The impact of emotional expressions on children’s trust judgments

Research on the development of selective trust has shown that young children do not indiscriminately trust all potential informants. They are likely to seek and endorse information from individuals who have proven competent or benign in the past. However, research on trust among adults raises the possibility that children might also be influenced by the emotions expressed by potential informants. In particular, they might trust individuals expressing more positive emotion. Indeed, young children’s trust in particular informants based on their past behaviour might be undermined by their currently expressed emotions. To examine this possibility, we tested the selective trust of fifty 4- and 5-year-olds in two steps. We first confirmed that children are likely to invest more trust in individuals expressing more positive emotion. We then showed that even if children have already formed an impression of two potential informants based on their behavioural record, their choices about whose claims to trust are markedly influenced by the degree of positive emotion currently expressed by the two informants. By implication, the facial emotions expressed by potential informants can undermine young children’s selective trust based on the behavioural record of those informants.     

Cause by Omission and Norm: Not Watering Plants

People generally accept that there is causation by omission—that the omission of some events cause some related events. But this acceptance elicits the selection problem, or the difficulty of explaining the selection of a particular omissive cause or class of causes from the causal conditions. Some theorists contend that dependence theories of causation cannot resolve this problem. In this paper, we argue that the appeal to norms adequately resolves the selection problem for dependence theories, and we provide novel experimental evidence for it.     

吸烟者对香烟相关线索注意偏向的研究述评

吸烟者对香烟相关线索的注意偏向近年来颇受研究界青睐,现有研究大都集中在吸烟者注意偏向的理论解释、研究范式、发生状况以及与吸烟成瘾的关系等方面。其中,在理论解释上形成了诱因敏感、自动行动图式、诱因习惯和目前关注等理论;在研究范式上主要有成瘾stroop任务、点探测任务和线索调控的惊跳测试;在发生状况上涉及发生的被试特征、发生的意识状态、发生的注意阶段、发生的生化基础;在与吸烟成瘾的关系上包括与主观渴求和与觅烟行为的关系。鉴于目前研究所限,未来研究需纳入线索-靶子等研究范式,以深入探讨吸烟者注意偏向的发生阶段及其与吸烟成瘾的关系,进而发现吸烟者注意偏向的特异性之所在。     

自由观看实景图片时注意的空间偏向

本研究采用眼动仪直接记录40名在校大学生及研究生（平均年龄21.9岁,SD=1.8）自由观看实景图片的眼动情况,考察自然状态下视觉注意在真实场景中的空间偏向。为了控制图片不同区域刺激特征显著性对结果的影响,将被试随机分为两组,一组观看正向图片,一组观看倒置图片。对图片四个象限上的首次注视概率、首次眼跳方向和注视时间百分比分别进行2（水平方向）×2（垂直方向）×2（呈现方式）的重复测量方差分析,结果表明,存在独立于刺激特征的空间注意偏向,表现在水平方向具有左侧注意偏向,垂直方向具有上侧注意偏向。     

模拟法官决策中心理控制源对后见偏差的影响

考察模拟法官决策中心理控制源对后见偏差的影响。实验采用2（心理控制源：外控型、内控型）×3（有无策略：后见组、分散注意组、指导组）两因素被试间实验设计。采用自编两个案例及问卷测查模拟法官决策中后见效应的差异。实验结果发现,不同心理控制源是导致模拟法官决策中后见偏差存在差异的影响因素。同时,两种策略都能够有效减少模拟法官决策中的后见偏差。     

