Conducted a series of laboratory and field experiments with more than 200 Ss to study behavioral effects and aftereffects of exposure to unpredictable and uncontrollable high-intensity noise. Ss' tolerance for frustration and quality of task performance were impaired following stimulation by unpredictable noise. Even though physiological adaptation occurred to an equivalent degree under predictable and unpredictable noise, adverse aftereffects were greater following exposure to the...

A laboratory experiment was conducted to investigate the behavioral consequences of adaptation to high-intensity aperiodic noise, under conditions where subjects believed or did not believe they had indirect control over termination of the noise. The findings showed that among a group of college males, the work of adapting to uncontrollable, in contrast to controllable noise resulted in heightened overall tension (tonic skin conductance) and impaired...

Many studies of masculinity examine the experiences of White men, men of color and White gay men, but often do not incorporate the experiences of gay men of color. This study builds on recent work on Latino gay immigrants by focusing on the experiences of US-born Latino gay men, who have received relatively scant attention by researchers. Drawing from ethnographic findings of gay Latino social...

While studies have considered how race has reshaped how children of immigrants adapt to US life, studies have not thoroughly considered how sexual identity affects their assimilation. With a focus on familial incorporation, this study draws from the narratives of second-generation Filipino and Latino gay men to show that sexual identity deeply shapes the degree to which gay children of immigrants are able to secure...

Most research focuses on actual affect, or the affective states that people actually feel. In this article, I demonstrate the importance and utility of studying ideal affect, or the affective states that people ideally want to feel. First, I define ideal affect and describe the cultural causes and behavioral consequences of ideal affect. To illustrate these points, I compare American and East Asian cultures, which...

Interviewed 40 people (mean age 44 yrs) who had lost a spouse and 54 people (mean age 42 yrs) who had lost a child in a motor vehicle accident 4–7 yrs earlier to gather information concerning support attempts from others that were helpful and unhelpful. Support attempts most frequently mentioned as helpful were contact with a similar other and opportunity to express feelings; those most...

The current research found that participants who had previously endured an emotionally distressing event (e.g., bullying) more harshly evaluated another person’s failure to endure a similar distressing event compared with participants with no experience enduring the event or those currently enduring the event. These effects emerged for naturally occurring (Studies 1, 3, and 4) and experimentally induced (Study 2) distressing events. This effect was driven...

Experiencing past adversity traditionally has been linked to negative life outcomes. However, emerging evidence suggests that heterogeneity exists with respect to links between adversity and resilience, with adversity often enhancing cooperation in the face of joint suffering. Here, the authors present 2 studies designed to examine if the severity of past adversity is associated with an enduring propensity for empathy-mediated compassion, and, if so, whether...

Presents an "Opener Scale" that measures the tendency to elicit intimate disclosure from others. Data from 740 undergraduates provided evidence for the scale's validity and reliability. In a face-to-face dyadic interaction between strangers in a laboratory study, 55 undergraduate women who scored either high or low on the Opener Scale were paired with other women who scored either high or low on a self-disclosure index....

In 11 studies, we found that participants typically did not enjoy spending 6 to 15 minutes in a room by themselves with nothing to do but think, that they enjoyed doing mundane external activities much more, and that many preferred to administer electric shocks to themselves instead of being left alone with their thoughts. Most people seem to prefer to be doing something rather than...