Cybernetics of cybernetics in assessment of marital quality

Quality of marriage is a term or a phrase that still lacks a clear and precise referent. Marital adjustment, success, satisfaction, compatibility, and stability are terms that have been variously employed. Following the lead of Fincham and Bradbury, a case is made for the fact that the best measure for marital quality is the global evaluation of marriage, i.e. the evaluation placed on the relationship as a whole by the marital partners. This is cybernetics of cybernetics wherein the observer becomes part of the observed.     

The relationship between eye position and egocentric visual direction

Hering’s model of egocentric visual direction assumes implicitly that the effect of eye position on direction is both linear and equal for the two eyes; these two assumptions were evaluated in the present experiment. Five subjects pointed (open-loop) to the apparent direction of a target seen under conditions in which the position of one eye was systematically varied while the position of the other eye was held constant. The data were analyzed through examination of the relationship between the variations in perceived egocentric direction and variations inexpected egocentric direction based on the positions of the varying eye. The data revealed that the relationship between eye position and egocentric direction is indeed linear. Further, the data showed that, for some subjects, variations in the positions of the two eyes do not have equateffectsTjn egocentric direction. Both the between-eye differences and the linear relationship may be understood in terms of individual differences in the location of the cyclopean eye, an unequal weighting of the positions of the eyes in the processing of egocentric direction, or some combination of these two factors.     

Neurocardiology shows that the central,not peripheral,action of propranolol reduces mortality following acute coronary artery occlusion in the conscious pig

Neurocardiology emphasizes the role of the higher cerebral mechanisms in cardiovascular disorders. Several large clinical trials (BHAT, MIAMI, and ISIS) have consistently shown that treatment with a beta-receptor blocker (propranolol, metoprolol, or atenolol) will produce a 26% to 29% reduction in mortality in high-risk survivors of acute myocardial infarction. Becauseall beta-blockers cross the blood-brain barrier, it is not clear whether the salutary action is on the central or peripheral receptors. Therefore the effects of intracerebral versus intravenous propranolol were observed in 30 conscious pigs following complete occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Controls showed the propranolol to remain confined throughout the experiment to the central or peripheral compartment into which it was injected. To assure the occurrence of ventricular fibrillation (VF), each pig was psychologically stressed by being unconditioned to the laboratory.Intracerebral propranolol (0.05 mg/kg) prevented VF within a 20 min period of reversible ischemia in 6 of 9 pigs, whereas VF was prevented in 0 of 11 controls injected intravenously with either dextro-propranolol (2 pigs) or vehicle (9 pigs) (P<.0006, binomial probability ratio). In some pigs in which VF was not manifested by 20 min, the ischemia was reversed and additional control observations were achieved; a total of 10 counter-balanced within-subjects experiments confirmed the between-subjects result (P<.01, paired-t test). In contrast intravenous propranolol (0.2 to 2.0 mg/kg) in 7 pigs had no effect on VF latency compared to 7 vehicle controls. It is concluded that beta-receptor antagonists prevent VF in the ischemic myocardium by their effect on thebrain andnot the heart.     

Culturally grounded strategies for suicide and alcohol risk prevention delivered by rural Alaska Native communities: A dynamic wait-listed design evaluation of the Qungasvik intervention

We examined the effectiveness of the Qungasvik (Tools for Life) intervention in enhancing protective factors as a universal suicide and alcohol prevention strategy for young people ages 12−18 living in highly affected rural Alaska Native communities. Four communities were assigned to immediate intervention or to a dynamic wait list. Outcomes were analyzed for 239 young people at four time points over two years of community intervention. Outcomes assessed two ultimate variable protective factors buffering suicide and alcohol risk, and three intermediate variable protective factors at the individual, family, and community level. Dose dependent intervention effects were associated with growth in ultimate but not intermediate variables. This evaluation of the Qungasvik intervention provides support for the effectiveness of its Indigenous strategies for suicide and alcohol misuse prevention in this rural Alaska Native setting. Though findings did not provide support for a theory of change where growth in ultimate variables is occasioned through effects on intermediate variables, research designs focused on young people who enter intervention at lower levels of preexisting protection hold promise for better understanding of intervention change processes. The Qungasvik intervention is responsive to an acute public health need for effective rural Alaska Native suicide and alcohol risk prevention strategies.     

