Emotional reactions to scandals: When does moral character make a difference?

A scandal can evoke public outrage when it is widely publicized and involves an individual who is perceived to have a high level of cultural representativeness. Two experiments showed that when the scandalous target's moral character was highlighted, emotional responses towards the target were least negative when the scandal was widely circulated and when the target was seen as a representative of his culture. These results suggest that when a cultural symbol is implicated in a widely‐circulated scandal, the negative emotions directed towards the scandalous individual can be alleviated when the public remains confident in his or her commitment to morality.     

Does P3 Reflect Attentional or Memory Performances,or Cognition more Generally?

The study evaluated the off-line relationship of attention, memory and other cognitive performances with the auditory event-related potentials P3 (P300) and N2. The sample comprised 200 middle-aged construction workers. Verbal, visuomotor and memory tests were administered. Attentional domains were examined using CogniSpeed software. Slowed reaction times in the test of sustained attention (vigilance) were associated with delayed P3 latency (p < 0.001) and decreased P3 amplitude (p = 0.005), as well as with delayed N2 latency (p < 0.001). Visuomotor slowing in Digit Symbol was also related to delayed P3 latency (p = 0.030) and decreased P3 amplitude (p = 0.014). In contrast, mild cognitive impairment, short- and long-term memory, and concentrating or sharing attention with high working memory demands were not related to P3. The results suggest that P3 is linked to attentional performance with low working memory demands rather than to effortful working memory updating, retrieval from memory stores, or mild cognitive impairment.     

Influence of the movement parameter to be controlled on manual RT asymmetries in right-handers

In this experiment we test whether the effects of manual asymmetries on movement preparation depend on the parameter (amplitude or direction) to be programmed. In two experiments, only the amplitude, or the direction, of aiming movements was constrained. Reaction and movement times were measured. Results show that RTs are always shorter for left-hand than for right-hand movements. There is an effect of target extent in the amplitude condition, but not in the direction one. RTs for ipsilateral movements are shorter than RTs for contralateral movements. These results are discussed in the light of the processes involved in setting the amplitude or direction of the movement and with regard to the competency of the two hemispheres regarding these processes.     

Combining speed and accuracy to assess error-free cognitive processes

Both the speed and accuracy of responding are important measures of performance. A well-known interpretive difficulty is that participants may differ in their strategy, trading speed for accuracy, with no change in underlying competence. Another difficulty arises when participants respond slowly and inaccurately (rather than quickly but inaccurately), e.g., due to a lapse of attention. We introduce an approach that combines response time and accuracy information and addresses both situations. The modeling framework assumes two latent competing processes. The first, the error-free process, always produces correct responses. The second, the guessing process, results in all observed errors and some of the correct responses (but does so via non-specific processes, e.g., guessing in compliance with instructions to respond on each trial). Inferential summaries of the speed of the error-free process provide a principled assessment of cognitive performance reducing the influences of both fast and slow guesses. Likelihood analysis is discussed for the basic model and extensions. The approach is applied to a data set on response times in a working memory test. The authors wish to thank Roger Ratcliff, Christopher Chabris, and three anonymous referees for their helpful comments, and Aureliu Lavric for providing the data analyzed in this paper.     

Histrionic Personality Disorder, Physical Attractiveness, and Social Adjustment

Histrionic personality disorder (HPD) is the only DSM-IV personality disorder (PD) explicitly linked to a person's physical appearance. This study examined the HPD–attractiveness link in a mixed-sex sample of college students. Consistent with expectations, HPD women were rated higher in attractiveness than women with other PDs or no PD. However, a parallel HPD–attractiveness link was not found in men. Subsequent analyses indicated that, relative to less attractive HPD women, more attractive HPD women (a) had a more varied and supportive social network, (b) exhibited more negative behaviors in important relationships, and (c) showed greater use of immature defenses, and less reliance on image-distorting, self-sacrificing, and mature defenses. Similar attractiveness–defense relationships were found in HPD men, but parallel results did not emerge for men in the other two domains. Implications of these findings are discussed, and suggestions for future studies are offered.     

