False physiological feedback and persuasion: Effect of fear arousal vs. fear reduction on attitude change

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that increases in false physiological feedback of fear arousal will enhance persuasion and that reduction in the arousal feedback is unnecessary for increased persuasion to occur. Prior research has usually found a positive relation between level of arousal and persuasion, but support for the drive reduction hypothesis is tenuous. However, Harris and Jellison (1971) claimed support for such a hypothesis. They manipulated subjects' fear arousal cognitively via false physiological feedback while the subjects listened to a persuasive communication. The present experiments used a similar procedure in an attempt to test an "arousal only" against an "arousal reduction" hypothesis. Subjects listened to a persuasive speech while receiving false feedback via a meter concerning their fear arousal. In Experiment I half of the subjects received high arousal and half received moderate arousal information. Within each of these conditions half of the subjects had their arousal reduced, and the other half did not. In Experiment II subjects received either low arousal, high arousal, or high then low arousal feedback while listening. The results of the two studies generally provided support for the "arousal only" hypothesis. An interpretation in terms of Bem's attribution theory was tentatively suggested.     

Effects of task success or failure on causal attributions and person perception

An actor's outcome on a task (success-failure) was manipulated orthogonally to information that the actor either used or did not use drugs. Casual attributions for success-failure were obtained as well as trait ratings of the actor. Subjects read a case study of an artist who either succeeded or failed in his profession. For half of the subjects, the artist was described as using hard drugs, and no mention of drugs was made for. the other half. It was predicted and confirmed that success-failure interacted with drugs-no drugs in determining attributions of ability. It was also found, as expected, that success was attributed to ability and motivation more than was failure. Further, success tended to be internally attributed to the actor, while failure was externally attributed. The interaction obtained for ability attribution was not obtained for a measure of trying, nor for the trait ratings. The results confirmed Kepka and Brickman's (1971) suggestion that ability and motivation are qualitatively different concepts in naive psychology, but some of their specific conclusions are questioned.     

Financial problems and psychological distress: Investigating reciprocal effects among business owners

Building on conservation of resources theory and the dynamic equilibrium model, this three‐wave longitudinal study among 260 Dutch agricultural business owners (1‐year time intervals) investigated reciprocal relationships between the financial situation of the business and psychological distress. Results of structural equation modelling analyses revealed a negative spiral of farm decline, in which psychological variables played a key role. Experiencing financial problems predicted psychological distress, and acted as a self‐fulfilling prophecy by strengthening intentions to quit the business, which predicted a deterioration of the objective financial situation of the business 1 year later. Moreover, farmers experiencing more psychological distress were more likely to get caught in this negative spiral than business owners with better mental health, because they experienced more financial problems, irrespective of their objective financial situation. Long‐term psychological distress rather than temporary fluctuations in distress levels accounted for this effect.     

Heterosexual anxiety: Stable multichannel assessment for therapy outcome research

Thirty-six shy males participated in two interpersonal performance tests with attractive female confederates. Between the two interpersonal performances, each was exposed either to one of three elaborate placebo treatments or to no treatment. During and after each performance, heterosexual anxiety was measured with instruments recommended for research purposes by Borkovec et al. (1974). Results showed that the recommended shyness measures were immune to unwanted changes either from repeated assessments or from any of the three multisession placebo procedures. Hence the experiment partially replicated and substantially extended previous research, suggesting the feasibility of using the Borkovec et al. shyness-assessment package in behavioral fear-therapy research.     

Physical distance and sex in moderated groups: Neglected factors in small group interaction

An experiment examined the effects of sex of subjects, sex of moderator, and seating distance between members of a small group on moods, evaluations, attraction, and attitude expression. Groups of three subjects and a moderator discussed a socially relevant issue and then made several ratings. During the discussion, group members sat either very close to each other or "very far apart, q?he expectation that males would react unfavorably while females would react favorably to close seating was not obtained. Instead, sex of moderator interacted strongly with distance. Regardless of sex, groups were more positive close to a female moderator and far from a male moderator. Attitudes showed the same interaction. Interpretations were that (1) the ranking person helps define the spacing norms for a group, and (2) there are sex differences in “personal space.”     

