The impact of manipulating personal standards on eating attitudes and behaviour

The relationship between perfectionism and eating disorders is well established and is of theoretical interest. This study used an experimental design to test the hypothesis that manipulating personal standards, a central feature of perfectionism, would influence eating attitudes and behaviour. Forty-one healthy women were randomly assigned either to a high personal standards condition (n = 18) or to a low personal standards condition for 24 h (n = 23). Measures of personal standards, perfectionism, and eating attitudes and behaviour were taken before and after the experimental manipulation. The manipulation was successful. After the manipulation, participants in the high personal standards condition ate fewer high calorie foods, made more attempts to restrict the overall amount of food eaten, and had significantly more regret after eating than those in the low personal standards condition. Other variables remained unchanged. It is concluded that experimental analyses can be of value in elucidating causal connections between perfectionism and eating attitudes and behaviour.     

Cognitive processes that underlie mathematical precociousness in young children

The working memory (WM) processes that underlie young children's (ages 6-8 years) mathematical precociousness were examined. A battery of tests that assessed components of WM (phonological loop, visual-spatial sketch pad, and central executive), naming speed, random generation, and fluency was administered to mathematically precocious and average-achieving children. The results showed that (a) precocious children performed better on executive processing, inhibition, and naming speed tasks than did average-achieving children, although the two groups were statistically comparable on measures of the phonological loop and visual-spatial sketch pad, and (b) the executive component of WM predicted mathematical accuracy independent of chronological age, reading, inhibition, and naming speed. The results support the notion that the executive system is an important predictor of children's mathematical precociousness and that this system can operate independent of individual differences in the phonological loop, inhibition, and reading in predicting mathematical accuracy.     

Perceived reachability in single- and multiple-degree-of-freedom workspaces

In comparisons of perceived (imagined) and actual reaches, investigators consistently find a tendency to overestimate. A primary explanation for that phenomenon is that individuals reach as a "whole-body engagement" involving multiple degrees of freedom (m-df). The authors examined right-handers (N = 28) in 1-df and m-df workspaces by having them judge the reachability of targets at midline, right, and left visual fields. Response profiles were similar for total error. Both conditions reflected an overestimation bias, although the bias was significantly greater in the m-df condition. Midline responses differed (greater overestimation) from those of right and left visual fields, which were similar. Although the authors would have predicted better performance in the m-df condition, it seems plausible that if individuals think in terms of m-df, they may feel more confident in that condition and thereby exhibit greater overestimation. Furthermore, the authors speculate that the reduced bias at the side fields may be attributed to a more conservative strategy based in part on perceived reach constraints.     

Phonological Assimilation and Visual Word Recognition

Are the visual word-processing tasks of naming and lexical decision sensitive to systematic phonological properties that may or may not be specified in the spelling? Two experiments with Hangul, the alphabetic orthography of Korea, were directed at the effects of the phonological process of assimilation whereby one articulation changes to conform to a neighboring articulation. Disyllabic words were responded to more quickly when (a) the final letter of the first syllable and the initial letter of the second syllable specified phonemes that satisfied rather than violated consonant assimilation, and (b) the vowel letters specified harmonious as opposed to disharmonious vowel phonemes. Discussion addressed the possible mediation of assimilation effects by consistency differences and theories that predict broad phonological influences on visual word recognition.     

The relationship between work status congruence and work-related attitudes and behaviors

Research investigating differences in attitudes among full-time and part-time employees has a long history. Unfortunately, the empirical results have been mixed and conflicting. To resolve inconsistencies in prior research, the authors conducted 2 studies. In the 1st study, the authors developed a measure of work status congruence, which measures the degree to which employers match employee preferences for full-time or part-time status, schedule, shift, and number of hours. The authors hypothesized that a match or congruence between worker preferences and organizational staffing practices would be associated with positive employee attitudes and behaviors. In the 2nd study, the authors tested these hypotheses. The results indicate that work status congruence is positively associated with job satisfaction, organizational commitment, employee retention, as well as in-role and extra-role performance.     

The contribution of postural bias to lateral preferences for holding human infants

When asked to hold an infant, 60-85% of adults hold on their left, so that the infant's head is to the left of their midline (Brüser, 1981; de Chateau, 1983; Saling & Tyson, 1981). The same group bias has been found even when persons are merely asked to imagine holding an infant (Nakamichi & Takeda, 1995; Harris, Almerigi, & Kirsch, 2000). A number of variables have been found to contribute modestly to the bias, including the sex and handedness of the holder. In the current study, the role of a new variable is investigated, namely, the feeling of comfort for holding an infant on a particular side as indexed by one's foot preference for acts of stabilizing or postural support. To test this hypothesis, 282 right-handed college students (218 women, 64 men) were given the imagine-hold task along with 4 questions about their foot preference for posture and balance. The results showed that, at least for women, the two measures were modestly but significantly related.