Attribute Dismissal and Valence Effects in Preferential Decision Processing

The processing of attribute information during preference‐based decision making is affected by both the valence of that information and its importance to the decision. Although these two factors have typically been examined separately, we propose that their effects on elaboration and encoding are often codependent. Results of four experiments demonstrate that the traditional negativity effect, whereby negative attribute information is processed more extensively than positive attribute information, obtains only for the subset of attributes perceived to be most important. Among other attributes, the negativity effect is reduced or even reversed (a positivity effect). Our findings suggest important qualifications to prevailing notions of selective information processing. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

奖赏结构与结果效价对男女儿童成就归因的影响

本研究的目的是考察奖赏结构和结果效价对男女儿童归因风格的影响.被试为小学五年级学生(n=74,男生36人,女生38人),实验通过解决一系列迷津测验来创设成功和失败情境.研究结果表明,能力、运气归因存在性别差异,在竞争奖赏结构条件下,女生对成就状况倾向于做运气归因,而男生倾向于做运气以外其他因素的归因(如能力);在非竞争奖赏结构条件下,男生对成就状况倾向于做运气归因,而女生倾向于做运气以外其他因素的归因.此外,还发现了一些其他的显著效应.     

评论效价、新产品类型与调节定向对在线评论有用性的影响

对于新产品推出的成功与否, 较早采用者的评论和建议的影响相当巨大, 本研究通过两个实验研究评论效价(正面评论/负面评论)、新产品类型(渐进性新产品/革新性新产品)和调节定向(促进定向/防御定向)对新产品在线评论有用性的影响。实验1设计为2(新产品类型：渐进性新产品/革新性新产品)×2(评论效价：正面/负面)的组间操控设计, 结果表明：相对于渐进性新产品, 负面评论对革新性新产品的有用性更高, 正面评论对渐进性新产品和革新性新产品的有用性差异不显著。实验2设计为2(新产品类型：渐进性新产品/革新性新产品)×2(评论效价：正面/负面)×2(调节定向：促进/防御)的组间操控设计, 结果表明：促进定向的个体认为正负面评论有用性差异不大, 而防御定向的个体认为负面评论有用性显著高于正面评论; 对于促进定向的个体来说, 新产品类型对于评论效价对评论有用性的影响有调节作用, 而对于防御定向的个体来说, 新产品类型的这种调节作用则不存在。     

Local context effects during emotional item directed forgetting in younger and older adults

This paper explored the differential sensitivity young and older adults exhibit to the local context of items entering memory. We examined trial-to-trial performance during an item directed forgetting task for positive, negative, and neutral (or baseline) words each cued as either to-be-remembered (TBR) or to-be-forgotten (TBF). This allowed us to focus on how variations in emotional valence (independent of arousal) and instruction (TBR vs. TBF) of the previous item (trial n-1) impacted memory for the current item (trial n) during encoding. Different from research showing impairing effects of emotional arousal, both age groups showed a memorial boost for stimuli when preceded by items high in positive or negative valence relative to those preceded by neutral items. This advantage was particularly prominent for neutral trial n items that followed emotional items suggesting that, regardless of age, neutral memories may be strengthened by a local context that is high in valence. A trending age difference also emerged with older adults showing greater sensitivity when encoding instructions changed between trial n-1 and n. Results are discussed in light of age-related theories of cognitive and emotional processing, highlighting the need to consider the dynamic, moment-to-moment fluctuations of these systems.     

The effects of emotion on younger and older adults’ monitoring of learning

Age-related differences in memory monitoring appear when people learn emotional words. Namely, younger adults’ judgments of learning (JOLs) are higher for positive than neutral words, whereas older adults’ JOLs do not discriminate between positive versus neutral words. In two experiments, we evaluated whether this age-related difference extends to learning positive versus neutral pictures. We also evaluated the contribution of two dimensions of emotion that may impact younger and older adults’ JOLs: valence and arousal. Younger and older adults studied pictures that were positive or neutral and either high or low in arousal. Participants made immediate JOLs and completed memory tests. In both experiments, the magnitude of older adults’ JOLs was influenced by emotion, and both younger and older adults demonstrated an emotional salience effect on JOLs. As important, the magnitude of participants’ JOLs was influenced by valence, and not arousal. Emotional salience effects were also evident on participants’ free recall, and older adults recalled as many pictures as did younger adults. Taken together, these data suggest that older adults do not have a monitoring deficit when learning positive (vs. neutral) pictures and that emotional salience effects on younger and older adults’ JOLs are produced more by valence than by arousal.     

