The role of severity and intentionality in the intensity of Schadenfreude attribution: A developmental study of Danish children

Understanding envy and schadenfreude requires complex interpersonal social cognitive abilities, such as social comparison and evaluating the Self, but also understanding agency and intentionality. Previous studies of children's development of envy/schadenfreude addressed whether children understand and experience schadenfreude as opposed to compassion/sympathy or whether children's attribution of schadenfreude is a consequence of envy provoked by a disadvantageous social comparison. In this study, we take a step further and investigate the roles that agency and severity of the damage play in mediating children's attribution of schadenfreude. The participants were 144 Danish children aged 3–9 years divided into two age groups. Children were presented with eight stories supported by pictures showing intentional versus accidental and irreparable versus reparable damage to envied objects. The results show that the intensity of envy/schadenfreude, as well as the happy victimizer phenomenon, varies depending on the severity of damage, agency and intentionality. When damage is accidental, schadenfreude is expressed with less intensity compared to when damage is intentional (led by an agent). When damage is irreparable, children attribute less intense feelings of schadenfreude compared to when it is reparable. In addition, only the older children expressed reparable damage carrying more intense schadenfreude and only in the accidental condition. In general, children consider intentional and reparable damage more intense than accidental and irreparable damage, and this is mediated by age. The results are important for understanding the developmental trajectory of children's complex emotions and for educational programmes directed towards supporting this development.     

Can an agent's false belief be corrected by an appropriate communication? Psychological reasoning in 18-month-old infants

Do 18-month-olds understand that an agent's false belief can be corrected by an appropriate, though not an inappropriate, communication? In Experiment 1, infants watched a series of events involving two agents, a ball, and two containers: a box and a cup. To start, agent1 played with the ball and then hid it in the box, while agent2 looked on. Next, in agent1's absence, agent2 moved the ball from the box to the cup. When agent1 returned, agent2 told her "The ball is in the cup!" (informative-intervention condition) or "I like the cup!" (uninformative-intervention condition). During test, agent1 reached for either the box (box event) or the cup (cup event). In the informative-intervention condition, infants who saw the box event looked reliably longer than those who saw the cup event; in the uninformative-intervention condition, the reverse pattern was found. These results suggest that infants expected agent1's false belief about the ball's location to be corrected when she was told "The ball is in the cup!", but not "I like the cup!". In Experiment 2, agent2 simply pointed to the ball's new location, and infants again expected agent1's false belief to be corrected. These and control results provide additional evidence that infants in the second year of life can attribute false beliefs to agents. In addition, the results suggest that by 18 months of age infants expect agents' false beliefs to be corrected by relevant communications involving words or gestures.     

Understanding Applicant Reactions to Credit Checks: Uncertainty,information effects and individual differences

Credit checks are an increasingly common selection procedure for American jobs, and they are distinct in a number of ways from the selection tests typically studied by researchers. With a credit check, applicants do not actually take a test or answer questions, and most will be uncertain about what information a credit report contains, why one is being requested, and how it will be evaluated. In two experiments we assess the effects of explanations and individual differences. Experiment 1 used a sample of 408 undergraduate business students to examine reaction dimensions relevant to credit checks, and found perceptions to be mainly negative. The type of explanation read, however, interacted with perceived credit report impact to influence reactions. Results of Experiment 2 , with a sample of students from a more non‐traditional population, were similar, but age was associated with greater skepticism of credit report accuracy. Privacy perceptions were the strongest predictor of intention to withdraw from the selection process.     

Utilizing usernames for sex categorization in computer-mediated communication: examining perceptions and accuracy.

As more interpersonal interactions move online, people increasingly get to know and recognize one another by their self-selected identifiers called usernames. Early research predicted that the lack of available cues in text based computer-mediated communication (CMC) would make primitive categories such as biological sex irrelevant in online interactions. Little is known about the types of perceptions people make about one another based on this information, but some limited research has shown that questions about gender are the first to be asked in online interactions and sex categorization has maintained salience. The current project was designed to examine the extent to which individuals might include obvious gender information in their usernames, as well as how easily gender could be attributed from usernames. Seventy-five coders were asked whether or not they could assign 298 people to a sex category based only on their username, and then to rate how confident they were in making the attribution. Results indicated that coders were fairly inaccurate in making these attributions, but moderately confident. Additionally, the results indicated that neither women nor men were more accurate in attributing gender from usernames, and that neither women nor men tended to use more obvious gender markers in their usernames. Additionally, those who did use obvious gender markers in their username tended to have less experience with computer chat. The results are discussed in conjunction with the limitations of the present investigation, and possibilities for future research.     

