A five-factor measure of dependent personality traits

This study provides convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity data for a new measure of dependent personality traits from the perspective of the five-factor model (FFM). Dependent personality trait scales were constructed as maladaptive variants of FFM facets (e.g., Gullibility as a maladaptive variant of FFM trust). Based on responses from 383 undergraduates, the convergent validity of the Five-Factor Dependency Inventory (FFDI) scales was tested with respect to 2 measures of the FFM, 6 dependency trait scales, and 4 measures of dependent personality disorder. Discriminant validity was tested with respect to FFM facets from alternative domains. Incremental validity was tested with respect to the ability of the FFM dependent personality trait scales to account for variance in 2 established measures of dependency, after variance accounted for by respective FFM facet scales and other measures of DPD was first removed. The results of this study provided support for the validity of the FFDI assessment of dependency from the perspective of the FFM.     

Measures to assess maladaptive variants of the five-factor model

The five-factor model (FFM) is the predominant dimensional model of general personality structure. A considerable body of research supports the hypothesis that personality disorders can be conceptualized as extreme or maladaptive variants of the domains and facets of the FFM. However, existing measures of the FFM are confined largely to the normal variants. The purpose of this special section of the Journal of Personality Assessment is to provide the development and initial validation of self-report inventory scales to assess obsessive-compulsive, borderline, narcissistic, avoidant, and dependent personality traits from the perspective of the FFM, which complement the similarly constructed existing measures for psychopathic, histrionic, and schizotypal personality traits.     

Contraction intensity and velocity on vastus lateralis SEMG power spectrum and amplitude

Effect of contraction intensity [100%, 75%, 50%, and 25% maximum voluntary contraction (MVC)] and movement velocity [0 degrees (isometric)], 50 degrees, 100 degrees, 200 degrees, and 400 degrees/sec. [isovelocities]) on root mean square amplitude (SEMG-RMS) and median frequency power spectrum (SEMG-MNF) of vastus lateralis (VL) surface electromyography was investigated with ten healthy female university students. Peak torque (PT), mean torque (MT), SEMG-MNF, and SEMG-RMS, analyzed using separate repeated-measures analyses of variance (p < or = .05), indicated: (1) an inverse relation between PT and MT and movement velocity, (2) greater SEMG-MNF values during all isovelocity conditions compared with isometric conditions, with highest values occurring at 50 degrees /sec. and at 100% and 75% MVC, and (3) at all contraction intensities SEMG-RMS values were higher during dynamic movements than isometric movements and highest at 200 degrees /sec. Isovelocity contractions were inferred to facilitate a greater recruitment of fast-twitch fibers (via increased SEMG-MNF), which was intensified at 50 degrees /sec., whereas greater overall muscle activation was found at 200 degrees /sec.     

The role of contextual associations in producing the partial reinforcement acquisition deficit

Three conditioned suppression experiments with rats as subjects assessed the contributions of the conditioned stimulus (CS)-context and context-unconditioned stimulus (US) associations to the degraded stimulus control by the CS that is observed following partial reinforcement relative to continuous reinforcement training. In Experiment 1, posttraining associative deflation (i.e., extinction) of the training context after partial reinforcement restored responding to a level comparable to the one produced by continuous reinforcement. In Experiment 2, posttraining associative inflation of the context (achieved by administering unsignaled outcome presentations in the context) enhanced the detrimental effect of partial reinforcement. Experiment 3 found that the training context must be an effective competitor to produce the partial reinforcement acquisition deficit. When the context was down-modulated, the target regained behavioral control thereby demonstrating higher-order retrospective revaluation. The results are discussed in terms of retrospective revaluation, and are used to contrast the predictions of a performance-focused model with those of an acquisition-focused model.     

Compliance,opposition, and behavior problems in toddlers born preterm or low birthweight

Although children born preterm or low birth weight (PT LBW) are more likely to exhibit behavior problems compared to children born at term, developmental and family processes associated with these problems are unclear. We examined trajectories of maternal depressive symptoms in relation to toddler compliance and behavior problems in families with PT LBW infants. A total of 177 infants (93 boys, 84 girls) and their mothers enrolled in the study during the infant's NICU stay. Data were collected at five time points across 2 years. Assessments of maternal depressive symptoms were conducted at all time points, and toddler compliance and opposition to maternal requests and behavior problems were assessed at 2 years. Toddlers born earlier with more health problems to mothers whose depressive symptoms increased over time exhibited the most opposition to maternal requests during a cleanup task at 24 months, consistent with multiple risk models. Mothers with elevated depression symptoms reported more behavior problems in their toddlers. The study has implications for family‐based early intervention programs seeking to identify PT LBW infants at highest risk for problem behaviors.     

