Hedonic and sensory characteristics of odors conditioned by pairing with tastants in humans.

Animals readily acquire positive odor-taste hedonic associations, but evidence for this in humans remains weak and was explored further. Retronasal pairing of odors with sucrose or salty stimuli (Experiment 1) increased the rated sweetness of sucrose-paired odors without altering liking, although changes in odor pleasantness correlated with sucrose liking. Experience of odors with sucrose or quinine by sweet likers (Experiment 2) found increased pleasantness and sweetness for sucrose-paired odors, whereas quinine-paired odors became less liked and more bitter. Odor-sucrose pairings in sweet likers and dislikers (Experiment 3) found increased sweetness in both groups but increased odor liking only in likers. These data suggest that evaluative and sensory learning are dissociable and that evaluative changes are sensitive to individual differences in sweet liking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Taste and olfactory intensity perception changes following left insular stroke.

The authors tested suprathreshold intensity perception of gustatory and olfactory stimuli in a 70-year-old right-handed man following a left posterior insular stroke and compared his results with those of age-matched controls. Both modalities revealed significant differences between left (ipsilateral to lesion) and right (contralateral) ratings of intensity. In both gustation and olfaction, these differences were driven primarily by trends toward increased contralateral sensitivity relative to controls. Intensity changes were most pronounced for unpleasant odors and for tastes perceived strongly as either pleasant (sweet) or unpleasant (salty, bitter). These results show that a left posterior insula lesion may affect taste and olfactory perception similarly by increasing sensitivity contralateral to the lesion. One possible mechanism is release from inhibition at the cortical level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perception of the pleasantness and competence of a partner.

An experiment was conducted to test hypotheses derived from Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance concerning changes in the perception of a partner's pleasantness and competence following the discovery of unpleasant characteristics of the partner. College women who received information indicating their partner for a problem-solving task was very unpleasant rated her as less unpleasant than women who received identical information about someone who was not their partner. Those who received information indicating their partner was very unpleasant rated her as more competent than women who received information indicating their partner had fewer unpleasant characteristics. Whether they had chosen to work with the partner or were assigned had no significant effects on their ratings of her pleasantness or competence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bulimia and taste: Possible interactions.

Potential abnormalities of taste were examined in bulimic subjects who purged by vomiting and in controls. When spatial testing of the tongue and palate was performed by direct local application of sweet, salty, sour, and bitter solutions, bulimics showed a selective spatial loss on the palate. The palate may be affected by purging because vomit is directed toward the roof of the mouth where the palate receptors are located. The data suggest that the acid in vomit damages these receptors. Bulimics and controls did not differ in their basal ratings of intensity or pleasantness of sweet, salty, sour, and bitter stimuli when these were sipped rather than directly applied to the tongue. However, after ingesting a glucose load, controls found sweet taste significantly less pleasant, whereas bulimics did not. The results suggest that bulimics may also have an abnormal experience of satiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding extraverts' enjoyment of social situations: The importance of pleasantness.

Extraversion is a broad, multifaceted trait, yet researchers are still unsure of its defining characteristics. One possibility is that the essential feature of extraversion is the tendency to enjoy social situations. An alternative possibility is that extraversion represents sensitivity to rewards and the tendency to experience pleasant affect. In three studies, participants rated situations that varied on two dimensions: (a) whether they were social or nonsocial and (b) whether they were very pleasant, moderately pleasant, moderately unpleasant, or very unpleasant. Extraverts only rated social situations more positively than introverts did when the situations were pleasant, and extraverts also rated nonsocial situations more positively than introverts did if the situations were pleasant. Thus, the pleasantness of situations was more important than whether they were social or nonsocial in determining extraverts' and introverts' enjoyment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Specificity of acquired aversions to taste qualities in hamsters and rats.

