Subtle Threat Research Articles

Multi-SpacePhish: Extending the Evasion-space of Adversarial Attacks against Phishing Website Detectors Using Machine Learning

Existing literature on adversarial Machine Learning (ML) focuses either on showing attacks that break every ML model or defenses that withstand most attacks. Unfortunately, little consideration is given to the actual feasibility of the attack or the defense. Moreover, adversarial samples are often crafted in the “feature-space,” making the corresponding evaluations of questionable value. Simply put, the current situation does not allow one to estimate the actual threat posed by adversarial attacks, leading to a lack of secure ML systems. We aim to clarify such confusion in this article. By considering the application of ML for Phishing Website Detection (PWD), we formalize the “evasion-space,” in which an adversarial perturbation can be introduced to fool an ML-PWD—demonstrating that even perturbations in the “feature-space” are useful. Then, we propose a realistic threat model describing evasion attacks against ML-PWD that are cheap to stage, and hence intrinsically more attractive for real phishers. After that, we perform the first statistically validated assessment of state-of-the-art ML-PWD against 12 evasion attacks. Our evaluation shows (i) the true efficacy of evasion attempts that are more likely to occur; and (ii) the impact of perturbations crafted in different evasion-spaces; our realistic evasion attempts induce a statistically significant degradation (3–10% at p < 0.05), and their cheap cost makes them a subtle threat. Notably, however, some ML-PWD are immune to our most realistic attacks ( p = 0.22). Finally, as an additional contribution of this journal publication, we are the first to propose and empirically evaluate the intriguing case wherein an attacker introduces perturbations in multiple evasion-spaces at the same time . These new results show that simultaneously applying perturbations in the problem- and feature-space can cause a drop in the detection rate from 0.95 to 0. Our contribution paves the way for a much-needed re-assessment of adversarial attacks against ML systems for cybersecurity.

Subtle threat cues in marketing horror and children’s entertainment.

Subtle threat cues in marketing horror and children’s entertainment.

The Role of Structural Characteristics of Soft Sediment on Absorption of Total Hydrocarbon Content (THC) and Physicochemistry Due to Human Induced Pollution in The Lower Bonny Estuary, Rivers State, Nigeria

The role of structural characteristics of soft sediment on absorption of total hydrocarbon content (THC) and physicochemistry due to human induced pollution in the lower bonny estuary were studied in a bid to measure the danger of human actions along the catchments on the estuary. Samples were collected and analyzed from five sampling stations representing fuel depot site, garbage dump, fishing spots, living quarters and an upstream station far removed from direct human impacts (control). Sediment samples were collected for six months representing wet and dry seasons. Samples were analyzed for THC, Organic Carbon, phosphate (PO4), Electrical conductivity (EC), and pH. Sediment particle was also determined by the hydrometer method. Result from the investigation reveal that there were significant seasonal differences in measured parameters (p<0.05). pH and THC and EC in wet season>dry season. While Organic Carbon and PO4 in wet season < dry season. Sample stations did not show any significant difference (p>0.05). Soil sediment analyses reveal that percentage of sand in sediment was uniform throughout the wet and dry season and all sample stations. Clay content was constant in all stations in dry season but fluctuated in the wet season between stations. Silt content in sediment fluctuated between stations in both wet and dry seasons. THC and physico-chemical parameters did not have any direct correlation with sediment characteristics.Station 5 (control) revealed lower values in almost all measured. parameters compared to other stations, implying greater ecological stability in the control station. The findings of this work is suggestive of the fact that Bonny estuary is under a subtle threat from land-based activities.

From Repression to Resistance to Resurgence: The 2022 Education Workers Strike in Ontario

