Sex differences in parents' estimations of their own and their children's multiple intelligences: a Portuguese replication

In this study, 148 Portuguese adults (M = 45.4 years) rated themselves and their children on overall IQ and on H. Gardner (1999) 10 intelligence subtypes. Men's self-estimates were not significantly higher than women's on any of the 11 estimates. The results were in line with previous studies, in that both sexes rated the overall intelligence of their first male children higher than the first female children. Higher parental IQ self-estimates correspond with higher IQ estimates for children. Globally parents estimated that their sons had significantly higher IQs than their daughters. In particular, parents rated their son's spiritual intelligence higher than those of their daughters. Children's age and sex, and parents' age and sex were all non-significant predictors of the overall "g" score estimates of the first two children. Participants thought verbal, mathematical, and spatial intelligence were the best indicators of the overall intelligence for self and children. There were no sex differences in experience of, or attitudes towards, intelligence testing. Results are discussed in terms of the growing literature in the self-estimates of intelligence, as well as limitations of that approach.     

Protection of children in research: beyond pediatric risk levels: the emergence of the research subject advocate

The author describes the role of the research subject advocate (RSA), inaugurated in 2001, which adds a fourth level of protection for human research subjects.     

The influence of leg-to-body ratio (LBR) on judgments of female physical attractiveness: Assessments of computer-generated images varying in LBR

The leg-to-body ratio (LBR), which is reliably associated with developmental stability and health outcomes, is an understudied component of human physical attractiveness. Several studies examining the effects of LBR on aesthetic judgments have been limited by the reliance on stimuli composed of hand-drawn silhouettes. In the present study, we developed a new set of female computer-generated images portraying eight levels of LBR that fell within the typical range of human variation. A community sample of 207 Britons in London and students from two samples drawn from a US university (Ns = 940, 114) rated the physical attractiveness of the images. We found that mid-ranging female LBRs were perceived as maximally attractive. The present research overcomes some of the problems associated with past work on LBR and aesthetic preferences through use of computer-generated images rather than hand-drawn images and provides an instrument that may be useful in future investigations of LBR preferences.     

Personality traits and academic examination performance

British university students (N = 247) completed the NEO‐PI‐R (Costa & McCrae, 1992 ) personality inventory at the beginning of their course and took several written examinations throughout their three‐year degree. Personality super‐traits (especially Conscientiousness positively, and Extraversion and Neuroticism negatively) were significantly correlated with examination grades and were found to account for around 15% of the variance. Primary traits were also examined and results showed significant correlations between a small number of these traits (notably dutifulness and achievement striving positively, and anxiety and activity negatively) and academic achievement. Furthermore, selected primary personality traits (i.e. achievement striving, self‐discipline, and activity) were found to explain almost 30% of the variance in academic examination performance. It is argued that personality inventory results may represent an important contribution to the prediction of academic success and failure in university (particularly in highly selective and competitive settings). Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Emerging Adulthood in American and British Samples: Individuals' Personality and Health Risk Behaviors

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between instrumental and expressive traits, and health-related behaviors among individuals in emerging adulthood (18–25 years old) in two Western societies. Individuals (100 males, 100 females) in an American sample and a British sample (36 males, 75 females) completed the Personal Attributes Questionnaire, a measure of neuroticism, the Health Behaviors Inventory, and two measures of perceived physical health. As hypothesized, in support of the androgyny model, individuals in both samples who scored high on both instrumental and expressive traits reported better health practices (i.e. safety belt use, less smoking) than individuals who scored low on both sets of traits or high on only one set of traits, after controlling for neuroticism. As hypothesized, for both samples, neuroticism explained more variance in perceived physical health than the other personality traits.     

Friend or foe? Ingroup identification moderates reactions to outgroup members' allocation behavior

In the present article we build on previous work suggesting that people react more strongly to the favorability of outgroup authority allocations than ingroup authority allocations. Based on theorizing and research on intergroup perception and self‐categorization, we refine this argument by suggesting that responses to outgroup authorities depend on people's level of ingroup identification. We present data from an experiment showing that the favorability of treatment by an outgroup member primarily influences decision acceptance among high (vs. low) ingroup identifiers. In line with theory and research based on the relational model of authority, findings of the present study also suggest that ingroup identification has a reversed effect on acceptance of an ingroup authority's decisions. Specifically, the favorability of treatment by an ingroup member primarily influences decision acceptance among low (vs. high) ingroup identifiers. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Advertising: The contribution of applied cognitive psychology

This paper looks at the contribution of applied cognitive psychology primarily to the research on advertising. The first issue is to attempt to define and specify the unique contribution of applied, as opposed to “pure,” cognitive psychology to this research area. Next, the issue of the medium of message delivery is discussed. The importance of program involvement and mood impact on memory for advertisements is then reviewed. The major part of the review looks at the influence of humor, sex, violence, and unconventional sex roles in advertisements on their impact on viewer's memory. An attempt is made to document important and replicated findings in this area. Finally, some effort is made to consider future avenues of research.     

Advertisement–programme congruence in memory of sexual fragrance advertisements

The current study explored the effect of sexual content in advertisements and the programme–advertisement congruence on the memory of sexual and nonsexual advertisements. Seventy participants (41 females and 29 males) were randomly allocated to one of four conditions. They viewed either The Bachelorette (sexual programme) or I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! (nonsexual programme) with sexual or nonsexual fragrance advertisements placed within the programme. The order of the advertisements was counterbalanced across participants to control for order effects. Free and cued recall of the advertisements were assessed. As predicted, there was a main effect of advertisement type, with the sexual advertisements better recalled than the nonsexual advertisements. Contrary to our prediction, the sexual content of the programme did not have an effect on advertisement recall. There was an interaction between the advertisement type and programme type; sexual advertisements were remembered better when embedded within a sexual programme. Limitations of this study are considered.     

Cognitive Decline Influences Emotional Creativity in the Elderly

Little is known about the relationship between emotional creativity and age-related cognitive decline. This study explored how deficits in some cognitive abilities are related to emotional creativity, i.e., cognitive abilities relating to originality and appropriateness in emotional experience. One hundred and eighty-seven older adults (mean age = 63.2; 58.4% females) were administered the Emotional Creativity Inventory, the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale, and the Cognitive Complaint Interview. As hypothesized, emotional creativity was negatively related to apathy and positively to disinhibition/emotional dysregulation. Several processes, such as apathy-related loss of interest, unconcern, subjective lack of energy, and changed perception of one’s disinhibited emotional reactions, may explain the observed results.