Two Directions in a Search for Symmetry in Rats

The Psychological Record - Two methodologies that have been successful in producing emergent symmetry in some nonhuman species include multiple exemplar training (sea lions) and successive...     

The Relationship Between African American Enculturation and Racial Identity

This study investigated how predictive the Cross Racial Identity Scale (CRIS; B. J. Vandiver, W. E. Cross, F. C. Worrell, & P. Fhagen‐Smith, 2002), a measure of Black racial identity, was of African American cultural practices, beliefs, and attitudes (i.e., enculturation) as measured by the African American Acculturation scale‐33 (H. Landrine & E. Klonoff, 1995). Findings revealed that all but 1 of the CRIS subscales significantly predicted enculturation. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Este estudio investigó hasta qué punto la Escala Cross de Identidad Racial (CRIS, por sus siglas en inglés; B. J. Vandiver, W. E. Cross, F. C. Worrell, & P. Fhagen‐Smith, 2002), una medida de la identidad racial Negra, podría predecir prácticas culturales, creencias y actitudes Afroamericanas (p. ej, la endoculturación) medidas por la Escala de Aculturación Afroamericana‐33 (H. Landrine & E. Klonoff, 1995). Los hallazgos revelaron que todas, a excepción de una, de las subescalas CRIS predijeron la endoculturación de una manera significativa. Se discuten implicaciones teóricas y prácticas.     

An ambiguous-race illusion in children's face memory

Adults show better memory for ambiguous faces of their own race than for ambiguous faces of another race, even when the faces are identical and differentiated only by extraneous cues to racial category. We investigated whether similar context effects operate early in development. Young children raised in predominantly White environments were presented with computer-generated White-Black morphed faces, each paired with either the White or the Black face that contributed to its construction, and were told that the two faces in each pair were siblings. The children's subsequent recognition memory was more accurate for faces that had been paired with White siblings than for faces that had been paired with Black siblings. The same effect did not obtain when the ambiguous faces were paired with White or Black faces that did not contribute to their construction and did not look like siblings. These findings suggest that face memory in children is not driven exclusively by visual information present in faces and instead depends on an interplay of categorical and perceptual information about race and relationships.     

Attachment and the experience and expression of emotions in romantic relationships: a developmental perspective

In this longitudinal study, the authors tested a developmental hypothesis derived from attachment theory and recent empirical findings. Target participants were 78 individuals who have been studied intensively from infancy into their mid-20s. When targets were 20-23 years old, the authors tested the way in which interpersonal experiences at 3 pivotal points in each target's earlier social development--infancy/early childhood, early elementary school, and adolescence--predicted the pattern of positive versus negative emotions experienced with his or her romantic partner. A double-mediation model revealed that targets classified as securely attached at 12 months old were rated as more socially competent during early elementary school by their teachers. Targets' social competence, in turn, forecasted their having more secure relationships with close friends at age 16, which in turn predicted more positive daily emotional experiences in their adult romantic relationships (both self- and partner-reported) and less negative affect in conflict resolution and collaborative tasks with their romantic partners (rated by observers). These results are discussed in terms of attachment theory and how antecedent life experiences may indirectly shape events in current relationships.     

Rorschach Comprehensive System data for a sample of 37 nonpatient/nondelinquent adolescents from the United States

This study is composed of 37 American adolescents, ages 15 to 17 years of age, all from the United States. The principal author was the sole examiner. Inclusion criteria are described. Interrater reliability statistics at the response level are presented along with scores for the Rorschach Comprehensive System (CS; Exner, 2003). The results revealed differences from the published norms on variables that reflect poor form quality, fewer popular responses, more attention to detail, more poor human relationship responses, and a more simplistic, affective-free approach to the environment, among others.     

Using the MMPI-2 to Predict Symptom Reduction During Psychotherapy in a Sample of Community Outpatients

In the present study, potential MMPI-2 predictors of psychotherapy outcome were examined in a community clinical sample of 51 patients seeking treatment at a university training clinic. Results indicated that particular MMPI-2 scales (L, F, Pd, Pa, Sc, Trt) were the most predictive of initial levels of patient distress, whereas three other clinical scales (Hs, D, Hy) were significantly associated with actual symptom reduction over time. The clinical implications of these data include the use of the MMPI-2 in clinical practice as a means to frame the provision of direct feedback to patients regarding the likelihood of treatment response, which in turn, might actually have therapeutic benefits. The limitations of the study are reviewed and suggestions for future research are offered, including the potential use of widely known and utilized instruments in helping to predict response to psychotherapy.     

Sex Differences in the Effects of Neighborhood Socioeconomic Disadvantage and Social Organization on Rural Adolescents’ Aggression Trajectories

We determined whether effects of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage on trajectories of aggression were moderated or mediated by neighborhood social organization and examined sex differences in neighborhood effects for rural adolescents. We used five waves of survey data collected over 2.5 years linked with neighborhood data from interviews with parents and the US Census. The sample (N = 5,118) was 50.1% female, 52.0% white and 38.3% African–American; average age at baseline was 13.1 years. Multilevel growth curve models for both girls and boys showed no significant interactions between neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and indicators of social organization. Neither sample showed evidence of mediated effects. In main effects models, neighborhood disadvantage was associated with the average aggression trajectory for girls. For boys, the effects of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and social disorganization appeared to be confounded with each other. Neighborhood disadvantage is detrimental for rural girls regardless of the level of social organization.     

Patterns of brain-electrical activity during declarative memory performance in 10-month-old infants

This study of infant declarative memory concurrently examined brain-electrical activity and deferred imitation performance in 10-month-old infants. Continuous electroencephalogram (EEG) measures were collected throughout the activity-matched baseline, encoding (modeling) and retrieval (delayed test) phases of a within-subjects deferred imitation task. Infants were divided into two memory performance groups based on the exhibition of ordered-recall after a 24-h delay. Whereas no group differences were found in EEG collected during encoding, performance-group differences in EEG were present during retrieval. Infants who successfully displayed ordered-recall showed a pattern of increasing EEG from baseline to task at anterior temporal scalp locations, whereas infants showing no ordered-recall displayed no changes in EEG from baseline to task. These findings are discussed with respect to the biobehavioral developments underlying declarative memory abilities.     

Consumer reactions to the decreased usage message: The role of elaborative processing

This research examines consumer reactions to an emerging trend among corporate social responsibility initiatives—the promotion of decreased usage of the company's own core products. The results across three experiments suggest that the presence of a decreased usage message that highlights incongruity between the marketing message and the company's goals leads to negative company evaluations. The authors demonstrate that elaborative processing underlies these effects by examining the moderating role of the need for cognition and cognitive load. Further, perceived incongruity and cognitive elaboration mediate the findings. The implications for marketers and consumers are discussed.     

Evaluating the two-component inspection model in a simplified luggage search task

Visual inspection of X-ray images of luggage is a time-pressured task that typically shows large initial training effects, but there exists a paucity of models capable of evaluating performance and speed concurrently. In the present study, visual inspection ability during learning was modeled using Drury’s two-component inspection model (TCM; Drury, 1975) in a laboratory experiment involving 12 younger (mean age = 20.8 years) and 12 older (mean age = 60.0 years) naive participants undertaking a simplified luggage search task. Model fits and assumptions were found to be reliable and accurately reflected improvement with training for decision time, although neither search nor decision components of the model individually showed a significant effect of age. The decision component of the model showed larger improvement with training than did the search component, and stopping-time policy accurately reflected the improvements found between ages and within training levels. The TCM is a useful supplement to detection theory when speed of performance is a factor.