Attitudes Toward Women and Motherhood: Their Role in Australian Women’s Childbearing Behaviour

Financial and employment concerns are frequently identified as salient factors in women’s childbearing behaviour in low fertility, developed countries. The contribution of attitudinal variables is not well understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between attitudes toward women and motherhood and women’s childbearing desires and outcomes. A broadly representative sample of 569 women aged 30–34 years living in Victoria, one Australian state, was recruited from the Australian Electoral Roll. Participants completed a self administered anonymous questionnaire which included a new measure of attitudes toward women and motherhood. Women with more traditional attitudes had larger desired and actual family sizes. The findings indicate that attitudes toward women and motherhood are related to women’s childbearing behaviour.     

Selective Visual Attention and Motivation: The Consequences of Value Learning in an Attentional Blink Task

ABSTRACT— Learning to associate the probability and value of behavioral outcomes with specific stimuli (value learning) is essential for rational decision making. However, in demanding cognitive conditions, access to learned values might be constrained by limited attentional capacity. We measured recognition of briefly presented faces seen previously in a value-learning task involving monetary wins and losses; the recognition task was performed both with and without constraints on available attention. Regardless of available attention, recognition was substantially enhanced for motivationally salient stimuli (i.e., stimuli highly predictive of outcomes), compared with equally familiar stimuli that had weak or no motivational salience, and this effect was found regardless of valence (win or loss). However, when attention was constrained (because stimuli were presented during an attentional blink, AB), valence determined recognition; win-associated faces showed no AB, but all other faces showed large ABs. Motivational salience acts independently of attention to modulate simple perceptual decisions, but when attention is limited, visual processing is biased in favor of reward-associated stimuli.     

Contributions of weight perceptions to weight loss attempts: Differences by body mass index and gender

Previous studies have consistently observed that women are more likely to perceive themselves as overweight compared to men. Similarly, women are more likely than men to report trying to lose weight. Less is known about the impact that self-perceived weight has on weight loss behaviors of adults and whether this association differs by gender. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis among an employee sample (n = 899) to determine the association of self-perceived weight on evidence-based weight loss behaviors across genders, accounting for body mass index (BMI) and demographic characteristics. Women were more likely than men to consider themselves to be overweight across each BMI category, and were more likely to report attempting to lose weight. However, perceiving oneself to be overweight was a strong correlate for weight loss attempts across both genders. The effect of targeting accuracy of self-perceived weight status in weight loss interventions deserves research attention.     

EFFECTS OF STIMULANT MEDICATION UNDER VARIED MOTIVATIONAL OPERATIONS

We evaluated the evocative effects of four conditions (high‐ and low‐preference activities, low and divided attention) and stimulant medication on the behavior of a 16‐year‐old boy with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and moderate mental retardation. All behavior (activity engagement, activity changes, inappropriate touching, rude behaviors, and physical aggression) improved with stimulant medication in most conditions, but undesirable behaviors were not reduced to acceptable levels in all conditions. This finding suggests that stimulant medication may be a valuable adjunct to function‐based interventions.     

Philosophy for Children and the Extrinsic Value of Academic Philosophy

External pressure on Higher Education Institutes in the United Kingdom has brought the question of the extrinsic value of academic philosophy into focus. One line of research into questions about the extrinsic value of philosophy comes from the Philosophy for Children (P4C) movement. There is a large body of literature about the benefits of P4C. This paper argues that the distinctive nature of the P4C pedagogy limits the claims made by the P4C literature about the extrinsic value of philosophy to claims about the value of P4C. While this is not a problem within the P4C literature that recognises these limitations, the paper makes three claims about why it is sometimes inappropriate to extend claims from research into the value of P4C to claims about the value of non-P4C philosophy. It argues that more research is needed to investigate the value of non-P4C philosophy.     

Asking an eyewitness to predict their later lineup performance could harm the confidence–accuracy relationship

Few studies have investigated eyewitnesses' ability to predict their later lineup performance, known as predecision confidence. We applied calibration analysis in two experiments comparing predecision confidence (immediately after encoding but prior to a lineup) to postdecision confidence (immediately after a lineup) to determine which produces a superior relationship with lineup decision accuracy. Experiment 1 (N = 177) featured a multiple-block lineup recognition paradigm featuring several targets and lineups; Experiment 2 featured an eyewitness identification paradigm with a mock-crime video and a single lineup for each participant (N = 855). Across both experiments, postdecision confidence discriminated well between correct and incorrect lineup decisions, but predecision confidence was a poor predictor of accuracy. Moreover, simply asking for predecision confidence weakened the postdecision confidence–accuracy relationship. This implies that police should exercise caution when interviewing eyewitnesses, as they should not be asked to predict their ability to make an accurate lineup decision.     

Book Received

Book reviewed in this article:
Marcia Mentkowski and Associates, Learning That Lasts: Integrating Learning, Development, and Performance in College and Beyond