Speaking two languages with different number naming systems: What implications for magnitude judgments in bilinguals at different stages of language acquisition?

Differences between languages in terms of number naming systems may lead to performance differences in number processing. The current study focused on differences concerning the order of decades and units in two-digit number words (i.e., unit-decade order in German but decade-unit order in French) and how they affect number magnitude judgments. Participants performed basic numerical tasks, namely two-digit number magnitude judgments, and we used the compatibility effect (Nuerk et al. in Cognition 82(1):B25–B33, 2001) as a hallmark of language influence on numbers. In the first part we aimed to understand the influence of language on compatibility effects in adults coming from German or French monolingual and German–French bilingual groups (Experiment 1). The second part examined how this language influence develops at different stages of language acquisition in individuals with increasing bilingual proficiency (Experiment 2). Language systematically influenced magnitude judgments such that: (a) The spoken language(s) modulated magnitude judgments presented as Arabic digits, and (b) bilinguals’ progressive language mastery impacted magnitude judgments presented as number words. Taken together, the current results suggest that the order of decades and units in verbal numbers may qualitatively influence magnitude judgments in bilinguals and monolinguals, providing new insights into how number processing can be influenced by language(s).     

The Undoing Effect of Positive Emotions

Positive emotions are hypothesized to undo the cardiovascular aftereffects of negative emotions. Study 1 tests this undoing effect. Participants (n = 170) experiencing anxiety-induced cardiovascular reactivity viewed a film that elicited (a) contentment, (b) amusement, (c) neutrality, or (d) sadness. Contentment-eliciting and amusing films produced faster cardiovascular recovery than neutral or sad films did. Participants in Study 2 (n = 185) viewed these same films following a neutral state. Results disconfirm the alternative explanation that the undoing effect reflects a simple replacement process. Findings are contextualized by Fredrickson's broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (B. L. Fredrickson, 1998).     

Analog scale,magnitude estimation,and person trade‐off as measures of health utility: biases and their correction

Subjects judged the disutility of health conditions (e.g. blindness) using one of them (e.g. blindness+deafness) as a standard, using three elicitation methods: analog scale (AS, how bad is blindness compared to blindness+deafness?); magnitude estimation (ME, blindness+deafness is how many times as bad as blindness?); and person trade‐off (PTO, how many people cured of blindness is as good as 10 people cured of blindness+deafness?). ME disutilities of the less bad condition were smallest, and AS was highest. Interleaving PTO with ME made PTO more like ME. AS disutilities were inconsistent with direct judgments of differences between pairs of conditions. ME and PTO judgments were internally inconsistent: e.g. the disutility of one‐eye‐blindness relative to blindness+deafness was larger than predicted from comparison of each to blindness. Consistency training reduced inconsistency, increased agreement between AS and PTO, and transferred from one method to the other. The results support the use of consistency checks in utility elicitation. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Generalization of social skills to peer interactions in a child with language delays

Researchers in this study have attempted to determine whether integrating generalization promoting strategies into intervention procedures would enhance the generalization and maintenance of social skills to peer interactions in a preschoold child with language delays. This intervention took place in the natural environment of the day care facility where the child was enrolled. A multiple baseline across behaviors design addressed social response behavior, approach behavior, and play organizers. The intervention utilized a prompting and social reinforcement procedure with minimal adaptations of the onging classroom activities to systematically improve the target child's peer interactions. Several generalization promoting strategies were also used. Improvements in all three types of behavior and generalization of treatment effects across persons, settings, and time were observed. These results lend support for the value of integrating several generalization promoting strategies pre-experimentally into the intervention instead of relying on post hoc evaluation of intervention. ©1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Divorce mediation: the impact of mediation on the psychological well‐being of children and parents

This study evaluated levels of psychological distress experienced by children (aged 4–16) and parents at the beginning of and one month after mediation for child‐related disputes. In contrast to previous research, this study employed both child‐ and parent‐reports of child outcome. Mediation was associated with reductions in child‐reported, though not parent‐reported, child psychological distress and with reductions in parent‐reports of their own psychological distress. The negotiation of successful agreements in mediation was not related to improved psychological well‐being of family members. The difficulties encountered (i.e. small numbers, low response rate) render the results tentative. Implications of the findings for future research are discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Crying as social behavior

Twenty mother-infant pairs were observed once a week for 7-hour periods when the infants were 2, 3, 4, and 5 weeks old. The occurrence of crying and its relationship to patterning of maternal behaviors was studied in two social contexts: while the mother was holding the infant and while she was not holding the infant. There were significant individual differences in the amount of crying in each of these contexts. The amount of crying in the two contexts was not correlated. Six variables describing forms of maternal attention throughout the 7-hour day were selected, and profiles were formed from measures of these variables. These profiles were found to vary systematically as a function of the amount of crying while the mother was holding the infant. In this context, only physical stimulation increased linearly with increased crying, whereas other forms of attention showed a U-shaped function in relation to increased crying. No relationship was found between crying while the mother was not holding the baby and patterns of interaction. We conclude that the structuring of a mother-infant relationship is reflected in the amount of crying that occurs while mother and infant are in close physical contact. The results also provide evidence that the social context for an infant's crying must be taken into account if the full adaptive value of crying is to be understood.     

Obsessive intrusive thoughts in nonclinical subjects. Part I. Content and relation with depressive, anxious and obsessional symptoms

The present study reports on the development and preliminary validation of a 52 item self-report instrument designed to assess intrusive thoughts, images and impulses that are similar to the aggressive, sexual and disease-related thinking characteristic of clinical obsessions. Two hundred and ninety-three students completed the Obsessive Intrusions Inventory (OII) as well as standard self-report measures of negative cognitions and obsessive, anxious and depressive symptoms. Regression analysis revealed that intrusive thinking was a significant and unique predictor of obsessional but not anxious or depressive symptoms. Furthermore, intrusive thinking showed a moderate correlation with anxious but not depressive cognitions. The results indicate that the intrusive thoughts assessed by the OII are distinct from other forms of negative thinking and may, in fact, constitute an analogue form of clinical obsessions in nonclinical populations.     

The gendered nature of career related learning experiences: A social cognitive career theory perspective

The learning experiences questionnaire (LEQ; Schaub & Tokar, 2005) was used to examine learning experiences as they relate to SCCT (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) across the Holland (1997) RIASEC typology. In particular, differences in men’s and women’s career related learning experiences were examined. A sample of 319 undergraduates at a public Midwestern university completed an online survey. Gender differences were observed in reported levels of some learning experiences; similar to prior findings for self-efficacy and interests, women reported more learning experiences in the Social domain, and men reported more experiences in the Realistic and Investigative domains. Results also supported that more reported learning experiences in a given domain relate to higher self-efficacy and outcome expectations in that domain.