Distinctive Preferences Toward Risk in the Substantive Domain of Sociality*

As with standard models of rationality, theorists generally treat prospect theory's demonstration of risk aversion in gains but risk tolerance in losses as domain‐general. Yet evolutionary psychology suggests that natural selection has designed a domain specific cognitive architecture—with systems specialized for some substantive domains but not others. Here we address risky choices through that lens asking whether humans' risk responses dispose them to enter social relationships even when doing so is counter to normative rationality and regardless of whether the “enter” versus “not enter” choice is framed as between gains and losses. Laboratory findings in five sites across three countries provide a positive answer to both possibilities. Participants could enter or not enter inherently risky social relationships. They were more willing to enter such relationships than rational choice models would predict and were equally so willing regardless of whether equivalent alternatives were framed as gains and as losses. With the “social context” extracted in otherwise identical games, participants' risk responses were consistent with prospect theory. The present findings suggest the possibility of adaptations designed to facilitate sociality—despite its risks and how those risks are framed.     

Qualitative sales research: an exposition of grounded theory

The dominant research paradigm in sales research involves testing theory through empirical research. Nascent or underdeveloped research areas, however, may lack or have inadequate existing theories to explain sales-related phenomena. In these cases, sales researchers require a theory-generating methodological approach. Qualitative research designs are useful in this pursuit. The purpose of this article is to provide an exposition of one such qualitative research design – grounded theory. To this end, the foundational processes of grounded theory methodology are discussed. The results of a review of grounded theory examinations conducted in sales research are also provided, and current practices utilized by sales grounded theorists are discussed. Based on this review, future directions in substantive areas and methodological practices are provided. This article aims to serve as a resource for sales scholars wishing to know what grounded theory examinations have been conducted, how to implement grounded theory research and what avenues are available for future grounded theory sales research.     

Women's views about intimate examinations and sexually inappropriate practices by their general practitioners

Abstract

The aim of this survey of 472 adult women was to assess women patients' feelings about intimate examinations and their perceptions and experiences of sexually inappropriate medical practice. Two-thirds of women preferred a women doctor for intimate examinations. Slightly more than two-thirds found intimate examinations embarrassing and stressful, and strongly expressed the need for information and on-task, health-related comments during these examinations. General personal comments or non-medical touching were not particularly welcomed, even for the purpose of comforting the patient. There was a range of views about patients' personal relationships with doctors, with the lines between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour somewhat ambiguous. A small but significant number of women perceived that they had been sexually harassed (5%) or abused (3%) by a doctor, with this experience more common for non-English speaking women. Results were discussed in terms of implications for improved doctor practice, particularly during intimate examinations and with vulnerable patients.     

Risk drinking and contraception effectiveness among college women

Risk drinking, especially binge drinking, and unprotected sex may co-occur in college women and increase the risks of STI exposure and pregnancy, but the relationships among these behaviors are incompletely understood. A survey was administered to 2012 women of ages 18–24 enrolled in a public urban university. One-quarter of the college women (23%) drank eight or more drinks per week on average, and 63% binged in the past 90 days, with 64% meeting criteria for risk drinking. Nearly all sexually active women used some form of contraception (94%), but 18% used their method ineffectively and were potentially at risk for pregnancy. Forty-four percent were potentially at risk for STIs due to ineffective or absent condom usage. Ineffective contraception odds were increased by the use of barrier methods of contraception, reliance on a partner's decision to use contraception, and risk drinking, but were decreased by the use of barrier with hormonal contraception, being White, and later age to initiate contraception. In contrast, ineffective condom use was increased by reliance on a partner's decision to use condoms, the use of condoms for STI prevention only, and by risk drinking. Thirteen percent of university women were risk drinkers and using ineffective contraception, and 31% were risk drinkers and failing to use condoms consistently. Risk drinking is related to ineffective contraception and condom use. Colleges should promote effective contraception and condom use for STI prevention and consider coordinating their programs to reduce drinking with programs for reproductive health. Emphasizing the use of condoms for both pregnancy prevention and STI prevention may maximize women's interest in using them.     

