Do Mothers Spend More on Daughters While Fathers Spend More on Sons?

Do parents favor some children over others? The overwhelming majority of parents state that they treat their children equally, but parents rarely track their spending on each child. We investigate in four studies whether mothers and fathers favor specific children depending on the biological sex of the child. Evidence from the field, laboratory, and community (online panel) showed that parents exhibit systematic biases when forced to choose between spending on sons and daughters. Mothers consistently favored daughters, whereas fathers consistently favored sons. For example, parents were more likely to choose a real prize and give a real U.S. Treasury bond to the child of the same sex as themselves. These parenting biases were found in two different cultures and appear to be driven by parents identifying more strongly with children of the same sex as the parent.     

Effects of computer‐aided instruction on the implementation of the MSWO stimulus preference assessment

This study evaluated a self‐instructional online training package to teach students and staff to conduct a stimulus preference assessment using the multiple‐stimulus without replacement procedure. The training package included a self‐instructional manual and video modeling and was delivered online. Training was evaluated using a multiple‐probe design across a total of six university students and four staff members. Overall, students improved from a mean of 35% correct in baseline to a mean of 94% correct following training, and staff improved from a mean of 23% correct in baseline to a mean of 87% correct following training. During retention and generalization simulated assessments conducted from 7 to 17 days following training, all participants performed considerably above baseline. The online delivery of the self‐instructional manual plus video modeling has tremendous potential for providing an effective method for teaching individuals to conduct stimulus preference assessments without face‐to‐face instruction.     

Psychometric assessment of the processes of change scale for sun protection

The fourteen-factor Processes of Change Scale for Sun Protection assesses behavioral and experiential strategies that underlie the process of sun protection acquisition and maintenance. Variations of this measure have been used effectively in several randomized sun protection trials, both for evaluation and as a basis for intervention. However, there are no published studies, to date, that evaluate the psychometric properties of the scale. The present study evaluated factorial invariance and scale reliability in a national sample (N = 1360) of adults involved in a Transtheoretical model tailored intervention for exercise and sun protection, at baseline. Invariance testing ranged from least to most restrictive: Configural Invariance (constraints only factor structure and zero loadings); Pattern Identity Invariance (equal factor loadings across target groups); and Strong Factorial Invariance (equal factor loadings and measurement errors). Multi-sample structural equation modeling tested the invariance of the measurement model across seven subgroups: age, education, ethnicity, gender, race, skin tone, and Stage of Change for Sun Protection. Strong factorial invariance was found across all subgroups. Internal consistency coefficient Alpha and factor rho reliability, respectively, were .83 and .80 for behavioral processes, .91 and .89 for experiential processes, and .93 and .91 for the global scale. These results provide strong empirical evidence that the scale is consistent, has internal validity and can be used in research interventions with population-based adult samples.     

Predictors of adherence to aerobic exercise in rectal cancer patients during and after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy

This pilot study explored predictors of adherence to exercise during and after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (NACRT) in rectal cancer patients. Eighteen rectal cancer patients were prescribed three supervised aerobic exercise sessions/week during NACRT followed by ≥150 min/week of unsupervised aerobic exercise after NACRT. Although not statistically significant, adherence to supervised exercise during NACRT was meaningfully better for patients who were women (d = .82; P = .12), younger (d = ?.62; P = .30), married (d = .62; P = .42), with better mental health (r = .32; P = .21), fewer diarrhea symptoms (r = .48; P = .052), and higher anticipated enjoyment (r = .31; P = .23), support (r = .32; P = .22), and motivation (r = .31; P = .23). After NACRT, adherence was significantly better for patients who reported worse mental health (r = ?.56; P = .046) and meaningfully better for patients who were women (d = .54; P = .38), better educated (d = .77; P = .22), had no comorbidities (d = ?.63; P = .17), and exercised at baseline (d = 1.05; P = .12). Demographics, tumor side effects, and motivational variables may predict adherence to exercise during and after NACRT.     

