The Automaticity of Affect for Political Leaders, Groups, and Issues: An Experimental Test of the Hot Cognition Hypothesis

We report the results of three experimental tests of the "hot cognition" hypothesis, which posits that all sociopolitical concepts that have been evaluated in the past are affectively charged and that this affective charge is automatically activated within milliseconds on mere exposure to the concept, appreciably faster than conscious appraisal of the object.
We find support for the automaticity of affect toward political leaders, groups, and issues; specifically:

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  Most Ss show significantly faster reaction times to affectively congruent political concepts and significantly slower response times to affectively incongruent concepts;

       

Age differences in personality traits across cultures: self‐report and observer perspectives

Using self‐report measures, longitudinal studies in the US and cross‐sectional studies from many cultures suggest that the broad factors of Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness to Experience decline from adolescence to adulthood, whereas Agreeableness and Conscientiousness increase. Data are inconsistent on the rate of change during adulthood, and on the generalizability of self‐report findings to informant ratings. We analysed cross‐sectional data from self‐reports and informant ratings on the Revised NEO Personality Inventory in Czech (N = 705) and Russian (N = 800) samples. Some curvilinear effects were found, chiefly in the Czech sample; informant data generally replicated self‐reports, although the effects were weaker. Although many of the details are not yet clear, there appear to be pan‐cultural trends in personality development that are consistent with the hypothesis of intrinsic maturation. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interpreting the effects of image manipulation on picture perception in pigeons (Columba livia) and humans (Homo sapiens)

The effects of picture manipulations on humans' and pigeons' performance were examined in a go/no-go discrimination of two perceptually similar categories, cat and dog faces. Four types of manipulation were used to modify the images. Mosaicization and scrambling were used to produce degraded versions of the training stimuli, while morphing and cell exchange were used to manipulate the relative contribution of positive and negative training stimuli to test stimuli. Mosaicization mainly removes information at high spatial frequencies, whereas scrambling removes information at low spatial frequencies to a greater degree. Morphing leads to complex transformations of the stimuli that are not concentrated at any particular spatial frequency band. Cell exchange preserves high spatial frequency details, but sometimes moves them into the "wrong" stimulus. The four manipulations also introduce high-frequency noise to differing degrees. Responses to test stimuli indicated that high and low spatial frequency information were both sufficient but not necessary to maintain discrimination performance in both species, but there were also species differences in relative sensitivity to higher and lower spatial frequency information.     

Maladaptive personality traits and psychopathology in childhood and adolescence: the moderating effect of parenting

This study examines child and adolescent psychopathology from a maladaptive trait perspective, incorporating both parental and child ratings of parenting as a moderator of the personality-psychopathology association. Hierarchical moderated regression analyses were conducted on a combined sample of referred and nonreferred children and adolescents (N=862, parental ratings of parenting and N=396, child ratings of parenting). The results indicated positive main effects of maladaptive traits on externalizing and internalizing problems, and positive main effects of parental negative control on externalizing problems. Significant interactions were found for Disagreeableness and Emotional Instability with parental Negative Control and for Disagreeableness x Positive Parenting in explaining externalizing problems. The discussion focuses on the contribution of these findings to a better understanding of the trait-psychopathology relationship at young age.     

Teaching Religious Doubt with Toulmin's Model of Reasoning

Abstract. Teaching students to doubt, that is, to “test,” theological arguments as one might test any other kind of knowledge is challenging in that the warrant for such testing is not immediately clear. Stephen Toulmin, Richard Rieke, and Allan Janik's model of reasoning provides a conceptual framework that demonstrates the logical relationships between a claim, its grounds, warrants, and backing for warrants. Against such a model, the instructor and students may study religious claims, both biblical and theological, with the aim of analyzing the ways such claims find support or a lack of support depending upon the particular ways that claims and evidence have competing warrants. Several pedagogical benefits ensue. First, students see that the validity for theological claims rests as much upon warrants as it does upon grounding. Second, searching for ancient warrants privileges historical‐critical investigation. Third, competing warrants for contradictory theological claims summon pedagogical metaphors of process and development.     

How Are Traits Related to Problem Behavior in Preschoolers? Similarities and Contrasts Between Temperament and Personality

The lack of empirical research relating temperament models and personality hinders conceptual integration and holds back research linking childhood traits to problem behavior or maladjustment. This study evaluates, within a sample of 443 preschoolers, the relationships between children’s maladaptation and traits measured by three temperament models (Thomas and Chess, Buss and Plomin, and Rothbart), and a Five-Factor based personality model. Adequate reliabilities and expected factor structures are demonstrated for most scales. A joint principal component analysis combining 28 temperament and 18 personality scales indicates a six-factor model, distinguishing Sociability, Activity, Conscientiousness, Disagreeableness, Emotionality, and Sensitivity. Regression analyses reveal that although single temperament and personality scales explain from 23% to 37% of problem behavior variance, the six components explain from 41% to 49% and provide a clearer differentiation among CBCL-problem scales. This age-specific taxonomy refines and corroborates conclusions based on narrative reviews and furnishes a more balanced view of trait–maladjustment relationships.