Extraversion, social cognition, and the salience of aversiveness in social encounters.

Conducted 2 studies to determine whether introverts and extraverts systematically differ in their expectations, recall, and evaluation of social encounter. In Study 1, 102 male undergraduate students (classified as either introvert or extravert based on the Extraversion scale of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire) evaluated games on rating scales. All Ss rated the competitive game as more arousing and potentially punishing than the cooperative game, but introverts anticipated that the competitive game would be less friendly and likable than did the extraverts. In Study 2, 61 undergraduates believed they would participate in either a cooperative or a competitive game. Ss were shown slides of all other Ss (teammates and opponents), as well as bogus biographical information. Ss were then asked to recall information and evaluate each S on rating scales. Introverts recalled more information about opponents than about their own teammates and rated all Ss less positively during the competitive encounter. For extraverts, this pattern was reversed. Results are discussed in terms of individual differences in the salience of aversiveness in social encounters. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Classroom learning style and cooperative behavior of elementary school children.

Cooperative behavior of 243 3rd–7th graders who studied in cooperative small groups was compared to that of 150 pupils in classrooms conducted with whole-class instruction. An expanded version of M. Madsen's (1971) domino game was used to assess Ss' judgments about distributing payoff to themselves or to others in an altruistic, cooperative, or competitive fashion. In a 2nd experiment, 54 groups of 5 Ss were asked to construct new words from the letters appearing in an epigram, with the option to work alone or to collaborate with others. Ss from small-group classrooms were more cooperative on both judgmental and behavioral measures than were Ss from traditional classrooms. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Internationalism-isolationism, strategy of the other player, and two-person game behavior.

24 internationalistic and 24 isolationistic Ss played a series of 60 modified Prisoner's Dilemma games. Unknown to the Ss, E assumed the role of the "other player" and utilized strategies of 85%, 50%, or 15% cooperative responses. The results indicated: (a) isolationists make more competitive responses, (b) the number of competitive responses increases over blocks of trials, (c) there is an interaction between personality and trial blocks, and (d) the strategy of the other player does not significantly affect behavior. 2 possible interpretations of the relationship between isolationism-internationalism and game playing behavior are suggested: (a) isolationists employ strategies to maximize their gains and their opponents' losses, and/or (b) isolationists have a generalized tendency to compete. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral and physiological effects of low-nicotine cigarettes during rapid smoking.

Compared the effects of rapid smoking using medium-tar/nicotine or low-tar/nicotine cigarettes on physiological and behavioral responses in a randomized, double-blind clinical trial with 24 Ss. Results show equivalent heart rate, blood pressure, and carbon monoxide levels after rapid smoking either low- or medium-yield cigarettes. Behavioral topography measures differed significantly when low-nicotine cigarettes were smoked. Also, Ss who did remain abstinent at subsequent follow-up showed less change in rated aversiveness during rapid smoking than Ss who did not remain abstinent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Voluntary control of human heart rate: Effect on reaction to aversive stimulation.

In anticipation of receiving painful stimuli, 20 female 21-27 yr old Ss learned to control their heart rate when provided with external feedback and reward for criterion heart rate changes and were instructed to increase or decrease their rate. Voluntary slowing of heart rate led to a relative reduction in the perceived aversiveness of the stimuli, particularly for those Ss who reported experiencing cardiac reactions to fear situations in daily life. It is concluded that biofeedback training for relevant physiological responses may possibly serve as a behavioral strategy for changing anxiety and fear reactions. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neuromuscular blocking drugs and heart rate changes after direct nerve stimulation and during classical conditioning in cats.

2 experiments investigated cardiovascular responses to several common neuromuscular blocking compounds. Exp I, employing 16 male cats, assessed ganglionic transmission in sympathetic and parasympathetic systems controlling heart rate and blood pressure after dextrotubocurarine chloride (TC), dimethyl dextrotubocurarine iodide (DTI), succinylcholine chloride (SC), or saline. Cardiovascular responses to sympathetic stimulation were essentially unaffected at drug levels that blocked evoked electromyograms; however, vagally evoked bradycardia and corresponding blood pressure decrease were blocked by TC and reduced by DTI and SC. Exp II compared heart responses of 12 male cats under the same blocking compounds during differential classical aversive conditioning. Differential conditioned responses and unconditioned responses occurred under DTI, less under SC, but not under TC. However, Ss trained under TC and tested under DTI showed differential conditioned responses. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Young children's preoccupation with their own payoffs in strategic analysis of 2?×?2 games.

72 4–10 yr olds played 3 mixed-motive games, each game having one dominating strategy. Half of the Ss first chose their own strategy and then guessed what the other player (experimenter) chose; the other half proceeded in the reverse order. Ss at all ages showed a preoccupation with their own payoffs and a lack of interest in the other player's payoffs. Although the younger Ss centered on their maximum payoff, older Ss were able and willing to pay attention to the other player's interests, but only if doing so helped them to improve their own strategy. This developmental improvement seems due to the growing ability to coordinate 2 players' strategies. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of level of cooperative choice by the other player on choices in a prisoner's dilemma game: Part I.

