Compliance during sessions and homework in exposure-based treatment of agoraphobia

The relationship between compliance with cognitive-behavioral treatment instructions and outcome was examined for 56 agoraphobic clients treated with in vivo exposure and training in anxiety management strategies. Clients who complied more often with anxiety management instructions during treatment sessions tended to improve more on a behavioral avoidance test than those who were less compliant, but did not differ on three other outcome variables. Compliance with instructions for self-directed exposure between sessions was examined in a subset of 28 of these Ss. Clients who spent more time doing homework reported significantly greater decrements in fear of fear than less compliant clients and also tended to report larger changes on avoidance behavior. However, a quasi-experimental comparison of homework vs no-homework treatment protocols yielded no difference in outcome. Less compliant clients were more symptomatic pretreatment and rated their therapists as less caring and less self-confident.     

Information processing during face recognition: the effects of familiarity, inversion, and morphing on scanning fixations

Where we make ocular fixations when viewing an object likely reflects interactions between 'external' object properties and internal 'top-down' factors, as our perceptual system tests hypotheses and attempts to make decisions about our environment. These scanning fixation patterns can tell us how and where the visual system gathers information critical to specific tasks. We determined the effects of the internal factors of expertise, experience, and ambiguity on scanning during a face-recognition task, in eight subjects. To assess the effects of expertise, we compared upright with inverted faces, since it is hypothesized that inverted faces do not access an orientation-dependent face-expert processor. To assess the effects of experience, we compared famous with novel faces, as famous faces would have stronger internal representations than anonymous ones. Ambiguity in matching seen and remembered faces was manipulated with morphed faces. We measured three classes of variables: (i) total scanning time and fixations; (ii) the spatial distribution of scanning; and (iii) the sequence of scanning, using first-order Markov matrices for local scan structure and string editing for global scan structure. We found that, with inverted faces, subjects redistributed fixations to the mouth and lower face, and their local and global scan structure became more random. With novel or morphed faces, they scanned the eyes and upper face more. Local scan structure was not affected by familiarity, but global scan structure was least random (most stereotyped) for novel upright faces. We conclude that expertise (upright faces) leads to less lower-face scanning and more predictable global patterns of information gathering. Experience (famous faces) leads to less upper-face scanning and more idiosyncratic global scan structures, suggesting a superseding influence of facial memories. With morphed faces, subjects return to the upper face to resolve ambiguity, implying a greater importance of this region in face recognition.     

From rotation to disfiguration: testing a dual-strategy model for recognition of faces across view angles

A study is reported of the effect of distinctive marks on the recognition of unfamiliar faces across view angles. Subjects were asked to memorize a set of target faces, half of which had distinctive marks. Recognition was assessed by presenting the target faces, either in the same orientation, or after 90 degrees rotation, mixed with an equal number of distractors. Results show that the effect of distinctive marks depends on the view presented during learning. When a frontal view was learned, as predicted by the dual-strategy model [Valentin et al, in press, in Computational, Geometric, and Process Perspectives on Facial Cognition: Context and Challenges Eds T Wenger, J Townsend (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates)], distinctive marks improve recognition performance in the 90 degrees condition but not in the 0 degree condition. However, when a profile view was learned, distinctive marks have no effect on recognition performance, even in the 90 degrees condition where a frontal view is tested.     

Constraining the neural representation of the visual world

Understanding the perception of all but the most impoverished and artificial scenes presents a different and probably far greater challenge from understanding face recognition, reading, or identification (or even categorization) of single objects. Central issues in the interpretation of structured objects and scenes are reviewed, starting with fundamentals such as the meaning of seeing. A theoretical approach to this formidable task is outlined, motivated by some recent developments in neuroscience and neurophilosophy.     

Training Leader Emotion Regulation and Leadership Effectiveness

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to test whether we could train the regulation of affective displays of leaders in terms of the emotion regulation strategy of deep acting (displaying feelings one also experiences) and display of positive affect. We also tested whether this resulted in improved leadership effectiveness (i.e., a mediation model in which the training results in greater leadership effectiveness through improved emotion regulation).

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were obtained from a field experiment. We randomly assigned N = 31 leaders (rated by N = 60 subordinates) to a control group without training or an experimental group with emotion regulation training. Before and 2 weeks after the intervention, deep acting (leader-rated) and positive affective displays and leadership effectiveness (subordinate-rated) were assessed.

Findings

The training had positive effects on deep acting, positive affective displays, and leadership effectiveness. Deep acting and positive affect mediated the relationship between the intervention and leadership effectiveness.

Implications

We discuss how this helps build the case both for an emotional labor approach to leadership and for the leadership development potential of such an emotional labor approach.

Originality/Value

The findings of this study represent the first causal evidence that leader emotion regulation can be trained, improved emotion regulation results in greater leadership effectiveness and is one of the first empirical studies that integrates emotional labor theory to leadership effectiveness. It is therefore important from a theory development perspective.