Behavioral genetic methods

Traditional behavioral genetic methods involve the use primarily of family, twin, and adoption correlations to estimate the relative contributions of genetic and environmental influences in the etiology of individual differences. These methods and representative results for personality are described. However, newer methods are emphasized: structural models and model-fitting, multivariate analysis, genetic change and continuity in development, shared and non-shared components of environmental variance, and genetic components of "environmental" variation. Because most applications of these behavioral genetic methods to the study of personality involve self-report omnibus questionnaires, an important direction for future research in this area is to use these methods to explore new issues and new measures that have emerged from personality theory and research during the past decade.     

Behavioral methods of assessing forgiveness

One problem in forgiveness research is the reliance on one method (i.e. having people recall an offense and complete self-report measures). Thus, we present two strategies for studying forgiveness-related behavior. First, we adapted the Cyberball paradigm, which is a game of toss where two computer players (ostensibly virtual players) exclude the participant from play. We adapted Cyberball to include a second round that gave participants the opportunity to retaliate or forgive the player who excluded them. Self-reported forgiveness predicted the first toss and total number of tosses to the offender in the subsequent round. Second, we had participants describe an offense (as is typical with the recall method), but then also complete an activity in which they listed as many positive qualities as they could about the offender. Self-reported forgiveness predicted the number of positive qualities listed. We discuss the contribution of these studies to the multimodal study of forgiveness.     

Behavioral methods to reduce shoplifting

Shoplifting is a serious crime affecting most (if not all) retail businesses and responsible for increases in merchandise prices and customer services. Numerous methods exist to reduce shoplifting among consumers. The two most common types of shoplifting treatments either directly treat the shoplifter or attempt to prevent shoplifting through response prevention strategies in the retail environment. A critical review of the most common methods to reduce shoplifting reveal that case study research lacks appropriate experimental control to be convincing; and that the most promising strategies are those methods that attempt to prevent shoplifting in the retail environment. However, the more global response prevention methods could benefit if an account of the total volume of shoppers were controlled for thus providing a ratio of shoppers to opportunities to shoplift.     

Behavioral correlates of self-control at 33 months

Self-control behavior of 48 33-month-old children was examined during two delay-of-gratification tasks. Children were categorized as high, medium, and low in self-control on the basis of their cumulative delay time. Instances of attention shifts, body movements, as well as social and object-referencing were coded throughout the two delay periods. Results showed significant group differences in behavioral tactics. Children in the low group looked at and touched the forbidden object more often; members of the medium group used more social referencing, and those in the high group were more likely to reference nonforbidden objects. Findings also suggested that high controllers were more likely to use self-distraction tactics involving shifts in attention from one object to another during the delay period. Separate analyses for each task indicated that the observed delay tactics were stable from one context to the other. These findings substantiate results from other research on self-control with 3-year-old children and also document different behavioral styles of self-regulation during delay of gratification.     

Emotional dynamics of soccer fans at winning and losing games

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the emotional reactions of fans of winning and losing teams at two professional soccer games. The participants were 187 male and 146 female Japanese soccer fans who provided biographical information and responded to a slightly modified state version of the Tension and Effort Stress Inventory (TESI; Svebak, Ursin, Endresen, Hjelmen, & Apter, 1991) pre-, mid- and post-game. Data from winning and losing fans were analysed using 3 × 2 independent groups ANOVAs for each of the pleasant emotions, unpleasant emotions, and tension stress/effort stress ratings with Bonferroni adjustment to control Type 1 error rates. When winning and losing fans’ responses were compared, most differences were found post-game, where losing fans scored significantly higher than winning fans on boredom, anger, sullenness, humiliation and resentment, and lower on relaxation. Also, levels of pleasant and unpleasant emotions changed significantly for losing fans, but (except for boredom) not for winning fans.     

Behavioral phenotyping in zebrafish: Comparison of three behavioral quantification methods

The zebrafish has been popular in developmental biology and genetics, but its brain function has rarely been studied. High-throughput screening of mutation or drug-induced changes in brain function requires simple and automatable behavioral tests. This article compares three behavioral quantification methods in four simple behavioral paradigms that test a range of characteristics of adult zebrafish, including novelty-induced responses, social behavior, aggression, and predator-model—induced responses. Two quantification methods, manual recording and computerized videotracking of location and activity, yielded very similar results, suggesting that automated videotracking reliably measures activity parameters and will allow high-throughput screening. However, observation-based event recording of posture patterns was found generally not to correlate with videotracking measures, suggesting that further refinement of automated behavior quantification may be considered.     

The sideline behaviour of coaches at children’s team sports games

Objectives

This study aimed to establish the prevalence, pattern and nature of coaches’ verbal behaviour at children’s (ages 6-12 years) team sports events. The study draws upon the motivational model presented by Mageau and Vallerand (2003) to examine the influence of global (gender), contextual (sport related), and social (athlete gender) factors on coach comments.

Design

A cross-sectional observational study of coaches stratified across four team sports: Rugby Union, Netball, Association Football and Touch Rugby.

Method

The Observation Instrument at Sports Events was used to categorise covertly recorded verbal comments made by coaches at organised team sports games.

