Can bottom-up processes of attention be a source of ‘interference’ in situations where top-down control of attention is crucial?

In this study, we investigate whether emotionally engaged bottom-up processes of attention can be a source of ‘interference’ in situations where top-down control of attention is necessary. Participants were asked to monitor and report on a video of a war scenario showing a developing battle in two conditions: emotionally positive and emotionally negative. Half of the participants (n = 15) were exposed to task-irrelevant pictures of positive emotional valence embedded within the scenario; the other half were exposed to task-irrelevant pictures of negative emotional valence. Sensitivity and Bias scores were calculated using signal detection theory. Overall, task accuracy scores were dependent upon the valence; negative pictures had an adverse effect on performance, whereas positive pictures improved performance. We concluded that negative emotional pictures interfered with top-down control of attention by attracting competing bottom-up processes of attention. We found the opposite effect for positive emotional stimuli.     

A Three‐Domain Personality Analysis of a Mentally Tough Athlete

The current study adopted McAdams' multilayer framework as the basis to develop a psychological portrait of an elite athlete who was identified as being particularly ‘mentally tough’. The aim was to use this single case as an exemplar to demonstrate the utility of McAdams' framework for understanding the complexity of sport performers across three domains of personality: dispositional traits, characteristic adaptations, and narrative identity. We operationalised these domains through the development of specific research questions and, subsequently, the collection and integration of the participant's Big Five traits, personal strivings, coping strategies, and response to a life story interview. The results offered a comprehensive insight into the nature of one athlete's personality that, in turn, informed conceptual perspectives of mental toughness in sport psychology literature and qualitatively supported emerging evidence of the validity of a three‐layer framework in personality psychology. Specifically, the study's design showed how a holistic approach to personality analysis can lead to a more complete psychological representation of competitors in sport, and people generally. It demonstrated how motivational, sociocultural, and meaning‐making aspects of personality can complement a trait profile to achieving a satisfying assessment of the whole person. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Increased Cognitive Load during Video Game Play Reduces Rape Myth Acceptance and Hostile Sexism after Exposure to Sexualized Female Avatars

The present study investigated how task demand (cognitive load and interactivity) and avatar sexualization in a video game influenced rape myth acceptance (RMA), hostile sexism, and self-objectification. In a between-subjects design, 300 U.S. college students either played or watched someone else play a videogame as either a sexualized or non-sexualized female avatar under high (memorize 7 symbols) or low (memorize 2 symbols) cognitive load. Hypotheses were derived from the limited capacity model of motivated mediated message processing (LC4MP) and perspectives on stereotype processing. Results contradicted hypotheses that greater task demands and sexualization would produce greater RMA, hostile sexism, and self-objectification. Instead, we found that sexualization did not affect these variables. Greater cognitive load reduced rape myth acceptance and hostile sexism for those in the sexualized avatar condition, but it did not affect self-objectification. We discuss these results with respect to the LC4MP and suggest that the processing of stereotype-inconsistent information might be the underlying cause of these unexpected findings. These results provide tentative evidence that cognitively demanding video game environments may prompt players to focus on stereotype-inconsistent, rather than stereotype-consistent, social information.     

Pygmalion in the genes? On the potentially negative impacts of polygenic scores for educational attainment

Social Psychology of Education - Polygenic scores for educational attainment and related variables, such as IQ and “mathematical ability” are now readily available via...     

A meta-analysis of support variables and well-being in ethnic minority populations

Aims: The importance of social support as a predictor of well-being has been documented in the literature for decades. The extent to which social support may be uniquely relevant to the well-being of ethnic minority populations has not yet been empirically supported with meta-analytic techniques. The current meta-analytic study attempted to clarify the nuances of the relationship between support and well-being in ethnic minority populations and to identify what moderators may be relevant to understanding such relationships. Method: Data from 111 articles were included in the analyses that examined both the main effects and moderators of the relationship between social support and well-being. Results: Overall findings revealed a greater effect size (ES) between support and positive well-being (r = .38) than between support and negative well-being (r = −.27). Significant moderators included the proportion of females in the sample, age of the participants, and nature of support. Several ES differences were found in support type and ethnic group interactions as well. Conclusions: Implications of these data include the importance of social support enhancement in efforts to increase the positive well-being and attending to gender and other cultural modifiers in future studies of social support with racial and ethnic minorities.     

