Description

Psychological Science the flagship research journal of the American Psychological Society is established as a leader in the field with a citation ranking/impact factor that places it in the top 10 psychology journals worldwide. The journal publishes authoritative articles of interest across all of scientific psychology's subdisciplines including brain and behavior clinical science cognition learning and memory psychology social psychology and developmental psychology. In addition to these full-length articles Psychological Science also features summaries of new research developments reviews of new publications and discussions of psychological issues in government and public affairs. A Subscription to Psychological Science also includes 2 issues of Psychological Science in the Public Interest ( PSPI ). PSPI provides definitive assessments of topics where psychological science may have the potential to inform and improve the lives of individuals and the well-being of society.

Publisher details

Blackwell Publishing

Publications in this journal

• Telling the Right Hand From the Left Hand: Multisensory Integration, Not Motor Imagery, Solves the Problem.

  Authors: Shivakumar Viswanathan, Courtney Fritz, Scott T Grafton

  Psychological science.

  Judging the laterality of a hand seen at unanticipated orientations evokes a robust feeling of bodily movement, even though no movement is produced. In two experiments, we tested a novel hypothesisJudging the laterality of a hand seen at unanticipated orientations evokes a robust feeling of bodily movement, even though no movement is produced. In two experiments, we tested a novel hypothesis to explain this phenomenon: A hand's laterality is determined via a multisensory binding of the visual representation of the seen hand and a proprioceptive representation of the observer's felt hand, and the felt "movement" is an obligatory aftereffect of intersensory recalibration. Consistent with the predictions implied by such a cross-modal mechanism, our results in Experiment 1 showed that manipulating observers' selective attention can evoke illusory feelings of movement in the "wrong" hand (i.e., the hand whose laterality does not match that of the stimulus). In Experiment 2, these illusions were readily extinguished in conditions in which binding was predicted to fail, a result indicating that cross-modal binding was necessary to produce them. These results are not explained by imagery, a mechanism widely assumed to account for how hand laterality is identified.

• Semantic Priming From Crowded Words.

  Authors: Su-Ling Yeh, Sheng He, Patrick Cavanagh

  Psychological science.

  Vision in a cluttered scene is extremely inefficient. This damaging effect of clutter, known as crowding, affects many aspects of visual processing (e.g., reading speed). We examined observers'Vision in a cluttered scene is extremely inefficient. This damaging effect of clutter, known as crowding, affects many aspects of visual processing (e.g., reading speed). We examined observers' processing of crowded targets in a lexical decision task, using single-character Chinese words that are compact but carry semantic meaning. Despite being unrecognizable and indistinguishable from matched nonwords, crowded prime words still generated robust semantic-priming effects on lexical decisions for test words presented in isolation. Indeed, the semantic-priming effect of crowded primes was similar to that of uncrowded primes. These findings show that the meanings of words survive crowding even when the identities of the words do not, suggesting that crowding does not prevent semantic activation, a process that may have evolved in the context of a cluttered visual environment.

• The Path to Glory Is Paved With Hierarchy: When Hierarchical Differentiation Increases Group Effectiveness.

  Authors: Richard Ronay, Katharine Greenaway, Eric M Anicich, Adam D Galinsky

  Psychological science.

  Two experiments examined the psychological and biological antecedents of hierarchical differentiation and the resulting consequences for productivity and conflict within small groups. In ExperimentTwo experiments examined the psychological and biological antecedents of hierarchical differentiation and the resulting consequences for productivity and conflict within small groups. In Experiment 1, which used a priming manipulation, hierarchically differentiated groups (i.e., groups comprising 1 high-power-primed, 1 low-power-primed, and 1 baseline individual) performed better on a procedurally interdependent task than did groups comprising exclusively either all high-power-primed or all low-power-primed individuals. There were no effects of hierarchical differentiation on performance on a procedurally independent task. Experiment 2 used a biological marker of dominance motivation (prenatal testosterone exposure as measured by a digit-length ratio) to manipulate hierarchical differentiation. The pattern of results from Experiment 1 was replicated; mixed-testosterone groups achieved greater productivity than did groups comprising all high-testosterone or all low-testosterone individuals. Furthermore, intragroup conflict mediated the productivity decrements for the high-testosterone but not the low-testosterone groups. This research suggests possible directions for future research and the need to further delineate the conditions and types of hierarchy under which hierarchical differentiation enhances rather than undermines group effectiveness.

