Nils B. Jostmann

Weight as an Embodiment of Importance

Four studies show that the abstract concept of importance is grounded in bodily experiences of weight. Participants provided judgments of importance while they held either a heavy or a light clipboard. Holding a heavy clipboard increased judgments of monetary value (Study 1) and made participants consider fair decision-making procedures to be more important (Study 2). It also caused more elaborate thinking, as indicated by higher consistency between related judgments (Study 3) and by greater polarization of agreement ratings for strong versus weak arguments (Study 4). In line with an embodied perspective on cognition, these findings suggest that, much as weight makes people invest more physical effort in dealing with concrete objects, it also makes people invest more cognitive effort in dealing with abstract issues.

Getting a Grip on Your Feelings: Effects of Action Orientation and External Demands on Intuitive Affect Regulation

The authors propose that volitional action is supported by intuitive affect regulation, defined as flexible, efficient, and nonrepressive control of own affective states. Intuitive affect regulation should be most apparent among action-oriented individuals under demanding conditions. Consistent with this, a demanding context led action-oriented individuals to down-regulate negative affect in self-reports (Study 1), in an affective Simon task (Study 2), and in a face discrimination task (Study 3). In line with the idea that intuitive affect regulation is guided by top-down self-regulation processes, intuitive affect regulation in a face discrimination task was mediated by increases in self-accessibility (Study 3). No parallel effects emerged among action-oriented participants in a nondemanding context or among state-oriented participants.

Lacking Power Impairs Executive Functions

Four experiments explored whether lacking power impairs executive functioning, testing the hypothesis that the cognitive presses of powerlessness increase vulnerability to performance decrements during complex executive tasks. In the first three experiments, low power impaired performance on executive-function tasks: The powerless were less effective than the powerful at updating (Experiment 1), inhibiting (Experiment 2), and planning (Experiment 3). Existing research suggests that the powerless have difficulty distinguishing between what is goal relevant and what is goal irrelevant in the environment. A fourth experiment established that the executive-function impairment associated with low power is driven by goal neglect. The current research implies that the cognitive alterations arising from powerlessness may help foster stable social hierarchies and that empowering employees may reduce costly organizational errors.

Sublimal affect regulation: The moderating role of action versus state orientation

Past research has linked action orientation to intuitive affect regulation (Koole & Jostmann, 2004; Kuhl, 1981). The present research examines whether action orientation can regulate subliminally activated affect. In an experimental study, action- vs. state-oriented participants were exposed to subliminal primes of schematic faces with an angry, neutral, or happy expression. Participants subsequently rated their affect on a basic affect measure. The results showed prime-congruent effects among state- oriented individuals: subliminal angry primes led to lower basic affect compared to subliminal happy primes. Action-oriented participants were not influenced by the subliminal priming in their basic affective reactions. The authors conclude that action orientation is a regulator of basic affective responses, even when these responses are triggered outside of conscious awareness.

On the Regulation of Cognitive Control: Action Orientation Moderates the Impact of High Demands in Stroop Interference Tasks.

Previous research has established that people vary in action orientation, a tendency toward decisiveness and initiative, versus state orientation, a tendency toward indecisiveness and hesitation (J. Kuhl & J. Beckmann, 1994b). In the present 3 studies, the authors examined whether action orientation versus state orientation regulates cognitive control under demanding conditions. Under high demands, action-oriented participants displayed better cognitive control than did state-oriented participants in a Stroop color naming task (Studies 1-3). No similar effects were found under low demands (Studies 2-3). Functional differences between action- and state-oriented participants emerged especially when the task included a high proportion of congruent Stroop trials (Study 3). These findings suggest that action-oriented individuals are better protected against goal neglect than are state-oriented individuals.

Weighty Matters Importance Literally Feels Heavy

Previous work showed that concrete experiences of weight influence people’s judgments of how important certain issues are. In line with an embodied simulation account but contrary to a metaphor-enriched perspective, this work shows that perceived importance of an object influences perceptions of weight. Two studies manipulated information about a book’s importance, after which, participants estimated its weight. Importance information caused participants to perceive the book to be heavier. This was not merely a semantic association, because weight perceptions were affected only when participants physically held the book. Furthermore, importance information influenced weight perceptions but not perceptions of monetary value. These findings extend previous research by showing that the activation direction from weight to importance can be reversed, thus suggesting that the connection between importance and weight goes beyond metaphorical mappings. Implications for the debate on interpretation of findings on the interplay between bodily states and abstract information are discussed.