From Repression to Resistance to Resurgence:The 2022 Education Workers Strike in Ontario Steven Barrett (bio) The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), through its Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OBSCU) is the exclusive bargaining agent for approximately 55,000 Canadian Union of Public Employees members in the elementary and secondary school board systems in Ontario. OBSCU members include education assistants, school library workers, administrative assistants, custodians and tradespeople, early childhood educators, child and youth workers, instructors, nutrition service workers, school safety monitors and social workers working in schools and in school board offices. OBSCU bargains with the Council of Trustees' Association (CTA), which is the central designated employer bargaining agent representing all school boards across Ontario. In addition, under the legislation governing collective bargaining in the school board education sector1, the government itself is a direct party to all central collective agreement terms, including wages and other compensation items. This flows from the government's role as the sole source of funding for public education school boards in Ontario. In their previous round of bargaining, CUPE members were subject to legislated government wage controls (known as Bill 124) imposing 1 percent compensation increases for a three-year period. That collective agreement was schedule to expire 31 August 2022. OBSCU commenced collective bargaining with the School Boards and the government in the summer of 2022. Under the guidance of its leadership - including its President, Laura Walton - OBSCU engaged in intensive organising and mobilising of its membership in support of a significant wage increase amounting to $3.25 an hour for each of four years. In percentage terms, the overall increase sought by OSCU was approximately 11.7 percent in each of the four years of the proposed collective agreement. The union also engaged in a public campaign in support of its proposed increase, emphasising the relatively low near-poverty level wages of many of its members, and explaining that it sought a fixed dollar increase so that lower wage workers would receive a proportionately higher percentage increase than higher paid workers. Moreover, CUPE emphasised that over the past decade, its' members wages had fallen significantly behind inflation. CUPE also sought improved benefits funding, enhanced job security, and additional funding to increase overall staffing levels. For its part, even before the outset of bargaining, the main government spokesperson, Ontario Minister of Education Stephen Lecce, consistently stated that the government was committed to keeping students in school without disruption for the entire school year. Referring to the fact that Ontario students had lost the most time to school in-person closures during the COVID-19 pandemic than students anywhere else in Canada, Lecce repeatedly insisted that he and his government, led by Premier Doug Ford, would do everything in his power to keep students in school. This was a none too subtle threat to prevent strikes in the sector, notwithstanding the legislative collective bargaining scheme in place which was premised on the right to strike. Progress at the bargaining table, where negotiations began in June 2022, was virtually nonexistent. The Crown initially proposed wage increases of 2 percent for any employee earning below a $40,000 annual threshold, and 1.5 percent for anyone above that level, as well as sick leave concessions. As a result, in late September, CUPE took a strike vote, which is a legal requirement prior to engaging in legal strike action in Ontario. Turnout for the strike vote was very high, with over 45,000 members participating, and with members voting overwhelmingly in favour of strike action (96.5 percent). The government's response was to reiterate that it would do whatever it takes to keep students in class, and that the union should not force their hand by threatening to go on strike. Under the legislation governing collective bargaining in the education sector, CUPE was required to give a five-day notice in advance of commencing a lawful strike. CUPE gave this notice on 30 October 2022, so that the strike would commence on 4 November 2022. This is the point at which the determination of CUPE and the education workers it represents to exercise their right to strike ran into the Ontario Conservative...

Synthetic cannabinoid JWH-073 alters both acute behavior and in vivo/vitro electrophysiological responses in mice.

JWH-073 is a synthetic cannabinoid (SCB) that is illegally marketed within an "herbal blend", causing psychoactive effects more intense than those produced by Cannabis. Users report that JWH-073 causes less harmful effects than other SCBs, misrepresenting it as a "safe JWH-018 alternative", which in turn prompts its recreational use. The present study is aimed to investigate the in vivo pharmacological activity on physiological and neurobehavioral parameters in male CD-1 mice after acute 1 mg/kg JWH-073 administration. To this aim we investigate its effect on sensorimotor (visual, acoustic, and tactile), motor (spontaneous motor activity and catalepsy), and memory functions (novel object recognition; NOR) in mice coupling behavioral and EEG data. Moreover, to clarify how memory function is affected by JWH-073, we performed in vitro electrophysiological studies in hippocampal preparations using a Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) stimulation paradigm. We demonstrated that acute administration of JWH-073 transiently decreased motor activity for up to 25 min and visual sensorimotor responses for up to 105 min, with the highest effects at 25 min (~48 and ~38%, respectively), while the memory function was altered up to 24 h (~33%) in treated-mice as compared to the vehicle. EEG in the somatosensory cortex showed a maximal decrease of α (~23%) and γ (~26%) bands at 15 min, β (~26%) band at 25 min, a maximal increase of θ (~14%) band at 25 min and δ (~35%) band at 2 h, and a significant decrease of θ (~18%), α (~26%), and β (~10%) bands during 24 h. On the other hand, EEG in the hippocampus showed a significant decrease of all bands from 10 min to 2 h, with the maximal effect at 30 min for θ (~34%) and γ (~26%) bands and 2 h for α (~36%), β (~29%), and δ (~15%) bands. Notably, the δ band significant increase both at 5 min (~12%) and 24 h (~19%). Moreover, in vitro results support cognitive function impairment (~60% of decrease) by interfering with hippocampal synaptic transmission and LTP generation. Our results suggest that JWH-073 deeply alters brain electrical responsiveness with minor behavioral symptoms. Thus, it poses a subtle threat to consumers who mistakenly consider it safer than other SCBs.