• The Social Dimension of Stress Reactivity: Acute Stress Increases Prosocial Behavior in Humans.

  Authors: Bernadette von Dawans, Urs Fischbacher, Clemens Kirschbaum, Ernst Fehr, Markus Heinrichs

  Psychological science.

  Psychosocial stress precipitates a wide spectrum of diseases with major public-health significance. The fight-or-flight response is generally regarded as the prototypic human stress response, bothPsychosocial stress precipitates a wide spectrum of diseases with major public-health significance. The fight-or-flight response is generally regarded as the prototypic human stress response, both physiologically and behaviorally. Given that having positive social interactions before being exposed to acute stress plays a preeminent role in helping individuals control their stress response, engaging in prosocial behavior in response to stress (tend-and-befriend) might also be a protective pattern. Little is known, however, about the immediate social responses following stress in humans. Here we show that participants who experienced acute social stress, induced by a standardized laboratory stressor, engaged in substantially more prosocial behavior (trust, trustworthiness, and sharing) compared with participants in a control condition, who did not experience socioevaluative threat. These effects were highly specific: Stress did not affect the readiness to exhibit antisocial behavior or to bear nonsocial risks. These results show that stress triggers social approach behavior, which operates as a potent stress-buffering strategy in humans, thereby providing evidence for the tend-and-befriend hypothesis.

• Common Patterns of Prediction of Literacy Development in Different Alphabetic Orthographies.

  Authors: Markéta Caravolas, Arne Lervåg, Petroula Mousikou, Corina Efrim, Miroslav Litavsky, Eduardo Onochie-Quintanilla, Naymé Salas, Miroslava Schöffelová, Sylvia Defior, Marína Mikulajová, Gabriela Seidlová-Málková, Charles Hulme

  Psychological science.

  Previous studies have shown that phoneme awareness, letter-sound knowledge, rapid automatized naming (RAN), and verbal memory span are reliable correlates of learning to read in English. However, thePrevious studies have shown that phoneme awareness, letter-sound knowledge, rapid automatized naming (RAN), and verbal memory span are reliable correlates of learning to read in English. However, the extent to which these different predictors have the same relative importance in different languages remains uncertain. In this article, we present the results from a 10-month longitudinal study that began just before or soon after the start of formal literacy instruction in four languages (English, Spanish, Slovak, and Czech). Longitudinal path analyses showed that phoneme awareness, letter-sound knowledge, and RAN (but not verbal memory span) measured at the onset of literacy instruction were reliable predictors, with similar relative importance, of later reading and spelling skills across the four languages. These data support the suggestion that in all alphabetic orthographies, phoneme awareness, letter-sound knowledge, and RAN may tap cognitive processes that are important for learning to read.

• Psychological Research and the Prostate-Cancer Screening Controversy.

  Authors: Hal R Arkes, Wolfgang Gaissmaier

  Psychological science.

  In October of 2011, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released a draft report in which they recommended against using the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test to screen for prostate cancer. WeIn October of 2011, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released a draft report in which they recommended against using the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test to screen for prostate cancer. We attempt to show that four factors documented by psychological research can help explain the furor that followed the release of the task force's report. These factors are the persuasive power of anecdotal (as opposed to statistical) evidence, the influence of personal experience, the improper evaluation of data, and the influence of low base rates on the efficacy of screening tests. We suggest that augmenting statistics with facts boxes or pictographs might help such committees communicate more effectively with the public and with the U.S. Congress.

