Children's, adolescents', and young adults' thinking about different types of disagreements

Individuals' thinking about different types of disagreements was examined. Ninety-six participants in third grade (mean age = 8 years 9 months), seventh grade (mean age = 13 years 2 months), and college (mean age = 21 years 10 months) judged the acceptability of believing and acting on different types of beliefs with which they disagree, the attributes of the persons with whom they disagree, and the relative importance of cultural uniformity or diversity of belief. Findings indicated that participants' thinking did not simply become more tolerant with age; their thinking at all ages was constrained by both the realm over which there was disagreement and the form of the disagreement. At all ages, participants judged that some disagreements were acceptable and some unacceptable, described disagreeing others in terms of different (more or less positive) attributes, and judged that diversity of belief was important in some realms but uniformity was preferable in others.     

Intimacy in young adults' narratives of romance and friendship predicts Eriksonian generativity: a mixed method analysis

A quantitative and qualitative study tested Erikson's ego developmental hypotheses regarding the positive relationship between generativity and intimacy. At age 26, participants (N = 100) told 2 stories about "relationship-defining moments," one about a romantic partner, and another about a same-sex friend. Levels of relationship intimacy were coded from these narratives. "True love" and "true friendship" themes arose as the most prototypical, highly intimate stories. Romantic intimacy and friendship intimacy as coded from narratives each contributed uniquely to the prediction of generative concern; as intimacy in each domain increased, so did generative concern. This relationship remained statistically significant, even when controlling for gender, current romantic relationship status, subjective well-being, optimism, and depressive symptoms. Results suggest that our "relationship-defining moment" narrative task is a useful tool for examining development in emerging adulthood and that intimacy may be an important precursor to generative concern in early adulthood, consistent with Erikson's model.     

The effects of sports participation on young adolescents' emotional well-being

This study examined the relationship between children's sports participation and emotional well-being including self-reported emotional and behavioral problems and multidimensional aspects of self-concept. Data were collected from 203 young adolescents using a multitrait-multimethod assessment methodology. Information was obtained using a sports questionnaire concerning participation in and perceptions of sporting activities. Emotional well-being was assessed by the Youth Self-Report (Achenbach, 1991) and the Self-Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985). The study found that increased levels of sports participation had a positive relationship with aspects of emotional and behavioral well-being, particularly self-concepts. Results also showed that children with increased perceptions of sport-related competencies reported significantly fewer emotional and behavioral problems than did children who were, by external standards (e.g., teacher rating, number of sporting achievements), actually competent at sport. The study also found particular areas of sports participation to be positively associated with self-concept. Evidence suggests a similar beneficial association with some aspects of behavior problems. Practical implications of the findings are discussed along with recommendations for future research.     

Children's, adolescents', and young adults' reward allocations to hypothetical siblings and fairness judgments: effects of actor gender, character type, and allocation pattern

The authors studied the reward allocation patterns, reasoning, and fairness judgments of 112 participants at 4 grade levels: kindergarten, 3rd grade, 9th grade, and college. Three story characters (an oldest, the most productive, and the physically disadvantaged) were depicted as siblings of the same gender, either sisters or brothers, who poured lemonade at a school picnic. Kindergartners' pattern of reward allocations indicated the use of an equality and productivity-based equity rule, whereas most of the older participants integrated considerations of both productivity and physical disadvantage in their allocations. Reasoning data were generally consistent with the allocation patterns. Reward allocations differed significantly by the gender of the characters, and fairness ratings differed significantly by the gender of the characters and the gender of the participant. Conclusions discuss the increasing coordination and consideration of more than one claim to the reward with development.     

Cherry pit primes Brad Pitt: Homophone priming effects on young and older adults' production of proper names

Abstract— This study investigated why proper names are difficult to retrieve, especially for older adults. On intermixed trials, young and older adults produced a word for a definition or a proper name for a picture of a famous person. Prior production of a homophone (e.g., pit) as the response on a definition trial increased correct naming and reduced tip-of-the-tongue experiences for a proper name (e.g., Pitt) on a picture-naming trial. Among participants with no awareness of the homophone manipulation, older but not young adults showed these homophone priming effects. With a procedure that reduced awareness effects (Experiment 2), prior production of a homophone improved correct naming only for older adults, but speeded naming latency for both age groups. We suggest that representations of proper names are susceptible to weak connections that cause deficits in the transmission of excitation, impairing retrieval especially in older adults. We conclude that homophone production strengthens phonological connections, increasing the transmission of excitation.     

