Recalibrating valence weighting biases to promote changes in rejection sensitivity and risk-taking

Past research has found that modifying individuals' valence weighting tendencies by recalibrating them to weight positive and negative valence in a more balanced manner influenced a variety of judgments. The current research examines the utility of the recalibration procedure as a targeted intervention. In Experiment 1, we recruited participants high in rejection sensitivity (who are known to exhibit a negative weighting bias) and in Experiment 2, we recruited participants with high risk tendencies (who are known to exhibit a positive weighting bias). In both experiments, participants first played BeanFest, in which they were presented with beans varying in shape and speckles and learned which increased or decreased points. They later classified the game beans, as well as novel ones varying in their resemblance to the known positives or known negatives, as good or bad. In the recalibration condition, participants were told if they classified each bean correctly, thus receiving feedback regarding the appropriate weighting of resemblance to a known positive versus a negative. The controls, who received no feedback, were less accurate at classifying the novel the beans than the recalibration participants. Furthermore, in Experiment 1, the recalibration condition subsequently exhibited lower sensitivity to rejection than the control condition, with this reduction being stronger for individuals initially higher in rejection sensitivity. This effect was still present a week later. In Experiment 2, the recalibration condition reported diminished risk-tendencies, again with this effect being stronger for individuals with initially higher riskiness, and persisting for a week. Even more importantly, recalibration participants also engaged in less risky behavior on a laboratory task

The planar spectrum in U(N)-invariant quantum mechanics by Fock space methods: I. The bosonic case

Prompted by recent results on Susy-U(N)-invariant quantum mechanics in the large N limit by Veneziano and Wosiek, we have examined the planar spectrum in the full Hilbert space of U(N)-invariant states built on the Fock vacuum by applying any U(N)-invariant combinations of creation-operators. We present results about 1) the supersymmetric model in the bosonic sector, 2) the standard quartic Hamiltonian. This latter is useful to check our techniques against the exact result of Brezin et al. The SuSy case is where Fock space methods prove to be the most efficient: it turns out that the problem is separable and the exact planar spectrum can be expressed in terms of the single-trace spectrum. In the case of the anharmonic oscillator, on the other hand, the Fock space analysis is quite cumbersome due to the presence of large off-diagonal O(N) terms coupling subspaces with different number of traces; these terms should be absorbed before taking the planar limit and recovering the known planar spectrum. We give analytical and numerical evidence that good qualitative information on the spectrum can be obtained this way.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, uses youngtab.sty. Final versio

Gender Equity Workshops for STEMM Departments at IUPUI: Interim Report

The purpose of this study was to create and evaluate hybrid online + live department workshops to address issues regarding gender bias and gender equity in STEMM academic departments in an effort to create a welcoming campus climate for both female and male faculty and staff in these disciplines.IUPUI Welcoming Campus Initiativ

A Model for QCD at High Density and Large Quark Mass

We study the high density region of QCD within an effective model obtained in the frame of the hopping parameter expansion and choosing Polyakov type of loops as the main dynamical variables representing the fermionic matter. To get a first idea of the phase structure, the model is analyzed in strong coupling expansion and using a mean field approximation. In numerical simulations, the model still shows the so-called sign problem, a difficulty peculiar to non-zero chemical potential, but it permits the development of algorithms which ensure a good overlap of the Monte Carlo ensemble with the true one. We review the main features of the model and present calculations concerning the dependence of various observables on the chemical potential and on the temperature, in particular of the charge density and the diquark susceptibility, which may be used to characterize the various phases expected at high baryonic density. We obtain in this way information about the phase structure of the model and the corresponding phase transitions and cross over regions, which can be considered as hints for the behaviour of non-zero density QCD.Comment: 21 pages, 29 figure

Relationship between resistivity and specific heat in a canonical non-magnetic heavy fermion alloy system: UPt_5-xAu_x

UPt_(5-x)Au_x alloys form in a single crystal structure, cubic AuBe_5-type, over a wide range of concentrations from x = 0 to at least x = 2.5. All investigated alloys, with an exception for x = 2.5, were non-magnetic. Their electronic specific heat coefficient $\gamma$ varies from about 60 (x = 2) to about 700 mJ/mol K^2 (x = 1). The electrical resistivity for all alloys has a Fermi-liquid-like temperature variation, \rho = \rho_o + AT^2, in the limit of T -> 0 K. The coefficient A is strongly enhanced in the heavy-fermion regime in comparison with normal and transition metals. It changes from about 0.01 (x = 0) to over 2 micro-ohm cm/K^2 (x = 1). A/\gamma^2, which has been postulated to have a universal value for heavy-fermions, varies from about 10^-6 (x = 0, 0.5) to 10^-5 micro-ohm cm (mol K/mJ)^2 (x > 1.1), thus from a value typical of transition metals to that found for some other heavy-fermion metals. This ratio is unaffected, or only weakly affected, by chemical or crystallographic disorder. It correlates with the paramagnetic Curie-Weiss temperature of the high temperature magnetic susceptibility.Comment: 5 pages, 5 eps figures, RevTe

Hamiltonian Analysis of non-chiral Plebanski Theory and its Generalizations

We consider non-chiral, full Lorentz group-based Plebanski formulation of general relativity in its version that utilizes the Lagrange multiplier field Phi with "internal" indices. The Hamiltonian analysis of this version of the theory turns out to be simpler than in the previously considered in the literature version with Phi carrying spacetime indices. We then extend the Hamiltonian analysis to a more general class of theories whose action contains scalars invariants constructed from Phi. Such theories have recently been considered in the context of unification of gravity with other forces. We show that these more general theories have six additional propagating degrees of freedom as compared to general relativity, something that has not been appreciated in the literature treating them as being not much different from GR.Comment: 10 page

Dynamical excitation of space-time modes of compact objects

We discuss, in the perturbative regime, the scattering of Gaussian pulses of odd-parity gravitational radiation off a non-rotating relativistic star and a Schwarzschild Black Hole. We focus on the excitation of the $w$-modes of the star as a function of the width $b$ of the pulse and we contrast it with the outcome of a Schwarzschild Black Hole of the same mass. For sufficiently narrow values of $b$, the waveforms are dominated by characteristic space-time modes. On the other hand, for sufficiently large values of $b$ the backscattered signal is dominated by the tail of the Regge-Wheeler potential, the quasi-normal modes are not excited and the nature of the central object cannot be established. We view this work as a useful contribution to the comparison between perturbative results and forthcoming $w$-mode 3D-nonlinear numerical simulation.Comment: RevTeX, 9 pages, 7 figures, Published in Phys. Rev.

The weighting of positive vs. negative valence and its impact on the formation of social relationships

Forming social relationships is an integral aspect of our lives and a topic fundamental to social psychology. Using a performance-based measure of individual differences in valence weighting, we demonstrate that the extent to which first-year college students weight positive versus negative valence when engaged in attitude generalization predicts how many peer relationships they develop during the subsequent two months (Study 1). Furthermore, we show that individuals strategically recruited for their high sensitivity to interpersonal rejection benefit from an intervention that recalibrates their valence-weighting tendencies from an overweighting of negative valence to a more balanced weighting of positive and negative valence (Study 2). Recalibration led to extended decreases in participants' rejection sensitivity and, most importantly, led them to develop more social relationships over a subsequent two-week period. These findings demonstrate that the weighting of positive versus negative valence is a fundamental process that influences complex social outcomes and that such valence weighting tendencies can be recalibrated so as to benefit individuals