Mind Control
Valence Asymmetry in Attitude Formation: A Correlate of Political Ideology
Natalie Shook & Russ Clay
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
A considerable amount of research indicates that political conservatives and liberals perceive their social worlds very differently, with conservatives perceiving the world more negatively than liberals. Two studies examined how these varying perceptions may develop by exploring the relation between political ideology and attitude formation. In both studies, participants completed an evaluative conditioning paradigm in which novel stimuli were paired with either positive or negative images. Political conservatives were more susceptible to conditioning with negative stimuli than conditioning with positive stimuli as compared to political liberals. Specifically, conservatives were less susceptible to conditioning with positive stimuli than liberals. Conditioning with negative stimuli did not differ by political ideology. These findings suggest fundamental differences in the formation of positive versus negative attitudes between conservatives and liberals.
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Unable to resist temptation: How self-control depletion promotes unethical behavior
Francesca Gino et al.
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, forthcoming
Abstract:
Across four experimental studies, individuals who were depleted of their self-regulatory resources by an initial act of self-control were more likely to "impulsively cheat" than individuals whose self-regulatory resources were intact. Our results demonstrate that individuals depleted of self-control resources were more likely to behave dishonestly (Study 1). Depletion reduced people's moral awareness when they faced the opportunity to cheat, which, in turn, was responsible for heightened cheating (Study 2). Individuals high in moral identity, however, did not show elevated levels of cheating when they were depleted (Study 3), supporting our hypothesis that self-control depletion increases cheating when it robs people of the executive resources necessary to identify an act as immoral or unethical. Our results also show that resisting unethical behavior both requires and depletes self-control resources (Study 4). Taken together, our findings help to explain how otherwise ethical individuals predictably engage in unethical behavior.
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Graeme McCaig et al.
NeuroImage, 1 April 2011, Pages 1298-1305
Abstract:
Recent real-time fMRI (rt-fMRI) training studies have demonstrated that subjects can achieve improved control over localized brain regions by using real-time feedback about the level of fMRI signal in these regions. It has remained unknown, however, whether subjects can gain control over anterior prefrontal cortex (PFC) regions that support some of the most complex forms of human thought. In this study, we used rt-fMRI training to examine whether subjects can learn to regulate the rostrolateral prefrontal cortex (RLPFC), or the lateral part of the anterior PFC, by using a meta-cognitive awareness strategy. We show that individuals can achieve improved regulation over the level of fMRI signal in their RLPFC by turning attention towards or away from their own thoughts. The ability to achieve improved modulation was contingent on observing veridical real-time feedback about the level of RLPFC activity during training; a sham-feedback control group demonstrated no improvement in modulation ability and neither did control subjects who received no rt-fMRI feedback but underwent otherwise identical training. Prior to training, meta-cognitive awareness was associated with recruitment of anterior PFC subregions, including both RLPFC and medial PFC, as well as a number of other midline and posterior cortical regions. Following training, however, regulation improvement was specific to RLPFC and was not observed in other frontal, midline, or parietal cortical regions. These results demonstrate the feasibility of acquiring control over high-level prefrontal regions through rt-fMRI training and offer a novel view into the correspondence between observable neuroscientific measures and highly subjective mental states.
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The Resource Replenishment Function of Interest
Dustin Thoman, Jessi Smith & Paul Silvia Social
Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Interest is a positive emotion associated with increased approach motivation, effort, attention, and persistence. Although experiencing interest promotes behaviors that demand cognitive resources, interest is as a coping resource in frustrating learning situations and is central to self-regulation and sustained motivation. Positive affect, in general, tends to replenish resources, but based on the functions of interest and what interest promotes we suggest that interest, in particular, promotes greater resource replenishment. Across three experiments, experiencing interest during activity engagement (Studies 1 and 2), even when interest is activated via priming (Study 3), caused greater effort and persistence in subsequent tasks than did positive affect. This effect occurred only when participants' psychological resources were previously depleted (Study 1). Paradoxically, engaging an interesting task replenished resources (vs. positive and neutral tasks) even though the interesting task was more complex and required more effort.
