Intelligence and interpersonal sensitivity: A meta-analysis

A meta-analytic review investigated the association between general intelligence and interpersonal sensitivity. The review involved 38 independent samples with 2988 total participants. There was a highly significant small-to-medium effect for intelligence measures to be correlated with decoding accuracy (r = .19, p < .001). Significant moderators included the type of decoding judgment (emotion vs. intended meaning judgments), decoding channel (audio-only vs. audio-plus-video channel), and target gender (both male-and-female targets vs. female-only targets). Interpersonal decoding accuracy requires some level of social sophistication and results of this meta-analysis suggest that part of that social sophistication involves the cognitive abilities comprising general intelligence.     

The embarrassed bystander: Embarrassability and the inhibition of helping

Two studies tested whether individual differences in the tendency to experience embarrassment could predict interpersonal helping behavior (informing another individual about a correctible flaw). In Study 1, 84 participants were given a chance to help an experimenter by telling her that she had ink on her face. Some knew she had an interview immediately following the experiment; some did not. Some participants were there with a confederate; some were alone. The presence of the confederate or of the interview predicted (negatively and positively, respectively) whether the participant would point out the ink. Among those who pointed out the ink, individuals higher in embarrassability were slower to help. In Study 2, participants reported on real-life interactions with others who had a temporary flaw (e.g., food in their teeth). Conceptually replicating Study 1, participants higher in embarrassability were less likely to point out the flaw. These studies suggest that fear of embarrassment is a strong inhibitory factor in social helping situations, and that personality factors can predict who will be inhibited from helping.     

Automatically activated racial attitudes as predictors of the success of interracial roommate relationships

Study 1 indicated that roommate relationships involving randomly paired interracial freshmen were characterized by less extensive joint activity and were more likely to dissolve than those involving randomly paired White freshmen. Study 2 explored whether the automatically activated racial attitudes of White freshmen who had been randomly assigned to share rooms with Black freshmen would predict the stability and duration of the roommate relationships. The racial attitudes of the White freshmen were measured unobtrusively via a priming procedure at the beginning of the fall semester. White students’ automatically activated racial attitudes, but not their motivation to control prejudiced reactions, predicted the longevity of the relationships. Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed.     

Walking with avatars: Gait-related visual information for following a virtual leader

Dynamic situations, such as interactive sports or walking on a busy street, impose high demands on a person’s ability to interact with (others in) its environment (i.e., ‘interact-ability’). The current study examined how distance regulation, a fundamental component of these interactions, is mediated by different sources of visual information. Participants were presented with a back and forwards moving virtual leader, which they had to follow by walking back and forwards themselves. We presented the leader in several appearances that differed in the presence of segmental (i.e., relative movements of body segments), cadence-related (i.e., sway and bounce), and global (i.e., optical expansion-compression) information. Results indicated that removing segmental motion information from the virtual leader significantly deteriorated both temporal synchronization and spatial accuracy of the follower to the leader, especially when the movement path of the leader was less regular/predictable. However, no difference was found between cadence-related and global motion information appearances. We argue that regulating distance with others effectively requires a versatile attunement to segmental and global motion information depending on the specific task demands. The results further support the notion that detection of especially segmental information allows for more timely ‘anticipatory’ tuning to another person’s locomotor movements and intentions.     

Complexity matching and coordination in individual and dyadic performance

Complexity matching is a measure of coordination based on information exchange between complex networks. To date, studies have focused mainly on interpersonal coordination, but complexity matching may generalize to interacting networks within individuals. The present study examined complexity matching in a double, coordinated Fitts' perceptual-motor task with comparable individual and dyadic conditions. Participants alternated touching targets with their left and right hands in the individual condition, or analogously with the left hand of one partner and the right hand of another in the dyadic condition. In Experiment 1, response coupling was manipulated by making targets drift either randomly or contingently based on prior responses. Here, drift refers to the variability in the target movements between response locations. Long-range correlations in time series of inter-response intervals exhibited complexity matching between the left and right hands of dyads and individuals. Response coupling was necessary for complexity matching in dyads but not individuals. When response coupling was absent in the dyadic condition, the degree of complexity matching was significantly reduced. Experiment 2 showed that the effect of coupling was due to interactions between left and right responses. Results also showed a weak, negative relationship between complexity matching and performance as measured by total response time. In conclusion, principles and measures of complexity matching apply similarly within and between individuals, and perceptual-motor performance can be facilitated by loose response coupling.     

