What we think we do (to each other): how personality can bias behavior schemas through the projection of if-then profiles

People's knowledge about others includes not only person schemas about the typical traits of others but also behavior schemas about the likely interpersonal consequences of different behaviors. In this article, it is argued that perceiver effects can be interactive at the level of behavior schemas. A person's own personality configuration of if-then responses in social interactions (Mischel & Shoda, 1995) may contribute to that person's beliefs about the meaning and impact of relational behaviors more generally. In consequence, people who experience strong (or weak) responses to behaviors that vary along a particular trait dimension, such as warmth-coldness, may expect others to experience similarly strong (or weak) responses to those same kinds of behaviors. In 3 studies, people who were high in trait communion expected others to respond more strongly to behaviors that varied in warmth-coldness than did people who were low in trait communion, and people who were low in trait agency expected others to respond more strongly to behaviors that varied in assertiveness-unassertiveness than did people who were high in trait agency. Studies 2 and 3 provided evidence that participants' behavior schemas were based on assumptions derived from their own if-then personality profiles.     

Unpopularity and disliking among peers: Partially distinct dimensions of adolescents' social experiences

The paper examines whether unpopularity and disliking among peers are partially distinct dimensions of adolescents' negative social experience. We recruited 418 students (187 boys, 231 girls, M = 12.12 years, SD = 4.33) from an urban junior high school. These early adolescents completed a peer nomination inventory assessing aspects of their social relationships with peers (i.e., popularity, liking, unpopularity and disliking), reciprocated friendships and behavioral reputations with peers (i.e., relationally and overtly aggressive, relationally and overtly victimized, withdrawn and prosocial). The participants also completed self-report inventories assessing their feelings of loneliness and peer victimization. In addition, academic performance data was obtained directly from school records. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that unpopularity and disliking among peers were associated with different behaviors. Unpopularity was also associated with reports of loneliness, relational victimization and low numbers of reciprocated friends, whereas disliking was associated with low academic performance. These results highlight the importance of multidimensional conceptualizations of negative social experiences in early adolescence and the differential risks associated with unpopularity and disliking among peers.     

The Pollyanna myth: how highly agreeable people judge positive and negative relational acts

Although people high in agreeableness have often been shown to be positively biased toward others, four studies provide evidence that agreeableness is associated with extremity effects, not simple positivity effects, in social judgment. Across studies, agreeable participants judged prosocial behaviors more favorably, but antisocial behaviors more unfavorably, than did disagreeable participants. In support of a goal-congruence mechanism, Study 1 showed that communal goals, rather than perceived similarity, mediated the effects, and Studies 2-4 demonstrated that agreeable perceivers were particularly sensitive to communal (vs. agentic) violations. A longitudinal study of real-life impressions supported the laboratory evidence that agreeable people are highly sensitive to both the prosocial and antisocial behavior of others (Study 4). We discuss how the current account complements and extends existing theories of agreeableness.     

Using a flipped spoon to decrease packing in children with feeding disorders

We evaluated the effects of redistribution and swallow facilitation with a flipped spoon on packing in 2 children with a feeding disorder. For both participants, packing decreased when we implemented the flipped spoon treatment package. Mechanisms responsible for behavior change and areas of future research are discussed.     

Time perception and its relationship to memory in Autism Spectrum Conditions

Timing is essential for the development of cognitive skills known to be impaired in Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC), such as social cognition and episodic memory abilities. Despite the proposal that timing impairments may underpin core features of ASC, few studies have examined temporal processing in ASC and they have produced conflicting results. The present study first addressed discrepancies between previous experiments before testing the assumption that timing impairments may underpin key aspects of autism, by relating differences in temporal processing in the ASC group to memory abilities. Errors in duration reproduction in high functioning children with ASC were observed for the shortest and longest duration tested. While the former was due to attentional factors, the latter was due to deficient timing related to atypical episodic memory processing. These findings suggest that temporal processing abilities play a key role in the poor development of both social cognition and episodic memory abilities associated with ASC.     

Translating CBM-I Into Real-World Settings: Augmenting a CBT-Based Psychiatric Hospital Program

