Changing food preference as a function of mood

The authors investigated the effect of mood on food selection. Participants (N = 98) indicated the likelihood of general eating and the likelihood of eating specific foods after reading and projecting themselves onto the events and emotions described in a sad and a happy vignette. Both men and women believed they were more likely to consume food following a happy versus a sad event, and men believed they were significantly more likely to eat than did women. However, the type of food men and women believed they would consume interacted with the type of event experienced. Vegetarian snack foods were more likely to be consumed following a happy versus a sad event, with men more likely to eat snack foods. Men did not significantly change in likelihood of consuming sweet foods as their mood changed. However, women believed they were more likely to consume sweet foods following a sad event. The authors discuss the results in terms of a self-medication hypothesis and the effect of carbohydrates on central serotonin and endogenous opioids. Overall, results demonstrated that mood influences belief in the likelihood of food selection.     

Children's behavioural reactions to marital conflict as a function of parents' conflict behaviours and alcohol problems

This paper examines how children's previous exposure to destructive marital conflict and parental problem drinking relate to children's immediate and specific behavioural reactions to marital conflict. Data are from 215 second-graders and their families participating in a larger study. Children watched analogues of marital conflict and indicated their behavioural response. Parents completed questionnaire measures of marital conflict and drinking problems. Children's exposure to marital stonewalling was associated with increased child intervention in conflict and decreased avoidance of conflict. Exposure to maternal drinking was related to child caretaking responses to escalated conflict. Exposure to paternal drinking was related to child mediation and avoidance of child-related conflict, but inactive response to escalated conflict. Boys were more likely to mediate and less likely to avoid escalated conflict.     

Evaluations of relational aggression as a function of relationship type and conflict setting

The present study examined influences on girls' evaluations of relational aggression situations. Second‐, third‐, fifth‐, and sixth‐grade girls evaluated four relational aggression conflict scenarios in terms of attributions of aggressor's intentions, evaluator's behavioral response, evaluator's affective state, and how likely the situation was to actually occur. Girls evaluated intentions of a best friend more positively, reported being more mad at an enemy, and perceived conflict to be more likely to occur with an enemy than a best friend. Aggressor intentions in direct conflict scenarios (aggressor said something mean to evaluator) were perceived as more negative than aggressor intentions in indirect conflict scenarios (aggressor said something mean about evaluator to another peer). Younger girls reported intentions of their enemy as being more positive than did older girls. Further, older girls reported intentions of their best friend as being more positive than intentions of their enemy. Older girls also were more accurate in conceptualizing variations in the conflict setting (direct, indirect) and responding in a context‐consistent manner. Findings are discussed in terms of the social‐relational and social‐situational processes that influence children's evaluations of relational aggression and how the current study extends previous research on relational aggression. Aggr. Behav. 26:179–191, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Children's preference for complexity as a function of perceived units in collative motivation

The purpose of this investigation was to manipulate a constant number of four elements (red and blue rectangles) to represent differentially perceived units of complexity. The hypothesis that motivational arousal and choice preferences of second- and fifth-grade children would be a positive function of the number of perceived units, ranging from one to four, was confirmed, consistent with Berlyne's (1960) theory. When the number of elements was held constant at three, as compared to four, similar results were obtained in a test at two intermediate levels of complexity. Implications for organization of elements and the effects of symmetry in determining children's preferences for levels of complexity are discussed.