Eliciting positive,negative and mixed emotional states: A film library for affective scientists

We describe the creation of a film library designed for researchers interested in positive (amusing), negative (repulsive), mixed (amusing and repulsive) and neutral emotional states. Three hundred 20- to 33-second film clips videotaped by amateurs were selected from video-hosting websites and screened in laboratory studies by 75 female participants on self-reported amusement and repulsion (Experiments 1 and 2). On the basis of pre-defined cut-off values, 51 positive, 39 negative, 59 mixed and 50 neutral film clips were selected. These film clips were then presented to 411 male and female participants in a large online study to identify film clips that reliably induced the target emotions (Experiment 3). Depending on the goal of the study, researchers may choose positive, negative, mixed or neutral emotional film clips on the basis of Experiments 1 and 2 or Experiment 3 ratings.     

Stimulus comparison strategies and task demands in successive discrimination

This research isolates two distinct strategies used to identify stimuli presented at different rates in successive discrimination tasks. The short-term strategy (used at rapid rates) compares current stimuli to immediately prior stimuli present in sensory or other short-term storage, whereas the long-term strategy (used at slow rates) compares current stimuli to a standard stimulus in long-term memory. In Experiment 1, subjects detected a medium-duration tone amid both long and short distractors. Analysis of false alarms indicated that strategy choice is strongly influenced by event rate, and therefore by the presence or absence of sensory traces of preceding stimuli. Experiment 2 was designed to force subjects to use the short-term strategy (to detect targets, present stimuli had to be compared to their immediate predecessors), and varied the event rate. Subjects were able to maintain a high level of performance throughout the task only at the fastest event rate. This pattern of results suggested that when the task demanded it, subjects could use a particular strategy, but if the event rate (and consequently the availability or otherwise of relevant memorial traces) was not favourable to that strategy, then performance was disadvantaged.     

Intermodal sensory image generation: An fMRI analysis

Although both imagery and perception may be related to more than one sensory input, and information coming from different sensory channels is often integrated in a unique mental representation, most recent neuroimaging literature has focused on visual imaging. Contrasting results have been obtained concerning the sharing of the same mechanisms by visual perception and visual imagery, in part due to assessment techniques and to interindividual variability in brain activation. In recent years, an increasing number of researchers have adopted novel neuroimaging techniques in order to investigate intermodal connections in mental imagery and have reported a high degree of interaction between mental imagery and other cognitive functions. In the present study the specific nature of mental imagery was investigated by means of fMRI on a more extensive set of perceptual experiences (shapes, sounds, touches, odours, flavours, self‐perceived movements, and internal sensations). Results show that the left middle‐inferior temporal area is recruited by mental imagery for all modalities investigated and not only for the visual one, while parietal and prefrontal areas exhibit a more heterogeneous pattern of activation across modalities. The prominent left lateralisation observed for almost all the conditions suggests that verbal cues affect the processes underlying the generation of images.     

The quality of children's allegations of abuse in investigative interviews containing practice narratives

To enhance the accuracy and completeness of children's testimony, recommendations have included implementing a practice narrative, during which children are prepared for their role as informative witnesses before discussing the allegations. In the present study, we aimed to systematically examine interviewer behaviour and the informativeness of children's testimony in a field setting. As predicted, interviewers posed fewer prompts, proportionally more open-ended prompts, and children provided proportionally more details in response to open-ended prompts in the substantive phase when preceded by a practice narrative than when no practice narrative was conducted. The relationship was enhanced when the practice narratives were conducted as recommended vs those that were conducted in a less open-ended manner. Together with experimental studies showing clear benefits of practice narratives on children's reports, these results underscore the value of a simple practice narrative as a means of enhancing the reliability of children's testimony.     

Understanding conditional promises and threats

Conditional promises and threats are speech acts that are used to manipulate other people's behaviour. Studies on human reasoning typically use propositional logic to analyse what people infer from such inducements. While this approach is sufficient to uncover conceptual features of inducements, it fails to explain them. To overcome this limitation, we propose a multilevel analysis integrating motivational, linguistic, deontic, behavioural, and emotional aspects. Commonalities and differences between conditional promises and threats on various levels were examined in two experiments. The first shows that both types of inducements are understood as being complementary on the linguistic level, but not reversible, due to the specific temporal order of their actions. In addition, it gives a first assessment of emotional reactions. The second experiment investigated the novel question of whether complementary promises and threats, despite semantic differences, both imply an obligation to cooperate on the deontic level. The data corroborate this hypothesis, and they support various appraisal-theoretical assumptions on the elicitation of emotions. They also reveal that content affects not only the attribution of emotions, but also the deontic interpretation.     

A Moderated Nonlinear Factor Model for the Development of Commensurate Measures in Integrative Data Analysis

Integrative data analysis (IDA) is a methodological framework that allows for the fitting of models to data that have been pooled across 2 or more independent sources. IDA offers many potential advantages including increased statistical power, greater subject heterogeneity, higher observed frequencies of low base-rate behaviors, and longer developmental periods of study. However, a core challenge is the estimation of valid and reliable psychometric scores that are based on potentially different items with different response options drawn from different studies. In Bauer and Hussong (2009) we proposed a method for obtaining scores within an IDA called moderated nonlinear factor analysis (MNLFA). Here we move significantly beyond this work in the development of a general framework for estimating MNLFA models and obtaining scale scores across a variety of settings. We propose a 5-step procedure and demonstrate this approach using data drawn from n = 1,972 individuals ranging in age from 11 to 34 years pooled across 3 independent studies to examine the factor structure of 17 binary items assessing depressive symptomatology. We offer substantive conclusions about the factor structure of depression, use this structure to compute individual-specific scale scores, and make recommendations for the use of these methods in practice.     

A Mediated Moderation Model of Recruiting Socially and Environmentally Responsible Job Applicants

Socially and environmentally responsible organizations must attend to the fit of employees with the values of the organization. Recruiting practices are a key tool for ensuring fit with an organization's culture and values. We develop and test a model of the process through which recruitment information about an organization's social and environmental responsibility values differentially affect job seeker perceived fit, attraction, and job pursuit intentions depending on job seekers’ desire to have a significant impact through work. Our model of mediated moderation is tested with a sample of 339 actual job seekers using conditional process modeling and nonlinear bootstrapping techniques. Results support expectations that advertisement messages about an organization's social and environmental responsibility values interact with applicants’ desire to have a significant impact through work to influence job pursuit intentions through the hypothesized mediational process. Implications of the model for research on recruitment and organizational social and environmental responsibility are discussed.