• Religion Replenishes Self-Control.

  Authors: Kevin Rounding, Albert Lee, Jill A Jacobson, Li-Jun Ji

  Psychological science.

  Researchers have proposed that the emergence of religion was a cultural adaptation necessary for promoting self-control. Self-control, in turn, may serve as a psychological pillar supporting a myriadResearchers have proposed that the emergence of religion was a cultural adaptation necessary for promoting self-control. Self-control, in turn, may serve as a psychological pillar supporting a myriad of adaptive psychological and behavioral tendencies. If this proposal is true, then subtle reminders of religious concepts should result in higher levels of self-control. In a series of four experiments, we consistently found that when religious themes were made implicitly salient, people exercised greater self-control, which, in turn, augmented their ability to make decisions in a number of behavioral domains that are theoretically relevant to both major religions and humans' evolutionary success. Furthermore, when self-control resources were minimized, making it difficult for people to exercise restraint on future unrelated self-control tasks, we found that implicit reminders of religious concepts refueled people's ability to exercise self-control. Moreover, compared with morality- or death-related concepts, religion had a unique influence on self-control.

• Knowing When to Move On: Cognitive and Perceptual Decisions in Time.

  Authors: Andreas Jarvstad, Simon K Rushton, Paul A Warren, Ulrike Hahn

  Psychological science.

  We investigated people's ability to decide how much time to spend on the task at hand. To make such decisions well, one must take into account, among other things, the cost of failing and how one'sWe investigated people's ability to decide how much time to spend on the task at hand. To make such decisions well, one must take into account, among other things, the cost of failing and how one's task performance changes as a function of time. We first investigated timing decisions when the underlying task was perceptual. Decisions were highly efficient and suggested that people can make good use of perceptual knowledge and abstract reward information. Previous studies have found that perceptual decisions are generally optimal, but that cognitive decisions are generally suboptimal-a perception-cognition gap. Does a similar gap exist for timing decisions? We compared timing decisions for a perceptual task with timing decisions for more cognitive tasks. Performance was highly similar across the tasks, which suggests that knowledge can be acquired, and used to make timing decisions, in an equally efficient way regardless of whether that knowledge is derived through perceptual or cognitive experience.

• What People Desire, Feel Conflicted About, and Try to Resist in Everyday Life.

  Authors: Wilhelm Hofmann, Kathleen D Vohs, Roy F Baumeister

  Psychological science.

  In the present study, we used experience sampling to measure desires and desire regulation in everyday life. Our analysis included data from 205 adults, who furnished a total of 7,827 reports ofIn the present study, we used experience sampling to measure desires and desire regulation in everyday life. Our analysis included data from 205 adults, who furnished a total of 7,827 reports of their desires over the course of a week. Across various desire domains, results revealed substantial differences in desire frequency and strength, the degree of conflict between desires and other goals, and the likelihood of resisting desire and the success of this resistance. Desires for sleep and sex were experienced most intensively, whereas desires for tobacco and alcohol had the lowest average strength, despite the fact that these substances are thought of as addictive. Desires for leisure and sleep conflicted the most with other goals, and desires for media use and work brought about the most self-control failure. In addition, we observed support for a limited-resource model of self-control employing a novel operationalization of cumulative resource depletion: The frequency and recency of engaging in prior self-control negatively predicted people's success at resisting subsequent desires on the same day.

• Chaotic Homes and Children's Disruptive Behavior: A Longitudinal Cross-Lagged Twin Study.

  Authors: Sara R Jaffee, Ken B Hanscombe, Claire M A Haworth, Oliver S P Davis, Robert Plomin

  Psychological science.

