Does Criminal Propensity Moderate the Effects of Social Learning Theory Variables on Intimate Partner Violence?

Akers’ Social Learning Theory (SLT) is one of the predominant general theories of criminal behavior; it has been widely tested and is typically supported. Despite being a validated general theory, it is possible there are other factors such as criminal propensity that influence the effects of social learning constructs. This study examines the extent, if any, to which crime-specific operationalizations of SLT exert equivalent effects on a specific type of offense—intimate partner violence (IPV) (both perpetration and victimization)—across level of criminal propensity. Using self-report data on intimate partner violence among university students and specifically designed to test SLT, the results indicate that (1) the effects of differential associations and differential reinforcements exerted consistent effects across the various measures of IPV, (2) the effects of definitions and imitation are much less consistent, and, most importantly (3) the effects of SLT constructs on IPV were moderated by criminal propensity. These results suggest that SLT may be less general than claimed; that is, the effects of SLT vary both across measures of IPV and across levels of criminal propensity.     

Functional connectivity dynamics during film viewing reveal common networks for different emotional experiences

Recent theoretical and empirical work has highlighted the role of domain-general, large-scale brain networks in generating emotional experiences. These networks are hypothesized to process aspects of emotional experiences that are not unique to a specific emotional category (e.g., “sadness,” “happiness”), but rather that generalize across categories. In this article, we examined the dynamic interactions (i.e., changing cohesiveness) between specific domain-general networks across time while participants experienced various instances of sadness, fear, and anger. We used a novel method for probing the network connectivity dynamics between two salience networks and three amygdala-based networks. We hypothesized, and found, that the functional connectivity between these networks covaried with the intensity of different emotional experiences. Stronger connectivity between the dorsal salience network and the medial amygdala network was associated with more intense ratings of emotional experience across six different instances of the three emotion categories examined. Also, stronger connectivity between the dorsal salience network and the ventrolateral amygdala network was associated with more intense ratings of emotional experience across five out of the six different instances. Our findings demonstrate that a variety of emotional experiences are associated with dynamic interactions of domain-general neural systems.     

Effects of positive youth development programs on school, family, and community systems

A review of efforts at social system change in 526 universal competence-promotion outcome studies indicated that 64% of the interventions attempted some type of microsystemic or mesosystemic change involving schools, families, or community-based organizations in an attempt to foster developmental competencies in children and adolescents. Only 24% of the reports provided quantitative data on the change that occurred in targeted systems. However, studies containing the necessary information produced several mean effect sizes that were statistically significant, and ranged from modest to large in magnitude. These data indicate that attempts to change social systems affecting children and adolescents can be successful. Future work should measure more thoroughly the extent to which the systemic changes that are targeted through intervention are achieved, and investigate how such changes contribute to the development and sustainability of the outcomes that might be demonstrated by participants of competence-promotion programs. The authors wish to thank David Wilson for supplying the macros used to calculate study level effect sizes and Mark Lipsey for supplying the SPSS macros used to weight effect sizes and calculate mean effects across studies. This study was supported in part by a grant from the William T. Grant Foundation (#2212) awarded to the first and last authors.     

Seeing vs. believing: Is believing sufficient to activate the processes of response co-representation?

It has been suggested that the observation of another person's action affects the behavior of the observer because the observation of action leads to the excitation of similar response codes in the observer. It is unknown, however, if one must witness the action or if it is sufficient for one to believe that the other agent is responding for response co-representation to occur. To this end, participants in the present study performed a joint spatial-compatibility task with a confederate when: (1) the confederate sat beside the participant; and, (2) the confederate left the room and told the participant that they would continue to perform their component of the task on a networked computer in another room. Even though participants believed that the confederate performed the task in another room, joint spatial-compatibility was only observed when the confederate was present. These results reveal that the actions of another person may only be represented by the observer when the observer is able to witness a portion of the action.     

Vision and touch: multiple or multisensory representations of objects?

The relationship between visually and haptically derived representations of objects is an important question in multisensory processing and, increasingly, in mental representation. We review evidence for the format and properties of these representations, and address possible theoretical models. We explore the relevance of visual imagery processes and highlight areas for further research, including the neglected question of asymmetric performance in the visuo-haptic cross-modal memory paradigm. We conclude that the weight of evidence suggests the existence of a multisensory representation, spatial in format, and flexibly accessible by both bottom-up and top-down inputs, although efficient comparison between modality-specific representations cannot entirely be ruled out.     

Use of Brief Instructional Trials to Identify Small Group Reading Strategies: A Two Experiment Study

The Instructional Hierarchy (IH) has proven useful for understanding the functional properties of empirically valid instructional strategies. Investigators have relied heavily on the IH as a heuristic in conceptualizing instructional components used in brief experimental analyses. To date, only one investigation has applied brief experimental analysis results to small group reading interventions. The purpose of this paper is to describe two studies which used single session instructional trials to identify interventions that were subsequently applied to small group reading instruction. In both studies, individualized instructional trials that probed for skill and performance deficits were carried out and results suggested that all students benefited from the instructional intervention. Next, the intervention was implemented in a small group format. In Experiment 2, however, validation of the instructional package was carried out by the classroom teacher who delivered the instructional package to the small group. In both cases, extended experimental analyses suggested that the intervention was effective at improving all participants’ generalized reading fluency. Results of both studies are discussed in terms of how future studies can refine procedures for validating instructional and motivational components before classroom applications.     

Precursors of learning experiences in Social Cognitive Career Theory

This study extended the research on Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT; [Lent, R. W., Brown, S. D., & Hackett, G. (1994). Toward a unifying social cognitive theory of career and academic interest, choice, and performance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 45, 79-122]) by examining the contributions of 3 person inputs (personality, gender, and conformity to gender role norms) to career-related learning experiences for each of Holland’s [Holland, J. L. (1997). Making vocational choices: A theory of vocational personalities and work environments (3rd ed.). Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources] 6 RIASEC themes. Participants (144 female and 113 male college students) completed measures of personality, conformity to feminine and masculine role norms, and learning experiences for Holland’s RIASEC themes. Results of path analyses indicated that the combination of person inputs explained a significant proportion of variance in each of the RIASEC-based learning experiences. Results supported 9 of 13 hypothesized relations involving personality, and suggested that for some personality traits, the relation to RIASEC-based learning experiences is both direct and indirect, via conformity to gender role norms. Results also revealed that gender predicted learning experiences for 5 of the 6 Holland themes; however, 4 of those relations were partially or completely mediated by conformity to gender role norms. Finally, findings supported 5 of 12 hypothesized relations involving conformity to gender role norms, and suggested that gender role conformity may be most relevant to learning experiences in the Realistic and Social domains.