An integrative approach to leadership and social support

This study examined the effects of instrumental and socio-emotional behaviors of friends on stress reactions and task performance. A 2 (presence or absence of instrumental behavior) * 2 (presence or absence of socio-emotional behavior) * 2 (high or low legitimacy of influence) factorial design was used. Ninety-one college-age females as subjects and their close same-sex friends as confederates participated together in the experiment. Dependent variables were mean blood pressure (MBP) as a physiological stress reaction, state anxiety as a psychological stress reaction, and the level of performance in a simple arithmetic task. Instrumental behavior had a facilitating effect on task performance in the high legitimacy condition. Socio-emotional behavior showed a buffering effect on physiological stress reaction when the friend did not engage in instrumental behavior in the low legitimacy condition. These findings suggest that legitimacy of influence may be able to explain the differences between leadership and social support processes.     

Tracking mouse movement in feature inference: Category labels are different from feature labels

In this article, we examine the role of category labels in inductive inference. Some leading research has suggested that information about category membership works just like any other feature in categorical inductions, whereas other research has proposed that the influence of category membership on induction goes beyond that of other features. To investigate these claims further, we developed an online measure of judgments that is akin to eyetracking. The judgment results and the mouse-tracking data jointly support the view that category labels do affect inductive inferences in a way distinct from that for feature information. When arbitrary labels conveyed category membership information, participants viewed these labels more often and earlier in a trial, in comparison with cases in which the same labels conveyed non-membership information. Our results suggest that category membership information works like a guide for inference. An ecological rationale for this induction strategy is also discussed.     

Turn-taking interaction as a cooperative and co-creative process

In the present article, computer simulation of turn-taking interaction was studied and compared with psychological experiments such as the double TV experiment and synchronous imitation. By introducing the concepts of virtual agents, prediction error and adaptability, the simulation showed that turn-taking dynamics is a cooperative and co-creative process between two agents, which is in accordance with psychological findings. In particular, much attention is paid to styles of motion, as turn-taking with chaotic spatial pattern has developed to be sensitive to it.     

Individual and Country‐Level Effects of Social Trust on Happiness: The Asia Barometer Survey

The relationship of individual‐level and country‐level social trust to individuals' happiness was investigated, using cross‐national data of 39,082 participants from 29 Asian countries. For self‐reported happiness, 2.0% of the participants responded they were very happy, while 18.7% were very unhappy. The significant variables associated with happiness were female gender, being age 20–29 years or 60–69 years, married, high income and education, students/retired/homemaker, religious belief, good health, and higher individual and aggregate social trust. Individual health, social trust, and aggregate social trust were all independently associated with people's happiness. People were more likely to be happy if they lived in countries with higher aggregate social trust than countries with poor social trust.     

Cues that trigger social transmission of disinhibition in young children

Previous studies have shown that observing a human model’s actions, but not a robot’s actions, could induce young children’s perseverative behaviors and suggested that children’s sociocognitive abilities can lead to perseverative errors (“social transmission of disinhibition”). This study investigated how the social transmission of disinhibition would occur. Specifically, the authors examined whether a robot with human appearance (an android) triggered young children’s perseveration and compared the effects of the android with those of a human model. The results revealed that the android induced the social transmission of disinhibition. Also, children were more likely to be affected by the human model than by the android. The results suggested that behavioral cues (biological movement) may be important for the social transmission of disinhibition.     

A normative set of 98 pairs of nonsensical pictures (droodles)

Our purpose in the present study is to provide a normative set of nonsensical pictures known as droodles and to demonstrate the role of semantic comprehension in facilitating recall of pictorial stimuli. The set consists of 98 pairs of droodles. Experiment 1 standardized these pictorial stimuli with respect to several variables, such as appropriateness of verbal labels, relationship between two droodles, and correct recall. Appropriateness of verbal labels was rated higher for pictures presented in pairs than for pictures presented singly. Experiment 2 used the standardized set of droodles in a recall experiment similar to those of Bower, Karlin, and Dueck (1975) and others. As we expected, semantic interpretation can strongly facilitate recall. Multiple regression analysis showed that several measures had significant power of explanation for recall performance. The full set of norms and pictures from this article may be downloaded from http://brm.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.     

A social cichlid fish failed to pass the mark test

Since the pioneering work in chimpanzees, mirror self-recognition (MSR), the ability to recognise oneself in a mirror, has been reported in great apes, Asian elephants, dolphins, and some social birds using the mark test, in which animals that possess MSR touch an imperceptible mark on their own bodies only when a mirror is present. However, giant pandas, which are solitary, failed to pass the mark test, suggesting that MSR evolved solely in highly social animals. In contrast to the increasing evidence of MSR in mammals and birds, little is known about MSR in fish. A Tanganyikan cichlid, Neolamprologus pulcher, is a good candidate for study because these fish live in highly social groups and recognise conspecifics about as rapidly as primates. We examined their responses to a mirror image and tested whether N. pulcher could pass the mark test. When the mirror was first exposed, they stayed in front of the mirror and exhibited aggressive behaviour towards the mirror image. These social behaviours suggested that the focal fish perceived the mirror image as an unfamiliar conspecific. The social responses decreased over the following days, as has generally been the case in animals with MSR. After mark injection, we found no increase in scraping behaviour or prolonged observation of the marked side. These results show a lack of contingency checking and mark-directed behaviours, meaning that N. pulcher failed to pass the mark test and did not recognise their self-image in the mirror.     

Implicit attenuation of subsequent emotion by cognitive activity

The successful regulation of emotion relies heavily on executive function. Until very recently, however, the specific effects of executive function activity on other processes havereceived relatively little empirical attention.The link between executive function and emotional responses suggests that the activation of executive function may play an important role in the attenuation of emotional responses. We conducted twoexperiments to test the hypothesis that decrements in emotional responses following cognitive task performance might be caused, at least in part, by the activation of executive function.First, we sought to test whetherthe activation of executive function reducedemotional responsesimplicitly, without any volitional effort.Next, we sought to examine the link between prior activation of executivefunction and the attenuation of subsequent emotional responses, by comparing the effects of an executive-function-demanding task with the effects of a task that is equally effortful but does not engage executive function.We discuss our results in the context of the role of executive function in the attenuation of emotion.     

Contact avoidance toward people with stigmatized attributes: mate choice

If contact avoidance is used to avoid harmful people, then this can play an important role when people choose a spouse, by eliminating undesirable people from the list of candidates. The purpose of this study was to reveal the sex difference in contact avoidance toward people with stigmatic attributes, who are therefore disadvantaged as spouse candidates. A total of 228 university students (101 men, 127 women) participated in the survey. Seven types of men and women with stigmatic characteristics were presented and the respondents asked how much they wanted to avoid contact with each type of person in eight physical contact situations. Female respondents wanted to avoid contact with stigmatized men more than with stigmatized women. On the other hand, male respondents showed comparable responses to both stigmatized men and women. The results were considered from the perspective of mate selection based on evolutionary psychology.