Gender Differences in Motivations for Identity Reconstruction on Social Network Sites

Social network sites provide people a unique opportunity for self-presentation. Due to various reasons, people may build an online identity that is partly or even completely different from their identity in the real world. Adopting social role theory as the theoretical foundation, the current study investigated gender differences in the motivations for virtual identity reconstruction on QQ, a social network site based in China. A total of 418 respondents participated in the study. As hypothesized, the results showed that men and women are motivated differently when reconstructing their identity – while women focus more on physical vanity, men emphasize achievement vanity. The authors also identified gender differences in other motivations for online identity reconstruction: bridging social capital, disinhibition, and privacy concerns. The results, which suggest that men and women behave in gender-specific ways, are in line with the propositions made in social role theory.     

Social dominance mediates the association of testosterone and neurobehavioral disinhibition with risk for substance use disorder.

This investigation determined the influence of testosterone and neurobehavioral disinhibition (ND) on risk for substance use disorder (SUD). Testosterone level during puberty was hypothesized to promote social dominance associated with norm-violating behavior that, in turn, predisposes individuals to use of illicit drugs and, subsequently, SUD. Using a prospective paradigm, the authors recruited 179 boys (mean age=11.62 years, SD=0.88) and followed up when participants were ages 12-14, 16, 19, and 22. Results indicated that social dominance/norm-violating behavior (SD/NVB) at age 16 mediated the association between testosterone level (ages 12-14) and SUD (age 22). In addition, SD/NVB mediated the association between ND and SUD. These findings suggest that development of SUD is influenced by androgen-dependent and neurobehavioral processes via a social motivational style characterized by SD/NVB. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of alcohol priming on social disinhibition.

Recent studies have suggested that exposure to rudimentary alcohol cues activates mental representations of alcohol expectancies in long-term memory, thereby promoting expectancy-consistent behavior changes. However, reliance in these previous studies on self-report measures raises the possibility that prior findings were an artifact of experimental demand. The present study was aimed at ruling out this alternative explanation by reinvestigating the effects of alcohol priming on nonconsumptive behavior using an implicit measure of social disinhibition. In three experiments, participants were exposed to either alcohol or control beverage images, then asked to type as quickly as possible the first word that came to mind in response to a series of provocative (e.g., feces) and neutral (e.g., chair) stimulus words. Participants’ response times were surreptitiously measured. Results revealed that participants exposed to images of alcohol, relative to control beverages, were faster to generate free associations to provocative, but not neutral, words, suggesting enhanced social disinhibition. This effect was limited to conditions of heightened evaluation, ruling out alternative explanations based on knowledge activation or arousal. Participants reported no suspicions regarding the connection between the image viewing and free association tasks nor any awareness that their response times had been collected. Results suggest that the behavioral effects of alcohol priming do not result from demand characteristics and offer the first evidence that exposure to rudimentary alcohol-related stimuli may suffice to influence social disinhibition in a manner akin to that expected to result from actual or placebo alcohol consumption. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fetal Neurobehavioral Development: A Tale of Two Cities.

Longitudinal neurobehavioral development was examined in 237 fetuses of low-risk pregnancies from 2 distinct populations-Baltimore, Maryland, and Lima. Peru-at 20. 24. 28. 32, 36. and 38 weeks gestation. Data were based on digitized Doppler-based fetal heart rate (FHR) and fetal movement (FM). In both groups. FHR declined while variability, episodic accelerations, and FM-FHR coupling increased, with discontinuities evident between 28 and 32 weeks gestation. Fetuses in Lima had higher FHR and lower variability, accelerations, and FM-FHR coupling. Declines in trajectories were typically observed 1 month sooner in Lima, which magnified these disparities. Motor activity differences were less consistent. No sex differences in fetal neurobehaviors were detected. It is concluded that population factors can influence the developmental niche of the fetus. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral disinhibition: Liability for externalizing spectrum disorders and its genetic and environmental relation to response inhibition across adolescence.