状态焦虑对回溯式时距判断的影响：认知评价和记忆偏向有调节的中介作用

探讨状态焦虑对回溯式时距判断的影响,并检测记忆偏向与认知评价在其中的中介和调节作用。实验1招募大学生60人,随机分为高、低状态焦虑组,采用情绪诱导程序诱导高、低状态焦虑;采用口头估计任务测量回溯式时距判断,考察高、低状态焦虑诱导后的回溯式时距判断差异。实验2在实验1的基础上,招募大学生60人,增加自由回忆任务测量记忆偏向,考察状态焦虑对回溯式时距判断的影响中记忆偏向的中介作用。实验3在实验1和实验2的基础上,招募大学生90人,增加视觉模拟心境量表测量认知评价,考察状态焦虑对回溯式时距判断的影响,并检测认知评价与记忆偏向在其中的作用。结果发现：(1)在回溯式时距判断中,高状态焦虑比低状态焦虑更高估时距;(2)在状态焦虑对回溯式时距判断的影响中,记忆偏向具有中介作用;(3)在状态焦虑对回溯式时距判断的影响中,认知评价和记忆偏向存在有调节的中介作用：只有当认知评价得分较低时,即对于认为焦虑对身体健康有害程度较低的个体而言,在状态焦虑影响回溯式时距判断中,记忆偏向具有完全中介作用,即状态焦虑只通过记忆偏向影响回溯式时距判断。研究结果揭示了焦虑个体回溯式时距判断的内部过程,验证了注意闸门模型中有...     

不同自尊水平者的注意偏向

本研究分别从外显自尊和内隐自尊角度出发, 以大学生情绪面孔(高兴, 中性, 愤怒)图片为实验材料, 采用“空间线索任务”实验范式, 探讨不同自尊水平个体注意偏向的特点及其内在机制。结果表明, 在无效线索条件下, 低外显自尊个体对以愤怒为提示线索的靶刺激的反应时显著长于高兴和中性, 说明低外显自尊个体对负性情绪信息(愤怒)的注意偏向是一种注意的解脱困难; 高内隐自尊个体在无效线索条件下, 对以高兴和愤怒为提示线索的靶刺激的反应时显著长于中性, 说明高内隐自尊个体更易受到情绪性信息(愤怒和高兴)的吸引, 是一种选择性的注意维持倾向, 表现为注意的解脱困难。     

Individual differences in positivity offset and negativity bias: Gender-specific associations with two serotonin receptor genes

Individual differences in the evaluation of affective stimuli, such as the positivity offset and negativity bias may have a biological basis. We tested whether two SNPs (HTR2A; 102T>C and HTR1A; 1019C>G) related to serotonin receptor function, a biological pathway associated with affective regulation, were differentially related to positivity offset and negativity bias for males and females. Participants were 109 cigarette smokers who rated a series of affective stimuli to assess reactions to positive and negative pictures. Gender × genotype interactions were found for both SNPs. Males with the 102T allele showed a greater positivity offset than males with the 102C allele. For females, in contrast, the 1019C allele was associated with a greater positivity offset than the 1019G allele, whereas the 102T allele was associated with a greater negativity bias than the 102C allele. Identifying how gender differences may moderate the effect of serotonin receptor genes on affective information processing may provide insight into their role in guiding behavior and regulating affect.     

Attentional Bias Modification in People with Chronic Pain: A Proof of Concept Study

The purpose of this proof of concept study was to explore the role of attentional bias modification (ABM) in improving clinically relevant outcomes in chronic pain. Eight participants with chronic pain completed eight ABM sessions, which featured a modified version of the visual-probe task implicitly training attention away from pain-related stimuli towards neutral stimuli. Training sessions included a variety of linguistic and pictorial pain-related stimuli, which were presented at two presentation times (500 and 1250 ms). Participants also completed a standard version of the visual-probe task pre- and post-ABM to assess changes in bias. The primary outcome measure was pain intensity, and secondary outcome measures were anxiety, depression severity and pain interference. Statistically and clinically significant change was shown pre- to post-ABM in pain intensity, anxiety, depression and pain interference. Attentional bias scores did not statistically differ across time. These results support the continued exploration of ABM in chronic pain and the modifications we made to the intervention (i.e. the inclusion of pictorial stimuli and a longer presentation time). Future research is needed to explore the optimal form of ABM and whether improvements are maintained over time.