372 golden hamsters and 120 Sprague-Dawley rats tasted 1 of 27 solutions before receiving an ip injection of apomorphine, then were tested for aversions to 4 solutions prototypic of human taste qualities: sucrose, NaCl, HCl, and quinine HCl. With most of the solutions described as sweet employed as CSs, Ss acquired an aversion to sucrose. With CSs described as either salty or sour by humans, Ss acquired an NaCl aversion in the former case or an HCl aversion in the latter case; an aversion to quinine HCl was acquired with 2 of the 3 CSs described as sour. With most of the CSs described as bitter or as having a bitter component, Ss acquired a quinine HCl aversion. Patterns of S activity evoked across 4 classes of peripheral gustatory neurons when the CSs were applied to the tongue were similar to the patterns of aversions across the 4 test stimuli for the CSs. This suggests that 4 neural channels mediate the sensations evoked by the 4 test solutions in rats and hamsters, perhaps even in human beings. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Causal inferences about communicators and their effect on opinion change.

An attribution analysis of opinion change viewed message persuasiveness as a function of inferred communicator biases. Recipients infer a knowledge bias (KB) by believing that a communicator's knowledge about external reality is nonveridical and a reporting bias (RB) by believing that a communicator's willingness to convey an accurate version of external reality is compromised. In an experiment with 355 undergraduates, KB expectancies were established by portraying a communicator as having a strong commitment to values represented by the probusiness or proenvironment side of a controversial issue and RB expectancies by portraying his audience as having a strong commitment to one or the other side. In all conditions, the communicator advocated the proenvironment position. Therefore, recipients' expectancies were confirmed in the context of a proenvironment communicator and/or audience and disconfirmed in the context of a probusiness communicator and/or audience. Regardless of the type of bias that Ss expected, they were more persuaded and rated the communicator as more unbiased when their expectancies were disconfirmed. Confirmation of expectancies based on RB, but not KB, was associated with inferences of communicator insincerity and manipulativeness. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of written emotional expression: The role of positive expectancies.

Objective: Writing in an emotional way about stressful or traumatic experiences has beneficial effects on emotional well-being and physical health. Yet the mechanisms that underlie these effects still need to be explored. Integrating research on the effects of positive expectancies, the authors suggest that positive effects of written emotional expression may, in part, depend on expectancies induced by writing about emotional experiences. Design: Two studies were conducted to test this hypothesis. In both studies, participants wrote about either an upsetting event or trivial issues. After the writing period, participants rated their expectancies that the writing intervention would improve (or impair) their emotional well-being over time. Main Outcome Measures: Study 1 assessed the emotional impact of an upsetting event, whereas Study 2 assessed subjective reports of physical symptoms. In both studies, outcome variables were collected both before and 6 weeks after the writing intervention. Results: The results showed that (a) writing about upsetting experiences induced higher positive expectancies than writing about trivial issues and (b) expectancies associated with written emotional expression were related to a reduction in the emotional impact of an upsetting event (Study 1) and to a reduction in physical symptoms (Study 2). Conclusions: There may be 2 alternative ways to render written emotional expression effective in reducing negative emotions: (a) by rendering an emotional experience more meaningful and (b) by inducing positive affect regulation expectancies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some relations between pleasant and unpleasant mood-related events and depression.

Studied (a) the validity of 2 methods of identifying reinforcing and punishing events, (b) their interrelations and dimensional structure, and (c) their relation to depression. A total of 909 Ss who were screened with the MMPI and classified as depressed, nondepressed psychiatric, or normal control rated the frequency and the subjective enjoyability or aversiveness of 320 pleasant (the Pleasant Event Schedule Form III) and 320 unpleasant events (the Unpleasant Events Schedule Form I). Some Ss also monitored the occurrence of pleasant and unpleasant events and rated their mood on a daily basis (Depression Adjective Check List). Correlations between each event and mood were calculated and used to identify 49 pleasant and 35 unpleasant "mood-related events." The proportion of Ss for whom the events correlated with mood and the mean enjoyability and aversiveness of the items were hypothesized to be measures of reinforcing or punishing impact. As predicted, statistically significant correlations between these 2 measures were obtained. The mood-related events also discriminated more strongly between depressed and nondepressed groups than the non-mood-related events did. The intercorrelations between pleasant and unpleasant events yielded separate and orthogonal dimensions of punishment and of reinforcement. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Students' sex preferences and sex role expectancies for counselors.