In a Prisoner's Dilemma type game, Ss (male and female students) were asked to make repeated choice between 2 alternatives, R and B, where R is presumably the cooperative and B the competitive choice. While believing that they were playing persons of the same sex, Ss actually played a simulated partner who, for ? of the group, chose 83% random R and, for the other ?, 83% random B for 30 trials. Thereafter for 60 trials, the simulated partner chose according to a strategy of 83% matching, 17% mismatching the choices of S. The purpose of this procedure was to determine the effects of initial level of simulated cooperation on S's own level of cooperation. The results failed to demonstrate that the level of simulated cooperation employed functioned to determine choice by S. Ss had been stratified according to a test of character which failed to predict choice. However, a 2nd scoring formula employed on this test did significantly distinguish the amount of R choice emitted by S and deserves further examination. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictions of others' responses in a mixed-motive game: Self-justification or false consensus?

Examined speculations by D. M. Dawes et al (see record 1977-25298-001) concerning the extent to which persons use their own responses in mixed-motive situations as a basis for predicting the behavior of others. 172 female undergraduates played a 1-trial Prisoner's Dilemma game and predicted the responses of their partner and a person in another dyad. As predicted, Ss, irrespective of the particular choice they had made, tended to attribute their own response to others. In many Ss, this attribution appeared to be self-justifying, in that it was specific to the S's partner. Even more frequently, Ss attributed their own response to both partner and nonpartner (i.e., a false consensus), although they also tended to be more confident about their prediction of their partner's choice. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The type A behavior pattern, physical fitness, and psychophysiological reactivity.

Examined joint effects of the Type A (coronary prone) behavior pattern and aerobic fitness with regard to heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) changes elicited by laboratory challenges. 61 male college students were classified as Type A or Type B (noncoronary prone) using R. H. Rosenman's (1978) structured interview (SI), and as physically fit or sedentary using self-reports of activity level and estimated VO?max values obtained on a step test. Ss were challenged with the SI, presentation of a snake, mental arithmetic, a cold pressor task, and 2 competitive card games. Significant A-B differences were found only on the SI and the card games: During the SI, (a) Type A's displayed significantly greater BP increases than B's; (b) sedentary Ss showed greater BP increases than fit Ss; and (c) sedentary A's revealed greater BP increases than either fit A's, fit B's, or sedentary B's. In contrast, during the competitive games, physically fit A's showed reliably greater BP increases than either sedentary A's, sedentary B's, or fit B's. Since the physically fit Ss were almost exclusively varsity athletes and the sedentary Ss were college students who reported following a sedentary lifestyle, the differences between sedentary and fit groups may have been due to differences in aerobic fitness or to the improved ability of competitive athletes or those engaged in fitness training to match arousal level to task requirements. (47 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Need for social approval as a predictor of the strategic and outcome aspects of bargaining behaviour in asymmetric power situations: An interactionist approach.

Investigated the effects of need for social approval (NAP) on the outcome (Exp. I) and strategic (Exp. II) aspects of bargaining in 2 mixed-motive nonconstant sum games. An interactionist approach was adopted in that (a) the possible attenuating effects of a contextual variable (differential bargaining power) were examined; and (b) face-to-face open communication was permitted. Exp. I, with 64 male and female undergraduates, shows that low-NAP Ss obtained higher final outcomes than high-NAP Ss only when the former were in the low-power position. Results of Exp. II, with 32 male Ss, support the following conclusions: (a) in the high power position, high-NAP Ss (as opposed to low-NAP Ss) adopt a softer initial bid strategy, exhibit a higher overall level of offers, and reach agreements that yielded them a smaller dyadic profit difference; and (b) in the low-power position, personality differences in NAP do not, as predicted, have a significant effect on strategies employed or final outcomes attained. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Race and modeling influences on the interpersonal play patterns of boys.

Studied the effects of race and modeling cues on the play patterns of dyads of young boys. 40 White and 38 Black 5th graders were observed during play on the basis of 5 indices of interaction. Black Ss talked significantly less together, faced each other less directly, and interacted at greater interpersonal distances than did White Ss. Racially mixed dyads were intermediate in social distance, talk, and body axis. Biracial dyads observed a televised episode of a Black male adolescent and a White male adolescent play together in a warm or cold fashion. Posttests revealed that Ss viewing the warm interaction were more cooperative, played at a closer distance, faced the other child more directly, gave more eye contact, and talked more frequently than did those who were exposed to the cold modeling videotape. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Voluntary control of human heart rate: Effect on reaction to aversive stimulation: A replication and extension.

In anticipation of receiving painful stimuli, 20 female Ss learned to regulate their heart rate (HR) when provided with meter biofeedback and monetary bonuses for HR changes and instructions to increase or decrease their rate. Voluntary slowing of HR was associated with a relative reduction in perceived aversiveness of the stimuli, particularly in those Ss who scored high on a cardiac-awareness questionnaire (i.e., reported experiencing cardiac reactions to fear situations in daily life). These fingings replicate and extend previous findings by the authors (see record 1974-31631-001) on HR self-regulation, perception of aversive stimulation, and individual differences in cardiac awareness. They also provide further support for the hypothesis that biofeedback training for relevant physiological responses may serve as a behavioral strategy for changing anxiety and fear reactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectations of cooperation and competition and their effects on observers' vicarious emotional responses.

