Televised sexual content and parental mediation: Influences on adolescent sexuality

Little research has been conducted to examine the influence of exposure to televised sexual content on adolescent sexuality or how parental intervention may reduce negative effects of viewing such content. This study uses self-report data from 1,012 adolescents to investigate the relations among exposure to sexually suggestive programming, parental mediation strategies, and three types of adolescent sexuality outcomes: participation in oral sex and sexual intercourse, future intentions to engage in these behaviors, and sex expectancies. As predicted, exposure to sexual content was associated with an increased likelihood of engaging in sexual behaviors, increased intentions to do so in the future, and more positive sex expectancies. Often, parental mediation strategies were a significant factor in moderating these potential media influences.     

Televised Sexual Content and Parental Mediation: Influences on Adolescent Sexuality

Little research has been conducted to examine the influence of exposure to televised sexual content on adolescent sexuality or how parental intervention may reduce negative effects of viewing such content. This study uses self-report data from 1,012 adolescents to investigate the relations among exposure to sexually suggestive programming, parental mediation strategies, and three types of adolescent sexuality outcomes: participation in oral sex and sexual intercourse, future intentions to engage in these behaviors, and sex expectancies. As predicted, exposure to sexual content was associated with an increased likelihood of engaging in sexual behaviors, increased intentions to do so in the future, and more positive sex expectancies. Often, parental mediation strategies were a significant factor in moderating these potential media influences.     

Does aggression cause a preference for viewing media violence?

Virtually all of the research concerned with media violence has attempted to determine whether the viewing of violence is associated with or causes aggression. Little experimental research has been directed at understanding why persons view media violence. The present research experimentally tested the hypotheses that physical aggression and fantasy aggression would lead to a preference for viewing violence. In Experiment 1, undergraduate men and women were induced to express aggressive, nonaggressive, or no fantasies and were then given an opportunity to select film clips for viewing. The films chosen by men contained more violence than those chosen by women. In addition, aggressive fantasies in males, compared to nonaggressive fantasies, increased the preference for viewing violence. Experiment 2, using only males, replicated the results of the first study and also found that men who were given an opportunity to aggress physically, compared to those who had no such opportunity, were more likely to choose to view films containing violent content. These results provide an additional perspective on the relationship between the observation of violence and the expression of aggression by suggesting that the causal effects are bidirectional: Just as the viewing of violence may increase aggression, so, too, aggressive behavior may increase the preference for viewing violence.     

Do sedentary motives adversely affect physical activity? Adding cross-behavioural cognitions to the theory of planned behaviour

The purpose of this study was to explore whether sedentary behavior cognitions explain physical activity (PA) intention and behavior when integrated within the theory of planned behavior framework (TPB). A random community sample of 206 adults and a sample of 174 undergraduate students completed measures of the TPB pertaining to PA and four popular leisure-time behaviors (TV viewing, computer use, sedentary hobbies, and sedentary socializing) and an adapted Godin Leisure-Time Exercize Questionnaire (community sample = cross-sectional, undergraduate sample = 2-week prospective). Results using ordinary least squares regression provided evidence that TV viewing intention explains additional variance in PA behavior, and affective attitude (community sample) and perceived behavioral control (undergraduate sample) towards TV viewing explains additional variance in PA intention even after controlling for PA-related TPB constructs. These results underscore the potential value of adding sedentary control interventions in concert with PA promotion.     

Predicting Selection and Activity in Television Genre Viewing

"Active" television viewing has meant (among other things) selective exposure to types of content, attention to that content, and several different kinds of other activities during viewing itself. This study argues that such meanings are differently predicted by three types of predictors (individuals' gratifications sought from different television genres, their expertise with these genres, and their need for cognition), and also vary by genre. Two different instrumental reasons for viewing (mood and content preference) both predicted selective viewing and thinking while viewing, but only content preference predicted attentive viewing. Casual reasons for viewing were related to less viewing and more channel surfing behavior. Need for cognition was unrelated to variation in genre viewing, but it was related in differing but sensible ways to attention to different genres.

These results support the utility of genre in differentiating processes in television viewing and further argue for making a number of distinctions in research: between genres, between gratifications, between gratifications and other predictors, and between selective viewing and during-viewing activities.     

Ebbinghaus illusions: Size contrast or contour interaction phenomena?

