The Disgust Scale: item analysis, factor structure, and suggestions for refinement

In the 4 studies presented (N = 1,939), a converging set of analyses was conducted to evaluate the item adequacy, factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Disgust Scale (DS; J. Haidt, C. McCauley, & P. Rozin, 1994). The results suggest that 7 items (i.e., Items 2, 7, 8, 21, 23, 24, and 25) should be considered for removal from the DS. Secondary to removing the items, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the DS taps 3 dimensions of disgust: Core Disgust, Animal Reminder Disgust, and Contamination-Based Disgust. Women scored higher than men on the 3 disgust dimensions. Structural modeling provided support for the specificity of the 3-factor model, as Core Disgust and Contamination-Based Disgust were significantly predictive of obsessive- compulsive disorder (OCD) concerns, whereas Animal Reminder Disgust was not. Results from a clinical sample indicated that patients with OCD washing concerns scored significantly higher than patients with OCD without washing concerns on both Core Disgust and Contamination-Based Disgust, but not on Animal Reminder Disgust. These findings are discussed in the context of the refinement of the DS to promote a more psychometrically sound assessment of disgust sensitivity.     

Ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic differences in young adults' self-disclosure: who discloses what and to whom?

Self-disclosure of feelings, thoughts, experiences, and beliefs is central to our lives as social beings and has numerous implications for relationships and health. Although prior research suggests that men and underrepresented groups disclose less, ethnicity is conflated with socioeconomic status and there are few data regarding the types of information that different groups disclose and whether this information is disclosed equally to different people. The current study measured self-disclosure in 203 young adults (50% African American, 50% female), in respect of seven domains and 10 interpersonal targets. As expected, disclosure was not lower among African Americans once income was controlled, although both ethnicity and gender interacted with domain of disclosure and interpersonal target. Importantly, young men and African Americans reported disclosing less in the context of more intimate relationships. Together, these results suggest that income may be as important in predicting low disclosure as ethnicity or gender and that lower disclosure in low-disclosing groups is particularly evident in intimate relationships. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for patterns of interpersonal relating and physical and mental health processes.     

Variations of the flanker paradigm: Assessing selective attention in young children

The development of selective attention and associated self-regulatory processes was assessed in young children, ages 4, 5, and 6, through the use of three alternative versions of the flanker paradigm utilizing colors, shapes, and fish. These variations were used to examine the influence of task differences on children’s performance. The presence of cognitive self-regulatory strategies in young children was also assessed. Significant flanker interference effects, marked by significant task-linked response time differences, were found across all three versions of the paradigm. Although a significant portion of children demonstrated self-regulatory abilities, not every participant demonstrated the specific strategies of self-monitoring and response control. Furthermore, these differences were evident across all age groups. The implications of these results are discussed within the theoretical context of task development, taking into consideration the need to modify computerized attention paradigms for use with young children in order to reliably measure cognitive constructs across children and adults.     

How are base‐rates used,when they are used: a comparison of additive and Bayesian models of base‐rate use

Previous research has uncovered many conditions that encourage base‐rate use. The present research investigates how base‐rates are used when conditions are manipulated to encourage their use in the lawyer/engineer paradigm. To examine the functional form of the response to base‐rate, a factorial design was employed in which both base‐rate and the individuating information were varied within‐subject. We compared the performance of several models of base‐rate use, including a model that allows base‐rate and individuating information to be combined in a strictly additive fashion, and a model which presumes that respondents use Bayes' Rule in forming their judgments. Results from 1493 respondents showed that the additive model is a stronger predictor of base‐rate use than any other model considered, suggesting that the base‐rate and individuating information are processed independently in the lawyer/engineer paradigm. A possible mechanism for this finding is discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Neural correlates of infant action processing relate to theory of mind in early childhood

The mechanisms that support infant action processing are thought to be involved in the development of later social cognition. While a growing body of research demonstrates longitudinal links between action processing and explicit theory of mind (TOM), it remains unclear why this link emerges in some measures of action encoding and not others. In this paper, we recruit neural measures as a unique lens into which aspects of human infant action processing (i.e., action encoding and action execution; age 7 months) are related to preschool TOM (age 3 years; n = 31). We test whether individual differences in recruiting the sensorimotor system or attention processes during action encoding predict individual differences in TOM. Results indicate that reduced occipital alpha during action encoding predicts TOM at age 3. This finding converges with behavioral work and suggests that attentional processes involved in action encoding may support TOM. We also test whether neural processing during action execution draws on the proto‐substrates of effortful control (EC). Results indicate that frontal alpha oscillatory activity during action execution predicted EC at age 3—providing strong novel evidence that infant brain activity is longitudinally linked to EC. Further, we demonstrate that EC mediates the link between the frontal alpha response and TOM. This indirect effect is specific in terms of direction, neural response, and behavior. Together, these findings converge with behavioral research and demonstrate that domain general processes show strong links to early infant action processing and TOM.     

Workplace mistreatment and emotional labor: A latent profile analysis

Motivation and Emotion - By adopting a person-centered approach, this research explored emotional labor latent profiles based on employees’ levels of surface acting and deep acting. Further,...     

Some highs and lows of hylomorphism: on a paradox about property abstraction

Philosophical Studies - We defend hylomorphism against Maegan Fairchild’s purported proof of its inconsistency. We provide a deduction of a contradiction from SH+, which is the...     

Human and machine: Evaluating whether action automation influences visual perception

The action-specific account of perception suggests that our perceptual system is influenced by information about our ability to act in our environment and, thus, affects our perception. However, the specific information about action that is influential for perception is still largely unknown. For example, if a goal is achieved through automation rather than action, is perception influenced because the goal was achieved or is perception immune because the act was automated rather than performed by the observer? In four experiments, we examined whether automating a paddle to block a moving ball in a computer game similar to Pong affects perception of the ball’s speed. Results indicate that the automation used here did not affect speed perception of the target. Whereas tools such as reach-extending sticks and various-sized paddles are both incorporated into one’s body schema and also influence spatial perception, automation, our results imply that automation is not incorporated into one’s body schema and does not affect spatial perception. The dissociation in how the mind treats tools versus automation could have several implications as automation becomes more prevalent in daily life.