Gene-environment processes in task persistence

Task persistence is a construct that appears to have broad influence on child competence generally, from self regulation in carrying out tasks, to cognitive performance. In a recent developmental study of task persistence, Deater-Deckard and colleagues report that heritability of task persistence increased over time, whereas the contribution from the shared environment decreased during the transition from early to middle childhood. Two explanations for the developmental shift are discussed here: a choice hypothesis and a schooling hypothesis. An important next step lies in documenting gene-environment processes directly via hybrid research models, combining work in molecular biology with longitudinal observations of behavior.     

On the interdependence of cognition and emotion

Affect and cognition have long been treated as independent entities, but in the current review we suggest that affect and cognition are in fact highly interdependent. We open the article by discussing three classic views for the independence of affect. These are (i) the affective independence hypothesis, that emotion is processed independently from cognition, (ii) the affective primacy hypothesis, that evaluative processing precedes semantic processing, and (iii) the affective automaticity hypothesis, that affectively potent stimuli commandeer attention and evaluation is automatic. We argue that affect is not independent from cognition, that affect is not primary to cognition, nor is affect automatically elicited. The second half of the paper discusses several instances of how affect influences cognition. We review experiments showing affective involvement in perception, semantic activation, and attitude activation. We conclude that one function of affect is to regulate cognitive processing.     

On the interdependence of temporal and spatial judgments

Three experiments are reported on the tau and kappa effects, the dependence of judgments of distance upon duration (tau) and of judgments of duration upon distance (kappa). In Experiment 1, three lights in a horizontal sequence were used to define two temporal and two spatial intervals over a total duration of 160 msec. The subject was required to choose the shorter of either the two durations or the two distances. The results confirmed Collyer’s (1977) findings that the two effects are inconsistently observed across subjects when the display duration is brief. In Experiment 2, display duration was systematically manipulated from 160 to 1,500 msec. It is argued that relative temporal judgments should become easier as the total display duration is increased and that, hence, the kappa effect should become less marked. On the other hand, relative spatial judgments should become more difficult as the total duration of the display is increased, and the tau effect should become more marked. The data were in conformity with the hypothesis. In Experiment 3, data are presented for a tau experiment which fit the assumption that the effect depends upon a weighted average of distance and the expected distance which would be traversed in the given time at constant velocity.     

The roles of perceived task interdependence and group members' interdependence in the development of collective efficacy in university student group contexts

Background . Although the relationship between collective efficacy and group performance has been frequently investigated, a few studies have investigated the development of collective efficacy. Aim . This paper proposes some determinants of collective efficacy in small university groups. Group level hypotheses and research questions relating collective efficacy to collective cognition activities, task interdependence, self‐efficacy for group work, and collective orientation were posited. Sample . The sample comprised 145 university students in 40 work‐groups. Method . A two‐phase longitudinal design was employed in the context of university student groups. All groups were required to perform interdependent academic tasks. Aggregated variables were used after testing for within‐group agreement. Results . The results of multiple regression analysis provided some evidence that the more group members perceived themselves to be interdependent in the early stages of group work and assigned their tasks interdependently during group processes, the more likely they were to develop high collective efficacy in the final stages of group work. Collective efficacy was also related to the group average of self‐efficacy for group work especially when task interdependence was perceived to be high. Conclusions . The results suggest that forming groups with capable university students in group work, strengthening university students' perceptions of themselves as interdependent in the early stages of academic group work and assigning interdependent group tasks during group work may contribute to the development of high collective efficacy.     

Cognitive interdependence and convergent expectations in transactive memory.

A laboratory experiment investigated the processes that underlie the development of transactive memory structures--the organizing schemes that connect knowledge held by individuals to knowledge held by others (D. M. Wegner, T. Guiliano, & P. T. Hertel, 1985). The design was a 2 x 4 factorial that controlled expectations about the partner's knowledge (similar or different from the participant's) and cognitive interdependence, the degree to which participants' outcomes depended on whether they recalled the same or different information as their partner (defined by 4 incentives). Transactive memory was most differentiated when individuals had different expertise and incentives to remember different information and most integrated when individuals had similar expertise and incentives to remember the same information. These findings may help to explain the impact of previous experience and relationships on the development of transactive memory.     

Modeling homophily over time with an actor-partner interdependence model

Selection and socialization have been implicated in friendship homophily, but the relative contributions of each are difficult to measure simultaneously because of the nonindependent nature of the data. To address this problem, the authors applied a multiple-groups longitudinal actor-partner interdependence model (D. A. Kashy & D. A. Kenny, 2000) for distinguishable dyads to 3 consecutive years of intoxication frequency data from a large community-based sample of Swedish youth. Participants, ranging from 12 to 18 years old (M = 14.35, SD = 1.56) at the start of the study, included 902 adolescents (426 girls and 476 boys) with at least one reciprocated friend during at least one time point and 212 adolescents (84 girls and 128 boys) without reciprocated friends at any time. Similarity estimates indicated strong effects for selection and socialization in friends' intoxication frequency. Over time, younger members of these dyads had less stable patterns of intoxication than older members, largely because younger partners changed their drinking behavior to resemble that of older partners.     

