Life seems different with you around: Differential shifts in cognitive appraisal in the mere presence of others for neuroticism and impression management

How does mere social presence affect cognitive processes? The extant literature has focused on the impact of social presence on cognitive resources. The present study extends this work by focusing on the positivity of cognitive appraisal. Building on recent findings it was predicted that the traits neuroticism and impression management will differentially moderate the effect, such that neuroticism will be associated with a negative shift in appraisal, and impression management with a positive shift. In an experiment, participants (N = 158) formed evaluations of life events either alone or in social presence. The results supported the predictions. The findings advance the knowledge about the effect of social presence on cognition, and about the role of personality in moderating responses in public social contexts.     

How “dark” personality traits and perceptions come together to predict racism in Australia

This study provided initial insights into the shape of racism in Australia from the perspective of personality psychology. In this study (N = 201) racism towards Anglo-Australians and Middle-Easterners was assessed in relation to the Dark Triad traits (i.e., psychopathy, narcissism, & Machiavellianism), social dominance, authoritarianism, and perceptions of whether the world was dangerous/competitive. While the groups did not differ in the Dark Triad traits, Middle-Easterners did see the world as more dangerous and were more authoritarian than Anglo-Australians. There was evidence of an in-group/out-group bias, but this was localized to ratings of Middle-Easterners. Racism towards Anglo-Australians by Middle-Easterners appears to be mostly associated with perceiving the world as a dangerous and competitive place whereas racism in the reverse appears to be associated with perceptions of dangerous world, authoritarianism, and social dominance. Importantly, the Dark Triad traits exerted little influence in predicting racism but did predict these proximal factors suggesting those who are racist are not necessarily “evil” but, instead, have some latent biases about how they see the world that lead to racist tendencies.     

The role of trait emotional intelligence in academic performance during the university transition: An integrative model of mediation via social support,coping, and adjustment

The authors propose conceptual models linking trait emotional intelligence (TEI) with achievement both directly and indirectly via perceived social support (PSS), engagement coping (EC), and adjustment, in the context of the university transition. The models were tested in a multiwave design with a sample of incoming Australian undergraduates (N = 470). In structural equation analyses, TEI was found to be a direct predictor of higher PSS and the greater use of EC strategies. Further, mediation analyses revealed that TEI was indirectly associated with academic adjustment via EC and psychological adjustment via EC and PSS operating in parallel. TEI was also found to be indirectly associated with achievement via EC and academic adjustment linked serially in a three-path mediated sequence. These direct and indirect relations were robust when controlling for known confounding influences. The empirically supported mediating processes extend the literature by elucidating some of the pathways through which TEI is linked with better adjustment and achievement.     

On Direct Social Perception

Direct Social Perception (DSP) is the idea that we can non-inferentially perceive others’ mental states. In this paper, I argue that the standard way of framing DSP leaves the debate at an impasse. I suggest two alternative interpretations of the idea that we see others’ mental states: others’ mental states are represented in the content of our perception, and we have basic perceptual beliefs about others’ mental states. I argue that the latter interpretation of DSP is more promising and examine the kinds of mental states that plausibly could satisfy this version of DSP.     

How similar are the changes in neural activity resulting from mindfulness practice in contrast to spiritual practice?

Meditation and spiritual practices are conceptually similar, eliciting similar subjective experiences, and both appear to provide similar benefits to the practicing individuals. However, no research has examined whether the mechanism of action leading to the beneficial effects is similar in both practices. This review examines the neuroimaging research that has focused on groups of meditating individuals, groups who engage in religious/spiritual practices, and research that has examined groups who perform both practices together, in an attempt to assess whether this may be the case. Differences in the balance of activity between the parietal and prefrontal cortical activation were found between the three groups. A relative prefrontal increase was reflective of mindfulness, which related to decreased anxiety and improved well-being. A relative decrease in activation of the parietal cortex, specifically the inferior parietal cortex, appears to be reflective of spiritual belief, whether within the context of meditation or not. Because mindful and spiritual practices differ in focus regarding the ‘self’ or ‘other’ (higher being), these observations about neurological components that reflect spirituality may continue work towards understanding how the definition of ‘self’ and ‘other’ is represented in the brain, and how this may be reflected in behaviour. Future research can begin to use cohorts of participants in mindfulness studies which are controlled for using the variable of spirituality to explicitly examine how functional and structural similarities and differences may arise.     

