Search behavior in various breeds of adult dogs (Canis familiaris): object permanence and olfactory cues.

Human analog tests of object permanence were administered to various breeds of adult dogs (Canis familiaris). Experiment 1 showed that the performance of terriers, sporting, and working dogs did not differ. Dogs succeeded in solving invisible displacement problems, but performance was lower than in visible displacement tests. Familiarity with the task had some influence because invisible displacement tests were more successful if they were preceded by visible displacement tests. In Experiment 2, odor cues from the target object and the hiding screens were available or were masked. Results confirmed that success was lower in invisible than in visible displacement tests and that these problems were solved on the basis of representation of visual information rather than on the basis of olfactory cues or of local rule learning. Dogs are compared with other species that display Stage 6 object permanence.     

Recruitment and Retention of Low‐SES Ethnic Minority Couples in Intervention Research at the Transition to Parenthood

Low‐SES couples have limited resources to manage the chronic and acute stressors with which they are disproportionately faced. Although these couples are at greater risk for negative individual and relationship outcomes, evaluations of the impact of couple relationship education (CRE) in low‐SES couples have been plagued by methodological problems, most notably challenges associated with recruitment and retention. We review the literature on challenges couples face associated with low‐SES, as well as on recruitment, retention, and CRE in low‐SES, ethnic minority populations. We illustrate some of these challenges in a case study of CRE for low‐SES couples transitioning to parenthood. In this pilot study, 21 couples were recruited from a community health clinic and randomized to either an experimental treatment condition (EXP; N = 11) or a treatment‐as‐usual control condition (TAU; N = 10). This study sought to mitigate documented challenges with recruitment and retention: We leveraged community partnerships, attempted to build and maintain strong relationships with study participants, provided incentives for assessments as well as intervention meetings, and attempted to reduce potential barriers to enrollment and retention. Nonetheless, we had low rates of recruitment and retention. We integrate these findings and experiences with our review of previous work in this area. We make recommendations for future CRE research and practice that have potential implications for public policy in this area.     

Understanding the emotional aspects of escalation of commitment: the role of negative affect

Despite the importance of understanding the emotional aspects of organizational decision making, prior research has paid scant attention to the role of emotion in escalation of commitment. This article attempts to fill this gap by examining the relationship between negative affect and escalation of commitment. Results showed that regardless of whether negative affect was measured as a dispositional trait (Neuroticism) in Studies 1 and 2 or as a transient mood state in Study 3, it was negatively correlated with escalation tendency when one was personally responsible for a prior decision. This pattern of results is consistent with the predictions derived from the coping perspective, suggesting that people seek to escape from the unpleasant emotions that are associated with escalation situations.     

Improving communicative understanding: The benefits of global processing

The current research investigated whether a global processing style, affording a focus on the broader context, promotes communicative understanding and, in turn, communicative success. Results confirmed that compared to priming local processing, priming global processing enhanced the deciphering of potentially sarcastic statements of which participants were the receivers (Experiment 1). Experiment 2 extended these findings to oral communication: Global processing increased the correct deciphering of meanings that speakers’ attempted to convey by ambiguous sentences to listeners. Overall ‘seeing the forest instead of the trees’ allowed receivers to attend more perceptively to the larger communicative context, thereby facilitating successful communication.     

Detection of feigned memory impairments using a Chinese word task

In this study the detection of feigned memory impairments was investigated using a forced-choice task with Chinese words as stimuli. Task difficulty on accuracy and response time and the faking strategies employed were examined for 85 participants, 42 men and 43 women, who were administered the experimental task. Following a simulation design, all participants performed under control and faking conditions. Their accuracy of performance and response times were measured. Analysis indicated significant differences on both outcome measures for the two conditions. Further, a significant difference in accuracy, but not in response time, among levels of task difficulty was observed. For classification accuracy, using the cut-off score criterion seemed more effective than using the below-chance criterion or response time. Implications for relying on chance criterion to identify deception are discussed.     

Cognitive vulnerability to depression, rumination, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation: multiple pathways to self-injurious thinking

In order to advance the detection and prevention of suicide, recent research has focused on predictors of suicidal ideation and behavior such as negative cognitive styles, dysfunctional attitudes, hopelessness, and rumination. In this study the relationships among these risk factors in the context of the Attention Mediated Hopelessness (AMH) theory of depression are examined. One hundred and twenty-seven undergraduates in the Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression (CVD) project were followed for 2.5 years. The CVD project followed initially nondepressed freshmen, at either high or low cognitive risk for depression, in order to predict onsets and recurrences of depressive disorders. The presence and duration of suicidal ideation were predicted prospectively by rumination and hopelessness, and hopelessness partially mediated the relationship between rumination and ideation and fully mediated the association between rumination and duration of suicidality. Further, rumination mediated the relationship between cognitive vulnerability and suicidal ideation.     

Body-size perception, body-esteem, and parenting history in college women reporting a history of child abuse

This study investigated the relations among physical, emotional, and sexual abuse up to adolescence and subsequent perception of body size, detection of changes in body size, and body-esteem. The role of parenting history in abused participants was also examined. 38 college undergraduate women, half of whom had been abused, reported instances of abuse, childhood parenting history, and current body-esteem. A recently developed software program of Gardner and Boice was used to present a series of distorted frontal profiles of each participant's own body for the women to rate as being too wide or too thin. A psychophysical procedure called adaptive probit estimation was used to measure the amount of over- and underestimation of these ratings and whether these changes were statistically significant. Analysis showed abused participants had distorted perceptions of body size, although the direction of the distortion was not consistent. There was no difference in detection of changes in body size. Abused and nonabused participants differed on measures of body-esteem and on ratings of most parenting experiences, including experiences with both mothers and fathers.