Training and transfer effects of response inhibition training in children and adults

Response inhibition is crucial for mental and physical health but studies assessing the trainability of this type of inhibition are rare. Thirty‐nine children aged 10‐12 years and 46 adults aged 18‐24 years were assigned to an adaptive go/no‐go inhibition training condition or an active control condition. Transfer of training effects to performance on tasks assessing response inhibition, interference control, working memory updating, task‐switching, and non‐verbal fluid intelligence were assessed during 3‐ and 6‐month follow‐up sessions and/or an immediate post‐training session. Significant training improvements and positive transfer effects to a similar response inhibition task with other stimuli were observed for both children and adults. Reliable albeit short‐lived transfer effects were only found for the children, specifically to working memory updating and task switching. These results suggest some potential for response‐inhibition training programs to enhance aspects of cognitive functioning in children but not adults.     

Consumer neuroscience for marketing researchers

Purpose

For many consumer neuromarketing researchers, the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging has been the most preferred neuroscience technique. However, electroencephalography, eye tracking, and implicit measurements are becoming increasingly popular market research methods due to rapid technological improvements and reduced costs.

Design

This article is an overview of the most commonly used consumer neuroscience techniques in marketing research.

Findings

Many peer‐reviewed journal articles in the consumer neuroscience literature usually provide only a brief summary of the actual functions of each neuroscience technique used in their research. Throughout the consumer neuroscience and marketing research literature, there is a lack of comprehensive evaluation of the relative merits of all neuroscience research tools. There is no rigorous analysis of the relative appropriateness of all the neuroscience, physiological, and biometric research tools currently used in consumer neuroscience market research.

Originality/value

This is the first paper that provides a comprehensive review of all relevant neuroscience techniques with a proper explanation of their functions and utility for different types of research. Each individual neuromarketing research tools' strengths and weaknesses are analysed for particular types of marketing research questions and highlights some of the key research papers and authors for interested researchers to follow up.     

The Effect of Message Persistence and Disclosure on Liking in Computer-Mediated Communication

In computer-mediated communication (CMC) systems, the messages that a user types usually persist on the screen for some time, a feature that distinguishes CMC from face-to-face interaction. Persistence may activate psychological self-perception, leading communicators to infer from their persistent messaging how they feel about the subject more so than if messages did not persist. This study applies persistence and self-perception to the relationships between self-disclosure and liking. It identifies which among several disclosure or liking relationships may be most susceptible to self-perception effects. An experiment found that message persistence interacts with a conversational partner’s responses to self-disclosure and intensifies liking toward the partner. Suggestions follow for future research further exploring the mechanisms of persistence, and reconceptualizing self-perception factors in interactive media settings.     

Biases in multilevel analyses caused by cluster-specific fixed-effects imputation

When datasets are affected by nonresponse, imputation of the missing values is a viable solution. However, most imputation routines implemented in commonly used statistical software packages do not accommodate multilevel models that are popular in education research and other settings involving clustering of units. A common strategy to take the hierarchical structure of the data into account is to include cluster-specific fixed effects in the imputation model. Still, this ad hoc approach has never been compared analytically to the congenial multilevel imputation in a random slopes setting. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of the cluster-specific fixed-effects imputation model on multilevel inference. We show analytically that the cluster-specific fixed-effects imputation strategy will generally bias inferences obtained from random coefficient models. The bias of random-effects variances and global fixed-effects confidence intervals depends on the cluster size, the relation of within- and between-cluster variance, and the missing data mechanism. We illustrate the negative implications of cluster-specific fixed-effects imputation using simulation studies and an application based on data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) in Germany.     

A relational recasting of the principles of emotional competence

ABSTRACT

Carolyn Saarni’s theory of emotional competence has made a central contribution by directing attention to some important functions of emotion in social interaction. Her work is permeated with examples of how emotions function within both successful and unsuccessful social interactions and relationships. An examination of her stated principles of emotional competence suggest in places a perspective that is primarily intrapsychic in nature, harking back to the early roots of emotion theory and research. In this piece, we note where Saarni has advanced implications of a relational theory of emotion for understanding emotional competence. In addition, we reframe some of Saarni’s principles to make them more consistent with current relational approaches to emotion. Finally, we offer additions and extensions that we believe are compatible with the general direction of her thinking before her untimely death.