Attitudes, Emotions, and Emotion Regulation as Underlying and In-The-Moment Predictors of Men's Intentions to Perpetrate Sexual Assault: An Application of the I3 Model

Sexual assault is a significant problem among young men, and several underlying and in-the-moment factors are associated with this behavior. However, research has not examined how underlying factors may influence men's in-the-moment use of emotion regulation (ER) strategies, emotional experience during sexual situations, or intentions to perpetrate sexual assault. 187 young, single men from the United States who had sex with a woman in the past year completed questionnaires, projected themselves into hypothetical sexual scenarios, and indicated how they would behave when their partner withdrew consent during these scenarios. Participants were grouped into profiles of ER strategy use, which was used as part of a model predicting sexual assault perpetration. Specifically, men with greater hostility toward women were especially likely to use a "low acting with awareness, low resignation" profile, which was associated with greater anger, impulsivity, and intentions to perpetrate. This could be attributed to the increased cognitive load, increased rumination on their partner's refusal, or increased drive to obtain sex associated with this profile. Future research should replicate these results in a more diverse sample, and examine the efficacy of interventions redirecting participants away from a "low acting with awareness, low resignation" profile on sexual assault prevention.

Threat of shock promotes passive avoidance, but not active avoidance

Anxiety and stress are adaptive responses to threat that promote harm avoidance. In particular, prior work has shown that anxiety induced in humans using threat of unpredictable shock promotes behavioral inhibition in the face of harm. This is consistent with the idea that anxiety promotes passive avoidance-that is, withholding approach actions that could lead to harm. However, harm can also be avoided through active avoidance, where a (withdrawal) action is taken to avoid harm. Here, we provide the first direct within-study comparison of the effects of threat of shock on active and passive avoidance. We operationalize passive avoidance as withholding a button press response in the face of negative outcomes, and active avoidance as lifting/releasing a button press in the face of negative outcomes. We explore the impact of threat of unpredictable shock on the learning of these behavioral responses (alongside matched responses to rewards) within a single cognitive task. We predicted that threat of shock would promote both active and passive avoidance, and that this would be driven by increased reliance on Pavlovian bias, as parameterized within reinforcement-learning models. Consistent with our predictions, we provide evidence that threat of shock promotes passive avoidance as conceptualized by our task. However, inconsistent with predictions, we found no evidence that threat of shock promoted active avoidance, nor evidence of elevated Pavlovian bias in any condition. One hypothetical framework with which to understand these findings is that anxiety promotes passive over active harm avoidance strategies in order to conserve energy while avoiding harm.

A person-centered approach to achievement goal orientations in competitive tennis players: Associations with motivation and mental toughness

BACKGROUND

Research on achievement goal orientations in sport has typically relied on the use of variable-centered approaches that tend to overlook population heterogeneity. In this study, we used a person-centered approach to identify subgroups of competitive tennis players according to unique combinations of achievement goal orientations and tested for subgroup differences in motivation and mental toughness.

METHODS

A sample of 323 competitive tennis athletes (69.35% male) between 15 and 25 years of age (17.60 ± 2.40 years, mean ± SD) completed the 3 × 2 Achievement Goal Questionnaire for Sport, Sport Motivation Scale II, and Mental Toughness Index. Latent profile analysis was used to identify unique combinations of achievement goal orientations. Comparisons between latent subgroups on autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and mental toughness were performed using analysis of variance.

RESULTS

Latent profile analysis supported 3 distinct patterns of achievement goal profiles that were primarily distinguishable based on valence of competence (i.e., approach vs. avoidance). Analyses of variance indicated that athletes who were classified into subgroups that endorsed approach types of goals (regardless of the types of avoidance goals they endorsed) reported higher levels of autonomous motivation and mental toughness.

CONCLUSION

Results indicated that athletes tend to pursue a number of achievement goals collectively rather than in isolation. Although approach goals are more commonly linked to adaptive psychological functioning and positive outcomes, avoidance goals may also be associated with desirable psychological characteristics if they are pursued in conjunction with approach types of achievement goals.

