Availability,Similarity, and Gender as Determinants of Adolescent Peer Acceptance1

Attributes of accepted classmates were investigated as a function of (a) respondent-target similarity, (b) availability of desirable peers, (c) gender of respondent and accepted peers, and (d) level of intimacy of the social contact. It was assumed that availability would play a greater role than was previously recognized, in determining attributes of accepted peers in casual as well as intimate contacts, and same-gender and opposite-gender acceptance of males and females would be affected differentially by availability and similarity. Seven hundred and fitly-five 6th, 7th. and 8th grade male and female students indicated their readiness to engage in closer or more casual contacts with each of their classmates, using the Interpersonal Relationship Assessment Technique. It was found that in more superficial relations attributes of accepted peers tended to reflect availability of desirable peers (mean level of desirable student attributes in class), but not respondent-peer similarity; whereas readiness to maintain more intimate contacts with peers was significantly associated with similarity between respondent and accepted peers, as well as availability of desirable peers. It was found further that availability and similarity play different roles in determining acceptance of same-gender or opposite-gender peers by boys and by girls. These results were replicated over four levels of intimacy and four different student attributes.     

Dyadic association between aggressive pretend play and children’s anger expression

This study investigates the association between children’s peer-reported expression of anger and their pretend play with aggressive/negative themes observed during spontaneous play with classmates. Participants comprised 104 Chinese children (M_age = 8.98 years, SD = 0.97, 49% girls) and were filmed playing in peer dyads with toys. Aggressive and non-aggressive negative pretend themes were coded at five-second intervals for 10 minutes. Children’s expression of anger in real situations was reported by peers. Analysis using actor–partner interdependence modelling (APIM) revealed significant partner effects, indicating that children were more likely to engage in pretend play with aggressive themes when they were playing with a partner who was perceived by their peers as more easily angered. It was also found that boys were more likely to engage in pretend play with both aggressive and non-aggressive negative themes compared with girls.     

Developmental Characteristics of Disparate Bimanual Movement Skills in Typically Developing Children

Mastery of many tasks in daily life requires role differentiated bimanual hand use with high spatiotemporal cooperation and minimal interference. The authors investigated developmental changes in the performance of a disparate bimanual movement task requiring sequenced movements. Age groups were attributed to changes in CNS structures critical for bimanual control such as the corpus callosum (CC) and the prefrontal cortex; young children (5–6 years old), older children (7–9 years old), and adolescents (10–16 years old). Results show qualitative changes in spatiotemporal sequencing between the young and older children which typically marks a phase of distinct reduction of growth and myelination of the CC. Results show qualitative changes in spatiotemporal sequencing between the young and older children, which coincides with distinct changes in the growth rate and myelination of the CC. The results further support the hypothesis that CC maturation plays an important role in the development of bimanual skills.     

Learning harmony: the role of serial statistics

How do listeners learn about the statistical regularities underlying musical harmony? In traditional Western music, certain chords predict the occurrence of other chords: Given a particular chord, not all chords are equally likely to follow. In Experiments 1 and 2, we investigated whether adults make use of statistical information when learning new musical structures. Listeners were exposed to a novel musical system containing phrases generated using an artificial grammar. This new system contained statistical structure quite different from Western tonal music. Our results suggest that learners take advantage of the statistical patterning of chords to acquire new musical structures, similar to learning processes previously observed for language learning.     

A strange hand: On self-recognition and recognition of another

This article provides a phenomenological analysis of the difference between self-recognition and recognition of another, while referring to some contemporary neuroscientific studies on the rubber hand illusion. It examines the difference between these two forms of recognition on the basis of Husserl’s and Merleau-Ponty’s work. It argues that both phenomenologies, despite their different views on inter-subjectivity, allow for the specificity of recognition of another. In explaining self-recognition, however, Husserl’s account seems less convincing. Research concerning the rubber hand illusion has confirmed that self-recognition involves more than an immediate experience of oneself. Merleau-Ponty’s later work, describing self-recognition as the result of assimilative identification, will be used to explain the possibility of illusion between one’s “hereness” and “thereness”. The possibility of this illusion is inherent to self-recognition, while it is lacking in recognition of another.

