Sexual arousal and interpersonal evaluations

In an attempt to reconcile conflicting results concerning the effects of sexual arousal on interpersonal evaluations, hypotheses based on adaptation level, arousal-need gratification, and labeling of arousal explanations were tested. The variables of sexual arousal, technique of stimulus material presentation, physical attractiveness of the original stimulus female, and physical attractiveness of the final target person being judged were manipulated in a 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 design. A significant three-way interaction (Arousal × Stimulus Attractiveness × Target Attractiveness) obtained on all measures of interpersonal evaluation was interpreted as supporting a labeling of arousal explanation. It is suggested that subjects first interpret their arousal as being caused by their attraction toward the stimulus person. The characteristics of the stimulus person then become a factor used by subjects when they subsequently make judgments of target females. The adaptation-level and arousal-need gratification hypotheses were not supported.     

Sensation seeking and financial risk taking in everyday money matters

The present study investigated the degree to which the previously established relationship between sensation seeking and risk taking associated with gambling could be extended to everyday financial matters (e.g., personal banking activities). The subjects, classified into high and low sensation seekers, were asked to make a series of everyday financial decisions that varied in their degrees of risk. Overall, the results indicate high sensation seekers displayed greater risk-taking tendencies in everyday financial matters than low sensation seekers. This difference in everyday financial risk taking between high and low sensation seekers was also found within each gender group. Implications and suggestions for future research involving sensation seeking in other personal and professional financial decision-making areas are also presented.     

May the odds be ever in your favor: The Hunger Games and the fight for a more equal society. (Negative) Media vicarious contact and collective action

Various studies have found that reading books about positive interactions between ingroup and outgroup characters, known as media vicarious contact, can reduce prejudice. Focusing on the fantasy saga of The Hunger Games, we examined the effects of negative vicarious contact on collective action across two studies. Specifically, we tested whether reading about fantasy characters living in a postapocalyptic conflictual society with large social disparities between advantaged and disadvantaged groups leads advantaged group members to display greater willingness to engage in collective action on behalf of the disadvantaged group. Results from Study 1 (correlational survey in the United Kingdom and United States) and Study 2 (experimental intervention in Italy) revealed that reading The Hunger Games is indirectly associated with greater collective action intentions via increased anger toward injustice. In both studies social dominance orientation (SDO) acted as a moderator, but in opposite directions: mediation was significant for low-SDOs in Study 1, and for high-SDOs in Study 2. Results are discussed in relation to the importance of media vicarious contact via book reading for social change, and to the need to identify the contextual conditions allowing to anticipate the specific moderation pattern that is more likely to emerge.     

Effects of containment and closure policies on controlling the COVID‐19 pandemic in East Asia

Growing efforts have been made to pool coronavirus data and control measures from countries and regions to compare the effectiveness of government policies. We examine whether these strategies can explain East Asia’s effective control of the COVID‐19 pandemic based on time‐series data with cross‐correlations between the Stringency Index and number of confirmed cases during the early period of outbreaks. We suggest that multidisciplinary empirical research in healthcare and social sciences, personality, and social psychology is needed for a clear understanding of how cultural values, social norms, and individual predispositions interact with policy to affect life‐saving behavioural changes in different societies.     

Implementation of training programs in self-regulated learning strategies in Moodle format: results of a experience in higher education

This paper tests the efficacy of an intervention program in virtual format intended to train studying and self-regulation strategies in university students. The aim of this intervention is to promote a series of strategies which allow students to manage their learning processes in a more proficient and autonomous way. The program has been developed in Moodle format and hosted by the Virtual Campus of the University of Oviedo. The present study had a semi-experimental design, included an experimental group (n=167) and a control one (n=206), and used pretest and posttest measures (self-regulated learning strategies' declarative knowledge, self-regulated learning macro-strategy planning-execution-assessment, self-regulated learning strategies on text, surface and deep learning approaches, and academic achievement). Data suggest that the students enrolled in the training program, comparing with students in the control group, showed a significant improvement in their declarative knowledge, general and on text use of learning strategies, increased their deep approach to learning, decreased their use of a surface approach and, in what concerns to academic achievement, statistically significant differences have been found in favour of the experimental group.     

