Helping Children and Caregivers Cope with Repeated Invasive Procedures: How Are We Doing?

This paper discusses recent developments in the medical and psychological management of child behavioral distress during invasive (i.e., needle stick) procedures for diagnosis and treatment of chronic pediatric disorders. Along with a review of relevant studies from the medical, pediatric psychology and behavior analysis literatures, representative data are presented from recent research on pediatric procedural pain management. The impact of increasing use of implanted subcutaneous intravenous catheters (ports) and decreased reliance on intravenous cannulation is discussed. Similarly, the effects (and limitations) of more frequent use of topical anesthesia to prepare needle sites also are presented. The continuing need for adjunctive, nonpharmacological (i.e., cognitive and behavioral) interventions for procedural pain is emphasized, and recent studies on distraction and counter-conditioning-based treatments are described. Future research is encouraged on (1) behavioral interventions in relation to day-to-day contextual variables that modulate treatment effects and (2) the development of efficient screening measures to identify children and families who are least likely to cope effectively with repeated procedures, allowing them to be given greater priority for allocation of limited resources for psychosocial intervention.     

Preschoolers’ nonsymbolic arithmetic with large sets: Is addition more accurate than subtraction?

Adult and developing humans share with other animals analog magnitude representations of number that support nonsymbolic arithmetic with large sets. This experiment tested the hypothesis that such representations may be more accurate for addition than for subtraction in children as young as 3½ years of age. In these tasks, the experimenter hid two equal sets of cookies, visibly added to or subtracted from the sets, and then asked 3½-year-olds which set had more cookies. Initial set size was either large (7 or 9) or very large (18 or 30), and the final sets differed by either a high proportion (ratio of 1:2) or a low proportion (difference of 1 cookie). Children’s addition performance exceeded chance, as well as their subtraction performance, across set sizes and proportions, whereas subtraction performance did not exceed chance. Arithmetic performance was also independent of counting ability. Addition performance was remarkably accurate when ratios between outcomes were close to 1, in contrast to previous findings. Interpretations for the asymmetry between addition and subtraction are discussed with respect to the nature of representations for nonsymbolic arithmetic with large sets.     

Symbolic self‐completion in academia: evidence from department web pages and email signature files

Symbolic self‐completion theory proposes that individuals use symbols of attainment to define themselves as accomplished in self‐defining areas and to communicate their accomplishments to others. The goal of the present research was to examine whether individual professors and academic departments strive for symbolic self‐completion when communicating through the Internet. We hypothesized that publications, citations, and departmental rankings by the National Research Council (NRC) represent important indicators of attainment for professors, whereas professional titles (i.e., “doctor,” “professor,” or “Ph.D.”) may serve as alternate symbols of attainment. We predicted that a lack of important indicators of attainment would motivate the display of professional titles in web pages and email signature files. In Study 1, academic departments with less prestigious NRC rankings listed more professional titles on their departmental web pages compared to departments with more prestigious rankings. In Studies 2 and 3, professors with lower annual rates of publications and citations displayed more professional titles in their email signatures compared to professors with higher publication and citation rates. These results suggest that self‐completion motives help to shape naturalistic Internet communications. The results further suggest that analyses of Internet communications can provide externally valid tests of theories concerned with motivation and self‐processes. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Context influences holistic processing of nonface objects in the composite task

We explored whether holistic-like effects can be observed for nonface objects in novices as a result of the task context. We measured contextually induced congruency effects for novel objects (Greebles) in a sequential matching selective attention task (composite task). When format at study was blocked, congruency effects were observed for study-misaligned, but not study-aligned, conditions (Experiment 1). However, congruency effects were observed in all conditions when study formats were randomized (Experiment 2), revealing that the presence of certain trial types (study-misaligned) in an experiment can induce congruency effects. In a dual task, a congruency effect for Greebles was induced in trials in which a face was first encoded, but only when it was aligned (Experiment 3). Thus, congruency effects can be induced by context that operates at the scale of the entire experiment or within a single trial. Implications for using the composite task to measure holistic processing are discussed.     

