Sucker Rumination: How Aversive Self-Directed Cognitions Affect Purchase Intentions

If there is a silver lining to having been tricked in an economic context, perhaps it is that one can be wiser for the experience. Presumably, people are able to learn from such transactions and avoid them in the future. The current study employed an experimental design in which some participants were assigned to a control condition and others were told that they had recently been duped. Results indicated that among those who felt duped, people high in sucker rumination were subsequently less likely to avoid the source of deception. That is, people with a tendency to blame themselves harshly for being duped were the least likely to be wiser for the experience. For people high in sucker rumination, there is a great deal of psychic discomfort in getting duped, but no silver lining of being wiser

VITA Experiential, Service-Learning, Learned Competencies, And Changed Mindsets

The authors describe how Southern Utah University has integrated the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Voluntary Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program as an experiential service-learning activity for over a decade and a half. First, we describe the value of experiential service-learning. Second, we detail the program, its oversight, its student volunteers, and its purposes. Third, we provide a quantitative assessment of professional competencies based on a sample of 29 recent VITA student volunteers. Fourth, we describe a qualitative analysis of VITA student volunteers perceptions of their participation using content analysis of written essays. And last, we provide a qualitative analysis of 71 tax-clients perceptions of their participation in the program, again using content analysis. Based on our experiences and these results, we conclude that the VITA program is demonstrably beneficial for the institutions social responsibility for benefitting both the student volunteers professional development and communitys lower-income tax filers

Feeling Tired?: How Sharing Positive Experiences Can Boost Vitality

Three studies indicated how sharing positive experiences can boost vitality

The Elongator Complex Interacts with PCNA and Modulates Transcriptional Silencing and Sensitivity to DNA Damage Agents

Histone chaperones CAF-1 and Asf1 function to deposit newly synthesized histones onto replicating DNA to promote nucleosome formation in a proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) dependent process. The DNA replication- or DNA repair-coupled nucleosome assembly pathways are important for maintenance of transcriptional gene silencing and genome stability. However, how these pathways are regulated is not well understood. Here we report an interaction between the Elongator histone acetyltransferase and the proliferating cell nuclear antigen. Cells lacking Elp3 (K-acetyltransferase Kat9), the catalytic subunit of the six-subunit Elongator complex, partially lose silencing of reporter genes at the chromosome VIIL telomere and at the HMR locus, and are sensitive to the DNA replication inhibitor hydroxyurea (HU) and the damaging agent methyl methanesulfonate (MMS). Like deletion of the ELP3, mutation of each of the four other subunits of the Elongator complex as well as mutations in Elp3 that compromise the formation of the Elongator complex also result in loss of silencing and increased HU sensitivity. Moreover, Elp3 is required for S-phase progression in the presence of HU. Epistasis analysis indicates that the elp3Δ mutant, which itself is sensitive to MMS, exacerbates the MMS sensitivity of cells lacking histone chaperones Asf1, CAF-1 and the H3 lysine 56 acetyltransferase Rtt109. The elp3Δ mutant has allele specific genetic interactions with mutations in POL30 that encodes PCNA and PCNA binds to the Elongator complex both in vivo and in vitro. Together, these results uncover a novel role for the intact Elongator complex in transcriptional silencing and maintenance of genome stability, and it does so in a pathway linked to the DNA replication and DNA repair protein PCNA

Social rejection reduces intelligent thought and self-regulation

This chapter reviews evidence that social rejection reduces intelligent thought and self-regulation. Correlational research has demonstrated that social rejection and low intellectual performance are related, as loneliness is associated with poor cognitive functioning. Experimental research has shed light on the correlational findings, as participants assigned to be rejected performed slowly and inaccurately on reasoning problems relative to participants assigned to control conditions. Hence, social rejection reduces intelligent thought. Evidence also indicates that rejection reduces self-control, as people who are rejected perform poorly on a wealth of self-control tasks

Guilty, free, and wise: determinism and psychopathy diminish learning from negative emotions

Emotional experiences can bring about personal growth. For instance, feeling guilty may prompt one to learn from a mistake, and this learning can bring about different and better future behavior. Three studies found that belief in free will facilitated learning from emotional experiences, as inducing participants to disbelieve in free will was associated with reduced learning. Emotional responsiveness, as defined by low psychopathy scores, also facilitated learning from emotional experiences (Studies 2 and 3). The degree of learning associated with emotional experiences was measured by self-rating (Study 1), independent evaluations of lessons learned (Study 2), and whether participants joined a campus recycling program (after being made to feel guilty about an environmental transgression; Study 3)

What's so funny about not having money? The effects of power on laughter

Two studies tested the hypothesis that occupying a position of low power increases the likelihood of laughter, presumably as a means of gaining friends and supporters. In Study 1, participants laughed more at an interviewer's jokes when the interviewer controlled their cash rewards than in the absence of monetary contingencies. Study 2 found that low-power participants (manipulated again by expecting that someone else would decide their cash rewards) laughed more than high-power participants even when they were alone. Low power also increased laughing at a fellow low-power coworker. These findings suggest that low power motivates interest in making friends and hence increases behaviors that promote social bonding

A thin slice of violence: distinguishing violent from nonviolent sex offenders at a glance

A growing body of literature in evolutionary psychology suggests that person perception processes are adaptively tuned. The current investigation tested the hypothesis that people would be able to detect a propensity for violence in other people, based only on a brief glance at their face. Participants estimated the propensity for violence in 87 registered sex offenders after seeing photos of them for 2 s each. Estimated likelihood of violence was significantly related to actual violent history, suggesting that violent tendencies can be accurately inferred from a brief look at a person's face. Cues indicative of high masculinity and high levels of male sex hormones (heavy brow, general facial masculinity, high physical strength, younger age) were related to accurate judgments. Other cues such as facial emotion and good grooming were not associated with an actual history of violence, but nevertheless correlated with raters' judgments. Although there were no sex differences in accuracy, on average women thought targets were more violent than men did. Findings speak to the accuracy and efficiency with which people can detect potential threats to physical well-being