Good decision-making is associated with an adaptive cardiovascular response to social competitive stress.

Competition elicits different psychological and cardiovascular responses depending on a person's skills. Decision-making has been considered a distal factor that influences competition, but there are no studies analyzing this relationship. Our objective was to analyze whether decision-making affects the response to competition. Specifically, we aimed to test whether good performers on a decision-making test, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), showed an adaptive cardiovascular response to competition. In all, 116 participants (44 women) performed the IGT and were classified into Good or Poor decision-makers. Subsequently, they were exposed to a stress task in two different conditions: a face-to-f…

Spanish validation of general decision-making style scale: Sex invariance, sex differences and relationships with personality and coping styles

AbstractThe General Decision-Making Styles (GDMS) scale measures five decision-making styles: rational, intuitive, dependent, avoidant and spontaneous. GDMS has been related to coping and some personality factors and sex-differences has been described. In spite of its usefulness, there is not a validated Spanish translation. The aim of this study is to translate to Spanish and provide psychometric evidence considering sex differences and the relationships between GDMS, personality and coping variables. Two samples were used for this study; the first sample composed by 300 participants who completed the GDMS and the Rational-Experiential Inventory (REI), and the second sample of 361 particip…

Designing a Low-Fat Food Packaging: Comparing Consumers’ Responses in Virtual and Physical Shopping Environments

This paper aims to test to what extent emotional responses towards a low-fat product presented virtually converge with emotional responses toward this product when presented physically. Second, we want to probe if low-order emotions (physiological/unconscious responses) and high-order emotions (cognitive/conscious responses) converge to explain healthy product choices. To this end, 83 young participants were engaged in our experiment. Two packaging design variables were manipulated with the help of a real company (the color and the message), so that six different packages were created. Two different buying contexts were simulated: A virtual context and a physical context. Physiological resp…

Positive emotion induction improves cardiovascular coping with a cognitive task

Feeling positive emotions seems to favour an adaptive cardiovascular response (greater heart rate variability, HRV), associated with improved cognitive performance. This study aims to test whether the induction of a positive emotional state produce such cardiovascular response and therefore, enhance coping and performance in Tower of Hanoi (ToH). Forty-two Participants were randomly distributed into two groups (Experimental and Control). Experimental group was subjected to the evocation of a memory of success, while control group was subjected to an attentional task before performing ToH. Heart Rate Variability (HRV), activity of the zygomatic major muscle (ZEMG) and emotions were measured.…

Hormonal and emotional responses to competition using a dyadic approach: Basal testosterone predicts emotional state after a defeat.

The present study analyzes the testosterone (T), cortisol (C) and emotional response in competitive interactions between dyads, as well as the relationship between basal T and the emotional response. Seventy-two men and women (36 dyads) participated in same-sex dyads in a face-to-face laboratory competition, and thirty-two men and women (16 dyads) carried out the same task in a non-competitive condition. Salivary samples (5 ml of saliva, plastic vials) were provided at three time points (baseline, task, and post-task), and subsequently T (pg/ml) and C (nmol/L) concentrations were measured using ELISA method. Participants completed self-reported measures of emotional valence, emotional arous…

Early stages of the acute physical stress response increase loss aversion and learning on decision making: A Bayesian approach

Abstract When the cortisol peak is reached after a stressor people learn slower and make worse decisions in the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). However, the effects of the early stress response have not received as much attention. Since physical exercise is an important neuroendocrine stressor, this study aimed to fill this gap using an acute physical stressor. We hypothesized that this stress stage would promote an alertness that may increase feedback-sensitivity and, therefore, reward-learning during IGT, leading to a greater overall decision-making. 90 participants were divided into two groups: 47 were exposed to an acute intense physical stressor (cycloergometer) and 43 to a distractor 5 min …

Intergroup conflict and rational decision making

The literature has been relatively silent about post-conflict processes. However, understanding the way humans deal with post-conflict situations is a challenge in our societies. With this in mind, we focus the present study on the rationality of cooperative decision making after an intergroup conflict, i.e., the extent to which groups take advantage of post-conflict situations to obtain benefits from collaborating with the other group involved in the conflict. Based on dual-process theories of thinking and affect heuristic, we propose that intergroup conflict hinders the rationality of cooperative decision making. We also hypothesize that this rationality improves when groups are involved …

Sex differences in autonomic response and situational appraisal of a competitive situation in young adults.

