When more is not merrier: shared stressful experiences amplify

ABSTRACT

Sharing experiences with others, even without communication, can amplify those experiences. We investigated whether shared stressful experiences amplify. Participants completed the Cold Pressor Task at the same time as a confederate, or while the confederate completed another task. Importantly, participants in the shared (vs. unshared) condition experienced more sensory pain characteristics and reported more stress over time in relation to the task. Importantly, they reported thinking more about the confederate’s thoughts and feelings. This mentalizing sometimes mediated effects, suggesting the task amplified when participants constructed mental representations of others’ CPT experience (e.g. that it hurts) and incorporated it into their own responses.     

British and Pakistani children's understanding of death: Cultural and developmental influences

This study explored British and Pakistani 4‐ to 7‐year‐olds’ (N = 188) understanding of death. The aim was to examine possible influences on the acquisition of the subcomponents of the death concept by investigating how they are understood by children of different ages and cultural and religious backgrounds. Three groups of children were compared: White British and British Muslim living in London, and Pakistani Muslim living in rural Pakistan. In line with previous research (Slaughter, 2005, Aust. Psychol., 40(3), 179), irreversibility of death was one of the first subcomponents to be acquired, while causality was the last. The two groups of British children shared many similarities in their understanding of inevitability, applicability, irreversibility, and cessation. Pakistani Muslim children understood irreversibility earlier than did children in both British groups. In all three cultural groups, children's responses demonstrated very limited understanding of causality. Our findings support the view that aspects of a mature understanding of death develop between the ages of 4 and 7 years and that the process of understanding death as a biological event is, to a great extent, universal. They also suggest that aspects of children's reasoning are influenced by culturally specific experiences, particularly those arising from living in rural versus urban settings.     

International Employment Discrimination and Implicit Social Cognition: New Directions for Theory and Research

This article contends that a complete understanding of employment discrimination should consider conscious and unconscious sources of bias. Research on implicit social cognition has described how prejudice and stereotypes operate at an unconscious level. These processes are believed to be fundamental properties of human cognition and universal across cultures; although specific targets of discrimination may vary by culture. Within an employment framework, implicit social cognitions can be measured to determine the extent to which unconscious prejudices influence organisational behavior. Human resource practices designed to minimise unfair employment discrimination may require interventions that operate at conscious and unconscious levels.
Cet article soutient que la compréhension complète de la discrimination à l'embauche devrait prendre en compte les sources conscientes et inconscientes de ce phénomène. La recherche sur la cognition sociale implicite a décrit comment les préjugés et les stéréotype opèrent à un niveau inconscient. Ces processus sont pensés comme étant des propriétés fondamentales de la cognition humaine et universels du point de vue des cultures; bien que les cibles spécifiques de la discrimination puissent varier selon ces dernières. Dans le cadre d'une embauche, les cognitions sociales implicites peuvent être mesurées pour déterminer l'importance avec laquelle les préjugés inconscients influencent le comportement organisationnel. En matière de ressources humaines, les pratiques prévues pour réduire au minimum l'injuste discrimination à l'embauche peuvent exiger des interventions agissant aux niveaux conscient et inconscient.     

Interviewing young children with props: prior experience matters

This study investigated the effects of prior experience with props used during an interview on young children's recall of an event. In a one-way design, we interviewed 4-year-old children 1 to 2 days after they participated in a staged event. One group of children played with toy replicas of items from the event prior to an interview with the toy props. Another group matched toy replicas to real items from the event prior to an interview with the toy props. A third group coloured before an interview with the toy props, and a fourth coloured before an interview with the real items. Finally, a fifth group coloured before an interview with no props, only verbal cues about the items that had been present. Results indicated that the condition in which children played with toy props prior to the interview had the lowest verbal accuracy during the interview. Children who saw toys for the first time during the interview behaviourally enacted the highest volume of correct information about the event. Implications for interviewing children are discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The development of emotion recognition from facial expressions and non‐linguistic vocalizations during childhood

Sensitivity to facial and vocal emotion is fundamental to children's social competence. Previous research has focused on children's facial emotion recognition, and few studies have investigated non‐linguistic vocal emotion processing in childhood. We compared facial and vocal emotion recognition and processing biases in 4‐ to 11‐year‐olds and adults. Eighty‐eight 4‐ to 11‐year‐olds and 21 adults participated. Participants viewed/listened to faces and voices (angry, happy, and sad) at three intensity levels (50%, 75%, and 100%). Non‐linguistic tones were used. For each modality, participants completed an emotion identification task. Accuracy and bias for each emotion and modality were compared across 4‐ to 5‐, 6‐ to 9‐ and 10‐ to 11‐year‐olds and adults. The results showed that children's emotion recognition improved with age; preschoolers were less accurate than other groups. Facial emotion recognition reached adult levels by 11 years, whereas vocal emotion recognition continued to develop in late childhood. Response bias decreased with age. For both modalities, sadness recognition was delayed across development relative to anger and happiness. The results demonstrate that developmental trajectories of emotion processing differ as a function of emotion type and stimulus modality. In addition, vocal emotion processing showed a more protracted developmental trajectory, compared to facial emotion processing. The results have important implications for programmes aiming to improve children's socio‐emotional competence.     

Wish You Were Queer: Exploring the Potential of Queer Play Parties to Arouse Social Change

Abstract

This article explores how the practice of BDSM sex parties within the queer community can inspire social structure alternatives conducive to sustainability. Drawing from the notion that the dominant social order of neoliberal hetero-patriarchy undermines our ability to address sustainability challenges as a collective, I demonstrate how the same culture disproportionately alienates the queer community. Taking from the theory of subaltern counterpublics, I highlight how social structures created at BDSM queer sex parties challenge dominant cultures and create spaces of inclusivity and radical participation, specifically through communication. These are key criteria called for in commons management, relevant for sustainable futures.     

Educational Trends for Expanding Women's Occupational Lives

Institutional changes are described which would facilitate the expansion of women's occupational lives. Part I reviews educational trends in schools, focusing on legislation and other activities to eliminate sex discrimination in federally supported educational institutions. Part II discusses current trends to interface education and work, and proposes a transitional work group model which incorporates feminist values and legitimizes the work place as a place for learning. Part III discusses trends towards participatory democracy and asserts that the training of women to use new technologies in communications and computers will increase their power to shape public policy. The conclusion points to the necessity for compensatory and anticipatory measures to ensure the representation of all groups of women in decision-making environments.