Environmental and individual influences on Australian young adults' likelihood of attending university: a follow-up study

In this longitudinal study, which is a follow-up analysis of a previous investigation (K. Marjoribanks, 2002a), the author examined environmental and individual influences on the likelihood of Australian young adults attending university. Participants were 5,181 Anglo-Australian (parents born in Australia, English was the language of the family), 460 Asian, 699 English (parents born in England), 746 European, and 163 Middle Eastern students (M age = 14.7 years, when the study began). The analyses indicated that Asian, European, and Middle Eastern young adults were more likely to attend university than were young adults from Anglo-Australian and English families, and young women had higher odds of attending university than did young men. Family social status variations in the likelihood of university attendance could be explained by differences in individual characteristics and proximal learning environments. Adolescents' individual characteristics and proximal learning environments combined to have a large independent association with the decision to attend university.     

Predicting alternative strategies for preserving a belief in a just world: The case of repressive coping style

Researchers suggest that observers of innocent suffering will negatively evaluate the victim as a strategy for maintaining their belief in a just world. We propose an alternative class of strategies and test whether individual differences in repressive coping style predict the type of strategy people will use. In the first two studies, we exposed repressors versus nonrepressors to victims whose suffering should pose a high versus low threat to the need to believe in a just world. Repressors had a greater tendency to positively reappraise the high threat victim's suffering. Nonrepressors had a greater tendency to negatively evaluate the high threat victim. A third study replicated the results for the high threat conditions and suggested that repressors' positive reappraisal is not because of a tendency to minimize suffering. Our research (i) demonstrates a class of strategies for preserving the belief in a just world other than negatively evaluating the victim and (ii) is among the first to examine directly an individual difference predictor of alternative just‐world preservation strategies. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Getting involved: Testing the effectiveness of a volunteering intervention on young adolescents' future intentions

Past research has identified a host of benefits associated with volunteering and community involvement, yet involvement appears to be on the decline in recent years. We tested the effectiveness of an intervention designed to encourage involvement. We provided young adolescents with information about volunteer opportunities, benefits and ways to overcome barriers to involvement. Adolescents who participated in the volunteering intervention reported greater involvement intentions than control participants. In addition, mediation analyses indicated that adolescents in the volunteering intervention based their self‐worth to a greater degree on virtuous behaviour, which in turn predicted their involvement intentions, especially in the helping domain. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Children's and adults' reading of nonwords: effects of regularity and consistency.

The procedures used by novice readers to assemble pronunciations for nonwords were investigated. Children in Grades 1-3 read aloud consonant-vowel-consonant and longer monosyllabic nonwords. By the end of Grade 1, children displayed a good grasp of grapheme-phoneme (G-P) correspondences (e.g., ai, ow). Grade 2 and 3 readers increasingly used larger orthographic correspondences termed rimes (e.g., -ook, -ild). However, G-P correspondences determined most responses. Adults likewise used G-P rules when reading aloud nonwords and were more accurate at applying the rules. The strong reliance of Grade 1 and 2 readers on G-P rules was also demonstrated by their superior oral reading of regular words along with a tendency to regularize exception words (e.g., reading bull to rhyme with dull).     

Spoken numbers versus Arabic numerals: differential effects on adults' multiplication and addition.

J.-A. LeFevre, Q. Lei, B. L. Smith-Chant, and D. B. Mullins (2001) examined effects of auditory versus Arabic visual presentation formats on performance of simple multiplication. They observed a smaller problem-size effect (response time [RT] increases with numerical size) with auditory stimuli compared with Arabic stimuli. If this arises during problem encoding, as opposed to during subsequent calculation processes, the authors would expect comparable Format x Problem Size interactions for both multiplication and addition. For multiplication, the authors replicated the finding of a smaller problem-size effect for auditory stimuli than for Arabic stimuli, but found the opposite pattern for addition whereby the problem-size effect was larger with auditory stimuli than with Arabic stimuli. Decomposition of mean RT into its ex-Gaussian components, mu and tau, demonstrated that the triple interaction arose entirely in connection with tau. This suggests that the effects of auditory versus Arabic format on RT substantially reflected format-related shifts in the use of procedural strategies.     

