Negative emotion words are less susceptible to repetition blindness

Repeated and orthographically similar words are vulnerable in RSVP, as observed using the repetition blindness (RB) paradigm. Prior researchers have claimed that RB is increased for emotion words, but the mechanism for this was unclear. We argued that RB should be reduced for words with properties that capture attention, such as emotion words. Employing orthographic repetition blindness, our data showed that words with negative emotional valence had a report advantage when they were the second of two similar words (e.g., less RB occurred with HORSE curse than with HORSE purse). This renders emotion RB similar to the use of emotion words in the attentional blink phenomenon. The findings demonstrate the neglected role of competition in conscious recognition of multiple words under conditions of brief display and masking.     

It’s security,stupid! Voters’ perceptions of immigrants as a security risk predicted support for Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election

We analyzed two datasets to determine the predictive validity of four explanations of support for Donald Trump during the 2016 US presidential election: (a) security concerns regarding immigrants, (b) economic concerns regarding immigrants, (c) cultural concerns regarding immigrants, and (d) social dominance orientation. Results of a two‐phase study (N = 354) suggested that perceiving immigrants as a security concern was predictive of increased support for and greater odds of voting for Donald Trump three weeks later. Perceiving immigrants as an economic threat predicted odds of voting for Donald Trump, but only among liberals and there was no evidence of cultural concern or social dominance orientation (SDO) predicting support for Donald Trump or odds of voting for Trump. A follow‐up analysis of the cross‐sectional ANES survey corroborated that security concerns were an important correlate of voting for Trump, but also that SDO was correlated with having previously voted for Donald Trump. While our two‐phase study has the benefit of prediction, the cross‐sectional ANES data does not—“predictors” in these data were collected up to two months post‐election.     

内部竞争环境下内群体偏好的维持:群体认同和心理距离的影响

内群体偏好对群体及个人的生存发展都有重要价值。研究通过三个实验揭示了个体在内部竞争下维持内群体偏好的机制。实验一操纵内部竞争(有,无)和群体认同(高,低),发现内部竞争破坏了内群体偏好,而群体认同无法改变此破坏作用。实验二操纵内部竞争(有,无)和内群体心理距离(远、近),发现内部竞争破坏内群体偏好时,心理距离能够调节二者的关系,近心理距离有益于个体在内部竞争下维持内群体偏好。实验三进一步分析了心理距离维持内群体偏好的作用机制,发现心理距离通过个体知觉到的内部竞争感而影响内群体偏好。据此可认为,在内部竞争中维持内群体偏好需更多地关注成员间的关系(缩短心理距离),而非单纯地强调个体和群体间的联结(群体认同)。     

合作与竞争人格倾向测量

该研究从人格的角度,采取定性与定量两种分析手段,对合作与竞争人格倾向进行了深入探讨,并编制了测量个体合作与竞争人格倾向的量表。研究者首先在深度访谈的基础上,编制合作与竞争人格倾向测量量表并进行指标验证。探索性因素分析发现,合作与竞争倾向是两个独立的维度,并分别包含三个子因子,构成合作与竞争倾向的二维度三因子模型。研究者随后对模型的验证性分析以及多重效度检验,结果显示量表的信效度与结构模型的拟合指标均达到可接受的标准     

Adaptation to Sperm Competition in Humans

ABSTRACT— With the recognition, afforded by recent evolutionary science, that female infidelity was a recurrent feature of modern humans' evolutionary history has come the development of a unique area in the study of human mating: sperm competition. A form of male–male postcopulatory competition, sperm competition occurs when the sperm of two or more males concurrently occupy the reproductive tract of a female and compete to fertilize her ova. Males must compete for mates, but if two or more males have copulated with a female within a sufficiently short period of time, sperm will compete for fertilizations. Psychological, behavioral, physiological, and anatomical evidence indicates that men have evolved solutions to combat the adaptive problem of sperm competition, but research has only just begun to uncover these adaptations.     