Forty-eight graduate and undergraduate students between 17 and 30 years of age judged the size of the central circle in Ebbinghaus figures presented under either simultaneous or successive viewing conditions. Successive presentation eliminated the illusion produced by the normally overestimated figure and diminished that produced by the underestimated figure. Under simultaneous viewing conditions, increasing the number of surrounding circles reduced the magnitude of the reversed illusion produced by the normally overestimated figure but had no effect on the illusion produced by the underestimated figure. Under successive viewing conditions, increasing the number of surrounding circles had no effect on the magnitude of illusion produced by the normally overestimated figure but increased the illusion produced by the underestimated figure. These data were interpreted as inconsistent with a size contrast explanation of the Ebbinghaus illusions and suggested that these illusions may be produced by a contour interaction process.     

Teaching with symbols tangentially related to topic: using a linked multimedia approach to enhance learning

40 undergraduate students, none of whom were history or literature majors, attended a lecture on Medieval literature. For half the students the lecture was supplemented by two sets of slides. One set summarized course content while the second set contained slides of paintings or other forms of visual art which were only tangentially related to the topic. For the other half of the student-group, the lecture was supplemented by course content slides only. Students viewing symbolic slides had significantly higher test scores on a written 20-question multiple-choice test given immediately after the lecture.     

Experiencing Racial Humor with Outgroups: A Psychophysiological Examination of Co-Viewing Effects

Research on co-viewing (or group viewing) is scarce. Yet, co-viewing has important implications for the viewers’ entertainment experience and the way viewers respond to and evaluate entertainment—especially those with controversial messages. The present study investigated responses to racial humor content among racial in-group and out-group viewing contexts. Specifically, the study examined the extent to which Blacks and Whites would experience discomfort when viewing racial slurs in comedies with in-group compared to out-group members. Employing real-time psychophysiological data and multilevel time series models, the study found a significant increase in emotional arousal (indicated by SCRs) and distraction (indicated by RSA) among Blacks in the context of out-group viewing compared to in-group viewing, but not for Whites. Implications of findings are discussed.     

Rejecting Darwinian Evolution: The Effects of Education,Church Tradition,and Individual Theological Stance Among UK Churchgoers

A sample of 2232 committed churchgoers from a range of churches in the UK completed a questionnaire that included a measure of rejection of Darwinian evolution. Respondents with undergraduate or postgraduate qualifications had slightly lower odds of rejecting evolution than those without degrees, but whether qualifications were in non-biological science, biology or theology made little difference to the likelihood of rejection. Those who attended Anglican or Methodist (AM) churches were much less likely to reject evolution than those who attended Evangelical or Pentecostal (EP) churches, but the effect of education on reducing rejection was similar in both groups. Individual theological conservatism was strongly associated with rejection, but whereas liberals showed declining rejection with increased education, there was no such effect for conservatives. Frequent church attendance and Bible reading both predicted rejection, and the effect of Bible reading was most pronounced among AM churchgoers. Higher education of any kind may reduce the likelihood of rejection of evolution among many UK churchgoers, but theological conservatives from any tradition will tend to maintain their belief that Darwinian evolution does not explain the origin of species whatever their educational experience.     

How young children spend their time: television and other activities.

Time-use diaries were collected over a 3-year period for 2 cohorts of 2- and 4-year-old children. TV viewing declined with age. Time spent in reading and educational activities increased with age on weekdays but declined on weekends. Time-use patterns were sex-stereotyped, and sex differences increased with age. As individuals' time in educational activities, social interaction, and video games increased, their time watching entertainment TV declined, but time spent playing covaried positively with entertainment TV. Educational TV viewing was not related to time spent in non-TV activities. Maternal education and home environment quality predicted frequent viewing of educational TV programs and infrequent viewing of entertainment TV. The results do not support a simple displacement hypothesis; the relations of TV viewing to other activities depend on the program content, the nature of the competing activity, and the environmental context.     

Cultivating the Opinionated: The Need to Evaluate Moderates the Relationship Between Crime Drama Viewing and Scary World Evaluations

The literature on cultivation processes assumes that second‐order judgments (e.g., attitudes) are repeatedly updated during viewing (i.e., on‐line) and can be reported when asked. In this article, we propose this reasoning only holds for people high in their need to evaluate (NTE). Low‐NTE individuals do not update their opinions on‐line and have to construct their attitudes memory‐based, limiting the likelihood of finding second‐order relationships. Results from a cross‐sectional survey among 226 adolescents indicate that crime drama viewing and scary world beliefs are only correlated among high‐NTE individuals. NTE does not moderate cultivation through nonfiction. The theoretical implications of memory‐based attitudes for second‐order cultivation are discussed, and suggestions are made for future research on attitudinal media effects.     

