Asymmetric dominance and phantom decoy effects in games

In individual choices between alternatives x and y, the availability of a third alternative z, judged inferior to x but not to y, tends to increase preferences for x. Two experiments investigated corresponding strategic asymmetric dominance effects in games. In Experiment 1, 72 players chose strategies in six symmetric 3 × 3 games, each having one strategy dominating just one other, or in reduced 2 × 2 games constructed by deleting the dominated strategies. Asymmetrically dominated strategies, even when unavailable (phantom decoy), increased choices of the strategies that dominated them and bolstered decision confidence. In Experiment 2, 81 participants played 12 similar but asymmetric games with or without dominated strategies, and similar asymmetric dominance, phantom decoy, and confidence effects were found.     

Distortion of probability and outcome information in risky decisions

Substantial evidence indicates that information is distorted during decision making, but very few studies have assessed the distortion of probability and outcome information in risky decisions. In two studies involving six binary decisions (e.g., banning blood donations from people who have visited England, because of “mad cow disease”), student and nonstudent participants distorted their evaluations of probability and outcome information in the direction of their preferred decision alternative and used these biased evaluations to update their preferences. Participants also evaluated the utilities of possible outcomes more positively when the outcomes could follow only from the preferred alternative and more negatively when they could follow only from the competing alternative. Such circular reasoning is antithetical to the normative consequentialist principles underlying decision analysis. Presenting numerical information as precise values or as ranges of values did not significantly affect information distortion, apparently because the manipulation did not affect perceived ambiguity as intended.     

Better safe than sorry: Precautionary reasoning and implied dominance in risky decisions

In four studies, student and nonstudent participants evaluated the possible outcomes of binary decisions involving health, safety, and environmental risks (e.g., whether to issue a dam‐failure evacuation order). Many participants indicated that false positives (e.g., evacuation, but no dam failure) were better than true negatives (e.g., no evacuation and no dam failure), thereby implying that the more protective action dominated the less protective action. A common rationale for this response pattern was the precautionary maxim “better safe than sorry.” Participants apparently evaluated outcomes partly on the basis of the decisions that might lead to them, in conflict with consequentialist decision models. Consistent with this explanation, the prevalence of implied dominance decreased substantially when the emphasis on decisions was reduced. These results demonstrate that an initial preference for a decision alternative can alter the evaluation of possible consequences of both the preferred alternative and a competing alternative, suggesting positive feedback loops that reinforce the initial preference. The rationality of considering the decision itself as an attribute of possible outcomes is discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Anti-egalitarians for Obama? Group-dominance motivation and the Obama vote

The election of the first Black president was a watershed moment in American race relations, and many Obama voters saw their choice as affirming and furthering the dream of racial equality. However, the present study provides evidence that Obama also garnered votes from an unlikely source: those wishing to maintain racial disparities. Data from a longitudinal study of the election suggest that, while some anti-egalitarian voters opposed Obama due to his perceived “foreignness,” others voted for him in order to underwrite the hierarchy-enhancing claim that US racism has been eliminated. Anti-egalitarianism was only associated with an increased tendency to vote for Obama among individuals who claimed that his victory signals the end of racism.     

A Longitudinal Test of the Model of Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition

Using data from a longitudinal study of college students, this study assessed the relationships among the threat perceptions of realistic threat and intergroup anxiety, the ideological motives of system justification and social dominance orientation (SDO), and political conservatism. Those who had higher perceptions of realistic threat and intergroup anxiety at the end of their first year of college showed higher levels of system justification and SDO at the end of their second and third years of college, controlling for precollege expressions of each variable. Higher levels of these two ideological motives at the end of students' second and third years of college were associated with more politically conservative attitudes at the end of students' fourth year of college, again controlling for precollege expressions. These longitudinal results are discussed in terms of a model of political conservatism as motivated social cognition.     

Anomalous brain dominance and the immune system: Do left-handers have specific immunological patterns?

