Effects of retrieval practice on consumer memory for brand attributes

The effect of retrieval practice on memory for brand attributes was examined. Participants were presented with advertisements for fictional products so each contained a number of brand attributes relating to the nature of the product and its qualities. Following this, participants practiced recalling a subset of those attributes either 3 or 6 times. The act of retrieving some brand information inhibited the recall of other brand information that was not practiced, but only when repeated retrieval practice took place 6 times. This is the first demonstration of inhibitory effects in consumers' memory using the retrieval practice paradigm.     

Environmental context effects in conceptual explicit and implicit memory

Previous research has found environmental context effects for both conceptual explicit and conceptual implicit memory (Parker, Gellatly, & Waterman, 1999). The research presented here challenges these findings on methodological grounds. Experiment 1 assessed the effects of context change on category-exemplar generation (conceptual implicit memory test) and category-cued recall (conceptual explicit memory test). Experiment 2 assessed the effects of context change on word association (conceptual implicit memory test) and word associate cued recall (conceptual explicit memory test). In both experiments, study-test changes in environmental context were found to influence performance only on tests of explicit memory. It is concluded that when retrieval cues across explicit and implicit tests are matched, and the probability of explicit contamination is reduced, then only conceptual explicit test performance is reduced by study-test changes in environmental context.     

Text or talk? Social anxiety, loneliness, and divergent preferences for cell phone use.

This paper investigates whether social anxiety and loneliness lead to contrasting beliefs and preferences among cell phone users towards texting and talking on their cell phones. Three hypotheses are examined: (1) that social anxiety and loneliness are differentially associated with generalized preferences either for texting or for talking on the cell phone, (2) that these preferences are linked to contrasting beliefs concerning the social functionality of the short message service (SMS), and (3) that these divergent beliefs mediate the effects of social anxiety and loneliness on cell phone users' generalized preferences for texting or talking. Results from an Internet questionnaire (N=158) showed that, whilst lonely participants preferred making voice calls and rated texting as a less intimate method of contact, anxious participants preferred to text, and rated it a superior medium for expressive and intimate contact. These divergent beliefs accounted for 36% and 16% of the variance in preference for texting and voice calls, respectively, and significantly attenuated the influence of loneliness and social anxiety when they were added to the regression equations for these measures. Results are discussed in terms of the hyperpersonal possibilities of mobile communications technologies.     

Predicting short-term outcome in well-being following suicidal behaviour: the conjoint effects of social perfectionism and positive future thinking

This study investigated an integrative, psychological model of suicidality involving the relationship between perfectionism and future thinking to predict short-term outcome in well-being following a suicidal episode. Two hundred and sixty-seven adults hospitalized following a self-harm episode completed a range of clinical and psychological measures in hospital and were followed up approximately two months after discharge. Hierarchical regression analyses confirmed that, among the suicidal self-harmers who had a history of repetitive self-harm (n=65), outcome among low social perfectionists changed as a function of positive future thinking such that outcome was better for those high on positive thoughts compared with those low on positive future thoughts. There was no such positive change in outcome among the high social perfectionists. There were also no significant interactive effects evident among the non-repetitive self-harmers (n=61). These findings extend recent research to suggest that socially prescribed perfectionism and positive future thinking (but not negative future thinking) are implicated in outcome following repetitive suicidality. Implications for theory and clinical practice are discussed.     

Ready to make nice: parental socialization of young sons' and daughters' prosocial behaviors with peers

