Scared stiff: The influence of anxiety on the perception of action capabilities

Influences on the perception of affordances (i.e., opportunities for actions) have been primarily studied by manipulating the functional morphology of the body. However, affordances are not just determined by the functional morphology of the perceiver, but also by the physiological state of the perceiver. States of anxiety have been shown to lead to marked changes in individuals' physiological state and their behaviour. To assess the influence of emotional state on affordance perception, the perception of action capabilities in near space was examined after participants completed an anxiety-provoking task. Anxiety was induced immediately prior to tasks that assessed participants' perceived reaching ability in Experiment 1, grasping ability in Experiment 2, and the ability to pass their hands through apertures in Experiment 3. Results indicated that those participants who experienced changes in anxiety underestimated their reaching, grasping, and passing ability compared to non-anxious participants. In other words, anxious participants were more conservative in their estimations of their action capabilities. These results suggest that anxiety influences the perception for affordances in near space and are consistent with the notion that anxiety induces withdrawal behaviours.     

Are Self‐Report Measures of Adaptive Functioning Appropriate for those High in Psychopathic Traits?

There is ongoing debate about the methods that evaluators should use to assess the adaptive functioning of an individual in an Atkins claim, including the appropriateness of using self‐report measures and extent to which adaptive functioning measures are valid for persons with a history of violent offending. This study examined whether offenders' self‐report adaptive functioning scores tended to decrease as their level of psychopathic traits increased. Eighty‐five male felony probationers completed the self‐report version of the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System – II (ABAS‐II: Harrison & Oakland, 2003), the Psychopathic Personality Inventory – Revised (PPI‐R: Lilienfeld & Widows, 2005), and a brief intelligence screening measure. ABAS‐II composite scores were negatively correlated with PPI‐R Self‐Centered Impulsivity and Coldheartedness scores, but positively correlated with Fearless Dominance scores. These relationships appeared to be due, in part, to over‐reporting symptoms of impairment across measures, suggesting that scores on self‐report adaptive functioning measures may be especially susceptible to feigning. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Psychological functioning in siblings of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

We examined psychological functioning in siblings of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Siblings of children diagnosed with ADHD (n = 45) between the ages of 9 and 13 and a control group (n = 46) within the same age range composed of siblings of children with no diagnosed disorders completed measures of psychological functioning. A significant multivariate difference was observed on these measures across groups. Post hoc investigation of the univariate means revealed one significant group difference, which occurred on a measure of Trait Anger. This finding suggests that future research on family members of children with ADHD may be warranted.     

EVALUATING TREATMENT CHALLENGES WITH DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT OF ALTERNATIVE BEHAVIOR

In prior research, differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) has been implemented at optimal treatment values: Problem behavior is never reinforced, and alternative behavior is always reinforced. However, in application, DRA is unlikely to be conducted optimally. In this study, following a functional analysis phase and a differential reinforcement at full implementation phase, we challenged initially positive treatment effects for 3 participants by implementing DRA at less than optimal parameters. For example, some occurrences of problem behavior were reinforced, and some occurrences of alternative behavior were not reinforced. Results suggested that when exposed to DRA at full implementation, participants showed a bias toward appropriate behavior in subsequent conditions during which “mistakes” (treatment challenges) were intentionally introduced. In addition, the negative effects of treatment challenges were quickly reversible, in comparison to the positive effects of DRA, which were not quickly reversible in the face of treatment challenges.     

AN ANALOGUE EVALUATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENRICHMENT: THE ROLE OF STIMULUS PREFERENCE

To evaluate the effects of environmental enrichment on stereotypic self-injurious behavior (SIB), we conducted an assessment of preference for manipulating alternative stimuli rather than engaging in SIB. First, for each of 3 participants, a functional analysis of SIB was conducted in Phase 1. Participants were selected for Phase 2 if the functional analysis showed that SIB persisted in the absence of social consequences. In Phase 2, a preference assessment was conducted in which participants were observed manipulating preferred stimuli in a free-operant format. A measure was taken of time spent manipulating each stimulus and time spent engaging in SIB. In Phase 3, environmental enrichment was evaluated using stimuli that were preferred over the target response, and alternative treatments were evaluated in the event of environmental enrichment failure. Results suggested that the free-operant preference assessment (a) predicted the efficacy or inefficacy of an environmental enrichment procedure and (b) suggested possible treatment alternatives when environmental enrichment was ineffective. Collectively, the results may provide a basis for interpreting the idiosyncratic effects of environmental enrichment and a rationale for treatment selection when behavioral function is unknown.     