How the moralization of issues grants social legitimacy to act on one's attitudes

Actions that do not have as their goal the advancement or protection of one's material interests are often seen as illegitimate. Four studies suggested that moral values can legitimate action in the absence of material interest. The more participants linked sociopolitical issues to moral values, the more comfortable they felt advocating on behalf of those issues and the less confused they were by others' advocacy (Studies 1 and 2). Crime victims were perceived as being more entitled to claim special privileges when the crime had violated their personal moral values (Studies 3 and 4). These effects were strongest when the legitimacy to act could not already be derived from one's material interests, suggesting that moral values and material interest can represent interchangeable justifications for behavior. No support was found for the possibility that attitude strength explained these effects. The power of moralization to disinhibit action is discussed.     

The Regulatory Easy Street: Self-Regulation Below the Self-Control Threshold Does not Consume Regulatory Resources

We present and test a theory in which self-control is distinguished from broader acts of self-regulation when it is both effortful and conscious. In two studies, we examined whether acts of behavioral management that do not require effort are exempt from resource depletion. In Study 1, we found that a self-regulation task only reduced subsequent self-control for participants who had previously indicated that completing the task would require effort. In Study 2, we found that participants who completed a self-regulation task for two minutes did not evidence the subsequent impairment in self-control evident for participants who had completed the task for four or more minutes. Our results support the notion that self-regulation without effort falls below the self-control threshold and has different downstream consequences than self-control.     

Defining face perception areas in the human brain: a large-scale factorial fMRI face localizer analysis

A number of human brain areas showing a larger response to faces than to objects from different categories, or to scrambled faces, have been identified in neuroimaging studies. Depending on the statistical criteria used, the set of areas can be overextended or minimized, both at the local (size of areas) and global (number of areas) levels. Here we analyzed a whole-brain factorial functional localizer obtained in a large sample of right-handed participants (40). Faces (F), objects (O; cars) and their phase-scrambled counterparts (SF, SO) were presented in a block design during a one-back task that was well matched for difficulty across conditions. A conjunction contrast at the group level {(F-SF) and (F-O)} identified six clusters: in the pulvinar, inferior occipital gyrus (so-called OFA), middle fusiform gyrus (so-called FFA), posterior superior temporal sulcus, amygdala, and anterior infero-temporal cortex, which were all strongly right lateralized. While the FFA showed the largest difference between faces and cars, it also showed the least face-selective response, responding more to cars than scrambled cars. Moreover, the FFA's larger response to scrambled faces than scrambled cars suggests that its face-sensitivity is partly due to low-level visual cues. In contrast, the pattern of activation in the OFA points to a higher degree of face-selectivity. A BOLD latency mapping analysis suggests that face-sensitivity emerges first in the right FFA, as compared to all other areas. Individual brain analyses support these observations, but also highlight the large amount of interindividual variability in terms of number, height, extent and localization of the areas responding preferentially to faces in the human ventral occipito-temporal cortex. This observation emphasizes the need to rely on different statistical thresholds across the whole brain and across individuals to define these areas, but also raises some concerns regarding any objective labeling of these areas to make them correspond across individual brains. This large-scale analysis helps understanding the set of face-sensitive areas in the human brain, and encourages in-depth single participant analyses in which the whole set of areas is considered in each individual brain.     

Individuation experience predicts other-race effects in holistic processing for both Caucasian and Black participants

Same-race (SR) faces are recognized better than other-race (OR) faces, and this other-race effect (ORE) is correlated with experience. SR faces are also processed more holistically than OR faces, suggesting one possible mechanism for poorer performance on OR faces. Studies of object expertise have shown that individuating experiences are necessary for holistic processing to develop; yet thus far no studies have investigated the role of quality of experience and the ORE for holistic processing. In the present study, we found a strong negative correlation between a self-report of individuating experience and the ORE in holistic processing in both Caucasian and Black participants, indicating that the more individuating experience a person has, the less ORE in holistic processing. This confirms the critical role of individuating experience in development of holistic processing for faces and suggests that quality of experience is a key determinant of the manner in which OR faces are processed.