Do humans and baboons use the same information when categorizing human and baboon faces?

What information is used for sorting pictures of complex stimuli into categories? We applied a reverse correlation method to reveal the visual features mediating categorization in humans and baboons. Two baboons and 6 humans were trained to sort, by species, pictures of human and baboon faces on which random visual noise was superimposed. On ambiguous probe trials, a human-baboon morph was presented, eliciting "human" responses on some trials and "baboon" responses on others. The difference between the noise patterns that induced the two responses made explicit the information mediating the classification. Unlike the humans, the baboons based their categorization on information that closely matched that used by a theoretical observer responding solely on the basis of the pixel similarities between the probe and training images. We show that the classification-image technique and principal components analysis provide a method to make explicit the differences in the information mediating categorization in humans and animals.     

Reactive and proactive aggression: stability of constructs and relations to correlates

The authors examined short-term temporal stability of reactive and proactive aggression, as well as short-term consistency of differential relations of reactive versus proactive aggression to 4 correlates. The authors used parent, teacher, peer, and self-report measures twice across 1 year to assess reactive aggression, proactive aggression, hyperactivity, social skills, anger expression, and depressive symptoms of 2nd-grade boys and girls (N = 57). Both subtypes of aggression remained stable across the year, even when the other subtype of aggression was explained at each assessment. Reactive aggression, but not proactive aggression, was consistently positively related to hyperactivity, poor social skills, and anger expression at each assessment.     

The Social Ecological Model and Physical Activity in African American Women

Little is known about the social and contextual correlates (e.g., social norms, environment, social networks, and organizational support) influencing the adoption and maintenance of regular physical activity among minority and underserved populations. The purpose of this review was to apply the social ecological model to better understand physical activity among African American women. A review of the literature pertaining to correlates of physical activity among African American women was conducted and applied to a social ecological perspective. Understanding and addressing social and contextual correlates of physical activity behavior among African American women are necessary to establish comprehensive programs, particularly within community settings. The social ecological model provides a strong theoretical basis to guide physical activity intervention in this population.     

Gender Role Orientation and Anxiety Symptoms Among African American Adolescents

The present study evaluated gender role theory as an explanation for the observed gender differences in anxiety symptoms among adolescents. Specifically, the relation between gender, gender role orientation (i.e., masculinity and femininity), self-esteem, and anxiety symptoms was examined in a community sample of 114 African Americans aged 14 to 19 (mean age 15.77; 57 girls). Results revealed that masculinity was negatively associated with anxiety symptoms whereas femininity was positively associated with anxiety symptoms. Gender role orientation accounted for unique variance in anxiety scores above biological gender and self-esteem, and self-esteem moderated the relation between femininity (but not masculinity) and overall anxiety symptoms. Consistent with research on children and Caucasians, findings supported gender role theory as a partial explanation for the observed gender disparity in anxiety symptoms among African American adolescents.     

Oppositional defiant disorder toward adults and oppositional defiant disorder toward peers: initial evidence for two separate constructs

Confirmatory factor analysis of 25 items on the Child and Adolescent Disruptive Behavior Inventory (CADBI, Version 2.3; G. L. Burns, T. K. Taylor, & J. C. Rusby, 2001) was conducted on teacher ratings of 824 kindergarten children and replicated on 534 children. Model fit was improved when correcting for 2 method effects: (a) adjacent items and (b) identical behaviors (e.g., argues with adults, argues with peers). The results show that the 25 items loaded on 3 distinct but correlated factors: Hyperactivity, Oppositional to Adults, and Oppositional to Peers. These more refined constructs from the CADBI may be useful for practitioners in identifying children who are at risk and for helping define appropriate contexts in which to intervene. The CADBI and analytic procedures also may contribute to future psychoeducational research on the development of problem behavior.     