The Relationship Between Personal Values and the Perception of the Corporation's Code of Ethics

Most major corporations have instituted codes of ethics to encourage ethical behavior. However, recent studies suggest that these codes are not always effective. One reason that the codes might be ineffective is because the values represented in the code do not correspond with the employee's personal values. The more the code represents values that the individual agrees with, the more positively the employee may view the document. In turn, when the code is viewed positively, transgressions of the code will be viewed negatively. In the present study, employees of a large petrochemical company responded to a survey which solicited their personal values, their perception of the company's values, and their perception of the values behind the organization's code of ethics. In line with the hypothesis, the more similar the values of the code were to the person's values, the more favorable was the evaluation of the code. Similarly the more favorable the evaluation, the more violations of the code were perceived as immoral.     

Men's Reactions to Hypothetical Forceful Sexual Advances from Women: The Role of Sexual Standards,Relationship Availability,and the Beauty Bias

The study investigated 142 college men's reactions to a vignette in which they were to imagine receiving a physically forceful sexual advance from a female casual acquaintance. Participants were predominantly middle-class Caucasian students from psychology classes. Results revealed that men with more restricted sexual standards had significantly more negative reactions to the advance than did men with less restricted standards. Further, only 16% of men with more restricted sexual standards, compared to 34% of men with less restricted standards, said they would consent to sex with the vignette woman. Men who were instructed to assume that they had a girlfriend in the scenario situation had more negative reactions to the advance than did men who assumed that they did not have a girlfriend. Evidence was found for a beauty bias: men who read that the initiator was average looking had less positive reactions than did men who read that the initiator was very attractive. Results add support to the authors' Sexual Opportunity Model explaining men's reactions to coercive sexual contact with women.     

Charting new territory: Body esteem, weight satisfaction, depression, and self-esteem among chinese males and females in Hong Kong

This study examined the relationship of body esteem, weight satisfaction, self esteem, and depression among 309 (186 females and 123 males) Chinese university students in Hong Kong. Females were found to have significantly lower body esteem [Body Esteem Scale: S. L. Franzoi and S. A. Shields (1984) “The Body Esteem Scale: Multidimensional Structure and Sex Differences in a College Population,” Journal of Personality Assessment, Vol. 48, pp. 173–178] and higher depression [Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale: L. S. Radloff (1977) “The CES-D scale: A Self-Report Depression Scale for Research in the General Population,” Applied Psychological Measures, Vol. 2, pp. 385–401] when compared to males, whereas males were found to have significantly more weight dissatisfaction. No significant difference was found in the area of self-esteem [Index of Self-Esteem: W. W. Hudson (1982) Clinical Measurement Package: A Field Manual, Chicago: Dorsey]. Females desired a significantly lower ideal body mass index, whereas, males desired a significantly higher ideal body mass index. The relationship between body esteem, weight satisfaction, and self-esteem was similar for males and females; however, the relationship between body satisfaction and depression was significant only for females. Findings are compared to similar research on European American samples and implications from a cross-cultural perspective are discussed.     

Pastors,parishioners, and pets

Case examples of how three parishioners in one congregation dealt with pet loss are examined. Each person discusses reasons for owning a pet, relates personal reactions to the loss, explains who was and who would have been supportive during the grief process, and illustrates why such support was needed. Suggestions for how a local minister might provide outreach to parishioners dealing with grief over a pet's death are presented.     

Children's use of sequence information in partially predictable reaction-time sequences

Second-, fourth-, and sixth-grade children and adults performed a four-choice reaction time task with partially predictable sequences and 250-, 500-, and 750-msec response-to-stimulus intervals. The relative advantage for in-sequence as opposed to out-of-sequence events was independent of the response-to-stimulus interval for all ages. Children, but not adults, were slower for nonrepeated than repeated out-of sequence events and this advantage for repeated signals decreased as age increased. A second experiment extended the range of intervals tested to zero. Second graders and adults responded to four-choice partially predictable sequences with 0-, 250-, and 500-msec response-to-stimulus intervals. As in the first experiment, the difference between in-sequence and out-of-sequence events did not vary with the response-to-stimulus interval. The results suggest that both children and adults are able to process advance sequence probability information about a subsequent event in parallel with an ongoing response.