Motivated to Forgive? Partisan Scandals and Party Supporters

In this study, we investigate how partisan motivations shape voters' reactions to a political scandal by drawing on a unique survey experiment fielded immediately after Justin Trudeau's brownface/blackface scandal broke during the 2019 Canadian election. We thus explore motivated reasoning in real time in a competitive and highly partisan election context. Are voters more willing to forgive politicians for past behavior when their own party leader's impropriety is cued? To what extent do personal interests, such as cross-pressures or electoral concerns, affect the motivation to forgive? Our findings show that partisan-motivated reasoning is overwhelmingly powerful, producing politically biased judgments of politicians implicated in scandals. Furthermore, voters' willingness to forgive scandals is also influenced by “strategic” considerations, in that preferences over which political party wins or loses in the election affect opinions about whether someone should be forgiven or whether the scandal is considered important at all. However, we find no evidence that personal involvement in the issue raised by the scandal conditions partisan motivations. We posit that the environment—in this case, a competitive election—is an important consideration for understanding the extent and limits of partisan-motivated reasoning.     

Sports specific metacognitions and competitive state anxiety in athletes: A comparison between different sporting types

This study investigated the relationship between sport related metacognitions with state anxiety dimensions, and compared how sporting categories affected these variables, among an online sample of athletes (N = 187). A MANOVA revealed there were significant differences between sporting types in metacognitive beliefs relating to the utility of rumination and arousal, the need to control thoughts, and levels of somatic anxiety. Correlations and multiple regressions showed that that in contrast to the relationships with self-confidence, cognitive and somatic state anxiety were positively associated with specific dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs, but negatively related to metacognitive processes. Overall, these findings highlight that: (a) athletes might adopt metacognitions to meet the different cognitive demands of sport types; and (b) metacognitions are in part responsible for the occurrence of state anxiety and self-confidence during competitions. The findings of this study have implications toward how researchers and sports practitioners approach the comprehensive nature of competitive anxiety.     

Sensorimotor and working memory systems jointly support development of perceptual rhythm processing

We studied the role of sensorimotor and working memory systems in supporting development of perceptual rhythm processing with 119 participants aged 7–12 years. Children were assessed for their abilities in sensorimotor synchronization (SMS; beat tapping), auditory working memory (AWM; digit span), and rhythm discrimination (RD; same/different judgment on a pair of musical rhythm sequences). Multiple regression analysis revealed that children's RD performance was independently predicted by higher beat tapping consistency and greater digit span score, with all other demographic variables (age, sex, socioeconomic status, music training) controlled. The association between RD and SMS was more robust in the slower tempos (60 and 100 beats-per-minute (BPM)) than faster ones (120 and 180 BPM). Critically, the relation of SMS to RD was moderated by age in that RD performance was predicted by beat tapping consistency in younger children (age: 7–9 years), but not in older children (age: 10–12 years). AWM was the only predictor of RD in older children. Together, the current findings demonstrate that the sensorimotor and working memory systems jointly support RD processing during middle-to-late childhood and that the degree of association between the two systems and perceptual rhythm processing is shifted before entering into early adolescence.     

Using humor to increase COVID-19 vaccination intention for the unvaccinated: The moderating role of trust in government

Since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, scholars and practitioners have put much effort into testing effective advertising strategies for COVID-19 vaccinations. Guided by humor theories, this study aimed to examine (1) the effect of humor on persuading COVID-19 vaccination and (2) the moderating role of trust in government for the unvaccinated population. Across two studies (college students and general adult populations), for lower trust in government individuals, through greater public service advertisement (PSA) processing depth and believability, there was a higher vaccination intention after the humor (non-humor) advertisement. For higher trust in government individuals, there was evidence that the vaccination intention was lowered after the humor (vs. non-humor) message through lowered PSA processing depth and believability. This study expands humor theory into testing COVID-19 vaccination messages while considering an individual psychological factor, trust in the government, that has emerged as an essential determinant to COVID-19 messaging. The contributions to COVID-19 vaccination advertising strategy and advertising to the unvaccinated population, in general, are discussed.     

Role of fresh start mindset framing in reducing stigma and promoting mental health help-seeking behavior

One challenge in promoting mental health help-seeking behaviors is the masculine norm ingrained in the U.S. Using experimental data, this article examines how fresh start mindset (FSM) framing can be effective in helping reduce the stigma associated with mental health help-seeking behaviors and increase the promotion of positive attitudes and word-of-mouth of the mental health messages among men (vs. women). This study uniquely reveals that FSM framing in mental health ad campaigns might help men switch from the mindset that mental health help-seeking behaviors equate to showing weakness to one of help-seeking behaviors as a fresh start. Further, this study demonstrates that males with high issue involvement levels and females with low issue involvement levels respond to FSM framing more favorably. Thus, issue involvement levels form the critical boundary conditions. The authors also reveal that attitudes toward the ads operate as an underlying mechanism in FSM framing effects on responses.