Experimental evidence for route integration and strategic planning in wild capuchin monkeys

Both in captivity and the wild, primates are found to travel mostly to the nearest available resource, but they may skip over the closest resource and travel to more distant resources, which are often found to be more productive. This study examines the tradeoff between distance and reward in the foraging choices of one group of wild capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella nigritus) using feeding platforms in large-scale foraging experiments conducted over four years. Three feeding sites were arrayed in an oblique triangle, such that once the monkey group had chosen one site to feed, they had a choice between two remaining sites, a close one with less food and the other up to 2.3 times as far away but with more food. Sites were provisioned once per day. The capuchins generally chose the closer feeding site, even when the more distant site offered up to 12 times as much food. The distances to, rewards of, or various profitability measures applied to each alternative site individually did not explain the group’s choices in ways consistent with foraging theory or principles of operant psychology. The group’s site choices were predicted only by comparing efficiency measures of entire foraging pathways: (1) direct travel to the more rewarding distant site, versus (2) the longer ‘detour’ through the closer site on the way to the more distant one. The group chose the detour more often when the reward was larger and the added detour distance shorter. They appeared to be more sensitive to the absolute increase in detour distance than to the relative increase compared to the straight route. The qualitative and quantitative results agree with a simple rule: do not use the detour unless the energy gain from extra food outweighs the energy cost of extra travel. These results suggest that members of this group integrate information on spatial location, reward, and perhaps potential food competition in their choice of multi-site foraging routes, with important implications for social foraging. This contribution is part of the special issue “ A Socioecological Perspective on Primate Cognition” (Cunningham and Janson 2007b).     

Chimpanzees really know what others can see in a competitive situation

Chimpanzee’s perspective-taking abilities are currently disputed. Here we show that in some food competition contexts, subordinate chimpanzees do take the visual perspective of dominant individuals, preferentially targeting a hidden piece of the food that the dominant cannot see over a piece that is visible to both individuals. However, the space where the animals compete is critical in determining whether subjects demonstrate this skill. We suggest that competition intensity, as mediated by these spatial factors, may play an important role in determining the strategy chimpanzees utilize in competitive contexts. Since some strategies may not require visual perspective taking in order to be successful, chimpanzees may not always demonstrate this skill. Differences in spatial arrangement may therefore account for the conflicting results of past studies.     

结构限制和信息干扰对双重作业绩效的影响

研究通过改变双重任务呈现的间隔时间来探讨结构限制与信息干扰对双重任务操作绩效的影响。实验结果表明：(1)两种作业呈现的间隔时间对双重任务操作绩效有明显的影响。间隔时间越大,双重任务的作业绩效越高。(2)信息干扰对双重任务的操作有明显的影响。信息干扰越大,双重任务的操作绩效越差。(3)两个作业呈现的间隔时间不同并不影响信息干扰对双重任务操作绩效的作用。根据实验结果,该研究提出了三因素假设：结构限制、信息干扰和资源竞争是影响双重任务操作绩效的三个主要因素。     

Inhibitory priming effects in auditory word recognition: when the target's competitors conflict with the prime word

Several studies indicate that the number of similar sounding words that are activated during recognition is a powerful predictor of performance on auditory targets. Words with few competitors are processed more quickly and accurately than words with many competitors. In the present study, we examined the contribution of the competitor set size in determining the magnitude of the inhibitory priming effect. The data show that the priming effect is stronger when word targets have few competitors. This result supports the view of direct competition between lexical candidates.     

On the role of preference in response competition

A duration-based preference assessment identified items that matched and did not match the sensory consequences hypothesized to maintain stereotypy. When evaluated in treatment, these items effectively competed with the occurrence of stereotypy, regardless of their sensory properties. It is suggested that relative preference, as measured in duration-based assessment, can be as significant as type of stimulation produced in interventions that reduce automatically reinforced problem behavior.