Cognitive bias modification for interpretation (CBM-I) is an appealing augmentation to cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) because it targets cognitive bias efficiently via computerized training. Few studies have tested the combination of CBM-I and CBT, and none have translated lab-based CBM-I protocols to an acute psychiatric setting. The present study describes the development and implementation of CBM-I as an augmentation to a CBT-based partial hospital. We developed a transdiagnostic CBM-I based on the word–sentence association paradigm (WSAP), which reinforces individuals for endorsing benign interpretations and rejecting negative interpretations of ambiguous sentences. Over two iterations of development, we randomly assigned patients (N = 127; M age = 34.21; 58% female, 40% male, 2% nonbinary) to either CBM-I or a control group (Phase 1: neutral WSAP task; Phase 2: treatment as usual). CBM-I comprised daily sessions (10 minutes) completed during program hours, and number of sessions varied naturalistically according to patient length of stay. Primary outcomes included feasibility, acceptability, and target engagement (interpretation bias). CBM-I was feasible and acceptable to acute psychiatric patients, and successfully shifted interpretation for novel stimuli. Patient feedback suggested that participants viewed CBM-I as bolstering their primary CBT-based care. Exploratory analyses examining clinical benefit revealed a small between-group effect on anxiety severity (d = 0.378), but no group differences on depression outcomes (d = 0.008). Findings indicate that CBM-I is a feasible and acceptable augmentation to CBT-based partial hospital care. Future studies are warranted to determine who is most likely to benefit from this low-intensity approach.     

Sleep disruption explains age-related prospective memory deficits: implications for cognitive aging and intervention

The high prevalence of sleep disruption among older adults may have implications for cognitive aging, particularly for higher-order aspects of cognition. One domain where sleep disruption may contribute to age-related deficits is prospective memory—the ability to remember to perform deferred actions at the appropriate time in the future. Community-dwelling older adults (55–93 years, N = 133) undertook assessment of sleep using actigraphy and participated in a laboratory-based prospective memory task. After controlling for education, sleep disruption (longer awakenings) was associated with poorer prospective memory. Additionally, longer awakenings mediated the relationship between older age and poorer prospective memory. Other metrics of sleep disruption, including sleep efficiency and wake after sleep onset, were not related to prospective memory, suggesting that examining the features of individual wake episodes rather than total wake time may help clarify relationships between sleep and cognition. The mediating role of awakening length was partially a function of greater depression and poorer executive function (shifting) but not retrospective memory. This study is among the first to examine the association between objectively measured sleep and prospective memory in older adults. Furthermore, this study is novel in suggesting sleep disruption might contribute to age-related prospective memory deficits; perhaps, with implications for cognitive aging more broadly. Our results suggest that there may be opportunities to prevent prospective memory decline by treating sleep problems.     

On the way to assess emotions in animals: do lambs (Ovis aries) evaluate an event through its suddenness, novelty, or unpredictability?

Appraisal theories provide a framework that gives insight into emotions and could allow comparisons across species. According to these theories, events are first evaluated on their suddenness, novelty, and unpredictability. The authors examined the ability of lambs (Ovis aries) to evaluate an event according to these 3 criteria through 3 tests. The lambs responded to suddenness with a startle response coupled with an increase in heart rate and to novelty with an orientation response coupled with an increase of vagal activity. There was no clear evidence that lambs can detect the predictability of an event. Those results support the usefulness of appraisal theories to assess emotion in animals.     

Group interventions for patients with cancer and HIV disease: part IV. Clinical and policy recommendations

Group interventions have assumed a growing role in primary prevention and supportive care for cancer and HIV disease. Earlier sections of this Special Report examined empirical findings for these interventions and provided recommendations for future research. The current section offers brief recommendations for service providers, policymakers, and stakeholders. Group services now occupy an increasingly prominent place in primary prevention programs and medical settings. In previous sections of this Special Report (Sherman, Leszcz et al., 2004; Sherman, Mosier et al., 2004a, 2004b) we examined the efficacy of different group interventions at different phases of cancer or HIV disease, considered characteristics of the intervention and the participants that might influence outcomes, and discussed mechanisms of action. Methodological challenges and priorities for future research were highlighted. In this, the final section, we offer brief recommendations for service providers, policymakers, and other stakeholders. We consider some of the barriers that constrain use of empirically-based group interventions and note how these programs might be implemented more widely and effectively.     

Suspensions and detentions in an urban,low-income school: punishment or reward?

Disciplinary records for 3rd through 8th grade students (n = 314) in an inner-city, public school were examined for one school year to assess students' variation in response to discipline. Rates of disciplinary referrals were compared for students who received no detentions or suspensions throughout the year (never group n = 117), students who received one or more detention or suspension in the fall but not in the spring (fall group n = 62), and students who received one or more detention or suspension in the fall and one or more detention or suspension in the spring (fall + spring group n = 75). Results indicated that during the fall, the fall group had nearly equivalent rates of referrals to the fall + spring group; however, the fall group exhibited significantly lower rates of referrals during winter and spring that were nearly equivalent to the never group, as would be expected for a punishment procedure. In contrast, the fall + spring group evidenced increases in referrals across the year, suggesting the possibility that detentions and suspensions were functioning as rewards for this group. The fall + spring group was rated by teachers and peers at mid-year as highly aggressive, lacking social skills, and high on hyperactivity, whereas the fall group and the never group were statistically equivalent on teacher and peer ratings. Implications for mental health programs for urban schools are discussed, especially the need for alternatives to detention and suspension for the subset of students who account for the majority of school discipline.