Examined sex role expectancies for counselors as a function of sex of student, preference for counselor's sex, and sex of counselor being rated. 128 male and 249 female college students were asked what sex of counselor they would prefer if they were seeking help with personal or social concerns, and then they were randomly assigned to rate their sex role expectancies for either a male or a female counselor, using the Bem Sex Role Inventory with modified instructions. Results indicate that male students expected counselors to be less masculine than did female students, that male counselors were expected to be masculine while female counselors were expected to be psychologically androgynous, and that students with sex preferences for counselors had more stereotyped expectancies for counselor characteristics than did students with no preference. Implications of these findings for the counseling setting are discussed. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of the "mentally retarded" label on adult judgments about child failure.

Retarded children show marked susceptibility to learned helplessness. Three experiments illustrate how adults may foster this helplessness. In Exp I, 152 college students reported causal attributions for failure and expectancies of future success for either "a 6-yr-old child" or "a 9-yr-old mentally retarded child with a mental age of 6 yrs." In Exp II, 58 Ss reported attributions and expectancies for both children. In both experiments, insufficient ability was rated a more important cause of failure for the retarded than for the unlabeled child, insufficient effort was rated more important for the unlabeled child, and the retarded child was rated less likely to succeed in the future. In Exp III, 54 Ss' responses indicated that either a low expectancy of success, an insufficient-ability attribution, or the retarded label alone would reduce the likelihood of their urging a child to persist after a failure. Results suggest a proposed attributional bias (overextension), a familiar attributional bias in a new context (discounting), and resultant helplessness-condoning behavior by adults. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory for future gambling wins.

Analogous to false memories for the past, gambling behavior may be influenced by the development of vivid, believed false “memories” for future gambling outcomes. We examined the degree to which believed memory-like representations for future gambling wins and losses were associated with prior substantial win experiences, frequency of gambling, risk for problem gambling, and other types of gambling expectancies. Regular gamblers with and without prior substantial wins rated the strength of a specific outcome expectancy, their belief that substantial gambling wins and losses would occur in the future, and rated the strength of “memory” for future gambling wins and losses. They then described a future win and a future loss and rated memory-like phenomenal characteristics for these events. Prior winners rated future wins as more believable relative to future losses, and rated future gambling outcomes as more memory-like than did gamblers without prior win experiences. Belief and memory for future wins correlated positively with frequency of gambling and positive response expectancies (e.g. relaxation when gambling). Belief and memory for future losses correlated with negative outcome expectancies and endorsement of problem gambling risk. Expecations about future wins and losses are likely influenced by believed memory-like representations for future wins and losses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nutritive expectancies mediate cholecystokinin's suppression-of-intake effect.

In previous studies of cholecystokinin's (CCK's) effect on consumption, physical features (e.g., taste, texture, and odor) of test meals were confounded with the nutritive expectancies elicited by those features. To separately assess the role of these two factors in supporting CCK's suppression-of-intake effect, we varied the caloric expectancies elicited by a flavored test solution, while holding constant its actual caloric density, as well as all other unconditioned stimulus features. On alternate days for a 12-day period, hungry rats drank grape or orange Kool-Aid (noncaloric) mixed with a caloric 5% ethanol solution; on the other days, they drank the alternate flavor mixed with plain water. In a subsequent choice test between the flavored solutions without ethanol, the ethanol-associated flavor (Ef) was preferred over the water-associated flavor (Wf). Two days later, the rats were injected with either cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-8; ip, 2 μg/kg) or isotonic saline, and then given access to their Ef or their Wf for 1 hr. Consumption of the Ef was supressed by CCK-8; intake of the Wf was unaffected. These results suggest that CCK-8's effectiveness in suppressing intake of a test meal may be treated not to the unconditioned stimulus features of that meal but to the nutritive expectations elicited by those features. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of alcohol and alcohol expectancies on male perception of female sexual arousal in a date rape analog.

The impact of alcohol and alcohol expectancies on men's perception of female sexual arousal and men's ability to discriminate accurately female sexual intentions in a dating situation was examined. In a 2 (alcohol)?×?2 (expectancy) balanced placebo design, men were exposed to an audiotape of a date rape and asked to signal when the man should stop making sexual advances. On 4 occasions during the vignette, participants rated how sexually aroused the woman on the tape was at that moment. Relative to controls, participants who consumed alcohol or expected to consume alcohol took significantly longer to identify the inappropriateness of the man's sexual behavior toward his date. Similarly, alcohol participants also rated the woman's sexual arousal level significantly higher at the first 2 refusals. Implications of the results are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Additivity of taste-specific effects of sucrose and quinine: Microstructural analysis of ingestive behavior in rats.