Employee perseverance in a "no phone use while driving" organizational road-safety intervention

INTRODUCTION

This interdisciplinary study explores factors that contribute to the perseverance of participants in an organizational "no phone use while driving" road-safety intervention.

METHOD

The study sample comprised 200 employees (mean age 43 years; 104 females [52 %], 96 males [48 %]) from 8 organizations in Israel. Subjects completed a 4-month organizational intervention using a smartphone application that monitored smartphone use, operationalized as taps per minute, where each tap represents a single instance of contact with the screen (e.g., touching, tapping or swiping). The app also silenced notifications during the intervention stage. Changes over time in tapping-while-driving behavior were examined through self-report questionnaires and objectively through the application's monitoring function. Validated measures were used to examine factors associated with perseverance in the program.

RESULTS

Organizational safety climate and gender (male) were positively related to perseverance in the intervention. Contrary to our hypothesis, safety motivation was not found to influence perseverance.

CONCLUSIONS

The present intervention is most effective for employees with high safety climate perceptions and for male employees.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

The organizational intervention presented in the current study was shown to be effective in reducing smartphone use (touching, tapping or swiping) while driving. Our findings show that people will download and use an app that actively reduces their incentive to use their phones at the wheel by silencing incoming notifications. The findings support calls to harness the positive potential of information and communications technologies for organizational interventions.

Greater learning transfer effect for avoidance of loss than for achievement of gain in Finnish and Russian schoolchildren

Classification of behavior into principal categories of approach and avoidance is grounded in evolutionary considerations and multiple results of behavioral, self-report, and brain-activity analyses. Contrasted via measures of cognitive processes, avoidance is accompanied by greater cognitive engagement than approach. Considering outcome as a key constituent of behavioral underpinnings, we interpret approach/avoidance distinction in terms of structure of experience: avoidance domain provides more detailed interaction with the environment, than approach domain. Learning outwardly similar behaviors aimed at gain or loss outcomes manifests formation of different structures that underlie further learning. Therefore, we predicted difference of learning transfer between gain and loss contexts that was revealed here by introducing two tasks for different groups of schoolchildren in Finland and Russia. The cultural specificity of gain/loss differences was also evident with employed measures, including error rate and post-error slowing. The results support that avoidance-motivated behavior is organized as a more complex organism-environment interaction, than the approach-motivated behavior.

Different Effects of Motivation Orientation on Ideational Flexibility: Key Role of Optimism

The present study investigated the relationships between motivation orientation (approach and avoidance motivations) and ideational flexibility and the potential effects of optimism on these associations in a large behavioral sample of 320 healthy young adults. As predicted, the approach motivation-ideational flexibility relationship and the avoidance motivation-ideational flexibility relationship were differentially affected by individual difference measures of dispositional optimism. More specifically, optimism significantly moderated the relationship between avoidance motivation and ideational flexibility, whereas it did not moderate the relationship between approach motivation and ideational flexibility. Detailed analysis revealed that avoidance motivation related positively to ideational flexibility, especially for people with low optimism. Furthermore, in an external validation analysis using data obtained from an independent sample of participants (replication cohort; n = 249), we showed that dispositional optimism can reliably affect the approach motivation-ideational flexibility relationship and the avoidance motivation-ideational flexibility relationship differentially. These findings help resolve the ongoing controversy surrounding the nature of the motivation orientation-creativity nexus and have potential implications for current practice and interventions.

