Trait Anxiety and Persuasion: Individual Differences in Information Processing Strategies

1994 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth G. DeBono ◽  
Jennifer B. McDermott
1989 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 907-913 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew N. Kenner

The longer-term consistency with which subjects display apparently irrelevant self- or object-manipulations was examined by observing the subjects during the performance of two tasks followed by a repetition of these tasks after a 6-mo. interval. Individual subjects could not be characterized as consistently high or low producers of these movements across tasks and performances. Greater ordinal consistency among the subjects' body-focused movement frequencies was observed for the two different tasks conducted on the same day than was observed for the same task after 6 mo. Correlations between measures of anxiety and field-dependence and frequencies of body-focused movement varied significantly, not only with the task, but with repetitions of the same task after 6 mo. These results cast some doubt on explanations of individual differences in performance of body-focused hand movement through appeal to long-term individual differences in information-processing strategies.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew R. Nassar ◽  
Vanessa Troiani

AbstractLearning in dynamic environments requires integrating over stable fluctuations to minimize the impact of noise (stability) but rapidly responding in the face of fundamental changes (flexibility). Achieving one of these goals often requires sacrificing the other to some degree, producing a stability-flexibility tradeoff. Individuals navigate this tradeoff in different ways, with some people learning rapidly (emphasizing flexibility) and others relying more heavily on historical information (emphasizing stability). Despite the prominence of such individual differences in learning tasks, the degree to which they relate to broader characteristics of real-world behavior or pathologies has not been well explored. Here we relate individual differences in learning behavior to self-report measures thought to collectively capture characteristics of the Autism spectrum. We show that that young adults who learn most slowly tend to integrate more effective samples into their beliefs about the world making them more robust to noise (more stability), but are more likely to integrate information from previous contexts (less flexibility). We show that individuals who report paying more attention to detail tend to use high flexibility and low stability information processing strategies. We demonstrate the robustness of this inverse relationship between attention to detail and formation of stable beliefs in a heterogeneous population of children that includes a high proportion of Autism diagnoses. Together, our results highlight that attention to detail reflects an information processing policy that comes with a substantial downside, namely the ability to integrate data to overcome environmental noise.


2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrizia Vermigli ◽  
Alessandro Toni

The present research analyzes the relationship between attachment styles at an adult age and field dependence in order to identify possible individual differences in information processing. The “Experience in Close Relationships” test of Brennan et al. was administered to a sample of 380 individuals (160 males, 220 females), while a subsample of 122 subjects was given the Embedded Figure Test to measure field dependence. Confirming the starting hypothesis, the results have shown that individuals with different attachment styles have a different way of perceiving the figure against the background. Ambivalent and avoidant individuals lie at the two extremes of the same dimension while secure individuals occupy the central part. Significant differences also emerged between males and females.


Author(s):  
Alex Bertrams

AbstractPeople differ in how strongly they believe that, in general, one gets what (s)he deserves (i.e., individual differences in the general belief in a just world). In this study (N = 588; n = 60 with a formal autism diagnosis), whether or not autistic people and those with high autistic traits have a relatively low general belief in a just world is examined. The results revealed the expected relationship between autism/higher autistic traits and a lower general belief in a just world. In a subsample (n = 388), personal belief in a just world, external locus of control, and self-deception mediated this relationship. These findings are discussed in terms of autistic strengths (less biased information processing) and problems (lowered well-being).


1976 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 555-561 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Wyrick ◽  
Vincent J. Tempone ◽  
Jack Capehart

The relationship between attention and incidental learning during discrimination training was studied in 30 children, aged 10 to 11. A polymetric eye-movement recorder measured direct visual attention. Consistent with previous findings, recall of incidental stimuli was greatest during the initial and terminal stages of intentional learning. Contrary to previous explanations, however, visual attention to incidental stimuli was not related to training. While individual differences in attention to incidental stimuli were predictive of recall, attention to incidental stimuli was not related to level of training. Results suggested that changes in higher order information processing rather than direct visual attention were responsible for the curvilinear learning of incidental stimuli during intentional training.


2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-215
Author(s):  
Ashley S. Waggoner ◽  
Eliot R. Smith

Previous work has shown that compared to passive perceivers who view preselected information about target persons, active perceivers are less confident in their impressions, do not show increased confidence with increased amounts of information, and like targets less. The authors now explain these findings, postulating that perceivers without control over the amount of information they receive should be motivated to form impressions earlier, altering their information-processing strategies. Study 1 predicted and found that content-only active perceivers who control the content, but not the amount, of information show the same positive relationship between confidence and amount of information as passive perceivers, as well as the same reading-time patterns and level of liking. Study 2 used clearly valenced target stimuli and found support for the hypothesis that passive perceivers form more extreme early impressions, leading to greater liking when early information is positive but less liking when it is negative.


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