Fear generalisation in individuals with high neuroticism: increasing predictability is not necessarily better

Fear generalisation, a process by which conditioned fear spreads to similar but innocuous stimuli, is key in understanding why some individuals feel unsafe in objectively non-threatening situations. Both trait neuroticism and lack of predictability about the likelihood of feared consequences are associated with negative affect in the face of ambiguity and may increase the degree to which fear generalises. Undergraduates (N?=?129) with varying degrees of neuroticism were randomised to either high- or low-instructional predictability conditions prior to fear acquisition. A fear generalisation test measured risk ratings and attentional bias on a modified dot-probe paradigm. Among individuals with higher neuroticism, providing instructional predictability did not reduce fear; these individuals reported higher risk and increased attentional bias toward ambiguous stimuli. Overall, for individuals with higher neuroticism, predictability information hurt rather than helped interpretation of ambiguous stimuli, challenging a common conceptualisation of predictability as a factor that reduces fear.     

Defining and Distinguishing Sexual and Emotional Infidelity

Researchers studying interpersonal relationships often distinguish between “sexual infidelity” and “emotional infidelity.” Yet, it remains largely unclear whether and how individuals actually conceptualize these constructs in their own lives, and how men and women vary, if at all, in their definitions and understanding of different types of infidelity. The current research used a mixed-methodology approach to explore the epistemological nature of sexual infidelity and emotional infidelity. In Study 1, 379 participants provided open-ended definitions of what they believe constitutes sexual infidelity and emotional infidelity. In Study 2, responses were then coded by a different group of outside raters to examine overall themes in the definitions provided and how prototypical these definitions were for each type of infidelity. Results identified and examined the definitions with the highest mean ratings in terms of how well they represented emotional infidelity or sexual infidelity. Overall, both men and women had more consistency in their definitions of what constituted sexual infidelity than on what constituted emotional infidelity, suggesting that emotional infidelity is a more vague and complex concept than sexual infidelity. Additionally, when asked to define sexual and emotional infidelity, many participants focused on specific behaviors (including deception), but when asked to consider the types of infidelity as distinct from each other, participants focused on feelings. By exploring how individuals actually define these constructs, these data provide a more accurate and rich depiction of how individuals define acts of infidelity than currently exists in the relationship literature.     

Parenting Assessed by Observation versus Parent-report: Moderation by Parent Distress and Family Socioeconomic Status

Assessment of parenting frequently relies on parent self-report despite well-documented discrepancies between this methodology and observational measures. In the current study, we investigated patterns of disagreement between self-reported and observational measures of positive parenting and negative parenting with 102 dyads of parents and 4–6 year-old children. Specifically, we tested whether differences in parent distress and family socioeconomic status (SES) moderated the association between self-reported and observed parenting. Results showed significant interactions with less agreement between self-report and observational measures among parents reporting higher levels of distress and among families from lower SES backgrounds. Effects were more pronounced in models of negative parenting than those of positive parenting. Findings suggest that two factors relevant to parenting quality, emotional distress and SES, predict meaningful differences in manner of parent-report relative to observational measures. We discuss implications for the extant literature and for future efforts regarding effective and efficient parenting measurement.     

Free-flying honeybees extrapolate relational size rules to sort successively visited artificial flowers in a realistic foraging situation

Learning and applying relational concepts to solve novel tasks is considered an indicator of cognitive-like ability. It requires the abstraction of relational concepts to different objects independent to the physical nature of the individual objects. Recent research has revealed the honeybee’s ability to rapidly learn and manipulate relations between visual stimuli such as ‘same/different’, ‘above/below’, or ‘larger/smaller’ despite having a miniature-sized brain. While honeybees can solve problems using rule-based relative size comparison, it remains unresolved as to whether bees can apply size rules when stimuli are encountered successively, which requires reliance on working memory for stimuli comparison. Additionally, the potential ability of bees to extrapolate acquired information to novel sizes beyond training sets remains to be investigated. We tested whether individual free-flying honeybees could learn ‘larger/smaller’ size rules when visual stimuli were presented successively, and whether such rules could then be extrapolated to novel stimulus sizes. Honeybees were individually trained to a set of four sizes such that individual elements might be correct, or incorrect, depending upon the alternative stimulus. In a learning test, bees preferred the correct size relation for their respective learning group. Bees were also able to successfully extrapolate the learnt relation during transfer tests by maintaining the correct size relationships when considering either two smaller, or two larger, novel stimulus sizes. This performance demonstrates that an insect operating in a complex environment has sufficient cognitive capacity to learn rules that can be abstracted to novel problems. We discuss the possible learning mechanisms which allow their success.     

