Attention Mediates the Effect of Context-Relevant Social
10 Dec 2015-Vol. 3, pp 189-200
TL;DR: In this article, the effect of social meaning on duration reproduction was found to be mediated through the deployment of attentional resources in the Kumbh Mela in India, where the context-relevant social meaning of this sound clip was manipulated through attributing the sound to either the religious festival or busy city streets.
Abstract: In everyday life we perceive events as having durations. Recent research suggests that the labeling of a stimulus influences the experience of its duration. Plausibly, the social meaning attributed to a stimulus impacts upon the amount of attention allocated to it, with greater attention resulting in better encoding and longer reproduction times. However, direct evidence for the role of attention in this effect of social meaning on duration reproduction is lacking. The present study addresses this issue directly. Eighty-four male Hindu pilgrims attending the Kumbh Mela in India listened to an ambiguous sound clip and reproduced its duration in a prospective timing task. The context-relevant social meaning of this sound clip was manipulated through attributing the sound to either the religious festival or busy city streets. Attentional load was manipulated by asking half the participants to perform a concurrent task. Reproduced durations were longer in the Mela compared to the City condition but only when participants completed a single task. The finding that mere labeling of the stimulus impacts duration judgments in a prospective paradigm in the single-task but not the dual-task conditions suggests that the effect of social meaning is indeed mediated through the deployment of attentional resources.
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TL;DR: Haslam et al. as mentioned in this paper highlighted the importance of social identities as powerful psychological resources that have an important role to play in managing and improving health and highlighted the nuanced ways in which social identity processes are key to understanding health and well-being.
Abstract: The health of people's body and mind is powerfully conditioned by social factors that affect their social identity. Consistent with this notion, there is a growing interest in the way that group memberships (and the social identities derived from belonging to these groups) affect health and well-being. To the extent that group memberships provide individuals with meaning, support, and agency (i.e., a positive sense of social identity), health is positively impacted, constituting a “social cure”. However, when group membership is not associated with these positive psychological resources or when social identity is challenged in other ways (e.g., group membership is devalued or stigmatised), social identities may become a curse, threatening and potentially harming health and well-being. In a range of social contexts, novel examples of these processes are brought together in the contributions to this special issue. In this editorial, we link the findings from these contributions to a set of hypotheses that emerge from the social identity approach to highlight the nuanced ways in which social identity processes are key to understanding health and well-being (Haslam, Jetten, Cruwys, Dingle, & Haslam, forthcoming). The contributions in this special issue point to fruitful ways to develop the social cure agenda. Together they highlight the importance of social identities as powerful psychological resources that have an important role to play in managing and improving health.
232 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the social-relational changes within a crowd and how these impact collective experience positively, using interviews with participants attending the annual Magh Mela pilgrimage in India.
Abstract: Social identity research on crowds demonstrates how cognitive self-definition as a crowd member results in conformity to identity-relevant norms. Less research addresses the social-relational changes within a crowd and how these impact collective experience positively. The present study investigates these processes at a month-long mass gathering in India. Analysis of 37 interviews with participants attending the annual Magh Mela pilgrimage evidences the concept of shared identity as underpinning their understanding of this mass gathering. Moreover, a theoretically-derived thematic analysis of these interviews shows the value of the analytic concepts of recognition, validation, and solidarity in illuminating the ways in which social relations in the crowd were experienced and contributed to the experience of the event. Through exploring the multi-dimensional nature of relational connectedness in crowds we contribute to an understanding of crowd experience and group processes.
29 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that emphasizing either the positive or negative health consequences of group life is one-sided: both positive and negative effects on health can occur simultaneously, and both such effects can have their roots in the same social psychological transformations associated with a group-based social identification.
Abstract: Identifying with a group can bring benefits to physical and psychological health. These benefits can be found with both small-scale and large-scale social groups. However, groups can also be associated with health risks: a distinct branch of medicine (‘Mass Gathering Medicine’) has evolved to address the health risks posed by participating in events characterized by large crowds. We argue that emphasizing either the positive or the negative health consequences of group life is one-sided: both positive and negative effects on health can occur (simultaneously). Moreover, both such effects can have their roots in the same social psychological transformations associated with a group-based social identification. Reviewing evidence from across a range of mass gatherings, we offer a conceptual analysis of such mixed effects. Our account shows i., how social identity analyses can enrich mass gatherings medicine, and ii., how social identity analyses of health can be enriched by examining mass gatherings.
19 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that many of the risks and benefits of participation are products of group processes and that these different outcomes can have their roots in the same core processes.
