Olivier Corneille

The Interplay of Subjective Essentialism and Entitativity in the Formation of Stereotypes

In line with our subjective essentialist view of stereotypes (Yzerbyt, Rocher, & Schadron, 1997), we propose that two classes of factors that mutually reinforce each other influence the perception of groups. The perception of a strong level of similarity and organization among group members (i.e., group entitativity) suggests the existence of a deep essence that would account for the detected regularities. Conversely, the existence of naïve theories regarding the presence of an underlying core encourages the search for resemblances and connections within the group. After a short presentation of the recent literature dealing with the concepts of entitativity and essentialism, we review a series of studies from our laboratory showing the impact of entitativity on essentialism as well as the influence of essentialism on entitativity. We also provide empirical evidence for this bidirectional process from both the outsider and the insider perspective. Finally, we examine the potential role of cultural differences both in the ascription of a fundamental nature to an entitative assembly of people and in the use of a priori naïve theories to create surface similarity among group members. As a set, these efforts point to the importance of taking into account the constant dialogue between perceivers theory-based explanations and group members perceptual characteristics if one wishes to understand group stereotypes.

Oxytocin Makes People Trusting, Not Gullible

The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) plays such a key role in social behavior that it has been referred to as “the love hormone” and “liquid trust” (e.g., Domes, Heinrichs, Michel, Berger, & Herpertz, 2007; Ferguson, Young, & Insel, 2002; Guastella, Mitchell, & Mathews, 2008; Morhenn, Park, Piper, & Zak, 2008; Taylor, 2006; Unkelbach, Guastella, & Forgas, 2008). These nicknames have an element of truth: When OT levels are increased, people do in fact seem to become more altruistic, trusting, and generous (Barraza & Zak, 2009; Baumgartner, Heinrichs, Vonlanthen, Fischbacher, & Fehr, 2008; Kosfeld, Heinrichs, Zak, Fischbacher, & Fehr, 2005; Pedersen, Ascher, Monroe, & Prange, 1982; Theodoridou, Rowe, Penton-Voak, & Rogers, 2009; Zak, Stanton, & Ahmadi, 2007). The effect of OT on prosocial behavior—and on trust in particular—is so strong that it has been suggested that OT may make people indiscriminately prosocial (e.g., trusting to a fault). While the press (e.g., Szalavitz, 2008) and researchers (e.g., Damasio, 2005) alike have worried about its potential misuse by politicians, the armed forces, and marketers, OT retailers have flourished by convincing clients that they can close deals with a few whiffs of OT. But does OT really increase people’s trust in anybody, or can contextual cues of unreliability override the effects of OT? Animal studies suggest that OT’s social effects may be context dependent (Campbell, 2008). In rodents, a female’s OT release after giving birth decreases her aggressiveness toward her offspring but increases her hostility toward potentially aggressive female intruders (Debiec, 2005; Pedersen, 2004). It is not known, however, whether OT’s effects are context dependent in humans. To examine this issue, we used a customized version of the trust game (Berg, Dickhaut, & McCabe, 1995; Cesarini et al., 2008; see the Supplemental Material available online). In this game, we manipulated partners’ trustworthiness and measured participants’ investment in each partner. We predicted higher investment by participants who received a nasal OT spray than by control participants, unless there were cues that a partner might not be trustworthy. Method

Alexithymia and the processing of emotional facial expressions (EFEs) : systematic review, unanswered questions and further perspectives

Alexithymia is characterized by difficulties in identifying, differentiating and describing feelings. A high prevalence of alexithymia has often been observed in clinical disorders characterized by low social functioning. This review aims to assess the association between alexithymia and the ability to decode emotional facial expressions (EFEs) within clinical and healthy populations. More precisely, this review has four main objectives: (1) to assess if alexithymia is a better predictor of the ability to decode EFEs than the diagnosis of clinical disorder; (2) to assess the influence of comorbid factors (depression and anxiety disorder) on the ability to decode EFE; (3) to investigate if deficits in decoding EFEs are specific to some levels of processing or task types; (4) to investigate if the deficits are specific to particular EFEs. Twenty four studies (behavioural and neuroimaging) were identified through a computerized literature search of Psycinfo, PubMed, and Web of Science databases from 1990 to 2010. Data on methodology, clinical characteristics, and possible confounds were analyzed. The review revealed that: (1) alexithymia is associated with deficits in labelling EFEs among clinical disorders, (2) the level of depression and anxiety partially account for the decoding deficits, (3) alexithymia is associated with reduced perceptual abilities, and is likely to be associated with impaired semantic representations of emotional concepts, and (4) alexithymia is associated with neither specific EFEs nor a specific valence. These studies are discussed with respect to processes involved in the recognition of EFEs. Future directions for research on emotion perception are also discussed.

On the Respective Contributions of Awareness of Unconditioned Stimulus Valence and Unconditioned Stimulus Identity in Attitude Formation Through Evaluative Conditioning

Evaluative conditioning (EC) is a central mechanism for both classic and current theories of attitude formation. In contrast to Pavlovian conditioning, it is often conceptualized as a form of evaluative learning that occurs without awareness of the conditioned stimulus-unconditioned stimulus (CS-US) contingencies. In the present research, the authors directly address this point by assessing the respective roles of US valence awareness and US identity awareness in attitude formation through EC. Across 4 experiments, EC was assessed with evaluative ratings as well as evaluative priming measures, and the impact of valence and identity awareness on EC was evaluated. EC effects on priming and rating measures occurred only for CSs for which participants could report the associated US valence, and US identity awareness did not further contribute to EC. This finding was obtained both for semantically meaningless (i.e., nonword letter sequences) and meaningful (i.e., consumer products) CSs. These results provide further support for the critical role of contingency awareness in EC, albeit valence awareness, not identity awareness.