  Chaotic home lives are correlated with behavior problems in children. In the study reported here, we tested whether there was a cross-lagged relation between children's experience of chaos and theirChaotic home lives are correlated with behavior problems in children. In the study reported here, we tested whether there was a cross-lagged relation between children's experience of chaos and their disruptive behaviors (conduct problems and hyperactivity-inattention). Using genetically informative models, we then tested for the first time whether the influence of household chaos on disruptive behavior was environmentally mediated and whether genetic influences on children's disruptive behaviors accounted for the heritability of household chaos. We measured children's perceptions of household chaos and parents' ratings of children's disruptive behavior at ages 9 and 12 in a sample of 6,286 twin pairs from the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS). There was a phenotypic cross-lagged relation between children's experiences of household chaos and their disruptive behavior. In genetically informative models, we found that the effect of household chaos on subsequent disruptive behavior was environmentally mediated. However, genetic influences on disruptive behavior did not explain why household chaos was heritable.

• Personalized Persuasion: Tailoring Persuasive Appeals to Recipients' Personality Traits.

  Authors: Jacob B Hirsh, Sonia K Kang, Galen V Bodenhausen

  Psychological science.

  Persuasive messages are more effective when they are custom-tailored to reflect the interests and concerns of the intended audience. Much of the message-framing literature has focused on thePersuasive messages are more effective when they are custom-tailored to reflect the interests and concerns of the intended audience. Much of the message-framing literature has focused on the advantages of using either gain or loss frames, depending on the motivational orientation of the target group. In the current study, we extended this research to examine whether a persuasive appeal's effectiveness can be increased by aligning the message framing with the recipient's personality profile. For a single product, we constructed five advertisements, each designed to target one of the five major trait domains of human personality. In a sample of 324 survey respondents, advertisements were evaluated more positively the more they cohered with participants' dispositional motives. These results suggest that adapting persuasive messages to the personality traits of the target audience can be an effective way of increasing the messages' impact, and highlight the potential value of personality-based communication strategies.

• A Short-Term Testing Effect in Cross-Language Recognition.

  Authors: Peter P J L Verkoeijen, Samantha Bouwmeester, Gino Camp

  Psychological science.

  Taking a memory test after an initial study phase produces better long-term retention than restudying the items, a phenomenon known as the testing effect. We propose that this effect emerges becauseTaking a memory test after an initial study phase produces better long-term retention than restudying the items, a phenomenon known as the testing effect. We propose that this effect emerges because testing strengthens semantic features of items' memory traces, whereas restudying strengthens surface features of items' memory traces. This novel account predicts that a testing effect should be observed even after a short retention interval when a language switch occurs between the learning phase and the final test phase. We assessed this prediction with Dutch-English bilinguals who learned Dutch Deese-Roediger-McDermott word lists through restudying or through testing (retrieval practice). Five minutes after this learning phase, they took a recognition test in Dutch (within-language condition) or in English (across-language condition). We observed a testing effect in the across-language condition, but not in the within-language condition. These findings corroborate our novel account of the testing effect.

• Instrumentality Boosts Appreciation: Helpers Are More Appreciated While They Are Useful.

  Authors: Benjamin A Converse, Ayelet Fishbach

  Psychological science.

  We propose that in social interactions, appreciation of a helper depends on that helper's instrumentality: The more motivated one is to accomplish a goal, and the more one perceives a helper as ableWe propose that in social interactions, appreciation of a helper depends on that helper's instrumentality: The more motivated one is to accomplish a goal, and the more one perceives a helper as able to facilitate that goal, the more appreciation one will feel for that helper. Four experiments supported this instrumentality-boost hypothesis by showing that beneficiaries felt more appreciation of their helpers while they were receiving help toward an ongoing task than after that task was completed or after the helper was deemed no longer instrumental. This finding held for both the positive side of appreciation (gratitude) and the negative side (feelings of indebtedness) and also across a range of relationships (complete strangers, newly acquainted partners, and friends). This pattern of appreciation is counterintuitive for helpers, and so a mismatch arises between the time courses of beneficiaries' experienced appreciation and helpers' expectations of appreciation.

