L. B. Forzano

Happy mood decreases self-focused attention

Research addressing the influence of happy mood on self-focused attention has yielded inconsistent results. Some studies found that happy mood decreased self-focus relative to sad mood. Other studies did not detect a significant difference between happy and neutral mood, and still other studies found that happy mood, relative to neutral mood, increased self-focus. These investigations have potential shortcomings, such as an insufficiently powerful happy mood induction and a confound between visualization mood inductions and self-focus itself. The present experiment addressed these shortcomings by inducing mood via musical selections, equalizing the approximate potency between happy and sad moods, and using a within-participants design. Relative to neutral mood, happy mood decreased self-focused attention.

Self-Control and Impulsiveness in Children: Effects of Visual Food Cues

Self-control can be defined as the choice of a larger, more delayed reinforcer over a smaller, less delayed reinforcer, and impulsiveness as the opposite. Preschool children have exhibited varying degrees of self-control and impulsiveness in laboratory experiments when food is the reinforcer. Previous research suggests that exposure to visual food cues may affect preschool children’s self-control for food. The present experiment used 22 3-year-old children to explore the effects of exposure to visual food cues on choice behavior in a self-control paradigm. The results suggest that exposure to visual food cues influences preschool children’s self-control for food reinforcers.

Self-Control and Impulsivity in Children: Multiple Behavioral Measures

The present experiment investigated the relationship between laboratory measures of self-control and delay of gratification in children and explored several other factors that may influence self-control. In the self-control paradigm, 30 four-year-old children repeatedly chose between three reinforcers received after a delay and one reinforcer received immediately. A self-imposed delay modification allowed participants to reverse their choices to the smaller, less delayed reinforcer during the delay to the larger reinforcer. In the delay-of-gratification paradigm, the children received three reinforcers if they waited 20 min until the experimenter returned or one reinforcer if they terminated the trial by ringing a bell. A strong positive correlation between the proportion of self-control choices in the self-control paradigm and the wait times in the delay-of-gratification paradigm was found, suggesting concurrent validity between the two measures. In addition, the exposure to visual food cues had no consistent effect across participants on choice in either measure.

Self-Control and Impulsiveness in Nondieting Adult Human Females: Effects of Visual Food Cues and Food Deprivation

Self-control can be defined as the choice of a larger, more delayed rein-forcer over a smaller, less delayed reinforcer, and impulsiveness as the opposite. Previous research suggests that exposure to visual food cues affects adult humans’ self-control. Previous research also suggests that food deprivation decreases adult humans’ self-control. The present experiment used 11 adult human females who were not currently dieting to explore the interactive effects of visual food cues and food deprivation on choice behavior in a self-control paradigm. The results demonstrate that exposure to visual food cues, in conjunction with food deprivation, has significant effects on self-control for food reinforcers in adults who are not dieting. Specifically, when food cues were absent, participants demonstrated significantly more self-control when deprived than when not deprived. No significant differences were found when food cues were present.