The mere thought effect is the tendency for favorable attitudes to become more favorable and unfavorable attitudes to become more unfavorable following thought (Tesser, 1978). Changes in belief-consistency and belief-confidence mediate this effect (Tesser, Martin, & Mendolia, 1995). However, there are self-monitoring differences in the extent to which people are driven by consistency in their beliefs (Fuglestad & Snyder, 2009; Snyder, 1974). It was predicted that mere-thought and self-monitoring will interactively influence attitude polarization. We also hypothesized that the interactive effects of mere-thought and self-monitoring on attitude polarization will be mediated by belief-consistency and belief-confidence. After indicating their initial attitudes about capital punishment, participants were randomly assigned to two different opportunities for thought (i.e., 60s or 180s condition) to list all beliefs about capital punishment. Participants independently responded to the 25-item Self-Monitoring Scale (Snyder, 1974) and a measure on belief-confidence. As predicted, there was a marginally reliable significant interaction between mere-thought and self-monitoring. Low self-monitors compared to high self-monitors demonstrated more polarized attitudes when giving them more time to think about a target issue. As predicted, after controlling for belief-consistency and belief-confidence, the interaction between opportunity for thought and self-monitoring was attenuated. Limitations (i.e., problem with directionality, third variable problem, and threats to statistical validity) and suggestions for future research (i.e., conditions high self-monitors might exhibit more attitude polarization and exploring additional personality/situational moderators) were discussed.

Creativity is a topic that is relevant to everyday life. Research in this area has mainly focused on comparing creativity in work contexts and between Eastern and Western conceptualizations. The current study was designed to measure differences in creativity between students in the United States and India by comparing a measure of cognitive creativity, the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults, to a measure of creative achievement, the Creative Achievement Questionnaire. The results from a linear regression showed that the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults was predictive of the Creative Achievement Questionnaire in the United States, but not in India. Results from independent samples t-tests showed that participants from the United States scored significantly higher on the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults than participants from India. Independent samples t-tests further showed that participants from India scored significantly higher on originality domain of the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults than participants from the United States. Independent samples t-tests showed there was no significant difference between the two countries in terms of overall creative achievement. However, participants in the United States scored significantly higher in the domain of creative writing, and marginally higher in the domain of music. Participants from India scored significantly higher in the domain of culinary arts. Part of the explanation for the results revolves around the idea that the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults is western-centric test. There is a need for a creativity test that takes into account Eastern conceptualizations of creativity. Based on the results the researcher recommends staying away from overgeneralizing East/West dichotomies, instead shifting the focus towards the uniqueness of individual cultures.

The co-dependence of nicotine and alcohol addiction occurs at high rates, complicates treatment, and is often associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Treatment options of alcohol and tobacco co-dependence are limited. Currently, there are drugs available for nicotine dependence or alcohol dependence. However, there are no therapeutic drugs available on the market for the co-dependence of nicotine and alcohol. Therefore, and important opportunity of new therapeutic options and drug development has presented itself. NT69L, a non-selective neurotensin (NT) agonist, provides a potential novel therapy for nicotine addiction in alcoholics by interacting with the common neurotransmitter circuits supporting the rewarding process for both nicotine and alcohol. Considering the behavioral effects of NT69L in attenuating nicotine self-administration in rats and alcohol consumption in mice, the present study was designed to assess the effects of NT69L as a new drug. NT69L was used in the treatment of nicotine addiction in an animal model of alcoholics and in attempts to attenuate withdrawal signs associated with nicotine and alcohol dependence. Wistar rats pre-exposed to alcohol vapor or air were allowed to self-infuse nicotine (0.03mg/kg/infusion) or saline. When the rats reached a stable level of responding, the effect of pretreatment with NT69L (1mg/kg i.p.) on the reinforcing effect of nicotine was determined. Animals self-infused nicotine at a significantly (p < .05) higher rate compared to saline in both air and alcohol vapor exposed groups. Acute pretreatment with a single injection of NT69L significantly (p < .05) reduced nicotine self-infusion in both the alcohol vapor and the air exposed groups for 5 days post-injection. Additionally, NT69L attenuated the alcohol- and nicotine-induced withdrawal signs associated with the discontinuation of alcohol and nicotine administration. Neurotensin agonist, NT69L, may represent a potential novel therapy to treat the co-addiction of alcohol and nicotine.