Not competent but warm ... really? Compensatory stereotypes in the French-speaking world

Two studies examined the compensation hypothesis that members of both high- and low-status groups associate high-status groups with high levels of competence and low levels of warmth on the one hand, and low-status groups with low levels of competence and high levels of warmth, on the other. Building upon existing linguistic relations between the French and the Belgians, Study 1 had standard, i.e. French, and non-standard, i.e. Belgian, speakers rate the linguistic skills, competence, and warmth of both groups and report their meta-stereotypes. As predicted, both groups of participants saw the French as more skilled linguistically than Belgians and evaluated standard speakers as more competent than warm and non-standard speakers as more warm than competent. This pattern also emerged in respondents’ meta-stereotypes. Study 2 revealed that compensation was less marked among a third group of Francophone speakers, i.e. Swiss, even if the latter respondents seemed well aware of the pattern guiding Belgian and French representations of each other. We discuss the implications of the findings in terms of motivated intergroup stereotypes.

Speak, Lord, your servant is listening: Religious priming activates submissive thoughts and behaviors

According to many theoretical perspectives, religion is positively associated with submission and conformity. However, no study to date provided experimental evidence for this hypothesis. We did so in two experiments that relied on priming procedures. In Experiment 1, participants were tested for the strength of their religion-submission associations by using a lexical decision task. In Experiment 2, participants were primed with either religious or neutral concepts and were invited or not by the experimenter to take revenge on an individual who had allegedly criticized them. Both studies provided evidence for the expected religion-submission association, although the effects were limited to participants scoring high in personal submissiveness. Among these individuals, religious priming increased the accessibility of submission-related concepts (Experiment 1) and the acceptance of a morally problematic request for revenge (Experiment 2). Discussion focuses on questions for future research and implications for our understanding of religions role in morality and interpersonal relations.

Holistic processing is tuned for in-group faces

Past research has found that mere in-group/out-group categorizations are sufficient to elicit biases in face memory. The current research yields novel evidence that mere social categorization is also sufficient to modulate processes underlying face perception, even for faces for which we have strong perceptual expertise: same-race (SR) faces. Using the composite face paradigm, we find that SR faces categorized as in-group members (i.e., fellow university students) are processed more holistically than are SR faces categorized as out-group members (i.e., students at another university). Hence, holding perceptual expertise with faces constant, categorizing an SR target as an out-group member debilitates the strong holistic processing typically observed for SR faces.

Evaluative conditioning may incur attentional costs.

Evaluative conditioning (EC) refers to changes in the liking of an affectively neutral stimulus (conditioned stimulus, or CS) after pairing this stimulus with an affect-laden stimulus (unconditioned stimulus, or US). Several authors proposed that EC incurs little or no attentional cost. Using a rigorous design, we provide evidence that a reduction in attentional resources may have a negative impact on EC. Additional analyses also revealed that participants correctly encoded fewer CS-US pairings when their attentional resources were depleted. Replicating Pleyers, Corneille, Luminet, and Yzerbyts (2007) findings, EC was also obtained only for CSs that could be correctly linked to their associated US in the context of an identification task. This research clarifies the role of higher order processes in EC and has significant practical implications.

Disrupted regulation of social exclusion in alcohol dependence: An fMRI study.

Alcohol-dependence is associated with cognitive and biological alterations, and also with interpersonal impairments. Although overwhelming in clinical settings and involved in relapse, these social impairments have received little attention from researchers. Particularly, brain alterations related to social exclusion have not been explored in alcohol-dependence. Our primary purpose was to determine the neural correlates of social exclusion feelings in this population. In all, 44 participants (22 abstinent alcohol-dependent patients and 22 paired controls) played a virtual game (‘cyberball’) during fMRI recording. They were first included by other players, then excluded, and finally re-included. Brain areas involved in social exclusion were identified and the functional connectivity between these areas was explored using psycho-physiological interactions (PPI). Results showed that while both groups presented dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activations during social exclusion, alcohol-dependent participants exhibited increased insula and reduced frontal activations (in ventrolateral prefrontal cortex) as compared with controls. Alcohol-dependence was also associated with persistent dACC and parahippocampal gyrus activations in re-inclusion. PPI analyses showed reduced frontocingulate connectivity during social exclusion in alcohol-dependence. Alcohol-dependence is thus linked with increased activation in areas eliciting social exclusion feelings (dACC–insula), and with impaired ability to inhibit these feelings (indexed by reduced frontal activations). Altered frontal regulation thus appears implied in the interpersonal alterations observed in alcohol-dependence, which seem reinforced by impaired frontocingulate connectivity. This first exploration of the neural correlates of interpersonal problems in alcohol-dependence could initiate the development of a social neuroscience of addictive states.

Container size influences snack food intake independently of portion size

While larger containers have been found to increase food intake, it is unclear whether this effect is driven by container size, portion size, or their combination, as these variables are usually confounded. The study was advertised as examining the effects of snack food consumption on information processing and participants were served M&Ms for free consumption in individual cubicles while watching a TV show. Participants were served (1) a medium portion of M&Ms in a small (n=30) or (2) in a large container (n=29), or (3) a large portion in a large container (n=29). The larger container increased intake by 129% (199 kcal) despite holding portion size constant, while controlling for different confounding variables. This research suggests that larger containers stimulate food intake over and above their impact on portion size.