An Operant Electromagnetic Chamber

Forty-eight middle-class fathers having their first child were divided into three groups: An Experimental Group received a demonstration of physical and behavioral characteristics of their own infants resulting in a doubling of the usual time for interaction during the first two days. A Hospital Group spent the same amount of time viewing a prepared videotape of the same characteristics of a newborn infant who was not theirs. An Office Control Group, without experimental intervention, was recruited to control for effects of demand characteristics of the experimental situation. All three groups attended their infants' one-month well-baby examination where outcome measures were obtained. Analyses of variance showed no differences between groups on demographic or pregnancy variables. Further, 108 analyses of variance for 36 father and infant behaviors scored from videotapes did not reveal significant group differences. It is argued that in addition to amount of early contact and sex of parent, crucial socioeconomic factors need to be considered.     

Aspects of Psychosomatic Orchidalgia

Children aged 5 to 9 years matched the shape of (a) small squares embedded in large rectangles and (b) small rectangles embedded in large squares. Predictions made were that (a) the influence of the whole on the perception of the part would be greatest at the 5-year-old level and (b) this effect of the whole would make the parts look to the child somewhat like the whole figure of which the part is a member. Both predictions were supported by the data. The 5-year-olds perceived the small squares as more rectangular, and the small rectangles as more square-like, significantly more than the older age groups, each result representing a shift towards the shape of the whole configuration.     

Relational Security Moderates the Effect of Serotonin Transporter Gene Polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) on Stress Generation and Depression among Adolescents

Previous research demonstrates that carriers of the short allele of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) show both greater susceptibility to depression in response to stressful life events and higher rates of generation of stressful events in response to depression. The current study examines relational security (i.e., self-reported beliefs about attachment security) as a moderator of these effects, building on emerging research suggesting that the short allele acts as a marker of sensitivity to the social environment. Participants were 354 Caucasian adolescents oversampled for maternal depression (137 male, 217 female), assessed at ages 15 and 20. Results indicated that the short allele predicted increased stress generation at age 20 among those with low age 15 security but decreased stress generation among those with high security, and revealed a three-way interaction between age 15 depression, age 15 security, and genotype, where depression predicted stress generation only among short allele carriers with low security. Further, among boys only, security interacted with genotype to predict longitudinal changes in depression diagnosis, with the s-allele predicting relative increases in probability of depression among boys with low security but decreases among boys with high security. Results support the notion of the short allele as a marker of social reactivity, and suggest that attachment security may buffer against the genetic vulnerability introduced by the short allele, in line with predictions of the differential susceptibility theory.     

Filling some gaps in market mavenism research

Since Feick and Price introduced the concept of market mavenism almost 30 years ago, researchers have accumulated a large body of empirical findings describing market maven attitudes, behaviors, and characteristics. Surprisingly, only a few studies examine the relationship between market mavenism and its personality antecedents represented by the Big Five theory. In addition, 2 consequences of mavenism, brand loyalty and frugality, have not been studied. The present study contributes to understanding mavenism by filling some gaps in this body of knowledge by using data from a sample of 351 adult US consumers. The findings reveal moderate positive associations of mavenism with openness to experience, extraversion, and agreeableness and weak positive associations with conscientiousness and emotional stability. They also show that market mavenism is positively related to frugality and negatively related to brand loyalty. The findings also confirm that mavens shop more and buy more than other consumers do. These findings continue to expand our understanding of market mavenism and provide insights that marketing managers might use as they factor mavenism into their strategies. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Early Developmental Trajectories Toward Concepts of Rational Numbers

Difficulties with rational numbers have been explained by a natural number bias, where concepts of natural numbers are inappropriately applied to rational numbers. Overcoming this difficulty may require a radical restructuring of previous knowledge. In order to capture this development, we examined third- to fifth-grade students' understanding of the size of rational numbers across a 1-year period. On three occasions, students answered a test about the size of decimals and fractions. Latent transition analysis allowed profiling five different rational number size concepts and mapping students' developmental trajectories during the early learning of this topic. Development from natural number-based reasoning to mathematically correct understanding was almost nonexistent during this time period. Instead, students appear to move through intermediary concepts. Locating these temporary and mediating number concepts supports the idea of a slow and gradually developing conceptual change in rational numbers.     

