When "light" and "dark" thoughts become light and dark responses: affect biases brightness judgments

Metaphors link positive affect to brightness and negative affect to darkness. Research has shown that such mappings are "alive" at encoding in that word-meaning evaluations are faster when font color matches prevailing metaphors (positive = bright; negative = dark). These results, however, involved reaction times, and there are reasons to think that evaluations would be unlikely to influence perceptual judgments, the current focus. Studies 1-3 establish that perceptual judgments were biased in a brighter direction following positive (vs. negative) evaluations, and Study 4 shows that such biases are automatic. The results significantly extend the metaphor representation perspective. Not only do evaluations activate metaphors, but such metaphoric mappings are sufficient to lead individuals to violate input from visual perception when judging an object's brightness.     

A Framework for Explaining Aggression Involving Groups

Aggression involving groups (versus individuals) can be particularly severe (e.g., hazings). Although an impressive amount of experimental research on the aggression of individuals exists, relatively less experimental research on aggression involving groups exists. We use existing theories of aggression and the available research to present a framework of aggression when groups are involved. We propose a provisional model that suggests that the extent of aggression to be committed depends on the composition of both source (i.e., perpetrators – group or individual) and target (i.e., victims – group or individual) entities. Evidence suggests that groups commit and receive more aggression than individuals. We propose that accessible hostile thoughts and the experience of negative affect contribute to the target effect (i.e., more aggression committed toward groups versus individuals), whereas disinhibition processes and arousal contribute to the source effect (i.e., more aggression committed by groups versus individuals). Our framework can guide future theory and research on aggression involving groups.     

CHOICE BEHAVIOR OF NONPATHOLOGICAL WOMEN PLAYING CONCURRENTLY AVAILABLE SLOT MACHINES: EFFECT OF CHANGES IN PAYBACK PERCENTAGES

In a simulated casino environment, 6 nonpathological women played concurrently available commercial slot machines programmed to pay out at different rates. Participants did not always demonstrate preferences for the higher paying machine. The data suggest that factors other than programmed or obtained rate of reinforcement may control gambling behavior, which should encourage behavior analysts to look beyond direct, contingency‐driven explanations of gambling.     

A comparison of ultra-endurance cyclists in a qualifying ultra-cycling race for Paris-Brest-Paris and Race Across America-Swiss cycling marathon

Ultra-endurance events test the adaptation of human physiology to extreme physical and mental demands, high levels of training, motivation, and physical conditioning among participants. To understand basic differences among participants according to the severity of the race, participants in qualifying events for two ultra-endurance cycling races, differing in length and intensity, were compared on measures of anthropometry, training, and support. One race was four times longer, required supporting teams, and racers typically had little sleep, which should lead to the qualifiers being substantially more highly trained than those from the shorter race. The qualifiers in the longer race had greater intensity in training while the qualifiers in the shorter race relied more on training volume. Different strategies and types of training reflected the different demands of the races. Future studies should evaluate personality and motivational differences in ultra-endurance events and between these athletes and athletes in other sports.     

Reactance,the self,and its group: When threats to freedom come from the ingroup versus the outgroup

We investigated the assumption that independent versus interdependent self‐construals yield different manifestations of psychological reactance in different group contexts. We expected collectivists (interdependent) to value the collective freedom of an ingroup more in face of an outgroup threat than individualists (independent) who should be protective of their individual freedom especially within an ingroup. In Study 1, we showed that collectivists (Taiwanese students) did not show reactance when a threat to their freedom of choice originated in the ingroup, but they did show reactance when it originated in an outgroup. In Study 2, Austrian students showed more reactance the more interdependent their self‐construal was when confronted with an outgroup restriction. However, the more independent Austrian students' self‐construal was, the more reactance they showed when the threat came from the ingroup. Priming an independent (versus interdependent) self‐construal in Study 3, we again observed more reactance when freedom was restricted by the ingroup. The findings underline the importance of understanding psychological reactance as a socially situated phenomenon. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Are head cues necessary for goats (Capra hircus) in recognising group members?