In this study, the authors examined the extent to which maternal and paternal parenting styles, cognitions, and behaviors were associated with young girls' and boys' more compassionate (prototypically feminine) and more agentic (prototypically masculine) prosocial behaviors with peers. Parents of 133 preschool-aged children reported on their authoritative parenting style, attributions for children's prosocial behavior, and responses to children's prosocial behavior. Approximately 6 months later, children's more feminine and more masculine prosocial behaviors were observed during interactions with unfamiliar peers and reported on by their preschool teachers. Boys and girls did not differ in the observed and teacher-reported measures of prosocial behavior. Compared to other parents, fathers of boys were less likely to express affection or respond directly to children's prosocial behavior. Mothers' authoritative style, internal attributions for prosocial behavior, and positive responses to prosocial behavior predicted girls' displays of more feminine prosocial actions and boys' displays of more masculine prosocial actions toward peers. Relations were similar but weaker for fathers' parenting, and after accounting for mother' scores, fathers' scores accounted for unique variance in only one analysis: Teachers reported more masculine prosocial behavior in boys of fathers who discussed prosocial behavior. Overall, the results support a model of parental socialization of sex-typed prosocial behavior and indicate that mothers contribute more strongly than do fathers to both daughters' and sons' prosocial development.     

Individual differences in adult decision-making competence

The authors evaluated the reliability and validity of a set of 7 behavioral decision-making tasks, measuring different aspects of the decision-making process. The tasks were administered to individuals from diverse populations. Participants showed relatively consistent performance within and across the 7 tasks, which were then aggregated into an Adult Decision-Making Competence (A-DMC) index that showed good reliability. The validity of the 7 tasks and of overall A-DMC emerges in significant relationships with measures of socioeconomic status, cognitive ability, and decision-making styles. Participants who performed better on the A-DMC were less likely to report negative life events indicative of poor decision making, as measured by the Decision Outcomes Inventory. Significant predictive validity remains when controlling for demographic measures, measures of cognitive ability, and constructive decision-making styles. Thus, A-DMC appears to be a distinct construct relevant to adults' real-world decisions.     

Reexamining the factor structure of the 20-item Toronto alexithymia scale: commentary on Gignac, Palmer, and Stough

Gignac, Palmer, and Stough (2007/this issue) test a number of different latent factor models for the TAS-20 using a community sample of 355 participants and conclude that this scale is best represented by a "nested factors model," with five substantive factors and a method factor. Gignac et al. also report that the correlated three-factor model and a comparable higher order model supported by most studies produced poor levels of incremental close fit. In this article, we challenge Gignac et al.'s unheralded and largely unsupported use of nested model fitting and the uncritical acceptance of exceptionally high cutoff levels to assess goodness of fit (GOF). Using more traditional and empirically supported model testing procedures and a more flexible approach to the interpretation of multiple tests of GOF, we interpret Gignac et al.'s results as actually supportive of the traditional three-factor model and one that has been recovered in 17 of the 24 factor analytic studies of the TAS-20.     

The contribution of the thumb to reaching movements

Transport of the hand towards an object and the formation of grasp are logically separable components of reaching. It has been suggested that, although the two components must be temporally co-ordinated, their spatial parameters are under the control of independent visuo-motor channels. A case study of reaching by a proficient user of a manually-operated artificial hand is presented. A pattern of natural hand usage was observed in which the index finger rather than the thumb was responsible for reduction of grasp aperture as the hand approached an object. The same pattern of usage was also observed in the artificial hand even though the mechanics of that hand make it no easier to move the finger than the thumb. This suggests that the relative stability of the thumb in the natural hand is determined, not simply by anatomy, but by a role in guiding the transport component of reaching. At least part of the spatial aspect of grasp formation is closely related to the transport component of reaching and this is evidence against theories postulating two independent visuo-motor channels controlling the spatial parameters of grasp and transport.     

Singularity in Beauvoir's The Ethics of Ambiguity

Though it has gone unnoticed so far in Beauvoir Studies, the term “singularity” is a technical one for Simone de Beauvoir. In the first half of the essay I discuss two reasons why this term has been obscured. First, as is well known Beauvoir has not been read in the context of the history of philosophy until recently. Second, in The Ethics of Ambiguity at least, singularité is translated both inconsistently and quite misleadingly. In the second half of the essay I attempt to demonstrate the importance of this term in The Ethics. The will to disclose being is the will to disclose the singularity of the other, whether human, land, sky or painting. Ambiguity, which Beauvoir distinguishes from absurdity in Camus, is an image suggesting this necessarily mutual disclosure of singularity.