Effects of sweet and bitter tastes on ingestion were studied by timing licking responses. 12 water-deprived rats were given 15-min access to sucrose (SU) solutions (0.00, 1.25, 2.50, and 5.00%) with and without quinine (Q; 0.01%) and to Q solutions (0.00, 0.0025, 0.005, and 0.01%) with and without SU (5.00%). Volume ingested and number of licks increased with SU and decreased with Q. In response to SU, the number of bursts increased, and interlick intervals lengthened. In response to Q, licks to ingest 1 ml of solution, burst number, and percentage of slow licks increased, and burst size decreased. When Q and SU were mixed in the same solution, the pattern of ingestive responses manifested attributes of both tastes. Results suggest 2 separate, parallel systems that operate simultaneously to govern rats' licking behavior. One system expresses the effects of SU on the pattern of ingestion and the other expresses the effects of Q. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of naltrexone on cue-elicited craving among hazardous drinkers: The moderational role of positive outcome expectancies.

This study was designed to elucidate mechanisms by which naltrexone (NTX) influences drinking among hazardous drinkers. Thirty-six hazardous drinkers received 50 mg NTX or placebo on 2 separate occasions before participation in a taste test procedure with low-alcohol beer. Urges to drink before consumption, beer volume consumed, and perceived stimulation and sedation after consumption were assessed. Although NTX did not influence beer consumption, hazardous drinkers who reported high positive reinforcement expectancies rated their urges to drink as significantly lower when they were on NTX compared with placebo. Positive outcome expectancies also moderated the effects of NTX on subjective reports of stimulation following drinking. These findings suggest that naltrexone may be particularly effective at reducing alcohol cue-elicited positive reinforcement for those with high positive alcohol outcome expectancies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Resumption of morphine self-administration by ex-addict rats: An attempt to modify tendencies to relapse.

Studied relapse tendencies in 69 morphine-dependent male hooded rats which had learned to drink bitter solutions of the drug in preference to water. Prolonged enforced abstinence (110 days) did not prevent Ss from resuming self-administration of morphine. Since the bitter taste of morphine may have become a secondary reinforcer, an attempt was made to extinguish responding for this source of reward. Abstinence was shortened to 12 days, during which Ss were given solutions of quinine to drink. On subsequent relapse tests these Ss consistently took less morphine than controls. Ss injected with methadone during the 1st 8 days of abstinence initially consumed slightly more morphine on relapse tests than did controls, but this difference was not maintained. (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concordance in the face of a stressful event: When do members of a dyad agree that one person supported the other?

Students reported behaviors they expected from a primary support person in response to an upcoming exam. After the exam, students and support persons independently reported behaviors the supporter provided. There was only moderate agreement within dyads about the occurrence of supportive behaviors (κ?=?.39). Dyad intimacy, fulfilled expectancies, student and supporter social competence, and communal orientation all were associated with greater concordance. There was also greater agreement on behaviors rated by judges as helpful than harmful and in dyads that included a woman than in man–man dyads. Greater dyad intimacy and more fulfilled expectancies accounted for why there was greater concordance in dyads that included a woman, and more fulfilled expectancies accounted for why there was greater concordance on positive than negative behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Examination of counseling variables within a social learning framework.

Using the framework of J. B. Rotter's social learning theory, it was predicted that the specific and generalized expectancies of 315 college student counseling clients would clarify their counseling goals and would be related to length of time spent in counseling as well as to rated positiveness of the counseling experience. Data from a specially constructed specific expectancy questionnaire and from a measure of the generalized expectancy of locus of control of reinforcement (Adult Nowicki-Strickland Internal–External Control Scale) confirm these predictions. Clients had stable expectancies regarding the counseling process; internals as compared to externals presented different counseling problems, stayed in counseling a shorter time, but were rated as more improved. In addition, those clients who dropped out of counseling after the intake were internal in their locus-of-control orientation. Various practical applications of the results are discussed as well as directions for future research within the framework of social learning theory. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)