Motivated to penalize: women's strategic rejection of successful women

Two studies tested the hypothesis that females penalize women who succeed in male gender-typed jobs to salvage their own self-views regarding competence. The authors proposed that women are motivated to penalize successful women (i.e., characterize them as unlikable and interpersonally hostile) to minimize the self-evaluative consequences of social comparison with a highly successful female target. Results supported the hypothesis. Whereas both male and female participants penalized successful women, blocking this penalization reduced female--but not male--participants' self-ratings of competence (Study 1). Moreover, positive feedback provided to female participants about their potential to succeed (Study 2) weakened negative reactions to successful women without costs to subsequent self-ratings of competence. These results suggest that the interpersonal derogation of successful women by other women functions as a self-protective strategy against threatening upward social comparisons.     

Recollection in an episodic-like memory task in the rat

Episodic memory in humans is the conscious recollection of a past event. Animal models of episodic-like memory assess the memory for "what"happened, "where" it happened, and either "when" it happened, or in "which" context it happened, although recollection on such tasks is often difficult to measure. Here we present the first evidence of successful recollection of a past event in a rat in a task which is easily performed, requires little training, and is easily adaptable for other commonly used laboratory species.     

Interference resolution moderates the impact of rumination and reappraisal on affective experiences in daily life

Research has shown that cognitive control processes play a central role in emotion regulation. While most research has examined whether individual differences in such processes are related to the use of these strategies, a crucial next step involves examining whether such differences influence their impact on people's feelings, especially in normal daily life. The present study examined whether impairments in cognitive control (measured using an affective interference resolution task) moderate the impact of using rumination and reappraisal on affective experiences in everyday life (assessed using experience sampling methods). Multilevel analyses revealed that difficulties removing previously relevant negative information from working memory were associated with a larger increase in negative affect following rumination, and smaller increase and decrease in positive and negative affect, respectively, following reappraisal. These findings show that impaired interference resolution for negative information aggravates the deleterious effects of rumination and curbs the benefits of reappraisal in daily life.     

The impact of school connectedness on violent behavior, transport risk-taking behavior, and associated injuries in adolescence

Adolescents engage in many risk-taking behaviors that have the potential to lead to injury. The school environment has a significant role in shaping adolescent behavior, and this study aimed to provide additional information about the benefits associated with connectedness to school. Early adolescents aged 13 to 15 years (N = 509, 49% boys) were surveyed about school connectedness, engagement in transport and violence risk-taking, and injury experiences. Significant relations were found between school connectedness and reduced engagement in both transport and violence risk-taking, as well as fewer associated injuries. This study has implications for the area of risk-taking and injury prevention, as it suggests the potential for reducing adolescents' injury through school based interventions targeting school connectedness.     

Physical activity, social support, and depression: possible independent and indirect associations in persons with multiple sclerosis

The present study examined the pattern of associations among physical activity, social support, mobility disability, perceived stress, and depressive symptoms in relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS). Persons (N?=?218) with RRMS completed a battery of questionnaires that was sent and returned through the United States Postal Service (USPS). Bivariate correlation analysis indicated that physical activity and social support were both inversely associated with depressive symptoms (r's?=?-0.288 and -0.386, p ≤ 0.05, respectively). Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that physical activity (β?=?-0.21, p?=?0.002) and social support (β?=?-0.37, p?=?0.0001) were independently associated with depressive symptoms. Path analysis confirmed that the associations between physical activity and social support with depressive symptoms were indirect via mobility disability and perceived stress. Collectively, the evidence indicates that physical activity and social support are independently and indirectly associated with depression via mobility disability and perceived stress in relapsing-remitting MS. This supports the design of interventions and programs that target physical activity and social support for reducing depressive symptoms among persons with MS.     

A dual-process motivational model of attitudes towards vegetarians and vegans

Vegetarians and vegans comprise a minority of most western populations. However, relatively little research has investigated the psychological foundations of attitudes towards this minority group. The following study employs a dual process model of intergroup attitudes to explore the motivational basis of non-vegetarians' attitudes towards vegetarians and vegans. Participants were 1,326 individuals recruited through advertisements in a national newspaper in New Zealand. Non-vegetarian participants first completed measures of ideological attitudes and social worldviews, and then were randomly assigned to complete a measure of outgroup attitudes towards either vegetarians or vegans. Although non-vegetarians' attitudes towards both vegetarians and vegans were generally positive, attitudes towards vegans were significantly less positive than attitudes towards vegetarians, and male participants expressed significantly less positive attitudes towards both outgroups than female participants. The structural equation model predicting attitudes towards vegetarians and vegans fit the data well and explained a significant amount of the variance in attitudes.