In this study, we investigated whether goats can distinguish a member of their own group from one belonging to a different group even when the head of the goat in question cannot be seen. In the experiment, a total of 45 adult female goats (walkers) were trained to walk along a passageway at the end of which they learnt to expect food (trial run). Walking down this corridor, they passed another adult female goat (stimulus goat) whose trunk and hind legs alone were visible. Using 19 individuals, ten pairs of stimulus goats consisting of one goat from the walker's group and one from a different group were matched in terms of body size, constitution, colour and coat length. In addition, the stimulus goat from the same group as the walker had to be higher ranking than the latter to avoid being attacked. The walkers completed two, four or six trial runs depending on the number of pairs suitable for a given walker. The walker's exploratory behaviour (observing and sniffing at the stimulus goat) was recorded. Data from 109 trial runs were analysed using generalised linear mixed-effects models with crossed random effects. On average, the walker spent a total of 8.7?s exploring the stimulus goat visually and olfactorily if the latter was from a different group and only about half as long (4.2?s) if it was from her own group. In particular, the time a walker spent observing a stimulus goat whilst approaching the latter was significantly longer if the stimulus goat belonged to a different group than to her own (2.5?s as opposed to 1.4?s). Moreover, a stimulus goat from a different group was sniffed at significantly longer (4.6?s) than one from the same group (1.9?s). Results suggest that goats can easily discriminate between members of their own group and those of a different group even when the latter's heads are hidden. Olfactory and visual cues are probably important for identifying group members.     

Mindful maths: reducing the impact of stereotype threat through a mindfulness exercise

Individuals who experience stereotype threat - the pressure resulting from social comparisons that are perceived as unfavourable - show performance decrements across a wide range of tasks. One account of this effect is that the cognitive pressure triggered by such threat drains the same cognitive (or working-memory) resources that are implicated in the respective task. The present study investigates whether mindfulness can be used to moderate stereotype threat, as mindfulness has previously been shown to alleviate working-memory load. Our results show that performance decrements that typically occur under stereotype threat can indeed be reversed when the individual engages in a brief (5 min) mindfulness task. The theoretical implications of our findings are discussed.     

Cannabinoid CB1 receptor deficiency increases contextual fear memory under highly aversive conditions and long-term potentiation in vivo

The cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1) is abundantly expressed in the central nervous system where it negatively controls the release of several neurotransmitters. CB1 activity plays a crucial role in learning and memory and in synaptic plasticity. In the present study, the role of CB1 was investigated in three different hippocampus-dependent memory tasks and in in vivo hippocampal synaptic plasticity in knockout (CB1-ko) and wildtype mice. There was no difference in short-term and long-term social and object recognition memory between CB1-ko and wildtype mice. In contrast, in background contextual fear conditioning CB1-ko mice showed enhanced freezing levels in the conditioning context and increased generalised contextual fear after a high-intensity conditioning foot shock of 1.5 mA, but not after 0.7 mA. In in vivo field potential recordings in the dentate gyrus, CB1-ko mice displayed a decreased paired-pulse facilitation of the populations spikes, suggesting an altered inhibitory synaptic drive onto hippocampal granule cells. Furthermore, CB1-ko mice displayed significantly higher levels of in vivo long-term potentiation (LTP) in the dentate gyrus. In conclusion, CB1 deficiency leads to enhanced contextual fear memory and altered synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus, supporting the key role of endocannabinoid signalling in learning and memory, in particular following highly aversive encounters.     

Personality and Memory in Old Age

We examined the impact of personality on episodic memory performance in a sample of 287 healthy adults aged 68-95 years. Extraversion and neuroticism were assessed with a standardized personality inventory. Episodic memory was assessed with an everyday task. Results from regression analyses controlling for the effects of age, gender, and education show that higher extraversion and lower neuroticism are associated with higher episodic memory performance. In addition, the strength of the correlations between neuroticism and episodic memory declined with increasing age in a male sub-sample, revealing an interaction between age and neuroticism.