Spontaneous humor among right hemisphere stroke survivors

We analyzed spontaneous conversational humor production and response among 11 right hemisphere-damaged (RHD) patients, 10 left hemisphere-damaged (LHD) patients, 7 normal controls (NC), and their spouses. RHD patients and their spouses reported a statistically significant decline in the patients' orientation to humor post-stroke. Also, we found a significant positive association between a RHD patient's ability to decode prosody and their self-reported orientation to humor post-stroke.     

Peering into the bias blind spot: people's assessments of bias in themselves and others

People tend to believe that their own judgments are less prone to bias than those of others, in part because they tend to rely on introspection for evidence of bias in themselves but on their lay theories in assessing bias in others. Two empirical consequences of this asymmetry are explored. Studies 1 and 2 document that people are more inclined to think they are guilty of bias in the abstract than in any specific instance. Studies 3 and 4 demonstrate that people tend to believe that their own personal connection to a given issue is a source of accuracy and enlightenment but that such personal connections in the case of others who hold different views are a source of bias. The implications of this asymmetry in assessing objectivity and bias in the self versus others are discussed.     

Attitude importance as a moderator of the relationship between implicit and explicit attitude measures

The authors examined attitude importance as a moderator of the relationship between the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and explicit attitude measures. In Study 1 (N = 194), as ratings of attitude importance regarding the 2000 presidential election increased, the strength of the relationship between a Bush-Gore IAT and explicit attitude measures also increased. Study 2 provided a conceptual replication of these results using attitudes toward Coke and Pepsi (N = 112). In addition, across both studies, explicit attitude measures were better predictors of deliberative behaviors than IAT scores. In Study 3 (N = 77), the authors examined the role of elaboration as a mechanism by which attitude importance may moderate IAT-explicit attitude correlations. As predicted, increased elaboration resulted in stronger IAT-explicit attitude correlations. Other possible mechanisms by which attitude importance may moderate the IAT-explicit attitude relationship also are discussed.     

The Role of Self-Esteem and Social Influences in Aggressive Reactions to Interactional Injustice

Two experiments were conducted to examine the potential negative consequences an organization may face in response to perceptions of interactional injustice. Study 1 found that one potentially negative reaction to perceived injustice can be intended retaliation. In addition, study 1 found that individuals with high self-esteem are most likely to respond negatively to a perceived injustice by indicating that they plan to engage in a retaliatory response. Study 2 explored the effects of one’s situation on intended retaliation behavior. The results again indicate that perceptions of interactional injustice are strongly related to intended retaliation behavior. In addition, the study demonstrates that one’s group can have a significant influence on the perceptions of injustice and one’s subsequent reactions to these injustices.     

Discriminating among diagnostic categories using the Dissociative Disorders Interview Schedule

The Dissociative Disorders Interview Schedule was administered to 1,308 subjects in eight diagnostic categories, including 296 with dissociative identity disorder. The study tested three hypotheses: (1) the Mahalanobis distance between dissociative identity disorder and each of seven other diagnostic categories would be large, (2) the closest diagnostic category to dissociative identity disorder would be dissociative disorder not otherwise specified, and (3) nondissociative diagnostic categories would be closer to each other than any one to dissociative identity disorder. All three hypotheses were confirmed by these data. The findings support the conclusion that dissociative identity disorder is a discrete category or taxon.     

Relations among measures of trait empathy, empathetic response, and willingness to get involved in customer-contact situations

This study examined anticipated reactions to nonroutine occurrences in the context of emotionally laden customer-contact situations in retail stores. Correlations between measures of the dimensions of trait empathy, anticipated emotional responses to the situations, and self-rated willingness to be involved were examined. Anticipated Compassion mediated the relation of Empathetic Concern on Involvement Willingness in 3 of 4 imaginary compassion-evoking situations. No corresponding effect was observed for Anticipated Distress in the imaginary distress-evoking situations.     

Attentional load and implicit sequence learning

A widely employed conceptualization of implicit learning hypothesizes that it makes minimal demands on attentional resources. This conjecture was investigated by comparing learning under single-task and dual-task conditions in the sequential reaction time (SRT) task. Participants learned probabilistic sequences, with dual-task participants additionally having to perform a counting task using stimuli that were targets in the SRT display. Both groups were then tested for sequence knowledge under single-task (Experiments 1 and 2) or dual-task (Experiment 3) conditions. Participants also completed a free generation task (Experiments 2 and 3) under inclusion or exclusion conditions to determine if sequence knowledge was conscious or unconscious in terms of its access to intentional control. The experiments revealed that the secondary task impaired sequence learning and that sequence knowledge was consciously accessible. These findings disconfirm both the notion that implicit learning is able to proceed normally under conditions of divided attention, and that the acquired knowledge is inaccessible to consciousness. A unitary framework for conceptualizing implicit and explicit learning is proposed.     

Acoustic mechanisms of note-type perception in black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) calls

Acoustic communication in black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) has been studied intensively, the "chick-a-dee" call being among the most well described. This call consists of 4 note types; chickadees perceive these notes as open-ended categories and do so in a continuous manner, with As more similar to Bs and Bs more similar to Cs. Acoustic features contributing to the note-type differentiation are unknown. Recent analyses suggested that certain acoustic features may play a role in note-type classification. Here, the authors tested black-capped chickadees in an operant-conditioning paradigm to determine which features were controlling note-type perception. The results suggest that the note pitch and the frequency modulation in the initial portion of the note control the perception of note types.