Results

Overall, 10,697 comments were recorded at 72 games at a rate of 3.71 comments/minute; 35.4% were categorised as positive, 21.6% as negative, and 43.0% as neutral. Significant differences in negative comments were identified between sport (p < .001) with rugby coaches recording the highest percentage of negative comments and the lowest percentage of positive comments; by coach gender (p < .001), with male coaches recording higher rates of negative comments; and by athlete gender (p < .001), with coaches of male-only teams recording higher rates of negative comments. When simultaneously included in a Poisson regression model the difference in negative comments between sports remained statistically significant (p < .001) whereas coach gender was no longer significant.

Conclusions

The ratio of negative coach comments for all sports gives cause for concern. These findings suggest that sports of national and cultural significance are a key driver of coaching behaviours in a competitive environment.     

儿童行为与心理水平的特质推理的发展

选取4岁组、5岁组、7岁组、10岁组、12岁组儿童和成人共192名(各年龄组32名, 男女各半)为被试, 采用个别测查法考察学前和小学儿童行为与心理水平的特质推理发展。结果表明: (1)4岁时儿童已能进行行为水平的特质推理, 5岁时才能进行心理水平的特质推理, 即使用特质引发规则进行特质推理, 10岁时两者均达到成人水平。(2)4岁、5岁时儿童心理水平的特质推理显著落后于行为水平的特质推理, 至少7岁时两者处于同一水平上。(3)儿童使用概念相似规则而不是情境匹配规则进行行为预测。(4)4岁儿童不使用简单效价规则进行行为预测, 5岁及以上儿童使用简单效价规则, 但他们是在区分同一特质范畴和不同特质范畴的基础上、在较低的确定程度上使用该规则。     

Freedom and the value of games

This essay explores the features in virtue of which games are valuable or worthwhile to play. The difficulty view of games holds that the goodness of games lies in their difficulty: by making activities more complex or making them require greater effort, they structure easier activities into more difficult, therefore more worthwhile, activities. I argue that a further source of the value of games is that they provide players with an experience of freedom, which they provide both as paradigmatically unnecessary activities and by offering opportunities for relatively unconstrained choice inside the ‘lusory’ world that players inhabit.     

Technology Complementing Military Behavioral Health Efforts at Tripler Army Medical Center

The purpose of this article is to provide a short narrative on the ways that behavioral health professionals and their patients are currently benefitting from the use of technology. Examples stem from applications of technology to patients/research participants at the Tripler Army Medical Center. The paper also discusses how current use of this technology has made it possible to serve individuals in their own cultural environment, providing a cost-effective means of providing mental health services.     

Computer games for the teaching of reading

The development and implementation of programs of computer-based instruction for reading are discussed.     

Eating at Fast-Food Restaurants: An Analysis Using Two Behavioral Intention Models

Eating at fast-food restaurants is becoming increasingly popular. However, little research has been conducted examining the determinants of this behavior. A subjective probability model and Fishbein's behavioral intention model were used to examine this behavior. Both models were significant predictors of the individual's intention to eat at these restaurants and both were used to identify psychologically important beliefs that determine this behavior. Intention was found to be a significant and sufficient predictor of behavior. Finally, the use of these findings for both applied and basic researchers is presented.     

Crying games in the theory of child development

Mathematical tools, such as static and dynamic optimization theory and game theory, are used to axiomatize developmental theory and to model the interaction between parents, their infant children and siblings. Parents allocate their time between parenting and other activities. They respond to their children's demand for attention. Children signal attention seeking by “crying”. Jealous siblings vie for their parents' attention. Parents, children and siblings are assumed to pursue their goals efficiently. The model solves for the equilibrium amount of crying by siblings, the allocation of parents' time between themselves and their children, and the sub-allocation of attention between rival siblings. Parents have an enlightened self-interest in promoting their children's independence, which they do by setting limits. In this they tread a fine line between spoiling and depriving their child. The model is dynamized to solve the optimal development policy of parents and to formalize the separation process of children from parents.     

Mind games: the mental representation of conflict

Perception and misperception play a pivotal role in conflict and negotiation. We introduce a framework that explains how people think about their outcome interdependence in conflict and negotiation and how their views shape their behavior. Seven studies show that people's mental representations of conflict are predictably constrained to a small set of possibilities with important behavioral and social consequences. Studies 1 and 2 found that, when prompted to represent a conflict in matrix form, more than 70% of the people created 1 of 4 archetypal mixed-motive games (out of 576 possibilities): Maximizing Difference, Assurance, Chicken, and Prisoner's Dilemma. Study 3 demonstrated that these mental representations relate in predictable ways to negotiators' fixed-pie perceptions. Studies 4-6 showed that these mental representations shape individuals' behavior and interactions with others, including cooperation, perspective taking, and use of deception in negotiation, and through them, conflict's outcomes. Study 7 found that the games that people think they are playing influence how their counterparts see them, as well as their counterparts' negotiation expectations. Overall, the findings document noteworthy regularities in people's mental representations of outcome interdependence in conflict and illustrate that 4 archetypal games can encapsulate fundamental psychological processes that emerge repeatedly in conflict and negotiation.