Types of Aggression,Responsiveness to Provocation,and Callous-unemotional Traits in Detained Adolescents

The present study investigated differences in the behavioral and psychophysiological responses to provocation and in the level of callous-unemotional traits in boys exhibiting different patterns of aggression. Eighty-five boys (ages 13-18) in a juvenile detention center played a competitive computer task against a hypothetical peer who provided low and high levels of provocation. Youth high on both self-reported reactive and proactive aggression showed different behavioral responses to provocation than youth high on only reactive aggression. Specifically, the combined group showed high levels of aggressive responses without any provocation, whereas the group high on reactive aggression showed an increase in aggressive responding to low provocation. Further, results revealed a trend for the combined group to show lower levels of skin conductance reactivity to low provocation if they were also high on callous-unemotional traits.     

The Role of Thin‐Slice Judgments in Consumer Psychology

This article examines the potential theoretical and practical contributions that thin‐slice judgments may offer to consumer psychology. We begin by exploring thin‐slice judgments in the context of existing consumer information processing research. Then, we discuss the antecedents of thin‐slice judgments, the type of processing that may underlie and impact thin‐slice judgment formation. Finally, we review the potential consequences of thin‐slice judgments and investigate applications within the consumer domain.     

Visual category-selectivity for faces, places and objects emerges along different developmental trajectories

The organization of category-selective regions in ventral visual cortex is well characterized in human adults. We investigated a crucial, previously unaddressed, question about how this organization emerges developmentally. We contrasted the developmental trajectories for face-, object-, and place-selective activation in the ventral visual cortex in children, adolescents, and adults. Although children demonstrated adult-like organization in object- and place-related cortex, as a group they failed to show consistent face-selective activation in classical face regions. The lack of a consistent neural signature for faces was attributable to (1) reduced face-selectivity and extent of activation within the regions that will become the FFA, OFA, and STS in adults, and (2) smaller volumes and considerable variability in the locus of face-selective activation in individual children. In contrast, adolescents showed an adult-like pattern of face-selective activation, although it was more right-lateralized. These findings reveal critical age-related differences in the emergence of category-specific functional organization in the visual cortex and support a model of brain development in which specialization emerges from interactions between experience-dependent learning and the maturing brain.     

Can a Laboratory Measure of Emotional Processing Enhance the Statistical Prediction of Aggression and Delinquency in Detained Adolescents with Callous-unemotional Traits?

In this cross-sectional study, we investigated whether the combination of the presence of callous-unemotional (CU) traits and emotional deficits to distressing stimuli, assessed by a computerized dot-probe task, enhanced the statistical prediction of aggression and delinquency in a sample of 88 detained and predominantly African-American (68%) adolescents (M age = 15.57; SD = 1.28). Overall, self-reported CU traits were associated with self-report measures of aggression and delinquency, but not with official records of arrests. However, there was an interaction between CU traits and emotional deficits for predicting self-reported aggression, self-reported violent delinquency, and a record of violent arrests. Youth high on CU traits and who showed a deficit in their responses to visual depictions of distress showed the highest levels of aggression and violent delinquency.     

The influence of pubertal maturation on antisaccade performance

Adolescence is a period characterized by continued improvements in inhibitory control, and this persisting immaturity is believed to interact with affective/motivational behavior to generate the impulsive and risk‐taking behavior evidenced at this time. Puberty is a central event of adolescence that has been shown to influence affective/motivational behavior. However, despite plausible mechanisms by which puberty might influence inhibitory control, researchers have yet to test this possibility rigorously. Thus, we designed a study to examine the unique role of pubertal maturation, independent of age, in the development of inhibitory control. In order to minimize age‐related variability while maximizing pubertal status variability, we recruited 78 participants (34 F) whose ages narrowly spanned the mean age of gonadarche for each sex (F: ages 11–13, M: ages 12–14). Two complementary measures were used to assess pubertal status: (1) circulating blood serum testosterone and estradiol levels reflecting internal manifestations of pubertal maturation, and (2) Tanner staging by a trained nurse reflecting pubertal maturation's external manifestations. Inhibitory control was assessed using the antisaccade task, and findings were adjusted for the potential effect of age. Results revealed no association between testosterone levels and error rates or response latencies in either sex. In girls, estradiol levels were not associated with error rates, but were associated with faster response latencies. There was similarly no association between Tanner status and error rates, although girls in more advanced pubertal stages showed faster response latencies. Power analyses indicate that findings of a lack of association did not reflect limited statistical power. Thus, in a study designed to isolate the effects of pubertal maturation independent of age, both external and internal indices of pubertal maturation converged to indicate that age‐related improvements in cold antisaccade performance are independent of pubertal maturation.     