Differences in decision-making development between expert and novice invasion game players

This cross-sectional study investigated the differences between young expert soccer players' (n = 55) and novice players' (n = 74) decision-making ability during performance of invasion games (ages: 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, and 13-14 years). Decision-making ability was assessed in invasion games that were appropriately modified for age and expertise. Games were modified to meet the developmental needs and previous learning of the participants, so interference between motor execution and decision making was minimized. Game performance was videotaped, and measures of cognitive components were developed from observational analysis. Decision making was measured at two levels: (a) decision making restricted to the selection of the technical-tactical skills (passing, moving with the ball, getting free, marking, tackling, double teaming, and interception) and (b) decision making in the adaptation to the tactical context of the game. Expert players remained superior in decision-making ability when variation in skill execution was controlled. Decision-making differences between levels of expertise decreased with age with regard to the first level (skill selection) and increased with age in relation to the second level (tactical-context adaptation). Findings are discussed in terms of implications for instructional focus and task design.     

The Children’s Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale: Reliability and Validity for Use Among 5 to 8 Year Olds with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

The Children’s Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (CY-BOCS) is the instrument of choice for assessing symptom severity in older children (i.e., 8–18 years) diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The reliability and validity of this measure for use among younger children (i.e., 5–8 years of age), however, has never been examined. The primary aim of this study was to examine this scale’s use among those presenting with early childhood OCD. Forty-two children with OCD between the ages of 4 and 8 years of age were recruited as part of a larger treatment outcome study, and the reliability and validity of the CY-BOCS was examined. Results revealed questionable reliability for the measure’s 5-item Obsessions subscale but good reliability (i.e., internal consistency, temporal stability) for the 5-item Compulsions subscale and 10-item total scale. Results also revealed that the CY-BOCS total scale demonstrated mixed discriminant validity but strong convergent validity and sensitive to change. Collectively, the 10-item, CY-BOCS total score yields a reliable and valid scale for the assessment of symptom severity in early childhood OCD. However, we urge caution in use of the Obsessions subscale in isolation for either clinical or research purposes. Limitations and future areas of research are discussed including the potential benefit of developing a measure of OCD-related symptom severity specifically for younger children with greater attention to developmental differences among children within this population.     

The Finality and Instrumentality of Value in a Way

Philosophia - Final value accrues to objects that are good for their own sakes, while instrumental value accrues to objects that are good for the sake of their effects. The following paper aims to...     

Perceptions of married life among single never‐married,single ever‐married,and married adults

With the increasing prevalence of single adults in the United States, perceptions of marriage as the relationship “gold standard” may be diminishing. In this study (N = 6,576), we explored perceptions of married life in three subgroups of participants: Those who have never married, ever married, and currently married. Across subgroups, most did not perceive married life more positively than single life in external/tangible domains (e.g., more friends), but did in emotional experiences and frame of mind (e.g., contentment). These findings suggest conceptualizations of marriage may be changing to be less positive or less discrepant from conceptualizations of single life. However, these findings also suggest that people continue to view marital relationships as a positive source of emotional experience and support.     

Therapist Behavior During Exposure Tasks Predicts Habituation and Clinical Outcome in Three Randomized Controlled Trials for Pediatric OCD

This study measured therapist behaviors in relation to subsequent habituation within exposure tasks, and also tested their direct and indirect relationships (via habituation) with clinical outcomes of exposure therapy. We observed 459 videotaped exposure tasks with 111 participants in three clinical trials for pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (POTS trials). Within exposure tasks, therapist behaviors and patient fear were coded continuously. Outcomes were habituation and posttreatment change in symptom severity, global improvement, and treatment response. More therapist behaviors that encourage approach—and less use of accommodation, unrelated talk, and externalizing language—predicted greater subsequent habituation during individual exposure tasks (exposure-level), and also predicted improved patient clinical outcomes via higher “total dose” of habituation across treatment (patient-level indirect effect). For six of seven therapist behaviors analyzed, the relationship with subsequent habituation within exposure differed by patient fear (low, moderate, or high) at the time the behavior was used. Two therapist behaviors had direct effects in the opposite direction expected; more unrelated talk and less intensifying were associated with greater patient symptom reduction. Results shed light on the “black box” of in-session exposure activities and point to specific therapist behaviors that may be important for clinical outcomes. These behaviors might be best understood in the context of changing patient fear during exposure tasks. Future studies should test whether therapist behaviors can be experimentally manipulated to produce improvement in clinical outcomes.