A study of grouphate in a course on small group communication

This study explored the relationship between grouphate and cohesion, consensus, relational satisfaction, affective learning, and cognitive learning. Participants were 83 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory course on small group communication. Participants completed the Grouphate scale, the Classroom Cohesion scale, the Consensus scale, the Relational Satisfaction scale, three subscales of the Instructional Affect Assessment Instrument, and the Cognitive Learning Loss measure. Mean grouphate significantly increased during the semester, and negative correlations were found between scores for grouphate and cohesion (-.50), consensus (-.45), relational satisfaction (-.58), attitude toward the behaviors recommended in the course (-.23), the likelihood of developing an appreciation for the course content (-.33), and cognitive learning (-.32). Results may imply that students' grouphate is not associated with prosocial outcomes of the group work in this course.     

Psychophysiological and Neuropsychological Characteristics of Non-Incarcerated Adult Males with Higher Levels of Psychopathic Personality Traits

Although much research on psychopathic individuals has been conducted in incarcerated settings, there is increasing interest in studying adults with higher levels of psychopathic traits in the general population. The present study investigated differences in psychophysiological response and neuropsychological functioning between undergraduate males with higher levels of psychopathic traits (higher-p) and undergraduate males with lower levels of psychopathic traits (lower-p). Participants completed self-report measures and neuropsychological measures, and skin conductance response was measured during a risk-taking and affective-picture viewing task. Consistent with previous findings among samples of incarcerated psychopaths, higher-p adults exhibited diminished responses to aversive and positive affective stimuli and were more disinhibited on a motoric response inhibition task. Contrary to expectations, higher-p adults made marginally better decisions on a risky decision making task. Findings were discussed in relation to Gao and Raines’ (Behavioral Sciences & the Law 28(2) 194–210, 2010) model of the neurobiological underpinnings of adults with higher levels of psychopathic traits in non-incarcerated settings, and offer evidence that higher-p adults have both adaptive and non-adaptive traits.     

Medical Humanities Teaching in North American Allopathic and Osteopathic Medical Schools

Although the AAMC requires annual reporting of medical humanities teaching, most literature is based on single-school case reports and studies using information reported on schools’ websites. This study sought to discover what medical humanities is offered in North American allopathic and osteopathic undergraduate medical schools. An 18-question, semi-structured survey was distributed to all 146 (as of June 2016) member schools of the American Association of Medical Colleges and the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine. The survey sought information on required and elective humanities content, hours of humanities instruction, types of disciplines, participation rates, and humanities administrative structure. The survey was completed by 134 schools (145 AAMC; 31 AACOM). 70.8% of schools offered required and 80.6% offered electives in humanities. Global health and writing were the most common disciplines. Schools required 43.9 mean (MD 45.4; DO 37.1) and 30 (MD 29; DO 37.5) median hours in humanities. In the first two years, most humanities are integrated into other course work; most electives are offered as stand-alone classes. 50.0% of schools report only 0-25% of students participating in humanities electives. Presence of a certificate, concentration or arts journal increased likelihood of humanities content but decreased mean hours. Schools with a medical humanities MA had a higher number of required humanities hours. Medical humanities content in undergraduate curriculum is lower than is indicated in the AAMC annual report. Schools with a formal structure have a greater humanities presence in the curriculum and are taken by more students.     

Critical flicker frequency under monocular and binocular conditions.

Critical flicker frequency of 40 undergraduate students, 20 men and 20 women whose mean age was 19.3 yr., was measured under monocular and binocular viewing conditions, using the Lafayette Visual Perception Control with Display Unit. Half of the subjects received monocular treatment first and binocular treatment second, and the other half received the treatments in the reversed order. A 2-min. rest was allowed between these treatments. Analysis shows that mean CFF under the monocular condition was significantly lower than that under binocular conditions. The findings were discussed in terms of visual constraint and eye strain and fatigue under the monocular viewing condition.     

