Perceived Norms,Outcome Expectancies,and Collegiate Drinking: Examining the Mediating Role of Drinking Motives

The authors examined the mediational role of drinking motives in explaining the associations among psychosocial antecedents and collegiate drinking. Results indicated that drinking motives partially mediated the relationships between outcome expectancies, perceived norms, alcohol use intensity, and alcohol‐related negative consequences.     

From Olaf to Omar: Pedagogy of Place at a Lutheran University

This article reflects on the range of environmental and institutional layers that support pedagogical composition and student learning at a Lutheran University affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in the Pacific Northwest. After reflection on layers that include geographic location, institutional affiliation and denominational affiliation, the author traces the way in which she incorporates these elements into the content and methods of assessment in a religion class on Islam.     

Weighed Down by Stigma: How Weight‐Based Social Identity Threat Contributes to Weight Gain and Poor Health

Weight stigma is pervasive, and a number of scholars argue that this profound stigma contributes to the negative effects of weight on psychological and physical health. Some lay individuals and health professionals assume that stigmatizing weight can actually motivate healthier behaviors and promote weight loss. However, as we review, weight stigma is consistently associated with poorer mental and physical health outcomes. In this article, we propose a social identity threat model elucidating how weight stigma contributes to weight gain and poorer mental and physical health among overweight individuals. We propose that weight‐based social identity threat increases physiological stress, undermines self‐regulation, compromises psychological health, and increases the motivation to avoid stigmatizing domains (e.g., the gym) and escape the stigma by engaging in unhealthy weight loss behaviors. Given the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the US, weight stigma thus has the potential to undermine the health and wellbeing of millions of Americans.     

Yu in the Xunzi: toward a precise understanding

An ongoing dialogue in Xunzi scholarship addresses the role of yu (欲), often rendered as ‘desire,’ in motivation, but little has been said about what yu actually is, or whether the translation of ‘desire’ accurately reflects Xunzi’s use of the term. Employing textual analysis alongside research in cognitive science, most notably work on the so-called ‘wanting-liking’ distinction, I work toward a more precise understanding of Xunzi’s notion of yu and its functions. I suggest that yu be construed as a kind of desire with an emphasis on ‘wanting’ that, while motivational, differs from broader, less precise notions of desire, and that this feature constitutes a distinctive aspect of Xunzi’s philosophy of psychology. In so doing, I propose a particular methodological approach for the interpretation of classical Chinese philosophy: when interpreting concepts that are subjects of empirical inquiry, empirical findings should lead us to favor some interpretations over others.     

A longitudinal analysis of the attention networks in 6- to 11-year-old children

Attention is critical for everyday functioning. Posner and Petersen’s model of attention describes three neural networks involved in attention control—the alerting network for arousal, the orienting network for selecting sensory input and reorienting attention, and the executive network for the regulatory control of attention. No longitudinal research has examined relative change in these networks in children. A modified version of the attention network task (ANT) was used to examine changes in the three attention networks, three times over 12 months, in 114 6-, 8- and 10-year-olds. Findings showed that the alerting network continued to develop over this period, the orienting network had stabilized by 6 years, and the conflict network had largely stabilized by 7 years. The reorienting of attention was also assessed using invalid cues, which showed a similar developmental trajectory to the orienting attention network and had stabilized by 6 years. The results confirm that age 6 to 7 years is a critical period in the development of attention, in particular executive attention. The largest improvement over the evaluation period was between 6 and 7 years; however, subtle changes were found in attention beyond 8 years of age.     

Challenged Expectations: Mere Exposure Effects on Attitudes About Transgender People and Rights

Social categorization processes may be initiated by physical appearance, which have the potential to influence how people evaluate others. Categorizations ground what stereotypes and prejudices, if any, become activated. Gender is one of the first features people notice about others. Much less is known about individuals who may transgress gender expectations, including people who are transgender. Using an experiment, this study investigates whether the attitudes that people have about transgender people and rights are influenced by information and facial images. We hypothesize that mere exposure to transgender people, via information and images of faces, should be a source of prejudice reduction. We randomly provide participants with vignettes defining transgender and also randomize whether these vignettes come with facial images, varying the physical features of gendered individuals. We find our treatments have lower levels of discomfort and transphobia but have little effect on transgender rights attitudes. We further find that the impacts are stronger among Democrats than among Republicans. Our findings support the argument that people are in general unfamiliar with transgender people, and the mere exposure to outgroups can be a source of prejudice reduction.     

Office or kitchen? Wellbeing consequences of role participation depend on role salience

In light of the emerging trend of men and women sharing work and family roles, the goal of this study is to investigate which individuals will experience a role as depleting or enriching their energy levels. We apply self-discrepancy theory and propose that role salience explains when a role will lead to exhaustion versus engagement. Exhaustion is likely when participating in a role for which salience is low, while engagement is likely when spending time on a role for which salience is high. We test this idea using a diary study whereby participants logged time spent on work and family tasks on seven consecutive days, while reporting feelings of exhaustion and engagement in the morning. For individuals with high work salience, time spent on work increased exhaustion less, and increased engagement more, as compared to individuals with low work salience. Spending time on family tasks increased exhaustion less, and increased engagement more, when work role salience was low as compared to high. Our findings suggest that wellbeing consequences of role participation depend on work role salience. We discuss how these findings advance theoretical thinking in the work–family literature and give leads for managerial practice.