"Economic man" in cross-cultural perspective: behavioral experiments in 15 small-scale societies

Researchers from across the social sciences have found consistent deviations from the predictions of the canonical model of self-interest in hundreds of experiments from around the world. This research, however, cannot determine whether the uniformity results from universal patterns of human behavior or from the limited cultural variation available among the university students used in virtually all prior experimental work. To address this, we undertook a cross-cultural study of behavior in ultimatum, public goods, and dictator games in a range of small-scale societies exhibiting a wide variety of economic and cultural conditions. We found, first, that the canonical model - based on self-interest - fails in all of the societies studied. Second, our data reveal substantially more behavioral variability across social groups than has been found in previous research. Third, group-level differences in economic organization and the structure of social interactions explain a substantial portion of the behavioral variation across societies: the higher the degree of market integration and the higher the payoffs to cooperation in everyday life, the greater the level of prosociality expressed in experimental games. Fourth, the available individual-level economic and demographic variables do not consistently explain game behavior, either within or across groups. Fifth, in many cases experimental play appears to reflect the common interactional patterns of everyday life.     

Analyzing a complex visuomotor tracking task with brain-electrical event related potentials

Non-invasive techniques such as neuroimaging and event-related potential (ERP) methods have dramatically enhanced our understanding of the human brain. According to the requirements of the applied method, it is useful to simplify tasks for methodological reasons. In the present study we tested whether ERP measures are also suitable for analyzing complex tasks. In order to do this, we developed an analysis strategy based on the post hoc analysis of the behavioural data. We applied this method to a pursuit-tracking task of 25 s trial duration, consisting of repeated and non-repeated waveforms, where subjects had to track a target cross with a mouse-controlled cursor cross. An EEG was recorded from 62 channels. Response-locked ERPs were computed for two types of error correction: the correction of errors induced externally by the change of target direction and of internal errors generated by the subject itself. We found several ERP components that could be assigned to different feedback and feedforward controlled processing steps in the frontoparietal circuitry underlying visuomotor control, such as movement planning, movement execution (motor potential), reafferent activity, visuospatial analysis, and attentional (P300) processes. Our results support newer models that propose a role for the posterior parietal cortex in integrating multimodal sensory information. In addition, fast (about 180 ms and probably facilitated by anticipation) and slow (about 230-260 ms) error corrections could be differentiated by the time course of ERP activity. Our results show that complex (motor) tasks can be investigated with ERPs. This opens fruitful perspectives for future research on motor control in an ecological setting.     

Facilitating children's understanding of misinterpretation: explanatory efforts and improvements in perspective taking

The authors investigated children's understanding of how mistaken beliefs can arise through misinterpretation of ambiguous information. Children (N = 91), aged 4 to 5 years, were given pre- and posttests on their ability to infer a puppet's interpretation of a restricted-view drawing after the puppet had been led to an erroneous expectation about the drawing's identity. Before the posttest, the children received either self-explanation training or other-explanation training in which they explained the source of their own or a puppet's misinterpretations of drawings; a control group received no training. The children who received training improved from pre- to posttest, and those who had practiced explaining misinterpretations by referring to previously viewed pictures or to features of a target picture showed the greatest improvement. These results indicate that learning to explain misinterpretations can help children recognize situations in which misinterpretations are likely to occur.     

Assessment of Reading and Learning Disabilities A Research-Based Intervention-Oriented Approach

Assessment practices for children with learning disabilities (LD) in reading are driven by the three primary components of the federal definition of LD: discrepancy, heterogeneity, and exclusion. This article reviews the implications of these three components for the assessment of children with reading disabilities and other forms of LD. We propose a rationale and procedures for more efficient approaches to the identification of children as learning disabled in reading or at-risk for these disabilities that are aligned with research on reading disabilities and other forms of LD. This approach emphasizes the assessment of academic skills and their components in an effort to develop intervention plans. Intelligence tests are not necessary for the identification of children as learning disabled and do not contribute to intervention planning.     

A comparison of the effects of differences in temporal gating and ear of presentation on profile discrimination

The aim of the study was to examine the effects of differences in temporal gating and ear of presentation (both separately and in combination) on listeners' ability to detect an increment in the level of a 1 kHz component (the target) relative to that of four spectrally flanking components. The flanking components were always presented to the listeners' right ear, while the target component was either presented to the same ear (monaural presentation) or to the left ear (dichotic presentation). Similarly, the target and flanking components were either gated on and off at the same time (synchronous presentation), or else the target component began 100 ms before and terminated 100 ms after the four flanking components (asynchronous presentation). On average, thresholds were lowest in the synchronous, monaural condition, and highest in the two asynchronous conditions. Ear differences alone did result in elevated thresholds for most listeners. However, combining differences in gating and ear of presentation produced thresholds that were indistinguishable from those obtained when gating differences alone were employed. These results are consistent with the suggestion that differences in temporal gating lead to more complete segregation of concurrent frequency components than differences in spatial location.     

