Evolution, stress, and sensitive periods: the influence of unpredictability in early versus late childhood on sex and risky behavior

According to a recent evolutionary life history model of development proposed by Ellis, Figueredo, Brumbach, and Schlomer (2009), growing up in harsh versus unpredictable environments should have unique effects on life history strategies in adulthood. Using data from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation, we tested how harshness and unpredictability experienced in early childhood (age 0-5) versus in later childhood (age 6-16) uniquely predicted sexual and risky behavior at age 23. Findings showed that the strongest predictor of both sexual and risky behavior was an unpredictable environment between ages 0 and 5. Individuals exposed to more unpredictable, rapidly changing environments during the first 5 years of life displayed a faster life history strategy at age 23 by having more sexual partners, engaging in more aggressive and delinquent behaviors, and being more likely to be associated with criminal activities. In contrast, exposure to either harsh environments or experiencing unpredictability in later childhood (age 6-16) was, for the most part, not significantly related to these outcomes at age 23. Viewed together, these findings show that unpredictable rather than merely harsh childhood environments exert unique effects on risky behavior later in life consistent with a faster life history strategy. The findings also suggest that there is a developmentally sensitive period for assessing environmental unpredictability during the first 5 years of life.     

Understanding Factors Associated with Bullying and Peer Victimization in Chinese Schools Within Ecological Contexts

We review factors associated with school bullying and peer victimization in the People’s Republic of China (hereafter referred to as China) within the context of Bronfenbrenner (Am Psychol 32:513–531, 1977) ecological systems framework. Bullying and peer victimization are serious problems in Chinese schools, which calls for effective school-based bullying prevention and intervention strategies. However, understanding of this phenomenon has been limited because the majority of the empirical studies have examined individual characteristics (e.g., age, gender), and relatively few Chinese researchers have considered various contexts of the social ecology, such as cultural contexts. We first discuss the definition and prevalence, which is followed by a review of socio-demographic and ecological factors (micro-, meso-, exo-, and macrosystem) that are correlated with school bullying and peer victimization in Chinese schools. Findings from our review suggest that factors at the socio-demographic (age, gender, behavioral/mental health problems), micro- (parents, peers, and teachers), meso- (parents’ involvement in children’s school), exo- (mass media), and macrosystem (emphasis on academic achievement and collectivism vs. individualism) levels can foster or mitigate bullying and peer victimization among children and adolescents in Chinese schools. We then draw implications for assessment, practice, and policy concerning school bullying and peer victimization in China.     

Action history influences eye movements

Recent research has revealed that simple actions can have a profound effect on subsequent perception – people are faster to find a target that shares features with a previously acted on object even when those features are irrelevant to their task (the action effect). However, the majority of the evidence for this interaction between action and perception has come from manual response data. Therefore, it is unknown whether action affects early visual search processes, if it modulates post-attentional-selection processes, or both. To investigate this, we tracked participants’ spontaneous eye movements as they performed an action effect task. In two experiments we found that participants looked more quickly to the colour of an object they had previously acted on, compared to if they had viewed but not acted on the object, showing that action influenced early visual search processes. Additionally, there was evidence for post-selection effects as well. The results suggest that prior action affects both pre-selection and post-selection processes – spontaneously guiding attention to, and maintaining it on, objects that were previously important to the observer.     

Measuring behavioral regulation in four societies

The present study examined the psychometric properties of scores from a direct measure of behavioral regulation, the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task (HTKS) with 3- to 6-year-old children in the United States, Taiwan, South Korea, and China. Specifically, we investigated (a) the nature and variability of HTKS scores, including relations to teacher-rated classroom behavioral regulation; and (b) relations between the HTKS and early mathematics, vocabulary, and literacy skills. Higher HTKS scores were significantly related to higher teacher ratings of classroom behavioral regulation in the United States and South Korea but not in Taiwan and China. Also, higher HTKS scores were significantly related to higher early mathematics, vocabulary, and literacy skills beyond the influence of demographic variables and teacher-rated classroom behavioral regulation. These initial findings suggest that HTKS scores may be interpreted as reflecting early behavioral regulation in these 4 societies and that behavioral regulation is important for early academic success in the United States and in Asian countries.     

