Imagined contact as a prejudice‐reduction intervention in schools: the underlying role of similarity and attitudes

The present research tested a prejudice‐reduction intervention based on imagined contact. White children imagined interacting with a child from an ethnic out‐group (Asian) once a week for 3 weeks, or did not take part in this activity (control group). Compared with the control group, children who engaged in imagined contact subsequently showed more positive attitudes, greater perceived similarity, and willingness for intergroup contact. The effect of the intervention on willingness for contact was mediated by positive attitude change. Implications for imagined‐contact theory and the development of prejudice‐reduction techniques for schools are discussed.     

If We Build It,They Will Come: Exploring Policy and Practice Implications of Public Support for Couple and Relationship Education for Lower Income and Relationally Distressed Couples

Over the past decade, public funding for Couple and Relationship Education programs has expanded. As program administrators have been able to extend their reach to low‐income individuals and couples using this support, it has become apparent that greater numbers of relationally distressed couples are attending classes than previously anticipated. Because psychoeducational programs for couples have traditionally served less distressed couples, this dynamic highlights the need to examine the policy and practice implications of more distressed couples accessing these services. This paper reviews some of the most immediate issues, including screening for domestic violence and couple needs, pedagogical considerations, and the potential integration of therapy and education services. We also make suggestions for future research that can inform policy and practice efforts.     

Different involuntary mechanisms underlie priming and LOP effects in stem completion tests

The role of intentional retrieval, involuntary conscious memory, and lexical processing in priming and levels‐of‐processing (LOP) effects in stem completion tests was investigated in three experiments. First, Experiment 1 provided strong evidence against the intentional retrieval hypothesis for the implicit LOP effects. LOP effects in the explicit test were dependent on intertrial interval at test, whereas LOP effects in the implicit test were not. Second, support was provided for the involuntary conscious memory hypothesis. Implicit memory (priming) was associated with awareness in all three experiments and the implicit LOP effect was associated with awareness in two of the three experiments. Third, it was concluded that lexical processing per se played a limited role in both priming and implicit LOP effects. Although priming was sensitive to normative rates of production in Experiment 1 and the number of solutions in all three experiments, it was insensitive to frequency manipulations. The LOP effect was insensitive to number of solutions, normative rates of production, and frequency manipulations. In addition, LOP and priming effects were uncorrelated in the implicit memory tests. It was concluded that production processes (e.g., Gabrieli et al., 1999), rather than lexical processes, played a crucial role in stem completion priming. In contrast, the LOP effect was attributed to the involuntary interaction of episodic and perceptual memory.     

Number of solutions effects in stem decision: Support for the distinction between identification and production processes in priming

Three experiments explored the distinction between identification and production processes (e.g., Gabrieli et al., 1999). A stem decision test was introduced, in which participants were asked to state whether there were any English words that began with the presented three-letter stems. In Experiment 1, stem decision priming was robust for single-solution stems, but much reduced for many-solution stems. In Experiment 2, the solutions effect in stem decision was replicated in a within-subjects design, as was the contrast between the presence of priming in a many-solution stem completion test and the absence of priming in a many-solution stem decision test. In Experiment 3, for each critical many-solution stem in the stem decision test, participants studied three words that began with those three letters. Again, priming was not observed. These results were consistent with the notions that (a) many-solution stem completion relies on production processes, (b) the stem decision test eliminates production processes, and (c) single-solution priming relies on identification processes, regardless of whether the test is stem completion or stem decision.     

Age-Related Changes in Children's and Adults’ Explanations of Interpersonal Actions

We investigated the content of children's and adults’ explanations of interpersonal actions. Participants were 5-, 7-, and 9-year-old children, as well as adults, who were presented with 8 stories containing either prosocial or antisocial target actions, and asked to explain why each actor performed that action. In half of the stories, an interpersonal event preceded the action. Children and adults provided situational and mental-state explanations, but mental-state explanations were especially common for antisocial actions not preceded by an interpersonal event. With increasing age, participants explained prosocial actions by referring to the actor's goals, but referred to the actor's emotions and beliefs to explain antisocial actions. Finally, adults were most likely to mention psychological goals. These results suggest that (a) elementary school children provide a variety of explanations for interpersonal events; (b) children use different types of explanations flexibly, depending on the context and nature of the target action; (c) the frequency of different types of explanations for interpersonal actions changes during childhood; and (d) between middle childhood and adulthood, the recognition of psychological goals increases greatly.     

Children's and Adults’ Judgments of the Certainty of Deductive Inferences,Inductive Inferences,and Guesses

Children and adults rated their own certainty following inductive inferences, deductive inferences, and guesses. Beginning in kindergarten, participants rated deductions as more certain than weak inductions or guesses. Deductions were rated as more certain than strong inductions beginning in Grade 3, and fourth-grade children and adults differentiated strong inductions, weak inductions, and informed guesses from pure guesses. By Grade 3, participants also gave different types of explanations for their deductions and inductions. These results are discussed in relation to children's concepts of cognitive processes, logical reasoning, and epistemological development.