Behavioral disinhibition has been characterized as a generalized vulnerability to externalizing disorders. Despite increasing evidence for its validity and heritability, the structural stability of behavioral disinhibition across adolescence and the strength and etiology of its relation to executive functions have not been studied. In this multivariate twin study, the authors assessed behavioral disinhibition using measures tapping substance use, conduct disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and novelty seeking at ages 12 and 17. Executive functions were assessed with laboratory-based cognitive tasks at age 17. Results indicated that, at age 12, behavioral disinhibition was dominated by ADHD and conduct problems and was highly heritable. At age 17, the contributions of the 4 components were more balanced, and the proportion of variance attributable to genetic factors was somewhat smaller, with additional variance due to shared environmental influences. At both ages, behavioral disinhibition was more closely related to response inhibition than other executive functions (working memory updating and task-set shifting), and this relationship was primarily genetic in origin. These results highlight the dynamic nature of behavioral disinhibition across adolescence and suggest that response inhibition may be an important mechanism underlying vulnerability to disinhibitory psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

柔和背景音乐对脑力劳动绩效的影响

该文采用17项神经行为能力测试,定量地测量人员的感知、记忆、推理等多方面能力,并结合对情绪、烦躁度以及头疼等病态综合症状的主观问卷调查,通过实验研究了柔和背景音乐对人员脑力劳动绩效的影响。结果表明,柔和、慢节奏的背景音乐对人员脑力劳动绩效和情绪没有积极作用,相反,在背景音乐环境下受试者的不舒适、耳痛和头疼症状有所增加,其复杂脑力劳动任务的绩效显著下降。因此,对从事复杂的、认知资源需求较高的脑力劳动的人,其工作环境中不宜添加背景音乐。     

Integrating disinhibition and learning risk for alcohol use.

In this study the authors tested the acquired preparedness model of problem drinking, which holds that trait disinhibition, defined as neurotic extraversion by C. M. Patternson and J. P. Newman (1993), leads to the biased formation of positive over negative alcohol expectancies. Positive expectancies thus mediate disinhibition's influence on drinking. The authors also hypothesized that disinhibition moderates the expectancy–drinking relationship such that disinhibited individuals are more likely to act on their positive expectancies. In Study 1, positive expectancies both mediated and moderated the disinhibition–drinking relationship. In Study 2, learning task results indicated that disinhibited individuals sought reward, even when passive avoidance of punishment was indicated. Study 2 also replicated Study 1 hypotheses for men but generally not for women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intoxicated behavioral disinhibition and the heart rate response to alcohol.

This study examined the association between the heart rate (HR) response to alcohol intoxication, which is thought to reflect sensitivity to alcohol-induced reward and alcohol-induced behavioral disinhibition. High- and low-HR responders to alcohol participated in a go/no-go task, under sober and intoxicated conditions. Errors of commission on this task have previously been related to behavioral disinhibition. High-HR responders made more intoxicated commission errors as compared with low-HR responders. High-HR responders also reported increased alcohol consumption, and controlling for the latter did not alter the significant association between high-HR responders and increased intoxicated errors of commission. These results are consistent with previous findings of an increased risk for addictive and disinhibited behavioral propensities in individuals with a high-HR response to alcohol intoxication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Double dissociation in the anatomy of socioemotional disinhibition and executive functioning in dementia.

Objective: To determine whether socioemotional disinhibition and executive dysfunction are related to dissociable patterns of brain atrophy in neurodegenerative disease. Previous studies have indicated that behavioral and cognitive dysfunction in neurodegenerative disease are linked to atrophy in different parts of the frontal lobes, but these prior studies did not establish that these relationships were specific, which would best be demonstrated by a double dissociation. Method: Subjects included 157 patients with neurodegenerative disease. A semiautomated parcellation program (Freesurfer) was used to generate regional cortical volumes from structural MRI scans. Regions of interest (ROIs) included anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), middle frontal gyrus (MFG), and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Socioemotional disinhibition was measured using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory. Principal component analysis including 3 tasks of executive function (EF; verbal fluency, Stroop Interference, modified Trails) was used to generate a single-factor score to represent EF. Results: Partial correlations between ROIs, disinhibition, and EF were computed after controlling for total intracranial volume, Mini-Mental State Examination, diagnosis, age, and education. Brain regions significantly correlated with disinhibition (ACC, OFC, IFG, and temporal lobes) and EF (MFG) were entered into separate hierarchical regressions to determine which brain regions predicted disinhibition and EF. OFC was the only brain region to significantly predict disinhibition, and MFG significantly predicted EF performance. A multivariate general linear model demonstrated a significant interaction between ROIs and cognitive–behavioral functions. Conclusions: These results support a specific association between orbitofrontal areas and behavioral management as compared with dorsolateral areas and EF. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)