Toward a Comprehensive, Data-Driven Model of American Political Goals: Recognizing the "Values" and "Vices" Within Both Liberalism and Conservativism.

When a person indicates they are "liberal" or "conservative," an important part of what they are communicating is their goals for how they would like society to be structured. However, past theories have described these goals in dramatically different fashions, suggesting that either conservativism or liberalism reflects a divisive or unifying goal. To help overcome this impasse, we systematically compared a broad, representative sample of all possible higher-order goals (drawn a previous lexical investigation of more than 1,000 goals) to the political ideology of American adults (total n = 1,588). The results of five studies suggested that proposals from competing theories are all partially correct. Conservativism simultaneously reflects the unifying "value" of Tradition, as well as the divisive "vice" of Elitism; while Liberalism simultaneously reflects the unifying "value" of Inclusiveness, and the divisive "vice" of Rebellion. These results help to integrate proposals from previous competing theories into a single framework.

The influence of attorney anger on juror decision making.

We investigated the interactive effect of attorney anger expression and attorney gender on juror decision-making. Jury eligible Amazon MTurk participants (N = 455) were recruited. They listened to an audio recording of a male or female prosecutor delivering a closing statement with varying levels of authenticity (authentic, inauthentic or no anger). Then, they rendered a verdict. After the verdict, participants filled out various measures: guilty verdict confidence, current feelings of anger, and perceptions of prosecutor trust and competence. We found that the prosecutor's authentic displays of anger provoked anger in the participants, which, subsequently, increased the odds of a guilty verdict and guilty verdict confidence. Moreover, authentic displays of anger improved perceptions of the prosecutor's competence, which also increased the odds of a guilty verdict. However, perceptions of the prosecutor's trustworthiness did not vary, and attorney gender did not play a moderating role. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Trauma and aggression: Evaluating the influence of primed hostility and survivor sex.

OBJECTIVES: The relation between posttrauma symptoms and aggression is an area of growing interest in the larger clinical literature. The current project looked to examine the impact of primed hostility on aggressive responding in men and women with and without a history of prior trauma. DESIGN: Experimental aggression paradigm assessed in a 2 (Group) × 2 (Sex) × 2 (Prime) mixed factorial ANOVA. METHODS: Trauma-naïve participants (N = 52) and survivors reporting active symptoms (N = 43) were exposed to hostile and neutral lexical primes in what was presented as a reaction time task played against an unseen 'opponent'. In actuality, 'wins' and 'losses' during the task were assigned by an automated system. The intensity of an aversive sound blast delivered by participants to the supposed opponent in trials the participant 'won' served as an index of behavioural aggression. RESULTS: Repeated-measures ANOVA identified a between-by-within interaction of exposure group and lexical prime (p = .010; η p 2  = .070), with trauma-exposed participants (p = .002, Δ = .30), but not controls (p = .159, Δ = .11), demonstrating elevations in aggression subsequent to hostile priming. A sex by prime interaction (p = .001; η p 2  = .117) similarly indicated elevated aggression following hostile priming in men (p = .007, Δ = .58) as compared to women (p = .062, Δ = .10). CONCLUSIONS: Results offer preliminary support for the association of situationally primed hostility and biological sex with aggressive responding in survivors reporting active symptoms.

What we repeatedly do: Evaluating the determinants and consequences of habit enactment during daily goal-pursuit.

Many theorists have stressed the benefits of goal-conducive habits. However, past research has not yet demonstrated that habits benefit goal-pursuit in daily life independently of more effortful forms of goal-pursuit. Additionally, it is unclear if habits are triggered independently of conscious self-regulatory processes. To address these issues, we conducted three intensive experience sampling studies. We found that habitual behaviours facilitated goal-progress independently of effortful goal-directed behaviours. Additionally, we evaluated three sets of predictions regarding the relationship between habits and other effortful self-regulatory processes. The goal-independent account suggests that habits function independently of planning and testing processes. The goal-dependent account suggests that habits are influenced by these processes, and the hybrid account suggests that these processes indirectly influence habits through their association with contextual cue exposure. The results were consistent with the hybrid account, in that planning and testing were associated with habit enactment, but this association was mediated by contextual cue exposure. Collectively, our results suggest that one must consider both conscious self-regulatory processes and automatic cue-response associations to understand how the benefits of goal-conducive habits are realized in daily life.