Women in leadership positions may experience stereotype threat when explicitly or implicitly reminded of gender and leader stereotypes. Increased worry about potentially confirming the stereotype should affect their behavior and perceptions in leadership situations. I used a 3 (article) x 2 (confederate gender) between-participants design. Female participants read an article that either made stereotypes explicit (explicit threat), countered stereotypes (threat nullification), or did not include stereotype-relevant information (implicit threat) and were assigned to lead a male or female confederate through the construction of a Lego model. I hypothesized that women in the implicit threat conditions (implicit article; male confederate) would objectively and subjectively perform worse than women in the explicit and nullification article conditions and those working with a female confederate. Women should experience the situation more negatively in conditions of threat (explicit and implicit articles; male confederate). Confederate perceptions of the participants should be more negative, except competence, when participants performed well (explicit and nullification article; female confederate). Results partially supported the hypotheses. Women who led men objectively performed worse, perceived their own performance as worse, were perceived as less competent and overall less favorably by their employees, and experienced the situation more negatively than women who led women. The article had little impact on participants and outcomes. The findings suggest that female leaders may be unintentionally undermining themselves when stereotype reminders are present, such as when asked to lead a man in a masculine task. Experiencing stereotype threat may influence women to opt out of leadership due to their negative experiences and they may not earn promotions due to poor performance and coworkers’ negative perceptions of their behavior.

Recently, cognitive psychologists have focused their research on the survival aspects of human memory, showing advantages for remembering information encoded for adaptive qualities. When participants rated words related to survival relevance (stranded in grasslands), Nairne et al. (2007) and others found survival processing’s retention superior to many semantic encoding techniques, however, we questioned the global application of survival processing. In the present adaptive memory experiment we used the thematic word list paradigm pioneered by Deese, Rodeiger and McDermott, allowing us to measure false recall of critical items from sets of word lists. To investigate recall differences based on the material type encoded, we separated recalled material into two categories: survival and non-survival. Because arousal can influence memory performance, we extended research on adaptive memory to include social arousal induced by videotaping participants during study and recall tasks. Videotaping subjects has been shown to induce arousal levels similar to those when being observed, and may parallel arousal experienced in survival scenarios. Overall, recall was lower for survival processing. Survival-relevant information was more accurately remembered, and was not hindered by camera presence, unlike non-survival information. Additionally, false memories were higher under videotaped conditions. While our results did not support Nairne and colleagues, our findings may support the development of evolved brain mechanisms. The current findings are discussed with an emphasis on contemporary high arousal situations that may influence the activation of adaptive memories. We join a growing set of literature that questions the overall benefits of survival processing.

The current work extends upon the theories of female mate preference in a novel way by examining how the interaction of race and the masculinity of males affect preference in females. In Study 1, I manipulated the facial masculinity of photographs of White, Black, and Asian males. Female participants rated the faces on attractiveness, masculinity, and age. In Study 2, nine photographs were matched on masculinity and participants made judgments on dimensions relating to dateabiltity, attractiveness, resources, masculinity, and parenting behaviors. Asian males are often neglected as potential romantic partners. A major aim of the current work was to assess if racial bias against Asian males in romantic situations are lessened with increased facial masculinity. Asian males were evaluated highly across several dimensions if they possessed high masculine facial characteristics. Medium masculine White and Black males were evaluated as the most attractive and dateable in their respective racial groups. Additionally, low masculine White and Black males were evaluated as better choices for resource and family-related attributions in their respective racial groups.