On the hidden benefits of state orientation: Can people prosper without efficient affect regulation skills?

About the Editors Contributors Introduction: Building, defending and regulating the self: An overview Abraham Tesser, Joanne V. Wood and Diederik A. Stapel I. Building the self: The Ideal, the authentic and the open self Chapter 1: The Michelangelo Phenomenon in Close Relationships Caryl E. Rusbult, Madoka Kumashiro, Shevaun L. Stocker, and Scott T. Wolf Chapter 2: From Thought and Experience to Behavior and Interpersonal Relationships: A Multicomponent Conceptualization of Authenticity Michael H. Kernis and Brian M. Goldman Chapter 3: Transportation into Narrative Worlds: Implications for the Self Melanie C. Green Chapter 4: Conflict and Habit: A Social Cognitive neuroscience Approach to the Self Matthew D. Lieberman and Naomi I. Eisenberger II. Defending the self Chapter 5: Ideal Agency: The Perception of Self as an Origin of Action Jesse Preston and Daniel M. Wegner Chapter 6: Reflections in Troubled Waters: Narcissism and the Vicissitudes of an Interpersonally Contextualized Self Frederick Rhodewalt and Carolyn C. Morf Chapter 7: Nagging Doubts and a Glimmer of Hope: The Role of Implicit Self-Esteem in Self-Image Maintenance Steven J. Spencer, Christian H. Jordan, Christine E.R. Logel, and Mark P. Zanna III. Regulating the self Chapter 8: Approach Avoidance Motivation and Self-Concept Evaluation Andrew J. Elliot and Rachel R. Mapes Chapter 9: Self Conscious Emotion and Self-Regulation Dacher Keltner and Jennifer S. Beer Chapter 10: On the Hidden Benefits of State Orientation: Can People Prosper without Efficient Affect Regulation Skills? Sander L. Koole, Julius Kuhl, Nils Jostmann, and Kathleen D. Vohs Chapter 11: The Roles of the Self in Priming-to-Behavior Effects. S. Christian Wheeler, Kenneth G. DeMarree, and Richard E. Petty Author Index Subject Index

On the Waxing and Waning of Working Memory: Action Orientation Moderates the Impact of Demanding Relationship Primes on Working Memory Capacity

The present research examined how actionversus state-oriented individuals (Kuhl & Beckmann, 1994) utilize their working memory capacity under varying situational demands. Participants visualized either a demanding or an accepting person, after which their working memory capacity was assessed. Among action-oriented participants, visualizing a demanding person led to greater operation spans (Study 1) and superior memory for intention-related information (Study 2) than visualizing an accepting person. State-oriented participants displayed the opposite pattern, such that visualizing an accepting person led to greater operation spans (Study 1) and superior memory for intentions (Study 2) than visualizing a demanding person. These findings indicate that action versus state orientation moderates the impact of situational demands on working memory capacity.

Telling Things Apart The Distance Between Response Keys Influences Categorization Times

People use spatial distance to talk and think about differences between concepts, and it has been argued that using space to think about different categories provides a scaffold for the categorization process. In the current study, we investigated the possibility that the distance between response keys can influence categorization times in binary classification tasks. In line with the hypothesis that distance between response keys can facilitate response selection in a key-press version of the Stroop task, our results showed that responses on incongruent Stroop trials were significantly facilitated when participants performed the Stroop task with response keys located far apart, compared with when they performed the task with response keys located close together. These results support the idea that the spatial structuring of response options facilitates categorizations that require cognitive effort, and that people can incorporate environmental structures such as spatial distance in their thought processes. Keeping your hands apart might actually help to keep things apart in your mind.

When love is not blind: Rumination impairs implicit affect regulation in response to romantic relationship threat

The present research examined how rumination influences implicit affect regulation in response to romantic relationship threat. In three studies, the disposition to ruminate impaired the ability to maintain positive feelings about the romantic partner in the face of explicit or implicit reminders of relationship threatening events. In Study 1, a high disposition to ruminate was correlated with impaired down-regulation of negative feelings toward the partner in response to a hurtful relationship incident. Two follow-up studies manipulated relationship threat explicitly through an experiential recall procedure (Study 2) or implicitly through a subliminal evaluative-conditioning procedure (Study 3). In both studies only individuals with low disposition to ruminate were able to ward off negative feelings and maintain positive feelings toward the partner. These findings illuminate the role of implicit affect regulation in the context of relationship threat—and how it is inextricably connected with the processes underlying rumination.