In dialogue with an avatar,language behavior is identical to dialogue with a human partner

The use of virtual reality (VR) as a methodological tool is becoming increasingly popular in behavioral research as its flexibility allows for a wide range of applications. This new method has not been as widely accepted in the field of psycholinguistics, however, possibly due to the assumption that language processing during human-computer interactions does not accurately reflect human-human interactions. Yet at the same time there is a growing need to study human-human language interactions in a tightly controlled context, which has not been possible using existing methods. VR, however, offers experimental control over parameters that cannot be (as finely) controlled in the real world. As such, in this study we aim to show that human-computer language interaction is comparable to human-human language interaction in virtual reality. In the current study we compare participants’ language behavior in a syntactic priming task with human versus computer partners: we used a human partner, a human-like avatar with human-like facial expressions and verbal behavior, and a computer-like avatar which had this humanness removed. As predicted, our study shows comparable priming effects between the human and human-like avatar suggesting that participants attributed human-like agency to the human-like avatar. Indeed, when interacting with the computer-like avatar, the priming effect was significantly decreased. This suggests that when interacting with a human-like avatar, sentence processing is comparable to interacting with a human partner. Our study therefore shows that VR is a valid platform for conducting language research and studying dialogue interactions in an ecologically valid manner.     

The Short-Term Psychological Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Psychiatric Patients: Evidence for Differential Emotion and Symptom Trajectories in Belgium

The spread of COVID-19 and the implementation of various containment strategies across the world have seriously disrupted people’s everyday life, and it is especially uncertain what the psychological impact of this pandemic will be for vulnerable individuals, such as psychiatric (ex-)patients. Governments fear that this virus outbreak may prelude a major mental health crisis, and psychiatrists launch critical calls to flatten an upcoming mental ill-health surge. Here, we aim to add nuance to the idea that we are heading towards a mental health pandemic and that psychiatric populations will unavoidably (re)develop psychopathology. Despite being subjected to the same challenges posed by COVID-19, we argue that people with a history of psychiatric illness will psychologically deal with this adversity in different ways. To showcase the short-term differential impact of COVID-19 on patients’ mental health, we present the day-to-day emotion and symptom trajectories of different psychiatric patients that took part in an experience sampling study before, during, and after the start of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 and associated lockdown measures in Belgium. Piecewise regression models show that not all patients’ psychological well-being is affected to a similar degree. As such, we argue that emphasizing human resilience, also among the more vulnerable in society, may be opportune in these unsettling times.     

Children's aggressive behaviour and teacher–child conflict in kindergarten: Is teacher perceived control over child behaviour a mediating variable/

Background Research repeatedly showed young children's aggressive behaviour to predict relationship difficulties with the teacher. Aims To examine a possible mediating variable in this process and in the stability of relationship difficulties across the school year, namely teacher perceived control over child behaviour. Sample The sample consisted of 139 Belgian kindergartners and their teachers. Method Data were collected throughout kindergarten at three measurement occasions: children's aggressive behaviour was measured by means of a peer nomination procedure during the first trimester, teacher perceived control over child behaviour was assessed by means of a teacher questionnaire during the second trimester, and teacher–child conflict was measured by means of a teacher questionnaire during the first and third trimesters. Correlations among all study variables were calculated and different models were estimated and compared by means of structural equation modelling. Results Teacher perceived control completely mediated the relationship between aggressive behaviour and teacher–child conflict (after controlling for the concurrent association between aggressive behaviour and conflict, and the stability of conflict). In addition, teacher perceived control accounted for part of the stability in conflict across the school year. Conclusions Teacher perceived control over child behaviour has been found to act as a mediating mechanism between child aggressive behaviour and teacher–child conflict at the beginning of kindergarten and teacher–child conflict at the end of the year.     

Development,Social-Emotional Behavior and Resilience of Orphaned Children in a Family-Oriented Setting

SOS children’s villages take care of orphaned or abandoned children who are likely to suffer from multiple psychosocial problems. Nevertheless, much is not known about the developmental, social-emotional, nutritional and resilience status of young SOS children (SOSc) living in poor settings of developing countries such as Ethiopia. The present study examined the developmental, social-emotional, nutritional and resilience status of SOSc in Jimma town of Ethiopia. In total, we selected 62 children (3.5–71.8 months of age; 32 boys and 30 girls) and tested for their personal-social, language, fine and gross motor development with the culturally adapted and standardized developmental screening tool, Denver II-Jimma; and their social-emotional behavior with the ages and stages questionnaire: social-emotional (ASQ:SE). We compared their outcomes to 62 age- and sex- matched family-reared children. To estimate the nutritional status of all children, we followed the WHO child growth standards. We used an interview guide to investigate resilience of the children. SOSc performed significantly poorer on language (p?<?0.001, effect size (es)?=?0.957), gross motor (p?<?0.001, es?=?0.879) and social-emotional (p?<?0.001, es?=?1.220) outcomes. Twenty-two (35.5%) of SOSc were undernourished and 17 (77.30%) of them were stunted. SOSc demonstrated resilient behavior, and child, SOS family and community characteristics were the major protective factors which enabled them to thrive in spite of the loss of their parents. Early intervention focusing on language, gross motor and social-emotional skills may be particularly beneficial to support children in SOS villages.     

