Child-related attributions of hostile intent and harsh discipline: Moderating effects of anger

Two studies tested whether attributions of hostile intent (AHI) and anger for ambiguous child behaviors uniquely predict parents’ harsh verbal discipline (HVD) and harsh physical discipline (HPD) or whether AHI only predicts harsh discipline when AHI occurs in conjunction with anger, as suggested by the Integrated Cognitive Model of general aggression (Wilkowski & Robinson, 2010, J. Pers., 78, 9–38). Replicating previous studies, the expected positive bivariate relationships between AHI, anger, HVD, and HPD were found in Study 1 (N = 493). However, when AHI, anger, and the AHI by anger interaction were considered simultaneously, patterns of prediction varied by discipline type. For HVD, high levels of AHI, high levels of anger, and the AHI by anger interaction (at high levels of AHI and anger) each were significant predictors. For HPD, low levels of AHI, high levels of anger, and the AHI by anger interaction (at high levels of AHI and anger) were significant predictors, suggesting a possible suppressor effect for AHI. These results were replicated in Study 2 ( N = 503). Thus, there was support for the contention that AHI only predicts harsh discipline when AHI occurs in conjunction with anger with respect to HPD but this was not the case for HVD. Since AHI suppressor effects were observed for HPD in two large sample studies, variables that may account for the AHI suppressor effects and the need for testing more complex interactive predictive models of harsh parenting behaviors are discussed.     

Book reviews

Cutting, J. E. Perception with an eye for motion. Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press, 1986. Pp. 321.ISBN 0-262-03119-1. £29.95.

Kimble, G. A. and Schlesinger, K. (Eds.). Topics in the history of psychology, Volume 1. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 1985. Pp. 409. ISBN 0-89859-312-3. £36.00.

Bruce, V. and Green, P. (1985). Visual perception :Physiology, psychology and ecology. London : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Ltd. Pp. 369. ISBN 0-86377-012-6. Hardback £26.95; paperback £8.95.

Pylyshyn, Z. W. & Demopoulos, W. (Eds.). Meaning and cognitive structure : Issues in the computational theory of mind. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1986. Pp. xi + 264. ISBN 0-89391-372-3.£36.50.

Pylyshyn, Z. W. (Ed.). The robot's dilemma: The frame problem in artificial intelligence. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1987. Pp. xi +156. ISBN 0-89391-371-5. £25.50.

Beaton, A. (1985). Left side, right side : A review of laterality research. London: Batsford. Pp. 364. ISBN 0-7134-4389-8. £25.00.     

Cognitive neuroscience: the biology of the mind and findings and current opinion in cognitive neuroscience

Cognitive Neuroscience: The Biology of the Mind by Michael Gazzaniga, Richard Ivry and George Mangun, W.W. Norton, 1998. ￡24.95 (xv+587 pages) ISBN 0 393 97219 4 Findings and Current Opinion in Cognitive Neuroscience by Larry Squire and Stephen Kosslyn, MIT Press, 1998. $35.00 (vii+381 pages) ISBN 0 262 69204 X.     

Fading of Affect Associated with Negative Child‐Related Memories Varies by Parental Child Abuse Potential

Positive memories tend to hold their affective intensity across time better than negative memories, a phenomenon referred to as the fading affect bias (FAB). An initial study explored this bias in the context of parents' affective responses to memories involving their children. Specifically, parents (N = 90 for Study 1) were asked to recall three positive events and three negative events involving their children. Next, parents rated how positively or negatively they felt when each event occurred and at recall. Results revealed that parents at high risk of physical child abuse showed a smaller FAB than low‐risk parents. The smaller FAB effect observed among high‐risk parents occurred largely because affect associated with negative child‐related events faded minimally over time. This risk moderation effect did not emerge in a second study in which parents (N = 90 for Study 2) recalled general events that were not limited to events involving children. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Emergent Readers' Recognition of Irony in Good Dog,Carl

Jedediah Purdy's (2000) For common things laments the ironic mode of thought that characterizes our culture's mindset. He calls for a return to devotion, homage, and allegiance rather than what he sees as a jaundiced detachment that has overcome us. Purdy may be on to something, but Alexandra Day (1985) does not seem to adopt his call to a simpler way of seeing things. She encourages the ironic stance, even in young children. Her Good Dog, Carl may not be a thoroughly modern book; it is not a deconstructed child's text like David Weisner's (2001) The Three Pigs where the story falls apart, where we see reality and other texts invade the story world in amazing ways. But Day's Good Dog, Carl is a clever book that is filled with a basic irony that even 2- to 3-year-old children are beginning to understand and 5- to 6-year-olds are clearly recognizing. They catch the naughtiness of it, the rebellion that is always about to get underway.     

