Relationship between gender and knowledge of U.S. state names and locations

Two experiments were conducted to assess gender differences in knowledge of U.S. state names and locations. Subjects for both experiments were drawn from a population that was approximately 95% Caucasian, 2% Native American, 1% Black, 1% Asian, and 1% Hispanic. Experiment 1 demonstrated superior male performance with respect to ability to correctly label state outlines on a blank map. Providing subjects with a list of state names (as a recall aid) resulted in performance deficits that were of equivalent magnitude for both males and females. It is suggested that this may have changed subjects' labeling strategy. Experiment 2, which assessed ability to list state names, showed no gender differences and no effect for providing a blank map (as a recall aid). Therefore, the performance differences obtained in Experiment 1 appear mediated by a gender difference in geographical knowledge and not by a gender difference in knowledge of state names. Implications of geographical knowledge deficits are briefly discussed.     

Aha over Haha: Brands benefit more from being clever than from being funny

We examine whether the cleverness of a brand's humor attempt affects consumers' brand attitudes and engagement. A clever humor attempt is any humor attempt wherein the consumer feels she must make mental connections to solve the joke (e.g., understand a cultural reference, understand the dual meaning of a pun). Across five studies, we demonstrate that as the cleverness of a humor attempt increases, consumers report higher brand attitudes and are more engaged with the brand. This effect is mediated by perceptions of brand warmth and competence and moderated by consumers' need for cognition.     

Associations between risk factors,developmental outcomes,and executive function in neonatal intensive care unit graduates at 2 years: A retrospective study

This study explores the extent to which medical and sociodemographic variables and cognitive and language skills are associated with executive function (EF) skills in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) graduates at 24 months of adjusted age. We explored cognitive, language, and EF skills in 42 NICU graduates who participated in a NICU follow-up programme clinic. The association between risk factors and EF and the completion of the EF assessment were explored. Correlational analyses revealed that child gender was associated with EF scores. Analyses revealed cognitive skills, language skills, and multiple gestational births were associated with EF assessment completion. Our findings are among the first to examine EF skills in NICU graduates as young as 24 months of age using a multidimensional, child completed measure. Implications for NICU follow up programmes, the consideration of early interventions aimed to positively affect EF skills, and considerations for future studies are discussed.     

A hot new way to measure aggression: Hot sauce allocation

Laboratory experiments investigating aggressive behavior have operationalized and assessed aggression in a variety of ways; however, these measures are often problematic because they do not create a situation in which participants perceive potential for real harm to come to the target, there is a risk of actual harm to the target, or they are too familiar to participants. To overcome these limitations, we developed a new method for measuring aggression, specifically, the amount of hot sauce administered to a target known to dislike spicy foods. We summarize a series of experiments assessing theory‐based hypotheses regarding aggression in which this measure is employed. We then briefly consider the strengths and limitations of this new measure. Aggr. Behav. 25:331–348, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Explanations: What Factors Enhance Their Perceived Adequacy?

Factors that enhance the perceived adequacy of explanations for bad news were examined in three studies: two cross-sectional surveys and a simulation experiment. All studies found that the specificity of the explanation′s substance accounted for more variance in judgments of explanation adequacy than did the interpersonal sensitivity of the explanation′s delivery. Moderators of the relationship between explanation features and perceptions of explanation adequacy were found as well: These explanation features enhanced the perceived adequacy of explanations more when outcomes of greater, rather than lesser, severity were being explained, and when the explanation was delivered verbally instead of in writing. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Relationship of Connected and Separate Knowing to Parental Style and Birth Order

A total of 249 primarily middle-class, Caucasian college students (141 females, 108 males) completed the Knowing Styles Inventory (KSI) (Knight, Elfenbein, & Messina, 1995) to measure Connected and Separate Knowing and the Parental Authority Questionnaire (PAQ) (Buri, 1991), used to measure different parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive parenting). Authoritative parenting style of the mother was positively associated with Connected Knowing, while authoritative parenting style of the father was negatively related to Separate Knowing for both the female and male participants of the study. For the female participants only, permissive parenting style of the father was positively related to Separate Knowing. It was also found that first-born college students scored significantly higher on Separate Knowing than later-born students. The results suggest that family experiences may be precursors to the epistemologies of college students.     

On the nature of the decision axis in signal-detection-based models of recognition memory

Most models of recognition memory involve a signal-detection component in which a criterion is placed along a decision axis. Older models generally assume a familiarity-decision axis, but newer models often assume a likelihood ratio axis instead because it allows for a more natural account of the ubiquitous mirror effect. In 3 experiments reported here, item strength was differentially manipulated to see whether a mirror effect would occur. Within a list, the items from 1 category were strengthened by repetition, but the items from another category were not. On the subsequent recognition test, the hit rate was higher for the strong category, but the false-alarm rates for the weak and strong categories were the same (i.e., no mirror effect was observed). This result suggests that the decision axis represents a familiarity scale and that participants adopt a single decision criterion that they maintain throughout the recognition test.     

On the Construct Validity of Integrity Tests: Individual and Situational Factors as Predictors of Test Performance

Although integrity tests are widely applied in screening job applicants, there is a need for research for examining the construct validity of these tests. In the present study, a theoretical model examining the causes of destructive behavior in organizational settings was used to develop background data measures of individual and situational variables that might be related to integrity test scores. Subsequently, 692 undergraduates were asked to complete these background data scales along with (a) two overt integrity tests – the Reid Report and the Personnel Selection Inventory, and (b) two personality‐based measures – the delinquency and socialization scales of the California Psychological Inventory. When scores of these measures were correlated with and regressed on the background data scales, it was found that relevant individual variables, such as narcissism and power motives, and relevant situational variables, such as alienation and exposure to negative peer groups, were related to scores on both types of integrity tests. However, a stronger pattern of validity evidence was obtained for the personality‐based measures and, in all cases, situational variables were found to be better predictors than individual variables. The implications of these findings for the validity of inferences drawn from overt and personality‐based integrity tests are discussed.     

Place learning in virtual space III: Investigation of spatial navigation training procedures and their application to fMRI and clinical neuropsychology

This paper describes the utilization of a desktop virtual environment task, the Computer-Generated (C-G) Arena, in the study of human spatial navigation. First, four experiments examined the efficacy of various training procedures in the C-G Arena. In Experiment 1, participants efficiently located a hidden target after only observing the virtual environment from a fixed position (placement learning). In Experiment 2, participants efficiently located a hidden target after only observing an experimenter search the virtual environment (observational learning). In Experiment 3, participants failed to display alatent learning effect in the virtual environment. In Experiment 4, all training procedures effectively taught participants the layout of the virtual environment, but the observational learning procedure most effectivelytaught participants the location of a hidden target within the environment. Finally, two experiments demonstrated the application of C-G Arena procedures to neuroimaging (Experiment 5) and neuropsychological (Experiment 6) investigations of human spatial navigation.