Integrating information about location and value of resources by white-faced saki monkeys (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Pithecia pithecia</Emphasis>)

Most studies of spatial memory in primates focus on species that inhabit large home ranges and have dispersed, patchy resources. Researchers assume that primates use memory to minimize distances traveled between resources. We investigated the use of spatial memory in a group of six white-faced sakis (Pithecia pithecia) on 12.8-ha Round Island, Guri Lake, Venezuela during a period of fruit abundance. The sakis’ movements were analyzed with logistic regressions, a predictive computer model and a computer model that simulates movements. We considered all the resources available to the sakis and compared observed distances to predicted distances from a computer model for foragers who know nothing about the location of resources. Surprisingly, the observed distances were four times greater than the predicted distances, suggesting that the sakis passed by a majority of the available fruit trees without feeding. The odds of visiting a food tree, however, were significantly increased if the tree had been visited in the previous 3 days and had more than 100 fruit. The sakis’ preferred resources were highly productive fruit trees, Capparis trees, and trees with water holes. They traveled efficiently to these sites. The sakis choice of feeding sites indicate that they combined knowledge acquired by repeatedly traveling through their home range with ‘what’ and ‘where’ information gained from individual visits to resources. Although the sakis’ foraging choices increased the distance they traveled overall, choosing more valued sites allowed the group to minimize intragroup feeding competition, maintain intergroup dominance over important resources, and monitor the state of resources throughout their home range. The sakis’ foraging decisions appear to have used spatial memory, elements of episodic-like memory and social and nutritional considerations. This contribution is part of the Special Issue “A Socioecological Perspective on Primate Cognition” (Cunningham and Janson 2007).     

The University and Social Justice

Considerations of social justice pertain to universities with respect to reserved spaces for applicants from disadvantaged groups, targeted hiring, differential student fees or faculty workloads and salaries, and similarly contested matters. This paper displaces debates over what constitutes just allocation of university resources from those over theories of justice in general to those about alternative visions of the proper goal of universities. To this end, educational and democratic theories of John Dewey are drawn on as an alternative to elitist conceptions and the implications of these competing viewpoints for specific justice-related issues are explicated.     

Improving health outcomes among youth with poorly controlled type I diabetes: the role of treatment fidelity in a randomized clinical trial of multisystemic therapy.

The purpose of the study was to assess whether therapist treatment fidelity was a predictor of treatment outcome in a randomized clinical trial of multisystemic therapy with 10- to 16-year-old youths with chronically poorly controlled Type I diabetes (N = 40). Treatment fidelity was assessed by objective ratings of therapy sessions and questionnaires completed by caregivers and by therapists. Relationships between fidelity measures were assessed. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test whether high fidelity would lead to improved regimen adherence and to improved metabolic control outcomes via regimen adherence. Objective ratings of treatment fidelity were significantly related to therapist-reported but not to caregiver-reported treatment fidelity. SEM results supported a completely mediated pathway between treatment fidelity and metabolic control, with regimen adherence mediating the relationship. Results suggest that conducting complex behavioral interventions with a high degree of fidelity can improve treatment outcomes among youths with chronic illnesses.     

The Effects of Acute Alcohol Intoxication on Person Memory: The Stereotypical Drunk1

Research has suggested that acute alcohol intoxication disrupts cognitive functioning by reducing the availability of executive resources for person perception. The present study tested the prediction that this effect would increase stereotype application during impression formation by reducing the encoding of nonstereotypical information. Participants were instructed to complete an impression-formation task following consumption of low, medium, or high doses of alcohol. This task involved the encoding of both stereotypical and neutral material. A subsequent free-recall test demonstrated that alcohol significantly decreased participants' encoding of neutral information, but did not affect the memorability of stereotypical information. These findings are discussed in relation to models of both stereotyping and alcohol intoxication.     

Introduction to Myths and Realities Associated with Research and Theorizing for Human Development

The five papers in this issue address myths and realities associated with human development research and theorizing. The papers represent diverse perspectives on sexual minority youth, resilience and risk for youth in high achieving schools, a reconceptualization of hostility in African American parenting styles, a critical examination of diversity and contact for students attending racial/ethnically diverse schools, and a thoughtful consideration of contextual factors associated with aggressive attitudes and prosocial behaviors in African American males. The authors of each of these papers challenge human development researchers to consider new and/or alternative ways of examining empirical studies and conceptualizing new ones.     

Self-prioritization and perceptual matching: The effects of temporal construal

Recent research has revealed that self-referential processing enhances perceptual judgments — the so-called self-prioritization effect. The extent and origin of this effect remains unknown, however. Noting the multifaceted nature of the self, here we hypothesized that temporal influences on self-construal (i.e., past/future-self continuity) may serve as an important determinant of stimulus prioritization. Specifically, as representations of the self increase in abstraction as a function of temporal distance (i.e., distance from now), self-prioritization may only emerge when stimuli are associated with the current self. The results of three experiments supported this prediction. Self-relevance only enhanced performance in a standard perceptual-matching task when stimuli (i.e., geometric shapes) were connected with the current self; representations of the self in the future (Expts. 1 & 2) and past (Expt. 3) failed to facilitate decision making. To identify the processes underlying task performance, data were interrogated using a hierarchical drift diffusion model (HDDM) approach. Results of these analyses revealed that self-prioritization was underpinned by a stimulus bias (i.e., rate of information uptake). Collectively, these findings elucidate when and how self-relevance influences decisional processing.     

Creating and Sustaining Gender Diversity in Sport Organizations

Past diversity frameworks have focused on the desired end state of diversity management strategies (i.e., cultures that value diversity and capitalize on the benefits that differences can bring to the organization) but have largely failed to highlight the methods of creating such change. A model is proposed that addresses this gap in the literature. Specifically, I argue that political, functional, and social pressures will call into question the legitimacy of the institutionalized nature of gender inequality in sport organizations. These pressures are then thought to result in employee commitment to and behavioral support for gender diversity initiatives. The relationship between the pressures for deinstitutionalization and commitment to gender diversity are thought to be moderated by four factors: the presence of change teams, education, top management support, and systemic integration. Contributions and future directions are discussed.