Return of fear after retrospective inferences about the absence of an unconditioned stimulus during extinction

We examined whether the effect of an extinction phase can be influenced retrospectively by information about the cause of the absence of the unconditioned stimulus (US) during that phase. Participants were subjected to a differential fear conditioning procedure, followed by an extinction procedure. Afterwards, half of the participants were presented with information about a technical failure, which explained why the US had been absent during the extinction phase. The other participants received information that was unrelated to the US. During a subsequent presentation of the target conditioned stimulus (CS), only the former group of participants showed renewed anticipatory skin conductance responding and a return of US expectancy. The results are in accordance with a propositional account of associative learning and highlight the importance of retrospective reasoning as a cause of relapse after exposure therapy.     

Exploring the relationship between two forms of narcissism and competitiveness

This study investigated the theoretical and empirical links between narcissism and competitiveness by focusing on the multifaceted features of these individual difference variables. The present study compared measures of overt narcissism (Narcissistic Personality Inventory, NPI; Raskin & Terry, 1988) and covert narcissism (Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale, HSNS; Hendin & Cheek, 1997) with measures of competitiveness (Revised Competitiveness Index, CI-R; Houston, Harris, McIntire, & Francis, 2002) and hypercompetitiveness (Hypercompetitive Attitude Scale, HCS; Ryckman, Hammer, Kaczor, & Gold, 1990). Based on a sample of 324 undergraduates, positive relationships were found between overt narcissism and general competitiveness and hypercompetitiveness. However, covert narcissism was negatively related to general competitiveness but positively related to hypercompetitiveness. The findings highlight the similarities and distinctions between different forms of narcissism and competitiveness and provide a broader framework for understanding the relationship between narcissism and competitiveness. Implications for the interpersonal manifestation of these different forms are discussed.     

Overclaiming as a measure of faking

Researchers have recently asserted that popular measures of response distortion (i.e., socially desirable responding scales) lack construct validity (i.e., measure traits rather than test faking) and that applicant faking on personality tests remains a serious concern ( [Griffith and Peterson, 2008] and [Holden, 2008]). Thus, although researchers and human resource (HR) selection specialists have been attempting to find measures which readily capture individual differences in faking that increase personality test validity, to date such attempts have rarely, if ever succeeded. The current study, however, finds that the overclaiming technique captures individual differences in faking and subsequently increases personality test score validity via suppressing unwanted error variance in personality test scores. Implications of this research on the overclaiming technique for improving HR selection decisions are illustrated and discussed.     

Faking on a situational judgment test in a medical school selection setting: Effect of different scoring methods?

We examined the occurrence of faking on a rating situational judgment test (SJT) by comparing SJT scores and response styles of the same individuals across two naturally occurring situations. An SJT for medical school selection was administered twice to the same group of applicants (N = 317) under low‐stakes (T1) and high‐stakes (T2) circumstances. The SJT was scored using three different methods that were differentially affected by response tendencies. Applicants used significantly more extreme responding on T2 than T1. Faking (higher SJT score on T2) was only observed for scoring methods that controlled for response tendencies. Scoring methods that do not control for response tendencies introduce systematic error into the SJT score, which may lead to inaccurate conclusions about the existence of faking.     

On correctly responding to all decisive reasons we have

Benjamin Kiesewetter has recently provided an argument to the effect that necessarily, if one has decisive reason to φ, then one has sufficient reason to believe that she herself has decisive reason to φ. If sound, this argument has important implications for several debates in contemporary normative philosophy. I argue that the main premise in the argument is problematic and should be rejected. According to this premise (PRR), necessarily, one can respond correctly to all the decisive reasons one has. I show that PRR is confronted with counterexamples and presupposes an implausible commensurability of all kinds of reasons. If so, the conclusion in Kiesewetter’s argument doesn’t follow. I also discuss further implications of my objections to PRR for a specific family of ‘ought’ implies ‘can’ principles and ability constraints on reasons, and the consequences that these could have for a number of contemporary debates in normative philosophy.     

