Young children's automatic encoding of social categories

The present research investigated young children's automatic encoding of two social categories that are highly relevant to adults: gender and race. Three‐ to 6‐year‐old participants learned facts about unfamiliar target children who varied in either gender or race and were asked to remember which facts went with which targets. When participants made mistakes, they were more likely to confuse targets of the same gender than targets of different genders, but they were equally likely to confuse targets within and across racial groups. However, a social preference measure indicated that participants were sensitive to both gender and race information. Participants with more racial diversity in their social environments were more likely to encode race, but did not have stronger racial preferences. These findings provide evidence that young children do not automatically encode all perceptible features of others. Further, gender may be a more fundamental social category than race.     

Effects of a videotape information intervention for spouses on spouse distress and patient recovery from surgery.

Shortly before hospital release, the spouses of 226 male and 70 female coronary artery bypass graft patients were randomly assigned to view an optimistically slanted information tape, a tape that featured coping with more ups and downs, or no tape at all. Results indicated that women, whether as patients or as caregivers, were at elevated risk for a variety of negative outcomes during the subsequent 6 months. However, female patients who had spouses in the optimistic, mastery-tape condition were protected from the elevated levels of problems that characterized women whose spouses received only standard discharge preparation. Results are discussed in relation to research on optimism effects and work that suggests men may generally be less effective caregivers than women.     

The Problem of Theodicy and Religious Response to Cancer

The authors studied the religious response to cancer in a group of hematology/ oncology-clinic patients. Method: Patients (N = 45) were surveyed with a self-report questionnaire. Five items were designed to reflect the five major categories of theodicy or modes of reconciling suffering with a morally good God. Results: Of the 45 patients, in response to their illness, 67% (N = 30) increased amount of prayer, 51% (N = 23) gained faith, and 16% (N = 7) increased the frequency of church attendance. The majority of patients across all levels of religious belief endorse a theodicy that claims God has a reason for their suffering, but this reason cannot be explained or understood. Conclusions: Religious cancer patients intensify their religious belief and practice in response to their illness. Despite the elusiveness of an explanation for their suffering in religious terms, patients remain confident in their faith.     

Effects of preoperative roommate assignment on preoperative anxiety and recovery from coronary-bypass surgery

This study examined the effect of preoperative roommate assignment on the preoperative anxiety and postoperative recovery of 27 male coronary-bypass patients. Patients were assigned preoperatively to a roommate who was either similar or dissimilar in his surgical status (preoperative vs. postoperative, respectively) and either similar or dissimilar in his type of operation (cardiac vs. noncardiac, respectively). The results indicated that the similarity/dissimilarity of a roommate's surgical status exerted important effects. Specifically, patients who before their operations had a postoperative roommate were less anxious preoperatively, were more ambulatory postoperatively, and were released more quickly from the hospital than patients who before their operations had a preoperative roommate. In contrast, the similarity/dissimilarity of the roommate's type of operation exerted no significant effects either separately or in interaction with the similarity of the roommate's surgical status. Theoretical implications, possible mechanisms, and practical implications for hospital policy are discussed.     

Social support and recovery from surgery

This study examined the relationship of naturally occurring social support from the spouse with the preoperative anxiety and postoperative recovery of 56 male coronary-bypass patients. Patients were divided into groups based on whether the overall quality of their marital relationship was perceived to be relatively good or bad at the time of surgery and on whether they received relatively high or low spouse support in the hospital (defined in terms of frequency of visits). A fifth group (n = 16), consisting of unmarried patients, enabled additional comparisons. The results indicated that, although groups were essentially equivalent in preoperative physical status, married patients who received higher hospital support took less pain medication and recovered more quickly than their low-support counterparts. In contrast, perceived quality of the marital relationship was a relatively insignificant factor. Speed of recovery for unmarried patients was generally slower than for married, high-support patients and faster than for married, low-support patients.     

A Developmental Perspective on Processing Semantic Context: Preliminary Evidence from Sentential Auditory Word Repetition in School-Aged Children

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - The current investigation examined the developmental changes involved in processing semantic context in auditorily presented sentences, as well as underlying...     

Interventions to Promote Sun Protection Behaviors: What Do We Know About the Efficacy of Health‐ and Appearance‐based Messages and the Role of Cognitions and Emotions?

Human behavior has been implicated as a critical component in the development of a number of diseases, including skin cancer. More than 85% of all skin cancers are attributed to over‐exposure to the sun, and two primary types of interventions have been utilized to motivate sun protection practices – those that focus on the health consequences (i.e., skin cancer) and those that highlight the negative appearance consequences (i.e., wrinkles and age spots) of sun exposure. Both health‐based and appearance‐based interventions have been demonstrated to increase awareness of sun exposure dangers and of recommended risk reduction behaviors. Much of the literature examining the efficacy of appearance‐based interventions also contains evidence of behavior change in response to such interventions. The role of consciously accessible attitudes and perceptions as mechanisms of behavior change has been extensively examined, and there is evidence that sun protection interventions may promote behavior change in part by altering various health‐related cognitions (e.g., perceived susceptibility to skin damage). However, the role of nonconscious mechanisms in the efficacy of sun protection interventions has received little empirical attention. A growing body of literature, primarily in other health contexts, has demonstrated that behavior is sometimes more strongly predicted by emotions than cognitions, and that processes outside of conscious awareness may affect behavior change. It is suggested that both future sun protection interventions, and health promotion theories in general, could benefit from a thorough examination of the role that emotions and autonomic reactions may play in intervention efficacy.     

Erratum to: Refusal of Medical Blood Transfusions Among Jehovah’s Witnesses: Emotion Regulation of the Dissonance of Saving and Sacrificing Life

Journal of Religion and Health -