Increases in parental investment and child health as a result of an early intervention

Parental investment (involving time or money invested in 3-year-olds) and child health were assessed as an outcome of (a) children’s risk status (preterm vs. full-term birth) and (b) maternal resources (defined here in terms of their problem-solving skills in resolving caregiving challenges). Resources were varied systematically as a function of maternal participation in a traditional home visitation program versus a novel cognitively enhanced program that facilitated parenting skills more successfully. As predicted, mothers in the traditional home visitation condition invested preferentially in low-risk children, whereas mothers in the cognitively enhanced condition invested preferentially in high-risk children (who, in turn, showed maximal health benefits). Maternal investment of time in care provision mediated the relationship between predictor variables and children’s health. This pattern supports an evolutionary model of parental investment in which parents show discriminative solicitude based on the reproductive potential of the child and parents’ access to relevant resources.     

Correction: Two-action task,testing imitative social learning in kea (Nestor notabilis)

Social learning is an adaptive way of dealing with the complexity of life as it reduces the risk of trial-and-error learning. Depending on the type of information acquired, and associations formed, several mechanisms within the larger taxonomy of social learning can be distinguished. Imitation is one such process within this larger taxonomy, it is considered cognitively demanding and is associated with high-fidelity response matching. The present study reproduced a 2002 study conducted by Heyes and Saggerson, which successfully illustrated motor imitation in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus). In our study, eighteen kea (Nestor notabilis) that observed a trained demonstrator remove a stopper from a test box (1) took less time from hopping on the box to feeding (response duration) in session one and (2) were faster in making a vertical removal response on the stopper once they hopped on the box (removal latency) in session one than non-observing control group individuals. In contrast to the budgerigars (Heyes and Saggerson, Ani Behav. 64:851–859, 2002) the present study could not find evidence of motor imitation in kea. The results do illustrate, however, that there were strong social effects on exploration rates indicating motivational and attentional shifts. Furthermore, the results may suggest a propensity toward emulation in contrast to motor imitation or alternatively selectivity in the application of imitation.

     

Paradoxical cardiovascular effects of implementing adaptive emotion regulation strategies in generalized anxiety disorder

Recent models of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) have expanded on Borkovec's avoidance theory by delineating emotion regulation deficits associated with the excessive worry characteristic of this disorder (see Behar, DiMarco, Hekler, Mohlman, & Staples, 2009). However, it has been difficult to determine whether emotion regulation is simply a useful heuristic for the avoidant properties of worry or an important extension to conceptualizations of GAD. Some of this difficulty may arise from a focus on purported maladaptive regulation strategies, which may be confounded with symptomatic distress components of the disorder (such as worry). We examined the implementation of adaptive regulation strategies by participants with and without a diagnosis of GAD while watching emotion-eliciting film clips. In a between-subjects design, participants were randomly assigned to accept, reappraise, or were not given specific regulation instructions. Implementation of adaptive regulation strategies produced differential effects in the physiological (but not subjective) domain across diagnostic groups. Whereas participants with GAD demonstrated lower cardiac flexibility when implementing adaptive regulation strategies than when not given specific instructions on how to regulate, healthy controls showed the opposite pattern, suggesting they benefited from the use of adaptive regulation strategies. We discuss the implications of these findings for the delineation of emotion regulation deficits in psychopathology.     

Social roles, basic need satisfaction, and psychological health: the central role of competence

The authors propose that competence need fulfillment within valued role domains (i.e., spouse, parent, worker) will account, in part, for associations between autonomy and relatedness need fulfillment and psychological health. Testing these assertions in cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys of women in two independent community samples, the findings are the first to formally examine whether the satisfaction of competence needs within social roles accounts for associations between other types of need satisfaction and affective outcomes as well as depressive symptomology. Evidence supporting the hypothesis was stronger when examining individuals' affective health as compared to their depressive symptoms. Implications of the findings are discussed with regard to need fulfillment within social roles.     

Non-ideal prescriptions for the morally uncertain

Philosophical Studies - Morally speaking, what should one do when one is morally uncertain? Call this the Moral Uncertainty Question. In this paper, I argue that a non-ideal moral theory provides...     

