Mood effects on emotion recognition

Mood affects memory and social judgments. However, findings are inconsistent with regard to how mood affects emotion recognition: For sad moods, general performance decrements in emotion recognition have been reported, as well as an emotion specific bias, such as better recognition of sad facial expressions compared to happy expressions (negative bias). Far less research has been conducted on the influence of happy moods on emotion recognition. We primed 93 participants with happy, sad, or neutral moods and had them perform an emotion recognition task. Results showed a negative bias for participants in sad moods and a positive bias for participants in happy moods. Sad and happy moods hampered the recognition of mood-incongruent expressions; the recognition of mood-congruent expressions was not affected by moods.     

Correlation versus causation in multisensory perception

Events are often perceived in multiple modalities. The co-occurring proximal visual and auditory stimuli events are mostly also causally linked to the distal event, which makes it difficult to evaluate whether learned correlation or perceived causation guides binding in multisensory perception. Piano tones are an interesting exception: They are associated with the act of the pianist striking keys, an event that is visible to the perceiver, but directly results from hammers hitting strings, an event that typically is not visible to the perceiver. We examined the influence of seeing the hammer or the keystroke on auditory temporal order judgments (TOJs). Participants judged the temporal order of a dog bark and a piano tone, while seeing the piano stroke shifted temporally relative to its audio signal. Visual lead increased “piano-first” responses in auditory TOJ, but more so if the associated keystroke was visible than if the sound-producing hammer was visible, even though both were equally visually salient. This provides evidence for a learning account of audiovisual perception.     

Influences of information processing and disengagement in infants' looking behaviour

The present study considers the joint influences of information processing and disengagement in looking behaviour within a habituation paradigm. Six‐month‐old infants were habituated, during which their heart rate (HR) was measured. A parametric model of habituation yielded for each infant parameter estimates of their habituation performance. These parameters were interpreted as assessing information processing and disengagement. Corresponding measures were obtained from the HR data. The HR measures and habituation model parameter estimates were significantly correlated, as predicted. In addition, an attention getter, presented prior to each habituation trial, influenced indicators of information processing, but not of disengagement. Results confirmed the advantages of a modelling approach. In addition, and more importantly, findings led to the conclusion that both information processing as well as disengagement are involved in infants' looking behaviour in visual habituation. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The vengeance puzzle—retributive justice or hostile aggression?

Vengeance is understood as a blend of instrumental and hostile aggression. Taking the Berkowitz neoassociationistic aggression model as a basis, 84 students received a priming manipulation (anger, fear, or control condition). Afterwards, they judged one of four vengeance scenarios that differed in victim‐perpetrator relationship (coworker vs. stranger) and in the attributed motive of the perpetrator. Priming had an influence on judgments of injustice and on anticipated fury, but no effect whatsoever on aggression (measured as the decrease in well‐being wished for the perpetrator). The type of relationship had an effect only on anticipated disappointment. The main effects of motive were found on aggression and on the anticipated feeling of the perpetrator after the act. Aggression could be predicted from the motive of the perpetrator and well‐being of the victim after the transgression. Neither anticipated fury, importance of deterrence, nor judgment of injustice predicted aggression. Aggr. Behav. 00:1–12, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Are women always more interpersonally sensitive than men? Impact of goals and content domain

Two studies examined motivation and content domain as possible influences on sex differences in interpersonal sensitivity. Although much research has found women to excel on tasks measuring interpersonal sensitivity, most of the tasks have measured accuracy in female-relevant domains such as emotion. The present studies measured interpersonal sensitivity, defined as accurate recall of another person, for both female-relevant and male-relevant content domains and also included motivational manipulations intended to influence men and women differently. Study 1 measured accuracy of recalling information in a written vignette about a person, and Study 2 measured accuracy of recalling details about an interaction partner. Both studies supported hypotheses about domain specificity and gender-relevant motivation. However, even for male-stereotypic content and for tasks framed to favor men's motivation to perform well, men's accuracy never exceeded women's.     

Ontological Aspects of Measurement

The concept of measurement is fundamental to a whole range of different disciplines, including not only the natural and engineering sciences, but also laboratory medicine and certain branches of the social sciences. This being the case, the concept of measurement has a particular relevance to the development of top-level ontologies in the area of knowledge engineering. For this reason, the present paper is concerned with ontological aspects of measurement. We are searching for a list of concepts that are apt to characterize measurement methods in a general manner. To establish such means of characterization, we will primarily deal with the semantics of measurement values.

Individual Pathways to Life Satisfaction: The Significance of Traits and Motives

This article examines the relationship between life satisfaction and specific facets of psychological well-being (positive relations with others and environmental mastery) by considering the moderating effect of significant components of personality, i.e., traits, values, and implicit motives. Constructs were assessed by the Satisfaction With Life Scale, the Scales of Psychological Well-Being (two subscales), the NEO Five-Factor Inventory, the Schwartz Value Survey (two value types), and a picture-story test (implicit motives for achievement and affiliation–intimacy). Analyses revealed that values, implicit motives, and personality traits moderated the relationship between both types of well-being measures. Findings indicate that personality components reflecting significant strivings and needs play a crucial role in seeking well-being by assigning meaning to given life domains.

Concern for generativity and its relation to implicit pro-social power motivation, generative goals, and satisfaction with life: a cross-cultural investigation

So far, cross-cultural research on generativity has been lacking. The present study tests the cross-cultural applicability of an integrative model of generativity proposed by McAdams and de St. Aubin. Measures of implicit pro-social power motivation, a general disposition for generativity, generative goals, and life satisfaction were administered to adults in Cameroon, Costa Rica, and Germany. These measures cover the intrapersonal part of the generativity model. After examining the comparability of the measures across the three cultures, cultural differences in the level of each variable were inspected. Finally, the hypothesized model was tested via structural equation modeling. Results show that the model can be successfully applied in all three cultural samples. This finding has interesting implications for the further investigation of generativity, particularly its social antecedents and behavioral consequences.     

Gender differences in memory for the appearance of others

Five studies investigated gender differences in the accurate recall of the appearance of others. The greater interpersonal orientation and interpersonal sensitivity of women were predicted to give women an advantage over men in appearance accuracy. Under both directed- and incidental-learning conditions, women more accurately recalled information concerning the appearance of their social targets than did men, participants' memory for the appearance of female targets was more accurate than it was for male targets, and neither gender was found to be a relative advantage in recalling the appearance of same-gender targets. The motivational and knowledge-based factors that might underlie a gender difference in appearance accuracy are discussed.