Interactions between early parenting and a polymorphism of the child's dopamine transporter gene in predicting future child conduct disorder symptoms

Mounting evidence suggests that genetic risks for mental disorders often interact with the social environment, but most studies still ignore environmental moderation of genetic influences. The authors tested interactions between maternal parenting and the variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphism in the 3' untranslated region of the dopamine transporter gene in the child to increase understanding of gene-environment interactions involving early parenting. Participants were part of a 9-year longitudinal study of 4- to 6-year-old children who met criteria for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and demographically matched controls. Maternal parenting was observed during standard mother-child interactions in Wave 1. The child's conduct disorder (CD) symptoms 5-8 years later were measured using separate structured diagnostic interviews of the mother and youth. Controlling for ADHD symptoms and child disruptive behavior during the mother-child interaction, there was a significant inverse relation between levels of both positive and negative parenting at 4-6 years and the number of later CD symptoms, but primarily among children with 2 copies of the 9-repeat allele of the VNTR. The significant interaction with negative parenting was replicated in parent and youth reports of CD symptoms separately.     

Trajectory of risky decision making for potential gains and losses from ages 5 to 85

The ability to make advantageous decisions in the face of uncertainty is an essential human skill, yet the development of such abilities over the lifespan is still not well understood. In the current study, from childhood through older adulthood, we tracked the developmental trajectory of risk taking for gains and losses, and expected value (EV) sensitivity in risky choices. In the gain domain, risk‐taking decreased consistently across the lifespan. In the loss domain, risk‐taking was relatively constant across ages, a result we attribute to the pervasiveness of loss aversion. EV sensitivity showed an inverted‐U‐shaped function, increasing from childhood to adulthood but then decreasing for the elderly, which occurred for both risky gains and risky losses. This finding is consistent with neuropsychological and neuroanatomical evidence concerning the role of the frontal lobe in decision making, which is relatively late to develop during childhood but may degrade earlier in the later years. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Effects of Protestant Theological Conservatism and Trust on Environmental Cooperation

Recent studies indicate that Protestant theological conservatism is associated with lower levels of generalized trust. In this article, we ask: What are the implications of theological conservatives’ lower trust levels? Specifically, does their lower trust impact environmental cooperation? Past research finds that trust promotes cooperation, and we theorize that because theological conservatism undermines trust, it should negatively impact cooperation directly. Thus, we suggest an interaction between trust and theological conservatism on cooperation. We test the arguments in the context of environmental social dilemmas, including decisions about recycling, water and energy consumption, and individuals’ willingness to protect the environment, using data from the 2010 General Social Survey. Our results support the theory that trust levels among Protestant theological conservatism more acutely undermine environmental cooperation, and we further discuss the implications of these findings.     

Did you see the unicycling clown? Inattentional blindness while walking and talking on a cell phone

We investigated the effects of divided attention during walking. Individuals were classified based on whether they were walking while talking on a cell phone, listening to an MP3 player, walking without any electronics or walking in a pair. In the first study, we found that cell phone users walked more slowly, changed directions more frequently, and were less likely to acknowledge other people than individuals in the other conditions. In the second study, we found that cell phone users were less likely to notice an unusual activity along their walking route (a unicycling clown). Cell phone usage may cause inattentional blindness even during a simple activity that should require few cognitive resources. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Special random numbers: Beyond the illusion of control

Previous research has shown that gamblers prefer numbers they choose themselves because this choice allows them to feel more in control of the (random) outcome. We identify other conditions under which people find numbers “special” (i.e., worthy of betting more on than other numbers). By manipulating gambling task type and assigning participants a number by an endogenous system outside their own control (as is done in numerology, astrology, and other paranormal systems), we find that indeed people prefer to bet on numbers derived from particular special systems. The mechanism underlying this preference is enjoyment with the task—not control. Further, the enjoyment associated with this “specialness” is related to the prevalence of certain types of numbers (i.e., numbers based on dates and names) in the fortune-telling world and not to other factors such as individuality or even belief in the associated system. We replicate these findings using actual money and show that this prevalence-to-enjoyment link already exists in memory for dates and names and is activated and strengthened by priming the fortune-telling systems relevant to those special random numbers. Finally, we present a model of special random numbers that integrates our findings with other determinants of valuation such as regret and subjective probability. Our results expand the realm of special random numbers beyond control. Our enjoyment model has implications not only for understanding gambling, but also for understanding how reasoning under uncertainty is influenced by little-understood phenomena (such as fortune-telling systems) without affecting subjective probability or actual beliefs.     

Sex Differences in Simple Visual Reaction Time: A Historical Meta-Analysis

To test the hypothesis that the magnitude of sex differences in simple visual reaction time (RT) has narrowed across time, a meta-analysis was conducted on 72 effect sizes derived from 21 studies (n=15,003) published over a 73-year period. The analysis provided strong evidence for the hypothesized change. In addition, the analysis indicated that the sex difference in RT was on average smaller with non-U.S. samples than with U.S. samples. No relation was found between the magnitude of the sex difference in RT and age or presence vs. absence of a warning signal. Two factors–-participation in fast-action sports and driving–-are proposed as having been responsible for the decrease in the magnitude of the sex differences in simple visual RT across time.     

Rational Emotive and Cognitive Behavior Therapy with Adult Male Offenders

Criminal behaviour has devastating effects upon society. Cognitive therapy, broadly defined, has been shown to be effective with offenders. REBT philosophy, in particular, appears ideally suited to treating this heterogeneous population. Although this chapter focuses on adult male offenders, the presented principles apply to most offender groups. Fundamentals and research support of empirically supported treatment are presented. Common clinical challenges are discussed, and case examples illustrate general principles.     

Selection of strategies for narrowing choice options: Antecedents and consequences

This study investigates the antecedents (task and decision maker characteristics) and consequences (set size and decision quality) of prescreening strategy selection. In Experiment 1 we investigated which strategy, inclusion or exclusion, is more natural for narrowing choices in tasks with a single correct answer; about 70% of the participants selected exclusion. Experiment 2 directly contrasted correct answer tasks with personal judgment tasks, using the same foils for the two tasks. Participants were more likely to use exclusion for items with a correct answer than for personal judgments. In Experiment 3, participants could choose different strategies for different items and rated the difficulty of each item. The greater the perceived difficulty of an item, the more likely participants were to choose an exclusion strategy. In all three experiments exclusion led to larger set sizes, across task type and experimental design. There were no differences in decision quality as a function of strategy selection after correcting for set size. Individual differences based on personality inventories were not found to be good predictors of strategy selection, but had moderate effects on set size for personal judgment tasks. Results are discussed in terms of a status quo bias for adding or deleting options from an initial reference frame.