Nostalgia,Gratitude, or Optimism: The Impact of a Two-Week Intervention on Well-Being During COVID-19

Research indicates that brief 2-min positive psychology interventions (PPIs) increase well-being during COVID-19 lockdowns. The present study extended this to assess the effectiveness over two-weeks. Participants (n?=?150) were randomly allocated to one of three PPIs; nostalgia, gratitude, best possible self (BPS), or control. The interventions were slightly adapted for the lockdown and were completed three times, every seven days over two-weeks. Well-being measures were completed immediately after the first intervention (T1), after the next two interventions (T2?T3) and at one-week follow-up (T4) (but no baseline measure of well-being was taken). At T1, participants in the nostalgia, gratitude, and BPS intervention had higher self-esteem than those in the control intervention. At T1 and T2, participants in the gratitude and BPS intervention reported higher social connectedness than participants in the nostalgia and control intervention. Then at follow-up (T4), participants in the nostalgia, gratitude, and BPS intervention had lower fear of COVID-19 than those in the control intervention. Overall, the results show the benefits of nostalgia, gratitude and optimism, compared to the control, during lockdown.

     

Driving forces in free visual search: An ethology

Visual search typically involves sequences of eye movements under the constraints of a specific scene and specific goals. Visual search has been used as an experimental paradigm to study the interplay of scene salience and top-down goals, as well as various aspects of vision, attention, and memory, usually by introducing a secondary task or by controlling and manipulating the search environment. An ethology is a study of an animal in its natural environment, and here we examine the fixation patterns of the human animal searching a series of challenging illustrated scenes that are well-known in popular culture. The search was free of secondary tasks, probes, and other distractions. Our goal was to describe saccadic behavior, including patterns of fixation duration, saccade amplitude, and angular direction. In particular, we employed both new and established techniques for identifying top-down strategies, any influences of bottom-up image salience, and the midlevel attentional effects of saccadic momentum and inhibition of return. The visual search dynamics that we observed and quantified demonstrate that saccades are not independently generated and incorporate distinct influences from strategy, salience, and attention. Sequential dependencies consistent with inhibition of return also emerged from our analyses.     

Sensory curation: theorizing media use for sensory regulation and implications for family media conflict

ABSTRACT

Media sensory curation theory, introduced here, complements theories of informational, emotional, and relational media gratifications. Sensory curation theory conceptualizes media devices as tools people use to help maintain sensory regulation by simultaneously capturing and curbing sensory input within built and natural environments. This article explicates the theory and introduces the Child and Adult Media Sensory Curation Inventories (MediaSCIs), separate measures of child and adult media sensory behaviors and preferences. A survey of 789 parents and adult caregivers of children ages 3 to 14 revealed moderate to strong correlations between general sensory processing and media sensory curation, validating the MediaSCIs. Controlling usage time, child media sensory curation strongly predicted problematic child media use and moderately predicted adult–child media conflict, which was four times as frequent among adult–child pairs with high MediaSCI scores than with low MediaSCI scores.     

The influence of breast cancer survivors' Perceived partner social support and need satisfaction on depressive symptoms: A longitudinal analysis

The present study examines the ways in which breast cancer survivors’ perceptions of emotional and instrumental social support from an intimate partner and need satisfaction in their partner role influence depression during and after breast cancer treatment. Our sample was comprised of 163 women who were an average of 57 years old, mostly White/Caucasian, and diagnosed primarily with early-stage breast cancer. Longitudinal data were analysed using both multilevel and structural equation modelling. Results reveal that (a) greater perceived partner emotional support is associated with lowered levels of depression at each wave, (b) partner-role need satisfaction mediates the relationship between perceived partner emotional support and depression at each wave, (c) perceived partner emotional support predicts subsequent changes in depression by way of need satisfaction and (d) depression prospectively predicts lowered perceptions of partner emotional and instrumental support. The findings confirm that basic need satisfaction, within intimate relationships, is an important predictor of lowered depression among breast cancer survivors.