What is the "opposite" of a value? A lexical investigation into the structure of generally undesirable goal content.

OBJECTIVES: Past taxonomies of goal-content have focused (either exclusively or predominantly) on generally-desirable values, and they suggest that some values oppose other values. However, many goals are generally-undesirable (i.e., the average person is committed to avoiding them), and these "vices" have been under-studied. This is an important gap because other models suggest that the "opposite" of a value is actually a vice. METHODS: To fill this gap, we conducted a lexical investigation. Two large samples (involving 504 undergraduates & 257 online participants) first rated their commitment to approaching or avoiding a large number of goals from the English lexicon. RESULTS: Analyses indicated that vices can be summarized in terms of Elitism, Rebellion, and Disrepute, which appear opposite from Inclusiveness, Tradition, and Prominence values (respectively) in MDS models. In Study 3 (involving 280 undergraduates) and Study 4 (involving 261 online participants), we found that Schwartz values of Universalism, Tradition, and Self-Enhancement actually appeared opposite from Elitism, Rebellion, and Disrepute (respectively) in MDS models, rather than from other values. CONCLUSIONS: This investigation develops an instrument which can distinguish between different vices at a holistic level, and it suggests that they are actually the opposite of select values.

Nipping Temptation in the Bud: Examining Strategic Self-Control in Daily Life.

Self-control is often thought to be reactive and focused solely on the inhibition of responses elicited by temptations. In two studies, we assessed whether self-control can instead (a) be planned and (b) target the antecedents of the response to temptation. We assessed self-control planning, four antecedent-focused self-control strategies (i.e., situation-selection, situation-modification, distraction, and reappraisal) and one response-focused strategy (i.e., response-inhibition). In both studies, we found that self-control planning predicted the initiation of self-control independently of temptation. Each antecedent-focused self-control strategy uniquely predicted goal-progress. Response-inhibition did not produce consistent effects on goal-progress. These studies provide evidence that people proactively initiate self-control by targeting the antecedents of temptation and that doing so supports goal-progress.

Lexical derivation of the PINT taxonomy of goals: Prominence, inclusiveness, negativity prevention, and tradition.

What do people want? Few questions are more fundamental to psychological science than this. Yet, existing taxonomies disagree on both the number and content of goals. Thus, we adopted a lexical approach and investigated the structure of goal-relevant words from the natural English lexicon. Through an intensive rating process, 1,060 goal-relevant English words were first located. In Studies 1-2, two relatively large and diverse samples (total n = 1,026) rated their commitment to approaching or avoiding these goals. Principal component analyses yielded 4 replicable components: Prominence, Inclusiveness, Negativity Prevention, and Tradition (the PINT Taxonomy). Studies 3-7 (total n = 1,396) supported the 4-factor structure of an abbreviated scale and found systematic differences in their relationships with past goal-content measures, the Big 5 traits, affect, and need satisfaction. This investigation provides a data-driven taxonomy of higher-order goal-content and opens up a wide variety of fascinating lines for future research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

A Daily Diary Investigation of the Defective Self Model Among College Students With Recent Self-Injury.

