The Affect in Play Scale: confirmatory factor analysis in elementary school children

The aim of this paper was to study the construct validity of the Affect in Play Scale, an empirically based measure of pretend play, in a group of 519 Italian children ages 6 to 10 years. In confirmatory factor analysis, a correlated two-factor structure with a cognitive and an affective factor was identified. Possible differences in factor scores by sex and age were investigated but no significant differences were found.     

Cognitive contributions of the ventral parietal cortex: an integrative theoretical account

Although ventral parietal cortex (VPC) activations can be found in a variety of cognitive domains, these activations have been typically attributed to cognitive operations specific to each domain. In this article, we propose a hypothesis that can account for VPC activations across all the cognitive domains reviewed. We first review VPC activations in the domains of perceptual and motor reorienting, episodic memory retrieval, language and number processing, theory of mind, and episodic memory encoding. Then, we consider the localization of VPC activations across domains and conclude that they are largely overlapping with some differences around the edges. Finally, we assess how well four different hypotheses of VPC function can explain findings in various domains and conclude that a bottom-up attention hypothesis provides the most complete and parsimonious account.     

Being a Body: Women’s Appearance Related Self-Views and their Dehumanization of Sexually Objectified Female Targets

When sexually objectified, women are reduced to their bodies or sexual body parts and become likely targets of dehumanization. Not only men, but also women engage in this process. In the present research, we tested the link between women’s appearance related self-views and their tendency to dehumanize sexually objectified female targets. Specifically, we test two mediational models and predict that (1) women’s motivation to look attractive to men and (2) their tendency to internalize the sociocultural beauty standards are linked with the dehumanization of sexually objectified female targets, and their level of self-objectification mediates both relations. To test these hypotheses, a sample of 55 heterosexual undergraduate female students from Northern Italy volunteered. Participants’ motivation to look attractive to men, their level of internalization of the sociocultural beauty standards, and their tendency to self-objectify was measured. Results confirmed that only sexually objectified female targets were significantly dehumanized, while their non-objectified counterparts were not. Moreover, both participants’ motivation to look attractive to men and their tendency to internalize the sociocultural beauty standards were positively linked with the dehumanization of sexually objectified female targets. As expected, these relations were mediated by participants’ level of self-objectification. These results show that higher levels of self-objectification among those women who are motivated either to look attractive to men or to internalize the sociocultural beauty standards are linked with their tendency to dehumanize sexually objectified female targets.     

Face detection in complex visual displays: an eye-tracking study with 3- and 6-month-old infants and adults

The ability to detect and prefer a face when embedded in complex visual displays was investigated in 3- and 6-month-old infants, as well as in adults, through a modified version of the visual search paradigm and the recording of eye movements. Participants (N=43) were shown 32 visual displays that comprised a target face among 3 or 5 heterogeneous objects as distractors. Results demonstrated that faces captured and maintained adults' and 6-month-olds' attention, but not 3-month-olds' attention. Overall, the current study contributes to knowledge of the capacity of social stimuli to attract and maintain visual attention over other complex objects in young infants as well as in adults.     

Prospective Associations of Internalizing and Externalizing Problems and Their Co-Occurrence with Early Adolescent Substance Use

The literature is equivocal regarding the role of internalizing problems in the etiology of adolescent substance use. In this study, we examined the association of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems and their co-occurrence with early adolescent substance use to help clarify whether internalizing problems operate as a risk or protective factor. A large community sample (N?=?387; mean age at the first assessment 12 years old; 83 % White/non-Hispanic) was assessed annually for 3 years. Externalizing problem behavior in the absence of internalizing problems showed the strongest prospective association with alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use. A weaker, albeit statistically significant prospective positive association was found between co-occurring internalizing and externalizing behavior problems and substance use. Internalizing problems in the absence of externalizing problems protected adolescents against cigarette and marijuana use. Clarifying the role of internalizing problems in the etiology of adolescent substance use can inform the development of early intervention and prevention efforts. Our results highlight the importance of further considering the co-occurrence of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in developmental pathways to substance use.     

Learning difficulties,social intelligence,and self-concept: connections to bully-victim problems

Learning skills, social intelligence, and self-concept were related to each other and to bully-victim problems among fifth-grade children (79 boys and 62 girls, aged 11-12 years). In addition to exploring connections between single variables, a person-oriented approach was applied in order to analyze children's value patterns with respect to learning skills, self-concept, and social intelligence, and how these value patterns are related to bully-victim problems. Social intelligence was found to be positively correlated with learning skills, but negatively related to victimization. Bullying was positively correlated with self-concept scores. However, this was true only of boys. According to cross-tabulations, there were significantly more bullies among children with learning difficulties (LD) than would have been expected by chance. Victimization, on the other hand, was not related to LD. LD children's proposed victim status was in some degree supported by cluster analysis: a group of LD children emerged, who not only scored high on bullying, but also tended to be victimized by others. In addition, two groups of bullies appeared: one whose members could be interpreted as socially unskilled and another as socially skilled. This finding is in line with recent theoretical reasoning, which calls into question the idea of bullies as a unified group, lacking in social skills.