Threat cues in metal’s visual code

Metal music has a signifying visual aesthetic or so-called visual code. In this article, I examine the significance of four primitive visual properties that characterize the code. I propose that the propensity for visual artefacts of metal music to depict low luminance, low colourfulness, redness and angular shapes is because these properties can act as subtle threat cues. As metal music has a preoccupation with threatening themes and sounds, these four properties provide concordant visual information about the affective attributes of the genre. After reviewing the supporting psychological evidence, I conduct a quantitative test of this proposal by comparing album covers from extreme metal bands to those from children’s music, two genres that are opposed to one another in their embrace of a threatening atmosphere. The results indicate that extreme metal album covers are darker, less colourful, redder and feature more angular shapes compared with their children’s counterparts, which suggests that these properties are relied upon to communicate a clear threat signal.

Supplemental Material for Subtle Threat Cues in Marketing Horror and Children’s Entertainment

Supplemental Material for Subtle Threat Cues in Marketing Horror and Children’s Entertainment

A subtle threat: behavioral and phenotypic consequences of invasive mosquitofish on a native paedomorphic newt

Aquatic invaders often cause severe declines of native amphibian populations, either through competition, predation and/or alterations of the habitat. Such situation has raised additional concerns for the persistence of endemic species exhibiting rare and alternative phenotypes. Here, we experimentally assessed the impact of the invasive mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) on adult newts (Lissotriton graecus) exhibiting paedomorphosis, the retention of larval traits such as gills, making them fully aquatic. Mosquitofish had a negative impact on paedomorphic newts by inducing both behavioral and phenotypic changes. Paedomorphic newts exhibited avoidance behavior and higher metamorphosis rates in the presence of fish. Both female and male newts responded by decreasing mobility and foraging activity. Females stopped investing in egg-laying in presence of fish and males metamorphosed earlier than females. Hence, our results show that mosquitofish introductions, particularly in areas with populations exhibiting paedomorphosis, might have detrimental consequences on the preservation of alternative developmental pathways. Both behavioral and phenotypic effects should be assessed to understand the impacts of introduced species.

Memory (Mis)Matches: Accurate and Biased Recall of Terror Suspects

Evolutionary psychologists suggest that memory retention is enhanced for fitness-relevant stimuli, a notion commonly referred to as adaptive memory. Since intergroup conflict has been—and continues to be—associated with grave costs to our species, human beings should be more vigilant to coalitional threat cues. This study tests the assumption that recognition memory is enhanced for coalitional threat cues in the domain of terrorist violence. In a survey experiment on a nationally representative sample of 1473 white, American adults, participants were exposed to eight experimental vignettes including subtle coalitional threat cues pertaining to terror-suspect sex, ethnicity, and coalition size. The results suggest that male outgroup coalitions are associated with enhanced recognition memory. Further, those who failed to correctly recognize the threat cues exhibited tendencies for bias. Specifically, and in line with error management theory, participants who were exposed to female terror suspects, ingroup perpetrators, and individual perpetrators were more likely to commit false positive errors. Overall, these findings speak to our coalitional psychology, which continues to factor into intuitions about mass violence today. Not only do people seem more alert to cues implying coalitional aggression—associated biases might also reduce or distort the attention that threats from female suspects, lone wolves, and ingroup attackers receive at the level of public debate.

Childhood maltreatment is associated with increased neural response to ambiguous threatening facial expressions in adulthood: Evidence from the late positive potential.

Childhood maltreatment increases lifetime vulnerability for psychopathology. One proposed mechanism for this association is that early maltreatment increases vigilance for and attention to subtle threat cues, persisting outside of the environment in which maltreatment occurs. To test this possibility, the present study examined neural responses to ambiguous and nonambiguous threatening facial expressions in a sample of 25 adults reporting a history of low-to-moderate levels of abuse in childhood and 46 reporting no or low levels of childhood maltreatment. The measure of neural response used was the late positive potential (LPP), a neural marker of sustained attention to motivationally salient information that is sensitive to subtle variation in emotional content. Participants passively viewed angry-neutral and fearful-neutral face blends and rated emotional intensity for each face. In the maltreated group, as fearful faces increased in emotional intensity, the LPP similarly increased, suggesting increased sensitivity to subtle variation in threatening content. Moreover, the LPP at each level of emotional intensity was not related to current symptoms of anxiety and depression. However, contrary to our hypotheses, adults with a history of abuse did not rate angry or fearful faces as more threatening, nor did they exhibit a larger LPP to angry faces, compared to controls. These findings suggest that childhood maltreatment may be associated with increased sensitivity to ambiguous threatening information in adulthood.

