Affect Regulation During Learning: The Enhancing Effect of Cognitive Reappraisal

Affective experiences routinely occur during learning and need to be successfully regulated. In two experiments, we used an intervention that combined elements of utility value and cognitive reappraisal to gauge its effects on engagement and performance. We predicted that participants using the reappraisal strategy would experience more engagement and higher learning outcomes than controls. Ethnically diverse adult learners ranging from 18 to 58 years of age (Experiment 1, N = 93; Experiment 2: N = 138) used affect regulation strategies or no strategy (control) in an online learning environment. Engagement and learning outcomes were measured throughout the experiment. Participants who used reappraisal generally reported more engagement and achieved higher learning outcomes than controls. A mediation analysis revealed evidence of a partial mediation effect of affective engagement between reappraisal and learning outcomes in Study 2. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding the role of affect regulation during learning. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

South African Serial Homicide: Consistency in Victim Types and Crime Scene Actions Across Series

Key to understanding the significance of behavioural evidence for linkage purposes is in establishing how consistently an offender displays the same or similar behaviours across their series. There have however to date been very few studies aiming at identifying salient components of offending behaviour that can be used reliably for linking individual crimes as part of a single series. In addition, studies that have been conducted have all dealt with serial homicide in the Western world and have been based on small samples of cases from each country. Some of the recent literature has started to disentangle some of these salient features, notably the victim, violence levels, control, and planning. The current study focused on evaluating the consistency of these features across series, using a sample of serial homicides from South Africa consisting of 30 offenders with a total of 283 victims and 235 crime scenes. Results indicate that the level of interaction with the victim may be influential to the stability or instability of offending patterns across the series. How offenders approach planning in their offence also showed a certain degree of consistency, with patterns of violence being the least consistent across the series of all components tested. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prevention of Problem Behavior Through Annual Family Check-Ups in Early Childhood: Intervention Effects From Home to Early Elementary School

This randomized intervention trial examined the effects of yearly Family Check-Ups (FCUs) and tailored parent management training on parent report of problem behavior from age 2 to 5 years and teacher report of oppositional behavior at age 7.5. A multiethnic risk sample of 731 families in 3 distinct geographical settings who were receiving assistance from the Women, Infants, and Children Nutritional Supplement (WIC) program were randomly assigned to a yearly FCU. Intention to treat (ITT) analyses were used to examine overall intervention effects, and complier average causal effect (CACE) modeling was used to examine the effects of annual intervention engagement in the FCU on parent reports of child problem behavior from age 2 to 5 and teacher reports of problem behavior at age 7.5. ITT intervention effects were found regarding parent report at ages 2 to 5 and teacher report at age 7.5, indicating less growth in problem behavior for children in the intervention group than for those in the control group. CACE modeling of intervention engagement revealed that the effect sizes on parent- and teacher-reported problem behavior increased as a function of the number of yearly FCUs caregivers participated in. Findings suggest that embedding yearly FCU services within the context of social, health, and educational services in early childhood can potentially prevent early-onset trajectories of antisocial behavior. The increases in effect size with successive FCU engagement underscores the importance of a motivational approach to parenting support among high-risk families.     

Grasping possibilities for action: influence of object function and action capabilities

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of object function and the observer's action capabilities on grasp facilitation. We used a stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) protocol in which participants were asked to reach and grasp a drinking glass using one of two grasps - the thumb-up or the thumb-down grasp. The reaction time (RT) was used as the index of grasp facilitation. In Experiment 1, we found evidence for the facilitation of "functionally relevant" grasps - where the type of grasp facilitated depended on the location of opening but not the shape of the object. However, this effect was found only when attention was directed toward the location of the opening. In Experiments 2 and 3, we found that this facilitation was also affected by whether participants had the ability to functionally interact with the object. These results show that S-R compatibilities are influenced both by the object's function and the actor's action capabilities, and are interpreted in Gibson's (1979) framework of affordances.     

Social connectedness, discrimination, and social status as mediators of acculturation/enculturation and well-being

The present study proposed and tested a conceptual model of acculturation/enculturation and subjective well-being (SWB) by including social connectedness in mainstream society, social connectedness in the ethnic community, perceived discrimination, and expected social status as mediators. Survey data from 273 Asian American college students in the midwest were analyzed by using structural equation modeling. Results indicated that the effect of acculturation on SWB was mediated by social connectedness in mainstream and ethnic communities and expected social status, whereas the effect of enculturation on SWB was mediated by social connectedness in the ethnic community and expected social status. Contrary to the authors' hypothesis, perceived discrimination did not mediate the relation of acculturation and SWB, but indirectly influenced SWB via a lowered sense of connectedness to mainstream society. Approximately 46% of the variance in SWB was accounted for by the variables included in this model. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.     

Gender Differences in Predicting Antisocial Behaviors: Developmental Consequences of Physical and Relational Aggression

This study investigated gender differences in the relationship of early physical and relational aggression to later peer rejection and overt and covert antisocial behaviors. Significant gender differences were found indicating physically aggressive boys were more likely than girls to experience later peer rejection. Early physical aggression was related to later overt antisocial behavior for boys and girls, and more strongly for girls than for boys. Early relational aggression was not associated with later forms of antisocial behavior. In the context of early physical aggression, for boys and girls peer rejection generally served to increment risk for later overt and covert antisocial behavior in an additive fashion. The data suggest some gender specificity in the social risk processes associated with the development of early overt and covert antisocial behaviors.     

The association between self-concealment from one's partner and relationship well-being

In two studies the authors examined whether self-concealment from one's partner is associated with lower relationship well-being. In Study 1, participants who were in a romantic relationship (N = 165) completed an online survey. Self-concealment from one's partner was associated with lower relationship satisfaction and commitment. Furthermore, results were consistent with this relationship being mediated by autonomy and relatedness needs. In Study 2, couples (N = 50) completed daily records for 14 consecutive days. Multilevel analyses indicated that daily self-concealment from one's partner was associated with daily relationship satisfaction, commitment, and conflict. Lagged analyses also showed that self-concealment from one's partner predicted lower relationship well-being on the following day. Moreover, results supported that thwarted basic needs mediated the association between daily self-concealment and relationship well-being. Finally, actor-partner interdependence model over time analyses indicated that, apart from one's own self-concealment, one's partner's self-concealment was associated negatively with one's own relationship well-being.