Snacking while watching TV impairs food recall and promotes food intake on a later TV free test meal

Eating while viewing TV may impair memory of food intake and promote over‐consumption on a later meal. In Experiment 1, females ate a similar amount of snack–food either with or without TV. Later, participants who had snacked with TV ate more food on a TV‐free lunch and were less accurate in recalling their earlier snack–food intake. Experiment 2 explored whether the nature of the TV content might alter these effects. Using a similar design, females watched boring, sad or funny TV, or no‐TV at all. Relative to the no‐TV control, all TV while snacking conditions ate a similarly greater amount on the later TV‐free test lunch. Recall accuracy for the snack phase was also similarly poorer in all TV conditions. These findings suggest that eating with TV per se impacts on later food intake, and a mnemonic‐based explanation seems to be the best account for these findings. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The evolution of intergroup bias: perceptions and attitudes in rhesus macaques

Social psychologists have learned a great deal about the nature of intergroup conflict and the attitudinal and cognitive processes that enable it. Less is known about where these processes come from in the first place. In particular, do our strategies for dealing with other groups emerge in the absence of human-specific experiences? One profitable way to answer this question has involved administering tests that are conceptual equivalents of those used with adult humans in other species, thereby exploring the continuity or discontinuity of psychological processes. We examined intergroup preferences in a nonhuman species, the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta). We found the first evidence that a nonhuman species automatically distinguishes the faces of members of its own social group from those in other groups and displays greater vigilance toward outgroup members (Experiments 1-3). In addition, we observed that macaques spontaneously associate novel objects with specific social groups and display greater vigilance to objects associated with outgroup members (Experiments 4-5). Finally, we developed a looking time procedure-the Looking Time Implicit Association Test, which resembles the Implicit Association Test (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995)-and we discovered that macaques, like humans, automatically evaluate ingroup members positively and outgroup members negatively (Experiments 6-7). These field studies represent the first controlled experiments to examine the presence of intergroup attitudes in a nonhuman species. As such, these studies suggest that the architecture of the mind that enables the formation of these biases may be rooted in phylogenetically ancient mechanisms.     

Light and shadow in the life and work of Louise Nevelson

The life and work of the artist Louise Nevelson are examined through the lens of her ideas about light and shadow. Nevelson developed several ways of dealing with a basic fault established in childhood. Some ideas of Christopher Bollas are used in understanding the artist's relationships with art dealers who served her as transformational objects. The artist became the grandmother of environmental sculpture in America and saw her work as a bridge between the third and the fourth dimension--an idealized realm and a popular concept in twentieth-century art that she related directly to light and shadow. Colette Roberts, a dealer with whom she worked, allowed Nevelson to arrive at a signature style. Arne Glimcher, who represented her for twenty-four years, provided the material and psychological comfort that allowed Nevelson to explore new materials and new styles and to arrive at aesthetic solutions of remarkable power and sophistication through her eighty-ninth year. From the time she met Roberts in 1953 until the end of her life thirty-five years later, Nevelson's ideas about light and shadow expressed not only her thoughts about visual perception but her experience of her mother as her original transformational object and unthought known.     

Impact of Stress Reduction Interventions on Hostility and Ambulatory Systolic Blood Pressure in African American Adolescents

This study examined the impact of breathing awareness meditation (BAM), life skills (LS) training, and health education (HE) interventions on self-reported hostility and 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) in 121 African American (AA) ninth graders at increased risk for development of essential hypertension. They were randomly assigned to BAM, LS, or HE and engaged in intervention sessions during health class for 3 months. Before, after, and 3 months following intervention cessation, self-reported hostility and 24-hour ABP were measured. Results indicated that between pre- and postintervention, BAM participants displayed significant reductions in self-reported hostility and 24-hour systolic ABP. Reductions in hostility were significantly related to reductions in 24-hour systolic ABP. Between postintervention and follow-up, participants receiving LS showed a significant reduction in hostility but not in 24-hour ABP. Significant changes were not found for the HE group in 24-hour ABP or self-reported hostility, but these change scores were significantly correlated. The implications of the findings are discussed with regard to behavioral stress reduction programs for the physical and emotional health of AAs.     

