Pervasiveness and correlates of implicit attitudes and stereotypes

http://implicit.harvard.edu/ was created to provide experience with the Implicit Association Test (IAT), a procedure designed to measure social knowledge that may operate outside awareness or control. Significant by-products of the website's existence are large datasets contributed to by the site's many visitors. This article summarises data from more than 2.5 million completed IATs and self-reports across 17 topics obtained between July 2000 and May 2006. In addition to reinforcing several published findings with a heterogeneous sample, the data help to establish that: (a) implicit preferences and stereotypes are pervasive across demographic groups and topics, (b) as with self-report, there is substantial inter-individual variability in implicit attitudes and stereotypes, (c) variations in gender, ethnicity, age, and political orientation predict variation in implicit and explicit measures, and (d) implicit and explicit attitudes and stereotypes are related, but distinct.     

Situational factors and personality traits as determinants of college students’ mood

In the present study we measured three dimensions of mood (energetic arousal, tense arousal, and hedonic tone) using a student sample in six academic situations. The first three measurements took place during neutral lectures, the fourth and fifth before and after an exam, respectively, and the last during the two weeks after the exam when students’ grades were announced. Moreover, we also measured students’ personality traits according to the five factor model. The study revealed a few significant results. First, each mood dimension had different dynamics during the semester. Second, the most consistent personality predictors of mood were neuroticism (positive relationship with tense arousal and negative with hedonic tone) and conscientiousness (positive association with energetic arousal). Moreover, the results showed different relationships between tense and energetic arousals across situations, with the weakest association being before an exam.     

感性还是理性?文化衍生的权力感对广告诉求偏好的影响

广告的有效性很大程度上取决于消费者个体特征与广告诉求之间的一致性。以往研究忽略了文化衍生的权力感作为关键心理特征与不同诉求广告之间的匹配性效应。本文探讨文化衍生的权力感(个人权力感vs.社会权力感)对广告诉求偏好的影响及其作用机理。研究结果表明, 启动个人(vs.社会)权力感的消费者更加偏好感性(vs.理性)诉求广告, 其中唤醒度发挥中介作用。当启动个人(vs.社会)权力感时, 个体更加强调满足自我需要和寻求挑战以不断提高地位与声望, 更容易激发兴奋等高(vs.低)唤醒度, 从而更加偏好感性(vs.理性)诉求广告。此外, 合理化需要在文化衍生的权力感通过唤醒度对广告诉求偏好的影响中起到调节作用。在不启动合理化需要时, 文化衍生的权力感通过唤醒度对广告诉求偏好发挥影响的中介效应显著; 而当启动合理化需要时, 上述中介效应不显著。本文基于文化取向的视角揭示了权力感影响广告诉求偏好的心理机制与边界条件, 为企业根据文化衍生的权力感差异制定广告营销策略等方面提供实践启示。     

Sexual arousal and the pursuit of attractive mating opportunities

From an evolutionary perspective, sexual arousal may function, in part, to motivate the pursuit of attractive mating opportunities. We designed a study to test three aspects of this hypothesis. Several hundred heterosexual men and women completed a short survey about sexual arousal in response to a casual sex mating opportunity. We replicated previous research documenting that men report greater sexual arousal than women in response to a short-term mating opportunity. We argue that it is unlikely that a “downplaying of alternatives” psychology evolved, whereby mated individuals rate opposite-sex targets as less attractive than do unmated individuals, but instead that men and women have a relationship-seeking psychology, motivating them to pursue attractive mating opportunities. The results supported this relationship-seeking psychology rather than a downplaying alternatives psychology. Discussion addresses directions for future research on the motivational properties of sexual arousal.     

心理控制源在时间管理倾向影响唤起性、回避性两类拖延行为中的不同中介作用

拖延行为在大学生中相当普遍。以624名大学生为被试,采用结构方程模型的方法,本研究考察了时间管理倾向、心理控制源对唤起性、回避性2类拖延行为的综合影响。结果发现对于唤起性拖延,心理控制源中的内控型有负向直接影响,而机遇控制型则有正向直接影响;对于回避性拖延,权威控制型有正向直接影响。同时,时间管理倾向负向影响唤起性拖延和回避性拖延,其中对唤起性拖延的影响是通过心理控制源中的内控型和机遇控制型的完全中介作用实现的,以内控型为中介是其主要影响路径;对回避性拖延的影响则是存在着直接影响和以心理控制源中的权威控制型为中介来间接影响两条路径,直接影响是主要影响路径。     

Sexual desire,not hypersexuality,predicts self-regulation of sexual arousal

A person's ability to control their own sexual arousal is important both to reduce the risks associated with some sexual behaviours and to respond sexually with intimate partners. A lack of control over sexual urges is a proposed feature of “hypersexual disorder”, though some evidence suggests that sexual desire predicts the self-regulation of sexual arousal better than hypersexuality. In the current study, a sample (N = 116) of men and women recruited from community ads viewed a series of 20-second neutral and sexual films. Before each sexual film, participants were instructed to increase their sexual arousal, decrease their sexual arousal or respond as usual. Higher levels of desire for sex with a partner consistently predicted failures to downregulate sexual arousal. Hypersexuality was unrelated. These findings replicate Winters et al.'s study and extend their findings by including upregulation, women, a new measure of hypersexuality and a higher-trial design.     

Does the horny man think women want him too? Effects of male sexual arousal on perceptions of female sexual willingness

ABSTRACT

Disputes over acquaintance rape typically center on the issue of whether the alleged victim consented to sex. Disputed sexual encounters often take place when one or both involved parties is sexually aroused, and this arousal might influence the extent to which the parties perceive sexual consent. Two studies tested the effects of men’s sexual arousal on their interpretations of the extent to which 25 hypothetical female behaviors reflected sexual willingness. Arousal was manipulated via written fantasies (Study 1) or exposure to erotic material (Study 2). Manipulated arousal and individual differences in rated arousal were each associated with greater perceptions of female sexual willingness. Manipulated arousal was significant only for single men in Study 2. Findings suggested present-state sexual arousal affects single men’s interpretations of women’s sexual willingness. Men’s sexual arousal might prominently contribute to misunderstandings in sexual communication.     

Age-related hearing loss associated with altered response efficiency and variability on a visual sustained attention task

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the association between age-related hearing loss (ARHL) and differences in response efficiency and variability on a sustained attention task. The study population comprised 32 participants in a hearing loss group (HLG) and 34 controls without hearing loss (CG). Mean reaction time (RT) and accuracy were recorded to assess response efficiency. RT variability was decomposed to examine temporal aspects of variability associated with neural arousal and top-down executive control of vigilant attention. The HLG had a significantly longer mean RT, possibly reflecting a strategic approach to maintain accuracy. The HLG also demonstrated altered variability (indicative of greater decline in neural arousal) but maintained executive control that was significantly predictive of poorer response efficiency. Adults with ARHL may rely on higher-order attention networks to compensate for decline in both peripheral sensory function and in subcortical arousal systems which mediate lower-order automatic neurocognitive processes.