The Defective Self Model of self-injury (Hooley, Ho, Slater, & Lockshin, 2010) asserts that individuals choose to self-injure to gratify the desire for self-punishment associated with a self-critical cognitive style. Specifically, self-injury is used to regulate negative self-directed thoughts and emotions and is made accessible via the belief that the individual deserves punishment. This study sought to test primary assumptions of the Defective Self Model using a 2-week daily diary protocol. It was hypothesized that trait self-criticism would predict daily self-injury urge intensity and behaviors directly, as well as indirectly, through daily thoughts about deserving punishment. We also posited that guilt would predict self-injury urge intensity and behaviors beyond sadness, hostility, and fear. Support for primary hypotheses was mixed. Self-criticism did not directly predict self-injury outcomes, but did indirectly predict urge intensity through daily thoughts about punishment. Daily guilt predicted self-injury urge intensity beyond daily sadness, hostility and fear and was the only type of negative affect associated with self-injury behavior. Results are primarily contextualized through a social cognitive lens in which self-injury urge is precipitated by the activation of a self-critical schema in daily life. Alternatively, self-criticism may serve as a gateway to initial self-injury but lack the sensitivity to predict individual self-injury episodes. Treatments designed to reduce self-critical thoughts and bolster self-compassion may decrease self-injury urge intensity, thereby affecting the frequency of self-injury episodes.

Taking the fight out of people: Exploring how defeat modulates the automatic aggressive response to facial anger.

Past studies indicate that angry facial expressions automatically activate an aggressive response, seeming to support the view that humans possess an inborn, automatic tendencies to aggress. However, the current authors drew on influential models from evolutionary game theory to suggest that experiences of defeat may modulate this tendency. To examine this, four experiments were conducted to explore how defeat may modulate this aggressive response. In each study, participants executed simulated fight or flight responses based a computerized opponent's facial expression. Across studies, participants were typically faster to initiate fight (than flight) responses against an angry opponent. Simply losing simulated fights (Experiment 1) or experiencing aversive, white noise following simulated losses (Experiment 2) did not eliminate this tendency. However, when aversive noise was specifically experienced after losing to an angry opponent, the automatic aggressive response was eliminated (Experiment 3). This result was directly replicated (Experiment 4). Thus, these studies isolate the cues which automatize submissive behavior and show that fighting experience can modulate even our automatic aggressive responses to others' anger displays.

PTSD and anger: Evaluation of an indirect effect model in a civilian trauma sample.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Theoretical models propose that PTSD symptoms and subjective anger are indirectly associated through hostile attribution bias, physiological reactivity, and aggressive psycho-motor scripts (Chemtob, Novaco, Hamada, Gross, & Smith, 1997). Originally developed to account for symptoms observed in military personnel, proposed anger mechanisms have received limited attention in civilian populations. The current study looked to evaluate the generalizability of Chemtob et al.'s model in trauma-exposed university students (N = 152). METHODS: Trauma exposure and corresponding symptoms were assessed during an initial screening procedure. Hostile attributions and aggressive scripts were examined prior to a laboratory-based anger induction procedure. Physiological reactivity was monitored throughout the provocation task. Ratings of subjective anger and anger recovery were completed following the induction period. Relations of post-trauma symptoms with subjective anger through hypothesized anger processes were examined using bootstrapped estimates of indirect effects. RESULTS: A significant indirect effect of PTSD severity on state-level anger was noted for hostile attribution bias (ab = 0.020, 95% CI [0.002, 0.041]) and a marginal effect through aggressive inclinations (ab = 0.015, 95% CI [-0.001, 0.039]). Data failed to provide evidence for physiological reactivity as an intervening variable. Trauma symptoms did not moderate anger recovery following the provocation task. LIMITATIONS: Induction of anger in a sub-clinical sample may limit tests of hypothesized effects and the generalizability of the present findings. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate the proposed model may be applicable beyond combat trauma samples and suggest potential anger-related targets for PTSD treatment.

(How) Does Initial Self-Control Undermine Later Self-Control in Daily Life?

Past research suggests that self-control lapses occur more frequently following demanding experiences in daily life. However, the reason for these effects is debated. Three studies were therefore conducted to better understand self-control lapses. Exploratory analyses were conducted in Study 1 to identify possible effects. Studies 2 and 3 evaluated these effects' reliability. Two patterns were identified. First, initial desire-goal conflict predicted later increases in subjective fatigue. This was in turn related to less effective self-control attempts. Second, initial self-control attempts also led participants to enact desires more frequently. This latter effect occurred even when (and perhaps especially when) those later desires were not resisted. In contrast, the strength model of self-control did not receive support, as initial self-control attempts did not affect the success of subsequent self-control attempts. These studies therefore suggest initial self-control does play an important role in producing later self-control lapses-just a different role than predicted by the strength model.