Physical punishment and childhood aggression: the role of gender and gene-environment interplay

A large body of research has linked spanking with a range of adverse outcomes in children, including aggression, psychopathology, and criminal involvement. Despite evidence concerning the association of spanking with antisocial behavior, not all children who are spanked develop antisocial traits. Given the heterogeneous effects of spanking on behavior, it is possible that a third variable may condition the influence of corporal punishment on child development. We test this possibility using data drawn from a nationally representative dataset of twin siblings. Our findings suggest that genetic risk factors condition the effects of spanking on antisocial behavior. Moreover, our results provide evidence that the interaction between genetic risk factors and corporal punishment may be particularly salient for males.     

How do therapists ally with adolescents in family therapy? An examination of relational control communication in early sessions

Sequential analyses examined associations between the working alliance and therapist-adolescent communication patterns in 10 Spanish cases of brief conjoint family therapy. Early sessions with strong versus problematic alliances, rated by observers, were selected for coding of relational control communication patterns. No differences were found in the frequency of exchanges, but competitive responding by the therapists (reflecting an interpersonal struggle for control) was significantly more likely in problematic alliance sessions than in strong alliance sessions. Cases in which the adolescent's alliance with the therapist remained positive from Session 1 as compared with Session 3 showed a decrease in the likelihood of competitive symmetry. Notably, when the quality of the alliance deteriorated over time, the therapists were increasingly more likely to respond to the adolescents' domineering messages in a competitive manner. Results underscore the need to avoid competitive responding in order to ally with adolescents in conjoint family treatment.     

Temperature dependency in motor skill learning

The present study investigated the role of temperature as a contextual condition for motor skill learning. Precision grip task training occurred while forearm cutaneous temperature was either heated (40-45 °C) or cooled (10-15 °C). At test, temperature was either reinstated or changed. Performance was comparable between training conditions while at test, temperature changes decreased accuracy, especially after hot training conditions. After cold training, temperature change deficits were only evident when concurrent force feedback was presented. These findings are the first evidence of localized temperature dependency in motor skill learning in humans. Results are not entirely accounted for by a context-dependent memory explanation and appear to represent an interaction of neuromuscular and sensory processes with the temperature present during training and test.     

The importance of modeling method effects: resolving the (uni)dimensionality of the loneliness questionnaire

This study sought to resolve the dimensionality of the Loneliness Questionnaire (LQ; Asher, Hymel, & Renshaw, 1984) by applying recommended confirmatory factor analytic procedures that control for method effects (Brown, 2003). This study was needed given that inconsistent findings have been reported recently regarding the structure of this instrument (Bagner, Storch, & Roberti, 2004) and all models to date have not accounted for method effects due to the non-reversed-worded and reversed-worded items of this instrument. Using a large sample of youth in Grades 2 through 12 (N = 11,725), we compared the previously reported 1- and 2-factor models with a newly posited 1-factor model that incorporated correlated error terms to account for method effects. We found that the 1-factor model that included correlated error terms fit the data best, and that this factor structure evidenced measurement invariance across boys and girls in childhood, but not in adolescence. The meaning of the LQ indicators was also consistent for boys across development, but evidenced differences for girls in childhood versus adolescence. More generally, it was demonstrated that modeling method effects is vital to accurately understanding the dimensionality of loneliness when reversed-worded and non-reversed-worded items are used as indicators. The measurement and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Lab support for strong reciprocity is weak: punishing for reputation rather than cooperation

Strong reciprocity is not the only account that can explain costly punishment in the lab; it can also be explained by reputation-based accounts. We discuss these two accounts and suggest what kinds of evidence would support the two different alternatives. We conclude that the current evidence favors a reputation-based account of costly punishment.     

Marital Name Changing Attitudes and Plans of College Students: Comparing Change Over Time and Across Regions

This study examines time period and regional effects on U.S. college students’ attitudes and plans regarding marital naming. Data were gathered at a Midwestern college in 1990 and 2006 and at an Eastern university in 2006 (N?=?867). No time period effect was identified for marital name plans in the Midwest samples. Women were neither more nor less likely to plan to retain their birth name in 1990 as compared to 2006. A time period effect was found for attitudes: Midwest women in 2006 were more likely to say a woman was more committed to the marriage if she took her husband’s last name as compared to Midwest women in 1990. This indicates that women in the Midwest may have become more conservative over time. We also found regional differences: women in the East were significantly more likely than women in the Midwest to plan to keep their birth surname upon marriage. Findings suggest a trend toward more conservative attitudes over time and location although plans, perhaps due to the rareness of maintaining a birth surname upon marriage, have not changed.