The role of emotions for moral judgments depends on the type of emotion and moral scenario

Emotions seem to play a critical role in moral judgment. However, the way in which emotions exert their influence on moral judgments is still poorly understood. This study proposes a novel theoretical approach suggesting that emotions influence moral judgments based on their motivational dimension. We tested the effects of two types of induced emotions with equal valence but with different motivational implications (anger and disgust), and four types of moral scenarios (disgust-related, impersonal, personal, and beliefs) on moral judgments. We hypothesized and found that approach motivation associated with anger would make moral judgments more permissible, while disgust, associated with withdrawal motivation, would make them less permissible. Moreover, these effects varied as a function of the type of scenario: the induced emotions only affected moral judgments concerning impersonal and personal scenarios, while we observed no effects for the other scenarios. These findings suggest that emotions can play an important role in moral judgment, but that their specific effects depend upon the type of emotion induced. Furthermore, induced emotion effects were more prevalent for moral decisions in personal and impersonal scenarios, possibly because these require the performance of an action rather than making an abstract judgment. We conclude that the effects of induced emotions on moral judgments can be predicted by taking their motivational dimension into account. This finding has important implications for moral psychology, as it points toward a previously overlooked mechanism linking emotions to moral judgments.     

Development of key-pecking, pause, and ambulation during extended exposure to a fixed-interval schedule of reinforcement

Six pigeons key-pecked under a fixed-interval (FI) 3-min schedule of food presentation. Each pigeon was studied for 200 daily sessions with 15 intervals per session (3,000 total food presentations). Analyses included the examination of latency to first peck (pause), mean rate of key pecking, and ambulation. Characterizations of stable performance were assessed across measures of behavior and evaluated using commonly employed stability criteria. Stability of response rate and pause was identified better by assessments that evaluated variability and trend, rather than just variability. Between-subject differences in rate of acquisition and terminal values of steady-state performance of pause were observed, and stable pause durations took longer to develop than did stable key-pecking rates. Relative variability in response rate and pause duration decreased as the means increased. A temporally organized pattern of key-pecking (the so-called FI scallop) developed within 50 sessions of exposure to the schedule. Overall ambulation decreased during the early sessions of exposure and further analyses showed greater rates of ambulation during the pause than after it for 4 of the 6 pigeons. Performance under the FI 3-min schedule developed relatively slowly, and key-pecking, pause, and ambulation developed at different rates.     

An investigation of adult attachment and coping with exam-related stress

Students differ in how they cope with and manage stress associated with university life. This study investigates associations between adult attachment and coping strategies for exam-related stress. Fifty-seven students at a university in the north of England completed online questionnaires to assess attachment anxiety and avoidance, helpful and unhelpful coping strategies, and positive and negative affect. We found that students who were more avoidant in their attachment relationships were less likely to report using helpful problem-focused and emotion-focused strategies to cope with their exams. We also found that students who were more anxious in their attachment relationships reported using more dysfunctional coping strategies. We discuss the implications of the findings for university pastoral care and academic support systems.     

Generalizing parametric models by introducing trial-by-trial parameter variability: The case of TVA

We identify two biases in the traditional use of Bundesen’s Theory of Visual Attention (TVA) and show that they can be substantially reduced by introducing trial-by-trial variability in the model. We analyze whole and partial report data from a comprehensive empirical study with 347 participants and elaborate on Bayesian model selection theory for quantifying the advantage of trial-by-trial generalization in general. The analysis provides strong evidence of trial-by-trial variation in both the VSTM capacity parameter and perceptual threshold parameter of TVA. On average, the VSTM capacity bias was found to be at least half an item, while the perceptual threshold parameter was found to be underestimated by about 2 ms.     

On the development and mechanics of delayed matching-to-sample performance

Despite its frequent use to assess effects of environmental and pharmacological variables on short-term memory, little is known about the development of delayed matching-to-sample (DMTS) performance. This study was designed to examine the dimensions and dynamics of DMTS performance development over a long period of exposure to provide a more secure foundation for assessing stability in future research. Six pigeons were exposed to a DMTS task with variable delays for 300 sessions (i.e., 18,000 total trials; 3,600 trials per retention interval). Percent-correct and log-d measures used to quantify the development of conditional stimulus control under the procedure generally and at each of five retention intervals (0, 2, 4, 8 and 16-s) individually revealed that high levels of accuracy developed relatively quickly under the shorter retention intervals, but increases in accuracy under the longer retention intervals sometimes were not observed until 100-150 sessions had passed, with some still increasing at Session 300. Analyses of errors suggested that retention intervals induced biases by shifting control from the sample stimulus to control by position, something that was predicted by observed response biases during initial training. These results suggest that although it may require a great deal of exposure to DMTS prior to obtaining asymptotic steady state, quantification of model parameters may help predict trends when extended exposure is not feasible.     

“[No] Doctor but My Master”: Health Reform and Antislavery Rhetoric in Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

This essay examines Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) in light of new archival findings on the medical practices of Dr. James Norcom (Dr. Flint in the narrative). While critics have sharply defined the feminist politics of Jacobs’s sexual victimization and resistance, they have overlooked her medical experience in slavery and her participation in reform after escape. I argue that Jacobs uses the rhetoric of a woman-led health reform movement underway during the 1850s to persuade her readers to end slavery. This essay reconstructs both contexts, revealing that Jacobs links enslaved women’s physical and sexual vulnerability with her female readers’ fears of male doctors’ threats to modesty and of their standard bleed-and-purge treatments. Jacobs illustrates that slavery damages women’s health as much as heroic medicine, and thus merits the political activism of her readers. Specifically, Jacobs dramatizes her conflicts with the rapacious physician-master at moments that are crucial to women’s health: marriage, pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood. Ultimately, this essay advances a new understanding of the role of health reform in social change: it galvanized other movements such as women’s rights and abolition, particularly around issues of bodily autonomy for women and African Americans.     

Teachers Matter: An Examination of Student-Teacher Relationships,Attitudes Toward Bullying,and Bullying Behavior

This study investigated the influence of student-teacher relationships and attitudes toward bullying on middle school students' bullying behaviors. Gender and grade differences were also examined. Data were collected from 435 middle school students. Results indicated that students' attitudes toward bullying mediated the relationship between student-teacher relationships and physical and verbal/relational bullying. There was a significant group difference on student-teacher relationships and attitudes toward bullying between bully, bully-victim, victim, and bystander groups and students not involved in bullying. In addition, sixth graders reported significantly more positive student-teacher relationships than seventh and eighth graders. Implications for the role of both cognitive and behavioral bullying intervention and prevention efforts are discussed.