Cognition and Emotion in TV Message Processing: How Valence,Arousing Content,Structural Complexity,and Information Density Affect the Availability of Cognitive Resources

This paper examines whether emotional message content alters the effects of structural complexity and information density on available resources, measured by secondary task reaction times (STRTs), and message encoding, measured by audio recognition. In addition, hypotheses relating motivational activation and resource availability based on the motivational activation concepts of positivity offset (greater appetitive activation in a neutral environment) and negativity bias (faster aversive activation) influence are tested. Results replicate previous research supporting the contention that STRTs measure available resources. In addition, they show that the basic pattern of STRTs and recognition as a function of allocated and required resources is relatively consistent regardless of emotional content of the message. Emotion appears to function as a constant, increasing both resource allocation and resources required. Finally, these data provide some initial support for predicted relationships between motivational activation and resource allocation based on the constructs of positivity offset and negativity bias.     

Religiousness as a Predictor of Academic Performance among High-school Students

Although efforts to improve academic performance previously have focused on school reform, conditions outside school hold the key to increasing our children's academic achievement. The purposes of this study were (1) to determine the relationship between religiousness and academic achievement and (2) to develop a general model that can be generalizable across various ethnic groups. The data from the first follow-up (1990) and second follow-up (1992) of the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) were utilized in this study. Hierarchical regression and path analysis were employed. The result of the analysis shows that religiousness has a significant impact on academic achievement even though socioeconomic status is accounted for in advance in the analysis model. In the general model for various ethnic groups, student academic performance is determined by religiousness, socioeconomic status, locus of control, and strict parenting. Suggestions for future research are offered.     

Resilience to Childhood Abuse and Neglect in College Students

This study examined the prevalence of a history of childhood maltreatment in a college sample and identified the relationship between being maltreated as a child and later college adjustment in men and women. Results indicate that men who had been maltreated in childhood had more resilient outcomes in college than women who had been maltreated in childhood. Negative life events and protective factors acted as mediators in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and college adjustment for women, and protective factors acted as a moderator in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and college adjustment for men.     

Pictorial rehearsal effects in younger and older adults

Abstract

In three studies, we examined pictorial rehearsal effects in younger and older adults. Concrete and abstract line drawings that varied in the amount of pictorial detail were presented for study under different presentation conditions. In the pictorial rehearsal condition, each picture was followed by a blank rehearsal interval where the picture was no longer presented. In all three experiments, the poststimulus interval enhanced picture recognition for both age groups, relative to a control condition where no rehearsal interval occurred. These findings suggest that older adults, like younger adults, form and maintain visual images across a blank rehearsal interval. Implications of these findings for current views on imaginal processes in older adults are discussed.     

Why Koreans Are More Likely to Favor “Apology,” While Americans Are More Likely to Favor “Thank You”

Two studies investigated whether apologies or thanks are preferred in asking favors in the United States and Korea, and how this relates to perceptions of reduction in positive and negative face threats. In the first study (n = 224), participants composed an e‐mail message where a favor was asked. In the second (n = 807), participants completed questionnaires including a prototypical e‐mail for the situation described in Study 1, as well as measures of negative and positive face threats. Findings showed that (a) Koreans more frequently included apologies in favor‐asking messages, while Americans more frequently included thanks; and (b) Americans considered repeated thanks to reduce the threat to hearers' negative and positive face, but Koreans considered repeated apologies to reduce the threat to speakers' positive face.     

Perceptions of Liver Transplant Candidates with or Without an Alcohol Use History

Cirrhosis secondary to alcohol use is a primary cause of liver disease and a medical condition for which liver transplantation is a viable treatment option. However, there remains considerable debate within both the lay and the medical communities regarding the distribution of a scarce medical resource to adults with alcoholism. This study examined college students' perceptions toward an adult, presented in a written vignette, for whom liver transplantation was medically indicated. The influence of gender (female and male) and alcohol use history (no alcohol history, alcoholism history with long-term abstinence, alcoholism history with current use) on these ratings was examined. Subjects rated the adult presented with no alcohol history more positively than they did the adults presented with a history of alcoholism. Also, the adult with no alcohol history was more likely to be offered transplantation and was given higher priority ratings for transplantation by subjects. While subjects' own alcohol use history and organ donor registration status were not associated with ratings, having a family member with an alcohol problem and personally knowing a transplant recipient were related to more favorable ratings toward the adult presented in the vignette. Implications of these findings as well as limitations of the study are discussed.     

Distance judgments under different size-information conditions

Seventy-two Ss judged the absolute distance of a target presented without distance cues other than retinal size and assumed size. The method by which E communicated information about the size of a 3-in. target had a significant effect on the magnitude of the discrepancy between judged distance and the perceived distance required by the size-distance invariance hypothesis. In order of increasing effectiveness in producing distance judgments meeting invariance requirements were: size information in the form of verbally communicated metric units, size information communicated by labeling the target with the name of a familiar object, and size information in the form of a visual representation.     

Revisiting Individual Creativity Assessment: Triangulation in Subjective and Objective Assessment Methods

Compared to the significant development of creativity studies, individual creativity research has not reached a meaningful consensus regarding the most valid and reliable method for assessing individual creativity. This study revisited 2 of the most popular methods for assessing individual creativity: subjective and objective methods. This study analyzed 1,500 individuals to investigate whether the methods for assessing individual creativity affect the measurement outcomes of individual creativity. Findings indicated that subjective assessments have a smaller variance a higher mean and a moderate but significant correlation with objective assessment methods. Such differences can be motivated by social desirability, consistency motif, illusory superiority, and leniency biases. Based on these findings, this study highlighted the need to acknowledge how subjective and objective assessment methods may affect individual creativity assessment outcomes.