The interplay of emotions,elaboration, and ambivalence on attitude–behavior consistency

Previous research on the relationship between attitudinal ambivalence and behavioral prediction mainly focused on the cognitive perspective. This paper introduces the simultaneous roles played by emotions (positive or negative) and elaboration. We find that both emotions and elaboration could moderate the effect of attitudinal ambivalence on attitude–behavior consistency. Furthermore, positive and negative emotions have different psychological mechanisms: positive emotions influence attitude–behavior consistency directly; negative emotions influence attitude–behavior consistency indirectly through elaboration. This article also discusses the theory contribution, marketing implication, and avenues for future research. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Loneliness and Negative Affective Conditions in Adults: Is There Any Room for Hope in Predicting Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms?

This study examined the role of hope in understanding the link between loneliness and negative affective conditions (viz., anxiety and depressive symptoms) in a sample of 318 adults. As expected, loneliness was found to be a significant predictor of both anxiety and depressive symptoms. Noteworthy, hope was found to significantly augment the prediction of depressive symptoms, even after accounting for loneliness. Furthermore, we found evidence for a significant Loneliness × Hope interaction effect in predicting anxiety. A plot of the interaction confirmed that the association between loneliness and anxiety was weaker among high, compared to low, hope adults. Some implications of the present findings are discussed.     

Dissociable effects of fear and disgust in proactive and reactive inhibition

Numerous studies have demonstrated that negative emotional distracters impair inhibitory control. Nevertheless, two issues have emerged in prior studies. First, fear and disgust were inappropriately treated as a single category, which is particularly concerning given that they have been recently demonstrated to exert different impacts on inhibitory control. Second, inhibitory control might not be a unitary construct, as it can be further divided into proactive and reactive inhibition. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate whether fearful and disgusting distracters have differential effects on proactive and reactive inhibition. Twenty-four female participants were instructed to perform a modified stop-signal task superimposed on a fearful, disgusting, or neutral image cue. Results showed that fearful distracters improved reactive inhibition when compared to disgusting and neutral distracters, while disgusting distracters enhanced proactive inhibition when compared to fearful distracters. Further, reactive and proactive inhibition was positively correlated under fearful, disgusting, and neutral contexts. This study is the first to provide evidence that fear and disgust may affect proactive and reactive inhibition differently. These results add to a growing literature linking emotion and inhibitory control, and they expand our understanding of the relationship between emotion and inhibition.     

Confirmatory Factor Analyses of Self- and Parent- Report Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits in 8- to 10-Year-Olds

The factorial structure of the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU; Frick 2004) has been inconsistent across various studies using different rater versions and samples. In this study the factorial structure of the self- and parent-report versions of the ICU was examined in a community sample of 340 boys and girls aged 8- to 10- years. A series of confirmatory factor analyses revealed that (1) for self-report ICU, a two-factor model comprising one Uncaring and one Callousness factor fit the data best; the factorial structure was invariant across sex, although boys showed higher scores than girls on the Uncaring factor; (2) for the parent-report ICU, a three-factor structure was supported, and boys and girls did not differ on factor structure or levels of the factors. For both versions, CU traits were positively associated with the count of Oppositional Defiant Disorder/Conduct Disorder and internalizing behavior symptoms, demonstrating ICU’s good convergent albeit unsatisfactory discriminant validity. Findings suggest further refinement of this instrument for the self-report and parent versions separately.     

A Scanpath Analysis of the Risky Decision‐Making Process

In the field of eye tracking, scanpath analysis can reflect the sequential and temporal properties of the cognitive process. However, the advantages of scanpath analysis have not yet been utilized in the study of risky decision making. We explored the methodological applicability of scanpath analysis to test models of risky decision making by analyzing published data from the eye‐tracking studies of Su et al. (2013); Wang and Li (2012), and Sun, Rao, Zhou, and Li (2014). These studies used a proportion task, an outcome‐matched presentation condition, and a multiple‐play condition as the baseline for comparison with information search and processing in the risky decision‐making condition. We found that (i) the similarity scores of the intra‐conditions were significantly higher than those of the inter‐condition; (ii) the scanpaths of the two conditions were separable; and (iii) based on an inspection of typical trials, the patterns of the scanpaths differed between the two conditions. These findings suggest that scanpath analysis is reliable and valid for examining the process of risky decision making. In line with the findings of the three original studies, our results indicate that risky decision making is unlikely to be based on a weighting and summing process, as hypothesized by the family of expectation models. The findings highlight a new methodological direction for research on decision making. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The relationship between multidimensional spirituality and depressive symptoms in college students: Examining hope agency and pathways as potential mediators

In this study, we examined goal-focused hope as a potential mediator between the association of multidimensional spirituality and depressive symptoms in a sample of 319 college students. Results of conducting a series of multiple mediation tests indicated that hope agency, but not hope pathways, fully and significantly accounted for the associations of ritualistic, theistic, and existential spirituality with depressive symptoms. Overall, our findings offer support for the contention that hope agency plays an important role in accounting for the association between spirituality and psychological adjustment in college students. Some implications of the present findings are discussed.     

不同类型罪犯在爱荷华赌博任务中的决策功能缺陷

采用爱荷华赌博任务(Behcara等人1994年版本)测量了8类共222名在监男性罪犯以及32名普通男性的决策功能, 并运用前景效用学习模型分析了不同类型罪犯在情感决策中的心理功能缺陷。罪犯组选择牌1的比例与控制组没有显著差异, 选择牌2的比例显著高于控制组, 选择牌3和牌4的比例显著低于控制组。暴力犯和涉黑犯对收益和损失都不敏感, 对过去的预期效用折扣很快; 吸毒犯(已戒除)、涉毒犯、盗窃犯和抢劫犯对奖赏加工正常, 对惩罚不敏感; 经济犯选择一致性最低; 性罪犯选择一致性最高。结果表明不同类型罪犯在爱荷华赌博任务中都具有决策功能缺陷, 但他们的决策功能缺陷由不同的心理功能缺陷所致。     

心理健康素质测评系统·基本概念、理论与编制构思

作为《心理健康素质测评系统的研制》的开篇报告,本文界定了《心理健康素质测评系统》中所涉及的几个基本概念:素质,心理素质,心理健康,心理健康素质。在经典的素质-应激模型的基础上,提出"应激-素质相互作用模型",作为心理素质影响健康的理论模型。确定了可以用来反映中国成年人心理健康素质的8种心理特质和"类特质"(自我概念,人际心理素质,坚韧性,弹性特质,情绪性,社会期许性,生活信念和健康信念)和两种"亚特质"(认知风格和应对风格)。制定了测评系统的研制计划,并规定了量表编制的技术要求和所要达到的心理测量学指标。