Why are conservatives happier than liberals?

In this research, we drew on system-justification theory and the notion that conservative ideology serves a palliative function to explain why conservatives are happier than liberals. Specifically, in three studies using nationally representative data from the United States and nine additional countries, we found that right-wing (vs. left-wing) orientation is indeed associated with greater subjective well-being and that the relation between political orientation and subjective well-being is mediated by the rationalization of inequality. In our third study, we found that increasing economic inequality (as measured by the Gini index) from 1974 to 2004 has exacerbated the happiness gap between liberals and conservatives, apparently because conservatives (more than liberals) possess an ideological buffer against the negative hedonic effects of economic inequality.     

Are needs to manage uncertainty and threat associated with political conservatism or ideological extremity?

Three studies are conducted to assess the uncertainty- threat model of political conservatism, which posits that psychological needs to manage uncertainty and threat are associated with political orientation. Results from structural equation models provide consistent support for the hypothesis that uncertainty avoidance (e.g., need for order, intolerance of ambiguity, and lack of openness to experience) and threat management (e.g., death anxiety, system threat, and perceptions of a dangerous world) each contributes independently to conservatism (vs. liberalism). No support is obtained for alternative models, which predict that uncertainty and threat management are associated with ideological extremism or extreme forms of conservatism only. Study 3 also reveals that resistance to change fully mediates the association between uncertainty avoidance and conservatism, whereas opposition to equality partially mediates the association between threat and conservatism. Implications for understanding the epistemic and existential bases of political orientation are discussed.     

Recognition memory for pictorial stimuli: biasing effects of stimulus emotionality

The possibility that stimulus emotionality might influence recognition bias in a long-term memory task was studied with respect to both the valence and arousal dimensions of emotion. For this purpose, we used 108 International Affective Picture System pictures that were representative of all regions of this two-dimensional space. Signal detection theory analysis was applied using A'and B' D as discrimination and bias measures, respectively. In general, the results showed that greater discrimination was accompanied by a response bias that was more conservative for pleasant and for unarousing pictures than for unpleasant and for arousing ones. These results provide new evidence in connection with the emotion-induced recognition bias in long-term memory performance.     

Cross-modal self-recognition: the role of visual, auditory, and olfactory primes

Three priming experiments were conducted to determine how information about the self from different sensory modalities/cognitive domains affects self-face recognition. Being exposed to your body odor, seeing your name, and hearing your name all facilitated self-face recognition in a reaction time task. No similar cross-modal facilitation was found among stimuli from familiar or novel individuals. The finding of a left-hand advantage for self-face recognition was replicated when no primes were presented. These data, along with other recent results suggest the brain processes/represents information about the self in highly integrated ways.     

A meta-analysis of psychological and pharmacological treatments for Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Although psychological and pharmacological treatment approaches for Body Dysmorphic Disorder have been evaluated, the relative effectiveness of these two types of interventions has not been examined. We conducted a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials and case series studies involving psychological (i.e., behavioural, cognitive-behavioural, cognitive) or medication therapies. Our findings support the effectiveness of both types of therapy, but suggest that cognitive-behavioural treatment may be the most useful. These findings require cross-validation through large-scale clinical trials.     

La cara y la emoción: datos para una réplica

Resumen

Este artículo es una réplica a los límites que pone Valle-Inclán a la universalidad de ciertas expresiones faciales de las emociones. Se rebate que el empleo de expresiones espontáneas, la falta de entrenamiento de los jueces y la técnica de recogida de los datos sean variables relevantes en los estudios de juicios. Además, se aportan datos de trabajos omitidos en el artículo objeto de la réplica que apoyan la tesis de la universalidad de diferentes expresiones faciales de las emociones.     

Relationship Between Graphical Device Comprehension and Overall Text Comprehension for Third-Grade Children

This study examined relationships between reading comprehension, known predictors of reading comprehension (i.e., cognitive flexibility, fluency, reading motivation and attitude, vocabulary), and graphical device comprehension. One-hundred fifty-six third graders completed assessments of known predictor variables and an assessment tapping comprehension of graphical devices commonly found in age-appropriate informational texts: captioned pictures, insets, surface diagrams, cross-sectional diagrams, flow charts, timelines, and tables. Graphical device comprehension was strongly correlated with reading comprehension, r_s = 0.49, p (one-tailed) < 0.01. Regression analyses, including known and new variables, revealed that graphical device comprehension accounted for 12.81% of the resulting standardized model predicting general reading comprehension.     

Some markers of mirroring appear intact in schizophrenia: evidence from mu suppression

Although schizophrenia is associated with impairments in social cognition, the scope and neural correlates of these disturbances are largely unknown. In this study, we investigated whether schizophrenia patients show impaired functioning of the mirror neuron system (MNS), as indexed by electroencephalographic (EEG) mu (8–13 Hz) suppression, a hypothesized biomarker of MNS activity that is sensitive to the degree of social interaction depicted in visual stimuli. A total of 32 outpatients and 26 healthy controls completed an EEG paradigm that included six action observation or execution conditions that differed in their degrees of social interaction. Participants also completed a validated empathy questionnaire. Across both groups, we found a significant linear increase in mu suppression across the conditions involving greater levels of social engagement and interaction, but no significant group or interaction effects. Patients self-reported diminished empathic concern and perspective taking, which showed some moderate relations to mu suppression levels. Thus, the schizophrenia group showed generally intact modulation of MNS functioning at the electrophysiological level, despite self-reporting empathic disturbances. The disturbances commonly seen on self-report, performance, and neuroimaging measures of mentalizing in schizophrenia may largely reflect difficulties with higher-level inferential processes about others’ emotions, rather than a basic incapacity to share in these experiences.     

Curry’s Paradox,Generalized Modus Ponens Axiom and Depth Relevance

“Weak relevant model structures” (wr-ms) are defined on “weak relevant matrices” by generalizing Brady’s model structure ${\mathcal{M}_{\rm CL}}$ built upon Meyer’s Crystal matrix CL. It is shown how to falsify in any wr-ms the Generalized Modus Ponens axiom and similar schemes used to derive Curry’s Paradox. In the last section of the paper we discuss how to extend this method of falsification to more general schemes that could also be used in deriving Curry’s Paradox.