What do I think you're doing? Action identification and mind attribution

The authors examined how a perceiver's identification of a target person's actions co-varies with attributions of mind to the target. The authors found in Study 1 that the attribution of intentionality and cognition to a target was associated with identifying the target's action in terms of high-level effects rather than low-level details. In Study 2, both action identification and mind attribution were greater for a liked target, and in Study 3, they were reduced for a target suffering misfortune. In Study 4, it was again found that action identification and mind attribution were greater for a liked target, but like that for the self or a liked other, positive actions were identified at higher levels than negative actions, with the reverse being true for disliked others. In Study 5, the authors found that instructing participants to adopt the target's perspective did not affect mind attribution but did lead to higher level identifications of the target's actions.     

Spatial frequency thresholds for face recognition when comparison faces are filtered and unfiltered

Previous work has shown an advantage of middle spatial frequencies (SFs) in face recognition. However, a few recent studies have suggested that this advantage is reduced when comparison and test stimuli are spatially filtered in a similar way. In the present study, we used standard psychophysical methods, in combination with a match-to-sample task, to determine the SF thresholds for face matching under conditions in which: (1) comparison stimuli were unfiltered and (2) comparison stimuli were spatially filtered in the same way as test stimuli. In two experiments, we show that SFs closer to the middle band are sought out more in the former case than in the latter. These results are compatible with the idea that a middle band of SFs will be most useful for any visual task and that the breadth of this optimal middle band will vary depending on task characteristics.     

The Effects of Sad Mood on Reports of Parents’ Caregiving Behaviors

Two studies examined the hypothesis that recollections of parents’ child-rearing behaviors on the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI: Parker, Tupling, & Brown, 1979) are influenced by current mood. Study 1 investigated the effects of sad versus neutral mood induction on PBI scores in 50 college students. Participants rated their parents as less caring following the sad mood induction than following the neutral induction. Study 2 investigated the effects of naturally occurring changes in depressive symptoms on PBI scores over a two month period. Changes in depressive symptoms correlated with changes in father care scores and tended to correlate with changes in mother care scores. Findings from both studies suggest that retrospective reports of parenting are susceptible to mood bias and highlight the limits of using cross sectional designs to explore the relationship between parenting and depression.     

Satisfactions and Regrets of Midlife Parents: A Qualitative Analysis

The study examined the satisfactions and regrets of midlife parents at a specific family life-cycle milestone, their child’s graduation from high school. The purpose was to compare mothers’ and fathers’ appraisals of the gains and losses associated with this developmental transition and turning point in their parenting roles. A total of 260 parents (147 mothers; 113 fathers) who had a child graduating from high school responded in writing to open-ended questions regarding their satisfactions and regrets at this stage of their lives. Responses were coded to identify themes salient to these parents. Results indicate that both mothers and fathers are aware of both the gains and losses at this time in their family life cycle, but they differed in how they expect to be affected by the transition. Mothers’ responses suggest that they are anticipating and planning for the transition. Fathers’ responses suggest they are less aware of the personal implications of this family transition and are less prepared for its emotional impact.     

Accurate identification of fear facial expressions predicts prosocial behavior

The fear facial expression is a distress cue that is associated with the provision of help and prosocial behavior. Prior psychiatric studies have found deficits in the recognition of this expression by individuals with antisocial tendencies. However, no prior study has shown accuracy for recognition of fear to predict actual prosocial or antisocial behavior in an experimental setting. In 3 studies, the authors tested the prediction that individuals who recognize fear more accurately will behave more prosocially. In Study 1, participants who identified fear more accurately also donated more money and time to a victim in a classic altruism paradigm. In Studies 2 and 3, participants' ability to identify the fear expression predicted prosocial behavior in a novel task designed to control for confounding variables. In Study 3, accuracy for recognizing fear proved a better predictor of prosocial behavior than gender, mood, or scores on an empathy scale.     

Experience with Event Timing Does not Alter Emergent Timing: Further Evidence for Robustness of Event and Emergent Timing

Although, event and emergent timings are thought of as mutually exclusive, significant correlations between tapping and circle drawing (Baer, Thibodeau, Gralnick, Li, &; Penhune, 2013 Baer, L. H., Thibodeau, J. L. N., Gralnick, T. M., Li, K. Z. H., &; Penhune, V. B. (2013). The role of musical training in emergent and event-based timing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7(191), 1–10. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00191.[Crossref], [PubMed] , [Google Scholar]; Studenka, Zelaznik, &; Balasubramaniam, 2012 Studenka, B. E., Zelaznik, H. N., &; Balasubramaniam, R. (2012). The distinction between tapping and circle drawing with and without tactile feedback: An examination of the sources of timing variance. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65(6), 1086–1100. doi:10.1080/17470218.2011.640404.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Zelaznik &; Rosenbaum, 2010 Zelaznik, H. N., &; Rosenbaum, D. A. (2010). Timing processes are correlated when tasks share a salient event. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 36(6), 1565–1575. doi:10.1037/a0020380.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) suggest that emergent timing may not be as robust as once thought. We aimed to test this hypothesis in both a younger (18–25) and older (55–100) population. Participants performed one block of circle drawing as a baseline, then six blocks of tapping, followed by circle drawing. We examined the use of event timing. Our hypothesis that acute experience with event timing would bias an individual to use event timing during an emergent task was not supported. We, instead, support the robustness of event and emergent timing as independent timing modes.     

Mapping the state of the field of social psychology in Africa and patterns of collaboration between African and international social psychologists

Patterns of collaboration in social psychology from 2000 to 2010 were mapped to analyse the position of African authors in the international co‐authorship network using bibliographic records from the Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge. There are very few social psychologists working in Africa, with the majority of these located in South Africa. Indeed, some small European countries boast more social psychologists than the entire continent of Africa. African authors published less than their non‐African collaborators, but had comparable status on joint publications. Co‐authorship relationships between African researchers from different African countries were generally mediated by partners from other continents, and direct collaboration between non‐compatriot African authors was very rare. The small size, and extremely sparse connection of the African co‐authorship network, is likely to be an obstacle both in the development of social psychology as a universally relevant discipline and in the penetration of social psychological knowledge in Africa.