Money talks in attention bias modification: Reward in a dot-probe task affects attentional biases

Attention bias modification (ABM) aimed at correcting dysfunctional biases in anxiety patients has met with only mild success. Inspired by recent studies showing large effects of financial reward upon attention shifts, we contrasted effects of traditional dot-probe ABM and reward upon attention biases in a between-subject 2 × 2 design. Twenty-seven participants in group cognitive behavioural therapy (GCBT) for social anxiety disorder (SAD) were randomly assigned to undergo six sessions of a dot-probe task consisting of ABM or placebo ABM along with random or high reward following neutral stimuli. There was no influence of ABM on participants' attention bias over and above the influence of GCBT. Reward, however, had a strong influence on attention bias. Neither ABM nor reward reduced SAD symptoms over and above the effects of GCBT. The results add to the growing evidence that benefits of ABM through dot-probe training are unreliable but suggest on the other hand that rewarding attention may strongly influence dysfunctional attention biases.     

Cycle commuting intention: A model based on theory of planned behaviour and social identity

Although cycling as a mode of transport can provide various important benefits to cities and their transport systems, it accounts for only a small proportion of commuter trips in southern Europe. The aim of this study was to develop a new model based on Ajzen’s (1991) theory of planned behaviour (TPB), but including social identity as an additional predictor variable to improve the explanatory capability of the TPB. We conducted a telephone survey of a representative sample of 595 non-cycle commuters in the Spanish city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, which has a moderate proportion of bicycle users (6.9%). Confirmatory factor analysis to test the model showed satisfactory overall measurement fit, and all sub-scales had high reliability and validity coefficients. The findings demonstrated the value of incorporating social identity into the TPB to capture motivational factors relevant to cycle commuting. The relationships between the factors in the model indicated that there is a strong link between identifying as ‘a cyclist’ and perceived self-efficacy with respect to cycling. Furthermore, the results suggest that a more specific measure of perceived self-efficacy, targeting concrete behaviours could be used to inform development of initiatives to promote urban cycling. Our data also revealed that, excluding control variables such as journey time, economic cost and distance, the psychosocial variables included in the model predicted 32% of the variance in car users’ intention to start commuting by bicycle.     

Social representations associated with men and women drivers among French adolescents and adults. Effects of the perceiver’s age,sex, and socioeconomic status

The aim of this study was to investigate the specific contents of the social representations (SR) associated with men and women drivers and examine the effects of the social insertions of individuals (i.e., age, sex and socio-economic status) on the content and structure of these SR. A preliminary study with 414 French participants identified thematic content associated with men and women drivers using the verbal association method. Based on these themes, 833 French participants, equally distributed by age group (from 12 to 50 years-old and over), sex and socioeconomic status (SES), were asked to answer a questionnaire on men (N = 422) or women (N = 411) drivers. The results show that each of these SR is organized around three factors: incompetence, prudence and lack of self-control for women drivers; carelessness, skills and self-control for men drivers. In-group favoritism bias can be noted in both groups as male participants, more than female ones, rated men drivers as having self-control and women drivers as lacking self-control, whereas female participants, more than male ones, perceived men drivers as careless and women drivers as prudent. Despite this phenomenon, more male respondents than female ones in all age groups seemed to believe that women are not competent at driving, whereas both sexes seem to agree that men have good driving skills. Among most age groups, three characteristics associated with men drivers (confidence, speed and pleasure of driving) and four characteristics associated with female drivers (caution, civil, compliance with rules and vigilance) emerged as central in the SR. The SR associated with men drivers appeared to be stable and shared across age groups, whereas the SR associated with women drivers appeared more mixed, heterogeneous and unstable with age. Female participants with higher SES consider women drivers as more incompetent, less prudent and more lacking self-control than female participants with lower SES.     

Extraversion and job performance: How context relevance and bandwidth specificity create a non-linear,positive, and asymptotic relationship

The personality factor of extraversion has been associated with performance in some occupations (e.g., sales), and it has been one of the most consistent personality predictors of leadership. Recent research indicates that extraversion could have a non-linear relation with performance. At the same time, many researchers have contended that scholars should utilize measures of personality narrower than factors and that the bandwidth and relevance of personality should fit both the criterion and the context of a study. We argue and find that by examining an aspect of extraversion (i.e., social potency) in a particular vocational context (i.e., enterprising job demands), non-linear, asymptotic (diminishing marginal benefits) effects will be demonstrated on a relevant type of performance (i.e., enterprising job performance). We review implications, limitations, and avenues for future research.