Space for emotion in the spaces of activism

This paper explores the role of emotions in activism. Although, increasingly, researchers have examined what emotions inspire or deter different forms of political and social movement activism, this paper takes a new direction by considering what spaces, practices and emotional stances are necessary to sustain individual and collective resistance in the long-term. We argue that we need to sustain activism through emotional reflexivity, building sustaining spaces to create space for emotion in activism. Using empirical examples from different forms of autonomous (anti-capitalist) activism in Britain, the role and importance of emotions to the sustainability of activism is explored. In particular, we consider the role of different spaces in sustaining activists through the cycles of protest, what spaces of activism can be opened up by a closer attention to emotions, and how the spaces in which protest and other activist practices take place shape the emotional and affective engagements of participants. As autonomous forms of activism attempt to prefiguratively enact new post-capitalist social relations in the here and now, we suggest there is still some way to go in changing affective relationships within many of these groups.     

The Benefits of Transcending Self-Interest: Examining the Role of Self-Transcendence on Expressive Suppression and Well-Being

Research has taken a dim view of regulating emotions via expressive suppression. However, the impact of suppression may vary according to individuals’ interpersonal orientation. In two studies, we examined the effects of suppression under self-transcendent and self-interest orientations. Results revealed that (1) in everyday life, although dispositional suppression was related to lower psychological well-being, the costs associated with suppression were buffered among individuals with a self-transcendence orientation (Study 1); and (2) among individuals primed with a self-transcendence orientation, suppression of negative emotions in an interpersonal conflict situation led to lower levels of anger-related emotions and higher levels of perceived relational quality compared to emotional expression; however, among individuals primed with a self-interest orientation, suppression led to higher levels of anger-related emotions and lower levels of perceived relational quality compared to expression (Study 2). Together, results from the present study highlight the role of interpersonal orientation in moderating the effects of suppression on well-being.     

Perception of Native English Reduced Forms in Adverse Environments by Chinese Undergraduate Students

Previous research has shown that learners of English-as-a-second-language (ESL) have difficulties in understanding connected speech spoken by native English speakers. Extending from past research limited to quiet listening condition, this study examined the perception of English connected speech presented under five adverse conditions, namely multi-talker babble noise, speech-shaped noise, factory noise, whispering and sad emotional tones. We tested a total of 64 Chinese ESL undergraduate students, using a battery of listening tasks. Results confirmed that the recognition of English native speech was more challenging for Chinese ESL learners under unfavorable listening conditions, in comparison to a noise-free listening condition. These findings carry significant implications for the importance of training and assessments on connected speech perception across various listening environments.     

Social status,everyday interpersonal processes,and coronary heart disease: A social psychophysiological view

Lower socioeconomic position is associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease. This robust gradient is found across levels of socioeconomic position and after controlling access to health care and traditional biological and behavioral risk factors. Thus, previous theory and research has examined the role of other, relatively static psychosocial factors (e.g., social isolation and negative emotional traits) that may account for this association. Utilizing an interpersonal perspective on psychosocial risk (Smith & Cundiff, 2011 ; Smith, Gallo, & Ruiz, 2003 ; Smith, Glazer, Ruiz, & Gallo, 2004 ), this review examines the role of recurring interpersonal experiences and their physiological effects as a pathway linking socioeconomic position and coronary heart disease. Specifically, we focus on proximal interpersonal experiences that may not only explain the increased prevalence of more chronic psychosocial vulnerabilities in lower socioeconomic environments and individuals but may also link those psychosocial vulnerabilities to the momentary physiological mechanisms (i.e., stress responses) that directly contribute to coronary heart disease. Recurring experiences of reduced support and increased conflict in important personal relationships, work stress, multiple aspects of interactions with higher‐status others, the effects of negative stereotypes about lower socioeconomic groups and individuals, greater use of suppressive strategies for emotion regulation and greater negative consequences for more direct and expressive social behavior, and greater engagement in perseverative cognition all plausibly combine to perpetuate psychosocial risk and produce overall greater physiological burden at lower levels of socioeconomic position.