Infants’ intentionally communicative vocalizations elicit responses from caregivers and are the best predictors of the transition to language: A longitudinal investigation of infants’ vocalizations,gestures and word production

What aspects of infants’ prelinguistic communication are most valuable for learning to speak, and why? We test whether early vocalizations and gestures drive the transition to word use because, in addition to indicating motoric readiness, they (a) are early instances of intentional communication and (b) elicit verbal responses from caregivers. In study 1, 11 month olds (N = 134) were observed to coordinate vocalizations and gestures with gaze to their caregiver's face at above chance rates, indicating that they are plausibly intentionally communicative. Study 2 tested whether those infant communicative acts that were gaze‐coordinated best predicted later expressive vocabulary. We report a novel procedure for predicting vocabulary via multi‐model inference over a comprehensive set of infant behaviours produced at 11 and 12 months (n = 58). This makes it possible to establish the relative predictive value of different behaviours that are hierarchically organized by level of granularity. Gaze‐coordinated vocalizations were the most valuable predictors of expressive vocabulary size up to 24 months. Study 3 established that caregivers were more likely to respond to gaze‐coordinated behaviours. Moreover, the dyadic combination of infant gaze‐coordinated vocalization and caregiver response was by far the best predictor of later vocabulary size. We conclude that practice with prelinguistic intentional communication facilitates the leap to symbol use. Learning is optimized when caregivers respond to intentional vocalizations with appropriate language.     

Responses of seventh grade students to "do you have a partner with whom you would like to have a baby?"

This study investigated differences in demographic data, self-esteem, and coping skills for 225 students in Grade 7 who reported having a partner with whom they wanted to have a baby and 946 students who did not. Data were collected on the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, the Family Crisis-oriented Personal Evaluation Scale, and questions related to attitudes towards teen pregnancy and demographic data. The sample included 548 (46.8%) boys and 624 (53.2%) girls whose mean age was 13.2 yr. Students with a partner had significantly lower scores on the curriculum questions, self-esteem, and family coping skills, combined with higher scores in passivity. They indicated a desire to have a greater number of children, beginning by having their first child at a younger age and believed that having a baby improves a couple's relationship. Possible approaches may include effective teaching methods to overcome passivity through boosting self-confidence, goal-setting, and acquiring a purpose in life besides parenting a child.     

Using fMRI to study recovery from acquired dysphasia

We have used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to characterize brain activations associated with two distinct language tasks performed by a 28-year-old woman after partial recovery from dysphasia due to a left frontal hemispheric ischemic stroke. MRI showed that her ischemic lesion extended posteriorly from the left inferior frontal to the perisylvian cortex. fMRI scans of both language tasks revealed substantial differences in activation pattern relative to controls. The nature of this difference was task-specific. During performance of a verbal semantic decision task, the patient, in contrast to controls, activated a network of brain areas that excluded the inferior frontal gyrus (in either hemisphere). A second task involving rhyme judgment was designed to place a heavier cognitive load on language production processes and activated the left inferior frontal gyrus (Broca's area) strongly in normal controls. During this task, the most prominent frontal activation in the patient occurred in the right homologue of Broca's area. Subsequent analysis of this data by methods able to deal with responses of changing amplitude revealed additional, less sustained recruitment by the patient of cortex adjacent to the infarct in the region inferior to Broca's area during rhyming. These results suggest that in addition to changes in cognitive strategy, recovery from dysphasia could be mediated by both the preservation of neuronal networks in and around the infarct and the use of homologous regions in the contralateral hemisphere.