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Depression Babies: Do Macroeconomic Experiences Affect Risk Taking?
Ulrike Malmendier & Stefan Nagel
Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 2011, Pages 373-416
Abstract:
We investigate whether individual experiences of macroeconomic shocks affect financial risk taking, as often suggested for the generation that experienced the Great Depression. Using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances from 1960 to 2007, we find that individuals who have experienced low stock market returns throughout their lives so far report lower willingness to take financial risk, are less likely to participate in the stock market, invest a lower fraction of their liquid assets in stocks if they participate, and are more pessimistic about future stock returns. Those who have experienced low bond returns are less likely to own bonds. Results are estimated controlling for age, year effects, and household characteristics. More recent return experiences have stronger effects, particularly on younger people.
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The power to be me: Power elevates self-concept consistency and authenticity
Michael Kraus, Serena Chen & Dacher Keltner
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Consistency in the self-concept across social contexts has been linked to various positive outcomes, including felt authenticity and well-being. Based on theories of social power (e.g., Keltner, Gruenfeld, & Anderson, 2003), we predicted that high-power individuals, disposed to greater control of their environments and freedom of self-expression, would exhibit greater self-concept consistency relative to their low-power counterparts. Across three studies, measured and manipulated high-power participants showed elevated self-concept consistency in terms of greater coherence and consistency in their spontaneous self-descriptions (Studies 1 & 2), and less variability in trait ratings of themselves across different contexts (Study 3), relative to low-power participants. Moreover, high-power participants' tendency to be more consistent in their self-concept explained their higher reports of authenticity relative to low-power participants (Study 3). Discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for health and well-being, and for power differences in other cultural contexts.
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The Boss is Paying Attention: Power Affects the Functioning of the Attentional Networks
Guillermo Willis, Rosa Rodríguez-Bailón & Juan Lupiáñez
Social Cognition, April 2011, Pages 166-181
Abstract:
The aim of this paper was to explore the effects of social power on basic attentional processing. Two studies were conducted to test whether powerful individuals show a greater capacity for using orienting cues to increase their executive control. In Experiment 1, participants were assigned to a powerful or a powerless role and then performed a task designed to measure three different dimensions of attentional functioning and the interactions between them: executive control, orienting, and alertness. The results showed that powerful participants were less vigilant and made better use of orienting cues that helped them to improve their executive control. Experiment 2 replicated this effect with a mindset priming manipulation of power and showed that differences between groups occurred because power increased the capacity to focus attention on valid cues, reducing interference (instead of increasing the capacity to disengage from invalid cues). The implications of these findings are discussed.
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Joshua Clarkson et al.
Social Psychological and Personality Science, May 2011, Pages 231-238
Abstract:
The human mind is quite adept at modifying and regulating thoughts, judgments, and behaviors. Recent research has demonstrated that depletion of self-regulatory resources can impair executive function through restriction of working memory capacity. The current work explored whether the mere perception of resource depletion (i.e., illusory fatigue) is sufficient to directly produce these deficits in executive control. To manipulate illusory fatigue, participants were exposed to a depleting or nondepleting task before being presented with false feedback about the effects of the initial task on their state of resource depletion. Participants then completed a well-established index of working memory capacity. Findings revealed that individuals provided with feedback that led to perceptions of low depletion exhibited greater working memory capacity. This effect was independent of individuals' actual state of depletion and was furthermore mediated by their perceived level of depletion. Implications for spontaneous resource replenishment are discussed.
