The associated non-targets effect: evidence of nontarget processing at and beyond the level of letter recognition

In four visual search tasks participants were asked to make a target response if either of two targets was present and to make a nontarget response if neither target was present. Some target-absent displays included only nontarget stimuli or features that never occurred in the same displays as targets, whereas other target-absent displays included nontarget stimuli or features that did sometimes occur with targets. Nontarget responses were reliably faster in the former case than in the latter. This “associated nontargets effect” indicates that nontargets are not simply classified as nontargets but in addition are discriminated from one another. Current visual search models may underestimate the degree to which nontargets are processed during search.     

Mortality salience, martyrdom, and military might: the great satan versus the axis of evil

Study 1 investigated the effect of mortality salience on support for martyrdom attacks among Iranian college students. Participants were randomly assigned to answer questions about either their own death or an aversive topic unrelated to death and then evaluated materials from fellow students who either supported or opposed martyrdom attacks against the United States. Whereas control participants preferred the student who opposed martyrdom, participants reminded of death preferred the student who supported martyrdom and indicated they were more likely to consider such activities themselves. Study 2 investigated the effect of mortality salience on American college students' support for extreme military interventions by American forces that could kill thousands of civilians. Mortality salience increased support for such measures among politically conservative but not politically liberal students. The roles of existential fear, cultural worldviews, and construing one's nation as pursing a heroic battle against evil in advocacy of violence were discussed.     

Redundancy gain with static versus moving hands: a test of the hemispheric coactivation model

A simple reaction time (RT) experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that redundancy gain arises partly because of hemispheric coactivation. Stimuli were presented to the left or right of fixation, or redundantly to both, and the participants had to make keypress responses as rapidly as possible to stimulus onset. A "static" condition, in which the participants held their hands at rest, was compared with a "dynamic" condition, in which they moved their hands back and forth in an oscillating motion prior to stimulus onset. As predicted from the hypothesis of hemispheric coactivation, redundancy gain, measured as the decrease in mean RT to redundant stimuli as compared with single stimuli, was smaller in the dynamic condition than in the static one.     

Teenagers' attitudes about seeking help from telephone crisis services (hotlines)

The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes toward the use of telephone crisis services (hotlines) among 519 adolescents in 9th through 12th grade mandatory health courses in six high schools in New York State. Few adolescents (2.1%) used hotlines and negative attitudes were stronger toward hotlines than they were toward other formal sources of help. The most common reasons for hotline nonuse related to feelings of self-reliance and shame. Objections to hotlines were strongest among students most in need of help by virtue of impaired functioning or feelings of hopelessness. The results underscore needed outreach efforts to youth.     

Losing sleep over organizational injustice: attenuating insomniac reactions to underpayment inequity with supervisory training in interactional justice

Self-reports of insomnia were collected among 467 nurses working at 4 hospitals. At 2 of these hospitals, a change in pay policy resulted in reduced pay for all nurses, whereas nurses' pay was unchanged at the other 2 hospitals. Nursing supervisors at 1 hospital in each group received training in promoting interactional justice, whereas no training was provided at the other 2 hospitals. Reflecting the stressful nature of underpayment, insomnia was significantly greater among nurses whose pay was reduced than among those whose pay remained unchanged. However, the degree of insomnia was significantly lower among nurses whose supervisors were trained in interactional justice, both immediately after training and 6 months later. These findings demonstrate the buffering effects of interactionally fair treatment on reactions to underpayment.     

The siren's call: terror management and the threat of men's sexual attraction to women

Why do sexually appealing women often attract derogation and aggression? According to terror management theory, women's sexual allure threatens to increase men's awareness of their corporeality and thus mortality. Accordingly, in Study 1 a subliminal mortality prime decreased men's but not women's attractiveness ratings of alluring women. In Study 2, mortality salience (MS) led men to downplay their sexual intent toward a sexy woman. In Study 3, MS decreased men's interest in a seductive but not a wholesome woman. In Study 4, MS decreased men's but not women's attraction to a sexy opposite-sex target. In Study 5, MS and a corporeal lust prime increased men's tolerance of aggression toward women. Discussion focuses on mortality concerns and male sexual ambivalence.     

Numerosity and rhythmicity in stimulus-response compatibility

When people must respond discriminatively to 1 or 2 stimuli by making 1 or 2 taps of a response key, they initiate the response more rapidly when the correct number of taps matches the number of stimuli (compatible condition) than when it mismatches (incompatible condition; J. O. Miller, S. G. Atkins, & F. Van Nes, 2005). Miller et al. sometimes found an effect of compatibility on response execution time, as reflected in the interresponse intervals between successive taps. The authors report 2 further experiments (N = 8 participants) in which they generalized the numerosity compatibility effects on response-initiation time and interresponse intervals to 2- versus 3-stimulus sequences. In addition, they varied gap length between stimuli to see whether the rhythm of the stimulus would influence that of the response. Weak rhythmicity effects were repeatedly found, but those were too small to suggest a plausible alternative explanation for the numerosity compatibility effect on response-initiation time.     

FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS AND TREATMENT OF ELOPEMENT ACROSS TWO SCHOOL SETTINGS

The elopement of a child with Asperger syndrome was assessed using functional analyses and was treated in two school settings (classroom and resource room). Functional analyses indicated that elopement was maintained by access to attention in the resource room and obtaining a preferred activity in the classroom. Attention- and tangible-based interventions were compared in an alternating treatments design in both settings. Results validated the findings of the functional analyses. Implications for the assessment and treatment of elopement are discussed.