Warmth and Contingency and Their Relationship to Maternal Attitudes Toward Parenting

In this study, the authors addressed the question of whether maternal parenting behaviors in terms of sensitivity, warmth, and contingency with respect to small infants were equally represented in attitudes toward parenting. Sixty mothers from central Germany with middle-class socioeconomic backgrounds were videotaped with their 1st born 3-month-old infant in a free-play and a caregiving episode in their home. The different maternal parenting components were behaviorally analyzed. Maternal attitudes toward parenting were assessed with self-report measures. The results showed that behavioral sensitivity was significantly associated with attitudes related to contingency, whereas behavioral warmth and contingency were not associated with maternal attitudes. The authors interpreted differential associations as a reflection of intuitive and explicit parenting strategies, with only sensitivity being explicitly represented.     

Vigilant Self‐regulation and Costly Punishment in Public Goods Situations

Applying regulatory focus theory to the context of social dilemma situations, the present research demonstrates that individual differences in vigilant, prevention‐focused self‐regulation predict the tendency to invest private resources to punish uncooperative interaction partners (costly punishment), a behaviour that typically has strong positive effects on the collective level of cooperation. Analyses further support the distinctiveness of the vigilance system proposed in regulatory focus theory (prevention focus) in comparison with general defensive inhibitory tendencies (measured with Carver and White's Behavioral Inhibition System scale). Results document that individual differences in prevention‐focused self‐regulation but not differences in general defensive inhibitory tendencies are positively related to costly punishment. In sum, the findings indicate that vigilant, prevention‐focused self‐regulation plays a crucial role in the context of sanctions that enforce cooperation. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Keep the fire burning: Reciprocal gains of basic need satisfaction,intrinsic motivation and innovative work behaviour

Drawing on insights from self-determination theory, we explored the dynamic relationship between intrinsic motivation and innovative work behaviour (IWB) over time. Specifically, we investigated how basic need satisfaction influences IWB through its effect on intrinsic motivation and how IWB in turn affects basic need satisfaction as measured the next day (i.e., a reciprocal relationship). The current study used a longitudinal design comprising a 6-day period and relied on multi-source data from 76 students in industrial product design and electronic engineering who participated in an innovation boot camp. In general, results provided support for the mediating role of intrinsic motivation in the relationship between basic need satisfaction and IWB, as well as the reciprocal relationship between basic need satisfaction and IWB.     

Color Vision in Alzheimer’s Patients: Can We Improve Object Recognition With Color Cues?

Sixty-three frail, elderly patients seen in a university-based outpatient geriatric assessment clinic were divided into three dementia diagnosis categories (Alzheimer’s disease, “other” dementias, cognitively intact) to investigate the use of color cues as memory aids. Recognition time was measured for three cues: (1) same color/different form; (2) same form/different color; and (3) different color/different form. Log transformed response times were longer for form cues (same color/different form) compared to color cues (different color/same form, p =.001; different color/different form, p <.001). No differences in log transformed response time were noted among dementia categories for each test condition. Color cues make a significant difference in short-term memory recall ability compared to form cues. Vivid color-coding the environment of a frail, elderly population may enhance short-term memory and improve functional ability. This may prove to be especially useful in long-term care settings, which provide services to a variety of people with differing cognitive abilities.     

Valuing Environmental Outcomes: Preferences for Constant or Improving Sequences

Experimental results on individuals' preferences for temporal sequences of environmental outcomes related to air quality and near-shore ocean water quality are compared with preferences for sequences of health and monetary outcomes. Generally, graduate business student participants gave significantly lower ratings to environmental and health sequences (with equal means) that worsened over time, relative to the ratings they gave to sequences that either remained the same or improved over time. This pattern was reversed by the participants when they faced sequences of monetary payments. This preference structure held for both short (5-year) and long (50-year) time horizons, and it was confirmed with choice data. A model proposed by Loewenstein and Prelec for the valuation of sequences of outcomes was applied to the current data set and compared to the traditional discounting model. In all cases, the model that incorporated “Gestalt” features of the sequence (slope and uniformity) performed better than the net present value discounting model at predicting the mean ratings for the sequences in the different domains.     

Staring and Compliance: A Field Experiment on Hitchhiking

A field experiment was conducted in which a single male, a single female, or a male-female couple attempted to hitch rides at four different traffic locations, under conditions in which the hitchhikers either stared at or looked away from oncoming drivers. It was found that staring increased the probability of a driver stopping from .03 to .067 (z = 2.96, p = .003). The female was a more successful hitchhiker than either the male or the couple, (z = 2.215, p = .026; z = 1.861, p .063, respectively).     

Task differences on conservation and transitivity problems

Task differences were assessed with 120 first graders in a 2 × 3 × 3 factorial design combining Socioeconomic level (middle vs lower), Concepts (conservation of length, transitivity of length, and conservation of continuous quantity), and Tasks (three tasks for each concept selected on the basis of frequency of usage). As predicted, task by concept interactions were found on all four task response measures. This finding is consistent with Piaget's concept of horizontal decalage and with Flavell and Wohlwill's competence-performance model, which proposes that intermediate phases of stage transition are characterized by considerable intertask differences and initial and final phases by intertask consistency in performance. The importance of investigating the effects of task variables on multiple dependent measures at various age levels and points in time was emphasized. Concept, task, and socioeconomic class differences were also found on some of the measures.     

SUBJECTIVE CULTURE,SELF-CONCEPT AND THE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT1

A côté des attitudes, rôles, normes et valeurs, le self-concept ou image que l'on se forme de soi-même, est l'un des éléments caractéristiques d'un groupe culturel. Cette image de soi a été étudiée de façon détaillée chez des étudiants américains et français par une méthode visant à déterminer l'identité sociale d'un groupe par sa réaction aux stimuli “Nous les X… “et” Eux les X…”. Différents niveaux d'analyse ont permis de dégager certaines particularités de l'image de soi des Français et Américains et ont fait apparaître, notamment, que l'idéologie politique de ces étudiants est une variable importante dans la détermination de l'identité sociale.     

Cognitive processes and social identity through focused introspection

A method is presented to explore, empirically, patterns of social and personal identity: the social identity inventory (SII). The SII is based on free associations describing a person's principal group memberships (first order data). The responses obtained are used as stimuli to generate ‘second order data’ through focused introspection. The results reveal patterns of relationship between self-representation and group representation, the differential probability of different group memberships to elicit self-representations, and the cognitive processes underlying the natural represen-tations of group memberships.