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Biomedical subjects

Brian P Meier

Publications and source records attributed to Brian P Meier.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Does the avoidance of body and shape concerns reinforce eating disordered attitudes? Evidence from a manipulation study.

It is theoretically plausible to assume that attention plays a role in eating disordered attitudes. Indeed, studies examining relations between eating disorders and attention to body and/or shape related stimuli have found such associations. Although this research is invaluable in characterizing relations between attentional processes and eating disordered attitudes, such work remains correlational in nature. In the present investigation, 73 undergraduate women were randomly assigned to one of two attentional training conditions. One condition trained attention away from body/shape words, whereas the other trained attention toward body/shape words. Following this training participants reported on their eating-related attitudes. Women trained to avoid body/shape words subsequently reported more concerns about eating and body shape. These results suggest that attentional avoidance of body/shape concerns increases such concerns. The results point to the potential causal effects of attention on eating disordered attitudes, in turn suggesting a basis for possible treatment.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Stuck in a rut: perseverative response tendencies and the neuroticism-distress relationship.

Clinical views of neuroticism-linked distress often make reference to the perseverative sorts of mental processes that reinforce such experiences. The goal of the present 7 studies, involving 488 undergraduate participants, was to directly examine such perseverative processes. Individual differences in response perseveration were operationalized in terms of choice reaction time difficulties switching (vs. repeating) responses across consecutive trials. Response perseveration interacted with neuroticism in predicting negative emotion, dissatisfaction with life, and displays of negative emotion (Studies 1-4). Specifically, neuroticism-outcome relations were quite a bit stronger at high levels of perseveration. Additional studies (Studies 5-7) provided support for the convergent and discriminant validity of response perseveration. Overall, the results highlight the manner in which response perseveration reinforces experiences of negative emotion.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2006

Unstable in more ways than one: reaction time variability and the neuroticism/distress relationship.

The authors hypothesized that a greater degree of stimulus-response variability could either serve adaptive or maladaptive control purposes, depending on levels of Neuroticism. Specifically, a more variable relation between stimulus and response may be emotionally beneficial if such flexibility is used to support non-neurotic forms of self-regulation, but costly if it is used to support neurotic forms of self-regulation. To investigate these ideas, the authors asked 232 college undergraduates within three studies to perform several choice reaction time (RT) tasks. On the basis of performance, we could quantify stimulus-response variability in terms of RT variability from trial to trial. Such a measure of stimulus-response variability interacted with Neuroticism in predicting momentary negative affect (Study 1), informant judgments of negative affect (Study 2), and informant judgments of anxious symptoms (Study 3). As hypothesized, greater stimulus-response variability tended to be associated with less distress among individuals low in Neuroticism, but more distress among individuals high in Neuroticism. The results highlight the manner in which Neuroticism may "taint" control functions, in turn reinforcing Neuroticism-linked outcomes.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Turning the other cheek. Agreeableness and the regulation of aggression-related primes.

Aggression-related cues (e.g., violent media) can prime both hostile thoughts and the tendency to commit aggression. However, not everyone engages in an aggressive act after being exposed to an aggression-related cue. Some thought pattern, perhaps an automatic one, may prevent the cue-aggression sequence in some individuals. These considerations motivated the present research, which examined the potential for agreeableness to moderate the effect of aggression-related cues on behavior and cognition. In Study 1, we found that priming with aggression-related cues increased aggressive behavior, but only among individuals low in agreeableness. Study 2 showed that aggression-related cues activated prosocial thoughts among individuals high in agreeable affect (a component of agreeableness). These results reveal that agreeable individuals are able to short-circuit the cue-aggression sequence, likely by recruiting prosocial thoughts in response to aggression-related primes.

Affect↗
PubMed2005

Extraversion, threat categorizations, and negative affect: a reaction time approach to avoidance motivation.

The authors sought to measure a component of the avoidance self-regulation system, specifically one related to object appraisal functions. Participants performed a choice reaction time task (Studies 1 & 2) or a go/no go task (Study 3) in which they were asked to categorize words (e.g., knife) as threatening in nature. In a series of three studies involving 236 undergraduates, the authors found that introverts who were skilled at categorizing events as threatening (vs. introverts slow to do so) experienced more negative affect in their daily lives. Among extraverts, threat categorization performance did not predict negative affect. The authors suggest that implicit threat categorizations render individuals vulnerable to negative affect but that high levels of Extraversion are capable of inhibiting such affective consequences. The authors discuss implications of the findings for extant views of Extraversion, avoidance motivation, and self-regulation.

Affect↗
PubMed2004

Why the sunny side is up: association between affect and vertical position.

