Male risk-taking as a context-sensitive signaling device

Evolutionary theorists have suggested that sex differences in risk-taking are due ultimately to greater intrasexual competition among men (compared with women) over access to mating opportunities. The current work provides one of the first direct tests of the hypothesis that risk-taking serves self-presentational functions associated with mating. Results of an experimental study indicated a strong positive relationship between sexual arousal and risk-taking, but only in men exposed to a romantically available female confederate who purportedly would view their risk-taking performance. Findings suggest that risk-taking can serve as a signaling device in the context of mating, that this function is sex-specific, and that it is highly sensitive both to the situational context and to the current psychological state of the risk-taker. This research highlights the utility of an evolutionary approach in understanding the proximate social psychological determinants of risky decision-making.     

Reward Priority of Visual Target Singletons Modulates Event-Related Potential Signatures of Attentional Selection

ABSTRACT— We examined visual search for color singleton targets, whose shape was discriminated. Critically, we varied the reward priority of singleton colors (correct fast performance was worth more bonus points for red singletons than for green singletons, or vice versa) to test whether event-related potential signatures of visual selection can be affected by distinct reward priorities for different target types, even when every target has to be selected for report. The N2pc component was earlier and larger for high- than for low-reward targets. This influence of reward on the N2pc correlated with the subject-by-subject impact of reward level on efficiency of behavioral performance. Later postselection processing was also affected by reward level. These results demonstrate that visual selection of task-relevant items is rapidly modulated by reward-related priorities, even when every target has to be selected for response.     

Career transitions and their causes: A country‐comparative perspective

This empirical paper investigates how individuals conceptualize causes of career transitions, focusing on the three European countries of Austria, Serbia, and Spain in comparison to the USA and China. Collectively, these countries represent four separate cultural regions according to Schwartz. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with members of three occupational groups: business people, nurses, and blue‐collar workers. Analysis of the data generates greater insight about the existence of both region‐specific patterns as well as potentially universalistic tendencies regarding perceived causes of career transitions. Perceptions of internal (to the person) drivers of career transitions as activating forces are evident in all five countries. The overall results support contemporary notions of occupational careers that are highly individualized, a characterization strongly emphasized in the current career literature. In the European culture clusters, causes of career transitions are attributed internally and externally. China, representing the Confucian cultural region, stresses external causes for career transitions. By contrast, in the USA only internal attributions of causes are reported.     

Motivationally selective risk judgments: Do fear and curiosity boost the boons or the banes?

Recent theories of judgment and decision-making have focused increasingly on the role of motivation, affect, and other drive states. The current research examined whether specific motivational orientations associated with approach versus avoidance might be linked selectively to judgments of positive versus negative decision outcomes and future events. Findings from three studies suggest that fear—an emotion intrinsically linked to threat avoidance—was more strongly associated with judgments of negative outcomes than judgments of positive outcomes. In contrast, curiosity—a motivational orientation associated with approaching desired information and experiences—was more strongly associated with judgments of positive outcomes than judgments of negative outcomes. Findings are discussed with respect to functionalist theories of motivation and selective cognition.     

Readout from iconic memory and selective spatial attention involve similar neural processes

Iconic memory and spatial attention are often considered separately, but they may have functional similarities. Here we provide functional magnetic resonance imaging evidence for some common underlying neural effects. Subjects judged three visual stimuli in one hemifield of a bilateral array comprising six stimuli. The relevant hemifield for partial report was indicated by an auditory cue, administered either before the visual array (precue, spatial attention) or shortly after the array (postcue, iconic memory). Pre- and postcues led to similar activity modulations in lateral occipital cortex contralateral to the cued side. This finding indicates that readout from iconic memory can have some neural effects similar to those of spatial attention. We also found common bilateral activation of a fronto-parietal network for postcue and precue trials. These neuroimaging data suggest that some common neural mechanisms underlie selective spatial attention and readout from iconic memory. Some differences were also found; compared with precues, postcues led to higher activity in the right middle frontal gyrus.     

Intrusive images and memories in major depression

Individuals with current major depression were interviewed to investigate the prevalence of distressing intrusive mental imagery among depressed patients and study the phenomenology of these intrusions. Of the 39 currently depressed patients, 17 experienced some form of repetitive intrusive imagery (i.e., either an intrusive memory or image), with intrusive memories being more common than images. The intrusive imagery was experienced as highly uncontrollable and interfered significantly with patients' everyday lives. The intrusions were experienced with a sense of 'nowness', as well as physical and emotional re-experiencing. Despite high levels of re-experiencing, levels of dissociation were very low. The intrusive imagery was in some patients part of a wider network of key defining autobiographical memories, consistent with the idea that it is likely to play a significant role in maintaining the patient's depressive mood. Interventions targeting these intrusions could potentially result in a positive shift in depressed mood.     

Varying cautionary instructions, monetary incentives, and comorbid diagnostic training in malingered psychopathology research

In this article, we combine two analogue experiments in which we empirically examined three malingering methodological issues in individuals trained and instructed to simulate posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on the Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI; Briere, 1995). In Experiment 1, we examined TSI scale effects of the following manipulations using a 2 x 2 design with 330 college students: (a) inclusion or exclusion of cautionary instructions regarding believability of participants' simulation and (b) different financial incentive levels. In Experiment 2, we examined comorbid psychiatric diagnostic training with 180 college students who were either trained to simulate PTSD and comorbid major depressive disorder or trained to simulate only PTSD. Caution main effects were significant for all but two TSI Clinical Scales, incentive main effects and interactions were only significant for one Clinical scale each, and the comorbidity manipulation did not yield any scale differences. We discuss malingering research design implications regarding the use of cautionary instructions, financial incentive levels, and comorbid training.     

Validation of the SASB Introject Surface in a Norwegian clinical and nonclinical sample

In this study, we examined the reliability and construct validity of the Structural Analysis of Social Behavior Introject Surface, Intrex long form A (SASB-IS; Benjamin, 1995) in 2 Norwegian samples. The fit of the 8 SASB-IS scales to the structural requirements of a circumplex model with relaxed equal spacing constraints was reasonably good in an outpatient sample, but poor in a normal reference sample. The deviations from the equal spacing based on an ideal circumplex model, however, seem to have minimal implications for the utility of the instrument in clinical assessment. The reliability of the SASB-IS was acceptable on most scales, but two scales had unacceptable low reliability. Correspondence with external criteria supported the validity of the SASB-IS in both samples. Profile patterns related to different segments of the introject circumplex model were systematically related to severity of psychopathology: Hostile and accepting patterns of self-relatedness formed polar opposites; control patterns and intermediate patterns gave intermediate pathology scores.     

Self-reported leadership experiences in relation to inventoried social and emotional intelligence

Leadership has both social and emotional components. Social intelligence appears to tap the social component found in leadership. Recently, emotional intelligence has surfaced as a stable individual difference variable and appears to tap the emotional component of leadership. Mayer and Salovey (1993) suggested that the emotional intelligence and social intelligence constructs overlap. This study examined the power of both emotional and social intelligence to account for variance in self-reported leadership experiences. One hundred ninety-two university students completed measures of social and emotional intelligence and a measure of leadership experiences. Regression analyses showed that both social intelligence and emotional intelligence accounted for variance in leadership experiences. Although emotional intelligence was found to account for variance in leadership, it did not add unique variance beyond social intelligence. Social intelligence appears to play a principal role in leadership.