Geschwind and Behan (1982) and Geschwind and Galaburda (1985a, 1985b, 1985c) suggested a correlation between brain laterality and immune disorders. To test whether this hypothesis holds true not only for the frequency of immune diseases and circulating autoantibodies, but extends also to cellular immunity, we examined the association between handedness and markers of cellular immunity. Twenty-seven left-handed and 37 right-handed subjects were serologically screened for cellular parameters and 22 left-handed subjects were typed for human leukocyte antigen (HLA). When compared to the right-handers, the left-handed group showed a significant decrease in the inflammatory cell types CD3(+) T cells (total T cells), CD4(+) T cells (T-helper cells), and HLA-Dr (MHC-II, antigen-presenting cells) as well as in the CD19(+) cells (B cells) and CD16/CD57(+) cells (natural killer cells). We assume a relationship exists between cerebral hemispheric specialisation and the immune system not only for humoral but also for cellular immunity, and we discuss the role of the major histocompatibility complex in neurological and immunological development.     

社会支配倾向研究述评

社会支配倾向是社会支配理论中的一个概念,它反映了个体期望内群体优于和支配外群体的程度。高社会支配倾向者偏好加大不同群体间的阶层差异,并期望优势群体更多地支配劣势群体;低社会支配倾向者偏好缩小不同群体间的阶层差异以增加社会平等,并期望优势群体更少地支配劣势群体。因此,社会支配倾向会影响社会不平等的程度,并可以被用来解释偏见的形成。性别和群体地位等情境因素会对社会支配倾向产生影响,而且社会支配倾向与个体间的支配也是有关系的     

Event-related potentials indicate context effect in reading ambiguous words

The aim of the study was a comparison of lexical and contextual factors in understanding ambiguous words in German. First, a sample of native speakers selected 56 words having maximally strong differences between a dominant and a subordinate meaning. After this, another sample from the same population was visually presented with sentences that activated dominant or subordinate meanings of the words and were accompanied by probes associated with dominant or subordinate meanings. This resulted in a crossed design with two factors: sentence dominant vs. sentence subordinate and probe dominant vs. probe subordinate. An analysis of event-related brain potentials revealed a large, long-lasting and highly-significant N400 wave whenever the meaning of the probe was incongruent with the meaning of the sentence and the lack of this wave whenever the two meanings were congruent. In the typical N400 space and time, the effect was independent of whether the lexical word meaning was dominant or subordinate. At other sites and times, however (e.g., at lateral frontal electrodes F7/F8, and after 700 ms), the congruence effect was significant after dominant sentences only. The data indicate that lexical factors have a rather limited influence on the activation of a particular meaning of ambiguous words. A strong context can virtually override even a very strong difference in the preference for different meanings.     

面孔识别特异性本质的ERP研究

本研究记录了16名被试在完成有整体结构变化和局部特征变化的面孔/房屋图片的一致性判断时的脑内时程变化,以期对面孔识别的特异性本质进行探讨。结果显示,N170波幅和潜伏期的刺激类型主效应显著;面孔/房屋所诱发的N170成分在波幅和潜伏期上均不存在加工方式上的显著差异。晚期成分(300～700ms)上也得到类似的结果。这表明:面孔与房屋(非面孔)的加工在早期和晚期成分上都有差异性,体现出面孔的加工在早期视觉刺激的加工和晚期识别的加工上都具有特异性;晚期识别加工的脑电结果不支持"面孔识别是整体的,结构的,而非面孔客体的识别是局部的,基于特征的"加工观点。     

The two faces of fearless dominance and their relations to vocational success

We tested Lykken’s (1995) theory that the personality trait of fearless dominance (FD) can result in positive or negative life outcomes depending on whether the socialization process was successful or not. We tested FD’s predictive and moderated relations with vocational success over a time interval of 4 years. We found that the relations between FD and change in income were moderated by level of education. When educational level was high (low), there was a positive (negative) relation between FD and change in income. Change in income mediated the relation between FA and vocational satisfaction. Finally, FD directly predicted vocational satisfaction after 4 years. Implications and limitations are discussed.