The role of overt head movement and attention in persuasion

This study examined the effect of overt head movement on attitudes toward a product. In a headphones test, participants were required to listen to music and to either nod or shake their heads. Some participants listened to a CD of music; other participants listened to a CD of the same music and a persuasive message about the headphones. Overt head movement affected participants' product choice and price perception when they were presented with the music and a persuasive message. The findings are interpreted to suggest that head movement can be instrumental in participants' product evaluation if the head movement is directed or focused on the attitude object.     

Assessing unit-price related remifentanil choice in rhesus monkeys

Given a commodity available at different prices, a unit-price account of choice predicts preference for the cheaper alternative. This experiment determined if rhesus monkeys preferred remifentanil (an ultra-short-acting micro-opioid agonist) delivered at a lower unit price over a higher-priced remifentanil alternative (Phases 1 and 3). Choice between equal-priced alternatives also was assessed (Phase 2). A discrete-trials procedure was arranged in which three monkeys chose between two remifentanil alternatives by responding on one of two levers. Different prices were arranged by manipulating drug dose (0.3 and 0.1 microg/kg/injection) and/or the ratio requirement. Monkeys usually chose the larger-dose alternative even when it was more expensive. Only when unit prices were relatively high (e.g., large response requirements) did monkeys choose the cheaper (or equally priced) smaller-dose alternative. Employing larger doses (0.9 and 0.3 microg/kg/injection) attenuated the larger-dose preference. The results demonstrate that choice was not determined simply by unit price. An alternative model that employs demand-function analysis to generate choice predictions is proposed.     

Predictors of Attributional Style Change in Children

A number of studies have supported the hypothesis that negative attributional styles may confer vulnerability to the development of depression. The goal of this study was to explore factors that may contribute to the development of negative attributional styles in children. As hypothesized, elevated levels of depressive symptoms and hopelessness at the initial assessment predicted negative changes in children's attributional styles over the 6-month follow-up period. In addition, elevated levels of verbal victimization occurring between the 2 assessments, as well as that occurring in the 6 months preceding the initial assessment, prospectively predicted negative changes in children's attributional styles over the follow-up. Further, initial depressive symptoms and verbal victimization during the follow-up continued to significantly predict attributional style change even when the overlap among the predictors was statistically controlled. Contrary to the hypotheses, however, neither parent-reported levels of overall negative life events nor parents' attributions for their children's events predicted changes in children's attributional styles.     

Distraction by competing speech in young and older adult listeners

In 2 experiments, young and older adults heard target speech presented in quiet or with a competing speaker in the background. The distractor consisted either of meaningful speech or nonmeaningful speech composed of randomly ordered word strings (Experiment 1) or speech in an unfamiliar language (Experiment 2). Tests of recall for the target speech showed that older adults, but not younger adults, were impaired more by meaningful distractors than by nonmeaningful distracters. However, on a surprise recognition test, young adults were more likely than older adults to recognize meaningful distractor items. These results suggest that reduced efficiency in attentional control is an important factor in older adults' difficulty in recalling target speech in the presence of a background of competing speech.     

Event templates in the lexical representations of verbs

Four experiments support the hypothesis that syntactically relevant information about verbs is encoded in the lexicon in semantic event templates. A verb's event template represents the participants in an event described by the verb and the relations among the participants. The experiments show that lexical decision times are longer for verbs with more complex templates than verbs with less complex templates and that, for both transitive and intransitive sentences, sentences containing verbs with more complex templates take longer to process. In contrast, sentence processing times did not depend on the probabilities with which the verbs appear in transitive versus intransitive constructions in a large corpus of naturally produced sentences.     

False memories in children and adults: age,distinctiveness, and subjective experience

This study investigated developmental trends associated with the Deese/Roediger-McDermott false-memory effect, the role of distinctive information in false-memory formation, and participants' subjective experience of true and false memories. Children (5- and 7-year-olds) and adults studied lists of semantically associated words. Half of the participants studied words alone, and half studied words accompanied by pictures. There were significant age differences in recall (5-year-olds evinced more false memories than did adults) but not in recognition of critical lures. Distinctive information reduced false memory for all age groups. Younger children provided with distinctive information, and older children and adults regardless of whether they viewed distinctive information, expressed higher levels of confidence in true than in false memories. Source attributions did not significantly differ between true and false memories. Implications for theories of false memory and memory development are discussed.     

