Working memory for ballet moves and spatial locations in professional ballet dancers

The aim of the present study was to investigate working memory for ballet moves in expert dancers. Experiment 1 showed that a concurrent spatial task did not interfere with the recall of a sequence of ballet moves when these were encoded alone without being associated with spatial locations. Experiment 2 showed that a concurrent motor task selectively interfered with the recall of ballet moves while neither a concurrent motor task nor a spatial task affected recall of the specific locations where each ballet move had to be performed. Experiment 3 showed that spatial interference affected recall of sequences of locations when these were encoded alone. Finally, in Experiment 4, a similarity effect for patterned ballet movements was shown. Taken together results show that spatial interference does not affect short‐term memory for ballet moves thus suggesting that working memory might contain a system for motor configurations. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Body image and self-esteem in adolescent ballet dancers.

Body-image disturbances and low self-esteem have been implicated in the pathogenesis of eating disorders. This study investigated self-perception of body and personality among adolescent ballet dancers in a cross-sectional survey. Two questionnaires assessing "my body right now" and "my personality right now," using semantic differentials were completed by 90 ballet school students and 156 controls. Adolescent female dancers (ages 13 to 17 years) scored higher than age-matched controls and 11- to 12-yr. old peers on Undesirability and Sensitivity for personality and Unattractiveness for body. For both subscales of personality, differences were also found between male and female dancers; female ballet students scored higher. Within the control group a difference could be found only for Sensitivity on which girls scored higher than boys. Male dancers did not differ from controls except for a lower score on the Body mass measure. Adolescent female dancers showed a distinct answering profile for 7 of 16 semantic differentials in each questionnaire implicating less favorable body image and self-esteem. Interventions focused particularly on enhancing self-esteem may be useful in the prevention of psychopathology in adolescent ballet dancers.     

Stereotype accuracy

Methodological issues and empirical findings from stereotype accuracy research are reviewed. Methodological issues include the limitations of accuracy criteria and three methods of comparing perceived to actual group characteristics--signed discrepancies, absolute discrepancies, and within-subject correlations. Empirical findings concern the roles of cognitive processes, status and power, and social ideology in intergroup perceptions; stereotype development; individual differences in stereotyping; and stereotype use. It is argued that stereotype accuracy research is neither easy to do nor politically popular, but that it may challenge existing theory and stimulate new ideas about the nature of stereotyping processes.     

Unipodal performance and leg muscle mass in jumping skills among ballet dancers

We examined the vertical jump performance of each leg among 10 right-footed female ballet dancers with 1 yr. of international professional experience (quadrilles: Opera ballerinas). Their mean age was 17.5 yr. (SD=0.3). The maximal height of the unilateral jump was recorded, and muscle mass was evaluated by biphotonic absorptiometry method. Muscle mass and maximal jump height were similar for the two legs. A strong inverse relation was found between the muscle mass of the right leg (67%) and maximal jump height (r=-.81, p<.01) but not for the left leg. These results highlight a functional asymmetry and the effect of motor laterality in dance.     

Media influence and body dissatisfaction in preadolescent ballet dancers and non-physically active girls

ObjectivesThe present study analysed media influences and body dissatisfaction in preadolescent non-professional female ballet dancers and non-physically active girls.DesignCross-sectional design.MethodParticipants were 135 Italian preadolescent girls: 67 non-professional ballet dancers (M = 12.28 years) and 68 non-physically active girls (M = 12.56 years). Participants completed a questionnaire assessing body mass index (BMI), perceived media pressure to reach the societal body ideal, thin-ideal internalization, athletic internalization and body dissatisfaction.ResultsNo significant differences between ballet dancers and non-dancers emerged on age; however, dancers had a significantly lower BMI. Therefore, BMI was used as a covariate. No significant difference between the two groups emerged on perceived media pressure or thin-ideal internalization. Ballet dancers reported a higher level of athletic internalization and were more dissatisfied with their bodies than non-physically active girls. BMI emerged as the most important predictor of preadolescents' body dissatisfaction for both groups. Among non-dancers, perceived media pressure predicted body dissatisfaction both directly and indirectly via thin-ideal internalization. Among dancers, perceived media pressure predicted body dissatisfaction both directly and indirectly via athletic internalization but not via thin-ideal internalization.ConclusionsMedia influence emerged as an important predictor of body dissatisfaction for both groups, although the internalization of an athletic body ideal was more salient for the ballet dancers. These findings are noteworthy because they offer some clues for possible intervention programs aimed at promoting healthier body images in preadolescent ballet dancers and non-dancers and extend the existing literature on ballet dancers' body dissatisfaction.     

