Risk taking in achievement-oriented situations: Do people really maximize affect or competence information?

Several studies of choice behavior (risk taking) in achievement-oriented situations are reanalyzed. The usual ways of pooling all choices over trials and subjects conceal the series of subjects' decisions and the dynamics inherent in these decisions. A basic strategy of subjects in an achievement-oriented choice situation seems to be to start with an easy task, choose a more difficult one whenever you succeed, and stay mostly at the same difficulty level whenever you fail. A computer model, in which such simple assumptions are made, generates preference functions over the order of difficulty levels that are indistinguishable from those found in empirical studies. It is concluded that the study of choice behavior in achievement-oriented situations should be based on the analysis of the series of single decisions by one subject. For this we need models that allow the predictions of such decisions and the prediction of action-controlling cognitions and emotions.     

How do group meetings make a community Therapeutic?

Summary Following an abrupt shift from a therapeutic community with emphasis on group meetings to a hierarchical medical model on a mental hospital floor, disturbed patients required extensive individual nursing care. This increased work load for the nursing staff resulted in admissions having to be limited to the rare cases who needed little or no nursing care. As patients were discharged, the vacancy rate went up to approximately 20% for a week and remained high for another two weeks. Nursing staff-patient relations deteriorated.Subsequently, it was possible to resume the emphasis on the groups of a therapeutic community and to observe the contrast. The experience showed how groups can effect and support a therapeutic community. It clarified some of the mechanisms by which groups positively affected disturbed patients. Some mechanisms by which the staff, community, and group meetings favorably influenced the nursing staff-patient relationship and intrastaff communications became clear also.     

Family and food variables that influence life satisfaction of mother-father-adolescent triads in a South American country

This study explored the influence of each family member’s life satisfaction on the other family members’ life satisfaction in mother-father-adolescent triads. We also explored the influence of each family member’s satisfaction with food-related life and family life on their own life satisfaction (LS) as well as on the other family members’ LS in mother-father-adolescent triads. The influence of family eating habits, food-related parenting practices used by each parent and sociodemographic characteristics on each family member’s LS were also explored. A survey was applied to a sample of 300 two-parent families with one child between 10 and 17 years of age in Temuco, Chile. The questionnaire included the Satisfaction with Life Scale, Satisfaction with Food-related Life scale, Satisfaction with Family Life scale, Adapted Healthy Eating Index, Family Food Behavior Survey and Family Eating Habits Questionnaire. Frequency and sources of family meals as well as sociodemographic characteristics were also consulted. Three multivariate ordinal logit models were proposed, with the dependent variable LS in the three subsamples: mothers, fathers and adolescents. The three logit models were significant, but differed in the explanatory variables. Mothers’ LS was influenced by their children’s LS and vice versa. Mothers’ LS was positively influenced by both their own satisfaction with family life and the fathers’ satisfaction with family life and vice versa. Children’s LS was also positively influenced by their own satisfaction with food-related and family life. Both parents’ LS was influenced by eating habits, food-related parenting practices and sociodemographic characteristics, but in different ways. Therefore, different interventions should be implemented to improve each family member’s life satisfaction.

     

Separate neural sites for d-amphetamine suppression of mouse killing and feeding behavior in rats

The present study was conducted to investigate several possible neural sites for d-amphetamine's effect on mouse killing and feeding behaviors. d-Amphetamine (10, 20, and 30 μg) injected into each lateral ventricle, suppressed mouse kiling, food, and water intake in a dose-dependent manner. Bilateral adminstration of d-amphetamine (20 μg) into the central amygdaloid nucleus abolished mouse killing behavior but did not affect feeding and drinking. By contrast, bilateral amphetamine injections into the substantia nigra, or into the ventral region of the caudate nucleus, did not suppress mouse killing behavior, but significantly decreased food and water intake. The lateral hypothalamus was sensitive to d-amphetamine injections, which suppressed mouse killing and food intake as well as water intake. d-Amphetamine injections into the nucleus accumbens produced inconsistent effects on mouse killing and feeding. Our observations suggest a differentiation of the neural sites that mediate feeding from those underlying mouse killing behavior.     

Sticking to common values: Neighbourhood social cohesion moderates the effect of value congruence on life satisfaction

This article aims to explicate the role of social cohesion in the relationship between adherence to common values and life satisfaction. Shared values are often assumed to be a constitutive element of social cohesion and are used in measurement of the concept. However, sociopsychological theory of values sees social cohesion rather as a moderator of the link between value congruence and life satisfaction, not as a constituent of value congruence. Based on a representative survey of the city of Bremen, Germany (N = 2605), we predict life satisfaction from person‐group value congruence and neighbourhood social cohesion. We find no relationship between value congruence and social cohesion, but a significant positive moderating effect of social cohesion on the relationship between value congruence and life satisfaction. The findings suggest that sticking to common values does not increase social cohesion, but that positive effects of value congruence are more pronounced in high‐cohesion neighbourhoods.     

Attentional inhibition has social-emotional consequences for unfamiliar faces

Visual attention studies often rely on response time measures to show the impact of attentional facilitation and inhibition. Here we extend the investigation of the effects of attention on behavior and show that prior attentional states associated with unfamiliar faces can influence subsequent social-emotional judgments about those faces. Participants were shown pairs of face images and were asked to withhold a response if a transparent stop-signal cue appeared over one of the faces. This served to associate the cued face with an inhibitory state. Later, when asked to make social-emotional choices about these face pairs, participants chose uncued faces more often than cued faces as "more trustworthy" and chose cued faces more often than uncued faces as "less trustworthy." For perceptual choices, there was no effect of how the question was framed (which face is "on a lighter background" vs. "on a darker background"). These results suggest that attentional inhibition can be associated with socially relevant stimuli, such as faces, and can have specific, deleterious effects on social-emotional judgments.