Rethinking the Role of Positive Affect in Self-Regulation

This introduction to the two-part special issue reviews recent evidence that suggests that positive mood may play a beneficial, multifaceted, and flexible role in self-regulatory processes that cannot be explained by most current theories. First, under some conditions positive mood seems to facilitate careful processing of goal-relevant information, even negative information. Second, the relation of positive mood to cognition and behavior seems to be strongly moderated by goal-relevant features of the task context. Three frameworks (mood as input, processing advantages conferred by positive mood, and mood as resource) that may account for these facilitating effects of positive mood on self-regulation are discussed.     

Adult Influence on the Participation of Peers Without Disabilities in Peer Support Programs

Three peers without disabilities who volunteered to serve as peer supports and were identified by general education teachers as having academic difficulties were studied across three conditions. In baseline, a peer without disabilities worked alone, while the student with severe disabilities was supervised by an adult. In the Peer Support condition, peers without disabilities worked with the student with severe disabilities, and both individuals were supervised by an adult. In the Adult Involvement condition, peers without disabilities were supervised by an adult as in the Peer Support condition, but peers worked separately from the student with severe disabilities. Dependent measures included the active engagement of peers without disabilities and students with severe disabilities, and social interactions between students and peers. Our data indicate that the Peer Support and Adult Involvement conditions resulted in higher, but similar, levels of active engagement for two of three peers without disabilities when compared to baseline. For the third peer, high levels of active engagement occurred across all conditions. Active engagement varied across students with severe disabilities, but was typically highest in conditions where peers without disabilities were involved. For all students with severe disabilities, social interactions were more frequent and longer in the Peer Support condition.     

Effects of Posttraining Intrahippocampal Injections of Platelet-Activating Factor and PAF Antagonists on Memory

The present experiments examined the effects of posttraining intrahippocampal injections of the degradative enzyme-resistant methylcarbamyl analog of the bioactive phospholipid platelet-activating factor (mc-PAF) and the platelet-activating factor (PAF) receptor antagonists BN52021 and BN 50730 on memory in male Long-Evans rats trained in a hidden platform version of the Morris water maze. Following an eight-trial training session, rats received a unilateral intrahippocampal injection of mc-PAF (0.5, 1.0, or 2.0 μg/0.5 μl), lyso-PAF (1.0 μg/0.5 μl), the cell surface PAF receptor antagonist BN 52021 (0.25, 0.5, or 1.0 μg/0.5 μl), the intracellular PAF receptor antagonist BN 50730 (2.0, 5.0, or 10.0 μg/0.5 μl), or vehicle (50% DMSO in 0.9% saline; 0.5 μl). On a retention test conducted 24 h after training, the escape latencies of rats administered mc-PAF (1.0 or 2.0 μg) were significantly lower than those of the vehicle-injected controls, demonstrating a memory-enhancing effect of mc-PAF. Injections of lyso-PAF, a structurally similar metabolite of PAF, had no influence on memory, indicating that the memory-enhancing effect of mc-PAF is not caused by membrane perturbation by the phospholipid. The retention test escape latencies of rats administered BN 52021 (0.5 μg) and BN 50730 (5.0 or 10 μg) were significantly higher than those of the controls, indicating a memory impairing effect of both PAF antagonists. When mc-PAF, BN 52021, or BN 50730 was administered 2 h posttraining, no effect on retention was observed, indicating a time-dependent effect of the neuroactive substances on memory storage. The findings suggest a role for endogenous PAF in hippocampal-dependent memory processes.     

Multiple-feature discrimination faster than single feature discrimination within the same object?

In the present study, we investigated whether judging the presence of multiple features within an object would be superior to judging the presence of only one feature. Feature discriminability and the number of features to discriminate within an object were varied. Specific features were judged as present or absent. Results showed that judging the presence of two or three features was faster than judging the presence of the less discriminable of these two or three features alone (multiple-feature benefits). These findings suggest that relevant features within an object activate (prime) a decision or response in a parallel, asynchronous fashion based on discriminability (Miller, 1982a). The ability of a response priming model, a response mapping model, and a template model to account for multiple feature benefits is discussed.     

The trajectory of a dot crossing a pattern of tilted lines is misperceived

The straight trajectory of a dot crossing a pattern of tilted lines is perceived as being sinusoidal. Manipulation of the size of the angle between the trajectory and the tilted lines, the velocity of the dot, and the distance between the tilted lines shows that the magnitude of the illusion is inversely proportional to the size of the incidence angle, to velocity, and to the distance between the lines. The illusion is interpreted as being the result of an integration process of local distortions occurring at the intersections with the tilted lines.     

The Effects of Gender,Education, and Personal Skills Self-Confidence on Income in Business Management

A pay disparity between men and women persists,especially in the higher echelons of the business world.This study investigates whether salaries in the businessmanagement field are affected by gender, hours worked, SAT score, college selectivity,college grades, an undergraduate degree in business,graduate degree attainment, leadership self-confidence,and social self-confidence. The sample consists of 941 men and women employed in businessmanagement; approximately 8% of this group are racialminority members. As anticipated, hours worked, collegeselectivity, college grades, a graduate degree, and leadership self-confidence are determinants ofincome. Most important is the finding that aftercontrolling for hours worked, education background, andself-confidence in personal skills, men still receive higher salaries than women.     

Experimental evaluation of a modular approach to mobilizing antitobacco influences of peers and parents

The experimental evaluation of two components of a community intervention to prevent adolescent tobacco use are described. Youth antitobacco activities (e.g., peer quizzes, sidewalk art, poster and T-shirt giveaways, etc.) and family communications activities (pamphlets to parents and student quizzes of parents) were evaluated in two time-series experiments, each of which was conducted in two experimental and one control community. Students in Grades 6 and 8 and their parents were assessed in a series of four phone surveys in the first experiment and six phone surveys in the second. Implementation of the youth antitobacco and family communications activities led to significantly greater exposure of young people to antitobacco information. They led to increases in parent and youth knowledge about tobacco use and more negative attitudes toward tobacco. In Experiment 2, youths in intervention communities had significantly lower rated intentions to smoke. The findings suggest the value of a modular approach to community interventions for influencing the social context relevant to the onset of adolescent tobacco use.     

ANOTHER LOOK AT THE EFFECTS OF APPEARANCE, GENDER, AND JOB TYPE ON PERFORMANCE-BASED DECISIONS

The present study attempted to replicate and extend Heilman and Stopeck's (1985a) Lack of Fit Model. Using the Lack of Fit Model's proposal that attractiveness enhances perceived gender characteristics, we examined the effects of attractiveness and performance evaluations of persons in jobs rated as masculine, feminine, and neutral. Results were not consistent with the Model and did not replicate the results of the earlier study. Instead, attractiveness emerged as an asset regardless of job type or gender of employee. Attractive men and women were given higher overall ratings in all three jobs. In addition, attractive ratings were related to masculinity–femininity ratings. These findings are discussed in light of demographic and attitudinal changes in the workplace.