The impact of verbal feedback about blushing on social discomfort and facial blood flow during embarrassing tasks

To investigate whether verbal feedback about blushing influences subsequent social discomfort or blushing itself, changes in facial blood flow and ratings of blushing and embarrassment were investigated in high (N=28) and low scorers (N=28) on the Blushing Propensity scale while singing and reading aloud, and while listening to audiotapes of their performance. After each task half of the participants were told that they had blushed, and the rest were told that they had not blushed. Blood flow increased progressively in participants with high blushing propensity scores who were given "blushing" feedback, but not in the other participants. This finding suggests that expecting to blush may become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Verbal feedback about blushing strongly influenced subsequent social discomfort, and mimicked the effects of blushing propensity on ratings of embarrassment and blushing intensity. In sum, the findings support the view that preconceptions about blushing propensity are shaped by past learning experiences, that concern about blushing is a major source of discomfort in embarrassing situations, and that these concerns are often unrelated to the actual intensity of blushing.     

Analyzing Complex Treatment Effects in Nonrandomized Observational Studies: The Case of Retention of Students in Grade

Should low-achieving students be promoted to the next grade or be retained (held back) in the prior grade? This special section presents a discussion of the application of marginal structural models to the challenging problem of estimating the effect of promotion versus retention in grade on math scores in elementary school. Vandecandelaere, De Fraine, Van Damme, and Vansteelandt provide a didactic presentation of the marginal structural modeling approach, noting retention is a time-varying treatment because promoted low-achieving students may be retained in a subsequent grade. Steiner, Park, and Kim's commentary presents a detailed analysis of the treatment effects being estimated in same-age versus same-grade comparisons from the perspective of the potential outcomes model. Reshetnyak, Cham, and Kim's commentary clarifies the conditions under which same-age versus same-grade comparisons might be preferred; they also identify methods of further improving the estimation of retention effects. In their rejoinder, Vandecandelaere and Vansteelandt discuss tradeoffs in comparing the promoted and retained groups and highlight sensitivity analysis as a method of probing the robustness of treatment effect estimates. Our hope is that this combined didactic presentation and critical evaluation will encourage researchers to add marginal structural models to their methodological toolkits.     

Relational Mobility Increases Social (but Not Other) Risk Propensity

In recent years, we have witnessed a resurgent focus on ecological features, especially various forms of mobility that afford social psychological processes. Extending this work, the current research examined whether relational mobility affects risk propensity. We conducted three studies using both correlational (Studies 1 and 3) and experimental (Study 2) methods. Results provide support for the hypothesis that perceptions of relational mobility are associated with risk propensity in the domain of interpersonal behaviors but not other risk domains (health, financial, etc.). Findings in Study 3 suggested that the association between relational mobility and propensity for risky interpersonal behaviors may stem from the effect of relational mobility in lowering subjective risk (but not in increasing expected benefits) of such behaviors. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

员工创新行为源于领导情感信任吗?风险倾向与组织行为授权的调节作用

领导情感信任会促进员工表现创新行为,但员工个体的风险倾向与组织行为授权可能对其具有调节作用。结果显示（1）领导情感信任能正向预测员工创新行为;（2）领导情感信任、组织行为授权与风险倾向对员工创新行为预测存在三维交互作用,相对于其他条件,组织行为授权和风险倾向均处于高水平条件下,领导情感信任与员工创新行为的正相关程度更为明显。探讨领导情感信任、组织行为授权、风险倾向与员工创新行为的关系可以为甄别影响员工创新行为的个体和环境因素提供理论指导,此外,也可为企业和直接领导如何增加员工创新行为提供借鉴。     

风险决策中的领域特异性

风险领域特异性指某特定领域内的风险决策和偏好可能会受到领域内特有的风险因素影响, 因而会导致领域特异性的行为。基于期望法则的风险决策理论认为, 风险倾向具有跨情境的稳定性。但近20年行为决策领域的证据表明, 风险倾向具有领域特异性, 其机制探索、测量工具和影响因素方面均取得了积极进展。从机制探索历程来看, 以往主流机制着重从风险−回报框架解构领域特异性的风险行为, 近年研究在丰富其机制检验证据的同时, 开始从进化、人格、动机等新的视角进行解读; 在测量工具层面, 领域特异性风险量表仍占主导地位, 并在多种文化、内容领域和群体间得到了进一步检验和扩展, 其他基于不同内容领域划分的风险领域特异性量表也具有较好的信效度; 在影响因素层面, 大量研究从遗传、环境、个体差异等角度探索了导致风险领域特异性的前因变量。未来研究方向应注重整合各风险内容领域, 在更加细化的风险领域检验现有理论, 并进一步探索个体层面的领域特异性规律。     