Kicking the digital dog: a longitudinal investigation of young adults' victimization and cyber-displaced aggression

Abstract Using the general strain theory as a theoretical framework, the present longitudinal study investigated both face-to-face and cyber victimization in relation to cyber-displaced aggression. Longitudinal data were collected from 130 (70 women) young adults who completed measures assessing their victimization (face-to-face and cyber), cyber aggression, and both face-to-face and cyber-displaced aggression. Findings indicated that victimization in both social contexts (face-to-face and cyber) contributed to cyber-displaced aggression 6 months later (Time 2), after controlling for gender, cyber aggression, face-to-face displaced aggression, and cyber-displaced aggression at Time 1. A significant two-way interaction revealed that Time 1 cyber victimization was more strongly related to Time 2 cyber-displaced aggression when young adults had higher levels of face-to-face victimization at Time 1. Implications of these findings are discussed as well as a call for more research investigating displaced aggression in the cyber context.     

Arousing "gentle passions" in young adolescents: Sustained experimental effects of value affirmations on prosocial feelings and behaviors

When people reflect on their important values, they may become more attuned to the needs of others. Two longitudinal field experiments examined whether a subtle value-affirmation manipulation can initiate relatively enduring increases in young adolescents' prosocial feelings (Study 1; Mage = 12.9) and prosocial behaviors (Study 2; Mage = 12.9). Participants completed a brief writing exercise that affirmed the values they deemed either most important (value-affirmation group) or unimportant (control group). As predicted, the value affirmation, coupled with a booster affirmation 6 weeks later, caused increases in prosocial feelings and behaviors over the 3-month study period. Antisocial students who were value-affirmed showed especially strong increases in prosocial behavior. These results suggest that "gentle passions" can be aroused in youth by cost- and time-efficient means. The practical utility of value affirmations will need to be evaluated in future work.     

The relationship between parenting styles and young adults' self-concepts and evaluations of parents.

In the present study, 123 college students were surveyed in order to assess their self-concepts, evaluations of parents, and perceptions of their parents' parenting styles. Notably, the students' self-concepts were found to vary directly with perceived level of parental warmth, but did not vary as a function of their parents' level of restrictiveness. Fathers and mothers were found to be rated more highly if they were perceived as being warm and permissive rather than hostile and restrictive. Finally, opposite-sex parents' level of warmth also correlated with how each parent was evaluated. Some explanations for these findings are offered.     

Looking for a structural network: effects of changing size and style on letter recognition.

The accuracy of identifying backward-masked strings of unrelated letters was measured to test a prediction of a structural network model in which information about the absolute size of letters in a font is factored out from other types of information and is represented by a single size parameter. In this model, variation from block to block in the font size should be handled relatively easily by changing this parameter. In contrast, variation in several aspects of the font style would require changing multiple parameters and should be more difficult. In three experiments, the font was alternated in style, size, size and style, or not at all, at the end of each block of eight trials. The accuracy was lower overall when the font was varied, but contrary to the predictions of the model, variation in size reduced the accuracy of performance as much as did variation in style and variation in size and style.     

Using a bad tool with good intention: young children's imitation of adults' questionable choices

We present three studies exploring 2- to 4-year-olds’ imitation on witnessing a model whose questionable tool use choices suggested her untrustworthiness. In Study 1, children observed the model accidentally select a physically optimal tool for a task and then intentionally reject it for one that was functionally nonaffordant. When asked to perform the task for her, children at all ages ignored the model’s intentional cues and selected the optimal tool. Study 2 found that when the model’s nonaffordant tool choice was emphasized by claims about its design, 3-year-olds increased imitation. They also imitated, as did 2-year-olds, when the model selected a suboptimal rather than nonaffordant tool. The 4-year-olds consistently avoided imitation. Study 3 replicated these findings with new tools and participants. Additional measures indicated that knowledge about artifact design predicted children’s tendency to ignore the model. These results shed light on developmental trends in the social and cognitive functions of imitation.     

