The Role of Affective and Cognitive Individual Differences in Social Perception

Need for Affect, Problematic Social Media Use and the Mediating Role of Fear of Missing Out in European and Arab Samples

Purpose

The growing awareness and concern about the excessive use of social media have led to an increasing number of studies investigating the underlying factors contributing to this behavior. In the literature, it is discussed that problematic social media use (PSMU) can impact individuals' mental health and well-being. Drawing on the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution (I-PACE) model, this study aimed to examine the association between the need for affect (affect approach and affect avoidance) and PSMU (operationalized via the social media disorder scale), as well as the mediating role of fear of missing out (FoMO) in that relation.

Participants and Methods

Data were collected via an online survey from 513 participants in European and Arabic countries. Regression and mediation analyses were conducted to explore the relationships between affect approach, affect avoidance, FoMO, and PSMU.

Results

Regression analysis results indicated that both affect approach and affect avoidance as part of the need for affect construct significantly predicted PSMU in both cultural contexts. Mediation analysis showed that FoMO partially mediated the relationship between affect approach and PSMU in the Arab sample but not in the European sample. Beyond this, FoMO partially mediated the relationship between affect avoidance and PSMU in both cultural samples.

Conclusion

The present study indicates that managing emotions could be an effective strategy to combat PSMU. In line with this and against the background of the data business model behind social media companies, we deem it to be of importance to minimize triggers related to FoMO in the design of social media platforms (for example, push notifications). This might be particularly relevant for individuals with a high inclination towards affect approach and affect avoidance.

Defensive Confidence and Certainty in Unchanged Attitudes: The Role of Affect-Cognition Matching

Despite much prior research on matching appeals to the affective-cognitive orientation of attitudes, little attention has focused on the consequences of affect-cognition (mis)matching when individuals resist persuasion. We propose that unlike a matched attack, an attack that is mismatched to the affective-cognitive orientation of attitudes would result in low defensive confidence individuals holding onto their unchanged attitudes with less certainty than high defensive confidence individuals. As hypothesized, low defensive confidence participants were less certain after an affective than a cognitive attack for a cognitive issue (Study 1), and the opposite was true for an affective issue (Study 2). Both patterns occurred again when the affective-cognitive orientation of attitudes was manipulated (Study 3) or measured as an individual difference (Study 4). Moreover, perceived knowledge mediated the effects on attitude certainty (Study 4). We end by discussing implications for our understanding of affect-cognition matching and attitude certainty.

Brain and behavioral contributions to individual choices in response to affective-cognitive persuasion

Affective and cognitive information conveyed by persuasive stimuli is evaluated and integrated by individuals according to their behavioral predispositions. However, the neurocognitive structure that supports persuasion based on either affective or cognitive content is poorly understood. Here, we examine the neural and behavioral processes supporting choices based on affective and cognitive persuasion by integrating 4 information processing features: intrinsic brain connectivity, stimulus-evoked brain activity, intrinsic affective-cognitive orientation, and explicit target evaluations. We found that the intrinsic cross-network connections of a multimodal fronto-parietal network are associated with individual affective-cognitive orientation. Moreover, using a cross-validated classifier, we found that individuals' intrinsic brain-behavioral dimensions, such as affective-cognitive orientation and intrinsic brain connectivity, can predict individual choices between affective and cognitive targets. Our findings show that affective- and cognitive-based choices rely on multiple sources, including behavioral orientation, stimulus evaluation, and intrinsic functional brain architecture.

Identifying Chinese social media users' need for affect from their online behaviors

The need for affect (NFA), which refers to the motivation to approach or avoid emotion-inducing situations, is a valuable indicator of mental health monitoring and intervention, as well as many other applications. Traditionally, NFA has been measured using self-reports, which is not applicable in today's online scenarios due to its shortcomings in fast, large-scale assessments. This study proposed an automatic and non-invasive method for recognizing NFA based on social media behavioral data. The NFA questionnaire scores of 934 participants and their social media data were acquired. Then we run machine learning algorithms to train predictive models, which can be used to automatically identify NFA degrees of online users. The results showed that Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGB) performed best among several algorithms. The Pearson correlation coefficients between predicted scores and NFA questionnaire scores achieved 0.25 (NFA avoidance), 0.31 (NFA approach) and 0.34 (NFA total), and the split-half reliabilities were 0.66-0.70. Our research demonstrated that adolescents' NFA can be identified based on their social media behaviors, and opened a novel way of non-intrusively perceiving users' NFA which can be used for mental health monitoring and other situations that require large-scale NFA measurements.

