Learning strategies during fear conditioning

This paper describes a model of fear learning, in which subjects have an option of behavioral responses to impending social defeat. The model generates two types of learning: social avoidance and classical conditioning, dependent upon (1) escape from or (2) social subordination to an aggressor. We hypothesized that social stress provides the impetus as well as the necessary information to stimulate dichotomous goal-oriented learning. Specialized tanks were constructed to subject rainbow trout to a conditioning paradigm where the conditioned stimulus (CS) is cessation of tank water flow (water off) and the unconditioned stimulus (US) is social aggression from a larger conspecific. Following seven daily CS/US pairings, approximately half of the test fish learned to consistently escape the aggression to a neutral chamber through a small escape hole available only during the interaction. The learning curve for escaping fish was dramatic, with an 1100% improvement in escape time over 7 days. Fish that did not escape exhibited a 400% increase in plasma cortisol and altered brain monoamine response to presentation of the CS alone. Elevated plasma cortisol levels represent classical fear conditioning in non-escaping fish, while a lack of fear conditioning and a decreased latency to escape over the training period in escapers indicates learned escape.     

A competitive nonverbal false belief task for children and apes

A nonverbal false belief task was administered to children (mean age 5 years) and two great ape species: chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus). Because apes typically perform poorly in cooperative contexts, our task was competitive. Two versions were run: in both, a human competitor witnessed an experimenter hide a reward in one of two containers. When the competitor then left the room (version A) or turned around (version B), the experimenter switched the locations of the containers. The competitor returned and reached with effort, but unsuccessfully, towards the incorrect container. Children displayed an understanding of the competitor's false belief by correctly choosing the other container to find the reward. Apes did not. However, in version A (but not version B), apes looked more often at the unchosen container in false belief trials than in true belief control trials, possibly indicating some implicit or uncertain understanding that needs to be investigated further.     

Using tests to enhance 8th grade students' retention of U.S. history facts

Laboratory studies show that retention of information can be powerfully enhanced through testing, but evidence for their utility to promote long‐term retention of course information is limited. We assessed 8th grade students' retention of U.S. history facts. Facts were reviewed after 1 week, 16 weeks or not reviewed at all. Some facts were reviewed by testing (Who assassinated president Abraham Lincoln?) followed by feedback (John Wilkes Booth), while others were re‐studied. Nine months later, all students received a test covering all of the facts. Facts reviewed through testing were retained significantly better than facts reviewed through re‐studying, and nearly twice as well as those given no review. The best retention occurred for facts that were reviewed by testing after a 16‐week time interval. Although the gain in item was numerically small, due to floor effects, these results support the notion that testing can enhance long‐term retention of course knowledge. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An Examination of Religious Priming and Intrinsic Religious Motivation in the Moral Hypocrisy Paradigm

Reliable individual differences have not yet been identified in moral hypocrisy. This research examined whether intrinsic religious motivation combined with an experimental religious priming manipulation would predict decreased moral hypocrisy. A sample of Christian college students ( N =142) completed the Religious Orientation Scale—Revised, and the moral motivation paradigm, which tests whether participants will act in accordance with their moral beliefs at a cost to themselves. Half the participants received religious priming prior to the procedure. Intrinsic religiosity predicted decreased moral hypocrisy, but only when religiosity was primed. Findings support Allport's view of intrinsic religiosity, but with an emphasis on cognitive processes in addition to motivational ones.     

Shared intentionality

We argue for the importance of processes of shared intentionality in children's early cognitive development. We look briefly at four important social-cognitive skills and how they are transformed by shared intentionality. In each case, we look first at a kind of individualistic version of the skill -- as exemplified most clearly in the behavior of chimpanzees -- and then at a version based on shared intentionality -- as exemplified most clearly in the behavior of human 1- and 2-year-olds. We thus see the following transformations: gaze following into joint attention, social manipulation into cooperative communication, group activity into collaboration, and social learning into instructed learning. We conclude by highlighting the role that shared intentionality may play in integrating more biologically based and more culturally based theories of human development.     

