Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) transfer tokens repeatedly with a partner to accumulate rewards in a self-control task

There has been extensive research investigating self-control in humans and nonhuman animals, yet we know surprisingly little about how one’s social environment influences self-control. The present study examined the self-control of chimpanzees in a task that required active engagement with conspecifics. The task consisted of transferring a token back and forth with a partner animal in order to accumulate food rewards, one item per token transfer. Self-control was required because at any point in the trial, either chimpanzee could obtain their accumulated rewards, but doing so discontinued the food accumulation and ended the trial for both individuals. Chimpanzees readily engaged the task and accumulated the majority of available rewards before ending each trial, and they did so across a number of conditions that varied the identity of the partner, the presence/absence of the experimenter, and the means by which they could obtain rewards. A second experiment examined chimpanzees’ self-control when given the choice between immediately available food items and a potentially larger amount of rewards that could be obtained by engaging the token transfer task with a partner. Chimpanzees were flexible in their decision-making in this test, typically choosing the option representing the largest amount of food, even if it involved delayed accumulation of the rewards via the token transfer task. These results demonstrate that chimpanzees can exhibit self-control in situations involving social interactions, and they encourage further research into this important aspect of the self-control scenario.     

On individual differences in person perception: raters' personality traits relate to their psychopathy checklist-revised scoring tendencies

This study investigated raters' personality traits in relation to scores they assigned to offenders using the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). A total of 22 participants, including graduate students and faculty members in clinical psychology programs, completed a PCL-R training session, independently scored four criminal offenders using the PCL-R, and completed a comprehensive measure of their own personality traits. A priori hypotheses specified that raters' personality traits, and their similarity to psychopathy characteristics, would relate to raters' PCL-R scoring tendencies. As hypothesized, some raters assigned consistently higher scores on the PCL-R than others, especially on PCL-R Facets 1 and 2. Also as hypothesized, raters' scoring tendencies related to their own personality traits (e.g., higher rater Agreeableness was associated with lower PCL-R Interpersonal facet scoring). Overall, findings underscore the need for future research to examine the role of evaluator characteristics on evaluation results and the need for clinical training to address evaluators' personality influences on their ostensibly objective evaluations.     

Self-disclosure in Latinos' intercultural and intracultural friendships and acquaintanceships: Links with collectivism, ethnic identity, and acculturation

Relationships among collectivism, ethnic identity, acculturation, and self-disclosure rates in Latinos' intercultural and intracultural friendships and acquaintanceships were examined. An online survey collected data from 59 international Latinos and 73 Latino American nationals. Results revealed that relationship type (friend vs. acquaintance) and relationship partner ethnicity (Latino vs. White American) had significant relationships with self-disclosure. Participants disclosed more personal information to friends than acquaintances, and they disclosed more to Latino than to White American persons. Higher collectivism was related to increased self-disclosure across all relationship types. Acculturation exerted a significant main effect only in the context of friendships but interacted significantly with ethnicity in both friendships and acquaintanceships. Ethnic identity did not display any significant direct or interaction effects.     

Sorting food labels and describing properties of categories: stability of results between and within subjects

The purpose of this research is to improve understanding of the consistency of the categorization process in cognitive psychology. To investigate the temporal stability of the categorization process between and within subjects, 100 participants (M = 22.1 yr., SD = 2.1) were required to sort 65 food labels into groups and to explain their grouping. The sorting and property generation of food labels were compared by conducting two sessions (with a 15-day interval) to assess within-subject variability. Two groups of participants were compared to assess between-subjects variability. The results from the sorting task showed excellent stability between and within subjects. Conversely, the property generation task showed high variability. It is concluded that the tasks involved different types of knowledge. The sorting task appeared to generate good agreement and to involve more stable knowledge. The task of producing properties may involve other mechanisms. This paper discusses the results in light of cognitive and pragmatic theories.     

Suicide methods in singapore (2000-2004): types and associations

The choice of suicide methods varies between countries. Common methods used in Singapore between 2000 and 2004 were jumping (72.4%), hanging (16.6%), and poisoning (5.9%). Those who jumped were more likely to be young, single, female, and to have had a major mental illness. By comparison, those who hung themselves were more likely to be older (OR 2.68), Indian (OR 2.32), and to leave a suicide note (OR 1.53). Those who used poison were more likely to be married (OR 2.33), to be on antidepressants (OR 2.40), to have previously attempted suicide (OR 2.13), and to leave a letter (OR 2.30). The choice was determined by accessibility, acceptability, generational, gender, and racial factors.     

A beverage-specific measure of expectancies for malt liquor: development and initial testing

Malt liquor (ML) is a unique, high alcohol content beverage marketed to encourage heavy drinking. We developed the Malt Liquor Expectancy Questionnaire (MLEQ), a beverage-specific measure of alcohol expectancies, and examined its association with typical weekly ML use, typical weekly alcohol use, and alcohol problems. Forty positive and 40 negative expectancy items were administered to a sample of 639 young adults who regularly consumed ML. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses led to the development of the 30-item MLEQ. The MLEQ consists of two positive (i.e., Social Facilitation and Enjoyment, Enhanced Sexuality) and two negative factors (i.e., Aggression and Negative Consequences; Impairment and Physical Symptoms) that possess good internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent validity. The psychometrically sound MLEQ contributes to the limited research on beverage-specific expectancies and heavy drinking.     

Comparing parent and child perceptions of stigmatizing behavior experienced by children with burn scars

This study examined perceptions of stigmatization in a sample of 85 pediatric burn survivors and their parents. Survivors and a parent independently completed the Perceived Stigmatization Questionnaire (PSQ) rating the frequency that the child experienced three types of stigmatizing behaviors: absence of friendly behavior, confused and staring behavior, and hostile behavior. The sample was divided into a high (top 25%) and low (bottom 75%) perceived stigmatization groups. The mean ratings of parents did not significantly differ from that of children reporting low stigmatization. The mean PSQ parent ratings were significantly lower than those of children reporting high stigmatization. Additionally, the concordance on PSQ subscale scores within child-parent dyads was significantly lower in children reporting high stigmatization relative to child-parent dyads of children reporting low stigmatization. Children surviving burns may experience stigmatization that is under-perceived by their parents. Clinicians should be alert to this potential discrepancy.     

Cognitive distortions and eating pathology: specificity of thought-shape fusion

Thought–shape fusion (TSF) is a cognitive distortion that has been linked with eating pathology; however, the specificity of this distortion to eating disorders has not yet been examined. The current study set out to investigate the effects of a TSF induction on susceptibility to TSF in three groups of women: individuals with an eating disorder (n = 33), individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD; n = 24), and control women with no history of either an eating disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder (n = 26). Participants were assigned to receive either a TSF induction or a neutral induction, and their cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses were assessed. As expected, the results demonstrated that individuals with eating disorders were more susceptible to TSF than were women with OCD and control participants, reporting higher state TSF, more negative affect, and more neutralization behavior. The results also supported the specificity of this distortion by demonstrating that individuals with OCD were not particularly susceptible to TSF. In fact, control participants demonstrated an increased susceptibility to TSF relative to women with OCD, as evidenced by their higher levels of trait TSF, and increased self-reported distress/difficulty in imagining a food-related situation.