The experience of anger and sadness in everyday problems impacts age differences in emotion regulation

The authors examined regulation of the discrete emotions anger and sadness in adolescents through older adults in the context of describing everyday problem situations. The results support previous work; in comparison to younger age groups, older adults reported that they experienced less anger and reported that they used more passive and fewer proactive emotion-regulation strategies in interpersonal situations. The experience of anger partially mediated age differences in the use of proactive emotion regulation. This suggests that at least part of the reason why older adults use fewer proactive emotion-regulation strategies is their decreased experience of anger. Results are discussed in the context of lifespan theories of emotional development.     

Monkey see,monkey do: The effect of social influence on selective‐exposure bias

Selective‐exposure bias refers to the tendency to predominantly seek out attitude‐consistent information and avoid attitude‐inconsistent information. Although researchers have proposed and tested several underlying psychological factors that might contribute to this tendency, the potential role of social influence has not been addressed. In the present research, we address this issue. In four experiments (total N = 645), participants’ selective‐exposure bias was significantly reduced when the bias was portrayed as non‐normative (vs. normative). In Experiment 4, we obtained evidence for the possibility that this social‐norm manipulation could result in effects on attitudes through information selection. Overall, this research contributes novel evidence for the effect of social influence on selective‐exposure bias.     

Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior in Academic Cheating Research–Cross-Cultural Comparison

The study is an intercultural comparison of the theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behavior (original and modified versions) to predict students’ intentions for academic cheating. The sample included university students from 7 countries: Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Turkey, Switzerland, United States, and New Zealand. Across countries, results show that attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and moral obligation predict students’ intentions to engage in academic dishonesty in the form of cheating. The extended modified version of the theory of planned behavior emerged as the best explanatory model predicting intentions to cheat. Significant cross-cultural differences were found and discussed.     

Hoarding in obsessive-compulsive disorder: results from the OCD Collaborative Genetics Study

Hoarding behavior occurs frequently in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Results from previous studies suggest that individuals with OCD who have hoarding symptoms are clinically different than non-hoarders and may represent a distinct clinical group. In the present study, we compared 235 hoarding to 389 non-hoarding participants, all of whom had OCD, collected in the course of the OCD Collaborative Genetics Study. We found that, compared to non-hoarding individuals, hoarders were more likely to have symmetry obsessions and repeating, counting, and ordering compulsions; poorer insight; more severe illness; difficulty initiating or completing tasks; and indecision. Hoarders had a greater prevalence of social phobia and generalized anxiety disorder. Hoarders also had a greater prevalence of obsessive-compulsive and dependent personality disorders. Five personality traits were independently associated with hoarding: miserliness, preoccupation with details, difficulty making decisions, odd behavior or appearance, and magical thinking. Hoarding and indecision were more prevalent in the relatives of hoarding than of non-hoarding probands. Hoarding in relatives was associated with indecision in probands, independently of proband hoarding status. The findings suggest that hoarding behavior may help differentiate a distinct clinical subgroup of people with OCD and may aggregate in some OCD families. Indecision may be a risk factor for hoarding in these families.     

Functional analysis and intervention of perseverative speech in students with high-functioning autism and related neurodevelopmental disabilities

Although perseverative speech is a common characteristic of individuals with high-functioning neurodevelopmental disabilities, little is known about the operant functions of these verbalizations. We conducted analogue functional analyses of perseverative speech for 2 students using reinforcement contingencies that included alone, attention, control, escape, and tangible conditions. Results showed the following patterns: attention only (Charlotte) or multiply determined including an attention function (Paul). We then tested an intervention for perseverative speech maintained by social positive reinforcement that included differential reinforcement of alternative behavior and extinction of perseverative speech for 1 participant. The intervention reduced perseverative speech, but did not increase appropriate speech until we added a prompting component. We then replicated this three-component intervention with Paul. The results showed moderate to high decreases in levels of perseverative speech and increased appropriate verbalizations in both cases. The results systematically replicated the interventions of previous studies by adding a prompting component to the intervention.     

Are daily fluctuations in perceived environment associated with walking?