Effects of emotion on oxytocin,prolactin, and ACTH in women

Research on both non-human mammals and humans has raised interest in the role that oxytocin may play in human attachment and attachment-related emotions. This study examined changes in plasma oxytocin, prolactin, and ACTH concentrations in response to laboratory-induced positive and negative emotions related to close, interpersonal relationships. Participants were 32 female volunteers recruited from university communities. During positive emotion induction, oxytocin decreased over time (F(1,3) = 4.41, p < 0.007), prolactin increased (F(1,3) = 4.80, p < 0.004) and ACTH remained constant. During negative emotion induction, prolactin levels increased (F(1,3) = 2.81, p < 0.05), ACTH decreased only after the induction terminated (F(1,3) = 4.02, p < 0.01) and oxytocin remained constant. While oxytocin decreased during positive emotion, this finding contrasted previous research that showed decreases in response to negative emotion. In conclusion, plasma oxytocin levels were not reliably altered by positive or negative emotion induction. While prolactin and ACTH were expected to decrease over time due to diurnal variation, they instead either increased or remained level during emotion induction, or decreased only after the induction. Overall, the degree of change in circulating hormones in response to happy and sad emotions was very small and possibly not functionally significant.     

Biotechnology and legitimacy

Contested Technology: Ethics, Risk and Public Debate, edited by Rene von Schomberg, Tilburg: International Centre for Human and Public Affairs, 1995, £19/$29 pb.     

Semantic processing in auditory lexical decision: Ear-of-presentation and sex differences

In this study we examined the interplay between appetitive (approach) and defensive (avoid) responses in spoken word recognition. Ninety-two right-handed participants (half women) took part in an auditory lexical decision experiment in which speech was presented to only one ear. The danger and usefulness of the word referents interacted in predicting RTs, as in previous (binaural) studies with poorer control of psycholinguistic covariates. Specifically, higher danger ratings were associated with faster RTs for words rated low on usefulness; but higher danger ratings were associated with slower RTs for words rated high on usefulness. In addition to this primary finding, men showed more lateralised performance, as indicated by significant interactions of sex and ear of presentation with word frequency, and with the animacy of the word referents. For both sexes, word frequency had a stronger effect on accuracy for speech presented to the right ear. Finally, men's but not women's RTs were related to the danger dimension. This last finding provides an intriguing avenue for future research in the area of sex differences and emotion.     

Family Context and Five-Year-Old Children’s Attitudes Toward Literacy When They are Learning to Read

This study explored associations in the family context, conceptualized as comprising parent–child practices and parental expectations, and five-year-old children's attitudes toward literacy. A total of 94 children from four primary schools and their parents participated in the study. Each child completed an individually administered Literacy Attitude Scale that assessed her enjoyment in reading-related activities. Parents completed a questionnaire about aspects of their family context. The results revealed a high level of positive attitudes toward literacy by beginning readers, with no gender difference. Frequency of parent–child everyday interactions and parental expectations had significant relationships with children's attitude toward literacy. This study highlights the importance of looking beyond parent–child literacy activities when examining children's attitudes toward literacy.     

Integrating Multiple Intersecting Identities: A Multicultural Conceptualization of the Power and Control Wheel

For the past three decades intimate partner abuse has received growing attention as a major social problem with its roots in socially structured systemic inequalities. However, much of the intimate partner abuse literature lacks adequate attention to issues of diversity, and more specifically fails to address how structural underpinnings beyond gender shape women's experiences of intimate partner abuse. The primary purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of considering how various systems of oppression (e.g., heterosexism, agism, ableism, racism, spirituality/religion, classism, and sexism) shape the experiences of victims of intimate partner abuse. In particular, we address how these personal, cultural, and structural identities may individually or in combination influence women's experiences of intimate partner abuse. The literature on diverse identities and intimate partner abuse is reviewed, and a revised version of the commonly used Power and Control Wheel is presented, called the Multicultural Power and Control Wheel. Directions for future research and implications for practice are proposed with the hopes of initiating a dialogue among researchers and clinicians as to the most effective ways to serve victims of IPA.