The influence of neuroticism on spatial presence and enjoyment in films

The purpose of the present study was to clarify the influence of neuroticism on the sensation of spatial presence and enjoyment in films. We presented participants (N = 64) a fearful, sad, and funny movie sequence. Across all media, individuals scoring high on neuroticism experienced more presence than those scoring low. In contrast, no main effect was found on enjoyment. In terms of enjoyment, however, neuroticism interacted with the valence of the sequences: in the two conditions with negative valence (fearful and sad sequence), participants scoring high on neuroticism reported less enjoyment than those scoring low on neuroticism. Opposite results were observed in the funny sequence: participants scoring high on neuroticism enjoyed the funny sequence more than those scoring low on neuroticism. Thus, neuroticism increased presence within all conditions, whereas individuals scoring high on neuroticism only experienced increased enjoyment in positive media contents.     

Who emerges as a leader? Meta-analyses of individual differences as predictors of leadership emergence

For more than sixty years, the leaderless group discussion (LGD) has been commonly used to assess leadership emergence and potential. This research focuses on individual differences as predictors of leader emergence in LGDs. Meta-analytic methods allowed us to combine and compare results from 45 studies, producing 196 effect sizes, and make statistically guided decisions about the strength of relationships between individual difference and personality variables and leadership emergence in LGDs. Consistent with more general research on leader emergence and effectiveness, we found a number of individual differences predictive of leader emergence in LGDs, most notably extraversion and authoritarian personality. This research augments previous meta-analytic research on personality and leadership with a focus specifically on the leaderless group discussion.     

Tracking Multiple Statistics: Simultaneous Learning of Object Names and Categories in English and Mandarin Speakers

Two experiments were conducted to examine adult learners' ability to extract multiple statistics in simultaneously presented visual and auditory input. Experiment 1 used a cross‐situational learning paradigm to test whether English speakers were able to use co‐occurrences to learn word‐to‐object mappings and concurrently form object categories based on the commonalities across training stimuli. Experiment 2 replicated the first experiment and further examined whether speakers of Mandarin, a language in which final syllables of object names are more predictive of category membership than English, were able to learn words and form object categories when trained with the same type of structures. The results indicate that both groups of learners successfully extracted multiple levels of co‐occurrence and used them to learn words and object categories simultaneously. However, marked individual differences in performance were also found, suggesting possible interference and competition in processing the two concurrent streams of regularities.     

Career exploration in adolescents: The role of anxiety, attachment, and parenting style

The aim of the study was to examine the role of parent-adolescent attachment, adolescent anxiety and parenting style in the career exploration process and in career satisfaction. Three kinds of anxiety were considered: general trait anxiety, fear of failing in one’s career and fear of disappointing one’s parents. The participants were 283 French high school students on the threshold of one of the most important school transitions. The results varied by gender. For girls, general anxiety and neglectful style were negatively related to career exploration; secure attachment and fear of failing were positively related to it. For boys, fear of disappointing parents was positively related to career exploration. Attachment to parents, authoritative style, general anxiety, and fear of failing were related to some career exploration satisfaction scores, though differently for boys and girls. The differences between boys and girls in the roles played by anxiety, attachment and parenting style are discussed.     

Messages about the uniqueness and similarities of people: Impact on U.S. Black and Latino youth

This experiment examined the impact of messages about uniqueness and similarity between groups of people on Black and Latino children's social attitudes. Children (ages 11–14) read two brief science books embedded with a similarities message (“all people are basically the same”), unique message (“each person is unique”), combined similar-unique message (“all people are the same in a way, but each person is also unique”), or no additional message (control). Relative to the other conditions, the combined condition increased general social tolerance and decreased desired social distance from White children. No message appeared to negatively impact participants' attitudes toward their own group. Implications of these results for basic and applied anti-bias work on promoting similarities, differences, or both are discussed.     

Performance evaluations, need for cognition, and the acquisition of a complex skill: an attribute–treatment interaction

We proposed that intermittent evaluations of performance could be used to promote the acquisition of a complex skill. We also hypothesized that trainees low in need for cognition (NFC) would benefit more from intermittent evaluations compared to trainees high in NFC. Accordingly, 106 young adult males participated in 5 h of training in order to learn a complex computer task that simulated the demands of a dynamic aviation environment. Trainees’ performance was assessed either intermittently during training or at the end of training. Results indicated that intermittent performance evaluations enhanced the skill-based learning of trainees low in NFC, whereas intermittent skill evaluations tended to undermine the skill-based learning of trainees high in NFC. The findings are discussed in relation to Deci’s (1975) theory of intrinsic motivation and the need for more research examining attribute–treatment interactions with respect to training and skill acquisition.     

Modeling individual differences using Dirichlet processes

We introduce a Bayesian framework for modeling individual differences, in which subjects are assumed to belong to one of a potentially infinite number of groups. In this model, the groups observed in any particular data set are not viewed as a fixed set that fully explains the variation between individuals, but rather as representatives of a latent, arbitrarily rich structure. As more people are seen, and more details about the individual differences are revealed, the number of inferred groups is allowed to grow. We use the Dirichlet process—a distribution widely used in nonparametric Bayesian statistics—to define a prior for the model, allowing us to learn flexible parameter distributions without overfitting the data, or requiring the complex computations typically required for determining the dimensionality of a model. As an initial demonstration of the approach, we present three applications that analyze the individual differences in category learning, choice of publication outlets, and web-browsing behavior.     

Absorption and spiritual experience: A review of evidence and potential mechanisms

Some people seem to have a ‘talent’ for spiritual experience: they readily sense the presence of supernatural beings, receive special messages from God, and report intense feelings of self-transcendence, awe and wonder. Here we review converging strands of evidence to argue that the trait of 'absorption' captures a general proclivity for having spiritual experiences. Participants scoring highly on the Tellegen Absorption Scale report vivid experiences of hearing God's voice during prayer, intense mystical experiences in response to psychedelics or placebo brain-stimulation, and strong feelings of presence and transcendence when confronted with natural beauty, virtual reality, or music. Several mechanisms may help to explain the relationship between absorption and spiritual experience. We suggest that absorption captures an experiential mindset that intensifies inner and outer sensory experience in ways that reflect both prior expectation and novel sensory engagement. It seems to enable that which must be imagined to feel more real.     

A step forward: Bayesian hierarchical modelling as a tool in assessment of individual discrimination performance

Individual assessment of infants’ speech discrimination is of great value for studies of language development that seek to relate early and later skills, as well as for clinical work. The present study explored the applicability of the hybrid visual fixation paradigm (Houston et al., 2007) and the associated statistical analysis approach to assess individual discrimination of a native vowel contrast, /aː/ - /eː/, in Dutch 6 to 10-month-old infants. Houston et al. found that 80% (8/10) of the 9-month-old infants successfully discriminated the contrast between pseudowords boodup - seepug. Using the same approach, we found that 12% (14/117) of the infants in our sample discriminated the highly salient /aː/ -/eː/ contrast. This percentage was reduced to 3% (3/117) when we corrected for multiple testing. Bayesian hierarchical modeling indicated that 50% of the infants showed evidence of discrimination. Advantages of Bayesian hierarchical modeling are that 1) there is no need for a correction for multiple testing and 2) better estimates at the individual level are obtained. Thus, individual speech discrimination can be more accurately assessed using state of the art statistical approaches.