Affect intensity and cardiac arousal.

Investigated in 3 experiments the relationships between affect intensity and basal, evoked, and perceived cardiac arousal. Affect intensity was assessed using R. J. Larsen and E. Diener's (1987) Affect Intensity Measure (AIM). Cardiac arousal was evoked with exercise in the 1st study and with mental arithmetic in the 2nd and 3rd. Perceived cardiac arousal was measured under optimal conditions using a standard heartbeat discrimination procedure. Women as a group scored higher on the AIM. Affect intensity was unrelated to basal or evoked cardiac arousal and was negatively related to perceived cardiac arousal in all 3 studies. Data suggest that affect intensity, although unrelated to actual physiological arousal, is negatively related to the accuracy with which individuals perceive their own arousal. Results are discussed within the context of an expanded arousal-regulation model (J. Blascovich, 1990). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social evaluations of embodied agents and avatars

The purpose of this study was to examine social evaluations (i.e., perceptions of empathy and positivity) following peoples’ interactions with digital human representations. Female research participants engaged in a 3-min interaction while immersed in a 3-D immersive virtual environment with a “peer counselor.” Participants were led to believe that the peer counselor was either an embodied agent (i.e., computer algorithm) or an avatar (i.e., another person). During the interaction, the peer counselor either smiled or not. As predicted, a digitally-rendered smile was found to affect participants’ social evaluations. However, these effects were moderated by participants’ beliefs about their interaction partner. Specifically, smiles enhanced social evaluations of embodied agents but degraded them for avatars. Although these results are consistent with other findings concerning the communicative realism of embodied agents and avatars they uniquely demonstrate that people’s beliefs alone, rather than actual differences in virtual representations, can impact social evaluations.     

Learning to use a word-processing system as a function of training strategy

Three training strategies were evaluated for their effectiveness in teaching naive computer users to use a word-processing system. One hundred and thirty five women ranging in age from 25 years to 70 years participated in the study. Subjects were trained using one of three techniques (instructor, manual, computer( to perform basic word-processing tasks. The effectiveness of the training strategies was assessed by examining performance on basic word-processing tasks such as typing a letter or memo and editing an existing file. Results showed that for all subjects, computer-based training was a less effective teaching method than either instructor- or manual-based training. In general, subjects who were trained using the computer-based method attempted and completed fewer tasks, took longer to perform tasks, and also made more errors. These findings demonstrate the need for directing efforts towards the development of appropriate training methods for computer tasks     

Social "facilitation" as challenge and threat.

The authors conducted an experiment to test a theoretical explanation of social facilitation based on the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat. Participants mastered 1 of 2 tasks and subsequently performed either the mastered (i.e., well-learned) or the unlearned task either alone or with an audience while cardiovascular responses were recorded. Cardiovascular responses of participants performing a well-learned task in the presence of others fit the challenge pattern (i.e., increased cardiac response and decreased vascular resistance), whereas cardiovascular responses of participants performing an unlearned task in the presence of others fit the threat pattern (i.e., increased cardiac response and increased vascular resistance), confirming the authors' hypotheses and the applicability of the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat to explain these results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitude accessibility as a moderator of autonomic reactivity during decision making.

Attitude functionality was assessed in 2 experiments examining attitude accessibility as a moderator of physiological responses during decision making. In Study 1, experimental Ss but not controls rehearsed attitudes toward novel objects (abstract paintings). Subsequently, all Ss made rapid preference judgments for pairs of the paintings. In Study 2, attitudes were rehearsed by all Ss toward 1 of 2 mutually exclusive sets of abstract paintings. During the subsequent decision-making task, half the Ss made rapid pairwise preference judgments for rehearsed abstract paintings and half for pairs from the unrehearsed set. Autonomic measures were recorded continuously throughout both experiments. As predicted, in both experiments less autonomic reactivity was evident during the criterion pairwise preference task for groups for whom attitude rehearsal was relevant to the criterion task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subjective, physiological, and behavioral effects of threat and challenge appraisal.

The applicability of R. S. Lazarus and S. Folkman's (1984) cognitive appraisal model of stress was examined in 3 laboratory experiments involving the repeated performance of active (Studies 1, 2, and 3) and passive (Study 3) coping stress tasks (P. A. Obrist, 1981). Threat appraisals of upcoming coping tasks were positively related to Ss' self-reported task stress. Cardiac reactivity during active coping stressors was related positively to challenge appraisals and negatively to threat appraisals. Vascular reactivity, however, was related positively to threat appraisals and negatively to challenge appraisals. During passive coping stressors, cardiac and skin conductance reactivity were related positively to threat appraisals. The fractionation of self-report and physiological measures during active coping was interpreted in terms of energy mobilization and effort. The implications for the use of physiological measures as indicators of stress are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive and physiological antecedents of threat and challenge appraisal.

Cognitive appraisal theories of stress and emotion propose that cognitive appraisals precede physiological responses, whereas peripheralist theories propose that physiological arousal precedes cognitive processes. Three studies examined this issue regarding threat and challenge responses to potential stress. Study 1 supported cognitive appraisal theory by demonstrating that threat and challenge cognitive appraisals and physiological responses could be elicited experimentally by manipulating instructional set. Studies 2 and 3, in contrast, found that manipulations of physiological response patterns consistent with challenge and threat did not result in corresponding changes in cognitive appraisal. Appraisals in Study 3, however, were related to subjective pain independent of the physiological manipulation. These studies suggest a central role for cognitive appraisal processes in elicitation of threat and challenge responses to potentially stressful situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age related differences in learning to use a text-editing system

The increased use of computer technology in most occupations means that many middle-aged and older workers who lack computer experience will need to acquire skills to interact with this technology. This study examined age-group differences in learning to use a text-editing system. One hundred and thirty-five females ranging in age from 25 to 70 participated in the study. They received training under one of three training conditions: instructor-based, online or manual-based. Age differences were assessed by comparing performance on criterion tasks. Results indicated significant differences among the groups in learning success, younger learners being the most successful. There were no significant age by training interactions. The findings indicate a need to develop more effective training strategies to teach older learners to use computer technologies. They also indicate the need for changes in system design because computer applications are difficult for novice users to learn.     

Effects of justice beliefs on cognitive appraisal of and subjective physiological, and behavioral responses to potential stress.

Investigated the moderating role of just world beliefs on stress and coping processes. Ss high and low in belief in a just world were asked to perform a potentially stressful laboratory task, which was repeated once. Cognitive appraisals and subjective, autonomic, and behavioral responses were recorded for each of the 2 tasks. The results supported a stress-moderating effect for just world beliefs. lndividuals high in just world beliefs had more benign cognitive appraisals of the stress tasks, rated the tasks as less stressful post hoc, had autonomic reactions consistent with challenge (vs threat), and outperformed Ss low in just world beliefs. Discussion centers on factors that moderate the experiences of challenge and threat in potentially stressful situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Empirical assessment of visceral self-perception: Individual and sex differences in the acquisition of heartbeat discrimination.

Employed a new methodology based on the theory of signal detection to evaluate objectively and quantitatively the performance of 9 male and 9 female undergraduates. Results confirm the validity of the methodology for assessing heartbeat detection and also confirmed earlier observations that males are able to learn to detect their own heartbeats but females are not. Findings are discussed with particular reference to implications for viscerally based theories of emotion. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)