Using a Fork as a Hairbrush: Investigating Dual Routes to Release from Functional Fixedness

Functional fixedness involves difficulty with conceptualizing creative object uses. When it obstructs problem‐solving, individuals must reframe their approach. We examined how different training techniques—chunk decomposition (i.e., considering an object’s basic parts and physical properties) and constraint relaxation (i.e., considering an object’s different functions)—might rely upon different routes to creative reframing. Additionally, we investigated how different forms of cognitive load interact with these dual routes. Participants learned one of three techniques. Chunk decomposition participants created object breakdown diagrams; constraint relaxation participants created object functions lists; and free association (control) participants wrote a word that they associated with each of several concrete nouns. After training, participants attempted to solve five functional fixedness problems. E1 investigated how increasing germane cognitive load via either direct or indirect prompting affected training transfer. Experiment 2 investigated how reducing extraneous cognitive load by providing no transfer instructions and using an eye‐closure strategy. Across both experiments, results supported differences in accuracy and response latency by training. However, chunk decomposition and constraint relaxation did not follow the same pattern, suggesting different mechanisms of the effect. We discuss possible applications to increase innovation in real‐world domains such as education, business, and engineering.     

Maternal Depressive Symptoms Predict Girls’ but Not Boys’ Emotion Regulation: A Prospective Moment-to-Moment Observation Study

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - We aimed to further the understanding of maternal depressive symptoms on temporal dynamics of child emotion regulation by applying the process...     

Examining the Potential Mental Health Costs of Defending Victims of Bullying: a Longitudinal Analysis

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - It has been speculated that defending victims of bullying is stressful for youth, and may contribute to poor mental health among those who...     

Second Language Vocabulary Gains from Listening Versus Reading Comprehension Input: A Comparative Study

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - This study aims to investigate the acquisition of vocabulary recognition and vocabulary production in the short—and- long-term via listening and reading...     

Using Three Reporters to Identify Pre-Adolescent Peer Victims through Latent Profile Analysis

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - The goals of the current study were to use a three-reporter methodology and multi-level Latent Profile Analysis: (a) to determine the victim...     

Latent Class Analysis of Adolescent Psychosocial Functioning and Course of Major Depression

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - There are few studies on the predictors of long-term course of major depressive disorder (MDD) with an onset in childhood and adolescence. Studies...     

The role of two emotion regulation tendencies across two waiting periods

Motivation and Emotion - The distress associated with uncertainty differs in important ways from distress over clear and present stressors. Emotion regulation (ER) tendencies—namely...     

Defensive Partisanship? Evidence that In-Party Scandals Increase Out-Party Hostility

Contemporary U.S. politics is characterized by polarization and interpartisan antipathy. This is accompanied by a media landscape saturated with coverage of political scandals. Applying a social identity perspective, we examined whether exposure to scandals that threaten partisan's moral group image (i.e., in-party scandals), may motivate defensive hostility against opposing partisans. Across three experiments we exposed U.S. partisans to scandals attributed to either in-party or out-party politicians. We then assessed partisan hostility using a variety of operationalizations, including anger at a real outgroup politician (Study 1), judgments about the alleged misdeeds of a fabricated outgroup politician (Study 2), and negative perceptions of opposing party members (Study 3). Strength of partisan identity was assessed as a predicted moderator (Study 3). As expected in- (vs. out-) party scandals, were perceived as group-image threats and elicited greater hostility towards opposing partisans, independent of partisans' ideological extremity or prior affective polarization.     

Redefining the Meaning of Negative History in Times of Sociopolitical Change: A Social Creativity Approach

This article explores the role negative history plays in political discourse on crisis management and how times of sociopolitical change in turn influence the strategies that can be employed to write a positive historical charter. Choosing Germany as a case study, we analyzed how political leaders negotiate Germany's narrative and political role during the European “refugee crisis” in speeches (n = 332) held between 2015 and 2018. Applying a combination of corpus-based and qualitative narrative analysis, we found that the context of a crisis is used to attach new meaning to Germany's role in World War II. By focusing on the lessons learned from history and pointing out the parallels between the current crisis and sociopolitical developments that took place 80 years ago, Germany is presented as the ideal advocate for a free and united Europe, a narrative that legitimizes its advancingly dominant role within the EU and beyond. The analysis demonstrates how times of change can facilitate social creativity strategies for nations whose past is dominated by negative history, with implications for the theory of identity management.