Career success: The role of teenage career aspirations,ambition value and gender in predicting adult social status and earnings

Links between family social background, teenage career aspirations, educational performance and adult social status attainment are well documented. Using a contextual developmental framework, this article extends previous research by examining the role of gender and teenage ambition value in shaping social status attainment and earnings in adulthood. Drawing on data from an 18-year British follow up study we tested a path model linking family background factors (such as family social status and parental aspirations) and individual agency factors in adolescence (in particular, career aspirations and ambition value) to social status attainment and earnings in adulthood. The findings suggest that ambition value is linked to adult earnings. That is, young people for whom it is important to get on in their job earn more money in adulthood than their less ambitious peers. The findings also confirm that teenage career aspirations are linked to adult social status attainment, and suggest that family background factors, teenage career aspirations and ambition value interact to influence social status attainment and earnings in adulthood. Gender differences are discussed.     

That's a boy's toy: gender-typed knowledge in toddlers as a function of mother's marital status

A child who is highly gender schematic readily uses gender when processing new information. In the current study, we examined whether and how family structure predicts a child's level of gender-typed knowledge (as assessed by a gender-stereotype sorting task) once the category of gender is in place (as assessed by a gender-labeling task). It was predicted that children from more "traditional" family structures (married mothers) would have more gender-typed knowledge compared to children from less traditional families (unmarried mothers). Moreover, we explored if this relationship would be related to, at least in part, the greater frequency of androgynous behaviors (i.e., both masculine and feminine household activities) an unmarried mother performs. Twenty-eight children (age 2 to 3) were tested at local childcare centers. The mother of each child reported her marital status as well as how often she engaged in stereotypically masculine and feminine behaviors. As expected, mothers' marital status was associated with children's level of gender-typed knowledge, such that children with unmarried mothers had less gender-typed knowledge, in part due to the unmarried mother's greater frequency of androgynous behaviors. Implications for children's acquisition of gender-related stereotypes and the possible benefit of having mothers model both masculine and feminine behaviors are discussed.     

A Recess Evaluation with the Players: Taking Steps Toward Participatory Action Research

This qualitative study, part of a Canadian national study of fathers’ involvement, opened up First Nations and Métis fathering as a new area of inquiry. Conversational interviews with 80 Indigenous fathers illuminated the socio-historical conditions that have shaped Indigenous men’s experiences of learning to be a father and becoming a man in the context of changing gender relationships and the regeneration of circles of care. Indigenous fathers’ experiences unfold in a socio-historical context fraught with difficulties. However, the study findings suggest cultural strengths and sources of resilience unseen in research and community programs driven by Euro-western perspectives. This research can inform efforts to reduce systemic barriers and reconstitute positive father involvement following disrupted intergenerational transmission of fathering in Canada and elsewhere.     

Count out your intrusions: Effects of verbal encoding on intrusive memories

Peri-traumatic information processing is thought to affect the development of intrusive trauma memories. This study aimed to replicate and improve the study by Holmes, Brewin, and Hennessy (2004, Exp. 3) on the role of peri-traumatic verbal processing in analogue traumatic intrusion development. Participants viewed an aversive film under one of three conditions: counting backwards in 3s (“verbal interference”), verbalising emotions and thoughts (“verbal enhancement”), or without an extra task. A dual-process account of PTSD would predict that verbal interference would increase intrusion frequency compared to no task, whereas verbal enhancement would lead to a decrease. In contrast, mainstream memory theory predicts a decrease in intrusion frequency from any concurrent task that diverts attention away from the trauma film. The main finding was that the verbal interference task led to a decrease in intrusive memories of the film compared to the other two conditions. This finding does not support a dual-process account of PTSD, but is in line with general theories of memory and attention.     

How Personality and Reward Relate to Automobile Drivers' Judgments of Affordances Using Their Own Vehicles

Abstract

Researchers have long recognized the importance of psychological processes in motor vehicle safety, but ecological theory-based research on factors that might contribute to motor vehicle crashes has lagged. This study was designed to test factors that might influence motor vehicle drivers' judgments of passability and fit-ability affordances. In particular, the authors tested personality and behavioral reinforcement as factors that might influence automobile drivers' judgments of affordances in three tasks set at various π-numbers: driving forward through a gap, driving backward through a gap, and fitting into a parallel-parking spot. Results across two studies suggest that personality does not relate to judgment of driving environment affordances, but institution of a behavioral reward system causes drivers to judge affordances in different ways. Implications for future research and for automobile safety intervention are discussed.