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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Spatial Attention To Social Cues Is Not A Monolithic Process, Samuel M. Harding, Ty W. Boyer, Bennett I. Bertenthal Aug 2016

Spatial Attention To Social Cues Is Not A Monolithic Process, Samuel M. Harding, Ty W. Boyer, Bennett I. Bertenthal

Department of Psychology Faculty Presentations

Social stimuli are a highly salient source of information, and seem to possess unique qualities that set them apart from other well-known categories. One characteristic is their ability to elicit spatial orienting, whereby directional stimuli like eyegaze and pointing gestures act as exogenous cues that trigger automatic shifts of attention that are difficult to inhibit. This effect has been extended to non-social stimuli, like arrows, leading to some uncertainty regarding whether spatial orienting is specialized for social cues. Using a standard spatial cueing paradigm, we found evidence that both a pointing hand and arrow are effective cues, but that the …


Psychological Inflexibility Predicts Attitudes Toward Syrian Refugees And National Security Policies, Arthur T. Hatton Sr., Michael Nielsen Jun 2016

Psychological Inflexibility Predicts Attitudes Toward Syrian Refugees And National Security Policies, Arthur T. Hatton Sr., Michael Nielsen

Department of Psychology Faculty Presentations

Our research examines whether psychological inflexibility predicts support for national security policies that limit civil liberties, unfairly target Muslims, and exclude Syrian refugees from entering the country. New research has suggested that high psychological inflexibility may be implicated in prejudice (Vilardaga, Estevez, Levin, & Hayes, 2012). According to that theory, inflexibility may contribute to discriminatory behaviors because it describes a person's tendency to engage in behaviors aimed at down-regulating internal distress. Recently, an enormous number of refugees from Syria have relocated from Syria into the EU, other Middle Eastern Countries, and in the United States. A political backlash to both …


Facilitation Of Learning Spatial Relations Among Goal Locations Does Not Require Visual Exposure To The Configuration Of Goal Locations, Bradley R. Sturz, Debbie M. Kelly, Michael F. Brown Jan 2009

Facilitation Of Learning Spatial Relations Among Goal Locations Does Not Require Visual Exposure To The Configuration Of Goal Locations, Bradley R. Sturz, Debbie M. Kelly, Michael F. Brown

Department of Psychology Faculty Presentations

Human participants searched in a virtual-environment open-field search task for four hidden goal locations arranged in a diamond configuration located in a 5 x 5 matrix. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: Pattern Only, Landmark + Pattern, or Cues + Pattern. All participants experienced a Training phase followed by a Testing phase. During Training, visual cues were coincident with goal locations for the Cues + Pattern group, and a single visual cue at a non-goal location maintained a consistent spatial relationship with the goal locations for the Landmark + Pattern group. All groups were then tested in …