Adrenocortical influences on free-operant avoidance behavior

Rats were conditioned to avoid shock on a free-operant avoidance schedule in which no exteroceptive stimulus signaled impending shock. Injections of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) or dexamethasone raised blood levels of glucocorticoids. These increases were accompanied by changes in avoidance performance: there was a higher frequency of long-duration interresponse times, a greater stability among them, and fewer short interresponse times, total responses, and shocks.     

A call for research on planned vs. unplanned suicidal behavior

Unplanned acts of suicidal behavior involve little preparation or forethought whereas planned acts may be carefully conceived and implemented. Planned acts are associated with greater depression, hopelessness, and lethality, but there are meager data on other factors associated with planning. The prevention of planned and unplanned acts may require different strategies, but in either case improved knowledge is required to tailor prevention efforts. Improved knowledge can be facilitated by the acceleration of validation studies on assessments of planning, taking steps to avoid the conflation of assessments of planning with measurements of psychopathology such as impulsivity, and the use of controlled research designs.     

Is there any "free" choice? Self and dissonance in two cultures

Four experiments provided support for the hypothesis that upon making a choice, individuals justify their choice in order to eliminate doubts about culturally sanctioned aspects of the self, namely, competence and efficacy in North America and positive appraisal by other people in Japan. Japanese participants justified their choice (by increasing liking for chosen items and decreasing liking for rejected items) in the standard free-choice dissonance paradigm only when self-relevant others were primed, either by questionnaires (Studies 1-3) or by incidental exposure to schematic faces (Study 4). In the absence of these social cues, Japanese participants showed no dissonance effect. In contrast, European Americans justified their choices regardless of the social-cue manipulations. Implications for cognitive dissonance theory are discussed.     

Direct,mediated and moderated impacts of personality variables on smoking initiation in adolescents

Role of ‘Big Five’ personality traits as predictors of smoking and moderators of the intention-smoking relationship was tested. Five hundred and fifty-three adolescents (aged 11–12) completed measures of self-reported past smoking, gender, intentions to smoke, perceived behavioural control, family smoking, friends smoking at times 1 and 2 (6 months apart). At time 3, 2 years later, the same adolescents completed measures of the Big Five and self-reported smoking (a subset of 300 also provided an objective smoking measure). At time 4, two years after time 3, a sub-sample of 122 adolescents provided a self-report measure of recent smoking. Simple correlations indicated significant direct effects of conscientiousness (self-reported smoking, times 3 and 4), extraversion (time 4 smoking) and neuroticism (all smoking measures) on smoking. Logistic regression showed intention, and the interaction between conscientiousness and intention to significantly predict both self-reported and objectively assessed smoking (both at time 3) after controlling for other variables. Multiple regression showed intentions, family smoking and the interaction between conscientiousness and intention to significantly predict self-reported smoking at time 4 after controlling for other variables. The findings indicate that the impact of personality variables on smoking is through mediated (through cognitions) and moderated (conscientiousness by intention interaction) pathways.     

Social cognition models and health behaviour: A structured review

Abstract

A number of social cognition models have been developed to account for socio-demographic variations in health behaviour. This paper distinguishes between: (a) motivational, (b) behavioural enaction, and (c) multi-stage models of health behaviour. The models are evaluated in terms of advancement of existing knowledge and - where appropriate - predictive utility. Common themes that appear within- and between- these categories are discussed, with consideration of ways in which theory may be advanced by future research. Each approach has associated strengths and weaknesses, suggesting that a “consensus” approach to the study of health behaviour may prove fruitful. Identification of the key constructs across different model types would allow coherent integration and promote further understanding of the psycho-social determinants of health behaviour.     

Recommendations for Increasing Replicability in Psychology

Replicability of findings is at the heart of any empirical science. The aim of this article is to move the current replicability debate in psychology towards concrete recommendations for improvement. We focus on research practices but also offer guidelines for reviewers, editors, journal management, teachers, granting institutions, and university promotion committees, highlighting some of the emerging and existing practical solutions that can facilitate implementation of these recommendations. The challenges for improving replicability in psychological science are systemic. Improvement can occur only if changes are made at many levels of practice, evaluation, and reward. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of social cognition models in predicting attendance at health checks

Abstract

The present study sought to apply the Health Belief Model and the Theory of Planned Behaviour to the prediction of attendance at health checks. In addition, the way in which patients were invited to the health checks and the effect this had on both the uptake of the service and the role of cognitive factors in predicting attendance was analysed. Based in a single general practice, 818 patients were either sent an invitation letter which included an appointment time or they were sent an open invitation to contact the practice to make their own appointment time. Prior to the commencement of the programme health belief questionnaires were sent to patients. The results of the study firstly showed that letters offering patients an appointment produced a much higher attendance rate (70%) than letters containing an open invitation (37%). Secondly, through stepwise discriminant function analyses, the predictors of attendance behaviour were found to vary according to how patients were invited. For patients sent an appointment, attenders were found to be more likely than non-attenders to place a high value on their health, to believe that their health is influenced by powerful others, that certain referent groups would advise them to attend, that attending would lead to positive outcomes and that motivational barriers would not prevent them from attending. For patients sent an open invitation, intention to attend and perceived control were found to be independent predictors of attendance behaviour. These results suggest that attendance at health checks may not be a homogeneous behaviour such that the beliefs which distinguish attenders and non-attenders may be seen to vary according to the way in which the service is offered.     

Automatic activation of individual differences: A test of the gatekeeper model in the domain of spontaneous helping

The influence of stable individual differences on behaviour need not solely rely upon deliberative processes but can also be exerted through automatic associative processes. In this contribution, three studies that illustrate the role of individual differences in automaticity are presented in the domain of helping behaviour. The first study provides evidence both for a double dissociation and for an additive pattern of implicit and explicit measures in predicting relevant altruistic behaviours. The subsequent two studies show that when the concept of altruism is subliminally primed, individual differences in implicit attitudes significantly predict behaviour. The results are in line with the gatekeeper model, and their implications are discussed focusing on the key role of individual differences in modulating automaticity effects. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.