A moderate dose of alcohol selectively reduces empathic accuracy

RATIONALE: Drinking alcohol is associated with various interpersonal effects, including effects on cognitive empathy. Empathic accuracy (EA) is a form of cognitive empathy concerned with perceivers’ accuracy in inferring a target’s thoughts and feelings. The effects of alcohol on EA have not previously been studied. OBJECTIVES: We examined the effect of a moderate alcohol dose on EA in social drinkers. METHODS: Fifty-four men with varying levels of hazardous drinking according to the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) participated in a randomized, double-blind, between-group study. The alcohol group received 0.56 g/kg alcohol in a vodka and tonic-mixed drink. The placebo group received tonic, with 4 ml of vodka sprayed on top. All participants performed an EA task that involved watching 16 videos of people narrating positive and negative emotional autobiographical events and continuously rating how targets felt while narrating. RESULTS: There were no significant main effects of beverage condition on the EA task. There was an effect of the condition by AUDIT interaction for EA on the positive videos. Post-hoc simple contrasts revealed that in participants with lower AUDIT scores, the alcohol condition had lower EA for positive videos than the placebo condition. No significant main effect for condition occurred in the participants with higher AUDIT scores. CONCLUSIONS: The effect of condition in participants with lower AUDIT scores indicates alcohol selectively reduced EA in individuals low on hazardous drinking. This suggests either alcohol-induced impairments of EA for positive events or a positivity bias in men at low risk for alcohol dependency

Best research practices for using the Implicit Association Test

This is the final version. Available from Springer via the DOI in this record. Interest in unintended discrimination that can result from implicit attitudes and stereotypes (implicit biases) has stimulated many research investigations. Much of this research has used the Implicit Association Test (IAT) to measure association strengths that are presumed to underlie implicit biases. It had been more than a decade since the last published treatment of recommended best practices for research using IAT measures. After an initial draft by the first author, and continuing through three subsequent drafts, the 22 authors and 14 commenters contributed extensively to refining the selection and description of recommendation-worthy research practices. Individual judgments of agreement or disagreement were provided by 29 of the 36 authors and commenters. Of the 21 recommended practices for conducting research with IAT measures presented in this article, all but two were endorsed by 90% or more of those who felt knowledgeable enough to express agreement or disagreement; only 4% of the totality of judgments expressed disagreement. For two practices that were retained despite more than two judgments of disagreement (four for one, five for the other), the bases for those disagreements are described in presenting the recommendations. The article additionally provides recommendations for how to report procedures of IAT measures in empirical articles.Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC

A Moment of Mindfulness: Computer-Mediated Mindfulness Practice Increases State Mindfulness

Three studies investigated the use of a 5-minute, computer-mediated mindfulness practice in increasing levels of state mindfulness. In Study 1, 54 high school students completed the computer-mediated mindfulness practice in a lab setting and Toronto Mindfulness Scale (TMS) scores were measured before and after the practice. In Study 2 (N = 90) and Study 3 (N = 61), the mindfulness practice was tested with an entirely online sample to test the delivery of the 5-minute mindfulness practice via the internet. In Study 2 and 3, we found a significant increase in TMS scores in the mindful condition, but not in the control condition. These findings highlight the impact of a brief, mindfulness practice for single-session, computer-mediated use to increase mindfulness as a state

Taming the wild elephant:Mindfulness and its role in overcoming automatic mental processes

There is increasing evidence that automatic mental processes contribute to self-regulation failures such as eating high-fat foods despite being on a diet and getting trapped in old ways of thinking about problems that require a novel response. Mindfulness meditation, which was developed to overcome habitual patterns of the mind that contribute to human suffering, holds great promise as a strategy to improve self-regulation. This chapter examines the idea that mindfulness may facilitate self-regulation by influencing automatic processes and their relation with subsequent cognition and behavior. After beginning with a discussion of the functional value of automatic processes, the chapter continues with a review of how these processes contribute to self-regulation failure. Next, a theoretical discussion is presented concerning mindfulness and how it might moderate automatic processes. After presenting a review of research addressing this topic, the chapter concludes with suggestions for future work

What facets of mindfulness contribute to psychological well-being and depressive, anxious, and stress-related symptomatology?

Since the 1980s, mindfulness techniques have been increasingly utilized in clinical psychology, often as an adjunct to cognitive or behavioral interventions and with a growing evidence base. According to a five-facet operationalization, mindfulness is a capacity to (a) observe, (b) describe, and (c) act with awareness of present moment experience, with a (d) nonjudgmental and (e) nonreactive attitude. The aim of this study was to identify which of the five facets of mindfulness predicts psychological well-being and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress in a community sample comprising nonmeditators and experienced meditators. Participants were recruited from meditation organizations (Vipassana and Zen) as well as undergraduate psychology students (N = 106). Participants completed a Web-based questionnaire assessing mindfulness, psychological symptoms, and well-being. A higher degree of the nonjudgmental aspect of mindfulness was found to predict lower levels of depression, anxiety, and stress-related symptomatology. A higher degree of the act with awareness of present moment experience aspect of mindfulness was found to predict lower depressive symptomatology. Improved knowledge of the relationship between specific facets of mindfulness and specific psychological symptoms may improve intervention development and the clinical use of mindfulness