Hannelore Weber

Recommendations for increasing replicability in psychology

Replicability of findings is at the heart of any empirical science. The aim of this article is to move the current replicability debate in psychology towards concrete recommendations for improvement. We focus on research practices but also offer guidelines for reviewers, editors, journal management, teachers, granting institutions, and university promotion committees, highlighting some of the emerging and existing practical solutions that can facilitate implementation of these recommendations. The challenges for improving replicability in psychological science are systemic. Improvement can occur only if changes are made at many levels of practice, evaluation, and reward. Copyright

Cardiac vagal tone is associated with social engagement and self-regulation.

The polyvagal theory (Porges, 2007) represents a biobehavioral model that relates autonomic functioning to self-regulation and social engagement. The aim of the two presented studies was to test the proposed association of cardiac vagal tone (CVT), assessed via resting high-frequency heart rate variability (respiratory sinus arrhythmia, RSA), with coping, emotion-regulation, and social engagement in young adults. In Study 1 (retrospective self-report), RSA was positively associated with engagement coping (situation control, response control, positive self-instructions, social-support seeking) and aspects of social well-being. In Study 2 (ecological momentary assessment), for 28 days following the initial assessment, RSA predicted less use of disengagement strategies (acceptance and avoidance) for regulating negative emotions and more use of socially adaptive emotion-regulation strategies (i.e., social-support seeking as a reaction to sadness and making a concession as a reaction to anger caused by others). Furthermore, RSA was higher in participants who reported no anger episodes compared to those who reported at least one anger episode and was positively associated with reported episodes of negative emotions. Results support the association proposed by the PVT between CVT and self-regulatory behavior, which promotes social bonds.

Presentation of self in coping with anger and anxiety: an intentional approach

Abstract An intentional approach to coping is outlined addressing the issue of what persons want to achieve in coping with emotions. Four dimensions of coping intentions are proposed: Problem solving, regulating emotional distress, protecting self-esteem, and managing social interactions. Special reference is given to presentational intentions defined as attempts to communicate self-images. Guided by a specificity view of emotion anxiety- and anger-related coping reactions and intentions are described. The theoretical approach is illustrated by an exploratory study in which verbal scripts for a social anxiety and an anger episode were used. One hundred and two male and female students reacted to the episodes by reporting their emotional responses, coping reactions, and coping intentions. The results indicate marked differences in coping reactions and intentions between the two emotions. Demonstrating resistance turned out to be the pronounced theme in coping with anger, while smoothly preserving a favorab...

Cardiac autonomic regulation and anger coping in adolescents

The current study investigated spontaneous anger coping, cardiac autonomic regulation and phasic heart rate responses to anger provocation. Forty-five adolescents (27 female, mean age 14.7 years) attended the single experimental session, which included monitoring of continuous heart rate and blood pressure responses to anger provocation (receiving an unfair offer) using a modified version of the Ultimatum Game (UG). Vagal activation was operationalized as high frequency component of heart rate variability during rest periods, and spontaneous baroreflex-sensitivity (SBR) during the UG. Adolescents employing cognitive reappraisal showed higher vagal activity under resting conditions and attenuated heart rate deceleration after receiving the unfair offer compared with participants who tended to ruminate about their anger and experienced injustice. Results from SBR suggested vagal withdrawal in anger ruminators during contemplation of the unfair offer. These results provide further support for the specificity and sensitivity of vagal responses to higher cortical functions such as emotion regulation.

What coping tells about personality

In this study, 123 participants (non‐psychology students) who responded to an interpersonal stress situation staged in the laboratory were judged by unacquainted observers in terms of the Big Five dimensions, intelligence and social attractiveness. Coping behaviour appeared to predict personality impressions in a way that mirrors the relations between personality and coping observed in previous research: Overall, higher levels of Extraversion (E), Agreeableness (A), Conscientiousness (C) and Openness to experience (O) (as well as intelligence and social attractiveness) were predicted by problem‐focussed behaviour and cognitive restructuring, whereas higher levels of Neuroticism (N) were predicted by withdrawal/passivity. The interpersonal impact of the particular coping reactions, as indicated by a positive personality impression, were largely inconsistent with their impact on affect following the stress induction. Copyright

