Recognition memory and the mere exposure effect

Repeated exposure to novel stimuli tends to make the stimuli better liked. Examined here is the relation between this increment in liking and recognition of the stimuli. An attempt was made to replicate findings taken as evidence that liking is used as a basis for inferring prior exposure and thus for making recognition decisions (e.g., Matlin, 1971; Moreland & Zajonc, 1977). The claim was not supported. Although in each of five experiments liking and recognition were positively correlated, liking was less sensitive to prior exposure than was recognition. Moreover, statistical analyses suggested that if liking and recognition were causally related, recognition mediated liking rather than the other way around.     

Now or Later? Attentional Processing and Intertemporal Choice

The tendency to discount future prospects in lieu of smaller immediate outcomes is known as temporal discounting. The current work used eye‐tracking methodology to examine attentional processing to different elements of choice during an intertemporal decision task. Our findings reveal that those who tend to prefer the immediate option demonstrate attentional biases that were predictive of choice. When losses were at stake, selective attention biases also predicted unique variance in self‐report measures of risk taking, impulsivity, and self‐control beyond what was accounted for by a discounting parameter (k), a typical method for summarizing intertemporal choice data. Overall, our findings suggest that eye‐tracking measures of selective attention may allow for a better theoretical understanding of the mechanisms and processes involved in intertemporal choice. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Clicking away at co-rumination: co-rumination correlates across different modalities of communication

Co-rumination is associated with positive friendship quality (thought to buffer against anxiety and depression) but paradoxically higher levels of anxiety and depression. With the increasing use of technology for communication among adults, there is little known about co-rumination effects across different modalities of communication. In the current study, we examined co-rumination through four methods (i.e. in person, phone calls, text messaging, and social media) in two separate samples - college students and participants from the community. Classic co-rumination effects were found for in-person communications, and we found that co-rumination by telephone as well as by texting, for a college student sample only, mirrors some of these findings for in-person co-rumination. In studies of co-rumination, evaluation of multiple modes of communication is warranted.     

Reflections on the Reflections

Pastoral Psychology -     

The Immune System as a Sensory System: Implications for Psychology

The brain and immune system form a bidirectional communication network in which the immune system operates as a sense organ to provide the brain with information about infection and injury, thereby allowing the brain to coordinate a defense. Activated immune cells release proteins called cytokines, which signal the brain by both blood and neural routes. Information that reaches the brain across this sensory channel produces large changes in neural activity, behavior, mood, and cognitive functioning. Appreciation of the functioning of this network may illuminate poorly understood aspects of stress, depression, and intraindividual variability in behavior, mood, and cognition.     

The Infertility Experience: Biopsychosocial Effects and Suggestions for Counselors

Infertility affects many individuals and couples. This article begins with a case study of a couple who have experienced infertility yet do not identify infer tility as their presenting problem. Clients and counselors alike often overlook infertility. This article offers an overview of the biology of infertility and its psychological and sociological effects. Counseling issues are presented to assist counselors to identify infertility as a concern and provide interventions.     

Counting your blessings: Positive memories among grateful persons

We conducted two studies investigating the relationship of gratitude to autobiographical memory of positive and negative life events. Gratitude was assessed with an attitudinal measure and college students were asked to recall both positive and negative events from their past. In both studies, a significant positive relationship was found between trait gratitude and a positive memory bias. In Study 2 it was found that gratitude still reliably predicted positive memory bias after controlling for depression. Further, it was found that a positive intrusive memory bias was associated with gratitude in both studies. Thus, an important component of gratitude may be an enhanced tendency to recall positive events from one's life.     

Teachers’ tears and the affective geography of the classroom

In recent years there has been a growing interest in the study of emotion within geography; the ways in which particular sites can evoke different feelings and how social relations are mediated by the affectivity of specific spatialities. Through an examination of what provoked a number of teachers to shed tears as they were being interviewed about their practice, this article contributes to this field of enquiry. Rather than viewing the tears as simply a sign of emotion, a reaction to the demands of the profession and the work teachers do – in this case teaching children in the early years of school – they are explored as an indication of the intensity of the teacher–student relation and the ethics of care these teachers embodied as a result of the interaffectivity of the spaces in which they taught. The article, therefore, makes a distinction between emotion and affect, exploring the corporeality of affective engagement in space as opposed to the more mindful experience of emotion. In doing this it also considers what a study of affect and space might offer current perspectives on pedagogic practice and the role of the teacher in contemporary classrooms.     

A Pilot Study of Psychotherapist Trainees' Alpha-Amylase and Cortisol Levels During Treatment of Recently Suicidal Clients With Borderline Traits

Psychotherapists often experience stress while providing psychotherapy, in particular when working with difficult presentations such as suicidality. As part of a larger study on the treatment of recently suicidal college students with borderline traits, 6 therapists in training collected their own salivary samples for alpha-amylase (AA) and cortisol (C) analyses immediately before and after sessions with 2 selected clients. On average, samples were collected for the same therapist-patient dyad throughout the year-long study to ensure that data reflected therapist responses across stages of treatment. Therapists also completed a working alliance questionnaire and rated perceived session difficulty immediately after each selected session. Contrary to expectations, therapists demonstrated elevated levels of stress as measured by AA and C at presession relative to postsession levels. Greater session difficulty was related to more pronounced declines in AA, whereas a stronger working alliance was linked to more pronounced reductions in C. Results suggest that physiological stress responses while working with recently suicidal clients with borderline traits occur primarily in terms of session anticipatory anxiety, whereas AA and C changes may be affected differently by factors such as session difficulty and working alliance. This is a pilot study, limited by its sample size, but the design, findings, and inclusion of physiological measures present an initial step in an essential line of research.