The Effect of Counterconditioning on Evaluative Responses and Harm Expectancy in a Fear Conditioning Paradigm

In fear conditioning, extinction targets harm expectancy as well as the fear response, but it often fails to eradicate the negative affective value that is associated with the conditioned stimulus. In the present study, we examined whether counterconditioning can serve to reduce evaluative responses within fear conditioning. The sample consisted of 70 nonselected students, 12 of whom were men. All participants received acquisition with human face stimuli as the conditioned stimuli and an unpleasant white noise as the unconditioned stimulus. After acquisition, one third of the sample was allocated to an extinction procedure. The other participants received counterconditioning with either a neutral stimulus (neutral tone) or a positive stimulus (baby laugh). Results showed that counterconditioning (with both neutral and positive stimuli), in contrast to extinction, successfully reduced evaluative responses. This effect was found on an indirect measure (affective priming task), but not on self-report. Counterconditioning with a positive stimulus also tended to enhance the reduction of conditioned skin conductance reactivity. The present data suggest that counterconditioning procedures might be a promising approach in diminishing evaluative learning and even expectancy learning in the context of fear conditioning.     

Affective processing in bilingual speakers: Disembodied cognition?

A recent study by Keysar, Hayakawa, and An (2012) suggests that “thinking in a foreign language” may reduce decision biases because a foreign language provides a greater emotional distance than a native tongue. The possibility of such “disembodied” cognition is of great interest for theories of affect and cognition and for many other areas of psychological theory and practice, from clinical and forensic psychology to marketing, but first this claim needs to be properly evaluated. The purpose of this review is to examine the findings of clinical, introspective, cognitive, psychophysiological, and neuroimaging studies of affective processing in bilingual speakers in order to identify converging patterns of results, to evaluate the claim about “disembodied cognition,” and to outline directions for future inquiry. The findings to date reveal two interrelated processing effects. First‐language (L1) advantage refers to increased automaticity of affective processing in the L1 and heightened electrodermal reactivity to L1 emotion‐laden words. Second‐language (L2) advantage refers to decreased automaticity of affective processing in the L2, which reduces interference effects and lowers electrodermal reactivity to negative emotional stimuli. The differences in L1 and L2 affective processing suggest that in some bilingual speakers, in particular late bilinguals and foreign language users, respective languages may be differentially embodied, with the later learned language processed semantically but not affectively. This difference accounts for the reduction of framing biases in L2 processing in the study by Keysar et al. (2012). The follow‐up discussion identifies the limits of the findings to date in terms of participant populations, levels of processing, and types of stimuli, puts forth alternative explanations of the documented effects, and articulates predictions to be tested in future research.     

To Work or Not to Work: Nonfinancial Employment Commitment and the Social Desirability Bias

Abstract

The so-called “lottery question,” which asks whether individuals would stop or continue working if there were no economic reasons to do so, was used to evaluate non-financial employment commitment. Data were collected through a survey conducted among a representative sample of the adult population in Israel. The sample included 501 respondents, who were interviewed via telephone in their homes by professional interviewers from a national survey agency. The additional contribution of social desirability to the prediction of nonfinancial employment commitment, beyond the contribution of age, is significant. There is a higher likelihood of indicating a desire to continue working under conditions of high social desirability rather than under those of low social desirability. It is suggested that, in order to examine the actual scope of nonfinancial employment commitment, some measures of detecting or reducing the social desirability bias should be taken.     

Social Support at Work and Affective Commitment to the Organization: The Moderating Effect of Job Resource Adequacy and Ambient Conditions

ABSTRACT

This study investigated whether both supervisor and coworker support may be positively related to affective commitment to the organization on one hand; and on the other hand, it examined the moderating effect of job resource adequacy and ambient conditions on these relationships. The sample included 215 participants working within a health care organization. Results of regression analysis showed that supervisor and coworker support have an additive effect on affective commitment. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that supervisor and coworker support are more strongly related to affective commitment when job resource adequacy is high. Furthermore, ambient conditions moderate the relationship between supervisor support and affective commitment in such a way that favorable ambient conditions strengthen this relationship. Overall, these findings reinforce the importance of taking into account contingent factors in the study of antecedents of affective commitment to the organization.     

Self-Efficacy in Romantic Relationships: Prediction of Relationship Attitudes and Outcomes

ABSTRACT

Three studies examine discriminant and predictive validity of a self-report measure of self -efficacy in romantic relationships (Self-Efficacy in Romantic Relationships; SERR). Study 1 indicates SERR scores predict relationship anxiety and expectations of relationship success when general self-efficacy, self-esteem, social desirability, and efficacy beliefs about relating to specific relationship partners are considered. Study 2 indicates SERR scores predict later relationship satisfaction and commitment when relationship type and length are considered. Study 3 indicates that SERR scores predict later relationship outcomes when other self-efficacy indicators are considered. The SERR assesses broad feelings of relationship self-efficacy, independent of specific relationships or partners.     

Exploring the Experiences of Individuals With Serious Mental Illness in a Modified Treatment Mall: Centralized Off-Unit Programing With Extended Hours,a Mixed Methods Study

Abstract

Centralized Off-Unit Programing With Extended hours (COPE) is a recovery-oriented model of service that aims to address limited occupational engagement and social isolation among inpatient clients with serious mental illness. This study explored the self-reported outcomes of 12 clients using semi-structured interviews and pre- and post- administration of the Personal Recovery Outcome Measure. These outcomes were supported by significant improvements in personal recovery and included sense of choice, occupational engagement, socialization, change in environment, skill learning, and improved sense of wellness. These findings provide preliminary evidence on the COPE model of service and its potential role in promoting personal recovery.     

Identifying the situational triggers underlying avoidance of communication situations and individual differences therein

People are actively involved in the selection and avoidance of the situations they face during everyday life. Moreover, such selection/avoidance behavior is subject to sizeable individual differences. Yet, to a large extent this phenomenon has been underinvestigated, and a full understanding of selection/avoidance remains lacking. In the present paper, we take a first step to a more in-depth understanding of situation avoidance, which is conceptualized in terms of individual profiles or signatures across situations. Two key objectives with regard to those signatures are being addressed, that is: (a) identifying the critical situational triggers that elicit avoidance behavior, and (b) identifying the most important individual differences in the link between these situational triggers and avoidance, along with their underlying process dynamics. To achieve these objectives, we performed an empirical study on avoidance of communication situations. This study revealed a set of person types that meaningfully differ in sensitivity to a few key situational features. These person types further appeared to differ from one another on several dispositional cognitive/affective forecast variables.     

The illusion of courage in self‐predictions: Mispredicting one's own behavior in embarrassing situations

People exhibit an “illusion of courage” when predicting their own behavior in embarrassing situations. In three experiments, participants overestimated their own willingness to engage in embarrassing public performances in exchange for money when those performances were psychologically distant: Hypothetical or in the relatively distant future. This illusion of courage occurs partly because of cold/hot empathy gaps. That is, people in a relatively “cold” unemotional state underestimate the influence on their own preferences and behaviors of being in a relative “hot” emotional state such as social anxiety evoked by an embarrassing situation. Consistent with this cold/hot empathy gap explanation, putting people “in touch” with negative emotional states by arousing fear (Experiments 1 and 2) and anger (Experiment 2) decreased people's willingness to engage in psychologically distant embarrassing public performances. Conversely, putting people “out of touch” with social anxiety through aerobic exercise, which reduces state anxiety and increases confidence, increased people's willingness to engage in psychologically distance embarrassing public performances (Experiment 3). Implications for self‐predictions, self‐evaluation, and affective forecasting are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.