The steps that can take us miles: Examining the short-term dynamics of long-term daily goal pursuit.

Cybernetic models suggest that to achieve one's long-term goals, one must create specific plans, enact these plan, monitor progress toward the goal, and resist temptations. Although many studies have examined these proposals in laboratory settings, few studies have examined such processes in daily life. This was the explicit purpose of the current investigation. Participants identified 4 long-term goals during an orientation session. They then completed a diary protocol in which they reported on these self-regulatory processes. The results were largely consistent with predictions. Of the 20 hypotheses examined, 17 were significant in the expected direction. For example, testing led to the initiation of long-term goal operations, which in turn led to goal progress. Likewise, temptations led to self-control operations, which in turn led to the successful resistance of temptations. The investigation thus suggests that cybernetic principles have broad relevance to understanding goal pursuit in daily life.

Learning to keep your cool: reducing aggression through the experimental modification of cognitive control.

Prior research suggests that recruiting cognitive control resources following exposure to hostile stimuli may allow individuals to more effectively override their aggressive urges. In the current study, a cognitive modification procedure was developed to encourage participants to perform this cognitive operation. It successfully encouraged cognitive control recruitment following hostile primes. More importantly, this procedure allowed individuals prone to hostile attributions to override their aggressive urges. Interestingly, it also led to a slight increase in aggression at low levels of hostile attributions. Discussion focused on theoretical and practical implications of the hypothesised effect, as well as possible explanations for the non-hypothesised effect.

Looking for trouble: revenge-planning and preattentive vigilance for angry facial expressions.

Revenge-planning refers to individual differences in the tendency to actively seek out hostile confrontations with others. Building on past theory, we hypothesized that revenge-planning would be related to preattentive vigilance for angry facial expressions. By being vigilant for such expressions, individuals could more readily notice and prepare to confront social challenges. We conducted 2 studies to test this prediction. Across studies, results indicated that participants high in revenge-planning had significantly longer color-naming latencies for masked angry expressions presented in a subliminal Stroop task, regardless of whether the expression was presented inside or outside participants' attentional focus. This phenomenon was specific to revenge-planning and did not extend to the related construct of angry rumination. Such results suggest that preattentive vigilance for angry expressions supports a confrontational social style in which a person actively seeks out hostile social encounters.

Color in context: psychological context moderates the influence of red on approach- and avoidance-motivated behavior.

BACKGROUND: A basic premise of the recently proffered color-in-context model is that the influence of color on psychological functioning varies as a function of the psychological context in which color is perceived. Some research has examined the appetitive and aversive implications of viewing the color red in romance- and achievement-relevant contexts, respectively, but in all existing empirical work approach and avoidance behavior has been studied in separate tasks and separate experiments. Research is needed to directly test whether red influences the same behavior differently depending entirely on psychological context. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The present experiment was designed to put this premise to direct test in romance- and achievement-relevant contexts within the same experimental paradigm involving walking behavior. Our results revealed that exposure to red (but not blue) indeed has differential implications for walking behavior as a function of the context in which the color is perceived. Red increased the speed with which participants walked to an ostensible interview about dating (a romance-relevant context), but decreased the speed with which they walked to an ostensible interview about intelligence (an achievement-relevant context). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These results are the first direct evidence that the influence of red on psychological functioning in humans varies by psychological context. Our findings contribute to both the literature on color psychology and the broader, emerging literature on the influence of context on basic psychological processes.

When aggressive individuals see the world more accurately: the case of perceptual sensitivity to subtle facial expressions of anger.

