"Do as I say, not as I do": family influences on children's safety and risk behaviors

OBJECTIVE: Although there is considerable speculation that family-based socialization processes influence children's safety and risk behaviors, few studies have addressed this important issue. The present study compared the impact of parent practices and teaching about safety on children's current behaviors and their intended future behaviors when they reach adulthood. DESIGN AND MEASURES: Children 7 to 12 years of age were interviewed and asked to report on their parents' practices and teachings (discussions, expectations for children's behavior) regarding five common safety behaviors. As well, the children reported on their own current practices and how they intended to behave when an adult. When appropriate, they provided explanations about why their parents engage in fewer safety behaviors than they required of their children. RESULTS: Children's current behavior was best predicted by parental teaching, however, how children planned to behave when they were adults was best predicted by parents' practices. Children attributed less frequent safety behaviors by their parents than themselves to general attributes of adults and their parent having special skills that made the safety practices less necessary than was true for children. CONCLUSION: These results highlight family influences on children's adoption of safety and risk practices and support the notion of intergenerational transmission of risk behaviors.     

The good I will,I do not

For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do-Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me. (Romans 7:19–20)A sermon delivered on November 16, 1958, in James Memorial Chapel. Reprinted by permission from Union Seminary Quarterly Review.     

Do as I do: 7-month-old infants selectively reproduce others' goals

In the current study, we tested whether 7-month-old infants would selectively imitate the goal-relevant aspects of an observed action. Infants saw an experimenter perform an action on one of two small toys and then were given the opportunity to act on the toys. Infants viewed actions that were either goal-directed or goal-ambiguous, and that represented either completed or uncompleted goals. Infants reproduced the goal of the experimenter only in those cases where the action was goal-directed, in both the complete and incomplete goal conditions. These results provide the first evidence that infants as young as 7 months of age selectively imitate actions based on their goal-directedness, and that they are able to analyze the goals of even uncompleted actions. Even during the first year of life, infants' sensitivity to goal-directed action is expressed not only in their responses in visual habituation procedures, but also in their overt actions.     

“Do as I do,not as I say”: Using social learning theory to unpack the impact of role models on students' outcomes in education

Role modeling has received much attention in education research, uncovering the mechanisms by which imitation occurs (e.g., the aspects of role models that make them more or less effective) and identifying the outcomes associated upon imitating the model. Nonetheless, certain social‐cognitive processes involved in role modeling tend to be overlooked. This oversight is puzzling given that these processes, such as retention and reproduction of modeled behavior, are of great importance to role modeling processes—the consideration and inclusion of such processes can provide crucial insight. This paper provides an overview of the role model research in education to date, detailing researchers' focus and emphasis on identifying aspects of role model effectiveness. We then analyze how including the component processes of social learning or observational theory can add value and application to advance role modeling research. Finally, we provide recommendations to close the gap between current research trends and what has been previously theorized on modeling to help inform ongoing future investigations.     

When words do not mean what they say. Self-agency and the coercive use of language

Abstract :  This paper explores the relationship between language and the development of self-agency. I suggest that a child discovers that he or she actually exists as a person with a mind and desires through the mirroring response he or she creates in the parent. This developmental stage of 'teleological' level of self-agency is related to Terrence Deacon's concept of indexical communication. The coercive effect this has on others is explored and the way language may become subverted from its symbolic function and used in the service of indexical communication is discussed, illustrated by examples from the plays of Harold Pinter.     

You say potato and I say potahto: Attitudes toward feminism as a function of its subject-selected label

Male and female subjects were given an unlabeled definition of feminism, asked which of four labels they were most likely to use in reference to it, and asked to rate the defined concept on a variety of evaluative dimensions. The four labels were: equal rights for women (ERW), feminism (FEM), women's liberation (WLN), and women's lib (WLB). With the exception of ERW, which remained unchanged, the labels were evaluated differently than they had been in a previous study, in which subjects were assigned one of the four labels at random and asked to rate it. Specifically, it was found that when the labels are self-selected, FEM and WLN are rated more positively and WLB is rated more negatively, than when the labels are randomly assigned. Further, it was found that the various labels are not used with equal frequency, ERW and WLB being more commonly used than FEM and WLN.     

I am what I do, not what I have: the differential centrality of experiential and material purchases to the self

What kinds of purchases do the most to make us happy? Previous research (Carter & Gilovich, 2010; Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003) indicates that experiences, such as vacations and concerts, are more likely to do so than material possessions, such as clothes and electronic gadgets. The present research was designed to explore 1 potential explanation for this result, namely, that experiences tend to be more closely associated with the self than possessions. The authors first show that people tend to think of their experiential purchases as more connected to the self than their possessions. Compared with their material purchases, participants drew their experiential purchases physically closer to the self (Study 1), were more likely to mention them when telling their life story (Study 2), and felt that a purchase described in terms of its experiential, rather than its material, qualities would overlap more with their sense of who they are (Study 4). Participants also felt that knowing a person's experiential purchases, compared with their material purchases, would yield greater insight into that person's true self (Studies 3A-3C). The authors then show that the tendency to cling more closely to cherished experiential memories is connected to the greater satisfaction people derive from experiences than possessions (Study 5).     

Truth holds as such only if we do not torment it

Abstract

Christopher Bollas: Being a Character: Psycho-analysis and Self Experience. London: Routledge, 1993.

