Attributions to discrimination and self-esteem: Impact of group identification and situational ambiguity

This study examined group identification and situational ambiguity as moderators of attributions to discrimination and self-esteem following negative feedback. As predicted, high gender-identified women made more discrimination attributions than low identified women when situational prejudice cues were ambiguous, but not when prejudice cues were absent or overt. Also as predicted, women exposed to overt prejudice cues had higher self-esteem than those exposed to ambiguous cues or no prejudice cues. The relationship between discrimination attributions and self-esteem was positive among women exposed to overt prejudice but negative among those exposed to no prejudice. Across conditions, however, the more that women discounted ability as a cause of their negative feedback (i.e., blamed discrimination more than ability), the higher their self-esteem. Results qualify and extend prior research and demonstrate that personal and situational factors moderate both the tendency to make attributions to discrimination and the consequences of those attributions for self-esteem.     

Interviewees' overuse of the word "like" and hesitations: effects in simulated hiring decisions

This study examined the use of hesitations and discourse markers such as "uh" and "like," sex of an interviewee, and professional or student participants on hiring decisions of job interviewees. Participants consisted of 105 students between the ages of 18 to 43 years and 71 professionals between the ages of 22 to 76 years (120 women, 56 men). Adult professionals and students were least likely to want to hire, perceived the applicant as less professional, and were less likely to recommend the interviewee for hiring if the interviewee overused the word "like" compared to "uh" or control. Professionals were less likely than students overall to want to hire interviewees across conditions. Sex of the interviewee was not found to be significant.     

Predicting Early Sexual Activity with Behavior Problems Exhibited at School Entry and in Early Adolescence

Youth who initiate sexual intercourse in early adolescence (age 11–14) experience multiple risks, including concurrent adjustment problems and unsafe sexual practices. The current study tested two models describing the links between childhood precursors, early adolescent risk factors, and adolescent sexual activity: a cumulative model and a meditational model. A longitudinal sample of 694 boys and girls from four geographical locations was utilized, with data collected from kindergarten through high school. Structural equation models revealed that, irrespective of gender or race, high rates of aggressive disruptive behaviors and attention problems at school entry increased risk for a constellation of problem behaviors in middle school (school maladjustment, antisocial activity, and substance use) which, in turn, promoted the early initiation of sexual activity. Implications are discussed for developmental models of early sexual activity and for prevention programming.

How attributional ambiguity shapes physiological and emotional responses to social rejection and acceptance

The authors examined White and Black participants' emotional, physiological, and behavioral responses to same-race or different-race evaluators, following rejecting social feedback or accepting social feedback. As expected, in ingroup interactions, the authors observed deleterious responses to social rejection and benign responses to social acceptance. Deleterious responses included cardiovascular (CV) reactivity consistent with threat states and poorer performance, whereas benign responses included CV reactivity consistent with challenge states and better performance. In intergroup interactions, however, a more complex pattern of responses emerged. Social rejection from different-race evaluators engendered more anger and activational responses, regardless of participants' race. In contrast, social acceptance produced an asymmetrical race pattern--White participants responded more positively than did Black participants. The latter appeared vigilant and exhibited threat responses. Discussion centers on implications for attributional ambiguity theory and potential pathways from discrimination to health outcomes.     

Parental gentle guidance and children's compliance within the family: a replication study.

In this study, the authors examined the link between young children's compliance and parental gentle guidance from a within-family perspective. Observational data from 57 families (mothers, fathers, and 2 siblings) participating in a family clean-up session were used to replicate earlier findings reported by B. L. Volling, A. Y. Blandon, and B. J. Gorvine (2006). Several of the results were replicated with the authors' older sample. Older siblings used more committed compliance and less passive noncompliance than their younger siblings. Mothers used more gentle guidance than fathers, but no differences were found in their parenting across siblings. Maternal and paternal gentle guidance interacted to explain younger siblings' committed compliance to the father and older siblings' situational compliance. For older siblings' committed compliance and both siblings' passive noncompliance, it was the direct effect of parental gentle guidance that was important. Differential parental gentle guidance appears to have a negative impact on older siblings' compliance. Results underscore the need to explore within-family processes to understand children's early compliance and internalization.     

