The Role of Self-Esteem and Social Support in the Relationship between Extraversion and Happiness: a Serial Mediation Model

Studies have documented that self-esteem and social support mediate the relationship between extroversion and happiness. Most of the studies, however, were conducted in a piecemeal fashion and have rarely evaluated the two mediators simultaneously. It is not clear whether the two mediating effects are equally important or one is greater than the other. Moreover, little attention has been given to the indirect effect of extraversion on happiness through self-esteem then social support (i.e., serial mediating effect). The present study attempts to bridge these gaps by proposing and testing a path model illustrating the mediating effects of self-esteem and social support on the linkage of extraversion and happiness. Undergraduate students (N = 311) completed measures of extroversion, social support, self-esteem, and happiness. Results showed that extraversion, self-esteem, and social support were significantly associated with happiness. As predicted, both self-esteem and social support mediated the relationship between extraversion and happiness, respectively. Results also supported the hypothesized serial mediating effect. In other words, extroverts tend to have high self-esteem which increases supports they receive from friends and family. The high social support, in turn, enhances happiness. Additionally, comparisons among the three indirect effects indicated that the effect of self-esteem was significantly greater than the other two effects. The findings not only shed light on the independent and accumulative mediating effects of self-esteem and social support, but also provide new insight into the difference in strength of the indirect effects.     

Brainstem correlates of temporal auditory processing in children with specific language impairment

Deficits in identification and discrimination of sounds with short inter-stimulus intervals or short formant transitions in children with specific language impairment (SLI) have been taken to reflect an underlying temporal auditory processing deficit. Using the sustained frequency following response (FFR) and the onset auditory brainstem responses (ABR) we evaluated if children with SLI show abnormalities at the brainstem level consistent with a temporal processing deficit. To this end, the neural encoding of tonal sweeps, as reflected in the FFR, for different rates of frequency change, and the effects of reducing inter-stimulus interval on the ABR components were evaluated in 10 4–11-year-old SLI children and their age-matched controls. Results for the SLI group showed degraded FFR phase-locked neural activity that failed to faithfully track the frequency change presented in the tonal sweeps, particularly at the faster sweep rates. SLI children also showed longer latencies for waves III and V of the ABR and a greater prolongation of wave III at high stimulus rates (>30/sec), suggesting greater susceptibility to neural adaptation. These results taken together appear to suggest a disruption in the temporal pattern of phase-locked neural activity necessary to encode rapid frequency change and an increased susceptibility to desynchronizing factors related to faster rates of stimulus presentation in children with SLI.     

Gender Differences in Fear of Success Imagery and Other Achievement-Related Background Variables Among Medical Students

Gender differences in the background variablesof 95 male and 94 female (85 Asian-American and 104primarily Caucasian non-Asian American) medical studentsenrolled in Phase I of a BS/MD six-year medical program were investigated. Fear of successimagery, resultant achievement motivation and severaldemographic and achievement-related home, school,personal motivational variables were analyzed. Therewere no significant gender differences in most ofthe variables. However, during high school, women spentless time in watching TV (p < .000), more time instudying (p < .000), and perceived that their chores were minimized before examinations (p< .002), while during their medical study, their useof conversation with someone to cope with theirpressures and their perception of unique parentalsupport were higher than those of men (p < .05 andp < .01, respectively). Hours spent in studying andin watching TV during high school, and parents'minimizing chores before tests can discriminate about two-thirds of the students in their appropriategender (p < .000).     

How does imagery in interactive consumption lead to false memory? A reconstructive memory perspective

Consumers are often exposed to information that may contradict their consumption experience, leading to “false memory” for aspects of the consumption. We develop a theory suggesting why false memory may be heightened due to imagery processing. We subject this theory to a rigorous test in three experiments. We find that post-consumption imagery makes it more difficult to discern between consumption and misleading information thereby boosting false recall. Yet, imagery that is more consumption-based helps reduce consumers' susceptibility to false memory. Consistent with this notion, we explicate the role that attention plays at different stages of consumption in affecting false memory.     

The Role of Omission Neglect in Response to Non-Gains and Non-Losses in Gasoline Price Fluctuations

Research on omission neglect has shown that people are insensitive to many different types of missing, unmentioned, or unknown information. However, prior research has not examined the role of omission neglect in non-gain and non-loss framing. The present research shows that gain/loss framing effects are greater than non-gain/non-loss framing effects on judgments of the ease with which various scenarios can be imagined, judgments of believability, attributions to price gouging, and attributions to inflation. The results also show that negative outcomes are more influential than are positive outcomes in judgments of imaginability, believability, and fairness, and in attribution judgments. Considered together, the results suggest that omission neglect plays an important role in insensitivity to non-gains and non-losses.