Is manipulation of mood a critical component of cognitive bias modification procedures?

This paper investigates whether changes in mood state are an important component of cognitive bias modification (CBM) procedures. In a novel CBM procedure participants read either positive or negative statements relating to social issues for 5 min. Interpretation bias was measured by means of a scrambled sentence test, which was presented both before and after the CBM procedure. Participants who read the positive statements made more positive resolutions to the scrambled sentences, while participants who read the negative statements made more negative resolutions. Thus, the appropriate positive and negative interpretative biases were induced by the CBM procedure. However, significant mood changes also occurred following CBM. In Experiment 2, a musical mood induction procedure was presented with depressing or elating music. As before, a scrambled sentence test was presented both before and after the musical mood induction. Mood changed in accordance with the valence of the music to the same extent as with CBM. Critically however, performance on the scrambled sentence task did not change for both groups. This demonstrates that a change in mood state is not sufficient for a change in cognitive bias to occur.     

Interpretation bias and depressive symptoms: The role of self-relevance

Cognitive theories of depression emphasize negatively biased interpretations as an important target of therapy. Much of the research on interpretation bias in depression has focused on selection, or deciding which of several interpretations is likely. However, depressive biases may also exist in the generation of possible interpretations, or the ability to think of positive alternatives. If biases exist for generation as well as selection, therapeutic techniques to encourage the generation of more positive interpretations would be warranted. Asking therapy clients to consider someone else in a similar situation is a commonly used therapy strategy but has not been sufficiently examined empirically. In the current studies, we examine interpretation generation and selection in dysphoric and nondysphoric individuals, and contrast interpretations made for the self to interpretations made for two types of “other.” Our studies reveal depressive biases in both interpretation generation and selection, and indicate that interpretation valence is highly sensitive to the type of other considered. All participants generated and selected significantly more positive interpretations for friends than for themselves, but generated significantly more negative interpretations for hypothetical others than for themselves. Our results suggest that encouraging dysphoric individuals to imagine others can be beneficial, but the type of “other” used is critically important, with instructions to consider a close friend most likely to be effective in decreasing negativity in interpretation.     

Perception of line‐up suggestiveness: effects of identification outcome knowledge

Research on the hindsight bias has shown that knowledge of an event outcome makes the observed outcome appear more predictable than it does in the absence of outcome knowledge. It was hypothesised that perceptions of the suggestiveness of a line‐up would be similarly influenced by knowledge of a witness' identification decision, with a positive identification of the suspect increasing, and a negative non‐identification decreasing, perceived suggestiveness. The ratings of undergraduate students (N = 50) in Experiment 1 showed the predicted influence of positive outcome, whereas negative outcome had no demonstrable influence. In contrast, Experiment 2, conducted with police trainees (N = 126) and with the line‐up presented in the context of a criminal investigation, partially supported the predicted influence of negative, but not positive, outcome. The discrepant findings are discussed in terms of the cognitive mechanisms underlying the hindsight bias and the implications for real‐life judgements of line‐up suggestiveness. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

分数认知的“整数偏向”研究:理论与方法

整数偏向普遍存在于分数认知中,它指儿童在应用分数知识时,常使用先前形成的有关整数的独立单元计数图式来解释分数的倾向。学者们提出了先天约束假设、未分化量假设和学习的负迁移假设分别从先天和后天角度对其成因做了解释。以往研究常采用纸笔测验或口语报告揭示它的存在,近年来有研究采用了心理数字线假设的相关效应考查了成人的整数偏向,使其研究方法和被试得以扩展。在该领域,今后应在定义、理论解释、研究方法以及教学干预方面加强研究。     

人际互动中的被洞悉错觉

被洞悉错觉是人际互动中的一种认知偏差。文章回顾了被洞悉错觉在不同领域存在的证据;介绍了被洞悉错觉在旁观者冷漠、刑事审讯、社交障碍、自我泄露感和亲密关系中的相关应用;分析了锚定及其调节效应、知识之祸、自我关注和朴素实在论对被洞悉错觉的理论解释;讨论了以往研究在对象、方法及跨文化比较方面的不足。     

Adjusting for the correspondence bias: Effects of causal uncertainty, cognitive busyness, and causal strength of situational information

This research examined the conditions under which people who have more chronic doubt about their ability to make sense of social behavior (i.e., are causally uncertain; [Weary and Edwards, 1994] and [Weary and Edwards, 1996]) are more likely to adjust their dispositional inferences for a target’s behaviors. Using a cognitive busyness manipulation within the attitude attribution paradigm, we found in Study 1 that higher causal uncertainty predicted increased correction of dispositional inferences, but only when participants had sufficient attentional resources to devote to the task. In Study 2, we found that higher-causal uncertainty predicted greater inferential correction, but only when the additional information provided a more compelling alternative explanation for the observed behavior. Results of this research are discussed in terms of their relevance to the Causal Uncertainty (Weary & Edwards, 1994) and dispositional inference models.     

Experimental studies of sequential selection and assignment with relative ranks

We study a class of sequential selection and assignment problems in which a decision maker (DM) must sequentially assign applicants to positions with the objective of minimizing expected cost. In modeling this class of problems, we assume that on each period the DM is only informed of the rank of the present applicant relative to the applicants that she previously observed and assigned. We first present the optimal decision policy that we subsequently use as a normative benchmark, and then report results from three experiments designed to study sequential assignment behavior. In comparing the aggregate results from all three experiments to the optimal decision policy, we identify a systematic bias, called the middleness bias, to over‐assign applicants to intermediate positions. The results also reveal a strong bias for early applicants to be over‐assigned to important positions. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

乐观主义研究简介

乐观主义是一种积极的人格特征,是对未来发生事件的正性预期的倾向,也是一种对人对事的态度。本文在回顾了乐观主义的测量、乐观主义的影响因素、乐观主义的作用机制、乐观主义与现实性的关系的基础上,并对今后的研究方向进行了探讨。     

Using narratives to explore other-directed occupational choice and academic success

The construct of “other-directed versus self-directed career choice” has existed for quite some time. The current focus of vocational psychologists and counselors has made them question the relevance of this construct for contemporary American society. Many counselors today challenge the assumption that a career choice based on others’ expectations is problematic. This longitudinal study utilized a logistic regression analysis to determine whether self-directed or other-directed status, as measured by the Thematic Apperception Test related to success with which individuals enacted career choices. The sample consisted of 433 BS/MD students enrolled in a Bachelor of Science-Doctor of Medicine (BS/MD) degree program at a Midwestern medical college. The findings showed that self-directed or other-directed career choice did not predict academic success.     

Empathic forecasting: How do we predict other people's feelings?

When making affective forecasts, people commit the impact bias. They overestimate the impact an emotional event has on their affective experience. In three studies we show that people also commit the impact bias when making empathic forecasts, affective forecasts for someone else. They overestimate the impact an emotional event has on someone else's affective experience (Study 1), they do so for friends and strangers (Study 2), and they do so when other sources of information are available (Study 3). Empathic forecasting accuracy, the correlation between one person's empathic forecast and another person's actual affective experience, was lower than between-person forecasting correspondence, the correlation between one person's empathic forecast and another person's affective forecast. Empathic forecasts do not capture other people's actual experience very well but are similar to what other people forecast for themselves. This may enhance understanding between people.