Genetic and environmental explanations of juvenile violence in advantaged and disadvantaged environments

This study tests the proposition derived from behavioral genetic theory that genetics and environmental variables have different effects across different environments. I examine the effects of intellectual imbalance [performance IQ (P) significantly greater than verbal IQ (V)] a variable assumed to be heritable to some extent, and love deprivation, a composite variable consisting of various indices of parental abuse and neglect, on violent delinquency within different socioeconomic status (SES) environments. The findings are consistent with behavioral genetic theory, in that love deprivation could not explain any unique variance in violent delinquency after P > V explained all that it could in the advantaged environment (49.5%), and P > V could not explain any unique variance in the disadvantaged environment after love deprivation explained all that it could (28.8%). It was also found that love deprivation explains a highly significant 30.5% of the variance in P > V among SES-disadvantaged subjects, thus supporting those who posit that environmental disadvantages contribute significantly to intellectual imbalance. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

The Importance of Construct Validity in Consumer Research

Vosgerau, Scopelliti, and Huh (2020) question the construct validity of the most commonly used measures of self‐control and argue that many studies that claim to be examining self‐control may in fact be examining something else. In this comment, we generalize this argument and propose that this criticism could be leveraged against many other areas of consumer research. Indeed, many studies fail to properly establish the construct validity of their measures. Consequently, they may not be examining the construct they purport to be studying, which can lead to unreliable and conflicting findings.     

Thought-shape fusion in anorexia nervosa: an experimental investigation

Cognitive biases and cognitive distortions have been implicated as important factors in the development and maintenance of many disorders. The concept of thought-shape fusion (TSF) in eating disorders was developed by Shafran, Teachman, Kerry, and Rachman (British Journal of Clinical Psychology 38 (1999) 167) as a variant of thought-action fusion, described by Shafran, Thordarson and Rachman (Journal of Anxiety Disorders 10 (1996) 379). TSF occurs when thinking about eating certain types of food increases a person's estimate of their shape and/or weight, elicits a perception of moral wrongdoing, and/or makes the person feel fat. Shafran et al. (1999) examined both the psychometric and experimental properties of TSF in an undergraduate sample. This paper reports an extension of this work to a clinical group (N=20) of patients with anorexia nervosa. After completing a set of relevant questionnaires, participants were asked to think about a food which they considered extremely fattening. They were then asked to write out the sentence, "I am eating--.", inserting the name of the fattening food in the blank. After being asked to rate their anxiety, guilt, feelings about their weight, morality, etc., participants were given the opportunity to neutralize their statement in any way they chose. The majority of the participants neutralized in ways consistent with the findings of Shafran et al. (1999). The results are discussed in terms of cognitive-behavioural formulations of eating disorders, and of the influence of cognitive biases and cognitive distortions on the processing of information relevant to food, weight and shape in anorexia nervosa.     

Eat,drink, and be merry,for tomorrow we diet: effects of anticipated deprivation on food intake in restrained and unrestrained eaters

This study examined the effect of anticipated food deprivation on intake in restrained and unrestrained eaters. Participants were randomly assigned to a diet condition, in which they expected to diet for a week, or to a control (no-diet) condition. Immediately after being assigned to a condition, participants completed a taste-rating task in which food consumption was measured. Restrained eaters in the diet condition consumed significantly more food than did restrained eaters in the no-diet condition or unrestrained eaters in either condition. Unrestrained eaters consumed the same amount regardless of condition. These results confirm that merely planning to go on a diet can trigger overeating in restrained eaters, reflecting the dynamic connection between dieting and overeating.     

The accessibility of characters in single sentences: proper names,common nouns,and first mention

Accessibility of characters in two-character sentences (e.g., The butler helped Calvin at the wedding reception) was investigated with a probe recognition task. Probes were either the first character (e.g., butler) or the second character (e.g., Calvin) in a sentence and were designated by proper names or common nouns crossed with name or noun nonprobes. Results show that (1) probes in first position are more accessible than those in second position, but not when noun probes are paired with name nonprobes, (2) characters designated by names are generally more accessible than those designated by nouns, and (3) the first name in a sentence is more available than other characters, regardless of position. Thus, accessibility of characters in a sentence seems dependent on discourse function, with named characters seen as main characters, rather than on nondiscourse-related factors, such as temporal distinctiveness.     

Do Positive Self-Perceptions Have a “Dark Side”? Examination of the Link between Perceptual Bias and Aggression

The hypothesis that positive self-perceptions may have a dark side was investigated in the present study by examining the relationship between positively biased self-perceptions and aggression. Ratings of actual and perceived social acceptance of third-grade (n = 278), fourth-grade (n = 260), and fifth-grade (n = 321) students were compared to form a measure of perceptual bias. Peers provided nominations for overt and relational aggression. Gender differences were found for aggression (males were more overtly and relationally aggressive than females) but not perceptual bias. African-American children held more positive perceptions of their social acceptance and were perceived by peers as more aggressive than Caucasian children. Even after controlling for the effects of gender and ethnicity, more positively biased perceptions were associated with more peer nominations for overt and relational aggression. Contrary to an optimal range of bias hypothesis, even moderately positive self-perceptions were associated with elevated levels of aggression.     

Word Frequency Effects on the Processing of Subject–Verb Number Agreement

This paper examines the role of word frequency in the computation of subject–verb number agreement. Previous research in both production and comprehension has demonstrated that processing difficulties can arise in sentence structures containing a singular subject noun followed by a plural distractor noun, as in The key to the cabinets.¨ A whole sentence reading task was employed to determine whether the relative frequency with which the distractor noun appears in its singular or plural form would affect the degree of processing difficulty experienced by readers. Results suggest that the agreement process is, indeed, sensitive to this factor and this finding is compatible with activation-based accounts of the implementation of number agreement.