Pollion - new smartphone data collection app

How can researchers and universities make better use of smartphones?

Programming dedicated apps for different research needs is costly both in the time and resources needed. It also requires deeper programming skills not always available to the average researcher.

Pollion, a new service for researchers, tries to answer this problem by providing a flexible data collection platform for different research needs. Pollion is able to collect deep behavioural data from respondents through short surveys and the smartphone's various sensors (e.g. GPS signal). This makes it possible to collect individuals' behaviour across geographic space for example.

Pollion can also be used for more elaborate designs using the day reconstruction method or simpler tasks such as getting instantaneous feedback from a study group (e.g. course evaluations).

Pollion will be launching across major smartphone operating systems soon. Get more information on the Pollion website.

Joining up trait measures and brain activation to predict response to cake

Two new studies in 'Psychophysiology' have pointed to greater left frontal than right frontal brain activation for approach and 'emotive' response tendencies. Together these studies show that the appetative response depends largely on left frontal activation relative to right and that this can be assessed by a trait measure of behavioural approach system (BAS) (r=.36). On the other hand there is a behavioural inhibition system (BIS) trait measure which does not correlate with behavioural approach (r=-.03) and is predictive of brain activation related to conflict monitoring (r=-.41).

"These findings extend previous models of BIS and BAS to suggest that BIS corresponds to an attentional system for monitoring response conflicts, whereas BAS corresponds to a motivational system for coordinating approach/avoidance responses."

for more:

(1) Neurocognitive components of the behavioral inhibition and activation systems: Implications for theories of self-regulation


(2) Relative left frontal activation to appetitive stimuli

The benefits of being a copycat

Two fairly recent studies show that high self-monitors use mimicry, possible nonconsciously, to get along with others. Self-monitoring is also involved in controlling emotional reactivity and the expression of other personality characteristics. When predicting workplace fit high self-monitoring may be a more important factor than personality traits such as the Big Five (Barrick et al., 2005). On a related point I have recently just come across the concept of 'bounded emotionality' which seems to have been around for some time and described emotional control in organizations (Putnam & Mumby, 1993). In the DRM working was associated with the second lowest level of positive emotion (after commuting) indicating that there may be some truth to the contention. A recent study showing that traders with a higher level of emotional reactivity (both positive and negative emotion) demonstrated higher levels of performance would suggest that 'bounded emotionality' may be detrimental to employers
(MYEONG-GU SEO et al., 2007).

Self-monitoring and mimicry of positive and negative social behaviors

This study examined the role that self-monitoring plays in behavioral mimicry. Participants were exposed to videotaped targets who were laughing, yawning, frowning, or neutral in their expression. Participants’ behavioral mimicry while viewing the targets was recorded. It was hypothesized that higher self-monitors would show greater mimicry than lower self-monitors. It was also hypothesized that participants would respond differently to positive and negative target expressions. Participants who scored higher in self-monitoring did mimic the targets’ behaviors more often, and participants showed less mimicry of frowns than of laughs or yawns.

Self-Monitoring Without Awareness: Using Mimicry as a Nonconscious Affiliation Strategy

This research sought to extend the current conceptualization of self-monitoring by examining whether self-monitoring motives and behaviors can operate outside of conscious awareness. Two studies examined nonconscious mimicry among high and low self-monitors in situations varying in affiliative cues. Participants interacted with a confederate who shook her foot (Study 1) or touched her face (Study 2). In both studies, high self-monitors were more likely to mimic the confederate's subtle gestures when they believed the confederate to be a peer (Study 1) or someone superior to them (Study 2). Low self-monitors mimicked to the same degree across conditions. Thus, when the situation contains affiliative cues, high self-monitors use mimicry as a nonconscious strategy to get along with their interaction partner.