When a new group identity does harm on the spot: Stereotype threat in newly created groups

The detrimental consequences of negative stereotypes on performance have been demonstrated in a variety of social groups with various stereotypes. The present studies investigate the minimal conditions for stereotype threat using newly created groups. Results of three experiments (total N = 184) demonstrate that in the negative stereotype condition, the more participants identified with their novel group, the stronger was their decrease in performance. In the control condition, identification was either not related to performance, or it had by trend a positive effect. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed with regard to stereotype threat and social identity theory. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reaction Time‐based Detection of Concealed Information in Relation to Individual Differences in Executive Functioning

Executive functioning has been shown to play an essential role in a person's ability to accurately and efficiently execute deceptive responses. The present study relates individual differences in executive functions and anxiety to the accuracy and latency of deceptive responses in a reaction time (RT)‐based Concealed Information Test with pictorial stimuli extracted from a mock crime scenario. Results indicated that the pictorial RT‐based Concealed Information Test successfully differentiated between guilty and innocent participants. In terms of executive functions, set‐shifting and inhibition were directly related to deception accuracy and speed, respectively. However, enhanced underlying working memory skills (both verbal and spatial) were associated with longer RTs for item classification. No strong associations were noted with anxiety dimensions. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to neurocognitive models of deception and to the process of deception detection. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An item/order trade‐off explanation of word length and generation effects

The item‐order hypothesis suggests that under certain conditions increased item processing can lead to deficits in order processing, and that this produces a dissociation in performance between item and order tasks. The generation effect is one such example. The word length effect is seen as another instance where this trade‐off might be observed. The following experiments compare word length and generation effects under serial recall and single item recognition conditions. Short words are better recalled than long words on the serial recall task but long words were better recognised than short words. The results are consistent with the item‐order approach and support a novel explanation for the word length effect.     

Power increases performance in a social evaluation situation as a result of decreased stress responses

We tested whether power reduces responses related to social stress and thus increases performance evaluation in social evaluation situations. We hypothesized and found that thinking about having power reduced fear of negative evaluation and physiological arousal during a self‐presentation task (Studies 1 and 2). In Study 2, we also showed that simply thinking about having power made individuals perform better in a social evaluation situation. Our results confirmed our hypotheses that the mechanism explaining this power–performance link was that high power participants felt less fear of negative evaluation. The reduced fear of negative evaluation generated fewer signs of behavioral nervousness, which caused their performance to be evaluated more positively (serial mediation). Simply thinking of having power can therefore have important positive consequences for a person in an evaluation situation in terms of how he or she feels and how he or she is evaluated. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of red on impression formation in a job application context

Recent research has shown that the color red can influence psychological functioning. In the present research we tested the hypothesis that red influences impression formation related to another person’s abilities. We conducted three experiments examining the influence of red on the evaluation of male target persons. In Experiment 1, participants viewing red, relative to green, on the shirt of a person presented on a photograph perceived him to be less intelligent. This effect was strongest in a job application context compared to other contexts. In Experiment 2, focusing solely on the job application context, participants viewing red, relative to blue, on an applicants’ tie perceived him to have less earning and leadership potential. In Experiment 3, participants viewing red, relative to green, on a job applicants’ tie rated him as less likely to be hired, and perceptions of ability and leadership potential mediated this effect. Both the conceptual and applied implications of these findings are discussed.     

Interactive context integration in children? Evidence from an action memory study

Action–object phrases (e.g., “lift the bottle”) are remembered better if they have been enacted rather than learned verbally. This enactment effect is largest in free recall for phrases with objects (e.g., “bottle”) present because these phrases can be interactively encoded with those context objects (interactive context integration) that serve as retrieval cues. The current study investigated whether 6- and 8-year-olds are already capable of interactive context integration. Experiment 1 demonstrated interactive context integration with 8-year-olds. This was hindered in a condition where attention was directed away from context objects. Experiment 2 demonstrated interactive context integration with 6-year-old kindergartners. Taken together, our findings show that even 6-year-olds are capable of incidental context integration through enactment and that this process is attention based.     

Experience matters: 11-month-old infants can learn to use material information to predict the weight of novel objects

In contrast to previous findings, this study demonstrates that 11-month-old infants are able to learn the relationship between object material and object weight when exploring different objects that provided a systematic covariation of both object features. This guides their action in a subsequent preferential-reaching task.     

Single-Sex School Girls Outperform Girls Attending a Co-Educative School in Mental Rotation Accuracy

Do girls attending a single-sex school outperform their same-sex counterparts attending co-educative schools when solving a mental rotation task known to produce substantial gender differences favoring males? In total, 252 German pupils (126 8th/12th graders each) attending single-sex (84 girls) or co-educative (84 boys and girls each) high-schools in North-Rhine Westphalia (west Germany) participated. All pupils completed the ??Mental Rotations Test?? (MRT). We found that in grade 12 girls attending a single-sex school outperformed their same-sex counterparts attending co-educational schools. In grade eight no differences between both groups were observed. As expected, the well known gender difference between 12th grade boys and co-educative girls had been found. Expectations as well as possible consequences are discussed.     

Mood effects on emotion recognition

Mood affects memory and social judgments. However, findings are inconsistent with regard to how mood affects emotion recognition: For sad moods, general performance decrements in emotion recognition have been reported, as well as an emotion specific bias, such as better recognition of sad facial expressions compared to happy expressions (negative bias). Far less research has been conducted on the influence of happy moods on emotion recognition. We primed 93 participants with happy, sad, or neutral moods and had them perform an emotion recognition task. Results showed a negative bias for participants in sad moods and a positive bias for participants in happy moods. Sad and happy moods hampered the recognition of mood-incongruent expressions; the recognition of mood-congruent expressions was not affected by moods.