A methodological review of preference displacement research

The purpose of this review was to identify and compare methodological components of preference displacement research and outcomes. We coded, categorized, and defined patterns of preference displacement for a total of 133 participants across 10 studies. We found that patterns of displacement differed within and across studies, and over 46% of participants did not engage in patterns of displacement. Therefore, the commonly held notion that edible stimuli are more likely to displace tangible stimuli is not as ubiquitous as once thought. However, due to considerable variation in methodology and reporting across reviewed studies, it is difficult to determine what variables may be responsible for obtained study outcomes. We conclude that future researchers consider the importance of each methodological variable coded in our review, and make methodological decisions in the context of the research question they are looking to answer. We also provide additional suggestions for future research and clinical practice.     

A replication of preference displacement research in children with autism spectrum disorder

The purpose of this paper was to replicate previous research on preference displacement with edible and leisure stimuli. In the present study, the experimenters evaluated preference displacement in 25 children with autism spectrum disorder using combined multiple stimulus without replacement preference assessments that consisted of highly preferred edible and leisure stimuli. In addition, the experimenters used a block randomization procedure to evaluate if assessment order influenced displacement outcomes. The experimenters observed patterns of complete displacement by edible stimuli for four participants and complete displacement by leisure stimuli for two participants; assessment order did not influence outcomes. The results and implications are discussed.     

Emotions during the Covid-19 pandemic: Fear,anxiety, and anger as mediators between threats and policy support and political actions

The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly changed the lives of most people. It has been described as the most severe global health disaster of modern times by the United Nations. No doubt such a major crisis influences what citizens think of different policies, and how they become politically active, not to mention, the forceful emotional experiences that the Covid-19 pandemic brings. This study evaluates how emotions affect support for policies related to restricting the spread of the virus and economic assistance, and how emotions affect intentions to engage politically. In an experiment (N = 1,072), we manipulated emotional reactions to threat by highlighting different aspects of the pandemic. Our findings show that different experimental treatments elicit different emotions, and that fear, anxiety, and anger are all related to policy support and political action intentions, but in different ways. Fear and anger predict support for restrictive policies to limit the spread of the virus, while anxiety predicts support for economic policies. Anger and anxiety, but not fear, increase intentions to engage politically. Hence, we find support for a mechanism where different aspects of the Covid-19 crisis evoke different emotional reactions, which in turn affects policy support and political actions differently.     

The moderating role of internalising negative emotionality in the relation of self-regulation to social adjustment in Italian preschool-aged children

The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating role of internalising negative emotionality (i.e., anxious, concerned, and embarrassed displays) in the association between children's self-regulation and social adjustment. Seventy-four Italian children (44 girls, 30 boys; M age?=?35.05 months, SD?=?3.57) were assessed using two self-regulation tasks. Internalising negative emotionality was assessed through observations of children's emotion expressions during the tasks. Teachers evaluated children's social competence and internalising and externalising problems. Results demonstrated that among children who exhibited internalising negative emotionality, self-regulation was positively associated with social competence and negatively related to externalising problems. Our results suggest that self-regulation may play a crucial role for social adjustment when children show emotions such as anxiety and embarrassment during challenging situations.     

It’s Not You,It’s Your (Old) Vagina: Osphena’s Articulation of Sexual Dysfunction

Released to an American market in 2013 the pharmaceutical drug Osphena was heralded as an innovative, hormone-free therapeutic option to cure two dysfunctions associated with menopausal women’s bodies: vaginal atrophy and dyspareunia. Yet a critical examination of the drug, its advertising, and associated discourses presents an opportunity to explore not only the medicalization of aging but also direct-to-consumer advertising’s role in perpetuating ideologies concerned with normalcy, normal bodies, normal sex, and normal gender performance. This project undertakes a critical feminist analysis of Osphena’s advertising campaign and the public’s response, incorporating Foucaultian theory and a bioethical perspective, and ultimately re-contextualizing them within medical discourses that highlight the pharmaceutical benefits associated with widespread adoption of the “deficiency” perspective that the drug perpetuates. I claim that the Osphena campaign is a clear contemporary illustration that the age-old rhetoric of women’s bodies as requiring medical intervention to resist aging is far from passé, and suggest that images and rhetoric of empowerment would be more readily accepted without relying upon dated and clichéd depictions of female sexuality.     

Influence of Speech Rate and Information Density on Recognition: The Moderate Dynamic Mechanism

This article analyzes whether recognition in the news may be affected by speech rate and information density and addresses what the optimal level would need to be for information on the radio to be encoded and recognized as effectively as possible. The key question is whether the combination of these two factors has a decisive influence on cognitive processing, especially in the distribution of resources allocated and required to encode the message. The findings indicate that Speech Rate does have a decisive influence on recognition of information since it modifies the resources available for encoding the message. The higher the speed, the lower the information density should be and vice versa. The best result to achieve the greatest recognition is between 170 (high density) and 190 (low density) words per minute, confirming that a moderate dynamic mechanism takes place.     

Cheating on college examinations

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of contexts on cheating attitudes and behavior among Brazilian undergraduates. Participants were 77 Previous Choice Engineering and 70 Late Choice Engineering students. Previous Choice students enter the desired field chosen by examination, whereas Late Choice students' grades during the two first college years give them preference to choose the field. Their self-reported attitudes and behaviors were compared with those of 82 chemistry undergraduates from two universities (UNI-C and USP-C). The Late Choice students reported significant negative opinion about cheating, whereas Previous Choice students, especially women, reported significant favorable opinion. Furthermore, Previous Choice students reported colleagues more frequently gave them answers on examinations than Late Choice students. The two university groups in chemistry had intermediate scores. Deterrents of cheating strongly embedded in the student culture were found among Late Choice engineering undergraduates which may be explained by social learning theory.     

Procedural fairness enacted by societal actors increases social trust and social acceptance among ethnic minority members through the promotion of sense of societal belonging

Although procedural fairness has been studied frequently during the past decades, little work has focused explicitly on how procedural fairness affects members of ethnic minorities in the context of multicultural decision-making processes. The aim of the present study was to investigate how perceptions of procedurally fair treatment of fellow minority members by societal actors impact the individual’s sense of societal belongingness, which we define as the feeling that he/she is a valued member of society at large, and how this in turn is related to social trust and social well-being. Three samples of African American and Hispanic American respondents from the United States were collected (total N = 570). Two experimental studies and one questionnaire study were conducted. Experimental manipulation of procedural fairness climate was shown to impact sense of societal belongingness among minority members (Study 1), whereas manipulating sense of societal belongingness itself led to an increase in social trust and social acceptance (Study 2). Study 3 (A self-report survey), finally, affirmed the entire hypothesized mediation model. The present research provides further evidence for the importance of procedural fairness for ethnic minorities. Our research showed that when societal actors enact procedural fairness they may strengthen minority members’ societal belongingness, which in turn may influence their social trust and feelings of being socially accepted.     

How great is great ape foresight?

Osvath and Osvath (Anim Cogn 11: 661–674, 2008) report innovative studies with two chimpanzees and one orangutan that suggest some capacity to select and keep a tool for use about an hour later. This is a welcome contribution to a small, but rapidly growing, field. Here we point out some of the weaknesses in the current data and caution the interpretation the authors advance. It is not clear to what extent the apes really engaged in any foresight in these studies. This is an invited response to Osvath and Osvath (2008).