Beyond Personality Impressions: Effects of Physical and Vocal Attractiveness on False Consensus, Social Comparison, Affiliation, and Assumed and Perceived Similarity

ABSTRACT We examined the effects of target persons' physical and vocal attractiveness on judges' responses to five measures: false consensus (the belief that the target shares one's behavior), choice of targets as comparison others, affiliation with targets, assumed similarity (similarity between self-ratings and ratings assigned to targets), and perceived similarity (direct questions about similarity). Higher physical attractiveness and higher vocal attractiveness were both related to higher scores on all variables. The effect of one type of attractiveness was more pronounced for higher levels of the other type of attractiveness. The joint effect of the two types of attractiveness was best described as synergistic, i.e., only targets high on both types of attractiveness elicited higher scores on the dependent variables. The effect of physical attractiveness on most dependent variables was more pronounced for subjects who were themselves physically attractive. The synergistic effect (the advantage of targets high on both types of attractiveness) was more pronounced for judges high in self-monitoring. The contribution of the study to the literature on attractiveness stereotypes is discussed.     

Cross-channel effects of vocal and physical attractiveness and their implications for interpersonal perception

Judges' ratings of senders' vocal attractiveness from face-plus-voice (F+V) cues were influenced by senders' physical attractiveness, and ratings of senders' physical attractiveness from F+V cues were influenced by senders' vocal attractiveness. This occurred even when judges were warned not to pay attention to face when rating vocal attractiveness and not to pay attention to voice when rating physical attractiveness. Instructions to judge attractiveness without being told which channel to attend to resulted in ratings influenced by both vocal and physical attractiveness of senders. Because of cross-channel effects, F+V attractiveness ratings should be more highly related to F+V personality impressions than attractiveness ratings based on only face or only voice. The results supported this hypothesis. Implications of cross-channel effects for research on the attractiveness stereotype were discussed.     

The Nature and Organization of Individual Differences in Executive Functions: Four General Conclusions

Executive functions (EFs)-a set of general-purpose control processes that regulate one's thoughts and behaviors-have become a popular research topic lately and have been studied in many subdisciplines of psychological science. This article summarizes the EF research that our group has conducted to understand the nature of individual differences in EFs and their cognitive and biological underpinnings. In the context of a new theoretical framework that we have been developing (the unity/diversity framework), we describe four general conclusions that have emerged from our research. Specifically, we argue that individual differences in EFs, as measured with simple laboratory tasks, (1) show both unity and diversity (different EFs are correlated yet separable); (2) reflect substantial genetic contributions; (3) are related to various clinically and societally important phenomena; and (4) show some developmental stability.     

Individual differences in second-language proficiency: does musical ability matter?

This study examined the relation between musical ability and second-language (L2) proficiency in adult learners. L2 ability was assessed in four domains: receptive phonology, productive phonology, syntax, and lexical knowledge. Also assessed were various other factors that might explain individual differences in L2 ability, including age of L2 immersion, patterns of language use and exposure, and phonological short-term memory. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to determine if musical ability explained any unique variance in each domain of L2 ability after controlling for other relevant factors. Musical ability predicted L2 phonological ability (both receptive and productive) even when controlling for other factors, but did not explain unique variance in L2 syntax or lexical knowledge. These results suggest that musical skills may facilitate the acquisition of L2 sound structure and add to a growing body of evidence linking language and music.     

Constructive Interaction and the Iterative Process of Understanding

When people try to understand complex physical devices (e.g., a sewing machine), they proceed in an iterative fashion. They seem to reach several points at which they claim to “understand” the device. Each point of understanding is incomplete and requires a new level of understanding. As a result, they cycle between understanding and non-understanding as they traverse different levels. The present study provides a framework to capture the iterative nature of understanding. These points are discussed and illustrated through observations of three pairs of people constructively interacting to understand how a sewing machine works. In addition to the iterative search for understanding, the conceptual point in space from which the speaker appeared to be viewing the machine was important. This conceptual point of view (C-POV) was reflected in their use of language. The C-POV appeared to be stable during points of understanding and to shift frequently at points of non-understanding.     

Individual differences in executive functions are almost entirely genetic in origin

Recent psychological and neuropsychological research suggests that executive functions--the cognitive control processes that regulate thought and action--are multifaceted and that different types of executive functions are correlated but separable. The present multivariate twin study of 3 executive functions (inhibiting dominant responses, updating working memory representations, and shifting between task sets), measured as latent variables, examined why people vary in these executive control abilities and why these abilities are correlated but separable from a behavioral genetic perspective. Results indicated that executive functions are correlated because they are influenced by a highly heritable (99%) common factor that goes beyond general intelligence or perceptual speed, and they are separable because of additional genetic influences unique to particular executive functions. This combination of general and specific genetic influences places executive functions among the most heritable psychological traits. These results highlight the potential of genetic approaches for uncovering the biological underpinnings of executive functions and suggest a need for examining multiple types of executive functions to distinguish different levels of genetic influences.     

The role of attention during retrieval in working-memory span: a dual-task study

We tested the hypothesis that retrieving target words in operation span (OSpan) involves attention-demanding processes. Participants completed the standard OSpan task and a modified version in which all equations preceded all target words. Recall took place under either full attention or easy versus hard divided-attention conditions. Recall suffered under divided attention with the recall decrement being greater for the hard secondary task. Moreover, secondary-task performance was disrupted more by the standard OSpan task than by the modified version with the hard secondary task showing the larger decrement. Finally, the time taken to start recalling the first word was considerably longer for the standard version than for the modified version. These results are consistent with the proposal that successful OSpan task performance in part involves the attention-demanding retrieval of targets from long-term memory.     

Individual differences in working memory: introduction to the special section.

This special section includes a set of 5 articles that examine the nature of inter- and intraindividual differences in working memory, using working memory span tasks as the main research tools. These span tasks are different from traditional short-term memory spans (e.g., digit or word span) in that they require participants to maintain some target memory items (e.g., words) while simultaneously performing some other tasks (e.g., reading sentences). In this introduction, a brief discussion of these working memory span tasks and their characteristics is provided first. This is followed by an overview of 2 major theoretical issues that are addressed by the subsequent articles--(a) the factors influencing the inter- and intraindividual differences in working memory performance and (b) the domain generality versus domain specificity of working memory--and also of some important issues that must be kept in mind when readers try to evaluate the claims regarding these 2 theoretical issues.