Pessimistic expectations and poorer experiences: The role of (low) extraversion in anticipated and experienced enjoyment of social interaction

Given research suggesting that social interactions are beneficial, it is unclear why individuals lower in extraversion engage less in social interactions. In this study, we test whether individuals lower in extraversion reap fewer hedonic rewards from social interactions and explore social psychological processes that explain their experiences. Before participants socialized, we measured extraversion, state positive affect, cognitive capacity, and expectations about the social interactions. After participants socialized with one another, we measured state positive affect and cognitive capacity again as well as fear of negative evaluation and belief in limited cognitive capacity. Participants also rated the social skillfulness of each interaction partner. We found that less extraverted individuals expect to feel worse after socializing. However, all but those extremely low in extraversion (17% of sample) actually experience an increase in positive affect after socializing. Surprisingly, those low in extraversion did not show reduced cognitive capacity after socializing. Although they are more likely to believe that cognitive capacity is limited and to be fearful of negative evaluation, these characteristics did not explain the social experience of those low in extraversion.

Being alexithymic: Necessity or convenience. Negative emotionality × avoidant coping interactions and alexithymia

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to clarify the associations between negative emotionality, avoidant coping, and alexithymia. We hypothesized that negative emotionality and avoidance strategies would interact negatively in associating with alexithymia.

DESIGN

We examined, in one study conducted in Italy and another in the US (total N = 415), the associations among avoidant coping, negative emotionality, and alexithymia, using cross-sectional designs.

METHOD

Study 1: Participants completed paper-and-pencil measures of alexithymia, avoidant coping, and negative emotionality. Study 2: Participants completed the above-mentioned measures plus a measure of experiential avoidance (EA), by means of an online questionnaire.

RESULTS

As expected, an antagonistic avoidant coping × negative emotionality interaction was found to relate to alexithymia in both studies. In Study 2, EA mediated the effects of such interaction on alexithymia (mediated moderation). The interaction found implied that alexithymia would be adopted as a defence against negative affect or as a consequence of avoidant strategies.

CONCLUSIONS

The studies suggested that two different psychological pathways to alexithymia may be at work: Preference for avoidance and negative emotionality. This result appeared theoretically relevant and may stimulate further research.

PRACTITIONER POINTS

Alexithymia may develop from habitual avoidance, regardless of negative emotionality. Practitioners could consider addressing negative emotional regulation or automatic and habitual avoidant responses in dealing with alexithymic patients.

Oxytocin enables novelty seeking and creative performance through upregulated approach: evidence and avenues for future research

Oxytocin is an evolutionary ancient hypothalamic neuropeptide well known for its role in reproduction, social bonding, and group affiliation. Recent work has linked oxytocin in humans to creative cognition--the ability to produce insights, ideas, and problem solutions that are original and potentially useful. Here we review this literature, focusing on the relationship between (1) single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene; endogenous oxytocin from blood plasma, and intranasal administration of oxytocin (vs placebo), and (2) creativity-related traits (e.g., novelty seeking, extraversion, and openness to experience), and behaviors (e.g., exploration, divergent thinking, original ideation, and problem solving). Findings are interpreted in the context of the dual pathway to creativity model and except for OXTR: (1) reveal a weak to moderate but consistent association between oxytocin and creativity, which emerges because (2) oxytocin enables the cognitive flexibility pathway more than persistent information processing. Findings can be best understood in terms of oxytocin's putative effects on dopaminergic activity and concomitant approach tendency.

Ego depletion in color priming research: self-control strength moderates the detrimental effect of red on cognitive test performance

Colors have been found to affect psychological functioning. Empirical evidence suggests that, in test situations, brief perceptions of the color red or even the word "red" printed in black ink prime implicit anxious responses and consequently impair cognitive performance. However, we propose that this red effect depends on people's momentary capacity to exert control over their prepotent responses (i.e., self-control). In three experiments (Ns = 66, 78, and 130), first participants' self-control strength was manipulated. Participants were then primed with the color or word red versus gray prior to completing an arithmetic test or an intelligence test. As expected, self-control strength moderated the red effect. While red had a detrimental effect on performance of participants with depleted self-control strength (ego depletion), it did not affect performance of participants with intact self-control strength. We discuss implications of the present findings within the current debate on the robustness of priming results.

