Irrelevant‐action imitation is short‐term and contextual: Evidence from two under‐studied populations

Across the lifespan and across populations, humans ‘overimitate’ causally unnecessary behaviors. Such irrelevant‐action imitation facilitates faithful cultural transmission, but its immediate benefits to the imitator are controversial. Over short time scales, irrelevant‐action imitation may bootstrap artifact exploration or interpersonal affiliation, and over longer time scales it may facilitate acquisition of either causal models or social conventions. To investigate these putative functions, we recruited community samples from two under‐studied populations: Yasawa, Fiji, and Huatasani, Peru. We use a two‐action puzzle box: first after a video demonstration, and again one month later. Treating age as a continuous variable, we reveal divergent developmental trajectories across sites. Yasawans (44 adults, M = 39.9 years, 23 women; 42 children, M = 9.8 years, 26 girls) resemble documented patterns, with irrelevant‐action imitation increasing across childhood and plateauing in adulthood. In contrast, Huatasaneños (48 adults, M = 37.6 years, 33 women; 47 children, M = 9.3 years, 13 girls) evince a parabolic trajectory: adults at the site show the lowest irrelevant‐action imitation of any demographic set in our sample. In addition, all age sets in both populations reduce their irrelevant actions at Time 2, but do not reduce their relevant‐action imitation or goal attainment. Taken together, and considering the local cultural contexts, our results suggest that irrelevant‐action imitation serves a short‐term function and is sensitive to the social context of the demonstration.     

Kinds,Complexity and Multiple realization

Philosophical Studies -     

Miller (1944) revisited: Movement times in relation to approach and avoidance conflicts

Three experiments (total N = 291) sought to provide support for the idea that avoidance conflicts, relative to approach conflicts, are more difficult to motorically resolve. Conflicts were instantiated by asking individuals to approach desirable stimuli and avoid undesirable stimuli under conditions in which there was no objectively-correct direction of movement. To control for baseline movement speeds, non-conflict trials presented desirable (e.g., reward) and undesirable (e.g., threat) stimuli in the absence of any spatial conflict. In addition, movement times were isolated through the use of a joystick movement paradigm in which movement speeds were quantified subsequent to some initial tendency to move in one direction or the other. Consistent with hypotheses, all experiments found that movement times were slowed in the context of avoidance conflicts relative to approach conflicts. Results are discussed in terms of theories of motivation, affective processing, conflict, and anxiety.     

The Role of Parents’ School Climate Perceptions on Attainment Expectations for Black Middle Schoolers

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Parents’ beliefs about their children’s schools are important influences on their parenting and on their children’s outcomes. Because of...     

Ethical Challenges in the Treatment of Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities

The effective provision of psychotherapy services to individuals with intellectual disability requires consideration of ethical issues related to clinical competence, access to services, obligations to multiple parties, guardianship, and appropriate assessment practices. This article provides an overview of major ethical considerations with guidance for clarifying and resolving common ethical concerns. Psychologists are encouraged to expand access to psychotherapy services for this population while maintaining awareness of potential modifications, training needs, and boundaries of professional competence. The authors provide recommendations and resources for effective and ethical treatment of psychotherapy clients with intellectual disabilities.     

Breaks are Better: A Tier II Social Behavior Intervention

Multi-tiered systems of social behavioral support in schools provide varying levels of intervention matched to student need. Tier I (primary or universal) systems are for all students and are designed to promote pro-social behavior. Tier III (tertiary or intensive) supports are for students who engage in serious challenging behavior that has not responded to other efforts. In between Tier I and Tier III are Tier II (secondary or targeted interventions), for students at risk for developing more serious problematic behavior. The purpose of this study was to evaluate Breaks are Better, a Tier II intervention designed for students who engage in problem behavior maintained by avoidance of instructional activities. Breaks are Better builds on an evidence-based Tier II intervention, Check-in/Check-out, but includes key components to enhance its effectiveness for students who avoid instruction. Working with three typically developing elementary school students, we documented changes in problem behavior during academic instruction following the implementation of Breaks are Better. Further, students and teachers rated the intervention as both feasible and valuable.     

Prevalence of Anxiety and Depression in Australian Adolescents: Comparisons with Worldwide Data

Data from two Australian studies were combined so that the prevalence of anxiety and depression in a large, normative sample of Australian adolescents could be investigated. The combined sample comprised 1,299 adolescents randomly selected from metropolitan and country schools in Melbourne, a large Australian city. The data were examined in order to ascertain the percentages of adolescents who scored above the clinical cut-off on two self-report instruments-the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (C. R. Reynolds & B. 0. Richmond, 1985) and the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale (W. M. Reynolds, 1986). The results of these analyses were then compared with previously reported prevalence rates from studies worldwide. This comparison revealed striking differences in the prevalence of anxiety and depression across different countries and cultures. Limitations attributable to different self-report measures and imposed-etic approaches are discussed. Issues pertaining to social and political climate are also raised.     

Inter‐racial contact and the own‐race bias for face recognition in South Africa and England

Own‐race bias, where people are more accurate recognizing faces of people from their own race than other races, can lead to misidentification and, in some cases, innocent people being convicted. This bias was explored in South Africa and England, using Black and White participants. People were shown several photographs of Black and White faces and were later asked if they had seen these faces (and several fillers). In addition, participants were given a questionnaire about inter‐racial contact. Cross‐race identification accuracy for Black participants was positively correlated with self‐reported inter‐racial contact. The confidence–accuracy relationship was strongest when making own‐race judgements. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.