风险情景中参照点与管理者认知特征

采用问卷测量的方法探讨风险情景以及个性特征对个体风险倾向的影响。结果显示：(1)成就动机的两个成分,即争取成功与回避失败能够分别预测个体在风险情景中的风险倾向与认知特征;争取成功动机对预测个体机会认知更敏感,而回避失败动机对预测威胁认知更有效。(2)回避失败动机是区分个体风险倾向的关键变量,个体在风险情景中的风险倾向取决于个体回避失败动机的强弱。(3)实验证实了当以“成功”为参照点时,回避失败倾向低的个体,在获益情景中更冒险而在损失情景中更保守;相反,回避失败倾向高的个体,在损失情景中更冒险而在获益情景中更保守。研究表明,结合人格和情景两类变量探讨个体风险倾向的反应模式能够更准确地描述个体行为倾向及其认知特征。这一结论提供了一个可能的思路来解释P理论与刻板模式之间的争执。另外,企业与学生样本在数据的总体趋势上存在相当多的一致性,但在细节上仍然存在差异,因此以学生样本数据进行推论时须要特别谨慎。     

Differential disgust responding in people with cancer and implications for psychological wellbeing

Objectives: Evidence suggests that disgust responses, known to negatively affect psychological wellbeing, may differ in people with cancer. We performed the first quantitative investigation of three discrete types of disgust trait – disgust propensity, sensitivity and self-directed disgust – in people diagnosed with a broad range of cancers (versus cancer-free controls), and explored their associations with psychological wellbeing.

Design: In a cross-sectional survey design, 107 participants with heterogeneous cancer diagnoses, recruited from cancer charities and support groups, were matched with cancer-free controls by age and gender.

Outcome measures: Measures of the three disgust traits were taken alongside measures of anxiety and depression.

Results: Disgust sensitivity and physical self-disgust were significantly higher in the cancer than control sample, while disgust propensity and behavioural self-disgust were lower. The disgust traits had a different pattern of associations to psychological wellbeing across the two groups, with disgust sensitivity predicting depressive symptoms to a significantly greater extent in the cancer than control group.

Conclusions: People with cancer differ from matched controls in their disgust responses and these responses have significant predictive relationships with aspects of their psychological wellbeing. The results suggest that emotion-based interventions may be useful for improving psychological wellbeing in people with cancer.     

Relationship amongst mood,propensity to forgive,and mental-health problems in female Italian adolescents

Adolescence is a time of rapid physical, neurological, and cognitive transformations, as well as shifts in relationships through the development of new roles across social domains. As an outcome of such transformations, adolescents may become vulnerable to mental-health problems during this period. Therefore, it is important to focus on predictors of mental-health problems to identify effective prevention strategies. This study examined the mediating role of propensity to forgive in the relationship amongst mood and mental health in a sample of female Italian students who consisted of 342 nonreferred adolescents. Participants completed the Positive Affect-Negative Affect Schedule-Short Form, the Heartland Forgiveness Scale, and the General Health Questionnaire. The mediation analysis results suggest that mood has a direct effect on mental-health problems and an indirect effect through propensity to forgive. The results suggest the importance of considering implementing education programmes and forgiveness interventions within clinical practice as a means of reducing mental-health problems.     

How Do Propensity Score Methods Measure Up in the Presence of Measurement Error? A Monte Carlo Study

Considering that the absence of measurement error in research is a rare phenomenon and its effects can be dramatic, we examine the impact of measurement error on propensity score (PS) analysis used to minimize selection bias in behavioral and social observational studies. A Monte Carlo study was conducted to explore the effects of measurement error on the treatment effect and balance estimates in PS analysis across seven different PS conditioning methods. In general, the results indicate that even low levels of measurement error in the covariates lead to substantial bias in estimates of treatment effects and concomitant reduction in confidence interval coverage across all methods of conditioning on the PS.     

大学生的冒险性与创业意向的关系：感知的创业文化的调节作用

为探讨大学生的冒险性、感知的创业文化与创业意向之间的关系,采用Kogan-Wallach困境选择问卷(CDQ)、感知的创业文化问卷和大学生创业意向量表调查了996名大一至大四年级学生。结果表明:男大学生的创业目标意向和创业执行意向水平均显著高于女大学生;冒险性、感知的创业文化能够直接正向预测大学生的创业目标意向;感知的创业文化能够调节冒险性与创业目标意向之间的关系,具体来讲,对于感知的创业文化水平较高的大学生,冒险性能够积极预测创业目标意向,而对于感知的创业文化水平较低的大学生,冒险性与创业目标意向之间不存在联系。