Chimpanzees demonstrate individual differences in social information use

Studies of transmission biases in social learning have greatly informed our understanding of how behaviour patterns may diffuse through animal populations, yet within-species inter-individual variation in social information use has received little attention and remains poorly understood. We have addressed this question by examining individual performances across multiple experiments with the same population of primates. We compiled a dataset spanning 16 social learning studies (26 experimental conditions) carried out at the same study site over a 12-year period, incorporating a total of 167 chimpanzees. We applied a binary scoring system to code each participant’s performance in each study according to whether they demonstrated evidence of using social information from conspecifics to solve the experimental task or not (Social Information Score—‘SIS’). Bayesian binomial mixed effects models were then used to estimate the extent to which individual differences influenced SIS, together with any effects of sex, rearing history, age, prior involvement in research and task type on SIS. An estimate of repeatability found that approximately half of the variance in SIS was accounted for by individual identity, indicating that individual differences play a critical role in the social learning behaviour of chimpanzees. According to the model that best fit the data, females were, depending on their rearing history, 15–24% more likely to use social information to solve experimental tasks than males. However, there was no strong evidence of an effect of age or research experience, and pedigree records indicated that SIS was not a strongly heritable trait. Our study offers a novel, transferable method for the study of individual differences in social learning.     

Unpopularity and disliking among peers: Partially distinct dimensions of adolescents' social experiences

The paper examines whether unpopularity and disliking among peers are partially distinct dimensions of adolescents' negative social experience. We recruited 418 students (187 boys, 231 girls, M = 12.12 years, SD = 4.33) from an urban junior high school. These early adolescents completed a peer nomination inventory assessing aspects of their social relationships with peers (i.e., popularity, liking, unpopularity and disliking), reciprocated friendships and behavioral reputations with peers (i.e., relationally and overtly aggressive, relationally and overtly victimized, withdrawn and prosocial). The participants also completed self-report inventories assessing their feelings of loneliness and peer victimization. In addition, academic performance data was obtained directly from school records. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that unpopularity and disliking among peers were associated with different behaviors. Unpopularity was also associated with reports of loneliness, relational victimization and low numbers of reciprocated friends, whereas disliking was associated with low academic performance. These results highlight the importance of multidimensional conceptualizations of negative social experiences in early adolescence and the differential risks associated with unpopularity and disliking among peers.     

Using a flipped spoon to decrease packing in children with feeding disorders

We evaluated the effects of redistribution and swallow facilitation with a flipped spoon on packing in 2 children with a feeding disorder. For both participants, packing decreased when we implemented the flipped spoon treatment package. Mechanisms responsible for behavior change and areas of future research are discussed.     

On the way to assess emotions in animals: do lambs (Ovis aries) evaluate an event through its suddenness, novelty, or unpredictability?

Appraisal theories provide a framework that gives insight into emotions and could allow comparisons across species. According to these theories, events are first evaluated on their suddenness, novelty, and unpredictability. The authors examined the ability of lambs (Ovis aries) to evaluate an event according to these 3 criteria through 3 tests. The lambs responded to suddenness with a startle response coupled with an increase in heart rate and to novelty with an orientation response coupled with an increase of vagal activity. There was no clear evidence that lambs can detect the predictability of an event. Those results support the usefulness of appraisal theories to assess emotion in animals.     

Group interventions for patients with cancer and HIV disease: part IV. Clinical and policy recommendations

Group interventions have assumed a growing role in primary prevention and supportive care for cancer and HIV disease. Earlier sections of this Special Report examined empirical findings for these interventions and provided recommendations for future research. The current section offers brief recommendations for service providers, policymakers, and stakeholders. Group services now occupy an increasingly prominent place in primary prevention programs and medical settings. In previous sections of this Special Report (Sherman, Leszcz et al., 2004; Sherman, Mosier et al., 2004a, 2004b) we examined the efficacy of different group interventions at different phases of cancer or HIV disease, considered characteristics of the intervention and the participants that might influence outcomes, and discussed mechanisms of action. Methodological challenges and priorities for future research were highlighted. In this, the final section, we offer brief recommendations for service providers, policymakers, and other stakeholders. We consider some of the barriers that constrain use of empirically-based group interventions and note how these programs might be implemented more widely and effectively.     

Suspensions and detentions in an urban,low-income school: punishment or reward?