Inter- and intra-lower limb joint coordination of non-expert classical ballet dancers during tiptoe standing

The main objective of this study was to compare ballet dancers’ and non-dancers’ joint coordination during tiptoe standing. Nine female non-expert ballet dancers and nine female non-dancers were asked to perform heel-toe and tiptoe standing for approximately 30 s, during which the center of pressure (COP) and kinematic data from the metatarsophalangeal, ankle, knee, and hip joints were measured. Principal component analysis was performed on the angular displacements to determine joint coordination. The weighting vectors suggested that dancers’ ankle and knee joints fluctuated in-phase in the anteroposterior direction, whereas all combinations of adjacent joints had anti-phase coordination for non-dancers. In addition, there was a significant difference in the intra-joint coordination pattern between groups. In particular, dancers’ metatarsophalangeal (MP) and ankle joints tended to sway to the left-front or right-rear. However, there were no differences between the groups in the path length or rectangular COP. These results suggest that dancers maintained quiet postures via a decrease in the mechanical degree of freedom and that postural expertise may not be determined from a traditional COP analysis, even during unstable tiptoe standing. This in-phase coordination, which has an arch-like configuration, could be characteristic of dancers’ lithe legs.     

Relationship between the architecture and function of ankle plantar flexors with Achilles tendon morphology in ballet dancers

Achilles tendinopathy is the most frequent foot overuse injury in ballet dancers and knowledge of clinically modifiable factors related to tendon structure in a population at risk, such as ballet dancers, would be important for the development of preventive programs. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess relationships of gastrocnemius muscle architecture and ankle plantar flexors function with Achilles tendon morphology in ballet dancers. Fifty-four measures from 27 ballet dancers were collected. Tendon morphology (thickness, echogenicity, hypoechoic areas and neovascularisation) and muscle architecture (thickness, pennation angle and fascicle length) were evaluated using ultrasonography; ankle plantar flexors torque was evaluated using hand-held dynamometry, flexibility was evaluated in maximal weight-bearing ankle dorsiflexion position using inclinometer, and endurance was evaluated using the heel rise test. Ankle plantar flexors torque and medial gastrocnemius muscle architecture (thickness, pennation angle and fascicle length) are associated with Achilles tendon thickness in ballet dancers (r² = 0.24, p = 0.008). Ankle plantar flexors torque and medial gastrocnemius muscle fascicle length are also associated with the echogenicity of the Achilles tendon (r² = 0.13, p = 0.03). These findings call attention to the potential importance of ankle plantar flexors muscle force in healthy ballet dancers for the prevention of alterations in Achilles tendon structure.     

Effect of narrowing the base of support on the gait,gaze and quiet eye of elite ballet dancers and controls

We determined the gaze and stepping behaviours of elite ballet dancers and controls as they walked normally and along progressively narrower 3-m lines (l0.0, 2.5 cm). The ballet dancers delayed the first step and then stepped more quickly through the approach area and onto the lines, which they exited more slowly than the controls, which stepped immediately but then slowed their gait to navigate the line, which they exited faster. Contrary to predictions, the ballet group did not step more precisely, perhaps due to the unique anatomical requirements of ballet dance and/or due to releasing the degrees of freedom under their feet as they fixated ahead more than the controls. The ballet group used significantly fewer fixations of longer duration, and their final quiet eye (QE) duration prior to stepping on the line was significantly longer (2,353.39 ms) than the controls (1,327.64 ms). The control group favoured a proximal gaze strategy allocating 73.33% of their QE fixations to the line/off the line and 26.66% to the exit/visual straight ahead (VSA), while the ballet group favoured a ‘look-ahead’ strategy allocating 55.49% of their QE fixations to the exit/VSA and 44.51% on the line/off the line. The results are discussed in the light of the development of expertise and the enhanced role of fixations and visual attention when more tasks become more constrained.     