Preferences and life evaluations of older adults with and without dementia: reliability, stability, and proxy knowledge

This study assessed the reliability and stability of care preferences and life evaluations among older adults with and without dementia. The study also examined spouse proxy predictions of partner responses. Test-retest reliability over 1 week, stability over 1 year, and proxy knowledge were all moderate to good, but lower for people with dementia. In all 3 areas, however, there was broad interindividual variability. People with dementia may become less reliable and stable in their self-reports, and some spouse proxies may have flawed knowledge about their partner, but dementia status alone is not sufficient to presume poor reliability or knowledge.     

The relationship between childhood abuse and adult personality disorder symptoms

This study assessed personality disorder symptomatology in a community sample of healthy adults without diagnosable DSM-IV-TR Axis I psychiatric disorders who reported a history of childhood abuse. Twenty-eight subjects with a history of moderate to severe physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse according to the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire were compared to 33 subjects without an abuse history on symptoms of personality disorders. Subjects in the Abuse group were more likely to report subclinical symptoms of paranoid, narcissistic, borderline, antisocial, obsessive compulsive, passive-aggressive, and depressive personality disorders. These findings link reports of childhood abuse with symptoms of personality disorders in the absence of Axis I psychiatric disorders in a community sample of healthy adults.     

Predicting persistence or withdrawal in female handballers with social exchange theory

Two complementary studies were conducted to explain the dropout phenomenon with French female handball players, utilizing the tenets of social exchange theory (Thibaut & Kelley, 1959; Rusbult, 1980). In the first study, the aim was to more fully explore the sources of enjoyment by emphasizing the key variables in the costs/benefits analysis. We postulate that the costs/benefits analysis consists in each athlete estimating the probability of reaching the most desired consequences for him or her (e.g., learn and improve skill, affiliation with others, be better than the others). The subjects were 488 French women aged from 15–19 years. Structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that enjoyment in handball was predicted by a latent variable (named perceived benefits) subjacent to perceptions of competence, autonomy, relatedness, progress, coach's support, and time of play. In the second study, we tested a sport commitment model based on the social exchange postulates, using SEM analyses and a prospective design over 8 months. In view of the results of study 1, we replaced the construct of enjoyment with perceived benefit. This analysis provides a more comprehensive understanding of the enjoyment construct and is more consistent with the notion of cost and benefits outlined in social exchange theory. Participants were 253 French handball players between the ages of 14 and 16 years. A first set of analyses, focused on the differences, showed that dropout players perceived themselves as significantly less competent, less autonomous, less related to their team, lower in progress and less supported by their coach than persistent players. The second set of analyses with SEM revealed that the commitment level was positively associated with perceived benefits and negatively with social constraints and alternatives opportunities. Finally, a lack of commitment led to dropping out of the sport 8‐months later.     

The Effect of a Brief Mindfulness Training on Distress Tolerance and Stress Reactivity

Poor distress tolerance (DT) is considered an underlying facet of anxiety, depression, and a number of other psychological disorders. Mindfulness may help to increase DT by fostering an attitude of acceptance or nonjudgment toward distressing experiences. Accordingly, the present study examined the effects of a brief mindfulness training on tolerance of different types of distress, and tested whether trait mindfulness moderates the effect of such training. Undergraduates (n = 107) naïve to mindfulness completed a measure of trait mindfulness and underwent a series of stress tasks (cold pressor, hyperventilation challenge, neutralization task) before and after completing a 15-minute mindfulness training or a no-instruction control in which participants listened to relaxing music. Participants in the mindfulness condition demonstrated greater task persistence on the hyperventilation task compared to the control group, as well as a decreased urge to neutralize the effects of writing an upsetting sentence. No effect on distress ratings during the tasks were found. Overall trait mindfulness did not significantly moderate task persistence, but those with lower scores on the act with awareness facet of mindfulness demonstrated greater relative benefit of mindfulness training on the hyperventilation challenge. Mediation analyses revealed significant indirect effects of mindfulness training on cold pressor task persistence and urges to neutralize through the use of the nonjudge and nonreact facets of mindfulness. These results suggest that a brief mindfulness training can increase DT without affecting the subjective experience of distress.