The effect of propensity to trust and perceptions of trustworthiness on trust behaviors in dyads

Research on trust has burgeoned in the last few decades. Despite the growing interest in trust, little is known about trusting behaviors in non-dichotomous trust games. The current study explored propensity to trust, trustworthiness, and trust behaviors in a new computer-mediated trust relevant task. We used multivariate multilevel survival analysis (MMSA) to analyze behaviors across time. Results indicated propensity to trust did not influence trust behaviors. However, trustworthiness perceptions influenced initial trust behaviors and trust behaviors influenced subsequent trustworthiness perceptions. Indeed, behaviors fully mediated the relationship of trustworthiness perceptions over time. The study demonstrated the utility of MMSA and the new trust game, Checkmate, as viable research methods and stimuli for assessing the loci of trust.     

Einfühlung as the breath of art: six modes of embodiment

Robert Vischer’s concept of Einfühlung, feeling-into, translated as empathy, serves as the departure point for a proposal about viewing art using the body for a non-imitative form of empathy termed a transomatization and for other embodied operations. A transomatization occurs when viewers reinterpret a component or process of their own bodies to serve as a non-imitative stand-in, or correlate, for something outside of the self, specifically, some quality of an art work or its production. This creates an overlap of the self and other that might be experienced subjectively as a feeling of projection, an operation characteristic of empathy. Transomatizations and other embodied experiences are grounded in empathic, intersubjective modes of engaging others that begin in early life. As applications of the proposed concepts, six different embodiments of the viewer’s breathing are explored in regard to Friedrich E. Church’s 1848 oil painting Morning, Looking East over the Hudson Valley from the Catskill Mountains. Support for elements of the proposed concepts and applications is drawn from research in the biological and social sciences and from first person, embodied accounts of viewing.     

Who Benefits from Diagrams and Illustrations in Math Problems? Ability and Attitudes Matter

How do diagrams and illustrations affect mathematical problem solving? Past research suggests that diagrams should promote correct performance. However, illustrations may provide a supportive context for problem solving, or they may distract students with seductive details. Moreover, effects may not be uniform across student subgroups. This study assessed the effects of diagrams and illustrations on undergraduates' trigonometry problem solving. We used a 2 (Diagram Presence) × 2 (Illustration Presence) within‐subjects design, and our analysis considered students' mathematics ability and attitudes towards mathematics. Participants solved problems more accurately when they included diagrams. This effect was stronger for students who had more positive mathematics attitudes, especially when there was an illustration present. Illustrations were beneficial for students with high mathematics ability but detrimental for students with lower ability. Considering individual differences in ability and attitude is essential for understanding the effects of different types of visual representations on problem solving. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sit Still and Pay Attention?

Sitting still while trying to pay attention implicitly reinforces the idea that to pay attention one should focus on a single aspect of the stimulus. Movement encourages attending to different aspects of the stimulus and as such is hypothesized to increase attention. We tested this with students from a traditional and a nontraditional school. Students were asked to observe and recall landmarks on a map. Students from the traditional school who viewed the map from multiple perspectives remembered more landmarks and locations than students who viewed the map from a single perspective. Students from a nontraditional school who are accustomed to movement while learning, did not show this effect. The experiment is discussed in terms of mindfulness theory.     

Writing Effective Insurance Justification Letters for Cancer Genetic Testing: A Streamlined Approach

The topic of insurance coverage and justification letters for cancer predisposition testing has been the subject of much discussion on the National Society of Genetic Counselors Cancer Special Interest Group (NSGC Cancer-SIG) listserv. Some counselors have stated that they have had difficulty in obtaining insurance coverage for their patients, while others have indicated that they would appreciate seeing examples of successful letters. The purpose of this paper is to provide practical guidance in writing successful letters of justification and to share insurance success stories in the area of cancer genetic testing.     

Women’s sex-toy parties: Technology, orgasm, and commodification

This article presents participant-observation research from five female-only sex-toy parties. We situate the sale of sex toys in the context of in-home marketing to women, the explosion of a sex industry, and the emergence of lifestyle and body politics. We explore the significance of sex toys for women as marketed in female-only contexts, paying particular attention to the similarities and differences with Tupperware’s marketing of plastic that promises happiness to women. We argue that sex-toy sales follow the exact patterns of Tupperware sales but, since the artifacts sold are for the bedroom rather than the kitchen, foster an even greater sense of intimacy between the women—which has both positve and negative consequences for thinking critically about the commodification of sexuality, bodies, and lifestyles in our capitalist culture. Vibrators and other sex toys constitute the technological route to a self-reflexive body project of female orgasm. We ask to what extent such a body project, achieved primarily through an individualistic, capitalistic consumption model, can offer a critique of normative discourses of heterosexual sex and identity. Is this new plastic purchased at parties liberatory or just another form of containment? In other words, how much Tupperware does a woman really need to buy, before she’s been bought?     

A pediatric screening instrument to detect problematic infant–parent interactions: Initial reliability and validity in a sample of high‐ and low‐risk infants

The purpose of this study was to determine the initial reliability and validity of a screening instrument developed to detect problematic interactions between infants and parents as part of a pediatric well‐baby exam. Participants included 117 infant–mother dyads (57 preterms and 60 full terms) assessed when infants were 6 to 9 months old. Mothers and infants were observed playing an interactional game such as peek‐a‐boo during the course of the pediatric exam. The game was scored for degree of interactional reciprocity using the Pediatric Infant Parent Exam (PIPE). Acceptable levels of interrater reliability were achieved. As predicted, higher risk infants and their mothers exhibited more problematic interactions than lower risk infants and their mothers. Results indicated that the PIPE was a reliable means of screening for interactional difficulties, that was sensitive to, but not synonymous with, neonatal health indices. ©2001 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Functional relationships in the nuclear and extended family: A 16‐culture study

This study investigated the relationship between culture, structural aspects of the nuclear and extended family, and functional aspects of the family, that is, emotional distance, social interaction, and communication, as well as geographical proximity. The focus was on the functional aspects of family, defined as members of the nuclear family (mother, father, and their children) and the extended family (grandmother/grandfather, aunt/uncle, cousins). Sixteen cultures participated in this study, with a total number of 2587 participants. The first hypothesis, that the pattern of scores on the psychological measures and the behavioral outcomes are similar across cultures, an indication of cultural universality, was supported. The second hypothesis, that functional relations between members of the nuclear family and their kin are maintained in high‐affluent and low‐affluent cultures, and that differences in functional relationships in high‐ and low‐affluent cultures are a matter of degree, was also supported by the findings. The results suggest that it is less meaningful in cross‐cultural family studies to ask questions about the structure of the family, than to ask about the functional relationships between members of the nuclear family and their kin. In looking only at the nuclear family, one focuses only on those residing in the household, but ignores those important members of the extended family who may reside nearby and their significant relationships with the members of the nuclear family.     

Heterosocial involvement, peer pressure for thinness, and body dissatisfaction among young adolescent girls

The purpose of this study was to examine longitudinal connections among young adolescent heterosocial involvement (i.e., mixed-sex interactions), peer pressure for thinness, and body dissatisfaction. Three years of self-report questionnaire data were collected from 88 adolescent girls as they completed 6th through 8th grades. Results indicated that the relation between heterosocial involvement and body dissatisfaction was mediated by perceived peer pressure for thinness. Within this model, heterosocial involvement was associated with greater peer pressure for thinness. In turn, peer pressure for thinness was associated with greater body dissatisfaction. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for prevention and intervention efforts aimed at girls during their middle-school years.