Abstract: Mass gatherings are routinely viewed as posing risks to physical health However, social psychological research shows mass gathering participation can also bring benefits to psychological well-being We describe how both sets of outcomes can be understood as arising from the distinctive forms of behavior that may be found when people?even strangers?come to define themselves and each other in terms of a shared social identity We show that many of the risks and benefits of participation are products of group processes;that these different outcomes can have their roots in the same core processes;and that knowledge of these process provides a basis for health promotion interventions to mitigate the risks and maximize the benefits of participation Throughout, we offer practical guidance as to how policy makers and practitioners should tailor such interventions
17 citations
TL;DR: This study suggests inclusion of intention as a potential factor influencing time perception and indicates a close link between intentional binding and the intention induced temporal expansion of its outcome.
Abstract: Intentional agents desire specific outcomes and perform actions to obtain those outcomes. However, whether getting such desired (intended) outcomes change our subjective experience of the duration of that outcome is unknown. Using a temporal bisection task, we investigated the changes in temporal perception of the outcome as a function of whether it was intended or not. Before each trial, participants intended to see one of two possible outcomes but received the intended outcome only in half of the trials. Results showed that intended outcomes were perceived as longer than unintended outcomes. Interestingly, this temporal expansion was present only when the intended outcome appeared after short action-outcome delays (250 ms-Exp 1 and 500 ms-Exp 2), but not when it appeared after long action-outcome delay (1000 ms-Exp 3). The effect was absent when participants did not intend and performed instruction-based action (Exp 4). Finally, Exp 5 (verbal estimation task) revealed that intention induced temporal expansion occurs via altering the gating or switch mechanism and not the pacemaker speed. Results are explained based on intention-induced pre-activation resulting in extended temporal experience. Our study not only suggests inclusion of intention as a potential factor influencing time perception but also indicates a close link between intentional binding and the intention induced temporal expansion of its outcome.
12 citations
References
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01 Jan 2012
1,071 citations
TL;DR: The present review article discusses the question of whether there is an internal clock (pacemaker counter or oscillator device) that is dedicated to temporal processing and reports the main hypotheses regarding the involvement of biological structures in time perception.
Abstract: The aim of the present review article is to guide the reader through portions of the human time perception, or temporal processing, literature. After distinguishing the main contemporary issues related to time perception, the article focuses on the main findings and explanations that are available in the literature on explicit judgments about temporal intervals. The review emphasizes studies that are concerned with the processing of intervals lasting a few milliseconds to several seconds and covers studies issuing from either a behavioral or a neuroscience approach. It also discusses the question of whether there is an internal clock (pacemaker counter or oscillator device) that is dedicated to temporal processing and reports the main hypotheses regarding the involvement of biological structures in time perception.
763 citations
TL;DR: In two studies, a newly devised test (framed-line test) was used to examine the hypothesis that individuals engaging in Asian cultures are more capable of incorporating contextual information and those engaging in North American cultures areMore capable of ignoring contextual information.
Abstract: In two studies, a newly devised test (framed-line test) was used to examine the hypothesis that individuals engaging in Asian cultures are more capable of incorporating contextual information and those engaging in North American cultures are more capable of ignoring contextual information. On each trial, participants were presented with a square frame, within which was printed a vertical line. Participants were then shown another square frame of the same or different size and asked to draw a line that was identical to the first line in either absolute length (absolute task) or proportion to the height of the surrounding frame (relative task). The results supported the hypothesis: Whereas Japanese were more accurate in the relative task, Americans were more accurate in the absolute task. Moreover, when engaging in another culture, individuals tended to show the cognitive characteristic common in the host culture.
727 citations
01 Jan 2010
TL;DR: A review of recent literature related to psychological time and time perception can be found in this article, where the roles of the cerebellum, of the cerebral cortices, and of the basal ganglia in the timing processes are emphasized.
Abstract: Suppose someone had to prepare a review article on visual perception, instead of time perception. This individual would probably ask for a series of reviews, with at least one—and probably several—dedicated to color, distance, shape, and motion perception, and maybe to other aspects of visual perception. It would be very difficult to complete the same exercise for time perception since the categories of temporal experiences are not as clearly defined. However, for a reader to understand the scope of a text on time perception, it is essential to develop a representation of what the main research avenues or categories are. The present text should help the reader to grasp the scope of recent literature related to psychological time and time perception. After a brief overview of the various perspectives on what could be meant by psychological time, the review will propose to identify of series of key concepts and empirical findings that should delineate the field of time perception and timing, and will discuss some models of time perception. The article also provides a review of the main recent findings in the field in which a neuroscientific approach to timing is adopted. In this section, the roles of the cerebellum, of the cerebral cortices, and of the basal ganglia in the timing processes are emphasized. Time Perception Beyond the Focus of the Present Review
667 citations