Numerity of a socially housed hamadryas baboon (Papio hamadryas) and a socially housed squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus)

To extend a study conducted by E. M. Brannon and H. S. Terrace (1998, 2000), the authors trained 1 hamadryas baboon (Papio hamadryas) and 1 squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus) to respond to stimuli representing the numerosities 1-4 in ascending order. When tested with novel stimuli of the same numerosities, both subjects' performance appeared to be based on the numerical attributes of stimuli. Subjects were then tested on their ability to order pairs of numerosities derived from the values 1-9. Both subjects successfully ordered pairs that included the untrained numerosities 5-9 regardless of the total surface area of numerosities. Accuracy and latency of responding also showed numerical distance and magnitude effects. Numerosity was a salient cue to both subjects, suggesting that these 2 families of primates perceive ordinal relations. The outcome shows that cognitive studies of this type can be effectively conducted with socially housed animals.     

Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire profiles of veterans with traumatic combat exposure: externalizing and internalizing subtypes

This study used the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ; A. Tellegen, in press) to identify personality-based subtypes of posttraumatic response. Cluster analyses of MPQs completed by combat veterans revealed subgroups that differed on measures relating to the externalization versus internalization of distress. The MPQ profile of the externalizing cluster was defined by low Constraint and Harmavoidance coupled with high Alienation and Aggression. Individuals in this cluster also had histories of delinquency and high rates of substance-related disorder. In comparison, the MPQ profile of the internalizing cluster was characterized by lower Positive Emotionality, Alienation, and Aggression and higher Constraint, and individuals in this cluster showed high rates of depressive disorder. These findings suggest that dispositions toward externalizing versus internalizing psychopathology may account for heterogeneity in the expression of posttraumatic responses, including patterns of comorbidity.     

When a reappearance is old news: visual marking survives occlusion

Performance in a visual search task becomes more efficient if half of the distractors are presented before the rest of the stimuli. This "preview benefit" may partly be due to inhibition of the old (previewed) items. The preview effect is abolished, however, if the old items offset briefly before reappearing (D. G. Watson & G. W. Humphreys, 1997). The authors examined whether this offset effect still occurred if the old items undergo occlusion. Results show that a preview benefit was found when the old items were occluded but not otherwise, consistent with the idea of top-down attentional inhibition being applied to the old items. The preview benefit is attenuated, however, by movement of the irrelevant stimuli in the displays.     

Instructions to authors

Instructions for Authors

Instructions to authors     

In search of the good life: a cultural odyssey in the East and West

In the first part of this article, the authors argue that any conception of well-being is culturally embedded and depends on how the notions of "well" and "being" are defined and practiced in different cultural communities. To support this argument, they conduct a comprehensive review of the empirical literature, which shows that members of individualistic and collectivistic cultures differ in their emotional experience of well-being. This difference has been traced to the indigenous psychology of selfhood in those cultures. In the second part of the article, the authors debunk the myth of infinite cultural variability, while retaining the basic insight concerning the cultural constitution of well-being. They develop a theoretical model of well-being, in which agency and communion are universal dimensions of well-being, and people in different cultures require different combinations of agency and communion to experience well-being. Following this theoretical development, the authors examine cultural impediments to the good life in individualistic and collectivistic cultures. The mutual incompatibility of agency and communion is ruled out as a possible cause of why it is so difficult to live the good life. Instead, the authors propose a dialectical synthesis of agency and communion as a way of dealing with this challenge of living the good life.     

Coping Self-Efficacy as a Mediator of Distress Following a Natural Disaster

Social-cognitive theory and conservation-of-resources theory were utilized to understand individual differences in psychological response to natural disaster. Coping self-efficacy, lost resources, social support, and optimism were assessed along with demographic variables in predicting distress following Hurricane Opal. Participants included 67 residents of Okaloosa County, Florida. Multiple regression analyses indicated that coping self-efficacy was the strongest predictor of general distress and trauma-related distress. Loss of resources and gender were also important predictors of general distress. Path analyses demonstrated that lost resources directly influenced general distress, social support, optimism, and coping self-efficacy. These analyses also indicated that coping self-efficacy perceptions mediated the relationships between loss of resources and trauma-related distress, social support and both trauma and general distress, and optimism and both types of distress. Theoretical implications are discussed.     

Alcohol in the Movies: Characteristics of Drinkers and Nondrinkers in Films From 1940 to 1989

We examined depictions of alcohol use in 100 popular films spanning 5 decades. Drinkers were depicted as more attractive, more romantically/sexually active, more aggressive, and having a higher socioeconomic status than nondrinkers. No systematic changes were found across decades that might reflect the growing knowledge base regarding the adverse effects of alcohol use. We compared the depiction of alcohol use in movies to real-world demographics and found that alcohol use in movies is somewhat glamorized.     

Interrelationships among biological markers of aging, health, activity, acculturation, and cognitive performance in late adulthood

In this study a structural equation model of predictors of age differences in cognitive performance in late adulthood was developed. Biological markers of aging (vision, hearing, vibration sense, forced expiratory volume, and grip strength) were used as indicators of a latent variable called BioAge. A sample of 180 community-dwelling women aged 60 to 90 years was assessed. Results showed that BioAge explained all of the age-related variance in cognitive test performance. Physical health and physical activity had direct effects on BioAge. Measures of acculturation explained non-age-related variance in cognitive test performance. Some variables used as biomarkers also explained individual differences in measures of crystallized intelligence and perceptual speed. It is concluded that the association between biomarkers and cognition in old age is due to more than a common statistical association with age.