Social cognition
Saturday, October 01st, 2011 [17:20 - 19:20]
PS_2.078 - When task sharing eliminates the Simon effect
Sellaro, R. 1 , Treccani, B. 1 , Rubichi, S. 2 & Cubelli, R. 1
1 University of Trento
2 University of Modena & Reggio Emilia
The joint Simon effect refers to the finding that, when two participants, sitting close to each other, respond each to one of the two possible values of a lateralized stimulus (i.e., they perform two complementary Go/NoGo tasks), responses are faster when the position of the stimulus corresponds to the position of the response, that is, to the position of the responding participant. The present study aimed at investigating the social (i.e., task sharing) and spatial (i.e., response position coding) factors underlying this effect. Participants performed a Go/NoGo task first individually, then either imaging themselves responding to the NoGo stimuli or co-operating with another person acting in another room. The Simon effect occurred only when participants spatially coded both alternative responses within their own task representation. Conversely, the belief of co-acting with another individual who performed the complementary task (i.e., the co-actor was thought to respond to the actor’s NoGo stimuli), without knowing the co-actor’s position, induced the implementation of a division-of-labor mechanism, which led participants to ignore the alternative response (i.e., the co-actor’s response), thus eliminating the Simon effect.
PS_2.079 - Genuinessnes of smiles modulate attentional control
Cañadas, E. 1 , Niedenthal, P. 2 , Rodríguez-Bailón, R. 1 & Lupiáñez, J. 1
1 University of Granada
2 University Blaise Pascal
The present study attempt to investigate the role of emotions in category formation. The context specific proportion congruency effect was used as an experimental procedure to assess implicit generation of categories. Our goal was to examine whether genuinessnes of a smile might be used as a contextual cue to control attention. In particular, genuinessnes of smile faces served as a general context that was associated with a specific proportion of congruent/incongruent flanker trials (PC or PI trials). Thus, spontaneous smiles faces were associated with high (or low) PI trials, while posed smile faces were associated with low (or high) PI trials. Furthermore, we also created consistent and inconsistent category members within each of these two general contexts. More specifically, three faces of one group were associated with high (or low) PI trials (consistent faces), whereas a fourth face of the same group would be associated with low (or high) PI trials (inconsistent face), and vice versa for the other group. Participants showed more control for those faces that were associated with the group associated to high PI. Importantly, this effect appears even in the face inconsistent with its status as spontaneous smiling face, who was associated with high PC trials.
PS_2.080 - A response-discrimination account of implicit attitude measures
Eder, A. 1 & Rothermund, K. 2
1 Department of Psychology. University of Wuerzburg. Wuerzburg, Germany
2 Department of Psychology. University of Jena. Jena, Germany
Process analyses have put forward the idea that affective stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) is involved in several implicit attitude measures (e.g., affective priming, Implicit Association Test). However, it is unclear whether affective SRC develops through repeated pairing with categorical information or through an intentional specification of the response-meaning (or both). In a series of experiments, originally neutral key responses are massively paired with evaluative categories in evaluation trials, whereas an intentionally specified response-meaning is only occasionally highlighted. Results consistently show that intentional response-coding is more effective for a specification of the response-meaning than a repeated pairing with evaluative categories. A response-discrimination account of implicit attitude measures is discussed.
PS_2.081 - Cognitive and social aspects of adaptation to a communication partner
Thiele, K. 2, 1, 3 , Foltz, A. 3, 1 , Bartels, M. 3, 1 , Kahsnitz, D. 1 & Stenneken, P. 1, 3, 2
1 Clinical Linguistics, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
2 CITEC, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
3 CRC 673, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
Communication is a socially highly relevant form of joint action. Adaptation of interlocutors to each other’s verbal behavior, e.g. by using identical lexical expressions or syntactic structures, is a well-studied phenomenon. Such adaptation can be found on various linguistic levels and may contribute to communicative success. But to what extent do situational aspects, cognitive capacities, social skills etc. influence adaptation on these different linguistic levels? We present a series of experiments, using the confederate scripting technique with children and adults, investigating the potential influence of cognitive factors (e.g. working memory) and social factors (e.g. interlocutor’s native language) on the strength of linguistic adaptation. Results showed that participants adapted to their interlocutor’s lexical terms, even if these were unconventional (e.g. saying telephone for a cell phone), and did so to a greater extent if their conversational partner was a non-native speaker. General language capabilities had no effect on adaptation at the syntactic level, while lower working memory capacity decreased adaptation strength. The results suggest that social-strategic and cognitive factors influence the amount of adaptation that may contribute to successful communication. In addition, top-down factors may influence adaptation behavior more strongly than general language capabilities.
