Cognitive Bias in Spider-Phobic Children: Comparison of a Pictorial and a Linguistic Spider Stroop

The relation between spider fear in children and cognitive processing bias toward threatening information was examined. It was investigated whether spider fear in children is related to a cognitive bias for threatening pictures and words. Pictorial and linguistic Stroop stimuli were administered to 28 spider phobic and 30 control children aged 8–12. Spider-phobic children showed a moderate bias for threatening words. Surprisingly, no bias was found for spider pictures, while the spider-phobic children judged the pictures as more aversive. Moreover, in a recent similar study in adults (Kindt & Brosschot, 1997), a strong relation between spider phobia and bias toward threat words and pictures was found. Several explanations are given to account for this divergence.     

Temporal dynamics of anxiety-related attentional bias: is affective context a missing piece of the puzzle?

Previous research has demonstrated that anxious individuals attend to negative emotional information at the expense of other information. This is commonly referred to as attentional bias. The field has historically conceived of this process as relatively static; however, research by [Zvielli, A., Bernstein, A., &; Koster, E. H. W. (2014). Dynamics of attentional bias to threat in anxious adults: Bias towards and/or away? PLoS ONE, 9(8), e104025; Zvielli, A., Bernstein, A., &; Koster, E. H. W. (2015). Temporal dynamics of attentional bias. Clinical Psychological Science, 3(5), 772–788.], and others, challenges this assumption by demonstrating considerable temporal variability in attentional bias amongst anxious individuals. Still, the mechanisms driving these temporal dynamics are less well known. Using a modified dot-probe task, the present study examined the impact of two relevant contextual variables- affective valence and trial repetition. Affective context was instantiated by the presentation of negative versus neutral pictures before each trial, while repetition context was achieved via the presentation of the valenced pictures in either a blocked- or mixed-trial design. Results indicate that individuals with higher trait-anxiety levels were significantly more influenced by blocked presentations of negative affective information, leading to greater temporal fluctuations in attentional bias. Furthermore, our findings provide additional evidence that attentional bias is best conceptualised as dynamic and variable, and that an individual’s affective experience is one factor that regulates attentional bias dynamics. Implications relating to theoretical and methodological factors are discussed.     

Human–Computer Interaction in Face Matching

Automatic facial recognition is becoming increasingly ubiquitous in security contexts such as passport control. Currently, Automated Border Crossing (ABC) systems in the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) require supervision from a human operator who validates correct identity judgments and overrules incorrect decisions. As the accuracy of this human–computer interaction remains unknown, this research investigated how human validation is impacted by a priori face‐matching decisions such as those made by automated face recognition software. Observers matched pairs of faces that were already labeled onscreen as depicting the same identity or two different identities. The majority of these labels provided information that was consistent with the stimuli presented, but some were also inconsistent or provided “unresolved” information. Across three experiments, accuracy consistently deteriorated on trials that were inconsistently labeled, indicating that observers’ face‐matching decisions are biased by external information such as that provided by ABCs.     

Who knows what's good to eat? Infants fail to match the food preferences of antisocial others

Humans gather most of their knowledge about the world, including objectively true facts and specific cultural norms, by observing and being taught by others. Some individuals are worthy teachers and objects of imitation, having knowledge of cultural practices and positive intentions to inform. Others are better ignored because they are ignorant, because they mean us harm, or simply because we do not wish to be “like them.” This study examines whether 16-month-olds are sensitive to the pro- or antisocial behavior of a source that demonstrates preference for two novel foods. Infants took the emotional reactions displayed by novel and previously prosocial sources, but not antisocial sources, into account when deciding what to eat. These results suggest that others’ social behavior influences infants’ likelihood to match their preferences, illustrating the influence of social evaluation on social learning.     

