Development of dopaminergic genetic associations with visuospatial,verbal and social working memory

Dopamine transmission in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) supports working memory (WM), the temporary holding, processing and manipulation of information in one's mind. The gene coding the catechol‐O‐methyltransferase (COMT) enzyme, which degrades dopamine, in particular in the PFC, has a common single nucleotide polymorphism leading to two versions of the COMT enzyme which vary in their enzymatic activity. The methionine (Met) allele has been associated with higher WM performance and lower activation of the PFC in executive function tasks than the valine (Val) allele. In a previous study, COMT genotype was associated with performance on verbal and visuospatial WM tasks in adults, as well as with performance on a novel social WM paradigm that requires participants to maintain and manipulate information about the traits of their friends or family over a delay. Here, data collected in children and adolescents (N = 202) were compared to data from the adult sample (N = 131) to investigate possible age differences in genetic associations. Our results replicate and extend previous work showing that the pattern of superior WM performance observed in Met/Met adults emerges during development. These findings are consistent with a decrease in prefrontal dopamine levels during adolescence. Developmentally moderated genetic effects were observed for both visuospatial and social WM, even when controlling for non‐social WM performance, suggesting that the maintenance and manipulation of social information may also recruit the dopamine neurotransmitter system. These findings show that development should be considered when trying to understand the impact of genetic polymorphisms on cognitive function.     

Job and home attitudes of undergraduate women and their mothers

Seventy-seven undergraduate women and their mothers participated in a study of job/home attitudes. All subjects rated 10 conflict elements and 8 conflict types: mothers also rated the conflict elements and types retrospectively, as young adults, and responded to related open-ended questions. Cohort effects were stronger than historical period or stage-of-life effects. Mothers' current and retrospective responses both indicated significantly more interest, confidence, and perceived external support for home-related than job-related activities, whereas daughters' responses reflected approximately equal interest, confidence, and support for home- and job-related activities.     

Infant sensitivity to shadow motions

Preferential looking experiments investigated 5- and 8-month-old infants' perception and understanding of the motions of a shadow that appeared to be cast by a ball upon a box. When all the surfaces within the display were stationary, infants looked reliably longer when the shadow moved than when the shadow was stationary, indicating that they detected the shadow and its motion. In further experiments, however, infants' looking was not consistent with a sensitivity to the shadow's natural motion: They looked longer at natural events in which the shadow moved with the ball or remained at rest under the moving box than at unnatural events in which the shadow moved with the box or remained at rest under the moving ball. These findings suggest that infants overextend to shadows a principle that applies to material objects: Objects move together if and only if they are in contact. In a final experiment, infants were habituated to a moving shadow that repeatedly violated one aspect of the contact principle. In a subsequent test they failed to infer that the shadow would violate another aspect of the contact principle. Instead, they appeared to suspend all predictions concerning the behavior of the shadow.     

Effects of Contrived information of Female and Male Performance on the Achievement Behavior of Preschool Girls and Boys1

Twenty-four girls and 24 boys enrolled in a university preschool were given two trials each to perform a marble-dropping task. After the first trial, subjects in the sex-appropriate condition were told that children of their sex perform the task better than children of the opposite sex. Subjects in the sex-inappropriate condition were told that children of their sex perform the task less well than children of the opposite sex. It was hypothesized that sex-appropriate subjects would set higher goals for Trial 2 than control subjects receiving no information and that sex-inappropriate subjects would set lower goals than control subjects. The hypotheses were not supported. Instead, children of both sexes set significantly higher goals when told that boys do better at the task. Interpretations of the results are offered.     

Promoting leadership behaviors in low performance-self-esteem women in task-oriented mixed-sex dyads1

Methods for promoting leadership behaviors in low performance-self-esteem women were explored in two studies. Female undergraduates were paired with male peers who had either very similar or much higher scores on the Performance-Self-Esteem Scale. The mixed-sex dyads in Study 1 were given either no leader, chance-based leader, or ability-based leader instructions. Study 2 included only the latter two conditions and allowed subjects preparation time between leader appointment and the dyadic interaction. All leader appointments were given to the female dyad member. Members' influence was measured by verbal interaction counts, decision outcome scores, and members' ratings. Both leader conditions were successful in promoting female leadership behavior in Study 2, as measured by verbal interactions, but neither was successful in Study 1. Results indicated that Study 2 females exercised a helpful leadership style and that Study 2 males were satisfied with their partners' role in the interaction.     

