Complicated Grief in Canada: Exploring the Client and Professional Landscape

Complicated grief (CG) is one of the central themes in bereavement research and advanced clinical practice today. Using a mixed-methods approach, we wanted to learn (a) what tools Canadian practitioners used to identify or diagnose CG and (b) what interventions or strategies they used to address CG. Sixty-three professionals responded to our survey. There were no straightforward answers to these questions: the state-of-the art of CG in Canada is, in fact, complicated. Practitioners used a wide assortment of tools and strategies with no consensus on any one approach or tool. Building a Canadian CG community of practice was recommended.     

Megachiropteran bats (Pteropus) utilize human referential stimuli to locate hidden food

Spontaneous point-following behavior has been considered an indicator of advanced social cognition unique to humans. Recently, it has been suggested that a close evolutionary relationship with humans could result in similar social skills in domesticated species. An alternative view is that the mechanism is not genetic domestication alone but instead a combination of phylogenetic and ontogenetic variables. Here we test the necessity of phylogenetic domestication by investigating the point-following behavior of a captive population of nondomesticated megachiropteran bats (Pteropus pumilus, Pteropus rodricensis, Pteropus conspicillatus, Pteropus vampyrus). Three of five subjects were highly successful in following an unfamiliar human's point to a target location, providing the first empirical evidence of cross-species social referencing in bats. The three successful bats were all born in captivity and socialized to humans early in life, whereas unsuccessful bats were wild-born individuals. This study provides evidence that referential point following is not restricted to domesticated animals and indicates that early experience may be important. Megachiropteran bats may prove to be a useful model for studying social behaviors.     

The Effects of Statistical Format and Population Specificity on Adolescent Perceptions of Cell Phone Use While Driving

Research on risk communication has established that people are influenced by numerical values as well as geographical reference points, or populations, in statistical messages. The ratio bias theory predicts that messages featuring higher casualty numbers will be more influential than similar messages featuring smaller values. However, research on the effects of population specificity predicts that risk messages containing specific populations with naturally lower casualty values will be more effective than similar messages containing larger populations and proportionally greater numbers. This study investigated the contradiction between ratio bias and the effects of population specificity. Students in a drivers’ education class (N?=?112) were randomly assigned to read one of four sets of statistical messages about cell phone use while driving that featured either a general (for example, United States) or specific population (for example, Nassau County), and was expressed using one of two statistical formats, frequencies (for example, “9,000 car accidents…”) or probabilities (for example, “25 % of car accidents…”). Participants then rated their intentions to and perceived risk of using cell phones while driving. Participants who viewed messages featuring general populations along with their naturally larger statistics reported lower intentions to use cell phones while driving than those who were exposed to messages with smaller numbers, but more specific populations. Results suggest that emphasizing larger-valued numbers may be a more effective means of risk communication than depicting specific conditions. These findings have implications for the enhancement of driver safety education to discourage the use of cell phones while driving by teenage drivers.     

Me, myself, and lie: The role of self-awareness in deception

Deception has been studied extensively but still little is known about individual differences in deception ability. We investigated the relationship between self-awareness and deception ability. We enlisted novice actors to portray varying levels of deception. Forty-two undergraduates viewed the videotaped portrayals and rated the actors’ believability. Actors with high private self-awareness were more effective deceivers, suggesting that high self-monitors are more effective at deceiving. Self-awareness may lead to knowledge of another’s mental state (i.e., Theory of Mind), which may improve an individual’s deception ability.     

Examining Sex Differences in Altering Attitudes About Rape: A Test of the Elaboration Likelihood Model

This intervention sought to improve first-year college students' attitudes about rape. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) was used to examine men and women's attitude change processes. Both quantitative and qualitative methodologies were used to examine how men and women construed rape prevention messages. Results indicated numerous sex differences in the ways in which men and women experienced and changed during and after the rape prevention intervention. Women seemed to use more central-route attitude change processes and showed more lasting change from the intervention at 2-month follow-up, whereas men seemed to attend more to peripheral cues of the speaker and demonstrated more transient attitude change.     

“This Bird Can't Do It ‘Cause this Bird Doesn't Swim in Water”: Sibling Teaching During Naturalistic Home Observations in Early Childhood

Social-constructivist models of learning highlight that cognitive development is embedded within the context of social relationships characterized by closeness and intimacy (Vygotsky, 1978 Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind and society: The development of higher mental processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. [Google Scholar]). Therefore, in contrast to prior research employing semistructured paradigms, naturalistic sibling-directed teaching was examined during ongoing interactions at home. Thirty-nine middle-class, two-parent families (older sibling, M_age = 6;3; younger sibling, M_age = 4;4) were studied. Intentional sequences of sibling-directed teaching were coded for: a) frequency; b) type of knowledge taught (i.e., conceptual or procedural); c) initiation of teaching by the teacher or following a request by the learner; d) teaching strategies (e.g., direct instruction, demonstration); and e) learner responses (e.g., active involvement, rejection). Findings indicated that teachers were most likely to initiate teaching spontaneously rather than respond to direct requests by learners. Teachers were most likely to initiate teaching of procedural knowledge, while learners were most likely to request the teaching of conceptual knowledge. The type of teaching strategy employed depended on who initiated the teaching and the type of knowledge taught. The response of the learner was associated with who initiated the teaching and the teaching strategies employed. These findings reveal the nuances and sophistication of young children's attempts to teach one another naturally in their homes. Findings are discussed in light of recent empirical and theoretical work.     

Guilty or Innocent? Women's Reliance on Inadmissible Evidence in a Simulated Rape Case

This study investigated the extent to which women disregard inadmissible evidence in a simulated rape case as a function of when they receive a judge's global legal instructions concerning presumption of innocence, burden of proof, reasonable doubt, and inadmissible evidence. We hypothesized that participants would be more likely to disregard incriminating inadmissible evidence when the instructions were given before rather than after the trial. Participants listened to audiotaped excerpts from a rape trial. They were given pretrial, predeliberation, or both sets of instructions; and received admissible or inadmissible avidence or no prior rape testimony, after which they made judgments. The results supported hypothesis that pretrial instructions are more effective than predeliberation instructions in allowing participants to disregard inadmissible evidence.
One cannot unring a bell; after the thrust of a saber, it is difficult to say forget the wound; and finally, if you throw a skunk into the jury box, you can't instruct the jury not to smell it ( Dunn v. United States , 1962 , p. 886).     

Successful Aging Across Adulthood: Hassles,Uplifts, and Self-Assessed Health in Daily Context

To examine the ways in which age, sex, daily uplifts, and daily hassles influence fluctuations in self-assessed health (SAH). A 14-day experience sampling study was conducted among community-dwelling adults (N?=?87). The distribution-free method of generalized estimating equations was used to examine whether changes in the intensity of daily hassles and changes in intensities of daily uplifts predicted subsequent changes in SAH. Both hassles and uplifts influenced SAH, although neither age nor sex influenced these associations. Findings are discussed in terms of the benefits of examining the daily context as an influence on successful aging.