Tiny dancer: Body image and dancer identity in female modern dancers

Dance has been found to both enhance and undermine body image. Most of the literature has focused on ballet dancers and has neglected the role of identity as a dancer. This study assessed general and dance specific body image and dancer identity in 77 female modern dancers. Compared to samples of non-clinical college women, this sample had higher body appreciation and lower drive for thinness and self-objectification. White dancers in the sample also had positive levels of dancer body efficacy/acceptance whereas as non-White dancers had negative levels of this variable. Identity as a dancer was negatively correlated with body appreciation and dancer body perceptions and not related to the number of years of dance experience. Of general and dance specific body image, body appreciation emerged as the unique predictor. The findings warrant further research on positive body image, modern dancers, and identity.     

刻板印象错误知觉任务:区分刻板印象激活与刻板印象应用的新方法

刻板印象错误知觉任务(Stereotype Misperception Task,简称SMT)是一种能对刻板印象激活和刻板印象应用进行有效区分的研究范式,对应的多项式模型能对二者各自贡献量大小进行测算与评估。依托对二者关系的解构,介绍了SMT的操作程序、原理、多项式模型及其数据分析,比较了SMT和情感错误归因程序(AMP)以及四重模型的内在关联和本质区别,展望了未来的发展方向。     

On the Control Over Stereotype Activation and Stereotype Inhibition

Stereotypes are known to influence how we think about (judge, feel, plan, attend to, remember), and act toward, others. Stereotyping is typically described as pervasive in society for a variety of reasons, one of which being that the cognitive processes that initiate stereotyping occur effortlessly, without conscious intent, and without awareness. That is, upon encountering members of stereotyped groups, we ‘uncontrollably’ have stereotypes of those groups retrieved and held accessible in a state of perceptual readiness. This occurs without our knowledge or awareness of the stereotype’s ‘primed’ status, and thus our lacking awareness of its potential to influence how we respond. The current article explores various ways this implicit process of stereotype activation is controlled. Despite the fact that stereotype activation happens with ease, and outside of awareness, control processes also operate with ease, and outside of awareness. The review illustrates a variety of ways in which a stereotype may not be triggered (and thus downstream stereotyping of a person controlled) upon encountering a person. The dominant response to a person, stereotypic or not, is determined by the goals the individual perceiver has upon entering the interpersonal encounter. Many goals relevant to interpersonal interaction promote stereotyping. However, stereotype promotion is a form of stereotype control, and if control can be exhibited in the form of promotion, it should also be demonstrable in the form of prevention. Indeed, goals that are incompatible with stereotyping yield dominant responses to having encountered a member of a stereotyped group that does not involve activation of, and may involve inhibition of, stereotypes.     

Aging and Stereotype Suppression

ABSTRACT

Recent work in social cognitive aging has suggested that older adults are more likely than younger adults to activate and use stereotypic information, even when they intend not to. Furthermore, evidence suggests that older adults have difficulty altering their interpretation of a situation, even when it has become clear that their initial interpretation is incorrect. In the current study, younger and older adults read a series of narratives in which a character had a sex-stereotyped occupation (e.g., a plumber is stereotypically male), and the character's gender was either consistent or inconsistent with that stereotype. Explicit labeling of gender was also varied. Results revealed that with explicit labeling, older adults were able to discount their stereotypes and avoid processing difficulties when subsequent stereotype-inconsistent information was encountered. These data suggest that when counter-stereotypic information is explicitly provided at encoding, older adults are no more likely than younger adults to rely on stereotypes, and are similarly capable of altering their interpretation of a situation when information suggests that interpretation is incorrect. These findings indicate that although older adults are more prone to the influence of unwanted stereotypes, this effect can be averted and judgments can be made more egalitarian by providing older adults with explicit stereotype contradiction at encoding.     

刻板印象提升与刻板印象促进

刻板印象提升指个体意识到外群体具有消极刻板印象, 而产生与受诋毁的外群体向下的社会比较, 以提高个体自我效能感和动机, 进而提高表现; 刻板印象促进是积极刻板印象被激活后的积极结果, 指当个体处在他们的积极刻板印象身份被激活的情境中, 表现上升的一种现象。在刻板印象提升与刻板印象促进概念论述的基础上, 重点探讨了调节变量和结果影响这两种联系, 并从相关概念、被试要求和心理机制这三方面论述了这两者的区别。最后, 指出未来研究应加强对二者的关注, 消除其在概念上的混淆, 开展相关心理与神经机制的研究, 以及结合刻板印象阻抗进行探讨。     

