A Network Approach to Affect Regulation Dynamics and Personality Trait‐Induced Variations: Extraversion and Neuroticism Moderate Reciprocal Influences between Affect and Affect Regulation Strategies

The objectives of the present study were twofold. First, we tested a new approach to affect regulation dynamics, conceptualized as a network made up of the reciprocal influences that affect and affect regulation strategies constantly exert on each other. Second, we attempted to gain a better understanding of these dynamics by examining how they vary according to broad personality traits. To this end, we adopted an experience sampling method, involving five daily assessments over a 2‐week period. In each assessment, participants indicated their current affective experience and the way they had implemented five well‐known affect regulation strategies (i.e. appreciation, positive reappraisal, distraction, expressive suppression, and rumination) since the previous assessment. At the sample level, the network of affect regulation dynamics was characterized by positive feedback loops between positive affect and so‐called broad‐minded strategies, and between negative affect and narrow‐minded strategies. The form of this network varied according to levels of extraversion and neuroticism. Our findings are discussed in light of current knowledge about personality and affect regulation. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Leader Member Exchanges: Distinction Between Two Factors

Abstract

The dimensionality of Graen's Leader Member Exchange concept was examined in a cross-sectional questionnaire study among 1147 Dutch nurses. The total sample was divided into two subgroups by means of stratified random selection (n1 = 574; n2 = 573) and analyses were performed in each subgroup separately. The factorial structure of a 12-item self-report Leader Member Exchange questionnaire was examined. Exploratory factor analysis on the data of subgroup 1 yielded two factors, which were labelled “consideration/coaching by the leader” and “filling an assistant position”. Confirmatory factor analyses with LISREL showed that a two-factor oblique model had the best fit in both subgroups. Equality of factor structures in both subgroups was clearly demonstrated. Differential validity of the two Leader Member Exchange factors was studied by correlating each factor with measures of job-related affect. In both subgroups, the consideration/coaching factor had a significantly stronger, positive relationship with job satisfaction and a significantly stronger, negative relationship with propensity to quit the job, whereas the assistant position factor had a significantly stronger, positive relationship with job-responsibility. Results concerning the relationships with effectiveness ratings were inconclusive. The results of this study indicate that the Leader Member Exchange concept is two-dimensional rather than unidimensional.     

Applying the SIDE model to brainwriting: The impact of intergroup comparison and anonymity on creative performance

According to the Social Identity model of Deindividuation Effects, intergroup comparison under anonymity accentuates social identity salience, potentially increasing motivation to work for one's group. The present experiment aimed to examine whether intergroup comparison and anonymity could boost creative performance in a brainwriting task. Sixty participants, randomly assigned to groups, wrote their ideas on sticky notes of the same (anonymity) or different color (individuation). To reinforce social identity salience, half the groups were told that their performance would be compared with other groups. As predicted, anonymity and intergroup comparison boosted both the number of nonredundant ideas produced by group members (fluency), and diversity of ideas pertaining to different categories (flexibility). By contrast, when social identity was not salient, anonymity led to an increase in the originality of ideas.     

Effects of Bilingual Tact Instruction for a Child with Communication Disorder

We evaluated the effects of tact training when instruction was presented in English only compared to tact training in a bilingual format (in English and the home language, Portuguese) for a participant diagnosed with a communication disorder. The participant’s parents completed a questionnaire describing his exposure to both languages prior to the start of the study. We also conducted formal language assessments to determine the participant’s preexisting language abilities. An adapted alternating treatment design was used to compare the rate of acquisition in the two training conditions. Results show the participant emitted more correct responses during tact training in English than during the bilingual tact training. Generalization and maintenance of acquired tact responses for stimuli trained in the bilingual condition were greater than for stimuli trained in the English-only condition. These results are discussed with respect to implications for language-training programs for children with language delays and developmental disabilities, and we outline suggestions for future research in this area.     

Tool use in neurodegenerative diseases: Planning or technical reasoning?

Recent works showed that tool use can be impaired in stroke patients because of either planning or technical reasoning deficits, but these two hypotheses have not yet been compared in the field of neurodegenerative diseases. The aim of this study was to address the relationships between real tool use, mechanical problem‐solving, and planning skills in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD, n = 32), semantic dementia (SD, n = 16), and corticobasal syndrome (CBS, n = 9). Patients were asked to select and use ten common tools, to solve three mechanical problems, and to complete the Tower of London test. Motor function and episodic memory were controlled using the Purdue Pegboard Test and the BEC96 questionnaire, respectively. A data‐transformation method was applied to avoid ceiling effects, and single‐case analysis was performed based on raw scores and completion time. All groups demonstrated either impaired or slowed tool use. Planning deficits were found only in the AD group. Mechanical problem‐solving deficits were observed only in the AD and CBS groups. Performance in the Tower of London test was the best predictor of tool use skills in the AD group, suggesting these patients had general rather than mechanical problem‐solving deficits. Episodic memory seemed to play little role in performance. Motor dysfunction tended to be associated with tool use skills in CBS patients, while tool use disorders are interpreted as a consequence of the semantic loss in SD in line with previous works. These findings may encourage caregivers to set up disease‐centred interventions.     