Duality of independence and interdependence: An adaptationist perspective

We propose a new framework for understanding cultural differences in self‐construal by noting the duality of this construct. Based on the analysis of the adaptive roles of self‐construal, we predicted that a US–Japan difference in self‐construal exists in the contrast between self‐expression and rejection avoidance. We confirmed these predictions using newly constructed self‐construal scales. Compared to Japanese respondents, American respondents were higher on self‐expression and lower on rejection avoidance. Our findings regarding the contrast between distinctiveness of the self and harmony seeking, which are traditionally discussed as the core features of independence and interdependence, did not support the standard cultural psychological view. The two groups of respondents did not differ on distinctiveness of the self and the American respondents were higher on harmony seeking than were Japanese respondents.     

Gene-environment interplay in the association between pubertal timing and delinquency in adolescent girls

Early pubertal timing places girls at elevated risk for a breadth of negative outcomes, including involvement in delinquent behavior. While previous developmental research has emphasized the unique social challenges faced by early maturing girls, this relation is complicated by genetic influences for both delinquent behavior and pubertal timing, which are seldom controlled for in existing research. The current study uses genetically informed data on 924 female-female twin and sibling pairs drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to (1) disentangle biological versus environmental mechanisms for the effects of early pubertal timing and (2) test for gene-environment interactions. Results indicate that early pubertal timing influences girls' delinquency through a complex interplay between biological risk and environmental experiences. Genes related to earlier age at menarche and higher perceived development significantly predict increased involvement in both nonviolent and violent delinquency. Moreover, after accounting for this genetic association between pubertal timing and delinquency, the impact of nonshared environmental influences on delinquency are significantly moderated by pubertal timing, such that the nonshared environment is most important among early maturing girls. This interaction effect is particularly evident for nonviolent delinquency. Overall, results suggest early maturing girls are vulnerable to an interaction between genetic and environmental risks for delinquent behavior.     

Task interdependence and job design: test of a theory

This paper develops the concept of task interdependence and integrates it in the Hackman and Oldham (1976) theory of job design. Two dimensions of initiated task interdependence and received task interdependence are developed as multidimensional concepts, each being made up of the elements of scope, resources, and criticality. A distinction is made between the two psychological states of experienced responsibility for one's own work and personal outcomes, and experienced responsibility for others' (dependents') work and personal outcomes for whom one initiates task interdependence. Autonomy is hypothesized to be related only to experienced responsibility for one's own work outcomes while initiated task interdependence is related to experienced responsibility for others' work outcomes. Initiated interdependence is also hypothesized to be positively related to the affective positive work and personal outcomes, while received task interdependence is negatively related to these variables. New subscales for the measurements of these constructs are developed and reliability and validity coefficients are reported. The substantive results give support to the motivating potential of initiated task interdependence. However, the results do not support the hypotheses associated with received task interdependence.     

Self-control and accommodation in close relationships: an interdependence analysis

Accommodation refers to the willingness, when a partner has engaged in a potentially destructive behavior, to (a) inhibit impulses toward destructive responding and (b) instead respond constructively. A pilot study and 3 additional studies examined the hypothesis that self-control promotes individuals' ability to accommodate in response to a romantic partner's potentially destructive behavior. Dispositional self-control was positively associated with accommodative tendencies in all 4 investigations. In addition, Study 1 (a retrospective study) and Study 2 (a laboratory experiment) revealed that "in-the-moment" self-regulatory strength depletion decreased the likelihood that an individual would accommodate. Finally, Study 3 demonstrated that self-control exerted a significant effect on accommodation even after the authors included commitment to the relationship in the model. Implications for relationship functioning are discussed.     

Beyond nature/nurture: Buddhism and biology on interdependence

Buddhist temples are emblematic of many Asian countries in their tourism promotions, but little is known about how monks, laypeople, guides, and local or foreign tourists experience these religious heritage sites. In late developed and developing Asian countries these Buddhist sites fulfil complex social and symbolic roles involving differing functions and expectations. But how these temples can fulfil these complex demands and avoid becoming similar to a museum or a theme park is unclear. Using qualitative analysis this research examined temple users experiences of the architecture, artefacts, gardens, rituals, and users at the Bulguk Temple precinct in Korea and identified several dimensions of the sense of place that temple users experience. A resulting sense of place matrix includes believer, novice, leisure, and heritage experiences that users access depending on their grasp of the core knowledge and the symbolic materialities in the temple precinct. This provides a starting point for the skilful management of Buddhist sites facing mounting pressures from increasing visitor numbers particularly from heritage and leisure tourists. An indigenous approach to the diversity of Buddhist veneration settings and their users is recommended. Practical implications and further research are suggested.     

