Joy leads to overconfidence, and a simple countermeasure

Overconfidence has been identified as a source of suboptimal decision making in many real-life domains, with often far-reaching consequences. This study identifies a mechanism that can cause overconfidence and demonstrates a simple, effective countermeasure in an incentive-compatible experimental study. We observed that joy induced overconfidence if the reason for joy (an unexpected gift) was u

The influence of anger-arousal level on attribution of hostile intent and problem solving capability in an individual with a mild intellectual disability and a history of difficulties with aggression

Background Recent studies have suggested that cognitive biases may play an important mediating role in aggressive outbursts from people with mild intellectual disabilities (IDs). Essentially, some individuals may frequently perceive other people as acting towards them in a hostile fashion. This biased perception may develop through repeated adverse experiences, and may make them more likely to respond, likewise, in an aggressive manner. These studies have led to the development of a cognitive behavioural model of aggression, incorporating factors both intrinsic and extrinsic to the individual. This study aimed to explore one facet of this model: a putative relationship between anger-arousal level, problem-solving ability and perception of hostile intent in others. Method Single-case methodology was utilized, and a 44-year-old man with a mild ID and a history of difficulties with aggression participated. A series of vignettes, containing potentially provocative social interactions, were read to the participant. His perception of hostile intent, and suggestions of possible behavioural responses were recorded as dependent variables. Anger-arousal was manipulated, through autobiographical recall, as a dependent variable. Results Although not conclusive, results indicate that anger-arousal may act in an interactive fashion to increase perception of hostile intent. No effect of anger-arousal was observed on problem-solving ability; however, floor-effects in the task used may provide an explanation for this. Conclusions A high level of anger-arousal may exacerbate the probability of a frequently aggressive individual perceiving others as acting in a hostile manner. However, future research should take the limitations of this study into account, and continue development of a cognitive model of frequent aggression in those with a mild ID. © 2006 BILD Publications

Mood effects on emotion recognition

Mood affects memory and social judgments. However, findings are inconsistent with regard to how mood affects emotion recognition: For sad moods, general performance decrements in emotion recognition have been reported, as well as an emotion specific bias, such as better recognition of sad facial expressions compared to happy expressions (negative bias). Far less research has been conducted on the influence of happy moods on emotion recognition. We primed 93 participants with happy, sad, or neutral moods and had them perform an emotion recognition task. Results showed a negative bias for participants in sad moods and a positive bias for participants in happy moods. Sad and happy moods hampered the recognition of mood-incongruent expressions; the recognition of mood-congruent expressions was not affected by moods

Virtual-reality music-based elicitation of awe: When silence is better than thousands sounds

Several researches have revealed the potential of awe, a complex emotion arising from vast stimuli able to prompt for a restructuration of people\u2019 mental schema, on wellbeing and health. Despite a lot has been revealed about awe, researchers still face the challenge of eliciting intense instances of awe in a controlled way. A combination of two or more emotion-induction techniques can enhance the intensity of the resulting emotion. VR has resulted as one of the best techniques to elicit awe, but it has never been tested in combination with other effective awe-inducing methods, such as music. Here, we tested the combined effect of VR and music on the resulting awe\u2019s intensity. We randomly assigned 76 healthy participants to one of these four conditions: (i) VR with background sounds (ii) VR and Music, (iii) only Music; (iv) VR without sounds. VR environments and music have been validated in previous studies on awe. Before the exposure to each stimulus, we asked participants to rate the extent to which they felt (i.e., experienced) seven emotions. After the exposure, we measured also how much participants perceived (i.e., they \u201cread\u201d it into the emotional material) each of the seven emotions, as well as their general affect (Positive and Negative Affective Schedule), their sense of presence (i.e., how much participants felt to be \u201cpresent\u201d within a scene) (ITC-SOPI Inventory), the sense of perceived vastness and need for accommodation associated to the stimulus material (Brief Awe-Scale). We also assessed also participants\u2019 disposition to live seven discrete positive emotions (Dispositional Positive Emotions Scale) and musical preferences (STOMP). \u201cVR with Music\u201d condition elicited a higher (even not significant) sense of ecological validity compared to Music condition. All conditions elicited significantly higher sense of felt awe, joy, and fear compared to the baseline and a significantly lower anger after each condition. Participants in the Music condition felt a lowest sense of amusement after the exposure. We found no effect of condition on felt awe. Conversely, perceived awe was significantly higher in the \u201cVR and Music\u201d condition compared to the Music condition. \u201cVR without sounds\u201d condition elicited significantly higher sense of fear compared to Music condition, and significantly lower sense of pride and sadness compared to Music condition. We found no significant effect for any covariate variable. These results have relevant implications for fundamental research on awe and to design awe-based training enhancing wellbeing health, or targeting severe emotional disorders, such as Depression