Metaphors linking spatial location and affect (e.g., feeling up or down) may have subtle, but pervasive, effects on evaluation. In three studies, participants evaluated words presented on a computer. In Study 1, evaluations of positive words were faster when words were in the up rather than the down position, whereas evaluations of negative words were faster when words were in the down rather than the up position. In Study 2, positive evaluations activated higher areas of visual space, whereas negative evaluations activated lower areas of visual space. Study 3 revealed that, although evaluations activate areas of visual space, spatial positions do not activate evaluations. The studies suggest that affect has a surprisingly physical basis.

Affect↗
PubMed2004

Why good guys wear white.

Affect is a somewhat abstract concept that is frequently linked to physical metaphor. For example, good is often depicted as light (rather than dark), up (rather than down), and moving forward (rather than backward). The purpose of our studies was to examine whether the association between stimulus brightness and affect is optional or obligatory. In a series of three studies, participants categorized words as negative or positive. The valence of the words and the brightness of the letters were varied orthogonally. In Studies 1, 2, and 3, we found that categorization was inhibited when there was a mismatch between stimulus brightness (e.g., light) and word valence (e.g., negative). Studies 4 and 5 reveal boundary conditions for the effect. The studies suggest that, when making evaluations, people automatically assume that bright objects are good, whereas dark objects are bad.

Affect↗
PubMed2004

Does quick to blame mean quick to anger? The role of agreeableness in dissociating blame and anger.

Two studies investigated agreeableness, the accessibility of blame, and their potential interactive effects on anger. To measure the chronic accessibility of blame, a choice reaction time task was created that required participants to classify words as blameworthy or not. It was found that for individuals low in agreeableness, blame accessibility was positively related to anger and arguments during the course of daily life, hostile feelings during the course of a semester, and anger in response to a short video involving a blameworthy action. This same straightforward relationship between the accessibility of blame and anger did not characterize those high in agreeableness. The results suggest that agreeableness plays an important role in facilitating (low agreeableness) or inhibiting (high agreeableness) the link between accessible blame and anger.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Watch out! That could be dangerous: valence-arousal interactions in evaluative processing.

Seven studies involving 146 undergraduates examined the effects of stimulus valence and arousal on direct and indirect measures of evaluative processing. Stimuli were emotional slides (Studies 1 to 6) or words (Study 7) that systematically varied in valence and arousal. Evaluative categorization was measured by reaction times to evaluate the stimuli (Studies 2, 3, and 7), latencies related to emotional feelings (Study 3), and incidental effects on motor performance (Studies 4 and 5). A consistent interaction was observed such that evaluation latencies were faster if a negative stimulus was high in arousal or if a positive stimulus was low in arousal. Studies 1, 6, and 7 establish that the findings are not due to stimulus identification processes. The findings therefore suggest that people make evaluative inferences on the basis of stimulus arousal.

Affect↗
PubMed2003

The effect of stimulus content on volunteering for sexual interest research among college students.

Much of the literature on volunteer bias in sexual interest research has been limited to either identifying variables on which volunteers differ from nonvolunteers or examining how the intrusiveness of the measurement device affects volunteer rates. The present study was designed to examine whether stimulus content would affect volunteer rates and volunteer/nonvolunteer differences in a large sample of college students (206 men and 358 women). The study also sought to determine whether such findings could also apply to research that recruits from exclusively heterosexual samples. Students completed questionnaires in small groups and were asked whether they would be willing to volunteer for studies that would involve viewing and rating five different types of sexually explicit images (nude men, nude women, heterosexual behavior, male homosexual behavior, and female homosexual behavior). Results indicate that men and women differed in the types of images that they would volunteer to view, based upon the content of the images. Furthermore, volunteers for each type of image reported significantly greater self-monitoring as well as sexual and general sensation seeking than did nonvolunteers, while differences on other measures were less consistent. Discussion is given to specific ways in which the findings and generalizability of sexual interest study results can be affected.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

The "big five" and hypnotic suggestibility.

A recent approach to personality measurement argues that the essential personality traits are encompassed by 5 basic factors: openness/intellect, conscientiousness, neuroticism, agreeableness, and extraversion. This study used the Big Five Inventory to test the hypothesis that 1 or more of the 5 factors underlie hypnotic suggestibility. No meaningful relationships between hypnotic suggestibility and any of the 5 factors were found.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

A comparison of chronic pain between an urban and rural population.

Residents of rural and urban areas of North Dakota were surveyed regarding chronic pain. Participants (N = 188) responded to questions pertaining to the prevalence and characteristics of chronic pain, quality of life, and social support. Overall, 58% of the participants reported chronic pain, with arthritis as the leading cause, the lower back as the main location, and oral medication as the most common treatment. Individuals from rural and urban locations differed significantly in the rate of chronic pain reported. Participants with chronic pain reported a significantly lower quality of life than individuals without chronic pain.

Aged↗