Sudden gains in group cognitive-behavioral therapy for panic disorder

The current study investigates sudden gains (rapid symptom reduction) in group cognitive-behavioral therapy for panic disorder. Sudden gains occurring after session 2 of treatment predicted overall symptom reduction at treatment termination and some changes in cognitive biases. Meanwhile, sudden gains occurring immediately following session 1 were not associated with symptom reduction or cognitive change. Together, this research points to the importance of examining sudden gains across the entire span of treatment, as well as the potential role of sudden gains in recovery from panic disorder.     

The effects of transformational and change leadership on employees' commitment to a change: a multilevel study

The effects of transformational leadership on the outcomes of specific change initiatives are not well understood. Conversely, organizational change studies have examined leader behaviors during specific change implementations yet have failed to link these to broader leadership theories. In this study, the authors investigate the relationship between transformational and change leadership and followers' commitment to a particular change initiative as a function of the personal impact of the changes. Transformational leadership was found to be more strongly related to followers' change commitment than change-specific leadership practices, especially when the change had significant personal impact. For leaders who were not viewed as transformational, good change-management practices were found to be associated with higher levels of change commitment.     

Humor use in romantic relationships: the effects of relationship satisfaction and pleasant versus conflict situations

In this study, the authors explored the use of positive, negative, and avoiding humor in 2 types of situations by individuals in romantic relationships. Participants (N = 154) rated their frequency of humor use in either a typical conflict scenario with their partner or a typical pleasant event. Participants also indicated their overall degree of romantic relationship satisfaction. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that individuals who were more satisfied with their relationship reported higher levels of positive humor use and lower levels of negative and avoiding humor use. Furthermore, lower levels of negative and avoiding humor use were reported for the conflict situation. Last, a significant 2-way interaction revealed that individuals who were high in relationship satisfaction reported significantly lower levels of negative humor use in a conflict situation as compared with a pleasant encounter. In contrast, individuals who were low in relationship satisfaction reported the same high levels of negative humor use regardless of whether they were in a conflict situation or a pleasant encounter. The authors discuss these findings in terms of the need for further research to clearly delineate the factors that may influence the complex use of humor in romantic relationships.     

The effects of payout and probability magnitude on the Allais paradox

The Allais paradox decision bias was first offered as a challenge to the expected utility theory over 60 years ago. Although the Allais paradox is a standard challenge for normative theories of risky choice, its causes are not well understood. The present experiment uses two manipulations of the Allais paradox to investigate the commonly proposed probability-weighting explanation of the paradox. Reducing the magnitude of the outcomes did not affect the size of the Allais paradox, contradicting previous literature and supporting the probability weighting hypothesis. Reducing the probability of the nonzero outcomes to eliminate certainty reduced, but did not eliminate, the Allais paradox, a result inconsistent with probability weighting and other theories of the Allais paradox. The results suggest that the certainty effect alone cannot explain the Allais paradox.     

The importance of the organization of partner knowledge in understanding perceptions of relationship quality and conflict resolution behavior in married couples

This research investigated how the organization of partner knowledge was related to global relationship evaluations and specific interpersonal behaviors in a sample of 107 married couples. Spouses first completed several questionnaires and later participated in a 12-min videotaped conflict resolution task. As expected, wives in older relationships exhibited greater marital quality (self-reported and observed) when they had (a) an integrative knowledge structure and used many negative traits to describe their spouse or (b) a compartmentalized knowledge structure and used few negative traits to describe their spouse. Greater marital quality, however, was found for husbands when they were (a) in older relationships and possessed an integrative structure or (b) in newer relationships and possessed a compartmentalized structure. Exploratory analyses suggested that in some circumstances people may have greater marital quality when they share an organizational style with their spouse.