Recall initiation strategies must be controlled in training studies that use immediate free recall tasks to measure the components of working memory capacity across time

There has been great interest in using working memory (WM) training regimens as an alternative treatment for ADHD, but it has recently been concluded that existing training regimens may not be optimally designed because they target the primary memory component but not the secondary component of WM capacity. This conclusion requires the ability to accurately measure changes in primary and secondary memory abilities over time. The immediate free recall task has been used in previous studies to measure these changes; however, one concern with these tasks is that the recall order required on training exercises may influence the recall strategy used during free recall, which may in turn influence the relative number of items recalled from primary and secondary memory. To address this issue, previous training studies have explicitly controlled recall strategy before and after training. However, the necessity of controlling for recall strategies has not been explicitly tested. The present study investigated the effects of forward-serial-order training on free recall performance under conditions in which recall strategy was not controlled using a sample of adolescents with ADHD. Unlike when recall order was controlled, the main findings showed selective improvement of the secondary memory component (as opposed to the primary memory component) when recall order was uncontrolled. This finding advances our understanding of WM training by highlighting the importance of controlling for recall strategies when free recall tasks are used to measure changes in the primary and secondary components of WM across time.     

To adjust or not adjust: Nonparametric effect sizes,confidence intervals,and real-world meaning

ObjectivesThe main objectives of this article are to: (a) investigate if there are any meaningful differences between adjusted and unadjusted effect sizes (b) compare the outcomes from parametric and non-parametric effect sizes to determine if the potential differences might influence the interpretation of results, (c) discuss the importance of reporting confidence intervals in research, and discuss how to interpret effect sizes in terms of practical real-world meaning.DesignReview.MethodA review of how to estimate and interpret various effect sizes was conducted. Hypothetical examples were then used to exemplify the issues stated in the objectives.ResultsThe results from the hypothetical research designs showed that: (a) there is a substantial difference between adjusted and non-adjusted effect sizes especially in studies with small sample sizes, and (b) there are differences in outcomes between the parametric and non-parametric effect size formulas that may affect interpretations of results.ConclusionsThe different hypothetical examples in this article clearly demonstrate the importance of treating data in ways that minimize potential biases and the central issues of how to discuss the meaningfulness of effect sizes in research.     

(Don’t) Tell Me How It Ends: Spoilers,Enjoyment, and Involvement in Television and Film

ABSTRACT

As more people time shift their televsion viewing and engage in online discussions about entertainment media, public concern over spoilers, the premature disclosure of narrative outcomes, has increased. This article reports results from two experiments and a survey that reassess and extend recent findings about the impact of spoilers on enjoyment. Relying on audiovisual media, the studies test processing fluency as a mediator, and involvement, need for cognition, and need for affect as moderators. Study 1 suggested that genre and involvement can moderate negative effects of spoilers on enjoyment of scenes from television and film. Study 2 illustrated that spoilers for upcoming films are more likely to trigger psychological reactance than substantially impact enjoyment and viewing intentions. Finally, Study 3 showed that spoilers for a television series adapted from novels are beneficial for audience responses if the adaptation is faithful to the source. Partial support was obtained for mediation via processing fluency, and involvement and need for affect moderated some effects of spoilers. Taken as a whole, the findings illustrate that, just as in previous experiments using short stories, spoilers for television and film appear to have quite small and qualified effects on audience responses to these programs.     

Inhibition: Mental Control Process or Mental Resource?

The current study tested 2 models of inhibition in 45 children with language impairment and 45 children with normally developing language; children were aged 7 to 12 years. Of interest was whether a model of inhibition as a mental-control process (i.e., executive function) or as a mental resource would more accurately reflect the relations among mental-attentional (M) capacity, inhibition, updating, shifting, and language competence. Children completed measures of M-capacity (in the verbal and nonverbal domains), inhibition, updating, shifting, and language. Path analyses showed the data provided a poor fit to the model of inhibition as a mental-control process but a good fit to the model of inhibition as a mental resource. Results are consistent with the theory of constructive operators and suggest inhibition is a mental resource rather than a mental-control process.     

Reduced Reliance on Optimal Facial Information for Identity Recognition in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Previous research into face processing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has revealed atypical biases toward particular facial information during identity recognition. Specifically, a focus on features (or high spatial frequencies [HSFs]) has been reported for both face and nonface processing in ASD. The current study investigated the development of spatial frequency biases in face recognition in children and adolescents with and without ASD, using nonverbal mental age to assess changes in biases over developmental time. Using this measure, the control group showed a gradual specialization over time toward middle spatial frequencies (MSFs), which are thought to provide the optimal information for face recognition in adults. By contrast, individuals with ASD did not show a bias to one spatial frequency band at any stage of development. These data suggest that the “midband bias” emerges through increasing face-specific experience and that atypical face recognition performance may be related to reduced specialization toward optimal spatial frequencies in ASD.