Determinants of lexical access in speech production: Role of word frequency and age of acquisition

The main determinants of lexical access in speech are considered to be a word's age of acquisition (AoA) and its frequency of occurrence in a speaker's experience. It is unclear whether and how these variables interact, although they are commonly observed to be correlated, for the few studies that address the issue have reported inconsistent findings. An influential view of AoA in lexical processing (Ellis and Lambon Ralph, 2000) predicts stronger frequency effects for items acquired later in life than for those acquired at an early age. Five experiments were designed to investigate the possible interaction of AoA and frequency effects in speech. We found that the interaction between word frequency and AoA was not robust and that, contrary to expectation, the effect of word frequency was greater for words acquired earlier in life than for those acquired later. The implications of our findings are discussed.     

Negative Emotions Moderate the Relationship Between Self-Efficacy and Achievement of Filipino Students

The study tested the hypothesis that negative academic emotions moderate the relationship between self-efficacy and achievement. The moderating effect of four negative academic emotions (anger, anxiety, shame, and hopelessness) was investigated in 1345 university students of trigonometry, who answered the Academic Emotions Questionnaire-Math (Pekrun et al. Educational Psychology Review 18:315–341, 2005) and a self-efficacy scale (Pintrich et al. Journal of Educational Psychology 82:33–40, 1991). Results of the moderation analysis indicated the higher self-efficacy was related to higher grades among students who reported lower levels of negative academic emotions. Self-efficacy had minimal or no effect on grades among students who reported higher levels of negative academic emotions. The results are discussed in terms of how negative emotions may indicate negative appraisals of the value of the task and/or task outcomes, and thus weaken the positive links between cognitive and motivational variables and learning.     

Identification with the neighborhood: Discrimination and neighborhood size

This paper analyzes the impact of a geographical social grouping (neighborhood) and its relative perceived size in the spontaneous group’s identification level and place satisfaction, as well as the intensity of and motives for discrimination against inhabitants of other places. Two studies are presented: an experimental one using the minimal group categorization paradigm and an onsite investigation of a city neighborhood. Consistent with the predictions, the results showed that smaller neighborhoods reported higher identification and satisfaction with the place of residence, as well as higher discrimination of other neighborhoods. In line with the optimal distinctiveness theory (ODT), the findings showed that the motivation for discrimination varies as a function of the in-group size. Thus, the members of larger groups discriminate by increasing the differentiation between the in-group and the out-group, whereas the members of smaller groups increased the value of the in-group. Furthermore, the results were consistent with a social identity theory and ODT explanation of diverse research that shows the non-trivial nature of geographical bounded social grouping and its importance in a diverse set of contexts and its impact in inter-neighborhood relationships.     

Incivility at work,upset at home? Testing the cross‐level moderation effect of emotional dysregulation among female nurses from primary health care

Workplace incivility is a growing problem in nursing. However, most studies that explore this psychosocial risk and its consequences do so considering a single level and a between‐person perspective. The aims of the study were to explore whether the effects of experiencing incivility during work‐time could explain the daily levels of well‐being of nurses at home; and to analyze if that relationship could be moderated by their levels of emotional dysregulation as a trait. This is a multilevel study with diary methodology. The study was carried out in 18 primary health‐care centers belonging to Madrid and the Basque Country, in Spain. Ninety‐four nurses completed a general questionnaire and 54 of them a diary booklet over five consecutive working days in two different moments, immediately after work and at bedtime. The results showed that nurses’ emotional dysregulation moderated the relationship between daily workplace incivility and daily fatigue, and positive affect at night at home. However, there were no direct effects of daily incivility on these outcome variables. In conclusion, the presence of difficulties in emotional regulation among nurses can increase the negative effects of daily workplace incivility on their health and well‐being.     

Social Job Resources as Sources of Meaningfulness and its Effects on Nurses’ Vigor and Emotional Exhaustion: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Spanish Nurses

This study investigates the mediating role of psychological meaningfulness among social job resources (i.e., coworkers and supervisor support), vigor, and emotional exhaustion in a nursing context. In spite of progress in understanding which organizational influence affects nurses’ vigor and emotional exhaustion, the psychological mechanisms assumed to underlie the associations have not been fully explored. The sample for this study consisted of 171 nurses from Spanish hospitals (54.4 %) and Primary Care Centers (45.6 %). The mediation model was tested using the bootstrapping procedure. Our findings confirmed that psychological meaningfulness fully mediates the impact of social job resources on vigor at work. Moreover, psychological meaningfulness partially mediated the impact of social job resources on emotional exhaustion. Results suggest that meaningfulness plays an important role in the connection between job resources, vigor, and emotional exhaustion. The findings contribute to our understanding of the psychological processes that can explain how job resources contribute to the energetic aspect of burnout and engagement among nurses. Providing nurses with more social job resources, such as coworker and supervisor support, could activate their levels of personal meaningfulness and thus enhance their levels of well-being at work.