Perfectionistic self-presentation, socially prescribed perfectionism, and suicide in youth: a test of the perfectionism social disconnection model

The role of interpersonal components of perfectionism in suicide outcomes among youth was assessed and the Perfectionism Social Disconnection Model (PSDM) was tested by determining whether the links between socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP) and perfectionistic self-presentation (PSP) and suicide outcomes are mediated by experiences of social disconnection, as indicated by social hopelessness and being bullied. PSP, trait perfectionism, suicide outcomes, and experiences of being bullied and social hopelessness were measured in 152 psychiatric outpatient children and adolescents. Correlational tests confirmed that PSP and SPP were associated with suicide outcomes and these interpersonal perfectionism components were associated significantly with bullying and social hopelessness. Support was also obtained for the PSDM. The relationship between the PSP facets, particularly nondisplay of imperfections, and suicide outcomes were mediated by being bullied. Additionally, the relationship between all interpersonal components of perfectionism and suicide risk was mediated by social hopelessness. Theoretical and clinical implications of interpersonal components of perfectionism and social disconnection in suicide outcomes for youth are discussed.     

Self-reported experience of bullying of students who stutter: relations with life satisfaction, life orientation, and self-esteem

Self-reported self-esteem, life orientation, satisfaction with life, and bullying were examined in relation to victimization experiences among 54 students who stuttered and 54 students who did not stutter. Those who stuttered reported greater, i.e., clinically significant, victimization (44.4%) than students who did not stutter (9.2%). Significant differences were found between means for self-esteem and life orientation, with students who stuttered reporting lower self-esteem and less optimistic life orientation than those who did not stutter. In both groups of students, high victimization scores had statistically significant negative correlations with optimistic life orientation, high self-esteem, and high satisfaction with life scores. Given the increased likelihood of students who stuttered being bullied, the negative relation of adjustment variables and bullying, and the potentially negative long-term effects of bullying, increased vigilance and early intervention are discussed.     

"Princess Alice is watching you": children's belief in an invisible person inhibits cheating

Two child groups (5-6 and 8-9 years of age) participated in a challenging rule-following task while they were (a) told that they were in the presence of a watchful invisible person (“Princess Alice”), (b) observed by a real adult, or (c) unsupervised. Children were covertly videotaped performing the task in the experimenter’s absence. Older children had an easier time at following the rules but engaged in equal levels of purposeful cheating as the younger children. Importantly, children’s expressed belief in the invisible person significantly determined their cheating latency, and this was true even after controlling for individual differences in temperament. When “skeptical” children were omitted from the analysis, the inhibitory effects of being told about Princess Alice were equivalent to having a real adult present. Furthermore, skeptical children cheated only after having first behaviorally disconfirmed the “presence” of Princess Alice. The findings suggest that children’s belief in a watchful invisible person tends to deter cheating.     

Norms of Assertion: The Quantity and Quality of Epistemic Support

We show that the contemporary debate surrounding the question “What is the norm of assertion?” presupposes what we call the quantitative view, i.e. the view that this question is best answered by determining how much epistemic support is required to warrant assertion. We consider what Jennifer Lackey (2010) has called cases of isolated second-hand knowledge and show—beyond what Lackey has suggested herself—that these cases are best understood as ones where a certain type of understanding, rather than knowledge, constitutes the required epistemic credential to warrant assertion. If we are right that understanding (and not just knowledge) is the epistemic norm for a restricted class of assertions, then this straightforwardly undercuts not only the widely supposed quantitative view, but also a more general presupposition concerning the universalisability of some norm governing assertion—the presumption (almost entirely unchallenged since Williamson’s 1996 paper) that any epistemic norm that governs some assertions should govern assertions—as a class of speech act—uniformly.     

Rational Choice and Moral Decision Making in Research

University psychology and sociology researchers rated the likelihood they would engage in misconduct as described in 9 research scenarios, while also making moral judgments and rating the likelihood of discovery and sanctions. Multiple regression revealed significant effects across various scenarios for moral judgment as well as shame and embarrassment on reducing misconduct. The effects on misconduct of the perceived probability of sanctions were conditioned on moral judgments in some scenarios. The results have implications for how universities address the prevention, detection, and sanctioning of research misconduct.     

Electrophysiological evidence for preparatory reconfiguration before voluntary task switches but not cued task switches

An unresolved issue in the task-switching literature is whether preparatory reconfiguration occurs before a change of task. In this study, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to determine whether preparatory reconfiguration occurs during two different task-switching procedures: voluntary and cued task switching. We focused on two ERP components that index different cognitive operations. The contingent negative variation (CNV) is a sensitive measure of a participant’s preparedness to use a specific stimulus–response mapping. In contrast, the P3 indexes memory updating. We found a pronounced modulation of the CNV before voluntary task switches, but not before cued task switches. Instead, cued task switches were preceded by a larger P3, as compared with task repetitions. Our findings suggest that task set reconfiguration is carried out prior to voluntary task switches, whereas memory processes dominate cued task switches.     

On the importance of being first: Serial order effects in the interaction between action plans and ongoing actions

When we plan sequences of actions, we must hold some elements of the sequence in working memory (WM) while we execute others. Research shows that execution of an action can be delayed if it partly overlaps (vs. does not overlap) with another action plan maintained in WM (partial repetition cost). However, it is not known whether all features of the action maintained in WM interfere equally with current actions. Most serial models of memory and action assume that interference will be equal, because all action features in the sequence should be activated to an equal degree in parallel; others assume that action features earlier in the sequence will interfere more than those later in the sequence, because earlier features will be more active. Using a partial repetition paradigm, this study examined whether serial position of action features in action sequences maintained in WM have an influence on current actions. Two stimulus events occurred in a sequence, and participants planned and maintained an action sequence to the first event (action A) in WM while executing a speeded response to the second event (action B). Results showed delayed execution of action B when it matched the first feature in the action A sequence (partial repetition cost), but not when it matched the last feature. These findings suggest that serial order is represented in the action plan prior to response execution, consistent with models that assume that serial order is represented by a primacy gradient of parallel feature activation prior to action execution.     

Lay beliefs about the causes of and solutions to dehumanization and prejudice: do nonexperts recognize the role of human–animal relations?

We investigate laypeople's beliefs about the causes of and solutions to out‐group dehumanization and prejudice. Specifically, we examine whether nonexperts recognize the role that beliefs in the human–animal divide play in the formation and reduction of intergroup biases, as observed empirically in the interspecies model of prejudice. Interestingly, despite evidence in the present study that human–animal divide beliefs predict greater dehumanization and prejudice, participants strongly rejected the human–animal divide as a probable cause of (or solution to) dehumanization or prejudice. We conclude with a meta‐analytic test of the relation between human–animal divide and prejudice (mean r = .34) in the literature, establishing the human–animal divide as an important but largely unrecognized prejudice precursor. Applied implications for the development and implementation of prejudice interventions are considered.