The other-race effect develops during infancy: evidence of perceptual narrowing

Experience plays a crucial role in the development of face processing. In the study reported here, we investigated how faces observed within the visual environment affect the development of the face-processing system during the 1st year of life. We assessed 3-, 6-, and 9-month-old Caucasian infants' ability to discriminate faces within their own racial group and within three other-race groups (African, Middle Eastern, and Chinese). The 3-month-old infants demonstrated recognition in all conditions, the 6-month-old infants were able to recognize Caucasian and Chinese faces only, and the 9-month-old infants' recognition was restricted to own-race faces. The pattern of preferences indicates that the other-race effect is emerging by 6 months of age and is present at 9 months of age. The findings suggest that facial input from the infant's visual environment is crucial for shaping the face-processing system early in infancy, resulting in differential recognition accuracy for faces of different races in adulthood.     

A test of the quasi-circumplex structure of human values

Schwartz’s value system (SVS) has been widely used in different disciplines (e.g., psychology, management, and marketing). Although the value structure seems to be validated when data are analyzed through multidimensional scaling, we show that the quasi-circumplex structure of human values is not supported when confirmatory analysis approaches (e.g., CIRCUM and constrained confirmatory factor analysis) are used. Based on two samples of French and Swiss respondents, confirmatory tests of SVS provide little support for its quasi-circumplex structure, mainly due to problems of construct and discriminant validity resulting from multicollinearity between value types.     

A Faradayan Principle for Selecting Classical Field Theories

Faraday’s field concept presupposes that field stresses should share the axial symmetry of the lines of force. In the present article, the field dynamics is similarly required to depend only on field properties that can be tested through the motion of test‐particles. Precise expressions of this ‘Faradayan’ principle in field‐theoretical language are shown to severely restrict the form of classical field theories. In particular, static forces must obey the inverse square law in a linear approximation. Within a Minkowskian and Lagrangian framework, the Faradayan principle automatically leads to Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism and to Einstein’s theory of gravitation, without appeal to the equivalence principle. A comparison is drawn between this, Feynman’s, and Einstein’s way to arrive at general relativity.     

Race categorization modulates holistic face encoding

Recent studies have shown that same-race (SR) faces are processed more holistically than other-race (OR) faces, a difference that may underlie the greater difficulty at recognizing OR than SR faces (the "other-race effect"). This article provides original evidence suggesting that the holistic processing of faces may be sensitive to the observers' racial categorization of the face. In Experiment 1, Caucasian participants performed a face-composite task with Caucasian faces, Asian faces, and racially ambiguous morphed face stimuli. Identical morphed face stimuli were processed more holistically when categorized as SR than as OR faces. Experiment 2 further suggests that this finding was not underlain by strategic or training effects. Overall, these results support the view that one's categorization of a face as belonging to the same or another race plays a critical role in the holistic processing of this face.     

Orphanin FQ/nociceptin interacts with the basolateral amygdala noradrenergic system in memory consolidation

Extensive evidence indicates that the basolateral complex of the amygdala (BLA) mediates hormonal and neurotransmitter effects on the consolidation of emotionally influenced memory and that such modulatory influences involve noradrenergic activation of the BLA. As the BLA also expresses a high density of receptors for orphanin FQ/nociceptin (OFQ/N), an opioid-like peptide with anxiolytic and amnestic properties, the present experiments investigated whether the BLA is involved in mediating OFQ/N effects on memory consolidation and whether such effects require noradrenergic activity. OFQ/N (0.01-100 pmol in 0.2 microL) administered bilaterally into the BLA of male Sprague-Dawley rats immediately after aversively motivated inhibitory avoidance training induced dose-dependent impairment on a 48-h retention trial. The beta(1)-adrenoceptor antagonist atenolol (2.0 nmol) administered concurrently into the BLA potentiated the dose-response effects of OFQ/N. In contrast, immediate post-training infusions of the peptidergic OFQ/N receptor antagonist [Nphe(1)]nociceptin(1-13)NH(2) (1-100 pmol in 0.2 microL) into the BLA enhanced 48-h retention of inhibitory avoidance training, an effect that was blocked by coadministration of atenolol. Delayed infusions of OFQ/N or [Nphe(1)]nociceptin(1-13)NH(2) into the BLA administered either 6 or 3 h after training, respectively, or immediate post-training infusions of OFQ/N into the adjacent central amygdala did not significantly alter retention performance. These findings indicate that endogenously released OFQ/N interacts with noradrenergic activity within the BLA in modulating memory consolidation.     