“Trapped in the reform”: Kindergarten teachers’ experiences of teacher professionalisation in Buleleng, Indonesia

Indonesia has been conducting a teacher reform program since 2005. Teachers’ low status and the crisis of student achievement are the rationales of this reform. This paper investigates the implications of Indonesian neo-liberal teacher reform on kindergarten teachers’ professional experiences and practices. The research was conducted in Buleleng regency, the northern part of Bali Province, Indonesia. This research used focus group discussion to obtain general information about teacher reform/professionalisation in the Buleleng regency. In-depth interviews were conducted to gather richer information about teachers’ personal experiences of professionalisation. Drawing from Osgood’s deconstruction of professionalism in early childhood education (ECE), this paper argues that the teacher reform policies have failed to recognise the uniqueness of ECE teaching practices, which are centred on emotion and care. The reform has also overlooked the disadvantaged conditions and unequal playing field of kindergarten teachers in the professionalisation process. Thus, despite the improvement of teachers’ individual welfare, the “regulatory gaze” of teacher reform policies poses a subtle threat to kindergarten teachers’ professional identities.

The effect of stereotype threat on student-athlete math performance

ObjectivesTo assess whether a subtle stereotype threat of student-athletes would cause a decrease in both academic effort and performance. DesignA 2 (Male/Female) x 2 (Athlete Prime/No Athlete Prime) design was used to assess effort and performance on a math test. MethodA subtle threat manipulation was used to prime half of 60 NCAA Division III student-athletes with their athletic identity prior to taking a difficult math test. ResultsSupporting the hypotheses, student-athletes who were primed with their athletic identity attempted significantly fewer problems and received lower mean math scores than those who were not primed. Contrary to hypotheses, gender did not impact effort or performance, and there was no evidence of buffering effects of priming non-athlete identities. ConclusionsThe results of this experiment provide evidence for stereotype threat effects across genders and into Division III athletes, which potentially impact student-athlete academic performance.

The Mafia, La Raza, and the Spanish-Language Press Coverage of the 1891 Lynchings in New Orleans

On October 15, 1890, New Orleans police superintendent David C. Hennessy was shot six times in the French Quarter as he headed home from work. A dying Hennessy uttered his captain that his murderers were Dagos, using an epithet for the growing Italian population in the city. With headlines claiming Hennessy was Ambuscaded and a Victim of the Vendetta, the local newspaper blamed the mafia for the murder, giving fodder mounting stereotypes of Italian immigrants. In the coming weeks local law enforcement indicted nineteen Italians, allegedly mafia members, for their supposed involvement in the murder. When a trial of nine Italians ended without convictions on March 13, 1891, outrage ignited in New Orleans. The Daily Picayune's headline the following morning read None Guilty!, and newspapers across the city printed announcements of a mass meeting scheduled later that day to remedy the failure of justice in the Hennessy case. Despite their acquittals, the Italians remained imprisoned along with others awaiting trial. Recognizing the urgency of the situation, Italian consul Pasquale Corte summoned the help of Governor Francis T. Nicholls, who responded that he would intervene only upon Mayor Joseph A. Shakspeare's request. (1) With no dispersal order from the mayor, a mob reportedly consisting of more than six thousand people gathered outside the jail take their revenge. Militia members forced entry into the jail and fired point-blank, killing nine of the nineteen imprisoned Italians. To appease the demands of the mob outside, the militia brought two more Italians into the streets, hanging them their deaths the delight of the raucous crowd. In total, the lynch mob assassinated eleven Italians in what is often considered the largest documented lynching in U.S. history. (2) Responding the massacre, Italy, a fledgling nation that had unified only thirty years before, sought immediate justice. Italian ambassador Baron Saverio Fava demanded that the United States pay reparations the victims' families. When the U.S. federal government failed act, Fava considered it a breach of a treaty protecting Italian subjects in the United States. Accordingly, Fava withdrew his post from Washington, D.C., and issued a subtle threat of war. The two nations remained in a diplomatic standoff for more than a year, until the U.S. government partly conceded Italy's demands by awarding $25,000 in total reparations the victims' families in April 1892. (3) Italy's bold retaliation U.S. inaction led a diplomatic debacle that resonated internationally. As one would expect, newspapers and magazines across the United States--the New York Times, the New Orleans Daily Picayune, the Illustrated American, Harper's Weekly--reported extensively on the lynchings, with reactions the mob violence ranging from condemnation support. But more surprising, Spanish-language newspapers from across the Americas showed genuine concern through extended coverage. For example, two weeks after the lynching, an editor from Panama City's La Estrella de Panama described in detail the mob's tactics: [they] arrived in front of the prison and when they tried enter through the door, no one responded so they busted it open by ramming [the door] with a wooden stake. (4) La Nation of Buenos Aires, Argentina, published a front-page editorial by Cuban writer Jose Marti that recounted the scene of the lynching. Shots blast out, Marti wrote; Bagnetto, the dead Italian, is hoisted a limb. They riddle his face with bullets. Marti noted that lynch mob members took home souvenirs of pieces of bark and leaves still fresh from the foot of the oak tree from which an Italian, covered with blood, hangs swinging. (5) Through their prose, these writers captured with aplomb the barbarism in New Orleans, recreating the events with satire and imagery. In some instances, the Spanish-language newspapers addressed racial constructions in the United States by centering on the vilification of Italian immigrants. …

