Robert C. Sinclair

The effects of mood state on judgemental accuracy: Processing strategy as a mechanism

Abstract Under commonly observed conditions, happy subjects appear to process information in a relatively passive or nonsystematic, less detailed manner and rely on peripheral cues and heuristics in judgement, whereas sad subjects appear to process in a more active or systematic, more detailed manner. Happy subjects should therefore display less accuracy on judgements that have a relatively objective accuracy criterion. Three studies were conducted to test this hypothesis. In Study 1, subjects who had training in statistics were exposed to a happy, neutral, or sad mood induction procedure. Subjects then judged the magnitude and direction of correlation coefficients associated with each of nine scatterplots. Happy subjects were least accurate and used fewest digits in their correlation estimates; sad subjects were most accurate and used most digits. In Study 2, subjects exposed to orthogonal affect and arousal mood inductions completed the correlation estimation task. To address process further, subjects p...

Estimating number of lifetime sexual partners: Men and women do it differently

On surveys, men report two to four times as many lifetime opposite‐sex sexual partners (SPs) as women. However, these estimates should be equivalent because each new sexual partner for a man is also a new sexual partner for a woman. The source of this discrepancy was investigated in this study. Participants reported number of lifetime and past‐year SPs and estimation strategies. The pattern of lifetime estimates replicated. The lifetime protocols indicated that people used different estimation strategies, that people who used the same strategy produced similar estimates, that some strategies were associated with large estimates and others with small ones, and that men were more likely to use the former and women the latter. No sex differences in estimates or strategies were apparent in the past‐year protocols. Our findings suggest that discrepant lifetime partner reports occur because men and women rely on different estimation strategies, not because they intentionally misrepresent their sexual histories.

Globalization, diet, and health: an example from Tonga

The increased flow of goods, people, and ideas associated with globalization have contributed to an increase in noncommunicable diseases in much of the world. One response has been to encourage lifestyle changes with educational programmes, thus controlling the lifestyle-related disease. Key assumptions with this approach are that peoples food preferences are linked to their consumption patterns, and that consumption patterns can be transformed through educational initiatives. To investigate these assumptions, and policies that derive from it, we undertook a broad-based survey of food-related issues in the Kingdom of Tonga using a questionnaire. Data on the relationships between food preferences, perception of nutritional value, and frequency of consumption were gathered for both traditional and imported foods. The results show that the consumption of health-compromising imported foods was unrelated either to food preferences or to perceptions of nutritional value, and suggests that diet-related diseases may not be amenable to interventions based on education campaigns. Given recent initiatives towards trade liberalization and the creation of the World Trade Organization, tariffs or import bans may not serve as alternative measures to control consumption. This presents significant challenges to health policy-makers serving economically marginal populations and suggests that some population health concerns cannot be adequately addressed without awareness of the effects of global trade.

Hippocampal choline acetyltransferase activity correlates with spatial learning in aged rats

Age-related cognitive deficits in both humans and experimental animals appear to relate to dysfunction of basal forebrain cholinergic neuron systems. The present study assessed spatial learning performance in a water maze task as a function of choline acetyltransferase and high-affinity choline uptake specific activity (the two phenotypic markers for cholinergic neurons) in frontal cortex, hippocampus and striatum of aged male Fischer-344 rats. We observed that increased hippocampal choline acetyltransferase activity was related to better performance on the water maze task, and that, of the individual measures, hippocampal choline acetyltransferase activity was the best predictor of behavioral performance in the spatial learning task.

Mood and the Endorsement of Egalitarian Macrojustice Versus Equity-Based Microjustice Principles

Prior research has shown that mood state affects liking for others, categorization breadth, and processing strategy. Proceeding from such work, it was hypothesized that mood state would affect the relative endorsement of egalitarian macrojustice and equity based microjustice principles. Male and female subjects were assigned to one of three mood inductions (elation, neutral, and depression). In an apparently unrelated second study, subjects indicated their level of endorsement of microjustice and macro justice principles. As predicted, elated subjects showed more endorsement of egalitarian macrojustice principles than depressed subjects. Further, elated subjects differentiated least between equity-based microjustice and egalitarian macrojustice principles; depressed subjects differentiated most. Results are discussed in terms of a model of the processes through which mood influences perceived justice.

