Effect of endogenous attention on detection of weak gustatory and olfactory flavors

The effect of endogenous attention on the detectability of weak flavorants was examined in an absolute detection (two-alternative forced-choice) task. Attention to sucrose improved the detectability of sucrose, a gustation-based flavorant, both when the alternative was water and when it was vanillin. But attention to vanillin did not improve the detectability of vanillin, an olfaction-based flavorant, either when the alternative was water or when it was sucrose. Nor did attention improve the detectability of vanillin when the alternative was citric acid, a tastant that is qualitatively less similar to vanillin than is sucrose. Attention had no positive effect on the detection of either sucrose or vanillin when it was mixed with the other substance. These findings suggest that although it is possible to attend selectively to gustatory flavors, it may be more difficult to attend selectively to olfactory flavors--perhaps because attention to flavors, which are taken in the mouth, is directed spatially toward the tongue, where gustatory, but not olfactory, receptors are located.     

Bad people doing good things: Attributions about people with immoral traits

Current Psychology - Perfect duties are those required by moral individuals, whereas imperfect duties, although not required, are expected of moral individuals. Previous research suggests it takes...     

Psychological Flexibility,Pain Characteristics and Risk of Opioid Misuse in Noncancerous Chronic Pain Patients

Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings - Chronic pain has an estimated annual prevalence rate between 10 and 35%. In the US, first-line treatment for chronic pain is often opioids....     

Transcendence Matters: Do the Ways Family Members Experience God Meaningfully Relate to Family Life?

As more Americans continue to move away from an institutional approach to religion and spirituality to a more personal approach, it is important to explore the ways that personal perspectives about God influence various aspects of life including family life. This study explored how participants viewed and experienced God as an authority figure (Directive Transcendence), as a close confidant (Intimate Transcendence), or as both (Authoritative Transcendence). In-depth interviews with 198 religious families from across America were analyzed using a team-based qualitative approach. These analyses revealed that participants experienced God as both an authority figure and as a close confidant. Both types of experiences are associated with family relationships in different ways. Concepts relating to ideas of authority, parenting styles, and attachment theory are used to help understand familial impacts from how one experiences God.     

Psychological and demographic correlates of early academic skill development among American Indian and Alaska Native youth: a growth modeling study

Research regarding the development of early academic skills among American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) students has been very limited to date. Using a nationally representative sample of AIAN, Hispanic, African American, and White children at school entry, the authors used latent growth models to estimate the associations among poverty, low parental education, living in a rural location, as well as child attitudes toward learning and internalizing/externalizing behaviors, with mathematical and reading cognitive skill development across the 1st 4 years of school. Results indicate that AIAN children entered kindergarten with scores on both mathematical and reading cognitive tests that were comparable to their peers from other ethnic groups of color. Importantly, all children who entered kindergarten with lower cognitive skill scores also acquired skills more slowly over the next 4 years. Having a positive approach to learning at the start of kindergarten was associated with cognitive skill levels at school entry nearly 1 standard deviation above the population average. Results are discussed with reference to the shared early educational profiles observed between AIAN and other children of color. These findings provide a much-needed update regarding early academic development among AIAN children.     

The effects of training and transfer on global/local processing

We investigated interference, inhibition and transfer effects associated with training on a global-local task. Participants received 10,080 training trials on identifying local features of global/local stimuli. Global processing advantage was eliminated with practice. Global interference decreased with training whereas local interference developed with training. Transfer analyses indicated that training produced stimulus-specific effects in local processing and task-specific effects in global processing. Our findings are discussed in regards to models of global/local processing.     

Common vs. Uncommon Sexual Acts: Evidence for the Sexual Double Standard

The lack of consistent evidence for the sexual double standard may be related to the rather benign nature of the heterosexual behaviors often studied (e.g., casual sex, premarital sex). College students from the southwestern U.S. evaluated targets who engaged in mixed-gender threesomes (where three people engage in simultaneous sexual acts; Study 1: N?=?120) and targets in a monogamous sexual relationship (Study 2: N?=?105). Evidence for the sexual double standard was found via effects of targets’ gender among those who engaged in threesomes. Targets who had monogamous sex were evaluated more favorably than the targets who engaged in threesomes. We suggest that the sexual double standard may still exist for uncommon sexual behaviors.     

Family Patterns of Gender Role Attitudes

Study goals were to identify family patterns of gender role attitudes, to examine the conditions under which these patterns emerged, and to assess the implications of gender attitude patterns for family conflict. Participants were mothers, fathers, and first- and second-born adolescents from 358 White, working and middle-class US families. Results of cluster analysis revealed three gender role attitude patterns: egalitarian parents and children, traditional parents and children, and a divergent pattern, with parents more traditional and children more egalitarian. Mixed-model ANOVAs indicated that these family patterns were related to socioeconomic status, parents’ time spent in gendered household tasks and with children, and the gender constellation of the sibling dyad. The traditional family group reported the most family conflict.     

Topographies and functions of emerging problem behavior and appropriate requests in neurotypical preschoolers

The current study builds on a small but growing body of research evaluating the formal and functional characteristics of emerging problem behavior before it becomes harmful and requires costly treatment. The researchers tested 21 preschool children's sensitivity to establishing operations that commonly precede severe problem behavior. Sensitivity tests were embedded in a small group play context to optimize safety, efficiency, and ecological validity. The tests screened several levels of problem-behavior severity as well as the presence of adaptive alternatives (i.e., communication) to problem behavior. Overall, outcomes suggested sources of reinforcement for minor- and moderate-severity problem behavior in 86% of children. Only 17% of children exhibiting problem behavior also engaged in appropriate requests in the same condition(s) as problem behavior. The present data are compared to published functional analyses of severe behavior. The results are discussed as a preliminary step towards a function-based model of risk identification and behavioral prevention of severe problem behavior.     

The condom purchase task: A hypothetical demand method for evaluating sexual health decision-making

Behavioral economic theory has proved useful for understanding the influence of delay and probability on sexual health decision-making. Demand is another principle at the intersection of microeconomics and psychology that has helped advance research relevant to health behaviors. The purpose of the present study was to develop and test a demand measure related to sexual health decision-making and the influence of sexually transmitted infection (STI) risk. Participants (N = 438) recruited using Amazon Mechanical Turk completed a commodity purchase task assessing hypothetical condom demand. Condom demand was evaluated at varied prices for use with hypothetical sexual partners that varied in STI risk. Demand was characterized by prototypic decreases in consumption with increases in cost. Higher partner STI risk was associated with greater intentions for condom-protected sex at no cost and smaller decreases in condom demand with increases in cost. Price sensitivity was also related to individual difference factors relevant to sexual health (e.g., alcohol use severity, lower STI knowledge). This study supports the utility of a condom purchase task for indexing condom valuation and capturing individual difference and contextual risk factors relevant to STI transmission. Future studies may leverage this methodology as a means to study sexual health decision-making.