Social identity performance: extending the strategic side of SIDE.

This article extends the social identity model of deindividuation effects (SIDE) by considering the various ways in which relations of visibility to an audience can affect the public expression of identity-relevant norms (identity performance). It is suggested that social identity performance can fulfill two general functions: Affirming, conforming, or strengthening individual or group identities (the identity consolidation function) and persuading audiences into adopting specific behaviors (the mobilization function). The authors report evidence supporting these two functions of identity performance both in intragroup and intergroup contexts. They argue that through these functions, social identity performance plays a major role in the elaboration and coordination of social action. Finally, and building on this framework, the authors consider the ways through which social identity performance can be used in the very construction of social identity.     

Persistence in a Putting Task During Perceived Failure: Influence of State-attributions and Attributional Style

Dans cette étude, on a examiné l’influence de l’état des attributions et le style attributionnel (AS) sur la persistance à court‐terme d’un échec perçu à une tâche de putting. 101 élèves débutants en golf ont participéà cette recherche. Deux épreuves de 8 putts ont été interrompues chacune pendant trois minutes. Durant cette période, on a mesuré la persistance individuelle en comptant le nombre de fois que le sujet essayait de putter. L’analyse des résultats montre que le style attributionnel influence la persistance à court‐terme contrairement à l’état des attributions. Les sujets ayant un AS “fort contrôle personnel” font montre de plus de persistance que ceux ayant un AS “faible contrôle personnel”. Ces résultats confirment ceux obtenus lors de recherches antérieures sur les bénéfices motivationnels d’un style attributionnel “optimiste” dans des situations d’échec lors de la réalisation d’une tâche. Des attributions instables sont particulièrement bénéfiques aux sujets ayant un AS externe/incontrôlable. Ces derniers ont un niveau significativement plus élevé de persistance que les sujets ayant un AS externe/incontrôlable mais qui ont fait des attributions causales stables. This study investigated the influence of state‐attributions and attributional style (AS) on short‐term persistence in a putting task during perceived failure. Participants were 101 novice golf students. Two trials of eight putts each were interrupted by a 3‐minute free period during which individual persistence was measured by calculating the number of putts attempted in the free period. Analyses revealed that attributional style influenced short‐term putting persistence but state‐attributions did not. Participants with a “high personal control” AS showed greater persistence than those with a “low personal control” AS, which supports past research on the positive motivational benefits of a more “optimistic” attributional style in task failure situations. Moreover, unstable attributions were particularly protective for individuals with an external/uncontrollable AS, in that they promoted significantly higher levels of persistence than was shown by external/uncontrollable AS individuals who made stable causal attributions.     

Kaiho Seiryō on ‘What it is to be a Human Being’

Kaiho Seiryō (1755–1817) is probably the first Japanese thinker to proclaim the contractual nature of human relationships. I examine in this paper the view of human beings that led him to this conclusion. Giving up previous definitions of humans, Seiryō focuses on the faculty of practical reason. While this leads him to recognize a hierarchy of humans, some having more humanity than others, it also allows him to develop the most modern understanding of social relationship available in his time. His radical reinterpretation of what it is to be a human being is all the more remarkable because it was done with the concepts and ideas provided by the Chinese Classics. Establishing new connections, giving new life to ideas that were never exploited, Seiryō showed it was possible to make sense of modernity without using foreign concepts.     

Moderating effect of emotional intelligence on the role of negative affect in the motivation to drink in alcohol-dependent subjects undergoing protracted withdrawal

In order to understand how emotional aspects evolve and are related to craving for alcohol, different emotion-related variables were examined in relationship to craving during a protracted withdrawal. To this end state affectivity (PANAS), emotional intelligence (EI) (TEIQue), and craving (OCDS) were assessed at the onset (T1: day 1 or 2) and at the end (T2: day 14 to 18) of three-week protracted withdrawal among alcohol-dependent inpatients (DSM-IV, N = 41). A significant decrease in craving and negative affectivity (NA) was observed from T1 to T2 while EI scores remained low. At both baseline and follow-up, there was a significant moderation effect of EI on the link between NA and craving for alcohol. Negative mood at the onset of the cure was linked to craving at the end of the withdrawal period but only among patients with low trait EI scores. The merits of using psychotherapeutic approaches were discussed in the treatment of alcohol addiction.