Hypothesized that cooperative situations involve shared, or empathetic, emotional experiences and that competitive situations involve mutually exclusive, or counterempathetic, emotional experiences. Study provided Ss with expectations of cooperation or competition and examined emotional responses to a coactor's displays of pleasure (smiles) and distress (grimaces). Skin conductance and heart rate measures of autonomic arousal and EMG data from 4 facial muscle regions showed that expectations of cooperation promoted empathy and expectations of competition promoted counterempathy. Expectancy effects were present when Ss were not exposed to direct outcomes. One unanticipated consequence of competition may be the development of counterempathy. Implications of counterempathetic emotions in understanding vicarious learning and aggression are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of alcohol on social anxiety in women: Cognitive versus physiological processes.

Randomly assigned 32 female social drinkers (18–25 yr old undergraduates) to 4 conditions in a 2?×?2 factorial design that controlled for drink content and expectations. Ss were administered either an alcoholic or a nonalcoholic beverage and were led to believe that their drinks contained or did not contain alcohol. After finishing their drinks Ss participated in a study of social anxiety in which they were requested to interact with a male confederate of the experimenter. Multiple measures, including heart rate, skin conductance, and overt behavioral and self-report responses, were recorded. Ss who expected alcohol showed significant elevations in physiological arousal and were rated as more anxious on observational measures of social behavior. Self-report measures failed to yield any differences among groups. Implications for the tension reduction theory of alcohol use and the importance of multiple response measures are discussed. (1? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal betrayal and cooperation: Effects on self-evaluation in depression.

Assessed the effect of interpersonal betrayal and cooperative social interaction on self-evaluation processes among 54 female undergraduates scored as depressed or nondepressed on the Self-Rating Depression Scale. Depressed Ss who experienced interpersonal betrayal in a prisoner's dilemma game were more critical of their performance on a subsequent task than were nondepressed Ss or depressed Ss who had experienced a cooperative interaction. Depressed Ss in the betrayal condition also behaved more aggressively toward their betraying partner than did nondepressed betrayed Ss. Depressed Ss were more critical of their own personality characteristics than were nondepressed Ss, regardless of condition. Results suggest that some negative cognitive schema among depressed persons may be altered by interpersonal factors, although it is not clear whether such effects are secondary to increases in self-criticism after conflict or to decreases in self-critical tendencies after positive interaction. Researchers are urged to use multiple, diverse measures of self-evaluation in future efforts to study variability in self-appraisal. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Awareness of the response after feedback training for changes in heart rate and sudomotor laterality.

Examined the relation between (a) the ability to control visceral responding on a biofeedback (BFB) task and (b) the ability to report behaviors actually contributing to this performance in 4 experiments with 97 male Ss. Ss received BFB training for unidentified visceral responses and then gave written reports about what they had done to control BFB displays. Independent judges were given these reports and, on the basis of knowledge about activities known to contribute to visceral activity, were asked to determine the visceral responses for which Ss had been trained. The reports of Ss who succeeded at bidirectional control of heart rate (Exp I) or sudomotor laterality (Exp II) showed awareness of behaviors related to BFB as assessed by this procedure, whereas the reports of Ss who failed at bidirectional control did not. Subsequent experiments indicated that these results did not depend on a learning strategy that might have been specific to the initial studies. Findings question the view that people are unaware of what they have done to produce the response after training on BFB tasks. (81 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Open-space schools: Anticipation of peer interaction and development of cooperative interdependence.

42 same-sex pairs of varied racial composition were randomly selected from 8th graders in each of 2 matched schools, with open- vs closed-space architectural styles. Open-space Ss were more likely to develop cooperative interdependence in a mixed-motive game (a decomposed prisoner's dilemma) and were more inclined to make proximal seating choices indicative of anticipated peer interaction. A Sex by Race by Trial Blocks interaction effect reflected different patterns of responding for males and females. Females of either race learned to cooperate in same-race pairs and to compete in mixed-race pairs. White males learned to cooperate and Black males to compete independent of their partner's race. External scores on Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale were not related to schools but were, as expected, higher for Black than for White students. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multidimensional reaction to therapeutic touch in a hospital setting.

Studied the effects of interpersonal touch over a relatively long time frame, for a broad range of response dimensions, and in a nonreactive setting characterized by dependency. On an applied level, the research studied the value of touch as a concomitant of nurse–patient interactions; Ss were 48 patients who had entered the hospital for elective surgery. Specifically, a 2 (touch vs no touch) by 2 (male vs female) between-Ss design assessed the effects of nurses touching Ss during preoperative teaching on Ss' affective, evaluative, behavioral, and physiological responses. Female Ss in the touch condition experienced more favorable affective, behavioral, and physiological reactions than a no-touch control group. In contrast, males in the touch condition reacted more negatively than control Ss on these dimensions. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)