The Role of Executive Control of Attention and Selective Encoding for Preschoolers' Learning

Selectivity in encoding, aspects of attentional control and their contribution to learning performance were explored in a sample of preschoolers. While the children are performing a learning task, their encoding of relevant and attention towards irrelevant information was recorded through an eye‐tracking device. Recognition of target items was used as measure of learning outcome, and individual differences in resistance to interference and inhibition of attention to task‐irrelevant stimuli (i.e. distractibility) were used as measures of executive control of attention. Results indicated well‐developed selectivity during encoding in young children. Recognition performance was related to selective encoding and aspects of attentional control, explaining individual differences in learning. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hindsight Bias Demonstrated in the Prediction of a Sporting Event

Abstract

The authors examined hindsight bias in the context of a sporting event (Super Bowl XXXIII) with individuals who had previous knowledge of the hindsight bias–42 students who were currently enrolled in psychology classes that had previously covered hindsight bias. To control for extraneous variables, the authors analyzed how often the participants watched football, their gender, and whom they predicted to win; they found no differences between how often the participants watched football and whom they predicted to win. The hindsight bias existed for the prediction of the outcome for the Super Bowl, and the participants with previous knowledge were not immune to its effect. Results are discussed in relation to attribution theory, the reconstructionist view, and response bias view.     

Self-Esteem and In-Group Bias Among Members of a Religious Social Category

Abstract

In a sample of New Zealand university students, the author extended earlier research into the relationship between self-esteem and intergroup discrimination. He found no support for the hypothesis that social-category members (i.e., Christians) experience an elevation in the domain of self-esteem (i.e., religious self-esteem) judged as more relevant to the in-group after evaluations favoring the in-group. Regardless of whether the evaluation targets behaved positively or negatively, the respondents in the experimental condition evaluated in-group (Christian) targets more highly than out-group (Atheist) targets. After evaluations favoring the in-group, the respondents did not experience an elevation of religious self-esteem, global self-esteem, or mathematical self-esteem (judged as less relevant to the in-group).     

Self-Esteem as a Predictor of Attitudes Toward Wife Abuse Among Muslim Women and Men in Canada

Abstract

This study was designed (a) to assess attitudes toward wife abuse in a sample of Muslim women and men in Canada and (b) to assess whether those attitudes were influenced by self-esteem. Results suggested that, as in general North American samples, the Muslim women and men did not differ from each other on levels of self-esteem. Also consistent with general North American samples, the Muslim women's and men's attitudes toward wife abuse were related to their self-esteem, with higher self-esteem scores predicting stronger attitudes against wife abuse, independent of gender. However, the results also revealed that the Muslim men had significantly more lenient attitudes toward wife abuse compared with the Muslim women and with North American norms.     

Weight bias as a function of person variables and contact experiences

ABSTRACT

We tested a mediation model of weight bias that considers person attributes and contact experiences with overweight individuals. In Study 1, we administered a survey to assess Openness, Agreeableness, Attributional Complexity, contact experiences with overweight individuals, and weight bias. Mediation analyses found that Agreeableness predicted less weight bias through contact experiences. In Study 2, we asked participants to interact with a peer whose weight and attributions regarding the weight were experimentally manipulated. We then measured acceptance of the peer. Agreeableness was found to indirectly predict more acceptance of an overweight peer through Empathy and contact experiences. These results show that contact theory is applicable to the domain of weight bias, and support person-situation approaches to prejudice.     

Psychological Essentialism and Nationalism as Determinants of Interethnic Bias

ABSTRACT

The present study examined whether individuals without strong national identity (i.e., low nationalism) would be susceptible to temporarily elicited essentialism to alter their mental representations of ethnic boundaries, and thus increase interethnic bias. To test these ideas we experimentally induced essentialist beliefs among Japanese subjects about the boundary between Japanese and Chinese ethnicities, while measuring the strength of nationalism as an individual variable. The results were generally consistent with predictions, suggesting that the activation of essentialist beliefs can strengthen interethnic biases among people without strong nationalism.