Spontaneous Correction in the Behavioral Confirmation Process: The Role of Naturally-Occurring Variations in Self-Regulatory Resources

Perceivers' tendencies to correct for expectancy-related biases can be affected by experimental manipulations of goals and cognitive resources. In the current research, we examined the role of naturally-occurring, environmentally-produced variations in self-regulatory resources, represented by the time of semester in which college students participated. A pilot study established the association between time of semester and self-regulatory resources. Using a simulated job interview paradigm, interviewers were induced with extreme expectancies regarding their applicants. The effects of expectancy valence depended on time of semester. Interviewers with depleted self-regulatory resources (i.e., late-semester participants) asked expectancy-biased questions, elicited expectancy-confirming behavior from applicants, and formed expectancy-consistent impressions, while their less-depleted, early-semester counterparts did not. The findings suggest that interviewers engaged in spontaneous behavioral and perceptual correction for the biasing influence of extreme expectancies, but only when sufficient self-regulatory resources were available. The discussion focuses on theoretical implications for models of bias correction and applied significance.     

The effects of implicit and explicit security priming on creative problem solving

Attachment theory is a theory of affect regulation as it occurs in the context of close relationships. Early research focused on regulation of emotions through maintenance of proximity to supportive others (attachment figures) in times of need. Recently, emphasis has shifted to the regulation of emotion, and the benefits of such regulation for exploration and learning, via the activation of mental representations of attachment figures (security priming). We conducted two studies on the effects of implicit and explicit security priming on creative problem solving. In Study 1, implicit security priming (subliminal presentation of attachment figures’ names) led to more creative problem solving (compared with control conditions) regardless of dispositional attachment anxiety and avoidance. In Study 2, the effects of explicit security priming (recalling experiences of being well cared for) were moderated by anxiety and avoidance. We discuss the link between attachment and exploration and the different effects of implicit and explicit security priming.     

Marital intimacy,family support,and secondary traumatization: A study of wives of veterans with combat stress reaction

Abstract

The main aim of the study was to assess the role of family variables in the process of secondary traumatization among wives of post-traumatic veterans. We compared a sample of 49 wives of Israeli veterans with combat stress reaction (CSR) from the 1982 Lebanon War with a sample of 31 wives of Israeli veterans who fought in the war without developing CSR. We assessed their psychological reactions to the war, their health status six years later, and their reported levels of marital intimacy and family support after the war. When compared with controls, wives of veterans with CSR reported more negative emotions and lower perceived intimacy after the war, and greater severity of psychiatric and somatic symptoms six years later. Results also indicate that the greater the perceived marital intimacy, the less the negative emotions wives of veterans with CSR felt after the war and the better their health status six years later. In addition, wives of veterans with CSR who reported having received more support from their families after the war reported more anxiety and hostility than wives who received less support. The roles of marital intimacy and family support in the process of secondary traumatization were discussed.     

Buddhist Fictionalism

Questions regarding what exists are central to various forms of Buddhist philosophy, as they are to many traditions of philosophy. Interestingly, there is perhaps a clearer consensus in Buddhist thought regarding what does not exist than there may be regarding precisely what does exist, at least insofar as the doctrine of anātman (no self, absence of self) is taken to be a fundamental Buddhist doctrine. It may be noted that many forms of Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy in particular are considered to offer a quite austere ontology—a rather ‘empty’ account of what exists. Continuing in this vein of ontological austerity, here I will attempt to lay out a relatively novel approach to Buddhist ontology, viz. Buddhist fictionalism.     

Reclaiming Bowlby's contribution to psychoanalysis

The paper reviews central concepts and research findings of attachment theory emphasizing its clinical relevance to psychoanalytically informed clinicians. We then turn to a historical analysis in order to understand why Bowlby's work was dismissed within psychoanalytic circles and the reasons why Bowlby's contributions and attachment theory have begun to have a significant impact among clinicians within the last ten years.     

When Your Team is Not Really Your Team Anymore: Identification with a Merged Basketball Club

In this questionnaire study it was tested to what extent identification with a merged basketball club could be predicted on the basis of six concepts derived from a social identity perspective on mergers. Respondents were 160 fans and 91 youth players of a Belgian first division basketball club that had merged the previous season. A direct multiple regression analysis indicated that, both for fans and youth players identification with the pre-merger club was the best predictor of identification with the new merger club, followed by the perceived success of the merger. Two other concepts emerged as significant, though modest, predictors of post-merger identification for fans and youth players: the perceived necessity of the merger and their satisfaction with the merger process. For the fans, the perceived continuity/representation of the in-group in the merger group was also a significant predictor. Together, the hypothesized predictors accounted for 70% of the total variance in their post-merger identification. This high percentage underlines the relevance of a social-psychological perspective on how sport fans' react to mergers. For youth players, 61% of the total variance in their post-merger identification was explained, which suggests that the processes that facilitate fans and youth players’ post-merger identification are quite similar.     

The Light = Healthy Intuition

This research documents a “light = healthy” intuition, such that consumers perceive foods that weigh less are healthier than their heavier counterparts with the same serving size. Subsequently, consumers consume a larger quantity of lighter-weight foods. The intuition is based on a coactivation of two meanings of the word “light”: light in physical weight and light in calorie content. An implicit attitude test finds support for this association between physical weight and food healthiness. ​Subsequently, physically lighter foods are perceived to be healthier because they are assumed to contain fewer calories. In line with the proposed coactivation mechanism, the intuition is bidirectional, where consumers also expect healthier foods to weigh less. Consequently, they discredit health claims issued for heavier foods. Finally, it was found that activating a competing intuition is effective at debiasing the “light = healthy” intuition.     

Perceiving numbers affects the subjective temporal midpoint

Temporal experience can be modulated by several environmental factors. There is increasing evidence that numerical quantity may also influence temporal processes. Here, it is shown that merely looking at numbers causes a bias in a time-bisection task that depends on its magnitude. In the first experiment, a group of healthy subjects was submitted to a time-bisection task in which numerical cues were blocked (blocked design). In the second experiment, a new group of participants performed a time-bisection task in which the previous numbers were all randomly arranged in the same block (intermingled design). Results show that temporal performance is biased when numbers of different magnitude are arranged in an intermingled design. These findings argue for a functional interaction between time and numbers, depending on the implicit extrapolation of the size difference between the displayed numbers rather than on the numerical size itself.