Heteronormative Relationship Education for Same‐Gender Couples

In recent years, same‐gender group‐based relationship education has emerged as a viable intervention to prevent relationship distress among same‐gender couples. However, many of these programs are conducted in metropolitan areas and lack the ability to reach rural populations. The current study sought to investigate whether two wide‐reaching web‐based heteronormative relationship education programs could positively impact same‐gender relationships. In a sample of 49 same‐gender couples, heteronormative relationship education had small (Cohen's d = 0.16–0.39) but reliably positive effects on key areas of relationship functioning and perceived stress relative to a waitlist control group. Additionally, when same‐gender couples were matched with different‐gender individuals with similar baseline characteristics, no reliable differences between the two groups emerged even though the program effects were sometimes half as large for same‐gender couples. Finally, same‐gender participants were as satisfied with the program as the matched different‐gender individuals. Though the results of the present study indicate that heteronormative relationship education can be helpful for same‐gender couples, additional tailoring should be undertaken to ensure that same‐gender couples experience as much benefit as possible. Estimates from the current study could be used in future studies to detect what might be small‐sized differences.     

语言演变差异与族群/方言名称对族群信息加工的影响——以广东三大汉语方言为例

语言是族群的重要文化特征之一。基于广东三大方言族群均为中原移民的史实, 探讨三大汉语方言的语言演变差异与族群/方言名称对方言讲话者对中原族群信息加工的影响。以方言为客家话、粤语和潮汕话的广东大学生为被试, 实验1采用群体参照的R/K范式, 考察不同方言讲话者对中原族群信息的记忆; 实验2采用启动Stroop范式, 考察不同方言讲话者对中原族群信息的注意偏向。结果表明, 语言演变差异与族群/方言名称影响不同方言讲话者对中原族群的信息保持, 顽强地保持祖先语言的客家方言族群对中原族群的信息加工产生群体参照效应; 语言演变差异和族群/方言名称影响方言讲话者对中原族群信息的注意偏向, 客家方言族群对中原族群的信息加工产生注意偏向。整个研究表明, 语言演变差异和族群/方言名称影响对同祖语族群的信息加工, 完整地保留汉祖语特点、强化方言与汉祖语的关系, 能够增强根祖意识, 增进对同根族群的认同。研究结果对铸牢中华民族共同体意识具有重要启示。     

Anosognosia for Memory Impairment in Addiction: Insights from Neuroimaging and Neuropsychological Assessment of Metamemory

In addiction, notably Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), patients often have a tendency to fail to acknowledge the reality of the disease and to minimize the physical, psychological, and social difficulties attendant to chronic alcohol consumption. This lack of awareness can reduce the chances of initiating and maintaining sobriety. Presented here is a model focusing on compromised awareness in individuals with AUD of mild to moderate cognitive deficits, in particular, for episodic memory impairment—the ability to learn new information, such as recent personal experiences. Early in abstinence, alcoholics can be unaware of their memory deficits and overestimate their mnemonic capacities, which can be investigated with metamemory paradigms. Relevant neuropsychological and neuroimaging results considered suggest that the alcoholics’ impairment of awareness of their attenuated memory function can be a clinical manifestation explained mechanistically by neurobiological factors, including compromise of brain systems that result in a mild form of mnemonic anosognosia. Specifically, unawareness of memory impairment in AUD may result from a lack of personal knowledge updating attributable to damage in brain regions or connections supporting conscious recollection in episodic memory. Likely candidates are posterior parietal and medial frontal regions known to be integral part of the Default Mode Network (DMN) and the insula leading to an impaired switching mechanism between the DMN and the Central-Executive Control (i.e., Lateral Prefronto-Parietal) Network. The cognitive concepts and neural substrates noted for addictive disorders may also be relevant for problems in self-identification of functional impairment resulting from injury following war-related blast, sport-related concussion, and insidiously occurring dementia.     

Does Social Capital Affect Immigrant Political Participation? Lessons from a Small-N Study of Migrant Political Participation in Rome

Social capital captures the idea that relationships hold value. While this idea has intuitive appeal, there is significant debate regarding its utility to political science research. This article employs original data collected in Rome, Italy, to test a new model that recognizes the distinction between levels of social capital and introduces the idea of conflict between these levels into the field’s current theorizing on immigrant political participation. The findings presented here lend further support for the proposed relationship between migration-related factors, such as language proficiency and length of stay and participation. The article’s main finding is that the interactions between group-level and individual-level social capital plays an important role in shaping participation. Specifically, because it reinforces group-level social capital, bonding social capital favors participation in the formal, institutionally sanctioned activity of voting, while bridging social capital—which mitigates the effect of group-level social capital—favors participation in the informal political activity, protest.     

Basic psychological needs and neurophysiological responsiveness to decisional conflict: an event-related potential study of integrative self processes

Fulfillment of the basic psychological needs for competence, relatedness, and autonomy is believed to facilitate people’s integrative tendencies to process psychological conflicts and develop a coherent sense of self. The present study therefore used event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine the relation between need fulfillment and the amplitude of conflict negativity (CN), a neurophysiological measure of conflict during personal decision making. Participants completed a decision-making task in which they made a series of forced choices according to their personal preferences. Three types of decision-making situations were created on the basis of participants’ unique preference ratings, which were obtained prior to ERP recording: low-conflict situations (choosing between an attractive and an unattractive option), high-conflict approach-approach situations (choosing between two similarly attractive options), and high-conflict avoidance-avoidance situations (choosing between two similarly unattractive options). As expected, CN amplitudes were larger in high- relative to low-conflict situations, and source localization analyses suggested that the anterior cingulate cortex was the generating structure of the CN. Most importantly, people reporting higher need fulfillment exhibited larger CN amplitudes in avoidance–avoidance situations relative to low-conflict situations; to a lesser extent, they also exhibited larger CN amplitudes in approach–approach situations relative to low-conflict situations. By contrast, people reporting lower need fulfillment exhibited CN amplitudes that poorly discriminated the three decision situations. These results suggest that need fulfillment may promote self-coherent functioning by increasing people’s receptivity to and processing of events that challenge their abilities to make efficient, self-congruent choices.