Trick‐or‐Treat Candy‐Getters and Hornet Scare Devices: Second Graders Make Creative Inventions Related to Animal Adaptations

This repeated measures study examined second graders' (n = 21) performance in creating inventions related to animal adaptations for simple products under two conditions that alternated each week for a six‐week period. In the analogy condition, students used form and function analogy object boxes to learn about animal adaptations, applying these concepts with the SCAMPER technique to generate a new product with a given item. In the traditional condition, students learned about animal adaptations through text/Internet searches and created a puppet play to organize, reinforce, and share these ideas. Students discussed ideas, and then brainstormed product inventions for given items. In both conditions, students drew advertisements for their inventions that were scored for inventiveness content and creativity. Weekly inventiveness content scores and creativity scores were higher for the experimental condition than for the traditional condition with large effect sizes.     

Children's Cognitive and Emotional Responses to the Portrayal of Negative Emotions in Family-Formatted Situation Comedies

This experiment assesses children's cognitive and emotional responses to negative emotions in family-formatted situation comedies. Boys and girls from two grade levels (Grades K-2 vs. Grades 3–5) viewed a family sitcom that featured one of two negative emotions (anger, fear) and varied the inclusion of a positive, humorous subplot (no, yes). Results revealed that inclusion of the subplot reduced comprehension of the major story line for younger children as well as for boys. Among all children, the presence of the positive subplot also distorted perceptions of how negative and persistent the main character's emotions were, finally, children who perceived the family sitcom to be highly realistic were more concerned about similar negative emotional events in their own lives than were those whoperceived theprogram to be less realistic. The findings are discussed in terms of children's social learning from television and emotional development.     

Attachment,sexual experience,and sexual pressure in romantic relationships: A dyadic approach

The goal of this research was to extend the previously documented associations between attachment style and sexual experiences in samples of adolescents and college students to adult couples in committed romantic relationships. A sample of 273 French‐Canadian heterosexual couples aged 18–35 years completed measures of attachment‐related anxiety and avoidance, sexual coercion, and sexual experiences in their relationships. Avoidant attachment was related to two strategies for limiting intimacy in sexual relationships: avoidance of sexual encounters and avoidance of sexual fantasies about one’s partner (the latter for women only). Anxious attachment appeared to interfere with comfortable intimacy, especially among men, who viewed their partner as avoiding sex and who applied more insistent pressure to have sex.     

Prior Exposure to Creatures From a Horror Film

This experiment assesses the impact of two exposure strategies on children's emotional and cognitive reactions to a frightening movie scene. Children from two grade levels (kindergarten and first vs. second through fourth) received a desensitization treatment in which modeled exposure to a live earthworm was factorially varied with exposure to graphic photographs of worms taken from a horror film. Children then viewed a frightening scene involving worms taken from this same film. Results indicated that exposure to photographs increased children's enjoyment of the movie segment and reduced fear reactions to the scene. In contrast, the live exposure strategy was effective in reducing fear reactions to the movie only among boys. However, live exposure did alter children's affective reactions to and judgments of worms themselves. The findings are discussed in terms of current theories of desensitization and information processing.     

The Effects of Role Induction on Trainees' Perceptions of Supervision

The effects of a role-induction procedure on beginning counselor-trainees' perceptions of supervision were examined using a 10-minute audiotaped summary of Bernard's (1979) model of supervision. Nineteen trainees were administered the role-induction procedure at either the 2nd, 5th, or 9th week of the academic term. Two self-report scales assessed trainees' conceptualization of supervision as well as expectations and attitudes toward the supervisory process. Results indicated that trainees evaluated supervision more negatively over the time period before the role induction. Following role induction, trainees reported a clearer conceptualization of supervision and a greater willingness to reveal concerns to their supervisors.