Alone but feeling no pain: Effects of social exclusion on physical pain tolerance and pain threshold, affective forecasting, and interpersonal empathy

Prior findings of emotional numbness (rather than distress) among socially excluded persons led the authors to investigate whether exclusion causes a far-reaching insensitivity to both physical and emotional pain. Experiments 1-4 showed that receiving an ostensibly diagnostic forecast of a lonesome future life reduced sensitivity to physical pain, as indicated by both (higher) thresholds and tolerance. Exclusion also caused emotional insensitivity, as indicated by reductions in affective forecasting of joy or woe over a future football outcome (Experiment 3), as well as lesser empathizing with another person's suffering from either romantic breakup (Experiment 4) or a broken leg (Experiment 5). The insensitivities to pain and emotion were highly intercorrelated.     

Syndromal complexity, paradigm shifts, and the future of validation research: comments on Nichols and Rogers, Sewell, Harrison, and Jordan

In this comment, I address a number of the points raised in the reviews of the MMPI-2 Restructured Clinical (RC; Tellegen et al., 2003) Scales by Nichols (2006/this issue) and Rogers, Sewell, Harrison, and Jordan (2006/this issue), and I advocate for changes in assessment validation research. There is little evidence that the "syndromal complexity" Nichols ascribes to the original MMPI-2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) Clinical Scales is worth preserving. Although their construction does not constitute the paradigm shift claimed by Rogers et al., the RC Scales are promising, psychometrically defensible measures of core features of the original MMPI-2 Clinical Scales. However, validation of inferences from multiscale inventories such as the MMPI-2 is limited at present by a disconnection between the integrative manner in which MMPI-2 profiles are interpreted and the scale-by-scale nature of most MMPI-2 validation studies. Q-sort procedures show promise for operationalizing integrated MMPI-2 interpretations, with both research and teaching applications.     

The temporal distribution of past and future autobiographical events across the lifespan

Knowledge and awareness of past and future autobiographical events may be mediated by a common system that supports intentional, goal-directed behavior. The purpose of this study was to assess the correspondence of past and future autobiographical thought. In Experiment 1, 300 undergraduates aged 19 years generated and assigned dates to past and f utu re autobiographical events. Thetemporal distribution of past events replicated a power function for retention as has been described in past research. The intention function of future autobiographical events fit the inverse of this same power function, reflecting a temporality of past and future mental time travel centered around the present moment. In Experiment 2, these findings were extended to young, middle-aged, and older groups. These data provide empirical support for the notion that thinking outside of "now" is mediated by a common system, regardless of whether one is thinking about the past or the future.     

A longitudinal study of relational aggression, physical aggression, and children's social-psychological adjustment

Although great strides have recently been made in our understanding of relational aggression and its consequences, one significant limitation has been the lack of prospective studies. The present research addressed this issue by identifying and assessing groups of relationally aggressive, physically aggressive, relationally plus physically aggressive (co-morbid), and nonaggressive children during their third grade year in elementary school and then reassessing them a year later, during fourth-grade (N = 224, 113 girls). Two aspects of social-psychological adjustment were assessed during both assessment periods including internalizing difficulties (i.e., withdrawal, depression/anxiety, and somatic complaints) and externalizing problems (i.e., aggressive behavior, delinquency). It was revealed that the strongest predictor of future social-psychological adjustment problems and increases in these problems from third to fourth was the combination of relational and physical aggression. Relational aggression also contributed unique information, relative to physical aggression, in the prediction of future maladjustment. Implications of these findings for future research and prevention efforts, particularly for aggressive girls, are discussed.     

Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies

Interest in the problem of method biases has a long history in the behavioral sciences. Despite this, a comprehensive summary of the potential sources of method biases and how to control for them does not exist. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to examine the extent to which method biases influence behavioral research results, identify potential sources of method biases, discuss the cognitive processes through which method biases influence responses to measures, evaluate the many different procedural and statistical techniques that can be used to control method biases, and provide recommendations for how to select appropriate procedural and statistical remedies for different types of research settings.     

Openness to attitude change as a function of temporal perspective

Three studies investigated the impact of temporal perspective on people's dominant social goals and explored the implications of these goals for openness to attitude change. Participants who perceived time as limited expressed social preferences in accordance with emotion-regulation goals (Study 1), were more prone to modify their attitude to bring it into line with the attitude of an anticipated social partner (Study 2), and were more likely to go along with peer consensus opinion on a campus issue (Study 3) than were participants who perceived time as expansive. These studies demonstrate that perception of time plays a vital role in motivating social goals within the persuasion context.     

What do rooks (Corvus frugilegus) understand about physical contact?

Rooks (Corvus frugilegus) do not use tools, but rapidly solve tests of physical cognition. The authors tested whether rooks understand the concept of physical contact using a task comprising a clear horizontal tube containing a stick with a disk attached to it and a piece of food. The rooks chose which side to pull the stick from to make the food accessible. Two configurations were used, with either the food or disk central along the tube. All 8 rooks solved the food-central configuration, but failed the disk-central configuration. Although they did not demonstrate an understanding of contact, further tests established that they could learn to solve these tasks provided there were salient stick cues. This result may arise because sticks are ecologically important for rooks.     

Differential reinforcement with and without instructional fading

We evaluated a differential-reinforcement-based treatment package for the reduction of problem behavior during instructional situations. Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA; compliance) was implemented across two conditions. During one condition, instructions were presented approximately once every other minute. This condition was considered the terminal goal for treatment. During the second condition, the rate of instructions was gradually increased (beginning at zero and ending when instruction rate was similar to the first condition). Results indicated that DRA with instructional fading resulted in less problem behavior than DRA without instructional fading. These results are similar to previous studies regarding the utility of instructional fading.