Seeing vs. believing: Is believing sufficient to activate the processes of response co-representation?

It has been suggested that the observation of another person's action affects the behavior of the observer because the observation of action leads to the excitation of similar response codes in the observer. It is unknown, however, if one must witness the action or if it is sufficient for one to believe that the other agent is responding for response co-representation to occur. To this end, participants in the present study performed a joint spatial-compatibility task with a confederate when: (1) the confederate sat beside the participant; and, (2) the confederate left the room and told the participant that they would continue to perform their component of the task on a networked computer in another room. Even though participants believed that the confederate performed the task in another room, joint spatial-compatibility was only observed when the confederate was present. These results reveal that the actions of another person may only be represented by the observer when the observer is able to witness a portion of the action.     

Gender differences in smoking: A longitudinal study of beliefs predicting smoking in 11–15 year olds

This longitudinal study investigated differences in beliefs and perceived behavioural control between smokers and non-smokers in a large sample of adolescents. Positive and negative instrumental beliefs, normative beliefs, perceived behavioural control (PBC) and smoking status were assessed in the same participants at 11, 13 and 15 years of age. Prospective analyses among non-smokers revealed that for boys, negative instrumental beliefs in non-smokers at age 11 predicted smoking at age 15 years. For girls, normative beliefs and PBC in non-smokers at age 11 predicted smoking status at age 13; normative beliefs at age 11 predicted smoking at age 15; and positive instrumental beliefs and normative beliefs at age 13 predicted smoking status at age 15. Cross-sectional data revealed that smokers were significantly more likely than non-smokers to endorse positive instrumental beliefs, less likely to agree with negative instrumental belief items, more likely than non-smokers to perceive social pressure to smoke, and less likely to report control over smoking, and that female smokers reported less control over smoking and fewer negative instrumental beliefs than all other groups including male smokers at age 13. The need for belief-based preventative interventions that are age- and gender-relevant is discussed.