• Discrimination and Categorization of Actions by Pigeons.

  Authors: Yael Asen, Robert G Cook

  Psychological science.

  Recognizing and categorizing behavior is essential for animals (e.g., during mate selection, courtship, and avoidance of predators). In a study examining if and how animals classify differentRecognizing and categorizing behavior is essential for animals (e.g., during mate selection, courtship, and avoidance of predators). In a study examining if and how animals classify different actions, a go/no-go procedure was used to train 4 pigeons to discriminate among "walking" and "running" digital animal models (each portrayed from 12 different viewpoints). Action discrimination acquired for two models significantly transferred to six novel animal models moving in novel and biomechanically characteristic ways. Randomization of frame order in the animated sequences, stimulus inversion, and static presentation all disrupted this discrimination, whereas changes in the direction and speed (both increases and decreases) of the actions did not. These results suggest that the pigeons discriminated the behaviors on the basis of generalized recognition of the models' sequence of poses across time and provide the best evidence yet that animals use action categories to identify contrasting behavioral units.

• The Causal Role of Phoneme Awareness and Letter-Sound Knowledge in Learning to Read: Combining Intervention Studies With Mediation Analyses.

  Authors: Charles Hulme, Claudine Bowyer-Crane, Julia M Carroll, Fiona J Duff, Margaret J Snowling

  Psychological science.

  There is good evidence that phoneme awareness and letter-sound knowledge are reliable longitudinal predictors of learning to read, though whether they have a causal effect remains uncertain. In thisThere is good evidence that phoneme awareness and letter-sound knowledge are reliable longitudinal predictors of learning to read, though whether they have a causal effect remains uncertain. In this article, we present the results of a mediation analysis using data from a previous large-scale intervention study. We found that a phonology and reading intervention that taught letter-sound knowledge and phoneme awareness produced significant improvements in these two skills and in later word-level reading and spelling skills. Improvements in letter-sound knowledge and phoneme awareness at the end of the intervention fully mediated the improvements seen in children's word-level literacy skills 5 months after the intervention finished. Our findings support the conclusion that letter-sound knowledge and phoneme awareness are two causal influences on the development of children's early literacy skills.

• A Power-Law Model of Psychological Memory Strength in Short- and Long-Term Recognition.

  Authors: Chris Donkin, Robert M Nosofsky

  Psychological science.

  A classic law of cognition is that forgetting curves are closely approximated by power functions. This law describes relations between different empirical dependent variables and the retentionA classic law of cognition is that forgetting curves are closely approximated by power functions. This law describes relations between different empirical dependent variables and the retention interval, and the precise form of the functional relation depends on the scale used to measure each variable. In the research reported here, we conducted a recognition task involving both short- and long-term probes. We discovered that formal memory-strength parameters from an exemplar-recognition model closely followed a power function of the lag between studied items and a test probe. The model accounted for rich sets of response time (RT) data at both individual-subject and individual-lag levels. Because memory strengths were derived from model fits to choices and RTs from individual trials, the psychological power law was independent of the scale used to summarize the forgetting functions. Alternative models that assumed different functional relations or posited a separate fixed-strength working memory store fared considerably worse than the power-law model did in predicting the data.

• Human Visual Short-Term Memory Precision Can Be Varied at Will When the Number of Retained Items Is Low.

  Authors: Maro G Machizawa, Crystal C W Goh, Jon Driver

  Psychological science.

  It has been debated whether human visual working memory is limited by the number of items or the precision with which they are represented. In the research reported here, we show that the precisionIt has been debated whether human visual working memory is limited by the number of items or the precision with which they are represented. In the research reported here, we show that the precision of working memory can be flexibly and willfully controlled, but only if the number of retained items is low. Electroencephalographic recordings revealed that a neural marker for visual working memory (contralateral delay activity, or CDA) that is known to increase in amplitude with the number of retained items was also affected by the precision with which items were retained. However, willfully enhanced precision increased CDA amplitude only when the number of retained items was low. These results show that both the number and the (willfully controlled) precision of retained items constrain visual working memory: People can enhance the precision of their visual working memory, but only for a few items.