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Alison Wood Brooks & Maurice Schweitzer
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, May 2011, Pages 43-54
Abstract:
Negotiations trigger anxiety. Across four studies, we demonstrate that anxiety is harmful to negotiator performance. In our experiments, we induced either anxiety or neutral feelings and studied behavior in negotiation and continuous shrinking-pie tasks. Compared to negotiators experiencing neutral feelings, negotiators who feel anxious expect lower outcomes, make lower first offers, respond more quickly to offers, exit bargaining situations earlier, and ultimately obtain worse outcomes. The relationship between anxiety and negotiator behavior is moderated by negotiator self-efficacy; high self-efficacy mitigates the harmful effects of anxiety.
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Irene Park et al.
Asian American Journal of Psychology, March 2011, Pages 39-50
Abstract:
Although past studies have revealed ethnic and cultural variations in social anxiety, little research addresses why these variations might arise. The present study addressed this gap by examining emotion regulation as an explanatory mechanism that may account for such differences. Drawing from a culture-specific (Kitayama, Karasawa, & Mesquita, 2004), as well as process-based (Gross, 1998) model of emotion regulation, we hypothesized that emotion suppression would mediate associations between self-construals (interdependent and independent) and social anxiety symptoms. The data analytic sample consisted of 784 self-identified Asian American college students from 20 colleges/universities in the United States. Participants completed the study measures via a confidential, online questionnaire. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses indicated a significant indirect effect of both types of self-construal on social anxiety through emotion suppression. Specifically, an interdependent self-construal was associated with more (whereas an independent self-construal was associated with less) emotion suppression, which in turn, was associated with higher levels of social anxiety. Clinically, these findings suggest that an individual's emotion regulation strategy could serve as a proximal target of intervention among Asian American young adults.
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Janelle Jones & Jolanda Jetten
Social Psychological and Personality Science, May 2011, Pages 239-244
Abstract:
Recent research suggests that multiple group memberships can be a source of resilience in the face of various life challenges (e.g., illness, injury, life transitions, performance demands). In two studies the authors examined whether multiple group memberships promote resilience in the face of novel physical challenges. They found that belonging to multiple groups was associated with faster heart rate recovery for novice bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton athletes (Study 1) and that the salience of a greater number of group memberships led to greater endurance on a cold-pressor task (Study 2). Importantly, these effects were unchanged when controlling for individual differences in responses to the challenge, challenge perceptions, and group membership importance. The authors argue that multiple group memberships reflect an important psychological resource from which individuals draw strength when faced with life challenges and speculate as to the mechanisms underlying this effect.
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Temporal distance insulates against immediate social pain: An NIRS study of social exclusion
Kuniaki Yanagisawa et al.
Social Neuroscience, forthcoming
Abstract:
Social exclusion often evokes social pain in excluded individuals. Although this pain can trigger various interpersonal difficulties (e.g., aggression, depression), it is still unclear which psychological approach might best help to regulate social pain. However, recent work suggests that temporal distance helps to facilitate adaptive coping and self-control. The present study measured ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) activity during social exclusion, using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to examine the functional relationship between "temporal distance approach," or thinking about the distant future, and the social pain regulation process. Participants that imagined the distant future, next year, and beyond, felt less social pain and showed increased right (r)VLPFC activity during social exclusion, as compared to imagining events in the near future, such as tonight and tomorrow. Furthermore, rVLPFC activity mediated the relationship between temporal distance and social pain. On the basis of these findings, the effect of temporal distance on the process of adaptation after social exclusion is discussed. It is suggested that temporal distance moderates the process of regulating the impact of social exclusion.
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Lynda Brown Wright et al.
Journal of Black Psychology, May 2011, Pages 210-233
Abstract:
This study examined the impact of breathing awareness meditation (BAM), life skills (LS) training, and health education (HE) interventions on self-reported hostility and 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) in 121 African American (AA) ninth graders at increased risk for development of essential hypertension. They were randomly assigned to BAM, LS, or HE and engaged in intervention sessions during health class for 3 months. Before, after, and 3 months following intervention cessation, self-reported hostility and 24-hour ABP were measured. Results indicated that between pre- and postintervention, BAM participants displayed significant reductions in self-reported hostility and 24-hour systolic ABP. Reductions in hostility were significantly related to reductions in 24-hour systolic ABP. Between postintervention and follow-up, participants receiving LS showed a significant reduction in hostility but not in 24-hour ABP. Significant changes were not found for the HE group in 24-hour ABP or self-reported hostility, but these change scores were significantly correlated. The implications of the findings are discussed with regard to behavioral stress reduction programs for the physical and emotional health of AAs.