15-month-old infants detect violations in pretend scenarios

Are 15-month-old infants able to detect a violation in the consistency of an event sequence that involves pretense? In Experiment 1, infants detected a violation when an actor pretended to pour liquid into one cup and then pretended to drink from another cup. In Experiment 2, infants no longer detected a violation when the cups were replaced with objects not typically used in the context of drinking actions, either shoes or tubes. Experiment 3 showed that infants' difficulty in Experiment 2 was not due to the use of atypical objects per se, but arose from the novelty of seeing an actor appearing to drink from these objects. After receiving a single familiarization trial in which they observed the actor pretend to drink from either a shoe or a tube, infants now detected a violation when the actor pretended to pour into and to drink from different shoes or tubes. Thus, at an age (or just before the age) when infants are beginning to engage in pretend play, they are able to show comprehension of at least one aspect of pretense in a violation-of-expectation task: specifically, they are able to detect violations in the consistency of pretend action sequences.     

Argumentation in and Across Disciplines: Two Norwegian Cases

This paper aims at exploring the challenges arising when teachers at secondary school level decide to cooperate about students’ argumentative writing. Two teams of teachers and researchers have met regularly during the school year, discussing students’ texts from a variety of disciplines. Going into two writing tasks in detail, the authors discuss the importance of scaffolding (support) in the teaching of argument. The paper includes a discussion of some specific textual features that are often touched upon in the meetings.     

Two are better than one: comparison influences infants' visual recognition memory

Despite a large literature on infants’ memory for visually presented stimuli, the processes underlying visual memory are not well understood. Two studies with 4-month-olds (N = 60) examined the effects of providing opportunities for comparison of items on infants’ memory for those items. Experiment 1 revealed that 4-month-olds failed to show evidence of memory for an item presented during familiarization in a standard task (i.e., when only one item was presented during familiarization). In Experiment 2, infants showed robust memory for one of two different items presented during familiarization. Thus, infants’ memory for the distinctive features of individual items was enhanced when they could compare items.     

Challenges Faced by Genetics Service Providers’ Practicing in a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Population: An Australian Experience

This paper explores the perceived challenges facing clinical genetics practitioners in multicultural Australia. Focus groups conducted with 53 practitioners explored: 1) participants’ experiences and definitions of cultural diversity; 2) their use of educational resources with clients; 3) their experiences with culturally diverse groups/individuals in practice; 4) their experiences working with interpreters; and 5) the impact culturally specific educational training and/or experiential learning had on their confidence or practice when dealing with culturally diverse clients. Participants viewed culture as extending beyond traditional definitions such as ethnicity, language and religion. Most respondents had experienced positive results working with health care interpreters, although at times, this was a challenge for the family as they preferred privacy and the use of family members as interpreters. Another commonly reported challenge was the limited availability of reliable, culturally appropriate translated resources. Some participants expressed concern that learning theories about specific cultures may lead to stereotypes and that opportunities for formal cultural competence training were limited. Recommendations for practice include the targeting of educational resources to meet the needs of a diverse community and placing cultural competence on the agenda for ongoing training and maintenance of professional standards for clinical genetics practitioners to avoid the current ad hoc approach.     

Gender-role orientations in older child-free and expectant couples

Psychosocial aspects of variant fertility decisions were investigated to determine factors that differentiate individuals who chose to become parents for the first time after age 30 and their peers who chose to remain child free. Forty women, aged 30 to 38, half of whom were child free and half expecting their first child, and 34 of their husbands were interviewed and completed the Role Questionnaire. The pattern of data suggests that the relatively traditional gender-role orientations of the expectant individuals may be an important factor that discriminates the two groups. The Rapoports' concept of “identity tension line” is used to integrate the results of the study and to explore findings that indicate different degrees of traditionalism in regard to work and family roles.