Mindfulness or expectancy? The label of mindfulness leads to expectancy effects

The increasing popularity of mindfulness practices has seen an accompanying growth in research that includes the development of several self-report mindfulness measures. However, while caution has been recommended in the use of these self-reports, there has been little direct assessment of their susceptibility to expectancy effects. This research aimed at understanding whether expectancy effects exist for self-reported mindfulness measures (Study 1; n = 60), and how expectancy effects might manifest in relation to positive and negative expectancy (Study 2; n = 60). The first study manipulated whether (i) the task (jigsaws) was labelled as “mindfulness,” and (ii) whether “authentic” mindfulness instructions were given. Given any increases in self-reported mindfulness might potentially occur due to engaging in the mindful and attentionally demanding task, the second study manipulated whether the introduction placed mindfulness in a positive or negative context. A pre-/post-test design was employed using the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire and Applied Mindfulness Process Scale self-report measures for mindfulness and the Perceived Stress Scale for well-being. The findings revealed expectancy effects for simply using the term mindfulness and that the direction of effects could be manipulated. This research suggests that researchers need to be cautious in evaluating self-reports of mindfulness practice due to expectancy effects, especially in the context of brief interventions without objective measures.     

Using Brief Functional Analysis to Select Interventions for Oral Reading

Reading interventions were applied in a brief multielement format to examine their effectiveness at improving the oral reading fluency of three students referred for reading problems. Although each student had different profiles across experimental analyses, effective interventions were identified and a mini-replication confirmed the pattern of results in each case.     

Evidence that Killing Escalates Within‐Subjects in a Bug‐Killing Paradigm

Prior research has examined killing behavior using a paradigm in which participants believe (falsely) that they are killing bugs. This work suggests that killing behavior escalates. In the present study, we sought to replicate the basic escalation effect within‐subjects. Further, in doing so, we controlled for experimenter “sanctioning” of killing that may have differed with key between‐subjects manipulations in the prior research. To control for this possible confound, the present experiment held experimenter instructions constant and examined whether killing naturally escalated within‐subjects across two 12‐sec bug‐killing tasks. Additionally, to verify that escalation is due to killing per se and not just physical practice of the procedure, we manipulated whether the procedure was described as real killing or simulated killing. Results showed that when participants thought they were killing bugs, the number of bugs put into the grinder increased from the first to the second killing task. No such escalation occurred when participants performed the procedure while knowing the killing was simulated. Thus, killing of bugs escalates and is not simply a consequence of perceived sanctioning of killing by an experimenter or simulated practice of the procedure.     

Preliminary support for links between media body ideal insecurity and women's shoe and handbag purchases

Two studies examined the relationship between women's insecurity-arousing comparisons with female models and shoe/handbag ownership. Idealized media images appear capable of threatening some women's sense of attractiveness and it may be that as a result, accessorizing becomes particularly appealing because it helps increase physical attractiveness without drawing attention to one's figure, the object of the threatening comparisons. In Study 1 (N=922), a correlational study, the more women reported that they feel insecure when they see attractive female models, the more shoes they tended to own. In Study 2 (N=286), we manipulated whether women saw images of attractive female models or not. The more women exhibited insecurity following exposure to the images of attractive models, the more shoes and handbags they tended to own. In both studies, these effects did not hold for ownership of trousers, an item of clothing that draws attention toward one's body.     

Expanding the link between core self-evaluations and affective job attitudes

The present study examined the differentiated relationship between core self-evaluations and affective job attitudes. In previous research, job characteristics were proposed to mediate this relationship. However, the facets of the job characteristics model have not yet been assessed separately. In the present study we tested which job characteristics (i.e., skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback) mediate the relationship between core self-evaluations and job satisfaction as well as organizational commitment in a sample of 199 employees. Results revealed that core self-evaluations were related to job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Task significance was found to mediate these relationships. These findings are discussed with respect to the level on which people regulate their actions.     

To Preserve,Protect, and Defend: Masculine Honor Beliefs and Perceptions of the 2016 Presidential Candidates

We investigated the relationship between masculine honor beliefs and perceptions of the candidates vying for the presidency. Consistent with hypotheses, we found that higher levels of masculine honor beliefs were associated with more positive perceptions of Donald Trump and with more negative perceptions of Hillary Clinton. Furthermore, our results indicate that higher levels of masculine honor beliefs were associated with clear preferences for Donald Trump. Thus, our data, collected immediately prior to the election likely reflect the beliefs and perceptions that individuals took with them to the polls and help to explain the decisions that voters made on Election Day.     

Emotional facial expressions and the attentional blink: Attenuated blink for angry and happy faces irrespective of social anxiety

Although facial information is distributed over spatial as well as temporal domains, thus far research on selective attention to disapproving faces has concentrated predominantly on the spatial domain. This study examined the temporal characteristics of visual attention towards facial expressions by presenting a Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) paradigm to high (n=33) and low (n=34) socially anxious women. Neutral letter stimuli (p, q, d, b) were presented as the first target (T1), and emotional faces (neutral, happy, angry) as the second target (T2). Irrespective of social anxiety, the attentional blink was attenuated for emotional faces. Emotional faces as T2 did not influence identification accuracy of a preceding (neutral) target. The relatively low threshold for the (explicit) identification of emotional expressions is consistent with the view that emotional facial expressions are processed relatively efficiently.     

Intact emotion–cognition interaction in schizophrenia patients and first-degree relatives: Evidence from an emotional antisaccade task

Schizophrenia patients have deficits in cognitive control as well as in a number of emotional domains. The antisaccade task is a measure of cognitive control that requires the inhibition of a reflex-like eye movement to a peripheral stimulus. Antisaccade performance has been shown to be modulated by the emotional content of the peripheral stimuli, with emotional stimuli leading to higher error rates than neutral stimuli, reflecting an implicit emotion processing effect. The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact on antisaccade performance of threat-related emotional facial stimuli in schizophrenia patients, first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients and healthy controls. Fifteen patients, 22 relatives and 26 controls, matched for gender, age and verbal intelligence, carried out an antisaccade task with pictures of faces displaying disgusted, fearful and neutral expressions as peripheral stimuli. We observed higher antisaccade error rates in schizophrenia patients compared to first-degree relatives and controls. Relatives and controls did not differ significantly from each other. Antisaccade error rate was influenced by the emotional nature of the stimuli: participants had higher antisaccade error rates in response to fearful faces compared to neutral and disgusted faces. As this emotional influence on cognitive control did not differ between groups we conclude that implicit processing of emotional faces is intact in patients with schizophrenia and those at risk for the illness.