A passion of the soul: an introduction to pain for consciousness researchers

Pain is an important focus for consciousness research because it is an avenue for exploring somatic awareness, emotion, and the genesis of subjectivity. In principle, pain is awareness of tissue trauma, but pain can occur in the absence of identifiable injury, and sometimes substantive tissue injury produces no pain. The purpose of this paper is to help bridge pain research and consciousness studies. It reviews the basic sensory neurophysiology associated with tissue injury, including transduction, transmission, modulation, and central representation. In addition, it highlights the central mechanisms for the emotional aspects of pain, demonstrating the physiological link between tissue trauma and mechanisms of emotional arousal. Finally, we discuss several current issues in the field of pain research that bear on central issues in consciousness studies, such as sickness and sense of self.     

The Wall: On the psychology of the reunification of Germany

The fall of the Berlin Wall, which separated West Germans and East Germans for decades, led to emotional catastrophe among the reunited peoples. The authors conducted a psychological research program in Berlin to analyze individual and interpersonal processes in the reunification. They describe four categories used to pinpoint different (largely unconscious) levels of coping and defense strategies used to deal with the changes: control, splitting, symbiosis, and integration.Thomas Krauss, Dr. phil., is a family therapist and teaching supervisor. From 1985–1990 he worked as scientific employee at the Free University Berlin. Angelika Fass, Dr. phil., is a family therapist and teaching supervisor. From 1986–1991 she worked as scientific employee (research and lecturer) at the Technical University in Berlin. Reprint requests should be sent to the authors at Markt 2, D-29493 Schnackenburg, Germany.Translation by Ann Brandt.     

Involvement of reactive oxygen species in emotional stress: A hypothesis based on the immobilization stress-induced oxidative damage and antioxidant defense changes in rat brain,and the effect of antioxidant treatment with reduced glutathione

We examined the oxidative damage and antioxidant defense changes with immobilization-induced emotional stress in the rat brain. Though superoxide dismutase activity remained unchanged, brain peroxidation was significantly accelerated by the immobilization stress. Membrane fluidity study with spin labeling in brain cortical membrane showed that immobilization stress induced an increase in microviscosity of membrane layer near the surface and in the ordering of membrane proteins but a decrease in microviscosity at the core of the membrane bilayer. The Na, K-ATPase activity decreased whereas the levels of some monoamines and their metabolites increased along with their metabolic rate. The administration of reduced glutathione showed a protective effect on the immobilization stress-induced stomach bleeding, oxidative damage and abnormal changes in the brain antioxidant defenses. Based on these results and on previous reports, we hypothesize that immobilization stress may induce the formation of reactive oxygen species which weakens the brain antioxidant defenses and induces oxidative damage. The antioxidant administration of reduced glutathione provides further evidence to support the above hypothesis, and also may provide clues in the search for a rational therapy to emotional stress. A possible correlation of emotional stress to aging is also discussed.     

驾驶员的动态反应时研究

本研究应用DFY-1型动态反应时测试仪,以解放CA10B 型卡车为实验用车,结合日常运输任务,对三种年龄组(20—29岁、30—39岁、40—49岁)的30名驾驶员,在三种车速(静态,30公里/小时及50公里/小时)条件下的反应时、动作时及制动反应时进行了测试。结果表明:车速对驾驶员的反应时及制动反应时有显著影响,而对动作时则无显著影响;驾驶员的年龄对反应时、动作时及制动反应时均无显著影响.本研究结果为加强驾驶员的安全教育与管理,控制车速提供了佐证。更高车速条件下驾驶员的反应时特点尚待进一步研究。     

A Norwegian translation of the Plutchik questionnaire for psychological defense

The reliability and validity of the Norwegian translation of Plutchik's Life Style Index (LSI) have been tested in a material of 704 individuals, 471 men and 233 women. The results showed low internal consistency for most of the subscales (Alpha ranging from 0.43 to 0.68). Several of the scales were also significantly correlated. Factor analyses showed that some of them loaded on common factors, indicating low specificity of the scales. Further, the validity of the test was not confirmed.