This effect was more pronounced in Experiment 1, suggesting that the degree to which attention is directed to the critical information (i.e. largest court area) can be considered an important moderator. These observations indicate that implicit effects of positioning reflect a more general phenomenon in and outside of sports that can be exploited for improving chances of success.     

Fear expression and return of fear following threat instruction with or without direct contingency experience

Prior research showed that mere instructions about the contingency between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an unconditioned stimulus (US) can generate fear reactions to the CS. Little is known, however, about the extent to which actual CS–US contingency experience adds anything beyond the effect of contingency instructions. Our results extend previous studies on this topic in that it included fear potentiated startle as an additional dependent variable and examined return of fear (ROF) following reinstatement. We observed that CS–US pairings can enhance fear reactions beyond the effect of contingency instructions. Moreover, for all measures of fear, instructions elicited immediate fear reactions that could not be completely overridden by subsequent situational safety information. Finally, ROF following reinstatement for instructed CS+s was unaffected by actual experience. In summary, our results demonstrate the power of contingency instructions and reveal the additional impact of actual experience of CS–US pairings.     

The Embodied Chiasmic Relationship of Mother and Infant

In this paper the very earliest relationship of mother and newborn will be described phenomenologically through an interlacing of Donald Winnicott's work on maternal holding with Maurice Merleau-Ponty's concepts of flesh and chiasm. Merleau-Ponty's thinking suggests that the holding relationship described by Winnicott is formed as much by the infant's holding of the mother as it is by mother's holding of her infant. Both flex and bend towards each other and inscribe each other yet retain their own particularity. Further specification and articulation of the lived body of both arises from the ongoing overlapping and sedimenting of past and current touches, movements, sounds, and sightings initiated internally and externally. Examples drawn from fieldwork and secondary sources will illustrate this ongoing embodied relationship.     

Why Women Approve of Affirmative Action: The Study of a Predictive Model

The self-interest model has often been used to predict the reactions of advantaged groups to affirmative action. It is argued that self-interest also plays a role in the genesis of attitudes of disadvantaged groups, such as women. More precisely, it is hypothesised that considerations of personal interest have an impact on considerations of collective interest which in turn have an impact on the sense of collective relative deprivation (CRD). In the past, it was shown that women who felt collectively deprived approved of strategies designed to eliminate systemic barriers. No link was found, however, between CRD and preferential treatment. Women, in majority, were opposed to this strategy. On the basis of a model introduced by Taylor and McKirnan (1984), it is argued that women who have experienced discrimination on the basis of sex in spite of the introduction of affirmative action strategies may support preferential treatment. The hypotheses were integrated in a model and tested using LISREL causal modelling. In total, 197 female francophone workers participated in the study. They were all employed in a large firm where in the last five years attempts were made to reduce sex asymmetries. These efforts however were not successful; the percentage of women in non-traditional jobs increased by only 2%. The proposed model was tested successfully. The results are discussed in light of previous paradigms and practical implications.