The Effect of Social Network Site Use on Appearance Investment and Desire for Cosmetic Surgery Among Adolescent Boys and Girls

Although adolescents frequently use social network sites, little is known about whether the highly visual and self-presentation-centered character of such sites affects body-related outcomes such as investment in appearance and appearance-changing strategies. Due to gender differences in appearance pressures and appearance ideals, these effects of social network sites on body-related outcomes may differ between boys and girls. The aim of the current study was therefore to investigate the relationships between social network site use, appearance investment, and desire for cosmetic surgery among adolescents and to compare the experiences of boys and girls. We used data from a two-wave panel study among 604 Dutch adolescents (aged 11–18). Structural equation modeling showed that social network site use positively predicted adolescents’ desire to undergo cosmetic surgery indirectly through increased appearance investment. The relationships found between social network site use, investment in appearance, and cosmetic surgery desire applied to boys and girls and were not moderated by gender.     

Perceptual adaptation to structure-from-motion depends on the size of adaptor and probe objects,but not on the similarity of their shapes

Perceptual adaptation destabilizes the phenomenal appearance of multistable visual displays. Prolonged dominance of a perceptual state fatigues the associated neural population, lowering the likelihood of renewed perception of the same appearance (Nawrot & Blake in Perception & Psychophysics, 49, 230–44, 1991). Here, we used a selective adaptation paradigm to investigate perceptual adaptation for the illusory rotation of ambiguous structure-from-motion (SFM) displays. Specifically, we generated SFM objects with different three-dimensional shapes and presented them in random order, separating successive objects by brief blank periods, which included a mask. To assess the specificity of perceptual adaptation to the shape of SFM objects, we established the probability that a perceived direction of rotation persisted between successive objects of similar or dissimilar shape. We found that the strength of negative aftereffects depended on the volume, but not the shape, of adaptor and probe objects. More voluminous objects were both more effective as adaptor objects and more sensitive as probe objects. Surprisingly, we found these volume effects to be completely independent, since any relationship between two shapes (such as overlap between volumes, similarity of shape, or similarity of velocity profiles) failed to modulate the negative aftereffect. This pattern of results was the opposite of that observed for sensory memory of SFM objects, which reflects similarity between objects, but not volume of individual objects (Pastukhov et al. in Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, 75, 1215–1229, 2013). The disparate specificities of perceptual adaptation and sensory memory for identical SFM objects suggest that the two aftereffects engage distinct neural representations, consistent with recent brain imaging results (Schwiedrzik et al. in Cerebral Cortex, 2012).     

Konfliktsituationen im Coaching

This article describes useful consultation practices for individual coaching in typical workplace conflict situations. Our approach for understanding of workplace conflicts is based on the differentiation between various “toxic” conflictual constellations (e.g. contradiction, conflict, dilemma and double bind), between difficulties that can and cannot be resolved (e.g. problems and restrictions) and between problem solving attempts that unintentionally worsen the problems (e.g. individualizing, polarizing and evading responsibility). A sufficient readiness of the company to balance it’s own criteria for management success (e.g. profit versus workers health) and a sufficient openness to try out reflexively found solutions in the coaching process are crucial for successful coaching outcomes. Similarly, a reflexive attitude of the coach, self-critical vis a vis any ideological terms, which also acknowledges and overcomes the anxiety of the coach during the coaching process, can help coachees to find their own attitudes vis a vis the workplace conflict situation that balance cooperation and resistance.     

Gender and Emotions at Work: Organizational Rank Has Greater Emotional Benefits for Men than Women

Sex Roles - The way people feel is important for how they behave and perform in the workplace. Experiencing more positive?and less negative?emotions at work is often associated with...     

