Individuals with Fear of Blushing Explicitly and Automatically Associate Blushing with Social Costs

To explain fear of blushing, it has been proposed that individuals with fear of blushing overestimate the social costs of their blushing. Current information-processing models emphasize the relevance of differentiating between more automatic and more explicit cognitions, as both types of cognitions may independently influence behavior. The present study tested whether individuals with fear of blushing expect blushing to have more negative social consequences than controls, both on an explicit level and on a more automatic level. Automatic associations between blushing and social costs were assessed in a treatment-seeking sample of individuals with fear of blushing who met DSM-IV criteria for social anxiety disorder (n = 49) and a non-anxious control group (n = 27) using a single-target Implicit Association Test (stIAT). In addition, participants’ explicit expectations about the social costs of their blushing were assessed. Individuals with fear of blushing showed stronger associations between blushing and negative outcomes, as indicated by both stIAT and self-report. The findings support the view that automatic and explicit associations between blushing and social costs may both help to enhance our understanding of the cognitive processes that underlie fear of blushing

The Informational Value of Dissimilarity in Interpersonal Influence

We show that advisees dont discount advice received from dissimilar advisors, but use this as information based on which they infer more general dissimilarity, including in the advice domain. Consequently, consumers contrast their opinions and choices away from those of dissimilar advisors. We show the cognitive nature of this process

Capacity and comprehension: Spontaneous stereotyping under cognitive load

People tend to make spontaneous trait inferences (STIs) when confronted with the behavior of others. Recent research has demonstrated that these STIs may be moderated by contextual cues such as Stereotypic category labels. The central aim of the current research was to investigate the role of cognitive resources in this process. Two experiments were performed in which STIs were measured using a probe recognition paradigm under low or high cognitive load. Under high cognitive load, STIs were less likely for stereotype-inconsistent than stereotype-consistent behaviors. Compared to baseline, STIs for inconsistent behaviors were less strong under high cognitive load. Under low-load, no differences in STIs as a function of stereotypes were found. These findings support the idea that stereotypes are especially likely to affect STIs when resources are low