Executive turnover: the influence of dispersion and other pay system characteristics

Using tournament theory as a guiding theoretical framework, in this study, we assess the organizational implications of pay dispersion and other pay system characteristics on the likelihood of turnover among individual executives in organizational teams. Specifically, we estimate the effect of these pay system characteristics on executive turnover decisions. We use a multi-industry, multilevel data set composed of executives in publicly held firms to assess the effects of pay dispersion at the individual level. Consistent with previous findings, we find that pay dispersion is associated with an increased likelihood of executive turnover. In addition, we find that other pay characteristics also affect turnover, both directly and through a moderating effect on pay dispersion. Turnover is more likely when executives receive lower portions of overall top management team compensation and when they have more pay at risk. These conditions also moderate the relationship between pay dispersion and individual turnover decisions, as does receiving lower compensation relative to the market.     

The transmission of support: a Bayesian re-analysis

Crispin Wright’s discussion of the notion of ‘transmission-failure’ promises to have important philosophical ramifications, both in epistemology and beyond. This paper offers a precise, formal characterisation of the concept within a Bayesian framework. The interpretation given avoids the serious shortcomings of a recent alternative proposal due to Samir Okasha.     

Social anxiety, reasons for drinking, and college students

Recent research suggests that social anxiety may be associated with higher rates of alcohol problems in women, yet may be associated with lower levels of drinking in men. The current study investigated putative mechanisms that may underlie potential gender differences in the social anxiety-alcohol relationship. One hundred and eighteen college students (61.0% women) completed an interview assessing drinking behaviors and questionnaires measuring social anxiety, drinking motives, and drinking situations. Although college men and women both reported similar frequencies of drinking in positive situations and to enhance positive emotions, women reported drinking more often in negative situations and to cope with aversive emotions than men. Mediated moderation analyses suggested that women with social anxiety may be at greater risk of encountering adverse consequences because of their likelihood to drink to conform or to cope with the aversive affect they experience in negative situations. Conversely, when men experience high rates of adverse consequences, it may be due to drinking greater quantities of alcohol in positive situations. Highly socially anxious college men may drink less alcohol and experience fewer adverse consequences than their nonanxious or mildly anxious counterparts because they may find themselves in positive situations and drinking to enhance positive feelings less often, potentially due to avoidant behavior. These findings may help to explain why social anxiety serves as a potential risk factor for alcohol-related problems for college women, but a protective factor for college men.     

Meta-analysis of the effects of third-wave behavioural interventions on disordered eating and body image concerns: implications for eating disorder prevention

Third-wave behavioural interventions are increasingly popular for treating and preventing mental health conditions. Recently, researchers have begun testing whether these interventions can effectively targeting eating disorder risk factors (disordered eating, body image concerns). This meta-analysis examined whether third-wave behavioural interventions (acceptance and commitment therapy; dialectical behaviour therapy; mindfulness-based interventions; compassion-focused therapy) show potential for being effective eating disorder prevention programs, by testing their effects on eating disorder risk factors in samples without an eating disorder. Twenty-four studies (13 randomized trials) were included. Most studies delivered selective prevention programs (i.e. participants who reported elevated risk factor). Third-wave interventions led to significant pre–post (g = 0.59; 95% CI = 0.43, 0.75) and follow-up (g = 0.83; 95% CI = 0.38, 1.28) improvements in disordered eating, and significant pre–post improvements in body image (g = 0.35; 95% CI = 0.13, 0.56). DBT-based interventions were associated with the largest effects. Third-wave interventions were also significantly more efficacious than wait-lists (g = 0.39; 95% CI = 0.09, 0.69) in reducing disordered eating, but did not differ to other interventions (g = 0.25; 95% CI = –0.06, 0.57). Preliminary evidence suggests that third-wave interventions may have a beneficial effect in ameliorating eating disorder risk.