The more the better? The relationship between mismatches in social support and subjective well-being in daily life

In this study, we examined the relationship between discrepancies between desired and received support and subjective well-being, as indicated by negative affect and perceived stress, in daily life. Participants were 30 undergraduates who were equipped with hand-held computers for seven days. Results showed that underprovision of support predicted lower well-being, whereas overprovision was related to higher well-being, suggesting a linear relationship. Emotional support proved to be more influential than practical and informational support. In contrast to previous research, perceived social support turned out to be unrelated to well-being in daily life.

Social anxiety and anger regulation

Based on the assumption that social anxiety is associated with less assertive behaviour and that effective anger regulation is influenced by social anxiety, two studies were conducted to examine the relationship between social anxiety and anger regulation. In Study 1, questionnaires measuring social anxiety, assertiveness, and six habitual anger‐related responses were administered to 115 adults. Social anxiety had an independent effect on rumination and submission, whereas assertiveness was independently related to the use of humour and feedback. In Study 2 (N = 136 adults) self‐ and observer ratings of anger‐related behaviour were obtained after anger was experimentally induced. Social anxiety was related to self‐ratings of submission and rumination. However, independent observer ratings based on videotapes revealed no significant influence of social anxiety on anger‐related behaviour. Taken together, the results provide evidence that social anxiety is associated with the self‐perception of less assertive behaviour and the tendency to evaluate ones behaviour more negatively. These results are consistent with prior studies showing that socially anxious persons tend to underestimate their social performance relative to the ratings of independent observers. Copyright

Optimism and social support: The providers’ perspective

It has been presumed that the beneficial health effects of optimism are mediated by social support provided by the social environment. To further analyze this assumption, in two experiments (N = 240 and N = 120) social responses toward optimists, pessimists, and realists were examined. Participants listened to tape-recorded conversations in which optimistic, pessimistic and realistic targets reported how they were dealing with a stressful situation before completing a questionnaire assessing (a) their evaluation of the targets behavior and personality, (b) their attraction to the target, and (c) their willingness to provide the target with social support. Optimistic and realistic targets were viewed more favorably than pessimistic targets, while the behavior of realists was regarded as being more adequate than that of optimists. However, the more positive evaluation of optimists and realists compared to pessimists was not accompanied by a greater willingness to provide them with social support.

Sex differences in anger-related behaviour: Comparing expectancies to actual behaviour.

Expectancies about and the reactions of men and women to a provocation were compared to self- and observer ratings of the actual behaviour in response to the provocation. In Study 1, men and women were provoked by the experimenter during a laboratory task. In Study 2, participants were presented with video clips of the provocation and estimated how a man or a woman would likely react to it. The man was expected to react more aggressively than the woman. In their actual behaviour, however, men were more likely to react with humour or by distancing than were women. The woman was expected to react more submissively than the man, which was inaccurate with respect to both the observer ratings and the self-ratings.

Reappraisal inventiveness: The ability to create different reappraisals of critical situations

In this article, we propose a new ability approach to reappraisal that focuses on individual differences in the ability to spontaneously generate different reappraisals for critical situations. Adopting concepts from the realms of creativity and divergent thinking, we developed the Reappraisal Inventiveness Test (RIT) to measure a persons fluency and flexibility in inventing as many categorically different reappraisals for an anger-eliciting situation as possible within a limited period of time. The results of two studies in which we examined the psychometric characteristics of the RIT provided evidence that the RIT produces reliable test scores. The construct validity of the RIT was confirmed by positive associations of reappraisal inventiveness with openness to experience and tests that measure divergent thinking. Moreover, RIT performance proved to be unrelated to the self-reported habitual use of reappraisal, indicating differences between ability tests and self-report measures. RIT performance was not significantly related to Neuroticism or to trait anger. In our view, this points to the notion that effective emotion regulation is a function of both the ability and the motivation to act upon ones ability to generate reappraisals for critical situations.