Disciplinary records for 3rd through 8th grade students (n = 314) in an inner-city, public school were examined for one school year to assess students' variation in response to discipline. Rates of disciplinary referrals were compared for students who received no detentions or suspensions throughout the year (never group n = 117), students who received one or more detention or suspension in the fall but not in the spring (fall group n = 62), and students who received one or more detention or suspension in the fall and one or more detention or suspension in the spring (fall + spring group n = 75). Results indicated that during the fall, the fall group had nearly equivalent rates of referrals to the fall + spring group; however, the fall group exhibited significantly lower rates of referrals during winter and spring that were nearly equivalent to the never group, as would be expected for a punishment procedure. In contrast, the fall + spring group evidenced increases in referrals across the year, suggesting the possibility that detentions and suspensions were functioning as rewards for this group. The fall + spring group was rated by teachers and peers at mid-year as highly aggressive, lacking social skills, and high on hyperactivity, whereas the fall group and the never group were statistically equivalent on teacher and peer ratings. Implications for mental health programs for urban schools are discussed, especially the need for alternatives to detention and suspension for the subset of students who account for the majority of school discipline.     

An examination of the cognitive processes involved in childhood obsessive-compulsive disorder

The cognitive theory of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is the most widely accepted account of the aetiology and maintenance of this disorder in adults. This paper investigated whether cognitive processes were evident in a sample of children with a primary diagnosis of OCD. Using an idiographic approach, as proposed by the Obsessive-Compulsive Cognitions Working Group, this paper assessed cognitive appraisals of responsibility, probability, severity, thought-action fusion, self-doubt and cognitive control. Ratings of these cognitive appraisals were obtained across a sample of children with OCD, and were compared with ratings from a clinical control group of anxious children and a non-clinic control group. It was hypothesised that consistent with the cognitive theory of OCD, children in the OCD group would display higher estimations of these cognitive processes in comparison to anxious and non-clinic children. Results of this investigation provide preliminary support for a cognitive conceptualisation of OCD during childhood. OCD children reported significantly higher ratings of responsibility, severity, thought action fusion and less cognitive control in comparison to non-clinic children. OCD children could also be clearly differentiated from anxious children on ratings of cognitive control. Implications of this investigation are discussed and directions for future research are highlighted.     

The impact of verbal feedback about blushing on social discomfort and facial blood flow during embarrassing tasks

To investigate whether verbal feedback about blushing influences subsequent social discomfort or blushing itself, changes in facial blood flow and ratings of blushing and embarrassment were investigated in high (N=28) and low scorers (N=28) on the Blushing Propensity scale while singing and reading aloud, and while listening to audiotapes of their performance. After each task half of the participants were told that they had blushed, and the rest were told that they had not blushed. Blood flow increased progressively in participants with high blushing propensity scores who were given "blushing" feedback, but not in the other participants. This finding suggests that expecting to blush may become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Verbal feedback about blushing strongly influenced subsequent social discomfort, and mimicked the effects of blushing propensity on ratings of embarrassment and blushing intensity. In sum, the findings support the view that preconceptions about blushing propensity are shaped by past learning experiences, that concern about blushing is a major source of discomfort in embarrassing situations, and that these concerns are often unrelated to the actual intensity of blushing.     

Development of social problem solving in early childhood: stability,change, and associations with social competence

Kindergarten and 1st-grade boys were administered social cognitive interviews in 2 consecutive years to investigate the response-generation step of N. R. Crick and K. A. Dodge's (1994) social information processing model. Boys generated responses to 4 types of hypothetical social dilemmas. Responses to these situations were primarily prosocial, with a large minority of avoidant and antisocial solutions. In general, older boys provided more effective solutions than did their younger peers, and stabilities were modest but significant for subcategories of both prosocial and antisocial responses. Boys who were accepted by their peers provided more prosocial and effective solutions than did boys of lower peer status, but no status differences emerged for antisocial responses. The data also suggest that young children view aggression as an acceptable means to solving peer conflict.     

Daydreaming to navigate the social world: What we know,what we don't know,and why it matters

A substantial portion of daily life is spent daydreaming—that is, engaged in thought independent of, and unrelated to, goals in the external environment. We argue that this naturally occurring, unconstrained cognition is a vital, but currently underappreciated, form of social cognition that enables navigation of the social world. First, we present the results of a meta‐analysis of neuroimaging studies which illustrate the shared neural basis of daydreaming and social cognition (including regions of the anterior temporal lobes and the posterior cingulate cortex). Second, we review evidence regarding the frequency, correlates, and adaptive outcomes of social daydreaming, cumulative findings that point to the adaptive value of imaging others during this offline state. We end by encouraging cross‐fertilization between daydreaming research and domains of social psychology (goal pursuit, social interactions, and close relationships), which we hope will foster mutually beneficial directions for understanding the role that unconstrained thinking plays in social life.