Creativity and personality in professional dancers

In this study three different groups of professional dancers (ballet, modern/contemporary and jazz/musical), which considerably vary with respect to the creativity-related demands involved in the respective dancing style, are compared with respect to psychometrically determined creativity, general mental ability and different facets of personality. Results indicate that modern/contemporary dancers, who are often required to freely improvise on stage, exhibited relatively high levels of verbal and figural creativity (as it was measured by means of psychometric creativity tests), followed by jazz/musical and finally by ballet dancers. With respect to personality, modern/contemporary dancers can be characterized as being less conscientious, higher on psychoticism and more open to experiences than the remaining experimental groups. In line with relevant research in this field, this study reveals some central personality characteristics of highly creative individuals which may be considered as important ingredients in the acquisition or actualization of exceptional creative potential.     

老化刻板印象研究现状及展望

老化刻板印象是人们对老年人所持有的观念与预期,它能显著影响老化刻板印象持有者的生理功能、认知功能和行为结果。现有研究主要集中在老化刻板印象的机制、影响因素和中介变量方面。研究发现,老化刻板印象是通过内化形成的,刻板印象威胁理论和自我刻板化是解释老化刻板印象的两种作用机制。认知加工过程中的抑制能力、情境和文化差异是影响老化刻板印象的主要因素,而老化自我知觉和刻板期望则是老化刻板印象影响效果变量的中介因素。未来研究除了要继续探讨意识水平、情境因素、个体特征对老化刻板印象的影响以及老化刻板印象对不同年龄群体影响的特点以外,还应关注中介和干预研究,并进一步加强跨文化研究。     

Scientific Communication and Stereotype Change1

The aim of this experiment is to examine whether communicating the results of social psychological research improves out‐group stereotypes and diminishes in‐group bias. The experimental material consisted of 2 communications: one described Hamilton and Gifford's (1976) experiment on illusory correlation (Experiment 1); the other described Sherif's (1966) studies on summer camps. The results of the present experiment show that knowledge of Sherif's findings had no effect on evaluations, whereas an awareness of the experiment on illusory correlation produced a boomerang effect, accentuating, rather than diminishing, in‐group bias. A second experiment revealed that the persuasive power of a scientific message on stereotypes depends on whether in‐groups and out‐groups are cogni‐tively present in the message acquisition phase.     

Stereotype threat and female communication styles

A large body of research has documented the performance-debilitating effects of stereotype threat for individuals, but there is a paucity of research exploring interpersonal consequences of stereotype threat. Two experiments tested the hypothesis that stereotype threat would change the style in which women communicate. Results indicate that women who experience stereotype threat regarding leadership abilities react against the stereotype by adopting a more masculine communication style. Study 2 provides evidence that self-affirmation eliminates this effect of stereotype threat on women's communication styles. A third study demonstrates an ironic consequence of this effect of stereotype threat on women's communication--when women under stereotype threat adopt a more masculine communication style, they are rated as less warm and likeable, and evaluators indicate less willingness to comply with their requests. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Stigma,Stereotype, and Self-Presentation

How should we interpret the popular objection that stigmatised subjects are not treated as individuals? The Eidelson View claims that stigma, because of its connection to stereotypes, violates an instance of the general requirement to respect autonomy. The Self-Presentation View claims that stigma inhibits the functioning of certain morally important capacities, notably the capacity for self-presentation. I argue that even if we are right to think that stigma violates a requirement to respect autonomy, this is insufficient to account for the full weight of the charge that stigmatised subjects are not treated as individuals. We need the Self-Presentation View to explain a special threat to agency. I then address the worry that focusing on a concern with being treated as individuals opens the door to the suggestion that treating as superior can be just as morally troubling as stigma. This objection is fatal for the Eidelson View. But the Self-Presentation View has a number of resources for deflating the worry. We should not exclude the possibility of a moral symmetry between some cases of stigma and some cases of treating as superior. Rather, we should provide a nuanced account of the circumstances in which either phenomenon is detrimental for self-presentation.     

Marital Quality and Gender Role Stereotype

The study explored the relation of marital quality with gender role stereotype. A cohort of 350 couples aged 30–50 years were assessed for marital quality, gender role identity and gender role attitude. Results revealed a preference for traditional pattern, as masculinity for men and femininity for women were associated with better marital quality. Modern gender role attitude was significantly associated with marital quality in case of non-working women, but not with other categories. The results have been discussed in the context of cultural notions of gender.