• The Foreign-Language Effect: Thinking in a Foreign Tongue Reduces Decision Biases.

  Authors: Boaz Keysar, Sayuri L Hayakawa, Sun Gyu An

  Psychological science.

  Would you make the same decisions in a foreign language as you would in your native tongue? It may be intuitive that people would make the same choices regardless of the language they are using, orWould you make the same decisions in a foreign language as you would in your native tongue? It may be intuitive that people would make the same choices regardless of the language they are using, or that the difficulty of using a foreign language would make decisions less systematic. We discovered, however, that the opposite is true: Using a foreign language reduces decision-making biases. Four experiments show that the framing effect disappears when choices are presented in a foreign tongue. Whereas people were risk averse for gains and risk seeking for losses when choices were presented in their native tongue, they were not influenced by this framing manipulation in a foreign language. Two additional experiments show that using a foreign language reduces loss aversion, increasing the acceptance of both hypothetical and real bets with positive expected value. We propose that these effects arise because a foreign language provides greater cognitive and emotional distance than a native tongue does.

• From Neural Responses to Population Behavior: Neural Focus Group Predicts Population-Level Media Effects.

  Authors: Emily B Falk, Elliot T Berkman, Matthew D Lieberman

  Psychological science.

  Can neural responses of a small group of individuals predict the behavior of large-scale populations? In this investigation, brain activations were recorded while smokers viewed three differentCan neural responses of a small group of individuals predict the behavior of large-scale populations? In this investigation, brain activations were recorded while smokers viewed three different television campaigns promoting the National Cancer Institute's telephone hotline to help smokers quit (1-800-QUIT-NOW). The smokers also provided self-report predictions of the campaigns' relative effectiveness. Population measures of the success of each campaign were computed by comparing call volume to 1-800-QUIT-NOW in the month before and the month after the launch of each campaign. This approach allowed us to directly compare the predictive value of self-reports with neural predictors of message effectiveness. Neural activity in a medial prefrontal region of interest, previously associated with individual behavior change, predicted the population response, whereas self-report judgments did not. This finding suggests a novel way of connecting neural signals to population responses that has not been previously demonstrated and provides information that may be difficult to obtain otherwise.

• Measuring the Prevalence of Questionable Research Practices With Incentives for Truth Telling.

  Authors: Leslie K John, George Loewenstein, Drazen Prelec

  Psychological science.

  Cases of clear scientific misconduct have received significant media attention recently, but less flagrantly questionable research practices may be more prevalent and, ultimately, more damaging toCases of clear scientific misconduct have received significant media attention recently, but less flagrantly questionable research practices may be more prevalent and, ultimately, more damaging to the academic enterprise. Using an anonymous elicitation format supplemented by incentives for honest reporting, we surveyed over 2,000 psychologists about their involvement in questionable research practices. The impact of truth-telling incentives on self-admissions of questionable research practices was positive, and this impact was greater for practices that respondents judged to be less defensible. Combining three different estimation methods, we found that the percentage of respondents who have engaged in questionable practices was surprisingly high. This finding suggests that some questionable practices may constitute the prevailing research norm.

• Who Is Good at This Game? Linking an Activity to a Social Category Undermines Children's Achievement.

  Authors: Andrei Cimpian, Yan Mu, Lucy C Erickson

  Psychological science.