Children and adults' distance estimations in a large-scale environment: effects of time and clutter

In two experiments adults (mean age = 19-5), sixth graders (mean age = 11-8), fourth graders (mean age = 9-8), and second graders (mean age = 7-8) walked a straight line distance through a large-scale environment. Subjects were then asked to estimate the time taken to traverse each half of the walk and to estimate the distance between objects seen along the walk. In Experiment 1 each half of the walk was traversed in the same amount of time but contained a different number of objects (clutter). Time and distance estimates were related, but were not affected by the number of intervening objects encountered between locations. In Experiment 2 subjects again encountered a different number of objects along each half of the walk but each half was traversed in varying amounts of time. Again, time and distance estimates were related, and there was no clutter effect. There were no consistent developmental differences across the two experiments. It was concluded that (1) Thorndyke's clutter effect does not occur across all types of spatial cognition tasks, and (2) children and adults tend to relate time and distance across a variety of distance estimation tasks.     

Self-verification as a mediator of mothers' self-fulfilling effects on adolescents' educational attainment

This research examined whether self-verification acts as a general mediational process of self-fulfilling prophecies. The authors tested this hypothesis by examining whether self-verification processes mediated self-fulfilling prophecy effects within a different context and with a different belief and a different outcome than has been used in prior research. Results of longitudinal data obtained from mothers and their adolescents (N=332) indicated that mothers' beliefs about their adolescents' educational outcomes had a significant indirect effect on adolescents' academic attainment through adolescents' educational aspirations. This effect, observed over a 6-year span, provided evidence that mothers' self-fulfilling effects occurred, in part, because mothers' false beliefs influenced their adolescents' own educational aspirations, which adolescents then self-verified through their educational attainment. The theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed.     

Getting a grip on your feelings: effects of action orientation and external demands on intuitive affect regulation

The authors propose that volitional action is supported by intuitive affect regulation, defined as flexible, efficient, and nonrepressive control of own affective states. Intuitive affect regulation should be most apparent among action-oriented individuals under demanding conditions. Consistent with this, a demanding context led action-oriented individuals to down-regulate negative affect in self-reports (Study 1), in an affective Simon task (Study 2), and in a face discrimination task (Study 3). In line with the idea that intuitive affect regulation is guided by top-down self-regulation processes, intuitive affect regulation in a face discrimination task was mediated by increases in self-accessibility (Study 3). No parallel effects emerged among action-oriented participants in a nondemanding context or among state-oriented participants.     

Psychosexual fixation and defense mechanisms in a sample of young Japanese women: a preliminary study

The present pilot study examined psychosexual fixations and defense mechanisms in a sample of young Japanese women. The Lexical Rorschach count and the Defense Mechanisms Inventory were administered to 24 female college students. Sadism on the Lexical Rorschach count was positively correlated with Reversal of Affect. Phallic fixation on the Lexical Rorschach count was positively correlated with Projection. Psychoanalytic hypotheses about the associations between psychosexual fixations and defense mechanisms were partially confirmed.     

Why a superman cannot help a tsunami: activation of grammatical class influences resolution of young and older adults' tip-of-the-tongue states

Young (aged 18-23), young-old (aged 61-73), and old-old (aged 75-89) adults saw general knowledge questions whose answers were designated target words. Participants responded that they knew, did not know, or were having a tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) state for the answer. After TOT states, participants saw a 5-word list in which 1 was a "prime" containing the target's first syllable and that shared or differed in part of speech from the target. The question was then presented again, and target retrieval was attempted. Results revealed age differences in resolution of TOT states as a function of the prime's grammatical class. Following different part-of-speech primes, young and young-old adults showed increased resolution of TOT states relative to phonologically unrelated words, whereas old-old adults did not. In contrast, old-old adults demonstrated decreased resolution of TOT states following same part-of-speech primes, whereas young and young-old adults' TOT resolution was unaffected. These findings are consistent with interactive activation theories of speech production in which phonology can influence lexical selection and also suggest an increased susceptibility to phonological competitors in the later stages of the aging process.