Competition is a social stressor capable of eliciting physiological responses modulated by the outcome. The main objective of this study was to analyze the psychophysiological changes associated with competition and its outcome in men and women, taking into account the role of situational appraisal. To this end, 112 young people (46 men and 66 women) participated in a laboratory task in a competitive or non-competitive condition, while Blood Pressure (BP), Heart Rate Variability (HRV), and Skin Conductance (SC) responses were measured. Our results indicate that competition elicits higher systolic blood pressure (SBP) than a non-competitive task; in addition, winners presented a greater R-R …

I Cannot Read Your Eye Expression: Suicide Attempters Have Difficulties in Interpreting Complex Social Emotions

International audience; Background: The ability to differentiate emotions in social contexts is important for dealing with challenging social situations. Suicide attempters show some difficulties in emotion recognition that may result in hypersensitivity to social stress. However, other studies on the recognition of social complex emotions found that suicide attempters have similar performances as depressed non-attempters. Objectives: To investigate differences in social emotion recognition in patients with current Major Depressive Episode (MDE) with and without history of suicide attempt. Methods: Two hundred and ten patients with MDE were recruited among whom 115 had lifetime history of s…

Decision-Making Skills Moderate the Relationship between Psychological and Physical Pain with Suicidal Behavior in Depressed Patients

International audience

Rational-experiential thinking style and rational intergroup cooperation: the moderating role of intergroup conflict / Estilos de pensamiento racional-experiencial y la cooperación intergrupal racional: el rol modulador del conflicto intergrupal

AbstractCooperative relationships between groups are difficult because of the high human capability to differentiate between in-group vs. out-group members. This obstacle exists even when the groups can obtain benefits for themselves from cooperation with other groups (rational cooperation). Based on an interactionist approach, the authors propose that personal (individual differences) and situational (conflicts) factors contribute to rational intergroup cooperation. The authors conducted a preliminary correlational study (Study 1) and an experimental investigation (Study 2). In Study 1, the authors examined, with 105 participants, the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the R…

Psychiatric patients are more vulnerable to the Spanish euthanasia law?

Hormonal changes after competition predict sex‐differentiated decision‐making

Sex differences in the psychophysiological response to an intergroup conflict.

Abstract Conflict induces psychophysiological responses, but less is known about responses to intergroup conflict. Intergroup relationships activate social processes, adding complexity to people’s physiological responses. This study analyzes the psychophysiological responses to intergroup conflict considering sex differences. Thus, 150 young people were distributed in 50 groups in two conditions (conflict vs. non-conflict). Conflict was created in the interaction between two groups (three people each) in the laboratory. Their responses were compared to a control group. Mood, heart rate variability, cortisol, and testosterone were measured. Results showed that intergroup conflict induced a l…

Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-4: Psychometric properties among a French clinical eating disorder sample and normative comparisons.

Although the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-4 (SATAQ-4) has been shown to be a reliable and valid tool for assessing appearance pressures and appearance ideal internalization among French college students, to date its psychometric properties among French clinical populations have not been examined. The aim of this study was to evaluate the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the SATAQ-4 among a French female clinical eating disorder sample, and to compare the mean SATAQ-4 scores from this clinical sample to previously published means observed among French female college women. The current sample included 192 French women consecutively recruited from an o…

Intergroup conflict and rational decision making.

The literature has been relatively silent about post-conflict processes. However, understanding the way humans deal with post-conflict situations is a challenge in our societies. With this in mind, we focus the present study on the rationality of cooperative decision making after an intergroup conflict, i.e., the extent to which groups take advantage of post-conflict situations to obtain benefits from collaborating with the other group involved in the conflict. Based on dual-process theories of thinking and affect heuristic, we propose that intergroup conflict hinders the rationality of cooperative decision making. We also hypothesize that this rationality improves when groups are involved …