Perceptions of sex-role stereotyped dimensions in cotherapists with an examination of experimenter effects

Observers' impressions of sex-role stereotyped dimensions of videotyped pairs of male and female cotherapists were examined in two conditions of dominance: male-dominant pairs and female-dominant pairs. Sex of experimenter effects were also studied. Results indicated that sex-role stereotyping was a function of behavior, not biological sex. Support was found for the conceptualization of masculinity and femininity as independent dimensions. Observer sex differences indicated less favorable impressions with same-sex dominance. Sex of experimenter effects were not found, but may subtly influence results in sex-role research.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 50th annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Philadelphia, PA. April 1979. The author wishes to thank Barbara B. Bunker, Norman Epstein, and Joseph Masling for their support and thoughtful suggestions concerning this project.     

Perceptions of cotherapists as a function of therapist sex roles and observer sex roles

These two studies examined how therapist sex-role behaviors and subject sex roles influence perceptions of cotherapists conducting marital therapy. As hypothesized, ratings of therapist competence, strength, and impact varied directly with verbal dominance. Contrary to expectations, this effect was not stronger for female therapists than for male therapists. However, verbally dominant females were seen as less in charge than verbally dominant males. Reversal of traditional instrumental and expressive sex-role styles was more salient for male therapists than for females. Nontraditional therapist sex-role styles were seen as providing a greater learning experience than traditional styles. As predicted, androgynous subjects rated male and female therapists equal in competence and strength, and were equally comfortable with each. Sex-typed males and females demonstrated a preference for the female therapist, rating her higher in competence and strength. These studies suggest that cotherapists' attention to the models they present should encompass sex-role behaviors and styles.An earlier draft of this article was presented as a paper at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Toronto, August 1978.     

What you see is what you want to see: Motivationally relevant stimuli can interrupt current resource allocation

Arousing stimuli, either threat-related or pleasant, may be selected for priority at different stages within the processing stream. Here we examine the pattern of processing for non-task-relevant threatening (spiders: arousing to some) and pleasant stimuli (babies or chocolate: arousing to all) by recording the gaze of a spider Fearful and Non-fearful group while they performed a simple “follow the cross” task. There was no difference in first saccade latencies. Saccade trajectories showed a general hypervigilance for all stimuli in the Fearful group. Saccade landing positions corresponded to what each group would find arousing, such that the Fearful group deviated towards both types of images whereas the Non-fearful group deviated towards pleasant images. Secondary corrective saccade latencies away from threat-related stimuli were longer for the Fearful group (difficulty in disengaging) compared with the Non-fearful group. These results suggest that attentional biases towards arousing stimuli may occur at different processing stages.     

Building and sustaining work engagement – a participatory action intervention to increase work engagement in nursing staff

This study evaluated whether a participatory action research intervention with nursing staff on acute care older people National Health Service wards in the United Kingdom was effective for increasing work engagement. Mediation analyses between job resources (social support, influence in decision-making), job demands, work-related needs (autonomy, competence, relatedness), and work engagement explored the presumed psychological mechanisms underlying the intervention. A non-randomized, matched control group, pretest, post-test design involved three intervention and five control wards. A significant decrease in relatedness, and a borderline significant decrease in competence, was observed in the intervention group compared to the control group, with no effect on work engagement (N = 45). Work-related needs mediated between resources and work engagement, supporting the job demands-resources model and self-determination theory as an underlying explanatory theory. Intervention implementation was difficult, highlighting the need for participant and organizational readiness for change, and strong management support. This is the first known study to apply participatory techniques to increase work engagement in nursing staff and explore the underlying explanatory psychological mechanisms, offering a novel means of taking work engagement research forward. Crucially, it highlights the challenges involved in intervention research and the importance of including evaluations of intervention implementation alongside statistical evaluations to avoid erroneous conclusions.