Think‐Aloud Process Superior to Thought‐Listing in Increasing Children's Critical Processing of Advertising

This study develops and tests a model of children's critical processing of advertising. Within this model, 2 paths to reduced advertising susceptibility (i.e., attitude toward the advertised brand) were hypothesized: a cognitive path and an affective path. The secondary aim was to compare these paths for different thought verbalization processes: think‐aloud and thought‐listing. The model was tested on a sample of 8‐ to 12‐year‐old children (N = 163). Structural equation modeling revealed that, for children in the think‐aloud group, both cognitive and affective paths were successful in reducing advertising susceptibility. However, for children in the thought‐listing group, only the affective path was successful. These findings suggest that the think‐aloud process increased children's motivation and ability to critically process advertising messages.     

Mindfulness as a means of reducing aggressive behavior: dispositional and situational evidence

Recent research and theory suggest that mindfulness, or enhanced attention and awareness in the present moment [Brown and Ryan, 2003], may be linked to lower levels of ego-involvement and, as a result, may have implications for lowering hostility and aggressive behavior. Accordingly, we conducted two studies to examine the potential aggression-mitigating role of mindfulness. In Study 1, we found that dispositional mindfulness correlated negatively with self-reported aggressiveness and hostile attribution bias. In Study 2, participants made mindful before receiving social rejection feedback displayed less-aggressive behavior than did rejected participants not made mindful. Discussion centers on potential mechanisms by which mindfulness operates to reduce aggressive behavior.     

Developing a model of adolescent friendship formation on the internet.

Previous research has been largely silent about what precisely influences online friendship formation and has ignored motives for online communication as potential explanations. Drawing on a sample of 493 adolescents, this study tested a path model of adolescent friendship formation including as predictors introversion/extraversion, online self-disclosure, motive for social compensation, and frequency of online communication. Our path analysis showed that extraverted adolescents self-disclosed and communicated online more frequently, which, in turn, facilitated the formation of online friendships. Introverted adolescents, by contrast, were more strongly motivated to communicate online to compensate for lacking social skills. This increased their chances of making friends online. Among introverted adolescents, a stronger motive for social compensation also led to more frequent online communication and online self-disclosure, resulting in more online friendships. The model suggests that the antecedents of online friendship formation are more complex than previously assumed and that motives for online communication should be studied more closely.     

In the Midst of a Hurricane: A Case Study of a Couple Living With AIDS

This case study provides insight into 1 heterosexual couple's experience with AIDS. Through a series of interviews, the authors examined the experiences of a husband in the advanced stages of AIDS and of his wife, the primary caregiver. A thematic analysis revealed 4 themes: the emotional impact of the diagnosis, changes in the couple's daily lives, needs for social support, and spiritual journeys. Recommendations are given for counselors working with persons with AIDS and their heterosexual partners.     

The influence of sexually explicit Internet material and peers on stereotypical beliefs about women's sexual roles: similarities and differences between adolescents and adults

Previous research on the influence of sexually explicit Internet material (SEIM) on adolescents' stereotypical beliefs about women's sexual roles has three shortcomings. First, the role of peers has been neglected; second, stereotypical beliefs have rarely been studied as causing the use of SEIM and the selection of specific peers; and third, it is unclear whether adolescents are more vulnerable to the effects of SEIM than adults. We used data from two nationally representative two-wave panel surveys among 1,445 Dutch adolescents and 833 Dutch adults, focusing on the stereotypical belief that women engage in token resistance to sex (i.e., the notion that women say "no" when they actually intend to have sex). Structural equation modeling showed that peers who supported traditional gender roles elicited, both among adolescents and adults, stronger beliefs that women use token resistance to sex. Further, the belief that women engage in token resistance predicted adolescents' and adults' selection of gender-role traditional peers, but it did not predict adolescents' and adults' use of SEIM. Finally, adults, but not adolescents, were susceptible to the impact of SEIM on beliefs that women engage in token resistance to sex.     

Empirical study of Kanji as archetypal images: understanding the collective unconscious as part of the Japanese language

Chinese characters originated as a semiotic system independent from spoken language and in the Japanese language they function non-phonetically with speakers exhibiting right-hemispheric advantage in their processing. We tested the hypothesis that Chinese characters are archetypal images and therefore part of our collective unconscious memory. Our study builds on the first empirical study of archetypal memory of Rosen et al. (1991) which demonstrated that archetypal symbols presented matched with their correct meaning were better learned and recalled. In a series of three experiments we used 40 Chinese characters instead of the archetypal symbols used by Rosen, et al. (1991). The results provided empirical evidence that Chinese characters matched with their correct meaning were significantly better recalled than the ones that were mismatched. Thus, we demonstrated that there appears to be unconscious knowledge of the meaning of the Chinese characters which was triggered as a result of priming when the characters were correctly matched with their meaning. On this basis, we suggest that Chinese characters exhibit the same cognitive qualities as archetypal symbols. Thus, in the Japanese language an archetypal image is integrated non-phonetically into the system of language and signifies the concept independent from the phonetic signifier and is equal to it.     

Development and validation of the Material Values Scale for children (MVS-c)

The aim of this study was to develop a scale to measure materialism among children while relying on insights from research conducted among adults. Although research among adults suggests that materialism is a second-order construct with three underlying factors (i.e., material centrality, material happiness, and material success), existing materialism scales for children include only one or two of these factors. Hence, we adapted the items of the well-established Material Values Scale (MVS) of Richins and Dawson (1992) to make them appropriate for use among children. We then administered the Material Values Scale for children (MVS-c) to 1001 8- to 11-year-olds. Structural equation modeling confirmed the presumed second-order structure of the MVS-c. Based on these findings, we created 6- and 3-item versions in addition to the full-length, 18-item MVS-c. All three versions performed well in terms of test–retest reliability and construct validity.     

Characteristics and motives of adolescents talking with strangers on the internet.

Despite widespread concerns about the dangers of adolescents' online communication with strangers, we know little about (a) which types of adolescents talk with strangers and (b) what motivates them to do so. Drawing on a survey among 412 Dutch adolescents, we found that early adolescents (12-14-year-olds) were most prone to talk with strangers on the internet. If adolescents communicated online more frequently, they less often talked with strangers on the internet. However, if adolescents engaged in long chat sessions, they tended to talk with strangers on the internet more often. In contrast to earlier research, introversion was not related to adolescents' tendency to talk with strangers. The motives of entertainment, meeting new people, and social compensation increased adolescents' online communication with strangers.     

Influence of reference frames on asymmetries in Troxler's effect

In 1804, Troxier discovered that, when an observer fixates on a point in central vision and attends to a peripheral stationary stimulus, the peripheral stimulus eventually fades from awareness. This phenomenon is known as Troxler's effect and is allegedly influenced by spatial attention. Asymmetries in Troxler's effect along horizontal and vertical meridian were a recent discovery. However, viewer- and environment-centered reference frames were aligned in prior studies, making it impossible to assess whether asymmetries correspond to viewer- versus environment-centered coordinate systems. This study was undertaken to (a) replicate the asymmetries in the upright condition among 39 participants without health issues and (b) use the asymmetrics to test contrasting predictions made by viewer- and environment-centered coordinate systems when they are decoupled using an experimental head-tilt condition. The horizontal and vertical asymmetries were replicated and consistent with a viewer-centered rather than an environment-centered reference frame.