Behavioral adaptability is the ability to adapt one’s interpersonal behavior to the expectations of the social interaction partners. In this paper, we investigated two factors that impact the extent to which people express behavioral adaptability. First, we investigated whether behavioral adaptability depends on the interaction partners’ social categories (in-group vs. out-group). Second, we tested whether social dominance orientation (SDO) is related to behavioral adaptability and whether this relationship depends on the interaction partners’ belonging to the in- or out-group. To do so, we conducted 2 studies in which we manipulated whether the interaction partners belong to the in- or to the out-group and in which we assessed participants SDO. In both studies, participants were in the role of a leader who had to give separate pep talks to 2 subordinates who differed in terms of preferred leadership style and we operationalized behavioral adaptability by coding to what extent participants adapted (Study 1) or reported that they would adapt (Study 2) their leadership style according to their subordinates’ individual preferences. Study 1 used immersive virtual reality and included White/Caucasian male participants (N = 173). Study 2 was a vignette study including men and women who were either White/Caucasian or Black/African American (N = 741). Results showed that the subordinates’ social category did not impact the extent to which participants express behavioral adaptability. However, SDO was differently related to behavioral adaptability depending both on participants social categories (e.g., ethnicity and sex) and subordinates’ belonging to the in- or out-group. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).Objective COVID-19 is the current viral pandemic. Its consequences are multifaceted and refer to individual and public physical, mental, and economic states. Therefore, viral outbreaks raise many fears and concerns, both among policymakers and individuals. In light of these fears, we explore the central aspects of viral victimization, compared to another significant threat of this century terrorism. Analysis There are many similarities between terrorism and the current pandemic which manifest within the physical, economic, social, and psychological aspects of victimization. To address the multidimensional nature of the pandemic’s impact we coined the term viruism. Though terrorism and viruism are not the deadliest of threats, they evoke high levels of fear and cause enormous financial, social, and psychological effects. Conclusion We recommend exploring the psychosocial mechanisms that account for public reaction to viruism. Identifying such mechanisms will contribute to developing more effective practices in managing the fear of viruism and in decreasing its emotional toll. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).Individuals with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) smoke cigarettes at much higher prevalences than the general population. Less is known about PTSD and other smoking behaviors (e.g., smoking quantity and frequency) or about smoking among individuals who experience trauma.

To examine differences in cigarette smoking behaviors among adults in the United States (a) with no exposure to trauma or PTSD, (b) with trauma but no PTSD, and (c) with PTSD.

Data came from Wave 2 of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-II (NESARC-II, 2004-2005) and included demographics, PTSD diagnoses, traumatic events, and smoking behaviors. Odds ratios and group differences in smoking prevalence and behaviors based on PTSD diagnoses and exposure to traumatic experiences were calculated.

Traumatic events and PTSD diagnoses were both associated with greater smoking prevalences than persons without trauma or PTSD. Individuals with PTSD who smoke were more likely to report daily smoking than those without PTSD who smoke (Cohen’s d = 0.19). Cigarette users with either trauma or PTSD smoked more cigarettes per day than cigarette users without trauma or PTSD (Cohen’s d = 0.35). US adults with trauma exposure or PTSD have higher smoking prevalences and more intense smoking behaviors than those without PTSD or trauma.

Trauma or PTSD may each serve as a clinical indicator of increased risk of cigarette smoking-related health problems and prompt the implementation of targeted interventions to reduce the harms of smoking. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Trauma or PTSD may each serve as a clinical indicator of increased risk of cigarette smoking-related health problems and prompt the implementation of targeted interventions to reduce the harms of smoking. Mycro 3 (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).Sense of agency (SoA) is the subjective feeling of being in control of one’s own actions and that one’s action causes changes in external circumstances. In the present study, we investigated how percepts influenced a production of SoA when effect-related signals were illusory. For this purpose, we adopted the cross-modal double-flash illusion (DFI). In DFI, when two brief auditory stimuli (i.e., beeps) are presented in quick succession and accompanied by a single visual flash, observers tend to report two visual flashes. In the experiments, we let participants press a given button once or twice. Three stimulus conditions were used one beep sound (inducer) with a single flash (effect; 1B1F), two beeps with two flashes (2B2F), and two beeps with one flash (DFI condition). Then, participants reported how much they thought they had caused the events (i.e., visual flashes) by their actions. Through the series of experiments, we found even illusory visual events enhanced SoA in the DFI condition. However, SoA in the DFI condition was smaller than that in the 2B2F condition. These results indicate that both the congruency between action and apparent stimulus as well as the stimulus property modulate SoA. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).Emotion is assumed to change how people process information by modulating attentional focus. Two recent studies (Spachtholz et al., 2014; Xie & Zhang, 2016) reported that self-reported negative emotion boosted the precision with which information was stored in visual working memory. Here we attempted and failed to replicate these findings across seven studies conducted in four countries. Emotion was induced by presenting emotional images (negative, neutral, and positive) before each trial of a visual working memory task (six experiments) or the images were combined with emotional music during a 3-min induction phase (one experiment) occurring prior to the memory task. In the visual working memory task, participants stored (emotionally neutral) continuously varying colored dots or oriented triangles. At test, the color or orientation of a probed item was reproduced. Although participants reported changes in their emotional state commensurate with the manipulations, six experiments showed substantial evidence against changes in visual working memory precision (and quantity) under negative (and positive) emotion in comparison with neutral, whereas one condition, in one study, showed increased precision under both negative and positive emotion compared with neutral.