  Children's achievement-related theories have a profound impact on their academic success. Children who adopt entity theories believe that their ability to perform a task is dictated by the amount ofChildren's achievement-related theories have a profound impact on their academic success. Children who adopt entity theories believe that their ability to perform a task is dictated by the amount of natural talent they possess for that task-a belief that has well-documented adverse consequences for their achievement (e.g., lowered persistence, impaired performance). It is thus important to understand what leads children to adopt entity theories. In the experiments reported here, we hypothesized that the mere act of linking success at an unfamiliar, challenging activity to a social group gives rise to entity beliefs that are so powerful as to interfere with children's ability to perform the activity. Two experiments showed that, as predicted, the performance of 4- to 7-year-olds (N = 192) was impaired by exposure to information that associated success in the task at hand with membership in a certain social group (e.g., "boys are good at this game"), regardless of whether the children themselves belonged to that group.

• How to Be Proactive About Interference: Lessons From Animal Memory.

  Authors: Anthony A Wright, Jeffrey S Katz, Wei Ji Ma

  Psychological science.

  Processes of proactive interference were explored using the pigeon as a model system of memory. This study shows that proactive interference extends back in time at least 16 trials (and as manyProcesses of proactive interference were explored using the pigeon as a model system of memory. This study shows that proactive interference extends back in time at least 16 trials (and as many minutes), revealing a continuum of interference and providing a framework for studying memory. Pigeons were tested in a delayed same/different task containing trial-unique pictures. On interference trials, sample pictures from previous trials reappeared as test pictures on different trials. Proactive-interference functions showed greatest interference from the most recent trial and with the longer of two delays (10 s vs. 1 s). These interference functions are accounted for by a time-estimation model based on signal detection theory. The model predicts that accuracy at test is determined solely by the ratio of the elapsed time since the offset of the current-trial sample to the elapsed time since the offset of the interfering sample. Implications for comparing memory of different species and different types of memory (e.g., familiarity vs. recollection) are discussed.

• Warm Thoughts: Attachment Anxiety and Sensitivity to Temperature Cues.

  Authors: Matthew Vess

  Psychological science.

• On Near Misses and Completed Tasks: The Nature of Relief.

  Authors: Kate Sweeny, Kathleen D Vohs

  Psychological science.

  What is the nature and function of relief? Relief has been studied little in psychological science despite its familiarity and pervasiveness. Two studies revealed that relief can result from twoWhat is the nature and function of relief? Relief has been studied little in psychological science despite its familiarity and pervasiveness. Two studies revealed that relief can result from two distinct situations: the narrow avoidance of an aversive outcome (near-miss relief) and completion of an onerous or aversive event (task-completion relief). Study 1 found that recollections of near-miss relief were marked by more downward counterfactual thoughts and greater feelings of social isolation than recollections of task-completion relief. Study 2 experimentally elicited the two types of relief and found mediational evidence that relief following near misses elicits feelings of social isolation via its stimulation of counterfactual thinking. That near-miss relief is characterized by counterfactual thinking suggests that it prompts people to contemplate how to avert similar experiences in the future, whereas task-completion relief may serve to reinforce endurance during difficult tasks.

• Testosterone Affects Gaze Aversion From Angry Faces Outside of Conscious Awareness.

  Authors: David Terburg, Henk Aarts, Jack van Honk

  Psychological science.

  Throughout vertebrate phylogeny, testosterone has motivated animals to obtain and maintain social dominance-a fact suggesting that unconscious primordial brain mechanisms are involved in socialThroughout vertebrate phylogeny, testosterone has motivated animals to obtain and maintain social dominance-a fact suggesting that unconscious primordial brain mechanisms are involved in social dominance. In humans, however, the prevailing view is that the neocortex is in control of primordial drives, and testosterone is thought to promote social dominance via conscious feelings of superiority, indefatigability, strength, and anger. Here we show that testosterone administration in humans prolongs dominant staring into the eyes of threatening faces that are viewed outside of awareness, without affecting consciously experienced feelings. These findings reveal that testosterone motivates social dominance in humans in much the same ways that it does in other vertebrates: involuntarily, automatically, and unconsciously.

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