Narcissism, vanity, personality and mating effort

The current study examined the relationship between narcissism and vanity, and the degree these are predicted by the ‘Big Five’ personality traits and mating effort (ME) using a sample of 103 females recruited from a large beauty salon. Narcissism correlated with vanity at 0.72 (P < 0.001), and was associated positively with extraversion (E), ME and the subscales of vanity; narcissism was associated negatively with neuroticism (N) and agreeableness (A). Vanity correlated positively with E, conscientiousness, both subscales of narcissism, and ME, and negatively with N and A. A composite narcissism–vanity score was produced using principal components analysis, and used along with scores from the NEO-FFI-R to predict mating effort. The narcissism–vanity composite, low A and E significantly and independently predicted mating effort (adjusted R² = 0.28, F(9.96) = 7.74, P < 0.001). These results show that mating effort is additionally predicted by narcissism as well as self-reported personality.     

Ignorance is bliss: the role of observer expectation in dynamic spatial tuning of the attentional focus

When two sequential targets (T1, T2) are inserted in an RSVP stream of distractors, perception of T2 is impaired at intertarget lags shorter than 700 msec. Paradoxically, this deficit disappears when T2 is presented directly after T1 (lag-1 sparing). Visser, Bischof, and Di Lollo (1999) found that lag-1 sparing occurs only when T1 and T2 are presented in the same stream. In contrast, Shih (2000) obtained lag-1 sparing with targets insepa-rate streams. Four experiments addressed this inconsistency and revealed lag-1 sparing with targets in different streams, but only when observers had no foreknowledge of T1's location. We hypothesized that when T1 location is known, attention is focused narrowly on that stream; if T2 then appears in the other stream it is missed, and lag-1 sparing does not occur. When T1 location is not known, attention is focused broadly, encompassing both streams, and lag-1 sparing ensues.     

The time required for perceptual (nonmotoric) processing in IOR

In an inhibition of return (IOR) paradigm, we used a threshold-tracking procedure combined with backward masking to measure the speed of perceptual processing in IOR independent of motoric factors. Instead of the conventional reaction time measure, this procedure yielded the critical exposure duration (DUR_c) that is required in order for a target to be identified reliably before the onset of a trailing mask. In Experiment 1, the facilitation effects conventionally found at short cue—target onset asynchrony (CTOA) were evidenced by shorter values of DUR_c at cued relative to uncued locations. Conversely, the retardation effects conventionally found at long CTOA were evidenced by correspondingly longer values of DUR_c. In Experiment 2, the DUR_c results strongly suggest that the directional reading bias previously observed in IOR studies is due, at least in part, to perceptual rather than motoric factors.     

Authoritarianism, social dominance orientation and prejudice: Effects of various self-categorization conditions

One hundred and seventy nine students first answered RWA and SDO scales were assigned to experimental conditions that primed different forms of self-categorization, and finally responded for prejudice scales for three target ethnic groups. The results showed first, that RWA and SDO correlate with prejudice in a control condition. Second, RWA and SDO correlated differently with prejudice depending on the way in which membership to social group was primed. When a prime as member of a group oriented to devotion to the in-group norms and values was used, the correlation of RWA and in-group identification with prejudice was significant, but when a prime as member of a competitive group was used, only SDO correlated significantly with prejudice. The results were discussed as identifying two different schemas of social categorization according to which RWA and SDO expressed sets of social beliefs and attitudes relevant for inter-group relations.     

The nature of skilled adult reading varies with type of instruction in childhood

Does the type of reading instruction experienced during the initial years at school have any continuing effect on the ways in which adults read words? The question has arisen in current discussions about computational models of mature word-reading processes. We tested predicted continuing effects by comparing matched samples of skilled adult readers of English who had received explicit phonics instruction in childhood and those who had not. In responding to nonwords that can receive alternative legitimate pronunciations, those adults having childhood phonics instruction used more regular grapheme-phoneme correspondences that were context free and used fewer vocabulary-based contextually dependent correspondences than did adults who had no phonics instruction. These differences in regularization of naming responses also extended to some low-frequency words. This apparent cognitive footprint of childhood phonics instruction is a phenomenon requiring consideration when researchers attempt to model adult word reading and when they select participants to test the models.     

When do primes prime? The moderating role of the self-concept in individuals’ susceptibility to priming effects on social behavior

Using cooperative behavior in economic decision-making settings, we predicted and found that people’s susceptibility to priming influences is moderated by two factors: people’s chronic accessibility to a behavioral repertoire and people’s self-concept activation. In Experiment 1, we show that individuals highly consistent in their social value orientation (SVO) assimilate their behavior to their dispositions rather than to the primes, whereas the opposite effect is obtained among individuals with a low consistent SVO. In Experiment 2, we show that low consistent SVO individuals become less susceptible to priming influences when their self-concept is activated. These studies shed new light on individuals’ susceptibility to priming influences on social behavior.     

Perceptual illusions in brief visual presentations

We often feel that our perceptual experience is richer than what we can express. For instance, when flashed with a large set of letters, we feel that we can see them all, while we can report only a few. However, the nature of this subjective impression remains highly debated: while many favour a dissociation between two forms of consciousness (access vs. phenomenal consciousness), others contend that the richness of phenomenal experience is a mere illusion. Here we addressed this question with a classical partial-report paradigm now modified to include unexpected items in the unreported parts of the stimuli. We show that even in the presence of unexpected pseudo-letters, participants still felt that there were only letters. Additionally, we show that this feeling reflects an illusion whereby participants reconstruct letters using partial letter-like information. We propose that the feeling of seeing emerges from the interplay between partially accessible information and expectations.     

Toward an intersectional understanding of violence and resilience: An exploratory study of young Southeast Asian men in Alameda and Contra Costa County, California

There is a nascent, but growing, literature on Southeast Asian youth violence that focuses on the role of acculturation, portraying violence as a problem of maladaptation. However, scholars overlook the ways in which violence holds meaning for the youth who experience it and how violence may be related to racial and gender identity formation. We conducted a qualitative study with young Southeast Asian men to elicit the role violence plays in their understanding of what it means for them to be Southeast Asian and male. We conducted focus groups and semi-structured individual interviews with an ethnically diverse group of 21 young Southeast Asian men 13–17 years of age from Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, California. Data were analyzed using the extended case method approach. Our findings illustrate that violence and engagement with community-based organizations are situational tools that these young Southeast Asian men use to navigate their social contexts in an attempt to be resilient in ecological contexts marked by alienation and discrimination, as well as to construct accepted and successful racial and gender identities. Furthermore, we found that their actions were guided by gendered codes of conduct, such as a “code of the street.”     

Synaesthesia: learned or lost?

The question why synaesthesia, an atypical binding within or between modalities, occurs is both enduring and important. Two explanations have been provided: (1) a congenital explanation: we are all born as synaesthetes but most of us subsequently lose the experience due to brain development; (2) a learning explanation: synaesthesia is related to some learning process during childhood. Three recent studies provide conflicting support for these explanations. Two studies supported the idea that synaesthesia is learned by showing that the frequency of everyday language implicitly modulates the synaesthetic experience. Another study argued that synaesthesia reflects basic, innate magnitude representations. In this paper we reassess these points of view, and show that it is possible for both to be valid. These findings are integrated into an interactive specialization account of development in order to explain the neuronal mechanism underlying synaesthesia.