PS_2.082 - How cognitive mechanisms contribute to group processes: The shared fluency theory of social cohesiveness
Reber, R.
University of Bergen, Norway
Processing fluency is the ease with which a cognitive process can be executed. It has been shown that fluency is affectively positive, and statements that can be processed fluently are more likely to be judged as true. The goal of the talk is to reveal how group processes may emerge from these simple cognitive mechanisms by presenting a shared fluency theory of social cohesiveness, defined as mutual liking and shared liking among interacting individuals. The core of the theory consists of two inter-related recursive loops: one from behavioral coordination via interpersonal fluency to mutual liking and back to behavioral coordination; the other from shared exposure via shared object fluency and shared liking back to shared exposure. I then present evidence for each step of the theory. The shared fluency theory explains a diverse set of phenomena and provides new insights into topics such as cultural rituals, Confucian virtue ethics, military drill, culturally shared aesthetic tastes, and place attachment.
PS_2.083 - Normal adults’ attachment and theory of mind: An exploratory study
Hünefeldt, T. , Ortu, F. & Olivetti Belardinelli, M.
University of Rome "La Sapienza"
While there has been extensive research on the relationship between attachment and theory-of-mind (ToM) in developmental as well as in clinical perspective, hardly anything is known about this relationship in normal adults. Considering the current models of attachment and ToM, we hypothesized that the two dimensions of adult attachment, avoidance and anxiety, are differently related to ToM. In particular, we expected a positive correlation of anxiety, but a negative correlation of avoidance with ToM concerning other persons’ mental states. In order to test this hypothesis, we used the “Reading the Eyes in the Mind Test” as a measure of ToM and the “Relationship Questionnaire”, the “Experiences in Close Relationships” questionnaire and the “Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment” as measures of attachment. A preliminary research indicated that the relationship between adults’ attachment and their ability to recognize other people’s emotions is mediated by variables concerning the affective quality of these emotions. In particular, we found that anxiety but not avoidance was positively correlated with the recognition of negative emotions, while neither anxiety nor avoidance were correlated with the recognition of neutral or positive emotions. These preliminary findings basically support our hypothesis but emphasize the role of mediating variables.
PS_2.084 - Interaction between inhibition of return and the Simon effect in social contexts
Riggio, L. 1 , Marino, B. F. 1 & Mussi, D. R. 2
1 Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy
2 Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy
It has been shown that inhibition of return (IOR) amplifies the Simon effect. In the present study we tested whether IOR may also modulate the social Simon effect, recently observed by distributing the standard Simon task between two individuals. To this end, 24 pairs of participants performed a joint shape discrimination task in which each participant had to respond to only one of two possible shapes presented to the right or to the left of fixation. Participants’ responses were assessed in relation to shape and location of the current and previous trials (IOR paradigm). Responses to successive trials were given by the same participant when the shape was repeated and by different participants when the shape changed. Results showed that the repetition of stimulus location determined a large inhibitory effect when the shape was not repeated, and a small facilitatory effect when the shape was repeated. In addition, we found a social Simon effect that was modulated by repeating stimulus location and by the gender of participants’ pairs. In particular, IOR reduced the social Simon effect rather than amplifying it, in contrast to the standard Simon effect
PS_2.085 - Can you feel me: A different sensitivity to interaction dynamics in High Functioning Autism?
Timmermans, B. 1 , Schilbach, L. 2, 1 & Vogeley, K. 1
1 Department of Psychiatry. University Hospital of Cologne. Cologne, Germany.
2 Max-Planck-Institute for Neurological Research. Cologne, Germany.
In a Perceptual Crossing paradigm, two blindfolded participants interact by moving their mouse cursor in a one-dimensional space on a PC. In this space they encounter a fixed and a moving object, and an object representing the other's cursor. At each encounter participants receive a tactile stimulation, and the have to click the mouse whenever they think a stimulation is due to an encounter with the other. Thus, only when they meet, both simultaneously are stimulated. Previous research showed that healthy volunteers show a dissociation between task performance and awareness, in that their interaction dynamics distinguish between the moving object and the other's cursor, which however is not reflected in the proportion of clicks (they are unable to tell the difference explicitly between moving object and the other). We tested dyads consisting of one healthy control with one person with High Functioning Autism. HFA persons can exhibit three types of behaviors: (a) less exploration; (b) less marked (implicit) distinction in interaction dynamics between the moving object and the other; (c) increase in click-based (explicit) distinction between moving object and the other. We observed (b), suggesting problems with implicit interaction feedback.