The effect of spatial-frequency filtering on the visual processing of global structure

In three experiments we measured reaction times (RTs) and error rates in identifying the global structure of spatially filtered stimuli whose spatial-frequency content was selected by means of three types of 2-D isotropic filters (Butterworth of order 2, Butterworth of order 10, and a filters with total or partial Gaussian spectral profile). In each experiment, low-pass (LP), bandpass (BP), and high-pass (HP) filtered stimuli, with nine centre or cut-off spatial frequencies, were used. Irrespective of the type of filter, the experimental results showed that: (a) RTs to stimuli with low spatial frequencies were shorter than those to stimuli with medium or high spatial frequencies, (b) RTs to LP filtered stimuli were nearly constant, but they increased in a nonmonotonic way with the filter centre spatial frequency in BP filtered stimuli and with the filter cut-off frequency in HP filtered stimuli, and (c) the identification of the global pattern occurred with all visible stimuli used, including BP and HP images without low spatial frequencies. To remove the possible influence of the energy, a fourth experiment was conducted with Gaussian filtered stimuli of equal contrast power (c(rms) = 0.065). Similar results to those described above were found for stimuli with spatial-frequency content higher than 2 cycles deg(-1). A model of isotropic first-order visual channels collecting the stimulus spectral energy in all orientations explains the RT data. A subsequent second-order nonlinear amplitude demodulation process, applied to the output of the most energetic first-order channel, could explain the perception of global structure of each spatially filtered stimulus, including images lacking low spatial frequencies.     

Youth Living with HIV as Peer Leaders

Community-based service providers often hire youth living with HIV (YLH) as peer leaders for delivering HIV education to uninfected adolescents. Life narratives were collected from 44 YLH during a hypotheses-generating two-year ethnographic study. About 30% of the youth were employed as peer educators. While 60% of the 44 youth had a lower-class background, only 23% of the peer leaders were lower class. One-fifth of the sample were female, but more than one-half of the peer leaders were female. After identifying and categorizing difficulties experienced by the peer leaders, a frequency count of each theme was conducted. Issues about professional boundaries were evident in 38.5% of the youth's narratives, indicating conflicts in their roles as peer leaders; 23% of the youth engaged in substance use and sexual behaviors that placed themselves and uninfected youth in their peer educator programs at risk; and 8% of the youth reported relapse while peer leaders. The observations suggest reconsideration or restructuring of existing peer-education models that employ YLH.     

The reliability, stability, and predictive utility of the self-report version of the Antisocial Process Screening Device

The psychometric properties of the self-report version of the Antisocial Processes Screening Device (APSD; Frick & Hare, 2001), a rating scale developed to assess traits associated with the construct of psychopathy in youth, was tested in a sample of 91 non-referred young adolescents with an average age of 13.38 (SD = 1.75) at the initial assessment. The sample was recruited from a large community-wide screening, where youth with conduct problems and youth high on psychopathic traits were over-sampled. The sample was reassessed three times at yearly intervals. The self-report scores on the APSD showed moderate correlations with parent ratings of psychopathic traits, were moderately stable across 1-2 years, and showed significant correlations with measures of antisocial behavior both concurrently and predictively. One major weakness of the self-report ratings was the low internal consistency of the subscales, which were much lower than the internal consistency found on the parent report version of the scale.     

Consumer response to interruption features and need for cognitive closure

Prior research on interruptions focuses entirely on the process being interrupted and assumes interruption homogeneity. Across two studies, we examine how heterogeneous features of interruptions (i.e., timing, frequency, and perceived pleasantness) and consumer individual differences (i.e., need for cognitive closure (NFCC)) impact consumer response toward a product. We find interruption features have opposing effects on consumer response for consumers high versus low in NFCC—depending upon the perceived valence of the interruption. Specifically, individuals with high NFCC respond better to a product when interruptions are perceived to be pleasant and occur late or infrequently. In contrast, those who have low NFCC respond better to a product when interruptions are perceived to be pleasant and occur early or perceived to be unpleasant and occur infrequently. The role of interruption pleasantness is discussed in terms of its predictive power for perceived pleasant but not perceived unpleasant interruptions. Finally, study findings are placed within marketing contexts that guide managerial implications. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Character Strengths and Social Support as Protective Factors between Grandparents’ Caregiving and Health-Related Quality of Life

Journal of Child and Family Studies - The number of grandparents providing supplementary care for their grandchildren has increased in the past decades. When analyzing the relationship between the...