Effects of Instructor Attractiveness on Learning

Although a considerable body of research has examined the impact of student attractiveness on instructors, little attention has been given to the influence of instructor attractiveness on students. This study tested the hypothesis that persons would perform significantly better on a learning task when they perceived their instructor to be high in physical attractiveness. To test the hypothesis, participants listened to an audio lecture while viewing a photograph of instructor. The photograph depicted either a physically attractive instructor or a less attractive instructor. Following the lecture, participants completed a forced choice recognition task covering material from the lecture. Consistent with the predictions; attractive instructors were associated with more learning. Finally, we replicated previous findings demonstrating the role attractiveness plays in person perception.     

Feminism,Adaptive Preferences,and Social Contract Theory

Feminists have long been aware of the pathology and the dangers of what are now termed “adaptive preferences.” Adaptive preferences are preferences formed in unconscious response to oppression. Thinkers from each wave of feminism continue to confront the problem of women's internalization of their own oppression, that is, the problem of women forming their preferences within the confining and deforming space that patriarchy provides. All preferences are, in fact, formed in response to a (more or less) limited set of options, but not all preferences are unconscious, pathological responses to oppression. Feminist theory therefore requires a method for distinguishing all preferences from adaptive or deformed preferences. Social contract theory provides such a tool. Social contract theory models autonomous preference‐acquisition and retention at both the external level of causation and the internal level of justification. In doing so, social contract theory exposes preferences that do not meet those standards, acting as both a conceptual test that identifies adaptive preferences and as a practical tool for personal and social clarification. A social contract approach helps persons and societies to identify and to confront preferences rooted in unconscious response to oppression.     

The Bilingual Therapist and Transference to Language: Language use in Therapy and its Relationship to Object Relational Context

Through the concept of transference to language, this paper examines the clinical impact of language-related selves of a bilingual therapist, the origin of which is based on the idea that language develops in an object relation context.     

Motivation to Pursue Genetic Testing in Individuals with a Personal or Family History of Cardiac Events or Sudden Cardiac Death

Genetic testing is becoming increasingly available for cardiac channelopathies, such as long QT syndrome and Brugada syndrome, which can lead to sudden cardiac death. Test results can be used to shape an individual’s medical management and to identify at-risk family members. In our qualitative study, all participants had a personal or family history of a diagnosed cardiac arrhythmia syndrome or sudden cardiac death. Open-ended interviews were conducted individually and in focus groups. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using a qualitative grounded-theory approach. Of 50 participants, 37 described their motivations for pursuing genetic testing for long QT syndrome or another cardiac channelopathy. Participants’ motivations included: to find an explanation for a family member’s sudden death, to relieve uncertainty regarding a diagnosis, to guide future medical management, to allay concern about children or other family members, and to comply with recommendations of physicians or family members. Perceived reasons not to pursue genetic testing included denial, fear, and lack of information. The genetic counseling and informed consent process can be enhanced by understanding and addressing an individual’s internal and external motivations either for or against pursuing genetic testing.     

Why is the sunny side always up? Explaining the spatial mapping of concepts by language use

Humans appear to rely on spatial mappings to represent and describe concepts. The conceptual cuing effect describes the tendency for participants to orient attention to a spatial location following the presentation of an unrelated cue word (e.g., orienting attention upward after reading the word sky). To date, such effects have predominately been explained within the embodied cognition framework, according to which people’s attention is oriented on the basis of prior experience (e.g., sky → up via perceptual simulation). However, this does not provide a compelling explanation for how abstract words have the same ability to orient attention. Why, for example, does dream also orient attention upward? We report on an experiment that investigated the role of language use (specifically, collocation between concept words and spatial words for up and down dimensions) and found that it predicted the cuing effect. The results suggest that language usage patterns may be instrumental in explaining conceptual cuing.     

The contributions of interpersonal attachment and friendship group identification to depressive symptoms in a nonclinical sample

Drawing on previous literature from the separate areas of adult attachment and group processes, we explored attachment and group identification as predictors for depressive symptoms in a nonclinical sample. We found that attachment anxiety and friendship group identification predicted scores on the Beck Depression Inventory, such that higher attachment anxiety resulted in higher depressive symptoms, and greater friendship group identification resulted in lower depressive symptoms. Mediational analysis suggested that group identification partially mediated the effect of attachment avoidance on depressive symptoms, but did not mediate the effect of attachment anxiety on depressive symptoms.     

Disentangling the Effects of Self Leader Perceptions and Ideal Leader Prototypes on Leader Judgments Using Loglinear Modeling With Latent Variables

This study clarifies the relationships among self leader perceptions, ideal leader prototypes, and leader judgments among college students using latent profile analysis (LPA) and log-linear modeling. LPA was used to identify subgroups of individuals with unique patterns of attributes for self and ideal leaders, providing a holistic view of leadership and how multiple attributes work together within individuals. LPA was also used to identify subgroups of individuals with unique patterns of judgments of leader effectiveness. After identification of subgroups (i.e., profiles), log-linear modeling was used to test 1 baseline model and 5 sets of hypothesized associations among self leader profiles, ideal leader profiles, and leader judgment profiles. Results suggest that self leader profiles are related to ideal leader profiles, which in turn are related to leader judgment profiles, but that there is no direct relation between self leader profiles and leader judgment profiles.