The Role of Emotional Distress Tolerance on Fear Responding in a Heights-Fearful Sample: Perceived Versus Actual Behavior

Emotional distress tolerance (EDT)—or the ability to withstand negative emotional states—is considered a transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology. Although EDT is theorized to play a role in anxiety development and maintenance, research aiming to delineate the relationship between anxiety and EDT is lacking. The current study tested whether self-reported EDT predicted self-reported and actual avoidance in the presence of feared stimuli using a heights-fearful sample. Moreover, the study tested whether EDT predicted other in-the-moment fear responses, such as peak anxiety, anxious cognitions, and bodily sensations. Participants (N = 128) completed questionnaires assessing fear of heights, negative affect, anxious cognitions, and bodily sensations, as well as two heights behavioral avoidance tasks (BATs). Results demonstrated that EDT did not predict actual avoidance or other in-the-moment fear responses, except for peak anxiety in one BAT. However, EDT predicted self-reported avoidance of heights beyond fear of heights and negative affect. Taken together, results suggest that perception of ability to tolerate emotional distress predicts perception of avoidance of heights, but not actual avoidance of heights or reactions to heights (with the exception of peak anxiety in one BAT). Given these findings, self-reported EDT may not adequately predict how individuals react in anxiety-provoking situations.     

Equivalence class analysis of responding consistent with the relational frame of opposition

We replicated and extended studies showing that contextual cues for matching stimuli from 2 separate equivalence classes control the same derived relations as contextual cues for opposition frames in RFT studies. We conducted 2 experiments with 6 college students. In Phase 1, they received training in a conditional discrimination AB. Then, they received training for maintaining AB with X1 as context, and for reversing the sample–comparison relations of AB, with X2. In Phase 2, X1 functioned as context for matching same-class stimuli, and X2 functioned as context for matching separate-class stimuli. In Phase 3, X2 controlled the same derived arbitrary relations as cues for opposition frames in RFT studies. This functional equivalence may suggest that X2 functioned as a cue for opposition frames. In Phase 4, participants matched different stimuli with X2 as context, instead of matching most different (opposite) stimuli. In addition, Different, a cue for matching different stimuli, controlled the same derived arbitrary relations as X2. These results are incompatible with X2 being a cue for opposition frames. Contextual control over equivalence and responding by exclusion can explain these outcomes. The implications of these findings for RFT studies on opposition frames are discussed.     

问卷调查中被试不认真作答的控制与识别

问卷调查是心理与教育领域十分常见的数据收集方法, 而被试的不认真作答可能导致问卷数据失真。回顾已有研究发现:(a)不认真作答可以从外在作答模式和内在产生原因两个方向进行定义; (b)不认真作答的常见事前控制方法主要包括降低任务难度以及提高被试作答动机两大类; (c)事后识别方法主要包括嵌入识别量表、作答模式识别、反应时识别三大类。今后的研究中应基于作答机制的研究优化与开发控制方法, 检验作答识别方法的跨情境适用性并开发新方法, 并对局部不认真的识别与处理进行更深入的探讨。     

Habituation contributes to within-session changes in free wheel running.

Three experiments tested the hypothesis that habituation contributes to the regulation of wheel running. Rats ran in a wheel for 30-min sessions. Experiment 1 demonstrated spontaneous recovery. Rats ran more and the within-session decreases in running were smaller after 2 days of wheel deprivation than after 1 day. Experiment 2 demonstrated dishabituation. Running rate increased immediately after the termination of a brief extra event (application of the brake or flashing of the houselight). Experiment 3 demonstrated stimulus specificity. Rats completed the second half of the session in either the same wheel as the first half, or a different wheel. Second-half running was faster in the latter case. Within-session patterns of running were well described by equations that describe data from the habituation, motivation, and operant literatures. These results suggest that habituation contributes to the regulation of running. In fact, habituation provides a better explanation for the termination of wheel running than fatigue, the variable to which this termination is usually attributed. Overall, the present findings are consistent with the proposition that habituation and sensitization contribute to the regulation of several forms of motivated behavior.