Tugging at Their Heartstrings: Partner's Knowledge of Affective Meta-Bases Predicts Use of Emotional Advocacies in Close Relationships

Traditional studies of attitude change have focused on attempts between strangers, but what about in close relationships? The present article examines whether accuracy regarding a partner's meta-attitudinal bases can influence persuasion attempts. Because meta-bases reflect informationprocessing goals, we hypothesized that given partners with more affective meta-bases, greater accuracy regarding partners' meta-bases would predict use of emotional advocacies and their perceived persuasiveness. Self and partner ratings of meta-bases were assessed, and emotional advocacies as well as cognitive ones were provided to participants to present to their partners. Results revealed that the correspondence between perceptions of partner's affective meta-bases and use of emotional advocacies was greater among those whose partners rated themselves as having more affective meta-bases compared to those whose partners rated themselves as having less affective meta-bases. Results remained significant when controlling for perceived similarity. Implications of meta-bases for understanding interpersonal influence are discussed.

Loneliness, Escapism, and Identification With Media Characters: An Exploration of the Psychological Factors Underlying Binge-Watching Tendency

Nowadays, binge-watching (i.e., watching multiple episodes of a TV series in one session) has become a widespread practice of media consumption, raising concerns about its negative outcomes. Nevertheless, previous research has overlooked the underlying psychological mechanisms leading to binge-watching. In the present work, we investigated some of the psychological variables that could favor binge-watching tendencies in a sample of TV series viewers (N = 196). To this aim, psychological determinants of problematic digital technologies usage (i.e., feelings of loneliness), as well as some of the mechanisms related to the enjoyment of media contents (i.e., escapism and the identification with media characters), were considered as predictors of the tendency to binge-watch. Results indicated that higher feelings of loneliness were associated with higher levels of problematic digital technologies usage. Additionally, direct and indirect effects showed that only escapism – out of the four dimensions measuring the problematic use of Internet-related technologies – predicted participants’ stronger identification with media characters, which in turn promoted greater binge-watching tendencies. Overall, we suggest that binge-watching could be interpreted as a coping strategy for media escapists, who enjoy TV series as a privileged online space in which the need to escape finds its fulfillment, allowing them to manage loneliness by identifying with a fictitious character.

Cyberloafing behaviors among university students: Their relationships with positive and negative affect

With the technological advances, the use of digital devices, such as laptops, tablets, or smartphones in the educational setting has become prevalent among young people. Accordingly, there has been an increased concern among scholars on students' in-class Internet use for personal purposes; namely, 'cyberloafing'. Considerable research has demonstrated the adverse effects of in-class Internet use on students' learning environment and academic performance. The present study particularly investigates the relationship between cyberloafing behaviors and positive and negative affect among university students. It examines five different online activities including sharing, shopping, real-time updating, accessing online content, and gaming/gambling separately to gain greater insight into students' cyberloafing behaviors. The sample consisted of 267 undergraduate students who filled out questionnaires measuring cyberloafing behaviors, positive and negative affect, and demographical information including the use of the Internet and mobile technologies. The initial analyses showed that male students had higher scores in shopping, accessing online content, and gaming/gambling than females. The latent variable analysis revealed that among different activities of cyberloafing, accessing online content and gaming/gambling were positively correlated with positive affect, while sharing was positively associated with negative affect among students. The findings emphasize the importance of evaluating cyberloafing as a part of students' psychological well-being rather than a variable merely related to academic achievement. The findings of the study also enlighten researchers and educators in developing appropriate policies and interventions to manage misuse of the Internet in class.

P. Hanel P, J. Wolf L. The Very Efficient Assessment of Need for Cognition: Developing a Six-Item Version

The need for cognition refers to people's tendency to engage in and enjoy thinking and has become influential across social and medical sciences. Using three samples from the United States and the United Kingdom (N = 1,596), we introduce a six-item short version of the Need for Cognition Scale (NCS-18). First, we reduced the number of items from 18 to 6 based on the items' discrimination values, threshold levels, measurement precision (item information curve), item-total correlations, and factor loadings. Second, we confirmed the one-factor structure and established measurement invariance across countries and gender. Finally, we demonstrated that while the NCS-6 provides significant time savings, it comes at a minimal cost in terms of its construct validity with external variables such as openness, cognitive reflection test, and need for affect. Overall, our findings indicate that the NCS-6 is a parsimonious, reliable, and valid measure of need for cognition.