How Dual-Identity Processes Foster Creativity

We propose a theoretical model explaining when and why possessing 2 inconsistent social identities can foster superior creativity. The framework describes how during cultural adaptation individuals (a) alternate their identities across contexts, (b) integrate elements of their distinct (i.e., remote and uncorrelated) identities, and, having formed cognitive and emotional links with the new group, (c) broaden their self-definition. We explain how these processes of cultural adaptation map onto 3 fundamental creative processes: (a) an ability to quickly and effortlessly switch between cognitive strategies and semantic categories, (b) an apparent ease in integrating distant and conflicting ideas, and finally, (c) the widening of one's creative idea base. Our model explains how the challenges involved in managing complex self-definitions enhance creativity, and increase potential for novel problem solutions. Understanding this dynamic brings a new perspective to debates on the value of diversity.

Oxytocin tempers calculated greed but not impulsive defense in predator-prey contests

Human cooperation and competition is modulated by oxytocin, a hypothalamic neuropeptide that functions as both hormone and neurotransmitter. Oxytocin's functions can be captured in two explanatory yet largely contradictory frameworks: the fear-dampening (FD) hypothesis that oxytocin has anxiolytic effects and reduces fear-motivated action; and the social approach/avoidance (SAA) hypothesis that oxytocin increases cooperative approach and facilitates protection against aversive stimuli and threat. We tested derivations from both frameworks in a novel predator-prey contest game. Healthy males given oxytocin or placebo invested as predator to win their prey's endowment, or as prey to protect their endowment against predation. Neural activity was registered using 3T-MRI. In prey, (fear-motivated) investments were fast and conditioned on the amygdala. Inconsistent with FD, oxytocin did not modulate neural and behavioral responding in prey. In predators, (greed-motivated) investments were slower, and conditioned on the superior frontal gyrus (SFG). Consistent with SAA, oxytocin reduced predator investment, time to decide and activation in SFG. Thus, whereas oxytocin does not incapacitate the impulsive ability to protect and defend oneself, it lowers the greedy and more calculated appetite for coming out ahead.

Framing political messages to fit the audience's regulatory orientation: how to improve the efficacy of the same message content

This research investigates how the impact of persuasive messages in the political domain can be improved when fit is created by subliminally priming recipients’ regulatory focus (either promotion or prevention) and by linguistic framing of the message (either strategic approach framing or strategic avoidance framing). Results of two studies show that regulatory fit: a) increases the impact of a political message favoring nuclear energy on implicit attitudes of the target audience (Study 1); and b) induces a more positive evaluation of, and intentions to vote for, the political candidate who is delivering a message concerning immigration policies (Study 2).

Approach–Avoidance Motivation and Emotion: Convergence and Divergence

In this concluding piece, we identify and discuss various aspects of convergence and, to a lesser degree, divergence in the ideas expressed in the contributions to this special section. These contributions emphatically illustrate that approach–avoidance motivation is integral to the scientific study of emotion. It is our hope that the articles herein will facilitate cross-talk among researchers and research traditions, and will lead to a more thorough understanding of the role of approach–avoidance motivation in emotion.

The influence of avoidance temperament and avoidance-based achievement goals on flow

In the present research, we conducted two studies designed to examine the joint influence of avoidance temperament and avoidance-based achievement goals on the experience of flow on a creativity task. In both a laboratory study (N = 101; M(age)  = 22.61, SD(age)  = 4.03; 74.3% female) and a naturalistic study (N = 102; M(age)  = 16.23, SD(age)  = 1.13; 48% female), participants high in avoidance temperament were shown to experience greater flow when performance-avoidance goals were induced; no differences were found in any of the other three achievement goal conditions from the 2 × 2 achievement goal framework. These findings reveal a short-term benefit for a disposition-goal match grounded in avoidance motivation, and point to the need for more research on both avoidance-based matches and the short-term versus long-term implications of such matches.