Hamilton’s Rule (1964) involves the notion that the likelihood of an altruistic act being performed is predicted by the degree of relatedness between the recipient and the donor. Therefore, the extent to which people would be willing to lie for a defendant is a function of the degree of biological relationship between the defendant and the alibi witness. The researchers of the current study presented participants with one murder and one burglary packet containing a police report summary and a hypothetical scenario. The summary police report detailed case facts, evidence collected, and witness statements. Following their reading of the police report summary participants made judgments on witness’ credibility, defendant’s guilt and types of evidence. In the hypothetical scenarios, participants were asked to imagine their father or male friend is pleading with them to act as an alibi witness. Participants then agreed or disagreed to serve as an alibi witness. Overall, the researchers found participants were unwilling to provide false alibis, however, when they were, participants gave false alibis for their father more often than for their friend. Limitations may be a restricted sample, evidence certainty, and the yes or no decision to providing a false alibi. Future research should include an examination of individual differences and moral development.

Previous research indicates loneliness affects physiological and quality of life outcomes in oncology populations. However, minimal research has been conducted specifically on bone and blood marrow transplant (BMT) patients (Knight et al., 2013). To further explore this issue, we conducted a preliminary study to examine the relationship of loneliness with quality of life, immunological functioning, and other health indicators at six months post-transplant in BMT patients. The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapies–BMT (FACT-BMT) was used to measure QOL and the UCLA Loneliness Scale Version 3 was used to assess general loneliness and loneliness experienced during hospitalization. We found that experiencing loneliness during hospital stay and experiencing loneliness in general was negatively associated with overall quality of life six months after a BMT. Specially, hospital loneliness was associated with poorer social well-being and poorer functional well-being; and loneliness in general was associated with poorer social well-being. In addition, loneliness during hospitalization was related to difficulty managing disease symptoms six-months after a transplant. Hospital loneliness was associated with higher neutrophil counts to monocyte counts 30 days after BMT, which is an indicator of poorer overall survival rate. However, loneliness during hospital stay was not associated with neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio. These results indicate that there is a relation between loneliness experienced during hospitalization and immunological functioning which may adversely impact recovery from a bone marrow transplant.

In developing countries, farmers are dealing with climatic changes by adapting their agricultural practices. Little work has investigated the direct impact of structural variables (e.g., central vs. local management of irrigation water, location of village), psychological variables (e.g., risk perceptions, self-efficacy), and adaptation on crop yield. We tested a psychology-based model that focused on risk perceptions and efficacy beliefs by longitudinally surveying 278 Sri Lankan rice farmers. We assessed risk perceptions and efficacy beliefs before the major paddy-growing season and measured whether farmers performed adaptations as well as their paddy yield/acre after the season. The model significantly predicted more than 25% of the variance in crop yield, with increased yields associated with centrally managed irrigation resources and with farmers low in perceived climate risk at the start of the growing season. Findings support the notion that while psychological factors are important, structural variables are the most important predictors of farm productivity in times of uncertain water supply.

Having a chronic illness may feel alienating, yet examination of the literature shows limited research on social connectedness and health. In order to contribute to the understanding of this impact of illness, I examined perceived levels of social connectedness in persons with chronic diseases (CD), functional somatic syndromes (FSS) and medically unexplained symptoms (MUS). A major focus of this study was to investigate the association of social connectedness with depression, anxiety, and general health in patients with ongoing symptoms of illness. Data collection was obtained through the use of four online surveys collectively known as VOICE (Verification of Coping, Illness and Experience). For the purposes of this study, five measures were used: the Social Connectedness Scale, Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), Patient Health Questionnaire depression scale (PHQ-8), Hopkins Symptoms Checklist (HSCL) and the Social Impact Scale. Participants were recruited through announcements via online message boards and support groups, as well as through the distribution of brochures in local medical practices. A total of 148 participants (80% female) completed all four surveys. Results indicated that the chronic illness groups did not significantly differ in social connectedness, although there was some indication that the FSS group felt more social isolation. Regression analyses indicated that, while accounting for socio-cultural and health factors, social connectedness was the strongest predictor of depression (β = - .43, p < .001), anxiety (β = -.48, p < .001) and general health (β = .34, p < .001) in chronically ill persons. The independent and robust relationship of social connectedness with psychological and physical health in individuals with chronic illness suggests that this is an important factor deserving of future research with important clinical applications.