Patterning,partial reinforcement,and N-length effects at spaced trials as a function of reinstatement of retrieval cues

Four experiments are reported which demonstrate the importance of the reinstatement of retrieval cues in partial-reinforcement experiments using spaced trials. Reinstatement occurs when the goalbox and startbox are of the same brightness (gray). Nonreinstatement occurs when the goalbox and startbox are of different brightnesses (black-and-white striped vs gray). Under reinstatement conditions, both a partial-reinforcement effect (PRE) and N-length effects were observed whether small reward or large reward was used. Under nonreinstatement conditions, a PRE was observed when large reward was used but not when small reward was used; N-length effects were not observed either with large or small reward. Finally, using a 24-hr intertrial interval, single alternation patterning was found only with a group receiving large reward, a long nonreward confinement duration, and reinstatement. These results are not consistent with the notion that massed and spaced trials are governed by separate mechanisms, and support an explanation of both massed and spaced trials based on E. J. Capaldi's sequential theory.     

Organization of the narrative components in autobiographical speech of anorexic adolescents: A statistical and non-linear dynamical analysis

Family theories of anorexia nervosa point out that patients’ autobiographic speech may reflect internalized family interactions. Our study characterizes the statistical distribution and temporal organization of the narrative components describing personal relationships in anorexic and control subjects. Semantic components related to personal interactions were encoded from life narratives of 14 adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa (restrictive type) and of 13 matched healthy adolescent girls. Speech analysis was performed using both statistical methods and non-linear time-series analysis. Static indices showed an over-representation of family relations and an under-representation of love relations in anorexic patients. Dynamical indices showed the independence between relational systems in anorexic patients. Dynamical analysis reveals that interactional patterns are internalized through the temporal organization of autobiographical speech. Moreover, these results support the existence of a specific temporal organization in anorexic adolescents’ life narratives which express the internalization of stationary family patterns and indicate relative inability to disengage from active previous relational patterns and to create new ones.     

The Long‐Term Predictive Validity of the Consumers’ Need for Uniqueness Scale

This research examines the long‐term ability of the consumers’ need for uniqueness measure to predict consumers’ valued possessions, shopping behaviors, and experiences. Consumers’ need for uniqueness reflects individual differences in counterconformity motivation (i.e., the pursuit of differentness relative to others) that is manifest in consumer responses. This research reports on 2 longitudinal assessments of the scale's predictive validity using data collected at 4 stages from a consumer mail‐survey sample. One year following initial responses to the trait measure, respondents participated in a second survey in which they photographed and rank ordered their valued possessions. In a third survey, the photographs served as cues to obtain responses to ratings of possession benefits and to questions regarding acquisition of the possession. Overall, the results support a number of hypotheses regarding the relation of consumers’ need for uniqueness to salient possession benefits, types of goods comprising consumers’ valued possessions, and shopping behaviors associated with acquiring valued possessions. Two years following initial responses to the trait measure, members of the consumer mail panel completed a fourth survey, indicating their participation in various uniqueness‐enhancing consumer activities. Results support the stability and predictive validity of the measure over the 2‐year period. Because the design of possessions and endorsed uniqueness‐enhancing activities considered in the consumer mail panel studies varied across individuals, an additional study was conducted that demonstrated the scale's ability to predict individuals’ counterconformity responses to the same choice situation.     

Dissociating averageness and attractiveness: attractive faces are not always average

Although the averageness hypothesis of facial attractiveness proposes that the attractiveness of faces is mostly a consequence of their averageness, 1 study has shown that caricaturing highly attractive faces makes them mathematically less average but more attractive. Here the authors systematically test the averageness hypothesis in 5 experiments using both rating and visual adaptation paradigms. Visual adaptation has previously been shown to increase both preferences for previously viewed face types (i.e., attractiveness) and their perceived normality (i.e., averageness). The authors used a visual adaptation procedure to test whether facial attractiveness is dependent upon faces' proximity to average (averageness hypothesis) or their location relative to average along an attractiveness dimension in face space (contrast hypothesis). While the typical pattern of change due to visual adaptation was found for judgments of normality, judgments of attractiveness resulted in a very different pattern. The results of these 5 experiments conclusively support the proposal that there are specific nonaverage characteristics that are particularly attractive. The authors discuss important implications for the interpretation of studies using a visual adaptation paradigm to investigate attractiveness.     

Are dietary restraint scales valid measures of moderate- to long-term dietary restriction? Objective biological and behavioral data suggest not

Prospective studies indicate that elevated scores on dietary restraint scales predict bulimic symptom onset, but experiments indicate that assignment to dietary restriction interventions reduces bulimic symptoms. One possible explanation for the inconsistent findings is that the dietary restraint scales used in the former studies are not valid measures of dietary restriction. The authors previously found that dietary restraint scales were not inversely correlated with objective measures of short-term caloric intake (E. Stice, M. Fisher, & M. R. Lowe, 2004). In this follow-up report, 3 studies indicated that the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire dietary restraint scale was not correlated with doubly labeled water estimated energy intake over 2-week periods or with observationally measured caloric intake over 3 months. Results from this study and others suggest that dietary restraint scales may not be valid measures of moderate- to long-term dietary restriction and imply the need to reinterpret findings from studies that have used dietary restraint scales.