Can emotional content reduce the age gap in visual working memory? Evidence from two tasks

Ageing is associated with declines in several cognitive abilities including working memory (WM). The goal of the present study was to assess whether emotional information could reduce the age gap in the quantity and quality (precision) of representations in visual WM. Young and older adults completed a serial image recognition (SIR) task and a colour-image binding (CIB) task. Results of the SIR task showed worse performance for negative than neutral and positive images within the older group, hence enlarging the age gap in WM. In the CIB task, recall precision was lower in the old than young adults, showing an ageing decline in the quality of WM representations. Positive images tended to improve precision, but this boost was similar for both age groups. In sum, emotional content did not reduce the age gap in visual WM.     

印象形成中社会知觉信息效价冲突的认知控制效应

当个体信息与类别信息同时呈现时,个体的自我控制资源与信息效价产生交互作用,且共同影响他人印象形成的认知控制策略和信息加工深度。为进一步探究这一现象所产生的印象控制效应,采用自我控制资源损耗任务将96名被试随机分为高损耗组和低损耗组,并让他们完成内隐联想测验,以考察个体信息与类别信息的效价冲突时,他人印象控制策略如何受到自我控制资源与信息效价的双重影响。结果发现:(1)个体信息与类别信息的印象控制依赖于自我控制资源。(2)自我控制资源损耗与信息效价类型存在显著的交互作用。当个体损耗了较多的自我控制资源后,对效价冲突的个体信息与类别信息进行印象加工时,消极刻板印象的激活因受到这两类效价冲突信息的限制,只能依赖实时更新的面部表情信息,从而形成自下而上的反应性控制; 当个体损耗的自我控制资源较少时,对同样的个体信息与类别信息,不论效价相容或冲突,均能保持对消极刻板印象的自动激活,从而导致自上而下的主动性控制。     

Understanding and using the implicit association test: V. measuring semantic aspects of trait self‐concepts

Implicit Association Tests (IATs) often reveal strong associations of self with positive rather than negative attributes. This poses a problem in using the IAT to measure associations involving traits with either positive or negative evaluative content. In two studies, we employed non‐bipolar but evaluatively balanced Big Five traits as attribute contrasts and explored correlations of IATs with positive (e.g. sociable vs. conscientious) or negative (e.g. reserved vs. chaotic) attributes. Results showed (a) satisfactory internal consistencies for all IATs, (b) explicit–explicit and implicit–implicit correlations that were moderate to high and comparable in strength after both were corrected for attenuation and (c) better model fit for latent variable models that linked the implicit and explicit measures to distinct latent factors rather to the same factor. Together, the results suggest that IATs can validly assess the semantic aspect of trait self‐concepts and that implicit and explicit self‐representations are, although correlated, also distinct constructs. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Freeze or flee? Negative stimuli elicit selective responding

Humans preferentially attend to negative stimuli. A consequence of this automatic vigilance for negative valence is that negative words elicit slower responses than neutral or positive words on a host of cognitive tasks. Some researchers have speculated that negative stimuli elicit a general suppression of motor activity, akin to the freezing response exhibited by animals under threat. Alternatively, we suggest that negative stimuli only elicit slowed responding on tasks for which stimulus valence is irrelevant for responding. To discriminate between these motor suppression and response-relevance hypotheses, we elicited both lexical decisions and valence judgments of negative words and positive words. Relative to positive words (e.g., kitten), negative words (e.g., spider) elicited slower lexical decisions but faster valence judgments. Results therefore indicate that negative stimuli do not cause a generalized motor suppression. Rather, negative stimuli elicit selective responding, with faster responses on tasks for which stimulus valence is response-relevant.     

When two paradigms meet: Does evaluative learning extinguish in differential fear conditioning?

Contemporary theories of Pavlovian conditioning propose a distinction between signal learning (SL), in which a conditioned stimulus (CS) becomes a predictor for a biologically significant unconditioned stimulus (US), and evaluative learning (EL), in which the valence of the US is transferred to the CS. This distinction is based largely on the different susceptibilities of EL and SL to extinction. This study compared the extinction of indices of EL (online valence ratings) and SL (US-expectancy ratings and skin conductance responses, SCRs) in a differential fear conditioning design using complex CSs. Only half of the participants gave online valence ratings, allowing us to confirm that online valence measurement did not influence SCRs. In line with the distinction between EL and SL, SCRs extinguished rapidly while valence ratings showed resistance to extinction. US-expectancy ratings, however, were not distinguishable from valence ratings indicating that verbal indicators of EL and SL share a similar time course.