The Media’s Sexual Objectification of Women,Rape Myth Acceptance,and Interpersonal Violence

A new trend has emerged in print advertisements by which women’s bodies are literally morphed into objects. This study begins to explore this phenomenon by examining the effects of viewing these types of advertisements on attitudes toward rape and violence, as well as rape likelihood. In addition, this study examined the degree to which moral disengagement and dehumanization influences rape likelihood through rape myth acceptance. Three hundred eighty participants viewed 1 of 3 conditions—control, sexual objectification of women, or women as objects—and then filled out a number of questionnaires to assess their rape myth acceptance, acceptance of interpersonal violence, rape likelihood, and moral disengagement. Results indicated that although viewing sexually objectified women in advertising did not increase any of the dependent variables for individuals in the experimental conditions compared to the control condition, there was a main effect of sex for several dependent measures, as well as a full mediation of moral disengagement and rape likelihood by rape myth acceptance in male participants. These findings suggest that education aimed at correcting men’s endorsement of rape myths might be a key pathway to decreasing rape likelihood. Despite these conclusions, this study’s primary limitation was that it was conducted with collegiate participants with an unequal gender distribution.     

da Vinci's window facilitates drawings of total and partial occlusion in young children

When two or more objects are present in a scene, children 5 and 6 years of age rarely draw the scene such that one object totally or partially occludes another object. Instead they draw complete objects. The present study separated two components of drawing: perspective taking and graphic skill. Perspective taking was examined by comparing a free viewing condition with a restricted viewing condition in which a model could only be viewed through four apertures. Graphic skill was examined by comparing drawings requiring total occlusion with drawings requiring partial occlusion under both viewing conditions. Experiment 1 showed that 90% of 5- and 6-year-olds drew total occlusions under restricted viewing conditions but only 32% did so in the free viewing condition. Experiment 2 showed that drawings of partial occlusion were unaffected by viewing condition among 5-year-olds, but that restricted viewing increased the number of partial occlusions that 6-year-olds drew. Thus, failures of young children to draw occlusions have less to do with graphic skill than was previously thought. Instead, it is suggested that young children have a more general difficulty selecting one perspective and maintaining it over time.     

The consequences of effortful emotion regulation when processing distressing material: A comparison of suppression and acceptance

The present study investigated the consequences of different forms of emotion regulation. Eighty nine healthy participants viewed a distressing video of the aftermath of road traffic accidents under either suppression (of both felt and expressed affect), acceptance, or no-regulation control instructions and the immediate and longer-term consequences on emotion, mood, and memory were examined. Suppression (relative to control) led to reduced subjective experience of fear when viewing the video, but did not alter electrodermal (EDA) or heart rate (HR) response. Subsequently, suppression led to a less marked subjective emotional reaction to positive but not negative emotional images, reduced free recall memory of the video, and a greater likelihood of experiencing zero intrusions of the video's content. Acceptance (relative to control) had no impact when viewing the video, was associated with a less marked increase in EDA activity in the 5 min period immediately after viewing the video, a more marked HR deceleration and EDA response to both positive and negative images, and elevated negative affect at one week follow-up. These findings suggest, contrary to the current clinical zeitgeist, that emotion suppression can successfully lead to an ongoing down-regulation of emotion and memory, whereas acceptance may elevate subsequent emotionality.     

Academic Misconduct Among Portuguese Economics and Business Undergraduate Students- A Comparative Analysis with Other Major Students

The main purpose of this study is to understand the demographic, personal and situational determining factors leading to academic misconduct among undergraduate students by comparatively analyzing the differences among Economics and Business students and other major students. Two thousand four hundred ninety-two undergraduate students from different Portuguese Public Universities answered a questionnaire regarding their propensity to commit academic fraud, 640 of whom were Economics and Business students. Results concluded that Economics and Business students can be distinguished from others regarding the likelihood of copying from the other Major students. Younger students admit more readily to the possibility of cheating than older students. Results indicate a greater probability of acceptance of dishonest practices outside the area of Economics and Management and a greater probability of condemnation of improper practices by students of Economics and Management. This indicates that students of Economics and Management are aware that their behavior is incorrect and unacceptable; peer-pressure and the learning process itself constitute the main justifications provided by Economics and Business students for their fraudulent actions. Implications for this practice are discussed.     

Autobiographical Memories About the Experience of Seeing Frightening Movies in Childhood

Two autobiographical memory studies were conducted in order to better understand the social experience and short- and long-term effects of seeing frightening movies at a young age. Young adult participants (a) recalled the experience of watching a movie they had been frightened by as a child or teen, and (b) were assessed for levels of four kinds of dispositional empathy. They also reported who they watched the movie with, who chose it, what sorts of emotional reactions were experienced during viewing, and what negative effects they experienced following viewing. Participants typically remembered horror movies seen on video in the evening or at night at a mean age of 11 years. Results also showed that (a) fantasy empathy and perspective taking played a role in negative experiences; (b) some situational factors predicted later likelihood of viewing, anticipated fear; and enjoyment of the genre; and (c) a younger age at viewing and higher degree of perceived realism were associated with more negative effects of viewing.