Paper and voice MAYSI-2: format comparability and concordance with the voice DISC-IV

The authors examine the comparability of paper and voice formats of the Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument-Second Version (MAYSI-2) as well as each format's concordance with the Voice Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC) among adjudicated youth. Comparability is assessed among 248 youths admitted to a South Carolina Assessment Center. Mean scores and alpha coefficients are calculated, and area under the curve and positive and negative predictive values are used to compare concordance to the DISC. Paper and voice formats are significantly correlated, have similar alpha coefficients, and have comparable concordance with the DISC, suggesting that the MAYSI-2 paper and voice formats are comparable instruments. The voice format may be preferable to the paper format for screening justice youth for mental health problems because it may reduce incomplete data and increase reporting of stigmatized behaviors and because of its ability to automatically generate scored reports and aggregate data.     

Sexual and aggressive play fighting of sibling Richardson’s ground squirrels

Play fighting in many species of squirrels can involve sexual play and aggressive play, both of which can lead to wrestling which appears superficially similar. Such convergence can make scoring of the relative frequencies of these two types of play difficult and can lead to the mistaken conclusion that they grade into one another. In this study, both staged laboratory encounters between sibling pairs and spontaneous encounters between siblings in free‐living litters of Richardson’s ground squirrels (Spermophilus richardsonii) were videotaped. Frame‐by‐frame analyses using the Eshkol‐Wachman Movement Notation were employed to record the correlated movements of attack and defense by the partners and to reveal the body areas targeted during each play bout. Whereas sexual play was organized around access to the rump, aggressive play was organized around the shoulders. Although in most cases the defender’s tactics blocked access to the respective target, when contact did occur, it involved mounting in sexual play and nosing or biting in aggressive play. Eighty‐six percent of play fights could be unambiguously categorized as either sexual or aggressive play. Of these, the majority (?80%) involved sexual play. The sex of the participants did not affect the frequency of aggressive play, but in sexual play, males initiated more attacks than females. Once initiated, each form of play fighting remained distinct—if a bout began as sexual play, it would end as sexual play. Furthermore, a counterattack following sexual play was significantly more likely to be sexual than aggressive, and vice versa for counterattacks following aggressive play. Therefore, all the evidence suggested that the two forms of play fighting were not intermixed in Richardson’s ground squirrels. Aggr. Behav. 27:323–337, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Distress and Internalized Homophobia Among Lesbian Women Treated for Early Stage Breast Cancer

A convenience sample of 57 lesbian women who had been recruited for a study of adjustment to breast cancer completed measures of internalized homophobia, degree of disclosure of sexual orientation, social support, self-esteem, and distress. Consistent with our prediction, internalized homophobia related to greater distress. Contrary to our prediction, disclosure did not relate to lower distress. Path models were consistent with the position that internalized homophobia promotes distress through lower self-esteem and perceived unavailability of social support. However, the data were also consistent with a model in which low self-esteem leads to internalized homophobia by way of elevated distress. Internalized homophobia also related inversely to utilization of health care resources. Our discussion centers on the need for more information regarding this understudied population.     

The Scale for Assessing Emotional Disturbance: Concurrent Validity

The Scale for Assessing Emotional Disturbance (SAED) is a standardized, norm-referenced measure designed to operationalize the federal definition of Emotional Disturbance. It has demonstrated content validity and reliability. The two studies reported here address the SAED's concurrent validity. Samples in each study consisted of students identified with Emotional Disturbance. In both studies, special education teachers rated students on the SAED and a second measure of children's emotional and behavior problems. In the first study the SAED was compared to the Revised Behavior Problem Checklist. Correlations were generally moderate to high for similar subscales and low for dissimilar subscales. In the second study, the SAED was compared to the Teacher Report Form. Again, correlations generally were as expected and compatible with results of the first study. Results indicate that the SAED emotional and behavior problem subscales measure constructs akin to emotional and behavior problems measured by similar collections of item on the Revised Behavior Problem Checklist and Teacher Report Form. Implications of results and recommendations for use of the SAED are discussed.