The interdependence of pitch and temporal judgments by absolute pitch possessors

The auditory tau and the kappa effects show that there is time-pitch interdependence in our perception. Our judgments of pitch separation between two tones depend on the temporal interval between them (the auditory tau effect), and our judgments of the tones’ temporal interval depend on their pitch separation (the kappa effect). The mechanisms underlying this interdependence were investigated by studying the auditory tau and the kappa effect in three experiments. Comparisons were made between results obtained from subjects with absolute pitch and those who did not have absolute pitch, and two frequency ranges of pure tones (octave and whole-tone conditions) were selected. The procedures had been used in previous experiments (Shigeno, 1986), in which the auditory tau and the kappa effects were compared in speech and nonspeech stimuli. The present results demonstrate that the auditory tau effect does not occur when possessors of absolute pitch judge the closeness of stimuli in pitch, except when the stimulus continuum consists of tones that do not correspond to musical notes in the whole-tone condition. The kappa effect was obtained in the judgment of possessors of absolute pitch in both the octave and the whole-tone conditions. These findings suggest that the interaction between temporal interval and pitch judgment might be explained in terms of the two different memory modes for retaining the pitch of tones, and that these effects occur at the precategorical level.     

Social interaction interventions for youth with severe disabilities should emphasize interdependence

An emphasis on independence may be limiting the outcomes achieved by social interaction research. Given the lack of correlation between intellectual or adaptive functioning level and meaningful social outcomes for people with severe disabilities, a focus on increasing skills as a mechanism for increasing social outcomes seems misplaced (or, at least, inefficient). It is argued here that a more productive route for researchers to follow will be to emphasize interdependence. Implications of such a focus will change where interventions are implemented, curricular foci, and the types of instructional strategies used to improve the social life of youth with severe disabilities. MRDD Research Reviews 7:122-127, 2001.     

Independence and interdependence of group judgments: Xenophobia and minority influence

A first experiment examined the effects of two methods of dividing resources between Swiss nationals and foreign residents in a study involving 118 subjects. Subjects gave judgments involving either interdependent allocation (resources allocated to the outgroup cannot be allocated to the ingroup) or independent allocation. The results indicated that the socio-cognitive functioning preferred by subjects varies as a function of their view of outsiders. Interdependence of judgments was more characteristic of the most xenophobic subjects, whereas the least xenophobic were more likely to reason in terms of independence. On the other hand, intermediate subjects (those who were clearly neither for nor against outsiders) were sensitive to these modalities of judgment: interdependence engendered an ingroup favoritism, while independence counteracted this bias. A second experiment further analysed the influence of a more or less imperative minority argument on the attitudes of 109 more xenophobic subjects. Independent as compared to interdependent judgment facilitated a latent influence by the source, especially when the source employed a more imperative rhetoric to urge a more favourable attitude to foreigners.     

On feeling understood and feeling well: The role of interdependence

The present research examined whether people feel happier and healthier when they feel more understood in daily social interactions. A two-week diary study showed that people reported greater life satisfaction and fewer physical symptoms on days in which they felt more understood by others. Moreover, we found that individuals who tend to see themselves in relations to others (i.e., women or those scored high on interdependent self-construal measure) showed a stronger association between daily felt understanding and daily life satisfaction or physical symptoms. These findings demonstrate that daily social experiences, such as felt understanding, are associated with daily well-being, particularly for individuals with greater interdependent self-construal.     

The role of interdependence and perceived similarity in depressed affect contagion

This study hypothesized that perceived similarity significantly impacts depressed affect contagion only for individuals with highly interdependent self-construals. Baseline self-construal and affect were measured. Then, after reading a vignette about a depressed or nondepressed target, affect and perceived similarity were assessed. Participants reading the depressed vignette reported higher negative affect than participants reading the nondepressed vignette. Positive affect did not differ between the two conditions. For participants exposed to the depressed vignette, the hypothesized interaction between perceived similarity and interdependence significantly predicted positive affect. It appears that participants with more interdependent self-construals were more likely to "catch" the low positive affect displayed by the depressed target only if they perceived themselves as highly similar to the target.     

Similarity of outcomes, interdependence, and conflict in dating relationships

Dating couples (N = 59) participated in a longitudinal study of hypotheses derived from interdependence theory. Whether each partner's activity preferences and similarity of preferences, weighted by liking, would predict joint activity participation was examined. Preferences explained participation better than similarity, and own preferences predicted better than other's preferences. We hypothesized that conflict would increase with the strength of preferences but would decrease with similarity. The hypothesis concerning similarity was confirmed for some activities. Participation, similarity, and conflict explained relationship satisfaction and stability, but participation predicted better for men, whereas conflict and similarity predicted better for women. The findings support the theory but suggest that interdependence problems vary by activity type and gender. Three patterns are discussed: turn taking, unresolved competition, and cooperation.