The Interaction Between Pubertal Timing and Peer Popularity for Boys and Girls: An Integration of Biological and Interpersonal Perspectives on Adolescent Depression

The transition to adolescence marks a time of sharply increased vulnerability to the development of depression, particularly among girls. Past research has examined isolated risk factors from individual theoretical models (e.g., biological, interpersonal, and cognitive) of depression, but few have examined integrative models. This study investigated the conjoint effects of early pubertal timing and popularity in the longitudinal prediction of depressive symptoms. A total of 319 girls and 294 boys (ages 11–14) provided information on their pubertal status, depressive symptoms, and the social status (i.e., popularity) of their peers. Adolescents completed a second measure of depressive symptoms 11 months after the initial time point. Findings supported an integrated biological-interpersonal model in explaining the development of depressive symptoms during adolescence. Early pubertal development was associated with increase in depressive symptoms only when accompanied by low levels of popularity. High levels of popularity buffered the association between early pubertal development and later depressive symptoms. Unexpectedly, these results were significant both for girls and boys. Results are discussed in terms of dynamic systems theories.     

Teacher–child conflict and aggressive behaviour in first grade: the intervening role of children's self‐esteem

High levels of teacher–child conflict have repeatedly been found to amplify children's aggressive behaviour. Up to now, however, research on possible mechanisms explaining this link is largely lacking. The current study aimed to test whether children's self‐esteem is an intervening mechanism. Participants were 139 children (70 boys, M age = 6.18 years) and their teachers from 35 classes in 19 schools who were followed longitudinally throughout first grade. Teacher–child conflict was measured during the first trimester (October to December), children's self‐esteem (three child interviews) during the second trimester (January to March) and children's aggressive behaviour during the first and third trimester (April to June). Teacher–child conflict had a significant indirect effect on changes in children's aggressive behaviour across first grade through its effect on children's self‐esteem. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Acute stress responses after indirect exposure to the MH17 airplane crash

People can experience disasters vicariously (indirectly) via conversation, social media, radio, and television, even when not directly involved in a disaster. This study examined whether vicarious exposure to the MH17‐airplane crash in Ukraine, with 196 Dutch victims, elicited affective and somatic responses in Dutch adults about 2,600 km away, who happened to participate in an ongoing diary study. Participants (n = 141) filled out a diary three times a day for 30 days on their smartphones. Within‐person changes in positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) and somatic symptoms after the crash were studied. Additionally, we tested whether between‐person differences in response could be explained by age, baseline personality (NEO‐FFI‐3), and media exposure. The MH17 crash elicited a small within‐person decrease in PA and an increase in NA and somatic symptoms. This response waned after 3 days and returned to baseline at day four. The decrease in PA was larger in more extraverted participants but smaller in those higher on neuroticism or conscientiousness. The NA response was smaller in elderly. Personality did not seem to moderate the NA and somatic response, and neither did media exposure. Dutch participants showed small acute somatic and affective responses up till 3 days to a disaster that they had not directly witnessed. Vicariously experienced disasters can thus elicit affective‐visceral responses indicative of acute stress reactions. Personality and age explained some of the individual differences in this reaction.     

Public Unstructured Socializing and the Code of the Street: Predicting Violent Delinquency and Victimization

Using longitudinal survey and space–time budget data from adolescents in the Netherlands, this study examines whether the code of the street affects violent delinquency and victimization, and whether these effects vary by lifestyle. Values similar to the code (i.e., conflict positioning) were related to higher risk for violent delinquency; this relationship was stronger when involvement in public unstructured socializing was high. No relationship was found between these values and victimization. The findings suggest a nuanced relationship between the code of the street and violent delinquency and speak to the code of the street theory’s applicability outside the United States.     

Mindfulness meditation is associated with decreases in partner negative affect in daily life

To date, very little research has examined the extrapersonal effects of mindfulness meditation practice. In this study, we investigated whether individual meditation practice exerted an influence on friends or romantic partners. Thirty-five dyads completed an 8-week single-subject protocol using an A-B-A-B design to compare non-meditation phases with meditation phases. One member of each pair was randomly assigned to meditate daily for 15 min during the B-phases of the study; the other dyad member did not meditate in either the A or B phases. Daily diaries for each participant assessed negative affect, positive affect, and facets of mindfulness. For participants in the intermittent meditation condition, meditation was associated with decreased negative affect, increased positive affect, and higher scores on the mindfulness facets of observing, describing, and nonreactivity to inner experience. Results further demonstrated that the negative affect of non-meditating partners decreased during the weeks that their partner meditated and was lower on days that their partner meditated. We did not find similar results for positive affect or mindfulness at the group level. Exploratory analyses suggested that the extrapersonal effects of meditation days on a partner's negative affect might be stronger in romantic couples. This study indicates that 15 min of daily meditation in novice meditators can decrease the negative affect of relationship partners.