Previous research has suggested that aggressive individuals exhibit a bias to perceive nonangry expressions as angry. Another line of thinking, however, posits that aggression is a learned response to hostile environments and should be linked to social-cognitive skills suited to such environments. If so, aggressive individuals may exhibit greater perceptual sensitivity to subtle facial cues of anger. Three studies were conducted to test this proposal. In them, participants' ability to discriminate between subtly different intensities of facial anger was tested. Aggressive participants generally displayed greater perceptual sensitivity to subtle cues of facial anger. This pattern could not be explained in terms of response bias and was specific to angry expressions. The results thus support the idea that aggression is associated with social-cognitive skills rather than bias and ineptitude.

Counting to ten milliseconds: low-anger, but not high-anger, individuals pause following negative evaluations.

Low-anger individuals are less reactive, both emotionally and behaviourally, to a large variety of situational primes to anger and aggression. Why this is so, from an affective processing perspective, has been largely conjectural. Four studies (total N=270) sought to link individual differences in anger to tendencies exhibited in basic affective processing tasks. On the basis of motivational factors and considerations, it was hypothesised that negative evaluations would differentially activate a psychological alarm system at low levels of anger, resulting in a pause that should be evident in the speed of making subsequent evaluations. Just such a pattern was evident in all studies. By contrast, high-anger individuals did not pause following their negative evaluations. In relation to this affective processing tendency, at least, dramatically different effects were observed among low- versus high-anger individuals. Implications for the personality-processing literature, theories of trait anger, and fast-acting regulatory processes are discussed.

The big chill: interpersonal coldness and emotion-labeling skills.

Interpersonally cold (relative to warm) individuals may be less skilled in inferring the emotional states of others, a factor that should contribute to their poorer social relationships. Systematic support for this hypothesis was obtained in 4 studies (total N = 434 undergraduates) involving diverse emotion- and affect-decoding tasks. Specifically, relatively cold individuals exhibited lower accuracy in decoding emotional facial expressions (Study 1), in labeling the emotions of others from audio and video clips (Study 2), in predicting the emotions of others from social scenario descriptions (Study 3), and in the normative accuracy of their word evaluations (Study 4). Altogether, the results demonstrate that cold individuals appear broadly deficient in linking emotion and affect to relevant environmental stimuli. Implications of the findings for understanding the nature and correlates of interpersonal coldness are discussed.

How does cognitive control reduce anger and aggression? The role of conflict monitoring and forgiveness processes.

It is well-established that superior cognitive control abilities are associated with lower levels of anger and aggression. However, the precise emotion regulation operations underlying this relationship have been underspecified and underexplored in previous research. Drawing on neuropsychological models of cognitive control, the authors propose that limited capacity resources can be recruited within a hostile situation to promote a process of forgiveness. The results of 2 studies supported this proposal. Across studies, individual differences in hostility-primed cognitive control were assessed implicitly. In Study 1, hostility-primed cognitive control predicted less aggressive behavior in response to a laboratory provocation. Moreover, forgiveness mediated these effects. In Study 2, hostility-primed cognitive control predicted forgiveness of provocations in participants' daily lives and subsequent reductions in anger. In sum, the results contribute to a systematic understanding of how cognitive control leads to lower levels of anger and aggression.

Personality processes in anger and reactive aggression: an introduction.

The situational factors precipitating anger and reactive (i.e., emotional) aggression have been well documented in the social psychology literature. However, there are pronounced individual differences in reactivity to hostile cues that are equally important in understanding such outcomes. Indeed, in predicting tendencies toward anger and reactive aggression, it appears critical to simultaneously consider both individual difference and situational factors. This case is first made. Subsequently, the utility of this individual difference realm in understanding wider personality processes related to social cognition, reactivity, and self-regulation is highlighted. Individual difference frameworks of this type are scattered across multiple literatures. For this reason, the present special section of the Journal of Personality invited contributions from experts in developmental, social, cognitive, trait, and biological subdisciplines of psychology. The final section introduces the invited papers and makes a brief case for broader process-related conclusions that are generally apparent.