Relations of Parenting and Negative Life Events to Cognitive Diatheses for Depression in Children

In a sample of 299 children (grades 2, 4, and 6), we examined parenting and negative life events as predictors of depressive cognitions, specifically low self-perceived competence, depressive cognitive schemas, and depressogenic attributional style. We also examined developmental trends in these relations. Children completed measures of parenting, negative life events, and depressive cognitions. Parents also completed measures of parenting and negative life events. Consistent with our hypotheses, negative parenting and negative life events corresponded with higher levels of depressive cognitions, whereas positive parenting corresponded with lower levels of depressive cognitions. The relations between negative parenting and negative automatic thoughts were stronger for older children. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Belief in a just world and wellbeing in Indian schools

This study investigates the meaning of belief in just world (BJW) for students' subjective justice experiences with their parents and teachers and for students' subjective well-being. The hypotheses tested were that the more strongly students endorse BJW, the less the distress at school and depressive symptoms they experience. Two dimensions of BJW were assessed: personal BJW, reflecting the belief that events in one's own life are generally just, and general BJW, reflecting the belief that the world is basically a just place. The participants were 278 Indian students attending ten 10th grade classes at two private English-medium schools. The results showed that only the personal BJW, not the general BJW, was important in explaining justice experiences and wellbeing. The more the students endorsed the belief in personal just world, the more they felt treated justly by their teachers and their parents alike, and the less distress at school and depressive symptoms they experienced. In addition, teacher justice, but not parent justice, explained distress at school. Finally, the effect of personal BJW on depressive symptoms was partly mediated by both teacher and parent justice. This pattern of results persisted when class effects were controlled. Overall, this pattern of results emphasizes the importance of the individual and subjective experience of justice of the teacher behavior for adolescent wellbeing. Implications for further studies on BJW and wellbeing at school are discussed.     

Attitudes Toward Voluntary and Involuntary Childlessness

Prior research has documented negative attitudes toward the voluntarily childless. Although research indicates that infertile couples perceive their condition to be discrediting, the extent to which the public considers involuntary childlessness as a negative attribute is unclear. Infertility might be construed by many to be a disease of professional couples overly concerned with careers or too stressed to conceive. In this experiment, 215 university students read one of six scenarios describing a couple as either: (a) voluntarily childless, involuntarily childless, or having children; or (b) holding professional or nonprofessional employment. Subjects rated each member of the couple on 26 characteristics (e.g., ambitious, caring, and stressed) and responded to 12 items concerning the quality and strength of the couple's relationship. Results support prior research demonstrating a stigma of voluntary childlessness but suggest that involuntary childlessness is not universally stigmatizing and may actually lead to some positive attributions. Recommendations for future research and applications are discussed.     

Anger and sadness in response to an emotionally neutral film: evidence for age-specific associations with well-being

When the association between emotion and well-being is being considered, positive emotions usually come to mind. However, negative emotions serve important adaptive functions and particular negative emotions may be especially adaptive at different stages of adult development. We examined the associations between self-reported negative emotions in response to an emotionally neutral, thematically ambiguous film and subjective well-being among 76 young (age 20-29), 73 middle-aged (age 40-49), and 73 older (age 60-69) adults. Results indicated that higher self-reported anger in response to the film was associated with higher well-being for middle-aged adults, but not for young and older adults. Higher self-reported sadness in response to the film was associated with higher well-being for older adults, but not for young and middle-aged adults. These findings were stronger for cognitive well-being (i.e., satisfaction with life) than for affective well-being (i.e., ratio of dispositional positive to negative affect) and were specific to these emotions (not found for self-reported disgust or fear) and to the emotionally neutral film (not found for sad or disgusting films). Results are discussed in terms of the functions that anger and sadness are thought to serve and the control opportunities afforded in midlife and late life that render these functions differentially adaptive.     

The Development of Internal State Language during the Third Year of Life: A Longitudinal Parent Report Study

Children's talk about the mind has been scarcely studied in non‐English speakers. For this reason, this longitudinal study documents age‐related changes in German‐speaking children's internal state language. At 24, 30 and 36 months, children were administered general language tests and their internal state vocabulary levels were obtained via parental report. The developmental transition from a vocabulary rich in physiological, perceptual and desire terms to a vocabulary rich in a wider range of mental concepts confirmed previous research with French‐speaking and English‐speaking children and research in children's internal state comprehension. Further, children's category scores proved to be developmentally stable. Finally, with increasing age, children's category scores became more specifically related to each other, independent of general language skills. The results are discussed in regard to the universality of children's talk about the mind. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Box for interaction with objects (BIO): A new device to synchronize the presentation of objects with electrophysiological recordings

Brain event-related potentials are a useful tool for investigating visual processing and action planning. This technique requires extremely accurate synchronization of stimulus delivery with recordings. The precision of the onset time of visual stimulus delivery is a major challenge when attempting to use real, three-dimensional objects as stimuli. Here, we present an innovative device, the “box for interaction with objects” (BIO), that is designed to synchronize the presentation of objects with electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings. To reach the required resolution of stimulus-onset timing, the BIO system features an interface with reflective glass and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). When the LEDs inside the BIO are turned on, the object inside becomes visible, and a synchronizing pulse is sent to the recording systems. The BIO was tested in a motivational study that focused on visual and motor event-related potentials. EEG signals were recorded during the presentation of an emotion-laden object that could be grasped and brought close to the participant’s chest. BIO successfully synchronized the appearance of a three-dimensional object with EEG recordings, which would allow for an analysis of visual and motor event-related potentials in the same experiment. The BIO device, through a high-quality psychophysiological approach, offers a new perspective for the study of the motivational factors that drive actions toward relevant stimuli.     

A COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTS OF BRIEF RULES, A TIMER, AND PREFERRED TOYS ON SELF-CONTROL

Some children make impulsive choices (i.e., choose a small but immediate reinforcer over a large but delayed reinforcer). Previous research has shown that delay fading, providing an alternative activity during the delay, teaching participants to repeat a rule during the delay, combining delay fading with an alternative activity, and combining delay fading with a countdown timer are effective for increasing self‐control (i.e., choosing the large but delayed reinforcer over the small but immediate reinforcer). The purpose of the current study was to compare the effects of various interventions in the absence of delay fading (i.e., providing brief rules, providing a countdown timer during the delay, or providing preferred toys during the delay) on self‐control. Results suggested that providing brief rules or a countdown timer during the delay was ineffective for enhancing self‐control. However, providing preferred toys during the delay effectively enhanced self‐control.     

Human sensitivity to the magnitude and probability of a continuous causal relation in a video game

Continuous causation, in which incremental changes in one variable cause incremental changes in another, has received little attention in the causal judgment literature. A video game was adapted for the study of continuous causality in order to examine the novel cues to causality that are present in these paradigms. The spatial proximity of an object to an "enemy detector" produced auditory responses as a function of the object's proximity. Participants' behavior was a function of the range of the effect's auditory sensitivity and the moment-to-moment likelihood of detection. This new paradigm provides a rich platform for examining the cues to causation encountered in the learning of continuous causal relations.