Data versus Spock: lay theories about whether emotion helps or hinders

The android Data from Star Trek admired human emotion whereas Spock viewed emotion as irrational and maladaptive. The theory that emotions fulfil adaptive functions is widely accepted in academic psychology but little is known about laypeople’s theories. The present study assessed the extent to which laypeople share Data’s view of emotion as helpful or Spock’s view of emotion as a hindrance. We also assessed how help and hinder theory endorsement were related to reasoning, emotion regulation, and well-being. Undergraduates (N?=?630) completed a stressful timed reasoning task and questionnaires that assessed their theories of emotion, emotion regulation strategies, happiness, and social support. Overall, participants viewed emotion more as a help than a hindrance. The more they endorsed the view that emotion helps, the better their reasoning scores. Endorsing a help theory also predicted the use of reappraisal which, in turn, predicted greater happiness and social support. In contrast, endorsing the view that emotion hinders was associated with emotion suppression and less social support. Thus, people’s theories about the functionality of emotion may have important implications for their reasoning and emotional well-being.     

The Mental Representation of Human Action

Various theories of moral cognition posit that moral intuitions can be understood as the output of a computational process performed over structured mental representations of human action. We propose that action plan diagrams—“act trees”—can be a useful tool for theorists to succinctly and clearly present their hypotheses about the information contained in these representations. We then develop a methodology for using a series of linguistic probes to test the theories embodied in the act trees. In Study 1, we validate the method by testing a specific hypothesis (diagrammed by act trees) about how subjects are representing two classic moral dilemmas and finding that the data support the hypothesis. In Studies 2–4, we explore possible explanations for discrete and surprising findings that our hypothesis did not predict. In Study 5, we apply the method to a less well‐studied case and show how new experiments generated by our method can be used to settle debates about how actions are mentally represented. In Study 6, we argue that our method captures the mental representation of human action better than an alternative approach. A brief conclusion suggests that act trees can be profitably used in various fields interested in complex representations of human action, including law, philosophy, psychology, linguistics, neuroscience, computer science, robotics, and artificial intelligence.     

A Phenomenological Analysis of the Invisibility Syndrome

Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to explore 10 African American men's perceptions of invisibility. Participants perceived invisibility as an extra unwarranted burden that is accompanied by feelings of hopelessness, anxiety, and anger. Participants also coped with invisibility by finding safe havens within the Black community. Implications for counselors are discussed. Se empleó el análisis interpretativo fenomenológico para explorar las percepciones de invisibilidad de 10 varones Afroamericanos. Los participantes percibían la invisibilidad como una carga extra injustificada que va acompañada de sentimientos de desesperanza, ansiedad y rabia. Los participantes también afrontaban la invisibilidad encontrando refugio entre la comunidad Negra. Se discuten las implicaciones para consejeros.     

The Questioning Process in Maudsley Family-Based Treatment. Part 1: Deviation Amplification

Maudsley family based treatment (FBT) continues to demonstrate promising evidence in the treatment of adolescent presentations of anorexia nervosa. In the earlier stages of this treatment modality, the process of empowering families, and in particular, helping parent to follow their natural instincts in making united decisions around re-feeding their child is critical. This paper aims to provide FBT practitioners with structured interviewing guidelines around the amplification of familial interactions around food, drawing on existing familial strengths and therefore empowering parents and families in their process of change. The questioning skills outlined are discussed in light of the theoretical tenets of the Maudsley FBT model.     

Apathy in frontotemporal dementia: behavioral and neuroimaging correlates

We investigated the occurrence of goal-directed motivational change in the form of apathy in patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), particularly those with behavioral variant social and executive deficits (bvFTD). Standardized behavioral inventory was employed to survey and compare apathy ratings from patients and caregivers. In cases of bvFTD, apathy ratings were further related to measures of social cognition, executive function, and atrophy on brain MRI. Results indicated that caregivers rated bvFTD patients as having significantly elevated apathy scores though patient self-ratings were normal. Caregiver and self-ratings of FTD samples with progressive nonfluent aphasia and semantic dementia did not differ from healthy controls and their informants. In the bvFTD sample, caregiver apathy scores were not correlated with general cognitive screening or depression scores, but were significantly correlated with social cognition and executive function measures. Voxel-based morphometry revealed that apathy ratings in bvFTD were related to prominent atrophy in the right caudate (including the ventral striatum), the right temporo-parietal junction, right posterior inferior and middle temporal gyri, and left frontal operculum- anterior insula region. Findings suggest that bvFTD is associated with a significant breakdown in goal-directed motivated behavior involving disruption of cortical-basal ganglia circuits that is also related to social and executive function deficits.     