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Gene-Culture Interaction: Oxytocin Receptor Polymorphism (OXTR) and Emotion Regulation
Heejung Kim et al.
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Research has demonstrated that certain genotypes are expressed phenotypically in different forms depending on the social environment. To examine sensitivity to cultural norms regarding emotion regulation, we explored the expression of the oxytocin receptor polymorphism (OXTR) rs53576, a gene previously related to socioemotional sensitivity, in conjunction with cultural norms. Emotional suppression is normative in East Asian cultures but not in American culture. Consequently, we predicted an interaction of Culture and OXTR in emotional suppression. Korean and American participants completed assessments of emotion regulation and were genotyped for OXTR. We found the predicted interaction: Among Americans, those with the GG genotype reported using emotional suppression less than those with the AA genotype, whereas Koreans showed the opposite pattern. These findings suggest that OXTR rs53576 is sensitive to input from cultural norms regarding emotion regulation. These findings also indicate that culture is a moderator that shapes behavioral outcomes associated with OXTR genotypes.
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Masakatsu Ono et al.
Criminal Justice and Behavior, May 2011, Pages 471-491
Abstract:
This study examines the extent to which cognitive ability, the Big Five factor personality dimensions, and emotional intelligence are related to training and job performance of U.S. federal criminal investigators. Training performance measures were collected during a 17-week training program. Job performance measures were collected 1 year after the investigators completed the training program. Conscientiousness was modestly related to training performance. Cognitive ability and emotional intelligence were positively correlated with job performance. Neuroticism was negatively correlated with job performance. The relative benefits of using emotional intelligence and the five-factor model to select law enforcement agents are discussed.
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Abstract construal levels attenuate state self-esteem reactivity
Matthew Vess, Jamie Arndt & Rebecca Schlegel
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
The reactivity of state self-esteem has been linked to a number of important psychological outcomes, ranging from general well-being to psychological dysfunction. The present research aimed to identify a cognitive factor underlying state self-esteem reactivity by exploring how construal levels influence the extent to which state self-esteem reacts to positive and negative experiences. It was hypothesized that abstract construals would mitigate the effects of evaluative information on state self-esteem. The results of two studies supported this hypothesis. Participants in an abstract mindset did not differ in state self-esteem after receiving positive, negative, or no evaluative information. Participants in a concrete mindset, in contrast, experienced lower levels of state self-esteem following negative evaluative information. The significance of these findings for understanding the link between abstraction and psychological vulnerability is discussed.
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Ego Depletion Is Not Just Fatigue: Evidence From a Total Sleep Deprivation Experiment
Kathleen Vohs, Brian Glass, Todd Maddox & Arthur Markman
Social Psychological and Personality Science, March 2011, Pages 166-173
Abstract:
Is the self-regulation failure that comes from prior exertions of self-regulation - the ego-depletion effect - the result of fatigue? A reading of the literature suggests that self-regulatory resource depletion and fatigue might be overlapping constructs, but direct empirical evidence is lacking. The authors put this question to the test by subjecting half of their participants to total sleep deprivation for 24 hours whereas others were rested; they crossed this factor with a self-regulation manipulation in which participants did or did not suppress their emotional reactions to a film. The authors' measure of self-regulation was aggressive responses in a game involving blasting noise at an opponent. Contrary to expectations, there was no effect of sleep deprivation on aggression. In confirmation of the limited-resource model, the authors found that depleted participants were more aggressive than nondepleted participants (irrespective of fatigue condition). Lax self-regulation seems to be from a lack of self-regulatory capacity, not fatigue.