affective bias
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Author(s):  
Anna Piata ◽  
Cristina Soriano

Abstract When talking about anticipated events, speakers can conceptualize them either as destinations towards which they are moving or as entities moving towards them, which correspond to the Ego- and the Time-moving metaphors, respectively (cf. ‘We are approaching Christmas’ and ‘Christmas is approaching’). Research in psycholinguistics has shown affective valence, i.e. whether the conceptualized event is perceived as positive or negative, to be one of the factors that modulate metaphor choice; positive anticipation is preferentially associated with Ego-moving expressions, whereas negative anticipation is predominantly associated with Time-moving metaphors. This paper sets out to test if the time-affect association surfaces in naturally-occurring language use when both metaphorical patterns are available. By focusing on the temporal usage of the verb approach, we provide linguistic evidence in favor of such an affective bias in time representations. In addition, the language data point to a semantic preference for a particular type of event (i.e., personal vs social) under each metaphorical pattern. We interpret this finding as preliminary evidence for a possible semantic bias in time representations to be further investigated.


2021 ◽  
pp. 009365022110425
Author(s):  
Nahema Marchal

Affective polarization—growing animosity and hostility between political rivals—has become increasingly characteristic of Western politics. While this phenomenon is well-documented through surveys, few studies investigate whether and how it manifests in the digital context, and what mechanisms underpin it. Drawing on social identity and intergroup theories, this study employs computational methods to explore to what extent political discussions on Reddit’s r/politics are affectively polarized, and what communicative factors shape these affective biases. Results show that interactions between ideologically opposed users were significantly more negative than like-minded ones. These interactions were also more likely to be cut short than sustained if one user referred negatively to the other’s political in-group. Conversely, crosscutting interactions in which one of the users expressed positive sentiment toward the out-group were more likely to attract a positive than a negative response, thus mitigating intergroup affective bias. Implications for the study of online political communication dynamics are discussed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Tereza Ruzickova ◽  
James Carson ◽  
Stirling Argabright ◽  
Amy Gillespie ◽  
Calum Guinea ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for mental health interventions that can be easily disseminated during a crisis. Behavioural activation (BA) is a cost-effective treatment that can be administered by non-specialists; however, it is unclear whether it is still effective during a time of lockdown and social distancing, when opportunities for positive activity are significantly constrained. Methods Between May and October 2020, we randomised 68 UK participants with mild to moderate low mood to either a 4-week online programme of non-specialist administered BA or to a passive control group. Before and after the intervention, we collected self-report data on mood and COVID-related disruption, as well as measuring emotional cognition as an objective marker of risk for depression. Results In comparison to the control group, the BA group showed a significant decrease in depression, anxiety and anhedonia after the intervention, as well as an increase in self-reported activation and social support. Benefits persisted at 1-month follow-up. BA also decreased negative affective bias on several measures of the Facial Emotion Recognition Task and early change in bias was associated with later therapeutic gain. Participants rated the intervention as highly acceptable. Conclusion This study highlights the benefits of online BA that can be administered by non-specialists after brief training. These findings can help inform the policy response towards the rising incidence of mental health problems during a crisis situation such as a pandemic. They also highlight the use of objective cognitive markers of risk across different treatment modalities.


2021 ◽  
pp. 136843022110028
Author(s):  
Elaine M. Smith ◽  
Anca Minescu

Fostering inclusive attitudes among children in host classrooms is key to integrating refugee children. A field experiment tests the prejudice reduction effects of a teacher-led activity integrating imagined intergroup contact and normative influence. To enhance the effectiveness of imagined contact, scenarios include supportive ingroup norms. In 29 classes, 545 children ( Mage = 10.88, SD = 0.96) were randomly assigned to one of five conditions: standard imagined contact, imagined contact encouraged by family, class peers, or religious ingroups, or a control. Children in all norm-framed imagined contact conditions had significantly less antirefugee bias compared with the control. The class-peer norm frame significantly reduced affective and cognitive facets of bias. The family norm frame reduced affective bias, and the religious norm frame reduced cognitive bias. Standard imagined contact did not differ from the control. Potential mediating pathways are explored. These findings illustrate the utility of incorporating norms into imagined contact interventions to reduce antirefugee bias among schoolchildren.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Alexandra C. Pike ◽  
Millie Lowther ◽  
Oliver J. Robinson

Abstract Purpose of Review Common currency tasks are tasks that investigate the same phenomenon in different species. In this review, we discuss how to ensure the translational validity of common currency tasks, summarise their benefits, present recent research in this area and offer future directions and recommendations. Recent Findings We discuss the strengths and limitations of three specific examples where common currency tasks have added to our understanding of psychiatric constructs—affective bias, reversal learning and goal-based decision making. Summary Overall, common currency tasks offer the potential to improve drug discovery in psychiatry. We recommend that researchers prioritise construct validity above face validity when designing common currency tasks and suggest that the evidence for construct validity is summarised in papers presenting research in this area.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-20
Author(s):  
Shannon M. Locke ◽  
Oliver J. Robinson

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon M Locke ◽  
Oliver Joe Robinson

Affective bias - a propensity to focus on negative information at the expense of positive information - is a core feature of many mental health problems. However, it can be caused by wide range of possible underlying cognitive mechanisms. Here we illustrate this by focusing on one particular behavioural signature of affective bias - increased tendency of anxious/depressed individuals to predict lower rewards - in the context of the Signal Detection Theory (SDT) modelling framework. Specifically, we apply this framework to a tone-discrimination task (Aylward et al., 2019a), and argue that the same behavioural signature (differential placement of the 'decision criterion' between healthy controls and individuals with mood/anxiety disorders) might be driven by multiple SDT processes. Building on this theoretical foundation, we propose five experiments to test five hypothetical sources of this affective bias: beliefs about prior probabilities, beliefs about performance, subjective value of reward, learning differences, and need for accuracy differences. We argue that greater precision about the mechanisms driving affective bias may eventually enable us to better understand and treat mood and anxiety disorders.


2020 ◽  
pp. 187-192
Author(s):  
Pat Croskerry

In this case, a middle-aged male is brought to the emergency department of a tertiary care hospital from the airport. He has had an episode of shortness of breath and chest tightness, associated with nausea, paresthesias, and headache. Initially, he undergoes a cardiac workup and is cleared of any problems with his heart. He is discharged to the community and advised to return if there is any recurrence of symptoms. He does return for a further four visits over a 2-week period, during which he is referred to various other disciplines and services before his correct diagnosis is made. The case illustrates how a variety of biases influence the course of his management, notably diagnosis momentum, fundamental attribution error, and affective bias.


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