Nonverbal Immediacy Mediates the Relationship Between Interpersonal Motives and Belongingness

While belongingness is a predictor of mental and physical health, the lack of social bonds is an issue for many people in occidental countries. This issue calls for global and affordable solutions. In this study, we notably investigated (a) the presumed positive relationships between agentic and communal interactional motives and belongingness, and (b) the mediating role of self-reported non-verbal immediacy-an indicator of availability to interact-in these relationships. Cross-sectional and longitudinal data were collected by means of questionnaires to test these hypotheses (N _{Crossectional} = 344; N _Longitudinal = 126) using the General Belongingness Scale, the Non-verbal Immediacy Scale, and the Bem Sex Role Inventory. Results supported the hypotheses: Interpersonal motives and non-verbal immediacy are associated cross-sectionally to belongingness, non-verbal immediacy mediates the interpersonal motives-belongingness relationship and positive changes in non-verbal immediacy are also related to increased belongingness. Practical and research implications are discussed.

Loneliness Modulates Automatic Attention to Warm and Competent Faces: Preliminary Evidence From an Eye-Tracking Study

Social connections are essential for human survival. Loneliness is a motivational factor for building and maintaining social connections. Automatic attention occurs with little cognitive effort and plays a key role in detecting biologically salient events, such as human faces. Although previous studies have investigated the effect of loneliness on social behavior, the effect of loneliness on automatic attention to human faces remains largely unknown. The present study investigated the effects of loneliness on automatic visual attention to warmth and competence facial information, which determines facial attraction. This study included 43 participants who rated warmth and competence facial information. Then, they engaged with the target-distractor paradigm in which they saw two house images at the top and bottom and indicated whether the images were identical. During the task, we presented two faces as distractors and measured visual attention toward the faces as automatic attention because participants did not have to attend to the faces. The results showed an interactive effect between subjective loneliness and facial information on automatic attention. Warm targets automatically captured the attention of people feeling relatively lonely, whereas competent targets automatically captured the attention of those who felt less lonely. These results suggest that loneliness adaptively influences automatic processing of social information.

Narrative warmth and quantitative competence: Message type affects impressions of a speaker

Persuasion research often focuses on how source characteristics affect attitude change in response to a message; however, message characteristics may also alter perceptions of the source. The Message-Based Impression Formation effect (M-BIF) suggests that perceivers use features of messages to infer characteristics of the source, and that such inferences may have a variety of consequential outcomes. In particular, the choice of narrative versus statistical evidence may have implications for the perceived warmth and competence of a source. In five experiments, narrative arguments led to greater perceptions of source warmth and statistical arguments led to greater perceptions of source competence. Across the two behavioral studies, a matching effect emerged: participants preferred to work on cooperative tasks with partners who had provided narratives, and competitive tasks with partners who had provided statistical evidence. These results suggest that the evidence type chosen for everyday communications may affect person perception and interpersonal interaction.

Perceived discrimination and cognitive function in middle-aged and older adults living with HIV in China

Middle-aged and older adults with HIV experience double discrimination and cognitive impairment due to both their HIV status and their age. However, the relationship between perceived discrimination and self-reported cognitive ability in middle-aged and older people living with HIV (PLWH) is less clear. We measured self-reported perceived discrimination and cognitive ability using the Expanded Everyday Discrimination Scale and the subscale of the AIDS Health Assessment Questionnaire (AIDS-HAQ). The study sample included 324 middle-aged and older PLWH (over 45 years old) from five designated HIV hospitals in three regions (east coast, middle, and southwest regions) of China. The descriptive analysis showed that 45.37% of the participants reported perceiving discrimination at least once in the past twelve months, and 47.22% reported having at least one type of cognitive impairment. Multiple linear regression results showed that higher levels of perceived discrimination (β = -0.121, P = 0.036) were significantly associated with lower levels of self-reported cognitive ability after controlling for several covariates, including sociodemographic variables, mental health status, health behaviors, and social support. A longer duration of HIV was also related to a lower level of self-reported cognitive ability. Our findings indicate that perceived discrimination is related to self-reported cognitive ability and suggest that counseling services and support systems should be developed to reduce age- and disease-associated discrimination. A reduction in perceived discrimination would improve not only overall wellbeing but also cognitive ability in later life.

Affective and Cognitive Orientations in Intergroup Perception

Three studies examined the role of need for affect (NFA) and need for cognition (NFC) in intergroup perception. We hypothesized that NFA predicts a preference for stereotypically warm groups over stereotypically cold groups, whereas NFC predicts a preference for stereotypically competent groups over stereotypically incompetent groups. Study 1 supported these hypotheses for attitudes toward stereotypically ambivalent groups, which are stereotyped as high on one of the trait dimensions (e.g., high warmth) and low on the other (e.g., low competence), but not for stereotypically univalent groups, which are seen as high or low on both dimensions. Studies 2 and 3 replicated this pattern for stereotypically ambivalent groups, and yielded provocative evidence regarding several putative mechanisms underlying these associations. Together, these findings help integrate and extend past evidence on attitude-relevant individual differences with research on intergroup perception.