Face and tone of voice in the communication of deception

The contributions of face and tone of voice (filtered speech) to the communication of honest and deceptive messages were examined. In general, tone of voice was a better source of deception and leakage than the face. In addition, raters' judgments of the combined audiovisual channel were better predicted from their judgments of tone of voice when the message was deceptive and from their judgments of the face when the message was honest. The relative importance of face and tone of voice was also affected by the availability of verbal contentwhen content was available the face became less important. Thus, judges obtained more information from facial cues that were added to filtered speech (a comparison between filtered speech and face plus filtered speech) than from facial cues that were added to the full voice (a comparison between the voice and face plus voice). In addition, judgments of the audiovisual channel without content (face plus filtered speech) were better predicted from judgments of the face, whereas judgments of the audiovisual channel with content (face plus full voice) were better predicted from judgments of filtered speech. Finally, the relative importance of face and tone of voice was also determined by the affect that was communicated. Tone of voice was a better source of information about dominance and submission; the face revealed more information and was more highly correlated with the combined audiovisual channel for communications of liking and disliking

Psychological distance from science as a predictor of science skepticism.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rochester. Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, 2019.Attitudes towards science have become increasingly negative in the United States. While some research has uncovered personality level predictors of science rejection, such as political and moral beliefs, these aspects of a person are relatively stable and difficult to change and, therefore, do not seem promising as a mechanism for intervention. In the present studies, the goal was to identify a single predictor of science skepticism which is also malleable. Psychological distance is a concept based in construal-level theory which posits that individuals hold more abstract conceptions of things that are distant in time and space. Thus, distance from science may be related to more negative science attitudes. In two pilot studies, a measure of psychological distance from science was developed. Results show that distance from science along four dimensions--hypothetical, spatial, temporal, and social--differentially predicts 12 common indices of science denial (e.g., science attitudes, climate change rejection, science knowledge). Four studies further examined this measure. Study 1 found that social distance was related to daily engagement in science activities over a two-week period. Studies 2-4 attempted to manipulate the temporal, social, hypothetical distances independently. However, only the social distance was changed in response to the manipulations. In short, while the psychological distance measure appears to be somewhat related to daily engagement with science and somewhat malleable, the current results did not provide evidence that changes in psychological distance cause changes in science attitudes. More work will be needed to continue to refine the measure and to examine whether more intensive manipulations would result in changes in science attitudes

Using source-localized EEG operant conditioning to up-regulate neural mechanisms underlying self-control and improve self-control ability

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rochester. Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, 2014.The field of neuroeconomics has begun to identify neural mechanisms underlying self-controlled behavior; however, researchers have not yet developed interventions that directly target these mechanisms in order to improve self-control. Using EEG operant conditioning in conjunction with a well-validated source localization algorithm (standardized low-resolution electromagnetic tomography; sLORETA), we trained dieting subjects to up-regulate neural activity in brain regions that have been linked to self-control. The training led to neural activity changes, and to corresponding reductions in consumption of high-sugar and high-fat foods, which were operationalized as postprandial blood glucose and triglyceride levels, respectively. Text messaging was used to collect self-report data on craving for high-sugar and high-fat foods; these data were collected during subjects’ normal daily activities. A measure of dietary self-control in real-world contexts was created by quantifying the degree to which self-reported craving for high-sugar and high-fat foods predicted subsequent consumption of such foods. Study condition (treatment vs. control) predicted changes over time in targeted types of neural activity, which in turn predicted changes over time in real-world dietary self-control performance. This randomized, controlled, single-blind study is the first research we are aware of in which real-world self-control was improved by up-regulating activity in putative self-control regions of the brain

Religious Americans Have Less Positive Attitudes Toward Science, But This Does Not Extend To Other Cultures

It is commonly claimed that science and religion are logically and psychologically at odds with one another. However, previous studies have mainly examined American samples: therefore, generalisations about antagonism between religion and science may be unwarranted. We examined the correlation between religiosity and attitudes towards science across 11 studies, including representative data from 60 countries (N = 66,438), nine convenience samples from the U.S. (N = 2,160), and a cross-national panel sample from five understudied countries (N = 1,048). Results show that, within the U.S., religiosity is consistently associated with lower interest in science topics and activities, and less positive explicit and implicit attitudes towards science. However, this relationship is inconsistent around the world, with positive, negative, and null correlations being observed in various countries. Our findings are inconsistent with the idea that science and religion are necessarily at odds, undermining common theories of scientific advancement undermining religion

Unpriming or strategizing? A critique of Sparrow and Wegner.

When asked to randomly select answer choices on easy multiple choice questions, people select more correct answers than expected by chance. Sparrow and Wegner showed that this tendency was eliminated if participants answered questions correctly before answering randomly. They argued that answering a question correctly unprimes the tendency to choose the correct answer, thereby reducing the correct response rate close to the chance level of.5. An alternative explanation, consistent with these results, is that answering questions correctly provides a baseline, which allows participants to strategize, i.e., to match and mismatch equal numbers of their purportedly random responses to the baseline response. Three studies showed that the presence of a baseline, even when unpriming is not feasible, led to lower correct response rates than those obtained in a condition in which no baseline was available. Furthermore, the presence of a baseline led to more nonrandom sequences of correct and incorrect responses. One specific sequence-alternating correct and incorrect answers-mediated the relation between the presence of a baseline and lower correct response rate. These findings suggest that strategizing, not unpriming, accounts for Sparrow and Wegner's results