Attentional mechanisms linking rejection to hostile reactivity: the role of "hot" versus "cool" focus

Drawing on the hot–cool systems analysis of self–regulation, we examined whether attentional focus mediates the negativity of cognitive–affective reactions to interpersonal rejection. The hypothesis was that whereas a hot, arousing focus to representing rejection experiences should increase anger–hostility, accessing the cool system through distraction and distancing should attenuate such responses. Participants imagined an autobiographical rejection experience, focusing either on their physiological and emotional reactions (hot focus) or on the physical setting of the experience (cool focus). Participants in a third condition received no specific attentional instructions. Both implicit and explicit measures showed that hostile thoughts and feelings were attenuated in the cool–focus compared with the hot–focus condition. The findings support the adaptive value of activating a cooling strategy under hot, arousing conditions that otherwise elicit automatic, hot–system responses.     

Identifying Causes of Disagreement Between Self-Reports and Spouse Ratings of Personality

Self-reports and spouse ratings of personality traits typically show less-than-perfect agreement, but powerful moderators of agreement have not yet been identified. In Study 1, 47 married couples completed the Revised NEO Personality Inventory to describe themselves and their spouses. Extent of agreement was not consistently moderated by response sets; the age, intelligence, or education of the respondent; or the length or quality of the relationship. In Study 2 these couples were interviewed about reasons for substantial disagreements, and an audiotape was content-analyzed. Sixteen reasons were reliably coded, including idiosyncratic understanding of items, reference to different time frames or roles, and unavailability of covert experience to the spouse. Faking good, assumed similarity, and other variables prominent in the psychometric literature were relatively unimportant. Findings (1) suggest that attempts to improve the validity of self-reports and ratings may need to be refocused and (2) underscore the desirability of routinely obtaining multiple sources of information on personality.     

Novelty responding and behavioral development in young,developmentally delayed children

This study examined whether or not a measure of information processing ability based on the discrimination of novel and familiar stimuli was related to behavioral development among developmentally-delayed infants. Two samples of handicapped infants were administered multiple measures of visual novelty discrimination and a battery of assessments which were representative of available measures of development in infancy. The results indicated that, as a group, the developmentally delayed infants were capable of discriminating novel and familiar stimuli. Also, correlational analyses indicated that responding to novelty was related to developmental accessment performance in both samples. This finding is consistent with previous data which indicates that novelty response measures are associated with important individual differences in young children.     

Social stimulation and joint attention in young autistic children

The present study was designed to examine the effects of social stimulation on the joint attention behavior of 20 autistic children under 6 years of age, 20 receptive language-matched Down syndrome children, and 20 receptive language matched-normally-developing infants. Children's social and non-social engagement states were measured during two experimental play sessions and during free play with parent. For all groups, joint attention was increased when adult play behavior closely followed and was contingent on the behavior of the children; however, the autistic children were significantly less responsive to the experimental manipulation than control subjects. In contrast, the autistic children were no less responsive in terms of other forms of social engagement. Results are interpreted as supporting a model of joint attention deficits in autism that involves factors inherent to the disorder in transaction with social context.     

Rejection sensitivity and disruption of attention by social threat cues

Two studies tested the hypothesis that Rejection Sensitivity (RS) increases vulnerability to disruption of attention by social threat cues, as would be consistent with prior evidence that it motivates individuals to prioritize detecting and managing potential rejection at a cost to other personal and interpersonal goals. In Study 1, RS predicted disruption of ongoing goal-directed attention by social threat but not negative words in an Emotional Stroop task. In Study 2, RS predicted attentional avoidance of threatening but not pleasant faces in a Visual Probe task. Threat-avoidant attention was also associated with features of borderline personality disorder. This research extends understanding of processes by which RS contributes to a self-perpetuating cycle of interpersonal problems and distress.     

The Cutest Little Baby Face: A Hormonal Link to Sensitivity to Cuteness in Infant Faces

ABSTRACT— We used computer image manipulation to develop a test of perception of subtle gradations in cuteness between infant faces. We found that young women (19–26 years old) were more sensitive to differences in infant cuteness than were men (19–26 and 53–60 years old). Women aged 45 to 51 years performed at the level of the young women, whereas cuteness sensitivity in women aged 53 to 60 years was not different from that of men (19–26 and 53–60 years old). Because average age at menopause is 51 years in Britain, these findings suggest the possible involvement of reproductive hormones in cuteness sensitivity. Therefore, we compared cuteness discrimination in pre- and postmenopausal women matched for age and in women taking and not taking oral contraceptives (progestogen and estrogen). Premenopausal women and young women taking oral contraceptives (which raise hormone levels artificially) were more sensitive to variations of cuteness than their respective comparison groups. We suggest that cuteness sensitivity is modulated by female reproductive hormones.