Doing gesture promotes learning a mental transformation task better than seeing gesture

Performing action has been found to have a greater impact on learning than observing action. Here we ask whether a particular type of action – the gestures that accompany talk – affect learning in a comparable way. We gave 158 6‐year‐old children instruction in a mental transformation task. Half the children were asked to produce a Move gesture relevant to the task; half were asked to produce a Point gesture. The children also observed the experimenter producing either a Move or Point gesture. Children who produced a Move gesture improved more than children who observed the Move gesture. Neither producing nor observing the Point gesture facilitated learning. Doing gesture promotes learning better than seeing gesture, as long as the gesture conveys information that could help solve the task.     

Reliability,validity, and prevalence of partner violence measured by the conflict tactics scales in male-dominant nations

This article evaluates whether use of the Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS) with women in male-dominant nations results in reliable and valid data. Tabulation of ten published studies in male-dominant nations found a median alpha coefficient of reliability of .86. For university students in the 32 nation International Dating Violence Study, the median alpha for women is .82 and .78 for males. Similar alpha coefficients were found regardless of the national level of male-dominance. Validity was measured by estimating the sensitivity of the CTS in eliciting data on perpetration of physical assault, by evaluating the degree to which assaults reported by the women were acts of self-defense, and by construct validity analyses to test the hypothesis that being a victim of physical assault as measured by the CTS is associated with physical injury, depressive symptoms, and post-traumatic stress symptoms. The hypothesized relationships were found regardless of the degree of male dominance in a nation. The results support continued use of the CTS to investigate PV in the lives of women worldwide. The discussion suggests that the effort to combat violence against women could be enhanced by using the full CTS to provide data on perpetration by women as well as victimization of women.     

Should social savvy equal good spatial skills? The interaction of social skills with spatial perspective taking

Real-world perspective-taking problems frequently involve interactions among individuals, suggesting a potential social element to this seemingly spatial problem. Previous studies have suggested that the agency of the target in a perspective-taking task might influence reasoning. This hypothesis is tested directly by manipulating whether one takes the perspective of a potential agent or an object. The results were striking: Even though no overall differences in performance were observed with and without agents, performance was differentially associated with social skills. In particular, participants with better social skills were more accurate than less social peers when the target was a potential agent, whereas no such relationship was observed when the target was an object. These results suggest that bringing domain-specific investigations to bear on real-world problems requires understanding how that domain exists in the broader context of interacting skills and biases.     

Circumventing resistance: Using values to indirectly change attitudes

Most research on persuasion examines messages that directly address the attitude of interest. However, especially when message recipients are inclined to resist change, indirect methods might be more effective. Because values are rarely attacked and defended, value change could serve as a useful indirect route for attitude change. Attitudes toward affirmative action changed more when the value of equality was attacked (indirect change) than when affirmative action was directly attacked using the same message (Experiments 1-2). Changes in confidence in the value were responsible for the indirect change when the value was attacked (controlling for changes in favorability toward the value), whereas direct counterarguments to the message were responsible for the relative lack of change when the attitude was attacked directly (Experiment 2). Attacking the value of equality influenced attitudes toward policies related to the value but left policy attitudes unrelated to the value unchanged (Experiment 3). Finally, a manipulation of value confidence that left attitudes toward the value intact demonstrated similar confidence-based influences on policies related to the value of freedom (Experiment 4). Undermined value confidence also resulted in less confidence in the resulting policy attitudes controlling for the changes in the policy attitudes themselves (Experiments 3 and 4). Therefore, indirect change through value attacks presented a double threat-to both the policy attitudes and the confidence with which those policy attitudes were held (potentially leaving them open to additional influence). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).