A Subtle Threat to Urban Populations in Developing Countries: Low Back Pain and its Related Risk Factors.

A cross-sectional, population-based survey. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence, and biological and psychological correlates of low back pain (LBP) in large, populated urban areas. LBP is a common and costly medical problem all around the world. Currently, there are limited data available on prevalence as well as biological and psychological correlates of LBP in large urban populations in developing countries. Here, in a cross-sectional, population-based survey, we analyzed data obtained from 22,952 subjects living in Tehran. Chronic, 1-year, and point prevalence of LBP among subjects were 12.2%, 42.1%, and 36.2%, respectively. LBP was more prevalent among older population, women, housewives, and obese people after adjustment for confounding factors using logistic regression models. In addition, persons with a general health questionnaire (GHQ-28) score ≥6 were about 2 times more likely to experience LBP in comparison with others. Both subjects with higher educational levels and those who were never married reported significantly less LBP. Furthermore, we could not find any significant correlation between smoking and physical activity level with LBP. LBP is prevalent among the general population of Tehran. Our findings can help health care providers regarding logical assignment of limited resources, in order to create multidimensional prevention plans according to potentially modifiable associated factors. 3.

Reading between the lines: Subtle stereotype threat cues can motivate performance

This research examined the impact of subtle stereotype threat cues (i.e., no mention of group differences) on motivation. Recent research suggests that blatant manipulations of threat motivate targets to attempt to disprove relevant stereotypes, but this motivation can, in turn, undermine performance. On the other hand, research suggests that subtle cues lead individuals to expend resources so as to reduce uncertainty about the presence of bias. We tested the possibility that subtle threat could also motivate individuals to try to disprove stereotypes. The results indicate that similar to blatant threat, subtle threat cues motivated participants, and this motivation directly led to worse performance in this research because of an over-reliance on traditional solution approaches and a lack of flexibility (i.e., inflexible perseverance).

Fuel Subsidy Removal and Mind Control Game In Nigeria: A Critical Discourse Analysis Perspective

This paper addresses the arguments for and against fuel subsidy removal in Nigeria as a political discourse in the Nigerian media. We examine the political discourse from the theoretical and methodological perspectives of discourse structure, linguistic function, and ideological bearing as provided by Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Given that CDA, inter alia, focuses on the ways discourse structures enact, confirm, legitimatize, reproduce, or challenge relations of power and dominance in society, we analyze how the groups on both sides of the divide exploit their social power to control the public discourse and by extension control the mind and actions of one another. The results of the analysis tend to show that the Federal Government backed by its apologists struggles to redefine the discursive structure of those properties of the social situation that are relevant for the production and comprehension of the fuel subsidy discourse. In the enactment of this social power, the more powerful group exploits an ambidextrous deployment of fine-honed persuasion and subtle threat to change the personal/social cognition and mental representations of fuel subsidy by Nigerians as one sure way of achieving the ultimate aim of reproducing dominance (power abuse) and hegemony. The less powerful group led by the organized labour combats this mind control onslaught by enlisting discursive strategies that provide information from which derive alternative knowledge and beliefs needed by the Nigerian masses to challenge the discourses and information about fuel subsidy, which they are exposed to by the Federal Government. Given that dominant group largely controls public discourse and its structures, just as it also has more control over the minds of the public at large, the paper predicts that the Federal Government may be nudged on by a false sense of triumphalism to overstep the bound of reason and remove the fuel subsidy at the high cost of igniting social unrest of cataclysmic proportion.

