The positive and negative effects of anger on dispute resolution: evidence from electronically mediated disputes

Scholars have argued that anger expressed by participants in mediation is counterproductive; yet, there is also reason to believe that expressions of anger can be productive. The authors tested these competing theories of emotion by using data from online mediation. Results show that expression of anger lowers the resolution rate in mediation and that this effect occurs in part because expressing anger generates an angry response by the other party. However, when respondents are especially vulnerable, expressions of anger by the filer do not hinder settlement. The authors also examined precursors to anger, such as value of dispute and reputation, and the degree to which a focus on dispute resolution is reciprocated.     

Differentiating location- and distance-based processes in memory for time: An ERP study

Memory for the time of events may benefit from reconstructive, location-based, and distance-based processes, but these processes are difficult to dissociate with behavioral methods. Neuropsychological research has emphasized the contribution of prefrontal brain mechanisms to memory for time but has not clearly differentiated location- from distance-based processing. The present experiment recorded event-related brain potentials (ERPs) while subjects completed two different temporal memory tests, designed to emphasize either location- or distance-based processing. The subjects’ reports of locationbased versus distance-based strategies and the reaction time pattern validated our experimental manipulation. Late (800–1,800 msec) frontal ERP effects were related to location-based processing. The results provide support for a two-process theory of memory for time and suggest that frontal memory mechanisms are specifically related to reconstructive, location-based processing.     

Parenting of children with attention-defecit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): the role of parental ADHD symptomatology

OBJECTIVE: The present study examined the relation between parental ADHD symptomatology and parent-child behavior among 46 mothers and 26 fathers of ADHD children. RESULTS: Fathers' self-reports of inattention and impulsivity were strongly associated with self-reports of lax parenting both before and after parent training, and with self-reports of overreactivity after parent training. Fathers' impulsivity was also associated with more arguing during audiotaped observations of parent-child interactions prior to parent training. Mothers' self-reports of inattention were modestly associated with self-reports of laxness before and after parent training. Prior to parent training, there were non-linear relations between mothers' inattention and observations of mother-child behavior, with mothers who reported moderate levels of inattention engaging in the most negative parent-child interactions. After parent training, these relations were linear, with the mothers who reported the most inattention engaging in the most negative parent-child interactions. These results were weakened but were generally still significant when parental depression and alcohol use were controlled.     

The Ethics of Type 1 Diabetes Prediction and Prevention Research

There are approximately one million cases oftype 1 diabetes in the US, and the incidenceis increasing worldwide. Given that two-thirdsof cases present in childhood, it is criticalthat prediction and prevention research involvechildren. In this article, I examine whethercurrent research methodologies conform to theethical guidelines enumerated by the NationalCommission for the Protection of Human Subjectsof Biomedical and Behavioral Research, andadopted into the federal regulations thatprotect research subjects. I then offer twopolicy recommendations to help researchersdesign studies that conform to these ethicalrequirements.     

State-dependent and odor-mediated anemotactic responses of a micro-arthropod on a novel type of locomotion compensator

A novel type of locomotion compensator was designed and tested for its use in orientation behavior experiments with a predatory mite. In this apparatus, displacements of the test animal in the two-dimensional plane are recorded using video equipment and a servosphere that keeps the animal in focus. Thex andy displacements are registeredusing two rotation encoders and are compensated using a pair of servo-motors, in such a way that the animal is always positioned on top of the sphere, yet moves freely. Well-fed and starved predators were tested for their responses to (1) still air, (2) a stimulus-free air flow, (3) an air flow with odors from uninfested Lima bean leaves, and (4) an air flow with odors from Lima bean leaves infested by plant-feeding mites, the prey of the predatory mites. Anemotactic responses of adultPhytoseivlus persimilis females were feeding state dependent. Well-fed predators moved downwind under Treatments 1–3 but moved neither up-nor downwind in the presence of odors from infested plants (Treatment 4). Starved predators moved upwind under all treatments. These results are in agreement with those of earlier studies in a wind tunnel, and therefore, the new type of locomotion compensator (LC-100) offers an excellent method for studying the orientation behavior of micro-arthropods.     

The effects of promotion and prevention cues on creativity.

This study tested whether cues associated with promotion and prevention regulatory foci influence creativity. The authors predicted that the "risky," explorative processing style elicited by promotion cues, relative to the risk-averse, perseverant processing style elicited by prevention cues, would facilitate creative thought. These predictions were supported by two experiments in which promotion cues bolstered both creative insight (Experiment 1) and creative generation (Experiment 2) relative to prevention cues. Experiments 3 and 4 provided evidence for the process account of these findings. suggesting that promotion cues, relative to prevention cues, produce a riskier response bias (Experiment 3) and bolster memory search for novel responses (Experiment 4). A final experiment provided evidence that individual differences in regulatory focus influence creative problem solving in a manner analogous to that of incidental promotion and prevention cues.     

Severe Withdrawal (and Recovery)

The problem of how to remove information from an agent's stock of beliefs is of paramount concern in the belief change literature. An inquiring agent may remove beliefs for a variety of reasons: a belief may be called into doubt or the agent may simply wish to entertain other possibilities. In the prominent AGM framework for belief change, upon which the work here is based, one of the three central operations, contraction, addresses this concern (the other two deal with the incorporation of new information). Makinson has generalised this work by introducing the notion of a withdrawal operation. Underlying the account proffered by AGM is the idea of rational belief change. A belief change operation should be guided by certain principles or integrity constraints in order to characterise change by a rational agent. One of the most noted principles within the context of AGM is the Principle of Informational Economy. However, adoption of this principle in its purest form has been rejected by AGM leading to a more relaxed interpretation. In this paper, we argue that this weakening of the Principle of Informational Economy suggests that it is only one of a number of principles which should be taken into account. Furthermore, this weakening points toward a Principle of Indifference. This motivates the introduction of a belief removal operation that we call severe withdrawal. We provide rationality postulates for severe withdrawal and explore its relationship with AGM contraction. Moreover, we furnish possible worlds and epistemic entrenchment semantics for severe withdrawals.