Introducing the Fourth Wave of the National Congregations Study

The fourth wave of the National Congregations Study (NCS-IV) was conducted in 2018–2019 with a nationally representative sample of congregations from across the religious spectrum. The NCS-IV included a fresh cross-section of congregations generated in conjunction with the 2018 General Social Survey and a panel of congregations that participated in the third NCS wave. Data were collected via a 65-minute interview with one key informant from 1,262 congregations. The cooperation rate was 74 percent; the conservatively calculated response rate was 69 percent. Information was gathered about multiple aspects of congregations’ social composition, structure, activities, leadership, and programming. Approximately two-thirds of the NCS-IV questionnaire replicates items from previous NCS waves. This introduction to the NCS-IV symposium describes NCS-IV methodology and special features of the new data. The three symposium articles present NCS-IV results about congregations’ political activities, racial and ethnic composition, and worship practices.     

Spouses' responses to the dietary nonadherence of their partners managing diabetes

The association between patients' dietary nonadherence and spouses' involvement in patients' diabetes diet was examined, with spouses' anxiety about nonadherence considered as a mediator of this association. Daily diary data from 128 older adult patients with type 2 diabetes and their spouses were analyzed using multilevel models. Results revealed that on days when patients reported less adherence to their diabetes diet than usual, spouses reported greater anxiety about patients' diabetes management, which, in turn, was related to greater spousal persuasion and pressure the same day. The association between patients' nonadherence and diet‐related support on the same day was not mediated, however, through spouses' anxiety. The findings contribute to an understanding of spouses' responses to patients' nonadherence to their diabetes regimen.     

Sex differences in cognitive performance and style across domains in mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis)

Animal Cognition - Given that the sexes often differ in their ecological and sexual selection pressures, sex differences in cognitive properties are likely. While research on sexually dimorphic...     

Understanding the attraction process

A comprehensive model of interpersonal attraction is presented in which attraction is an emotion expressed to regulate interpersonal relationships. The model proposes that cognitive appraisals, the subjective experience, and the expression of affiliative behavior are fundamental to understanding how attraction operates. Specifically, we discuss how (a) cognitive appraisals (willingness and ability) are fundamental to the subjective experience of attraction, (b) social dilemma considerations affect when and why the subjective experience aligns with the expression of affiliative behavior, (c) the interplay of the components of attraction explain the panoply of extant attraction phenomena, and (d) the attraction process operates in both initial interactions and enduring relationships. We conclude with a discussion of methodological and theoretical directions to fuel future growth.     

Heavy drinking in college students: who is at risk and what is being done about it?

Problem drinking and related consequences are a major social issue plaguing college campuses across the United States. Each year, alcohol is responsible for fatalities, assaults, serious injuries, and arrests that occur among college students. The authors review and discuss the risk factors, drinking patterns, and consequences that are relevant to the general student population. In addition, the authors highlight individuals at an increased risk of experiencing alcohol-related problems, such as Greek-letter social organization members and student athletes. The authors also discuss the interventions that attempt to reduce risky drinking and related problems in these subgroups as well as the future directions for research.     

Object recognition in dense clutter

Observers in recognition experiments invariably view objects against a blank background, whereas observers of real scenes sometimes view objects against dense clutter. In this study, we examined whether an object's background affects the information used for recognition. Our stimuli consisted of color photographs of everyday objects. The photographs were organized either as a sparse array, as is typical of a visual search experiment, or as high density clutter, such as might be found in a toy chest, a handbag, or a kitchen drawer. The observer's task was to locate an animal, vehicle, or food target in the stimulus. We varied the information in the stimuli by convolving them with a low-pass filter (blur) or a high-pass filter (edge) or converting them to grayscale. In two experiments, we found that the blur and edge manipulations produced a modest decrement in performance with the sparse arrangement but a severe decrement in performance with the clutter arrangement. These results indicate that the information used for recognition depends on the object's background. Thus, models of recognition that have been developed for isolated objects may not generalize to objects in dense clutter.     

Tactile spatial acuity differs between fingers: a study comparing two testing paradigms

Tactile spatial acuity (TSA) is a reliable and reproducible measure of somatosensory system function that has been used to study abroad range of subject populations. Although TSA is most often assessed at the fingertip, published studies employing identical stimuli disagree on whether TSA differs between the fingers of neurologically normal subjects. Using a validated grating orientation discrimination task, we determined TSA bilaterally at the index and ring fingers of 16 healthy young adults. Motivated by earlier work, we utilized two stimulus presentation paradigms, the method of constant stimuli (MCS) and a staircase (SC) method. We found that TSA was significantly higher (the discrimination threshold was lower) at the index than at the ring finger, which was consistent with a prior study. Although mean thresholds at both fingers were higher when measured with the SC than with the MCS paradigm, this difference did not reach statistical significance (p = .14). These findings should facilitate both design and interpretation of future studies investigating TSA.     

Re-analysis of Sageman's (2004) and Pape's (2005) data predicting Al'Qaeda membership and suicide terrorism

Sageman's (2004) and Pape's (2005) arguments for the development of Al'Qaeda members and suicide terrorism are examined statistically. Presence of foreign occupying troops and foreign support for disliked local regimes appeared to be related to either the number of Al'Qaeda suicide terrorists (Pape) or the number of known Al'Qaeda members (Sageman) reported within 34 predominately Sunni nations. Results support the theory that nationalism fuels much of Middle Eastern resentment against allied nations.