Motivated Closed‐Mindedness Mediates the Effect of Threat on Political Conservatism

In this article we synthesize theory and research from several areas of psychology and political science to propose and test a causal model of the effects of threat on political attitudes. Based in part on prior research showing that fear, threat, and anxiety decrease cognitive capacity and motivation, we hypothesize that under high (vs. low) threat, people will seek to curtail open‐ended information searches and exhibit motivated closed‐mindedness (one aspect of the need for cognitive closure). The subjective desire for certainty, control, and closure, in turn, is expected to increase the individual's affinity for political conservatism, insofar as resistance to change and adherence to authority figures and conventional forms of morality are assumed to satisfy these epistemic motives more successfully than their ideological opposites. Consistent with this account, we find in Studies 1a and 1b that putting people into a highly threatened mindset leads them to exhibit an increase in motivated closed‐mindedness and to perceive the world as more dangerous. Furthermore, in Study 2 we demonstrate that a subtle threat manipulation increases self‐reported conservatism (or decreases self‐reported liberalism), and this effect is mediated by closed‐mindedness. In Study 3, we manipulated closed‐mindedness directly and found that high (vs. low) cognitive load results in a greater affinity for the Republican (vs. Democratic) party. Finally, in Study 4 we conducted an experiment involving political elites in Iceland and found that three different types of threat (to the self, group, and system) all led center‐right politicians to score higher on closed‐mindedness and issue‐based political conservatism. Implications for society and for the theory of ideology as motivated social cognition are discussed.

A subtle threat cue, heart rate variability, and cognitive performance

This research was designed to extend the literature on heart rate variability (HRV) in cognitive performance contexts by examining whether a subtle threat cue (the color red) in a test environment influences HRV reactivity and whether HRV reactivity is associated with change in cognitive performance. Thirty-three participants took an IQ test, briefly viewed red or a chromatic or achromatic control color, and then took a parallel form of the IQ test. High frequency (HF)-HRV (often referred to as respiratory sinus arrhythmia), was assessed before and after the color manipulation. Results indicated that participants who viewed red (relative to a control color) exhibited a decrease in HF-HRV and that decreased HF-HRV was associated with worse IQ performance. These findings demonstrate the sensitivity of HRV as an index of effective and efficient emotion regulation in an achievement context.

Viewing red prior to a strength test inhibits motor output

The present research was designed to examine whether viewing a subtle threat cue, the color red, prior to a simple motor task influences strength output. Thirty-nine participants performed a maximal voluntary contraction of the thigh, viewed red or a chromatic or achromatic control color, and then repeated the maximal voluntary contraction. Participants also reported their general arousal and mood, and were asked to guess the purpose of the experiment. Results indicated that viewing red (relative to a control color) inhibited the rate of force development, but did not influence the peak amplitude of force production. Null findings for general arousal and mood indicated that the observed effect on rate of force development could not be accounted for by these self-report variables; no participant correctly guessed the purpose of the experiment. This research, in conjunction with recent work by Elliot and Aarts (in press) [19] clearly establishes a link between red and basic motor output, and highlights the importance of attending to the functional, as well as aesthetic, value of color.

Evidence that blatant versus subtle stereotype threat cues impact performance through dual processes

An experiment tested three competing hypotheses for how blatant and subtle stereotype threat cues influence the performance of female sports participants on a golf-putting task. A “predominant” model predicts that blatant threat cues have a more negative effect on performance than subtle threat cues, whereas an “additive” model predicts that both cues combine to have a greater negative effect than either threat cue alone. However, a “dual process” model predicts that each threat cue has an independent negative influence through separate mechanisms. To test these predictions, we varied the presence of blatant (e.g., the task frame) and subtle cues (e.g., the gender of the experimenter) for negative stereotypes about female athletes, and then measured both the number of strokes required to finish the course and accuracy on the last putt of each hole. The results supported the dual process model prediction: females required more strokes to finish the golf task when it was framed as measuring gender differences compared to racial differences in athletic ability, and females performed less accurately on the last putt of each hole in the presence of a male versus a female experimenter. The discussion focuses on how the presence of multiple stereotype threat cues can induce independent mechanisms that may have separate but simultaneously deleterious effects on performance.