Backward blocking: the role of within-compound associations and interference between cues trained apart

Most theoretical accounts of backward blocking place heavy stress on the necessity of the target cue having been trained in compound with the competing cue to produce a decrement in responding. Yet, other evidence suggests that a similar reduction in responding to the target cue can be observed when the outcome is later paired with a novel cue never trained in compound with the target cue (interference between cues trained apart). The present experiment shows that pairing another nonassociated cue with the same outcome may be sufficient to produce a decremental effect on the target cue, but the presence of a within-compound association between the target and the competing cue adds to this effect. Thus, both interference between cues trained apart and within-compound associations independently contribute to backward blocking.     

Defining racism safely: The role of self-image maintenance on white Americans’ conceptions of racism

We suggest that the need to maintain a positive self-image motivates White Americans to conceive of racism as a phenomenon rooted in individuals instead of institutions. They do so because an institutional conception of racism, more so than an individual conception of racism, raises their awareness of White privilege, a concept threatening to Whites’ self-image. In support of this idea, Experiment 1 found that a self-affirmation manipulation increased Whites’ willingness to conceive racism in institutional terms. Experiment 2 found that a self-image threat lowered Whites’ willingness to conceive racism in institutional terms. In neither experiment did the self-image maintenance manipulation affect Whites’ conceptions of individual racism, suggesting that the individual conception of racism may be a less ego-threatening way for Whites to conceive of racism.     

Mental workload and visual impairment: differences between pupil, blink, and subjective rating

This research has two aims: (a) To study the concurrent validity of three measures of mental workload, NASA TLX rating scale, pupil dilation and blink rate, testing the hypothesis that they will provide convergent results using a single-task, and dissociative results for dual-task; and (b) To analyse their capability to predict visual search impairment. These three measures were analyzed in the same cognitive tasks in single-task and dual-task (cognitive task and visual search) conditions in a within-subjects experiment with twenty-nine participants. Mental workload measures showed concurrent validity under single-task condition, but a complex pattern of results arose in the dual-task condition: it is suggested that NASA TLX would be a subjective addition of the rating of each task; pupil dilation would measure the average arousal underlying the cognitive tasks; and the blink rate would produce opposite effects: whereas mental workload of cognitive tasks would increase blink rate, visual demand would inhibit it. All three measures were good predictors of visual impairment. The soundness of these measures is discussed with regard to the applied field of driving and other activities.     

Putting Self-Regulation Theory into Practice: A User's Manual

Cervone, Shadel, Smith, and Fiori (2006 ) propose that theories of personality architecture may provide an integrative theoretical framework for self-regulation research. Building further on this argument, the present paper considers one comprehensive modern approach to personality architecture, personality systems interactions (PSI) theory. The authors provide a brief overview of PSI theory and discuss a simple, three-step "user's manual" that has guided applications of the theory to real-life behavior. Work on PSI theory highlights some of the integrative potential of personality science in the field of self-regulation. The authors conclude that theories of personality architecture may improve the quality and precision of the counselling, coaching, and training that psychologists in many diverse areas provide.     

The Role of Irrelevant,Class-Consistent,and Class-Inconsistent Intraverbal Training on the Establishment of Equivalence Classes

The Psychological Record - The current study evaluated whether college students’ performance on visual–visual matching-to-sample (MTS) tasks were differentially affected by learning to...     

Precompetitive anxiety and self-confidence in athletes with disability

This study examined the precompetition temporal patterning of competitive anxiety components in 42 athletes with disability who participated at the national level and at the national trials for the Paralympic Games in a variety of sports. All subjects completed a modified version of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 which measures intensity and direction of the competitive anxiety response on three occasions before competition (1 wk., 2 hr., and 20 min.). Analysis suggested that for cognitive and somatic dimensions athletes with disabilities show a similar precompetition anxiety response to athletes without disability. However, there appear to be some differences, particularly in the intensity of self-confidence, as athletes with disability reported a reduction of self-confidence just prior to competition.     

Suggestion overrides the Stroop effect in highly hypnotizable individuals

Cognitive scientists distinguish between automatic and controlled mental processes. Automatic processes are either innately involuntary or become automatized through extensive practice. For example, reading words is a purportedly automatic process for proficient readers and the Stroop effect is consequently considered the "gold standard" of automated performance. Although the question of whether it is possible to regain control over an automatic process is mostly unasked, we provide compelling data showing that posthypnotic suggestion reduced and even removed Stroop interference in highly hypnotizable individuals. Drawing on a large sample of highly hypnotizable participants, we examined the effects of suggestion on Stroop performance both with and without a posthypnotic suggestion to perceive the input stream as meaningless symbols. We show that suggestion administered to highly hypnotizable persons significantly reduced Stroop interference and derailed a seemingly automatic process.     

Hysterectomy as Viewed by Mexican Women and Men

This study explored the views of Mexican men and women concerning hysterectomy. We studied 120 women and 135 men between the ages of 36 and 55. Women had not had a hysterectomy and men were married to a woman without a hysterectomy. The most negative views about hysterectomy were women’s suppositions about male perceptions, but only among people with a limited educational background. This group was more likely to believe that women who undergo hysterectomy are incomplete, rejected by their partners, and experience emotional changes. These findings are discussed in light of sociocultural features.     

How individualism–collectivism orientations predict happiness in a collectivistic context

We discuss how individualistic/collectivistic orientations of employees predict affective well-being at work, and how this relationship is moderated by the perceptions of spirit of camaraderie in organizations. The sample comprises 161 employees of 109 organizations operating in Portugal, a collectivistic culture. The findings suggest that: (a) collectivistic individuals show higher affective well-being than individualists; (b) this relationship is moderated by the employees’ perceptions of the spirit of camaraderie in their organizations; (c) higher affective well being levels tend to be experienced by collectivists who find working in an organizational context to be rich in spirit of camaraderie, and lower levels of affective well being are expressed by individualists who perceive poor spirit of camaraderie in their working environments. The paper emphasizes that employee happiness can have different bases in different cultures and that individualism/collectivism orientations do not operate in the same way in different cultural and organizational contexts. We are very grateful to the three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.