How class cohesion and teachers’ relatedness supportive/thwarting style relate to students’ relatedness,motivation, and positive and negative outcomes in physical education

The main goal of this study was to examine the links between class cohesion and teachers’ relatedness teaching style with students’ relatedness needs, motivation, and positive and negative outcomes in Physical Education. A total of 1294 students 10–18 years old (M = 14.40, SD = 1.99), 613 males (M = 14.48, SD = 1.95) and 681 females (M = 14.33, SD = 2.02), agreed to participate. They were enrolled in 88 classes belonging to 13 different primary and secondary schools in southwestern Spain. The study followed a correlational research design. Results of the multilevel path model showed a positive relationship between teachers’ relatedness support and class cohesion and behavioral and emotional engagement through relatedness need satisfaction and autonomous and controlled motivation. Results also showed a positive relationship between teachers’ relatedness thwarting and disruptive behaviors and problematic relationships through relatedness need frustration and amotivation. In conclusion, teachers’ relatedness behaviors and class cohesion can significantly impact the students’ relatedness and motivation, which in turn will affect their engagement and behaviors. A whole cascade of consequences begins with the way teachers teach and the cohesion generated in class. These first steps cannot be overlooked.     

Intra- and interpersonal consequences of experimentally induced concealment

Secrecy, concealment, and thought suppression are assumed to be important aspects of psychopathology. However, most studies address these from an intrapersonal perspective. This study investigates both the intra- as well as the interpersonal consequences of experimentally induced concealment. Two experiments are described in which non-clinical participants were given a concealment instruction (i.e. avoid talking about a certain topic) in a conversation with an interviewer. In the neutral condition there was no such restraint. Interviewees were more tense and more aware during the concealment condition than during the neutral condition, whereas the interviewers were not aware of the participants' avoidance of the concealment topic. The second counterbalanced experiment replicated the results from the initial experiment. The hypotheses were supported that concealment can be induced experimentally leading to thought suppression and elevated levels of discomfort in the concealing individuals, without their conversation partners noticing. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.     

Perfectionism is multidimensional: a reply to Shafran,Cooper and Fairburn

provided a cognitive-behavioural analysis of perfectionism that focused primarily on self-oriented perfectionism. They argued against studying perfectionism from a multidimensional perspective that they regard as inconsistent with prior work on perfectionism as a self-oriented phenomenon. We respond to by offering historical, empirical, and theoretical support for the usefulness and the importance of a multidimensional model of perfectionism involving both intrapersonal processes and interpersonal dynamics. It is concluded that a multidimensional approach to the study of perfectionism is still warranted.     

Confiance rapide et gestion des ressources temporelles dans les équipes dynamiques militaires : une approche expérimentale

In combined operations, military aviators are increasingly working in “swift starting action teams”, which increases the uncertainty about the behavior of the ephemeral partner for the mission to be carried out together. To reduce it, ephemeral interpersonal trust (or swift trust) should help optimize the management of time resources by moderating the time spent checking the partner's work and preserving performance. This study proposes a device for inducing three different levels of swift trust to experimentally evaluate the management of time resources, checking and individual performance in ephemeral STAT-type teams. The results indicate that a low level of swift trust results in increased time resources allocated to complete the entire activity while maintaining the level of performance.     

An inventory for assessing interpersonal communication competence of college students

We have developed and validated a new Interpersonal Communication Competence Inventory (ICCI) for college students. Study 1 describes the development of the ICCI and results of an exploratory factor analysis of data from 1336 Chinese students, which identified a four-factor model with reasonable internal consistency. Study 2 describes results of a confirmatory factor analysis of data from 593 Chinese students, which cross-validated the four-factor model as well as supporting the validity of the overall scale. Taken together, these results suggest that the ICCI is a psychometrically valid measure of interpersonal communication competence of college students.