Implementation and Utilization Characteristics of a Rural,School-linked Mental Health Program

We examined variables associated with treatment engagement in a real-world therapeutic setting. The model of care examined involved school-linked mental health care for children and their families in a rural county. Service utilization characteristics, as well as child- and treatment-specific variables were examined in relation to their impact on therapy length, missed appointments, and treatment outcome. A total of 168 students and their families participated in therapeutic services over a period of approximately 4.5 years. Overall, children who had less psychopathology and a higher level of clinician-rated functioning (GAF) at the start of therapy were more likely to successfully complete treatment. Parental involvement in therapy was associated with a longer course of therapy, as well as more missed appointments. Barriers to treatment and treatment engagement, as well as future directions of study, are discussed.     

Prospective memory: the relative effects of encoding, retrieval, and the match between encoding and retrieval

Previous prospective memory studies have revealed some important features of encoding, retrieval, and the match between the encoding and the retrieval that contribute to prospective memory performance. However, these studies have not provided evidence concerning the relative importance of these three factors because no study has investigated all three in a single design. We developed a laboratory-based paradigm that allowed us to manipulate different characteristics of encoding, retrieval, and the match between encoding and retrieval simultaneously in a single experiment. The results of eight experiments showed that all three factors have an influence on prospective memory performance, but that the match between encoding and retrieval has a significantly larger influence than either encoding or retrieval factors.     

Repeated cocaine experience facilitates sucrose-reinforced operant responding in enriched and isolated rats

The purpose of the present experiment was to determine whether repeated cocaine exposure differentially affects sucrose-reinforced operant responding in rats raised in an enriched condition (EC) or an isolated condition (IC). Specifically, the performance of EC and IC rats pressing a lever for sucrose under a high fixed-ratio schedule (FR 30) prior to and after 10 days of exposure to cocaine (15 mg/kg, i.p.) or saline was compared. Regardless of rearing condition, rats repeatedly exposed to cocaine had shorter reacquisition latencies to complete a sucrose-reinforced FR 30 task than saline controls. The results suggest that cocaine exposure may have cross-sensitized both EC and IC rats to the reinforcing effects of sucrose or sucrose-associated cues, thus facilitating reacquisition of operant responding.     

Perceived discrimination as worldview threat or worldview confirmation: implications for self-esteem

In 3 studies, the authors tested the hypothesis that discrimination targets' worldview moderates the impact of perceived discrimination on self-esteem among devalued groups. In Study 1, perceiving discrimination against the ingroup was negatively associated with self-esteem among Latino Americans who endorsed a meritocracy worldview (e.g., believed that individuals of any group can get ahead in America and that success stems from hard work) but was positively associated with self-esteem among those who rejected this worldview. Study 2 showed that exposure to discrimination against their ingroup (vs. a non-self-relevant group) led to lower self-esteem, greater feelings of personal vulnerability, and ingroup blame among Latino Americans who endorsed a meritocracy worldview but to higher self-esteem and decreased ingroup blame among Latino Americans who rejected it. Study 3 showed that compared with women informed that prejudice against their ingroup is pervasive, women informed that prejudice against their ingroup is rare had higher self-esteem if they endorsed a meritocracy worldview but lower self-esteem if they rejected this worldview. Findings support the idea that perceiving discrimination against one's ingroup threatens the worldview of individuals who believe that status in society is earned but confirms the worldview of individuals who do not.     

Pain modulation during drives through cold and hot virtual environments.

Evidence exists that virtual worlds reduce pain perception by providing distraction. However, there is no experimental study to show that the type of world used in virtual reality (VR) distraction influences pain perception. Therefore, we investigated whether pain triggered by heat or cold stimuli is modulated by "warm "or "cold " virtual environments and whether virtual worlds reduce pain perception more than does static picture presentation. We expected that cold worlds would reduce pain perception from heat stimuli, while warm environments would reduce pain perception from cold stimuli. Additionally, both virtual worlds should reduce pain perception in general. Heat and cold pain stimuli thresholds were assessed outside VR in 48 volunteers in a balanced crossover design. Participants completed three 4-minute assessment periods: virtual "walks " through (1) a winter and (2) an autumn landscape and static exposure to (3) a neutral landscape. During each period, five heat stimuli or three cold stimuli were delivered via a thermode on the participant's arm, and affective and sensory pain perceptions were rated. Then the thermode was changed to the other arm, and the procedure was repeated with the opposite pain stimuli (heat or cold). We found that both warm and cold virtual environments reduced pain intensity and unpleasantness for heat and cold pain stimuli when compared to the control condition. Since participants wore a head-mounted display (HMD) in both the control condition and VR, we concluded that the distracting value of virtual environments is not explained solely by excluding perception of the real world. Although VR reduced pain unpleasantness, we found no difference in efficacy between the types of virtual world used for each pain stimulus.