Affective matching moderates S–R binding

We investigated the moderating influence of affective matching on S–R binding processes in a sequential priming study in which positive and negative nouns had to be categorised as referring to a person or to an object. Irrelevant positive and negative distractor words (adjectives) were integrated with responses into S–R episodes if they had the same valence as the target (affective match condition). In this case, repeating the prime distractor in the probe led to a retrieval of the prime response, which facilitated performance for response repetition sequences but had no effect on performance when responses changed between prime and probe. However, if target and distractor had different valences (affective mismatch condition), no interaction of distractor relation and response relation occurred, indicating that distractors were less likely to be associated with responses into event files during the prime trial episode. Findings reveal that affective mismatches are detected automatically and modulate a binding of irrelevant information with responses.     

Working harder to obtain more snack foods when wanting to eat less

This study investigates individual differences in the reinforcing value of snack food. More specifically, it was investigated whether differences in restraint status are associated with differences in working for high-caloric snack food. Thirty-six unrestrained non-dieters, twenty restrained non-dieters and fifteen current dieters performed a concurrent schedules task in which they had the option to work for points for either snack food or fruit and vegetables. By progressively increasing the “price” of the snack foods (i.e., the amount of work required to obtain extra snack points) the relative reinforcing value of snack food was determined. As hypothesized, restrained non-dieters worked harder and current dieters worked less hard to obtain snack food as compared to unrestrained non-dieters.     

Guilty knowledge versus innocent associations: Effects of trait anxiety and stimulus context on skin conductance

A simulated lie detection procedure was used to investigate skin conductance responsivity among self-reported skin responders. Subjects were grouped according to reported trait anxiety as measured by Lykken's Activity Preference Questionnaire and then engaged in either a mock crime or a neutral activity. The “crime” gave subjects “guilty knowledge,” and the neutral task provided “innocent associations” to relevant stimuli imbedded in each scenario. Subjects were then interrogated using Lykken's Guilty Knowledge technique. Anxiety classification, guilty vs. innocent treatment, and type of stimulus were manipulated in a 2 × 2 × (2) factorial design. Results for differential responsivity scores showed significant main and interaction effects. Low-anxiety subjects showed almost no effects, but highly anxious subjects responded strongly in the “guilty” rather than the “innocent” treatment. Contrary to previous findings, results showed a substantial—but qualified—relationship between self-reported anxiety and electrodermal responsivity. Also, the Guilty Knowledge technique with rank scoring yielded 97.5% correct classification.     

Tracing Attitude Expressions: An Eye‐Tracking Study

Attitudes represent object evaluations, comprising complex underlying cognitive and affective knowledge structures. When people are asked to judge an object, they can use their primary response (i.e., the immediate object‐evaluation linkage) or underlying affective and cognitive knowledge structures. In many situations, a primary response satisfices, but if not, more elaboration is required. Both processes are fundamentally different but may lead to the same attitude. For monitoring underlying processes during attitude expression, we developed an innovative eye‐tracking procedure using eye‐gaze on response scale options. This procedure was applied in three studies to identify the extent to which elaboration differs for attitude objects with weak or strong, univalent or mixed object evaluations (i.e., univalent, neutral and ambivalent). In Study 1, the overall judgment preceded processing of more specific affective and cognitive linkage evaluations. In Studies 2 and 3, the order was reversed, and affective and cognitive bases were assessed prior to overall attitude outcomes. For attitude objects with strong univalent or strong mixed object evaluations, we found similar outcomes on underlying processes. For weak object evaluations, cognition was found to be more predictive and easily accessible if an overall judgment was required first; affect for these objects was more predictive if people had to elaborate on affect and cognition first. We concluded that both affective and cognitive attitudes may require substantial elaboration, albeit in different situations. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Affective matching moderates S-R binding

We investigated the moderating influence of affective matching on S-R binding processes in a sequential priming study in which positive and negative nouns had to be categorised as referring to a person or to an object. Irrelevant positive and negative distractor words (adjectives) were integrated with responses into S-R episodes if they had the same valence as the target (affective match condition). In this case, repeating the prime distractor in the probe led to a retrieval of the prime response, which facilitated performance for response repetition sequences but had no effect on performance when responses changed between prime and probe. However, if target and distractor had different valences (affective mismatch condition), no interaction of distractor relation and response relation occurred, indicating that distractors were less likely to be associated with responses into event files during the prime trial episode. Findings reveal that affective mismatches are detected automatically and modulate a binding of irrelevant information with responses.