The physical environment is thought to influence walking; however, daily variations in perceived environment have received little attention. The current study sought to examine if key within-person factors (i.e., implementation intentions, social support, affect and self-efficacy) would be associated with walking and if perceived access to supportive environments (e.g., access to nice walking paths) and perceived environmental barriers (e.g., bad weather and safety issues) were uniquely associated with walking after controlling for other constructs. Participants (N = 14, 50.0% men, 78.6% White, M age = 59.4 ± 6.4) were in the intervention arm of an 8-week controlled trial promoting walking via personal digital assistants. Participants completed electronic surveys twice a day (total entries = 804) in which they reported brisk walking levels and psychosocial and environmental factors. Multilevel modelling was used to examine within-person variations in constructs as determinants of walking. Results suggested that daily variations in implementation intentions, social support and positive affect were positively associated with walking. Further, perceived access to supportive environments, though not perceived environmental barriers, was positively associated with walking after controlling for other constructs (p < 0.05). Future research should explore intervention components that target context-specific information about perceived access to supportive environments as part of a broader perspective on intervention development.     

The Pursuit of Hopefulness: Operationalizing Hope in Entertainment Media Narratives

Hope is associated with benefits for psychological and physical wellbeing; consequently, efforts to increase or sustain hopeful feelings are increasingly incorporated into wellness interventions. Although entertainment media provide a wealth of emotionally evocative content, little systematic attention has been given to discrete positive emotions and no investigations to date have identified narratives that generate hope. To address this gap, this research explores underdog narratives, or those depicting characters struggling to meet a goal despite unfavorable odds, as a means to evoke hope, as well as the effect of this emotional experience on subsequent goal-directed motivation. Participants (N = 248) were randomly assigned to one of three media conditions—underdog narrative, comedy, nature scenes—or a no-media control group. Those in the media groups viewed one 5-minute video clip a day for five consecutive days. Consistent with hypotheses, those in the underdog condition felt more hopeful and reported greater motivation to pursue their own goals than those in other conditions. Further, the emotional experience of hope was durable, with hopefulness remaining elevated above baseline levels up to three days after the final media exposure. Implications of these findings for media effects theory and health promotion are discussed.     

Visitor Motivations Across Three Informal Education Institutions: An Application of the Identity-Related Visitor Motivation Model

ABSTRACT

Recent studies suggest that visitors’ situated museum identities may be examined through the motivations expressed during visits to zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, and other museums. This article examines a tool published by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and J. Falk, Heimlich, and Bronnenkant (2008) for documenting visitors’ motivations at zoos, aquariums, and other informal education settings and compares motivations for visiting across three informal education sites. Surveys were administered to 370 adult visitors to an aquarium, science center, and boat-based eco-tour operator. Findings revealed both different motivations of visitors to these informal education institutions and seasonal changes to those motivations. Moreover, the motivations tool, which was created specifically to document visitor motivations in zoos and aquariums, was able to successfully document visitor motivations in such places as a science center and boat excursion company. It is not clear, however, that it sheds direct light on visitor identity. Modifications to the instrument and underlying taxonomy are suggested and theoretical issues are discussed and used to suggest further areas of research. Findings from the empirical work contribute to discussions of how informal education institutions may use visitor motivations data along with a theory of identity to better understand current audiences and reach new audiences.     

Disentangling Fine Motor Skills’ Relations to Academic Achievement: The Relative Contributions of Visual-Spatial Integration and Visual-Motor Coordination

Recent research has established a connection between children's fine motor skills and their academic performance. Previous research has focused on fine motor skills measured prior to elementary school, while the present sample included children ages 5–18 years old, making it possible to examine whether this link remains relevant throughout childhood and adolescence. Furthermore, the majority of research linking fine motor skills and academic achievement has not determined which specific components of fine motor skill are driving this relation. The few studies that have looked at associations of separate fine motor tasks with achievement suggest that copying tasks that tap visual-spatial integration skills are most closely related to achievement. The present study examined two separate elements of fine motor skills—visual-motor coordination and visual-spatial integration—and their associations with various measures of academic achievement. Visual-motor coordination was measured using tracing tasks, while visual-spatial integration was measured using copy-a-figure tasks. After controlling for gender, socioeconomic status, IQ, and visual-motor coordination, and visual-spatial integration explained significant variance in children's math and written expression achievement. Knowing that visual-spatial integration skills are associated with these two achievement domains suggests potential avenues for targeted math and writing interventions for children of all ages.