“Unconscious Logic. An Introduction to Matte Blanco's Bi-Logic and its Uses” by Eric Rayner. London: Routledge 1995.     

世间没有鬼,何来鬼文化？

凡是有无神论理念的人们都会异口同声地质疑：世间没有鬼,何来鬼文化？鬼神说是专制的奴隶和封建制度的产物。尽管神鬼之说曾经是客观的存在,但它毕竟是毒害人类、阻碍社会发展的精神海洛因。在当代中国,我们提倡＂科教兴国＂、以民主和法律治国,以科学发展观来创造中国的未来。我们不得不呼吁,使用多种合理合法的手段,将鬼神之说予以清除。     

Emotion judgments do not differ as a function of perceived nationality

This article reports three studies concerning the relationship between emotion judgments and perceived nationality of the expressors being judged. Study 1 demonstrated that observers do not reliably make implicit assumptions about the nationalities of the expressors in judgment tasks. Study 2 examined judgments of Americans and Japanese observers who were told that Caucasian and Asian expressors were Americans and Japanese, respectively, and who made fixed‐choice judgments and intensity ratings. Study 3 examined judgments of Americans given similar instructions and who used a multiscalar rating task. Neither Studies 2 nor 3 provided evidence that nationality information affected judgments. These findings have implications not only for basic emotion theory, but also for international and intercultural communication training.     

Division I men and women athletes do not differ on perceptions of worth

Historically, especially prior to the increased interest in women's athletics with the passage of Title IX in 1972, there have been negative perceptions of women as athletes. If these social perceptions still hold in part today, as is indirectly suggested by unequal press coverage and less basic support for women athletes, one might predict that collegiate female athletes would rate themselves lower on self-esteem and worth than collegiate male athletes. 176 Division I male (n = 90) and female (n = 86) athletes rated their perceptions of self on the Worth Index which measures basic human worth, personal security, performance, and physical self; these are divided into intrinsic (unconditional worth) measures and behavior or performance (conditional worth) measures. There were no significant sex differences in the ratings of any aspect of perceived worth, in contrast to prior results among non-athletes. In spite of less support given to women athletes, perhaps the long-term high-intensity competition that is required to reach Division I status tends to eliminate sex differences in self-worth.     

What neuroimaging and brain localization can do, cannot do and should not do for social psychology

Interest in bridging social psychology and neuroscience has seen a significant upsurge. Much of this interest has centered on brain localization--the attempt to relate psychological events to locations of brain events. Although many articles have sought to localize brain activity that supports social behavior, scant attention has been paid to the specific methods to be used in integrating brain localization data into psychological theory. The authors describe 4 strategies psychologists can use to integrate brain localization data and psychological theory, and they consider whether social psychology presents special considerations in the use of these strategies. They conclude that brain localization offers a useful tool for some but not all problems in social psychology, and they discuss the types of problems for which it may and may not prove useful.     

Why pigeons say what they do: reinforcer magnitude and response requirement effects on say responding in say-do correspondence

The effects of reinforcer magnitude and response requirement on pigeons' say choices in an experimental homologue of human say-do correspondence were assessed in two experiments. The procedure was similar to a conditional discrimination procedure except the pigeons chose both a sample stimulus (the say component) and a comparison stimulus that corresponded to it (the do component). Correspondence was trained on red, green, and white key colors before the duration of food presentations following correspondence on each key color (Experiment 1) and the number of key pecks required as the say response on each key color (Experiment 2) were manipulated in an attempt to influence the initial say response. The frequency of say responses on each key color coincided with programmed changes in the duration of food presentations and the key-peck requirements assigned to each key color. Correspondence accuracy remained stable in all conditions, even those in which the say responding occurred primarily on two of the three key colors. Implications for human behavior are discussed.     

Television alcohol advertising: Do children really mean what they say?

Few studies have investigated children's responses to television alcohol advertising. Two separate studies evaluated the appeal of alcohol advertisements on children aged 7–10. An exploratory interview study (N=17) was carried out to assess children's verbal responses to both alcohol and non‐alcohol advertisements and to elicit vocabulary to be used in the second study. Whilst the 7–8 years old children were very positive about the alcohol advertisements, older children did not like them, nor did they perceive them to be effective. The second study was designed to assess children's implicit knowledge, in view of developmental theory that knowledge is not always available for verbal report. This study (N=179) used a simple categorization programme on computer. Using this methodology, children of all ages liked the alcohol advertisements and perceived them as effective. Advertising styles affected popularity with humour, cartoon format or the inclusion of an animal, or character increasing the appeal of an advertisement. The discussion draws attention to the importance of multiple methodologies in eliciting valid and accurate information from children, and to policy matters with regard to alcohol advertising regulation.     

Do unto others as they do unto you: reciprocity and social identification as determinants of ingroup favoritism

Predictions from the bounded and unbounded reciprocity hypotheses and from social identity theory (SIT) were examined in a minimal group experiment in which ingroup outcome dependence, outgroup outcome dependence, and the strength of social identity were orthogonally manipulated. Both ingroup and outgroup outcome dependence affected reward allocations. Participants made more ingroup-favoring reward allocations across all conditions. The identification manipulation produced hypothesized effects on social identification measures and marginal effects of identification on reward allocations in the no-dependence condition. Support was found for both an unbounded and bounded version of the reciprocity hypothesis and marginal support for a SIT approach to intergroup discrimination. The study highlights insufficiencies of both theoretical approaches and suggests possibilities for integration and elaboration.