The Impact of Siblings During Talent Development: A Longitudinal Examination in Sport

Recent studies have begun to explore the potentially positive impact of siblings on sporting talent development. This study aimed to explore potential mechanisms through which siblings impact on this process. Bimonthly interviews were conducted with 4 families over a 1-year period (parents and siblings; N = 14) during the talent development process. Findings revealed several themes (regularity of interaction, emotional interpersonal skills, rivalry, resilience, and separation) aligning with previous studies, alongside two new themes: communication and skill development. The study's longitudinal nature exposed important differences of potential mechanisms across families, highlighting the complex nature of the sibling relationship.     

Perceptual automaticity in expert chess players: Parallel encoding of chess relations

A check detection task in a 5 × 5 section of the chessboard, containing a King and one or two potential checking pieces was employed. The checking status (i.e., the presence or absence of a check) and the number of attackers (one or two) were manipulated. It was found that the reaction time cost for adding a distractor was differentially greater inno trials thanyes trials for novice, but not for expert, chess players. In addition, we contrasted standard check detection trials with trials in which one of two attackers was cued (colored red) and the task was to determine the checking status of the cued attacker while ignoring the other attacker. We documented a Stroop-like interference effect on trials in which a cued nonchecking attacker appeared together with an attacker that was checking (i.e., incongruent). These findings suggest automatic and parallel encoding procedures for chess relations in experts.     

Effects of time and movements of the preshot routine on free throw shooting.

This study examined the effects of length and movements of preshot routines on free throw shooting in basketball. 17 members of an intercollegiate men's basketball team attempted 20 free throws in each of four different conditions: (1) normal routine and time, (2) normal routine with altered time, (3) altered routine with normal time, and (4) altered routine with altered time. Free throw performance was measured using an objective 5-point scoring system. A multivariate analysis of variance indicated a significant effect for routine. Neither time nor routine by time was significant. Results indicated that altering the movements in the routine had a significant effect on performance while lengthening the time did not.     

The Relationship Between Immediate Turnover and Employee Theft in the Restaurant Industry

This paper explores the relationship between immediate turnover and employee theft. Study 1 examined turnover and theft data from a large fast-food chain. The results suggested a relationship between theft and turnover rates. In Study 2, a laboratory study designed to test the causation of the relationship, participants indicated that they would be more likely to steal when they were leaving in two weeks than when leaving in two years. There was no significant interaction with management control. Results suggest that managers might reduce theft by implementing specific strategies when they are aware that employees are terminating employment.     

Effects of dizocilpine (MK801) on olfactory span in rats

NMDA receptor antagonists interfere with learning and memory in some tasks, but not others. Some recent accounts have suggested that tasks placing demands on working memory are those most likely to be affected, and the present study tested this hypothesis. The purpose of the study was to adapt a recently developed procedure designed to test working memory capacity, the olfactory memory span task, for use in behavioral pharmacology and to then determine the effects of the NMDA receptor antagonist, dizocilpine (MK801) on performance in this task. Rats were trained in a non-match-to-sample procedure under conditions in which they had to remember an increasing number of olfactory stimuli as the session progressed. Simple olfactory discrimination trials were interspersed to provide a performance control. Effects of dizocilpine (.03, .10, .17, .3mg/kg) were determined after stable performances were obtained. Rats were able to sustain stable performances on both the span and simple discrimination tasks with average spans of about 10 items. Accuracy declined as the number of stimuli to remember increased, and dizocilpine impaired accuracy in a dose-dependent and memory-load dependent fashion. The finding that the effects of dizocilpine interacted with the number of stimuli to remember is generally consistent with hypotheses linking NMDA receptors and working memory processes.     

Primary Care Physicians’ Awareness, Experience and Opinions of Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing

The purpose of this study was to assess primary care physicians’ awareness, experience, opinions and preparedness to answer patients’ questions regarding direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing. An anonymous survey was mailed to 2,402 family and internal medicine providers in North Carolina. Of the 382 respondents, 38.7% (n = 148) were aware of and 15% (n = 59) felt prepared to answer questions about DTC genetic tests. Respondents aged 50 or older were more likely to be aware of DTC genetic testing than those less than 40 years old (OR = 2.42). Male providers were more likely to feel prepared to answer questions than female providers (OR = 2.65). Among respondents who reportedly were aware, family practitioners were more likely than internists (OR = 3.30) to think DTC testing was clinically useful, and 18.9% had patients ask questions or bring in test results. The small percent of physicians who were aware of DTC genetic testing or felt prepared to answer questions about it suggests that education of providers will be necessary if testing becomes more widespread.     

The Influence of Instructions to Correct for Bias on Social Judgments

We examined how instructions to correct for bias influenced judgments of a male target person whose behavior towards a female was either negative or ambiguous. Half of the female participants with egalitarian or traditional views about gender were instructed to correct for bias prior to reading the vignette. All participants rated his negative behavior unfavorably. In the non-instructed condition, participants with a traditional bias rated the ambiguous male behavior more favorably than participants with an egalitarian bias. However, in the instructed condition, this pattern was reversed. Results demonstrate that the evaluative implications of behavior can impact correction effects.     

The Relationship Between Levels of Guilt in Thematic Stories and Unsocialized Behavior

Many previous studies on the relationship between inhibition of expression of hostility in thematic stories have focused on the severity of the punishment rather than the quality of the guilt expressed. Using a more subtle approach, it was found that an increase in the level and quality of guilt expressed in TAT stories was significantly associated with a reduction in unsocialized behavior. The results suggest that an analysis of guilt along dimensions of internalization, the concern for others, and the desire to change offers a way of dealing with thematic productions that is more consistent with our clinical observations and understanding.     

Psychological need satisfaction and thwarting: A test of Basic Psychological Needs Theory in physical activity contexts

ObjectivesTo test Basic Psychological Needs Theory (BPNT; Deci & Ryan, 2002) to determine if psychological need thwarting experienced when physically active contributes to the understanding of well-being and ill-being.Design/methodParticipants (N = 155, 67.70% female, M_age = 37.46 years; SD_age = 19.89 years) completed assessments of psychological need satisfaction and thwarting, subjective vitality and positive/negative affect during separate testing sessions separated by 6 months.ResultsScores from the modified version of the Psychological Need Thwarting Scale (PNTS-PA; Bartholomew, Ntoumanis, Ryan, & Thøgersen-Ntoumani, 2011) demonstrated discriminant evidence of validity, evidence of internal structure and minimal error variance. Changes in psychological need satisfaction positively predicted positive affect (R² = .16, p < .05), subjective vitality (R² = .13, p < .05) and negatively predicted negative affect (R² = .12, p < .05). Additional regression analyses revealed that changes in psychological need thwarting predicted negative affect (ΔR² = .11, p < .05), but not positive affect (ΔR² = .01, p > .05) or subjective vitality (ΔR² = .04, p > .05) beyond contributions made by psychological need satisfaction.ConclusionsOverall, these results extend the potential utility of the PNTS-PA as an instrument for use with BPNT beyond sport and support Deci and Ryan's (2002) contentions regarding the critical role of psychological need thwarting.