Video Game Violence and Confederate Gender: Effects on Reward and Punishment Given by College Males

We examined reward and punishment behavior amongmale college students (N = 119) following video gameplay. Most participants (N = 96) were White, theremainder (N = 23) were African American; most were from middle- to upper-middle-class backgrounds. Theparticipants played either a nonviolent (NBA Jam) or oneof three levels of a violent (Mortal Kombat) video game.After playing the video game for 15 minutes participants rewarded and punished a male orfemale confederate in a teacher/learner paradigm.Participants rewarded male (but not female) confederateswith significantly more jellybeans under the basketball condition than under any of the martial artsconditions. Participants rewarded confederates moreunder the NBA Jam condition than any of the MortalKombat conditions, but the Mortal Kombat conditions did not differ significantly from one another.Participants punished confederates significantly moreafter playing Mortal Kombat II than after playing NBAJam. While participants were punished more harshly under the Mortal Kombat II condition than theMortal Kombat conditions, these differences were notsignificant. Post hoc analyses showed that females werepunished significantly more stringently as game violence increased, but this finding should beinterpreted with caution.     

Constraints on effective pictorial and verbal elaboration

Three experiments investigated the conditions under which pictures facilitate learning. In Experiment 1, confusing verbal relationships were supplemented with pictures that illustrated the key concepts in each verbal relationship (base pictures), illustrated the key concepts in more elaborate arbitrary relationships (pictures of arbitrary elaborations), or illustrated the key concepts in ways that helped clarify the verbal relationships (pictures of explanatory elaborations). All three types of pictures facilitated the retention of the verbal relationships, although pictures of explanatory elaborations were superior to other types of visual illustrations. In Experiment 2, the facilitative effects of base pictures depended on a schematically unique illustration of the key concepts in a single image. In Experiment 3, picture facilitation effects were constrained by the type of verbal elaborations that accompanied the pictures. Specifically, base pictures and pictures of arbitrary elaborations did not facilitate the retention of confusing verbal relationships that were elaborated with explanatory information, and actually interfered with the retention of those explanatory elaborations. The implications of these results are discussed.     

Palatability of food as a factor influencing obese and normal-weight children''s eating habits

The type and amount of food leftover from school lunches by normal-weight and obese elementary school children was examined for its similarity to the pattern reported by Krassner et al. (1979) in a study of normal-weight and obese college students. In this study 102 observations of children between the ages of 9–11, were taken over eight lunch periods in their school cafeteria. Overall, the normal-weight children left only slightly more food uneaten than did the obese children. However, when food palatability was examined, it was found that normal-weight children left over twice as much palatable food as did obese children. Children did not differ on the amount of unpalatable food left uneaten.

These results suggest that Krassner et al.'s observation that obese adults leave less food on their plates may be extended to children and, further, that like obese adults, obese children may be more influenced by the palatability of food than their normal-weight peers.     

Marxist challenges to Heidegger on alienation and authenticity

Conclusion From what has been argued, it should now be apparent how Heidegger's philosophy of the affect, its ontological disclosures and its relation to authenticity might be enlarged to meet certain marxist challenges. The most valuable instruction to be gained from these citicisms, I think, is that which Lukacs offers in the example of Szilasi's intuition of co-presence. Traditional phenomenology needs to enrich its investigations into the social and historical reality of situation. Kosik's point that Heideggerian authenticity lacks the crucial third step (revolutionary change of society) is also profound but again, not incompatiblein se with Heidegger's concept. Alternatively, one might as easily say that Critical Marxism or any Marxist Humanism can still be enriched by certain Heideggerian insights.     

Simultaneity,Sequentiality, and Speed: Organizational Messages About Multiple‐Task Completion

Workplace norms for task completion increasingly value speed and the ability to accomplish multiple tasks at once. This study situates this popularized issue of multitasking within the context of chronemics scholarship by addressing related issues of simultaneity, sequentiality, and speed. Ultimately, we consider 2 multiple‐task completion strategies discussed in the literature on polychronic behavior, dovetailing (or sequentially accomplishing tasks) and simultaneously accomplishing tasks. Focus group and experimental findings support the existence of both simultaneous and sequential multitasking styles. Additionally, each is linked to varying perceptions of work pace, workload, and availability outside of work hours. The developed measurement scale offers a communication‐focused theoretical contribution to multitasking concepts. Implications for these findings and future directions are also discussed.     

The dynamics of avoidance goal regulation

An avoidance goal is an undesired state from which a person seeks to distance themselves. Though important for understanding behavior, avoidance goals have received less attention than approach goals. In this paper, we present a dynamic, formal model that provides a framework for describing and predicting the dynamics of avoidance goal regulation. We conduct a series of simulations to examine the dynamic pattern of behavior that emerges from the model when an avoidance goal is pursued in isolation and when an approach goal is also present. Two versions of the model were examined. In the first, the avoidance goal is regulated by a positive feedback loop. In the second, the avoidance goal is regulated by a negative feedback loop. We find that the positive feedback model produces a pattern of runaway behavior, even in a scenario where an approach goal is also present. By contrast, the negative feedback loop model produces a stable pattern of behavior that is more consistent with existing theory. The findings provide an important step toward theoretical parsimony by demonstrating that avoidance goal regulation, like approach goal regulation, can be understood using a negative feedback control system framework. We discuss new insights provided by this model and its potential to spark empirical research.