"I couldn't have seen it coming": the impact of negative self-relevant outcomes on retrospections about foreseeability

We examined a phenomenon related to hindsight bias, specifically, retrospective judgements about the foreseeability of an outcome. We predicted that negative, self-relevant outcomes would be judged as less foreseeable by the recipient of the outcome than by others, unlike either positive outcomes or outcomes that are not self-relevant. In the context of a "stock market decision-making game", the hypothetical stock selected by one of two players showed an extreme increase or decrease. As predicted, the player who received an extreme negative outcome reported that this outcome was less foreseeable than did the opponent and an observer, for whom the outcome was less self-relevant. For no other kind of outcome was there a difference between the recipient of an outcome, the opponent, and the observer. The findings have several implications, including the possibility that hindsight bias should be considered as a special case of retrospective foreseeability.     

Child Impulsiveness—Inattention, Early Peer Experiences, and the Development of Early Onset Conduct Problems

The conjoint influence of child impulsiveness-inattention (I/I) and peer relationships on growth trajectories of conduct problems was assessed in a community sample of 267 boys and girls. I/I reliably predicted teacher- and parent-reported conduct problems at kindergarten entry and growth in those problems over the next 2 years for boys and girls. The relation of boys' I/I to conduct problems was mediated, in part, by peer rejection and involvement in coercive exchanges with peers. The relation of girls' I/I to conduct problems was less clearly mediated by peer processes, but peer difficulties had additive effects. The impact of peer relationships on trajectories of conduct problems was apparent to parents as well as to teachers. Although I/I increments risk for early and persisting conduct problems in concert with poor peer relationships, it does so in complex and gender-specific ways.     

These Boots Weren’t Made for Walking: Gendered Discrepancies in Wearing Painful,Restricting, or Distracting Clothing

Sex Roles - Using the framework of objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts in Psychology of Women Quarterly 21(2): 173–206, 1997), the current studies explored how often women...     

Informed Decision-Making in the Context of Prenatal Chromosomal Microarray

The introduction of chromosomal microarray (CMA) into the prenatal setting has involved considerable deliberation due to the wide range of possible outcomes (e.g., copy number variants of uncertain clinical significance). Such issues are typically discussed in pre-test counseling for pregnant women to support informed decision-making regarding prenatal testing options. This research study aimed to assess the level of informed decision-making with respect to prenatal CMA and the factor(s) influencing decision-making to accept CMA for the selected prenatal testing procedure (i.e., chorionic villus sampling or amniocentesis). We employed a questionnaire that was adapted from a three-dimensional measure previously used to assess informed decision-making with respect to prenatal screening for Down syndrome and neural tube defects. This measure classifies an informed decision as one that is knowledgeable, value-consistent, and deliberated. Our questionnaire also included an optional open-ended question, soliciting factors that may have influenced the participants’ decision to accept prenatal CMA; these responses were analyzed qualitatively. Data analysis on 106 participants indicated that 49% made an informed decision (i.e., meeting all three criteria of knowledgeable, deliberated, and value-consistent). Analysis of 59 responses to the open-ended question showed that “the more information the better” emerged as the dominant factor influencing both informed and uninformed participants’ decisions to accept prenatal CMA. Despite learning about the key issues in pre-test genetic counseling, our study classified a significant portion of women as making uninformed decisions due to insufficient knowledge, lack of deliberation, value-inconsistency, or a combination of these three measures. Future efforts should focus on developing educational approaches and counseling strategies to effectively increase the rate of informed decision-making among women offered prenatal CMA.     

Maternal Acceptance: Its Contribution to Children's Favorable Perceptions of Discipline and Moral Identity

The authors examined the contribution of maternal acceptance or warmth to children's and adolescents’ perceptions of discipline and formation of moral identity. The sample consisted of 93 male and female students from Grades 5, 8, and 10 and their mothers. Students completed measures pertaining to perceived maternal discipline practices and acceptance-rejection, as well as moral identity. A subsample of mothers reported on their accepting or rejecting actions toward their children. Children were more likely to feel accepted, if their mothers used inductive discipline (vs. power assertion and love withdrawal). Perceived acceptance was also related to more favorable discipline evaluations in certain respects. Specifically, inductive discipline recipients who felt accepted also evaluated induction as appropriate and responded to it with positive and guilt-related emotions. Power assertion was evaluated as appropriate among those children who did feel accepted. Finally, among inductive discipline recipients, those who felt accepted also reported higher moral identity.     

Personal and participatory socializers of the perceived legitimacy of aggressive behavior in sport

Recent international attention from the media and professional organizations has focused increasingly on violent incidents in sport. The present study developed and used the Sport Behavior Inventory (SBI) to examine personal and participatory variables that influence the socialization of the perceived legitimacy of aggressive sport behavior in children and adolescents ages 8–19 enrolled in public schools. In phase I of this study, the psychometric properties of the SBI as a measure of perceived legitimacy were evaluated in terms of content validity, structural validity, internal consistency, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. A multiple regression analysis in phase II indicated that increases in athletes’ perceptions of the legitimacy of aggressive sport behavior were positively related to age, being male, and contact sport participation. Results were discussed in relation to the social factors that contribute to the development of perceptions of legitimacy for aggressive sport behavior, and future research uses for the SBI. Aggr. Behav. 27:405–418, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

A Comparison of the 1988 and 1994 Diagnostic Criteria for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is an illness that involves severe, prolonged fatigue as well as neurological, immunological, and endocrinological system pathology. Because the pathogenesis of CFS has yet to be determined, case definitions have relied on clinical observation in classifying signs and symptoms for diagnosis. In an attempt to address various criticisms and inconsistencies in diagnostic criteria, there have been several revisions of the CFS case definition. The current investigation examined the differences between 1988 and 1994 definitions as well as participants who had a psychiatric explanation for their fatigue. Dependent measures included psychiatric comorbidity, symptom frequency, and functional impairment. The 1988 criteria, compared to the 1994 criteria, appeared to select a group of participants with more symptomatology and functional impairment, but these groups did not significantly differ in psychiatric comorbidity. Implications of these findings are discussed.