Experimental results of affective valence and arousal to avatar's facial expressions.

The objectives of this study were to propose a method of presenting dynamic facial expressions to experimental subjects, in order to investigate human perception of avatar's facial expressions of different levels of emotional intensity. The investigation concerned how perception varies according to the strength of facial expression, as well as according to an avatar's gender. To accomplish these goals, we generated a male and a female virtual avatar with five levels of intensity of happiness and anger using a morphing technique. We then recruited 16 normal healthy subjects and measured each subject's emotional reaction by scoring affective arousal and valence after showing them the avatar's face. Through this study, we were able to investigate human perceptual characteristics evoked by male and female avatars' graduated facial expressions of happiness and anger. In addition, we were able to identify that a virtual avatar's facial expression could affect human emotion in different ways according to the avatar's gender and the intensity of its facial expressions. However, we could also see that virtual faces have some limitations because they are not real, so subjects recognized the expressions well, but were not influenced to the same extent. Although a virtual avatar has some limitations in conveying its emotion using facial expressions, this study is significant in that it shows that a new potential exists to use or manipulate emotional intensity by controlling a virtual avatar's facial expression linearly using a morphing technique. Therefore, it is predicted that this technique may be used for assessing emotional characteristics of humans, and may be of particular benefit for work with people with emotional disorders through a presentation of dynamic expression of various emotional intensities.     

A review of research on bullying and peer victimization in school: An ecological system analysis

Bullying and peer victimization in school are serious concerns for students, parents, teachers, and school officials in the U.S. and around the world. This article reviews risk factors associated with bullying and peer victimization in school within the context of Bronfenbrenner's ecological framework. This review integrates empirical findings on the risk factors associated with bullying and peer victimization within the context of micro- (parent–youth relationships, inter-parental violence, relations with peers, school connectedness, and school environment), meso- (teacher involvement), exo- (exposure to media violence, neighborhood environment), macro- (cultural norms and beliefs, religious affiliation), and chronosystem (changes in family structure) levels. Theories that explain the relationships between the risk factors and bullying behavior are also included. We then discuss the efficacy of the current bullying prevention and intervention programs, which is followed by directions for future research.     

Clients' attributions of recalled important or helpful events in a counseling interview

Clients' causal explanations for recalled important or helpful events between those of early and of late sessions of counseling interview have been examined. We predicted that (a) for clients' recalled important or helpful events, there will be more internal attribution in late than in early sessions and (b) clients' evaluation of counseling sessions would be positively related to their internal attribution of the recalled important or helpful events. Data were generated from 84 sessions of therapy, with 12 counselor-client dyads conducting seven sessions of therapeutic interviews each. Immediately after each interview, clients were requested to recall and explain the most important or helpful events that happened during the session. Clients' causal explanations of the events were analyzed by two trained judges. Results showed no statistically significant differences in frequencies of internal attribution. Similarly, internal attribution did not covary with clients' evaluation of counseling sessions. The implications of the results are discussed.     

Explaining the Relationship between Religiosity and Political Participation: The Mediating Roles of Transcendent Accountability and Religiopolitical Awareness

Prior research tends to find a positive relationship between religiosity and political participation. Explanations of this relationship have focused mostly on religiosity-generated organizational resources (e.g., civic skills), while paying less attention to psychological resources. We simultaneously examined different aspects of religiosity (belief, behavior, and belonging) and political participation (electoral and nonelectoral) in a structural equation model with two psychological resources as mediators: (1) “transcendent accountability”—seeing oneself as responsible to God or a higher power for one's impact on other people and the environment, and (2) “religiopolitical awareness”—perceiving the influence of one's religion and/or spirituality on one's political views and activities. Results from analyzing survey data from a US representative sample showed that transcendent accountability and religiopolitical awareness, whether together or awareness only, mediated positive relationships between religiosity (belief, private and public behaviors, and membership) and political participation (voting and other political activity), highlighting key psychological motivators of political participation.