Sunday, April 8, 2018

Implicit Theories of Intelligence and Personality: Relations to Intelligence, Motivation and Personality

Zirenko M. (2018) Implitsitnye teorii intellekta i lichnosti: svyazi s intellektom, motivatsiey i lichnostnymi chertami [Implicit Theories of Intelligence and Personality: Relations to Intelligence, Motivation and Personality]. Psychology. Journal of Higher School of Economics 2018, vol. 15, no 1, pp. 39-53 (in Russian). https://psy-journal.hse.ru/en/2018-15-1/217802819.html

Implicit theories (IT) reflect core beliefs about malleability of cognitive and personality human attributes. IT participate in the interpretation of the social world, regulate behaviors (through goal setting, adjustments after failures, learning strategies, etc.), and are valid predictors of achievement (Dweck, 2006). Nevertheless, little is known about the IT’s relationship to the components of the intellectual and personality human potential. The purpose of this research is to examine the extent to which IT are related to cognitive (intelligence) and personality (Big-Five personality traits, motivation) structures. A sample of 307 students completed the intelligence test (ICAR), the Ten-Item Personality Inventory and the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule; additionally, GPA was obtained for 49 students. Results demonstrate similar as well as distinctive correlations between the measurements in men and women. In particular, in both men and women, malleable intelligence beliefs do not depend on intelligence level, fluid or crystallized, but are largely related to personality characteristics: conscientiousness (in both men and women), openness to experience (in women), and intraception motivation (in men). Malleability of personality beliefs correlates negatively with crystallized intelligence (only in women). Mastery goal orientation in both men and women is related to openness; academic achievement is predicted by conscientiousness. The results are discussed from the perspective of the integrated intellectual and personality potential.

Keywords: implicit theories; intelligence; personality; Big Five; motivation; learning goals; self-assessed academic success

The influence of psychological traits, beliefs and taste responsiveness on implicit attitudes toward plant- and animal-based dishes among vegetarians, flexitarians and omnivores

The influence of psychological traits, beliefs and taste responsiveness on implicit attitudes toward plant- and animal-based dishes among vegetarians, flexitarians and omnivores. Danny Cliceri et al. Food Quality and Preference, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2018.03.020

Highlights
•    Implicitly measured attitudes toward plant- and animal-based dishes were studied.
•    Differences between vegetarians, flexitarians and omnivores were investigated.
•    Vegetarians and flexitarians implicitly associate positive emotions to meat-free dishes.
•    PROP responsiveness and sensitivity to disgust were lower in vegetarians.
•    Positive attitudes toward meat-free dishes related to health attitudes and empathy.
•    The segments did not differ in food involvement nor in rewarding value of food.

Summary (after political speech): The aim of this study was therefore to explore the associations among psychological and personality traits, attitudes, beliefs and taste responsiveness in affecting implicitly measured attitudes toward plant-based and animal based-dishes.

These attitudes were measured through three independent Implicit Association Tests (IATs), using images of culinary preparations of plant-based, meat-based and dairy-based dishes and positive/negative emotions. 125 subjects (39 omnivores, 55 flexitarians and 31 vegetarians) participated in each IAT. Questionnaires measuring psychological and personality traits, attitudes toward foods and beliefs about food animals were employed. Moreover, taste responsiveness was measured through the bitter intensity assessment of PROP. A Partial Least Square model was then adopted to study the individual variability in the implicit attitudes toward the plant-based and animal-based dishes in relation to psychological and personality traits, general food attitudes, beliefs on food animals and taste responsiveness measures.

Overall the implicit measures were found to be in line with declared eating habits, with Vegetarians and Flexitarians more inclined to implicitly associate positive emotions to meat-free dishes than Omnivores, and with Vegetarians showing a stronger association than Flexitarians. The results showed that positive attitudes toward plant-based dishes were positively related to the empathic sensitivity toward humans and animals, as well as to attitudes toward healthy and natural products, highlighting an important role of food consciousness in determining the eating habits. On the contrary, food involvement and attitude towards taste did not differ among the considered segments. Responsiveness to PROP and sensitivity to pathogen disgust were found to be lower in Vegetarians compared to Omnivores. The transition from plant-based diet to animal-based diet should therefore embrace multiple aspects, considering taste responsiveness, psychological traits and attitudes towards food.

Keywords: Vegetarian; Flexitarian; Empathy; Attitudes; Beliefs; PROP; Implicit association test

h/t: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf

Placebo analgesia induced prior to sleep reduced pain during sleep as well as subjective sleep disturbances, as evaluated retrospectively on the following morning

Placebo analgesia persists during sleep: An experimental study. Daniele Laverdure-Dupont et al. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2018.03.027

Highlights
•    Placebo analgesia induced prior to sleep reduced pain during sleep as well as subjective sleep disturbances, as evaluated retrospectively on the following morning.
•    Placebo analgesia reduced EEG arousal responses to acute noxious heat stimuli administered during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.
•    Placebo analgesia induced prior to sleep increased EEG arousal responses to acute noxious heat stimuli administered during slow wave sleep (SWS).
•    Future research should explore the mechanisms underlying the differential placebo effects observed across sleep stages.

Abstract: Although placebo analgesia is a well-recognized phenomenon with important clinical implications, the possibility that placebo effects occur during sleep has received little attention. This experimental study examined whether responsiveness to acute heat pain stimuli applied during sleep could be reduced following a placebo conditioning procedure administered before sleep. Healthy individuals (n = 9) underwent polysomnographic recordings for one habituation night followed by one placebo analgesia night and one control night in counterbalanced order. Conditioning induced robust analgesia expectations before the placebo night. In the morning after the placebo night, participants reported less nocturnal pain, anxiety, and associated sleep disturbance (all p's < 0.05) compared to the control night. Furthermore, placebo induction produced a 10% reduction in brain arousals evoked by noxious stimuli during rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep (p = 0.03), consistent with our previous findings suggesting that analgesia expectations are reprocessed during REM sleep. In contrast, arousals increased by 14% during slow wave sleep (SWS) (p = 0.02). In the morning after the last recording night, placebo testing administered as a manipulation check confirmed that typical placebo analgesic responses were produced during waking (p's < 0.05). These results suggest that analgesia expectations developed before sleep reduced nocturnal pain perception and subjective sleep disturbances and activated brain processes that modulate incoming nociceptive signals differentially according to sleep stage. These results need to be replicated in future studies exploring how analgesia expectations may be reactivated during different sleep stages to modulate nociceptive responses.

h/t: https://twitter.com/DegenRolf