Construct Accessibility and the Misattribution of Arousal: Schachter and Singer Revisited

Schachter and Singer (1962) showed that people search the immediate environment for emotionally relevant cues to label and interpret unexplained physiological arousal We investigated how unobtrusively activated cognitions and physiological arousal interact to produce emotional experience when the immediate environment is devoid of relevant cues Subjects were primed with positive, negative, or neutral concepts They then either exercised or sat still and, either immediately or after a delay, rated their emotional state Consistent with what Schachter and Singer found, subjects in the exercise, delayed-rating condition, who lacked an obvious explanation for their arousal, made the most extreme affective self-ratings, which were consistent with the valence of the primed concepts These subjects apparently interpreted their residual arousal in terms of the primed concepts Subjects in the exercise, immediate-rating condition, who had an explanation for their arousal (i e, the exercise), were not influenced by the primes Subjects in the no-exercise condition showed typical priming effects, with prime-consistent self-ratings that decayed over time Implications for emotion formation, misattribution of arousal, and cognition are discussed

Psychology: An electoral butterfly effect

Part of the controversy surrounding this years presidential election in the United States concerns the potential for systematic bias in the ballot-card format — could the butterfly ballot used in Palm Beach County, Florida, have led to confusion and caused people who had intended to vote for Al Gore to vote for Pat Buchanan by mistake? Here we show that not only is the double-column butterfly ballot more confusing than a single-column ballot, but that it also appears to cause systematic errors in voting which call into question the validity of the results from Palm Beach County in the 2000 United States presidential election.

Affective Cues and Processing Strategy: Color-Coded Examination Forms Influence Performance

We argue that external cues provide affective information that influences processing strategy and, therefore, examination performance. Participants completed 2 supposedly different forms of a midterm examination; in fact, randomly assigned participants completed identical midterm examinations printed on either red or blue paper. Blue paper led to superior performance, especially for difficult questions. We note a method for appropriately adjusting scores to control for form effects while maintaining percentile rankings within and across forms. We discuss implications for test administration, examination form effects, and adjustment of scores.

Consumption of traditional versus imported foods in Tonga: implications for programs designed to reduce diet-related non-communicable diseases in developing countries

In Tonga as elsewhere, consumption of inexpensive, high calorie, fatty foods are associated with increases in diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Programs have been designed to educate people about dangers associated with these foods, but if consumption has increased for economic reasons (e.g., price or availability), such programs may have minimal impact, and other policy options are warranted. A quantitative questionnaire study was conducted in Tonga using a broad sample from different areas (n = 430). The survey elicited information on: preferences for, frequency of consumption of, perception of nutritional value of, and (for a subset) the availability of, 36 traditional and imported foods. People prefer traditional foods and accurately perceive these as more nutritious. However, consumption patterns do not coincide with preference or nutritional value. Policy designed to improve NCDs should, therefore, address the general linkage between economic development and detrimental consumption patterns, and promote the availably and cost competitiveness of healthier, traditional foods.

Mood State, Issue Involvement, and Argument Strength on Responses to Persuasive Appeals:

This study investigated the effects of mood state, issue involvement, and argument strength on responses to persuasive appeals. Through an unrelated second study paradigm, 144 introductory psychology students were randomly assigned to High or Low Issue Involvement, Happy or Sad Mood Inductions, and Strong or Weak Argument conditions. Attitudes, measured on 9-point Likert-type scales, and cognitive responses, measured through a thought listing, were assessed. On attitudes, people in the Happy Induction condition were equally persuaded by Strong and Weak Arguments, whereas people in the Sad Induction condition were persuaded by Strong, but not Weak, Arguments. Involvement had no effect. On the thought-listing measures, people in the Happy Induction condition showed modest elaboration. A stronger pattern of effects, consistent with high elaboration, was noted on the thought listings of people in the Sad Induction condition and who were in the High Involvement group. Interestingly, people in the Sad Induction condition who were in the Low Involvement group showed mood-congruency on thoughts. The data suggest that the effects of mood state are not moderated by the effects of issue Involvement on this measure of attitudes but that there may be some moderation on measures of elaboration. Implications and directions for research are discussed.