Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Positive affect (PA) was associated with positive interpretations of neutral faces; PA & life satisfaction were associated with positive interpretations of ambiguous and positive, but not negative, social interaction vignettes

Subjective Well-Being, Social Interpretation, and Relationship Thriving. Samantha J. Heintzelman. Ed Diener. Journal of Research in Personality, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2018.11.007

Highlights
•    Happiness related to interpretations of ambiguous social stimuli.
•    Happiness did not relate to interpretations of negative situations.
•    Positive social interpretations were associated with social thriving.
•    Happiness indirectly related to social thriving through social interpretations.

Abstract: Social interactions are open to a range of interpretations. We examine the associations among subjective well-being, social interpretations, and social thriving. In Study 1 (N=276) positive affect (PA) was associated with positive interpretations of neutral faces. In Studies 2 and 3 (Ns=295, 298) PA and life satisfaction were associated with positive interpretations of ambiguous and positive, but not negative, social interaction vignettes. In Study 4 (N=501) there were indirect relationships of PA and life satisfaction on social thriving through interpretations. Subjective well-being’s association with social interpretations provides a critical base of support for conclusions from previous methodologically limited mood and social interpretation studies. This work also provides initial evidence for a role of social interpretation tendencies in social thriving.

Rolf Degen summarizing: Yet more evidence that the Implicit Association Test, though to be a neutral test instrument, changes the attitudes it is intended to assess, possibly making the cure worse than the disease

Implicit Association Test as an Analogical Learning Task. Ian Hussey and Jan De Houwer. Experimental Psychology (2018), 65, pp. 272-285. https://doi.org/10.1027/1618-3169/a000416

Abstract. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is a popular tool for measuring attitudes. We suggest that performing an IAT could, however, also change attitudes via analogical learning. For instance, when performing an IAT in which participants categorize (previously unknown) Chinese characters, flowers, positive words, and negative words, participants could infer that Chinese characters relate to flowers as negative words relate to positive words. This analogy would imply that Chinese characters are opposite to flowers in terms of valence and thus that they are negative. Results from three studies (N = 602) confirmed that evaluative learning can occur when completing an IAT, and suggest that this effect can be described as analogical. We discuss the implications of our findings for research on analogy and research on the IAT as a measure of attitudes.

Keywords: Implicit Association Test, analogy, learning

Further examining the potential association between birth order and personality: Null results from a national sample of American siblings

Further examining the potential association between birth order and personality: Null results from a national sample of American siblings. Cashen M. Boccio, Kevin M. Beaver. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 139, 1 March 2019, Pages 125-131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.11.017

Abstract: There has been a body of research examining whether there is an association between birth order and personality traits. The results of these studies have been somewhat mixed, with some findings indicating an association and others reporting no association. Against this backdrop, the current study analyzed data drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health to further examine the potential link between birth order and personality (N = 2,508–14,125). The results of both within- and between-family research designs revealed no consistent evidence of a link between birth order and the personality traits of extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness. We discuss certain limitations in our study and offer suggestions for ways to overcome them in future studies.

Do certain personality traits provide a mating market competitive advantage? Sex, offspring & the Big five

Do certain personality traits provide a mating market competitive advantage? Sex, offspring & the big 5. Stephen Whyte, Robert C. Brooks, Ho Fai Chan, Benno Torgler. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 139, 1 March 2019, Pages 158-169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.11.019

Abstract: This study uses the BIG 5 personality traits to quantitatively explore correlates of sexual frequency and reproductive success of a large sample (NMale = 2998; NFemale = 1480) of heterosexuals advertised to on an Australian dating website. Consistent with previous research we find that for both sexes, extraversion has a positive linear relationship with sexual frequency. The same is also observable for males that are more conscientious, more emotionally stable, and less agreeable; indicating that for men, a greater number of personality factors matter in explaining the variation in sexual activity. Higher extraversion or lower openness in males correlates with more offspring. Conversely, only more agreeable females have more offspring. Our non-parametric thin-plate spline analysis suggests certain combinations of the traits extraversion & agreeableness, extraversion & conscientiousness, and agreeableness & conscientiousness provide select males a mating market competitive advantage in relation to sexual frequency, compared to other males. Our findings suggest that greater variance in male traits and their particular combinations thereof may provide a fitness comparative advantage for males, but not necessarily for females.

Popular areas of research—brain training, mind-set, grit, deliberate practice, & bilingual advantage—overstate that environmental factors are the overwhelming determinants of success in real-world pursuits

Overstating the Role of Environmental Factors in Success: A Cautionary Note. David Moreau, Brooke N. Macnamara, David Z. Hambrick. Current Directions in Psychological Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721418797300

Abstract: Several currently popular areas of research—brain training, mind-set, grit, deliberate practice, and the bilingual advantage—are premised on the idea that environmental factors are the overwhelming determinants of success in real-world pursuits. Here, we describe the major claims from each of these areas of research and discuss evidence for these claims, particularly focusing on meta-analyses. We suggest that overemphasizing the malleability of abilities and other traits can have negative consequences for individuals, science, and society. We conclude with a call for balanced appraisals of the available evidence concerning this issue, to reflect current scientific discrepancies and thereby enable informed individual decisions and collective policies.

Keywords: abilities, skills, interventions, environment, genetics

Completing a Race Test Increases Implicit Racial Bias: By measuring, we often perturb the system that we wish to understand

Hussey, Ian, and Jan De Houwer. 2018. “Completing a Race IAT Increases Implicit Racial Bias.” PsyArXiv. November 19. doi:10.31234/osf.io/vxsj7

Abstract: The Implicit Association Test has been used in online studies to assess implicit racial attitudes in over seven million participants. Although typically used as an assessment measure, results from four pre-registered experiments (N = 940) demonstrated that completing a Race IAT exacerbates the negative implicit attitudes that it seeks to assess. Increases in White participants’ negative automatic racial evaluations of Black people were observed across two different implicit measures (SC-IAT and AMP) but did not generalize to another measure of automatic racial bias (Shooter Bias task). Results highlight an important caveat for the Race IAT, but also for many other forms of psychological assessment: that by measuring, we often perturb the system that we wish to understand.