Memory for the intentions of sentences

Memory for the intentions of sentences was studied in two recognition tasks. In each study, Ss first acted out a dialogue written for two people. They then judged whether certain sentences in a second dialogue were the same as or different from previons sentences (Experiment I) or chose between two intentions suggested for some previous sentences (Experiment II) Sentences which were repeated with the same intention across the two dialogues were judged as being the same significantly more often than were sentences repeated with a different intention. The appropriate intention for each of these sentences was also usually chosen. In both studies, Ss appeared to remember more accurately the sentences they had spoken themselves than they did those that were addressed to them.     

The effects of knowledge of child development and social-emotional maturity on adolescent attitudes toward parenting

This study investigated the relationship between the combined effect of knowledge of child development and level of social-emotional maturity, and the extent to which this relationship affects adolescent attitudes toward parenting. The analysis of the data (multiple regression and canonical analysis) suggested that there were significant relationships among these variables. In general, the relationships indicated that subjects' negative attitudes toward parenting were associated with lack of knowledge of child development and low levels of social-emotional maturity, while subjects' positive attitudes toward parenting were associated with knowledge of child development and high levels of social-emotional maturity. The joint impact of knowledge of child development and social-emotional maturity factors on attitudes toward parenting accounted for 51% of the variation among the variables.     

Individual differences in circadian activity rhythm and personality

Individual differences in circadian activity rhythms were assessed in terms of peak activity time, rising time and retiring time reported every day for 84 consecutive days. A 19-item Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) was found to significantly correlate with time-of-day effects on these three circadian activity measures, as well as with parental report of the S's peak activity time. Several measures of extraversion were also found to correlate significantly with the MEQ, as well as with rising and retiring time, suggesting that extraverts are evening types. However, when the differential effects of sociability and impulsivity were examined it was found that the sociability component of extraversion was most responsible for the time-of-day differences. This result diverges somewhat from previous findings that suggest impulsivity is the component responsible for time-of-day effects. This apparent contradiction is discussed in terms of arousal being a non-urinary construct, with different indices of circadian arousal allowing for differential correlates with specific personality components.     

Gun attitudes on campus: United and divided by safety needs

All people share a need for safety. Yet people’s pursuit of safety can conflict when it comes to guns, with some people perceiving guns as a means to safety and others perceiving guns as a threat to safety. We examined this conflict on a U.S. college campus that prohibits guns. We distinguished between people (N = 11,390) who (1) own a gun for protection, (2) own a gun exclusively for reasons other than protection (e.g., collecting, sports), and (3) do not own a gun. Protection owners felt less safe on campus and supported allowing guns on campus. They also reported that they and others would feel safer and that gun violence would decrease if they carried a gun on campus. Non-owners and non-protection owners felt the reverse. The findings suggest that protection concerns, rather than gun-ownership per se, account for diverging perceptions and attitudes about guns and gun control.     

Do storybooks with anthropomorphized animal characters promote prosocial behaviors in young children?

For millennia, adults have told children stories not only to entertain but also to impart important moral lessons to promote prosocial behaviors. Many such stories contain anthropomorphized animals because it is believed that children learn from anthropomorphic stories as effectively, if not better than, from stories with human characters, and thus are more inclined to act according to the moral lessons of the stories. Here we experimentally tested this belief by reading preschoolers a sharing story with either human characters or anthropomorphized animal characters. Reading the human story significantly increased preschoolers' altruistic giving but reading the anthropomorphic story or a control story decreased it. Thus, contrary to the common belief, realistic stories, not anthropomorphic ones, are better for promoting young children's prosocial behavior.