Performance gains from directed training do not transfer to untrained tasks

Given the increasing complexity of the tasks and skills needed in modern society, developing effective training strategies is of tremendous practical importance. Furthermore, training that improves performance of both trained and untrained tasks would be highly efficient. In the present study, we examined how directed training contributes to skill acquisition, and more importantly, to engendering transfer of training to untrained tasks. Participants learned a complex video game for 30 h (Space Fortress, Donchin, Fabiani, & Sanders, 1989) using one of two training regimens: Hybrid Variable-Priority Training (HVT), with a focus on improving specific skills and managing task priority, or Full Emphasis Training (FET) in which participants simply practiced the game to obtain the highest overall score. We compared game performance, retention of training gains, and transfer of training to untrained tasks as a function of the training regimen. Compared to FET, HVT learners reached higher levels of mastery on the game and HVT was particularly beneficial for initially poor performing participants. This benefit persisted seven months after training. However, contrary to expectation, both HVT and FET were unsuccessful in producing transfer to untrained tasks compared to a group that received limited game experience, suggesting that directed training and practice can produce task-specific improvements, but improvements do not necessarily transfer from trained to untrained tasks.     

Kreuzvalidierung der Kurzform des Kindheitsfragebogens

Objectives

Existing questionnaires about parent-child relationships usually assess love and control only. The childhood questionnaire (CQ) offers a more differentiating alternative.

Methods

In a sample of approximately 1,400 patients and more than 500 controls the CQ was reduced from 22 to 11 scales and the number of items of each scale was shortened to 5.

Results

The shortened scales of the CQ also showed good reliability and item characteristics, as well as plausible intercorrelations.

Conclusion

By the use of 66 out of the former 128 items, the shortened version of the CQ assesses three further important dimensions in the parent-child relationship of adults towards their parents in childhood besides love and control: punishment, ambition and role reversal. Beside this, parental separation, divorce and job status as well as various parameters of the socio-economic status (e.g. educational, occupational and financial) of the parents can be assessed.     

Cognitive control: A role for implicit learning?

We investigated the influence of implicit learning on cognitive control. In a sequential Stroop task, participants implicitly learned a sequence placed on the color of the Stroop words. In Experiment 1, Stroop conflict was lower in sequenced than in random trials (learning-improved control). However, as these results were derived from an interaction between learning and conflict, they could also be explained by improved implicit learning (difference between random and sequenced trials), under incongruent compared with congruent trials (control-improved learning). Therefore, we further unraveled the direction of the interaction in 2 additional experiments. In Experiment 2, participants who learned the color sequence were no better at resolving conflict than participants who did not undergo sequence training. This shows that implicit knowledge does not directly reduce conflict (no learning-improved control). In Experiment 3, the amount of conflict did not directly improve learning either (no control-improved learning). However, conflict had a significant impact on the expression of implicit learning, as most knowledge was expressed under the highest amount of conflict. Thus, task-optimization was accomplished by an increased reliance on implicit sequence knowledge under high conflict. These findings demonstrate that implicit learning processes can be flexibly recruited to support cognitive control functions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

What do targeting positive views on ageing add to a physical activity intervention in older adults? Results from a randomised controlled trial

Objective: Physical activity is a key factor for healthy ageing, yet many older people lead a sedentary lifestyle. Traditional physical activity interventions do not consider the specific needs and views of older adults. As views on ageing are known to be related to health behaviours, the current study evaluates the effectiveness of prompting positive views on ageing within a physical activity intervention.

Design: Randomised controlled trial with three groups aged 65+: Intervention for physical activity with ‘views-on-ageing’-component (n?=?101; IGVoA), and without ‘views-on-ageing’-component (n?=?30; IG), and active control intervention for volunteering (n?=?103; CG).

Main outcome measures: Attitudes towards older adults and physical activity were assessed five weeks before intervention, two weeks, six weeks and 8.5?months after the intervention.

Results: Compared to the IG and CG, positive attitudes towards older adults increased in the IGVoA after the intervention. For IGVoA, the indirect intervention effect on change in activity via change in attitudes towards older adults was reliable.

Conclusion: A ‘views-on-ageing’-component within a physical activity intervention affects change in physical activity via change in views on ageing. Views on ageing are a promising intervention technique to be incorporated into future physical activity interventions for older adults.