Transformational leadership and moral reasoning

Terms such as moral and ethical leadership are used widely in theory, yet little systematic research has related a sociomoral dimension to leadership in organizations. This study investigated whether managers' moral reasoning (n = 132) was associated with the transformational and transactional leadership behaviors they exhibited as perceived by their subordinates (n = 407). Managers completed the Defining Issues Test (J. R. Rest, 1990), whereas their subordinates completed the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (B. M. Bass & B. J. Avolio, 1995). Analysis of covariance indicated that managers scoring in the highest group of the moral-reasoning distribution exhibited more transformational leadership behaviors than leaders scoring in the lowest group. As expected, there was no relationship between moral-reasoning group and transactional leadership behaviors. Implications for leadership development are discussed.     

Forward and backward recall: different response time patterns,same retrieval order

How do people retrieve information in forward and backward recall? To address this issue, we examined response times in directional recall as a function of serial position and list length. Participants memorized lists of four to six words and entered responses at the keyboard. Recall direction was postcued. Response times exhibited asymmetry in terms of direction. In forward recall, response times peaked at the first position, leveling off for subsequent positions. Response times were slower in backward recall than in forward recall and exhibited an inverse U-shaped function with an initial slowdown followed by a continuous speedup. These asymmetries have implications for theoretical models of retrieval in serial recall, including temporal-code, rule-based, and network models. The response time pattern suggests that forward recall proceeds in equal steps across positions, whereas backward recall involves repeated covert cycles of forward recall. Thus, retrieval in both directions involves a forward search.     

Controlling velocity in rapid movements

It has often been reported that subjects prefer to use a strategy in which they vary movement velocity and peak amplitude in a linear fashion. In this study, control of velocity and amplitude in rapid reciprocating movements of the interphalangeal joint of the thumb was investigated by examining movement trajectories and patterns of activity in the extensor pollicis longus (EPL) and flexor pollicis longus (FPL) muscles. In controlling either amplitude or peak flexion velocity without constraint, subjects always used a strategy in which peak extension velocity and peak flexion velocity had strong linear correlations with movement amplitude. When they were required to keep either amplitude or peak flexion velocity fixed their movements were still biased toward a strategy in which peak velocity and movement amplitude covaried. It is suggested that the preferred strategy is related to a basic principle of scaling the magnitude and duration of a velocity profile in order to achieve different movement amplitudes.     

Preference paradigm: provides better self-stimulation reward discrimination than a rate-dependent paradigm

To obtain a better understanding of how well the Y-maze preference test paradigm indexes electrical brain stimulation reward, the present experiment compared the abilities of this rate-independent paradigm and a rate-dependent paradigm to assess the rewarding effectiveness of brain stimulation. The rate-dependent paradigm used was an operant chamber. The results showed that over a wide range of stimulation parameters the rate-independent paradigm provided a better assessment of the rewarding effectiveness of the brain stimulation than did the rate-dependent paradigm.     

Brain-stimulation reward: a review

During most of the first half of this century psychologists knew what they wanted to do but had no idea how to do it, and during the second half they have, for the most part, been so preoccupied with how to do it that they have forgotten what they wanted to do. When J. Olds and Milner (1954) announced that rats would stimulate themselves in the septal area, it appeared to open the door to understanding motivation and reinforcement in terms of the underlying physiology. In the ensuing 36 years some progress has been made in that direction, though far outstripped by the progress in methodology. In this review I trace the efforts that have been made to locate the structures involved in self-stimulation by lesions, drugs, determinations of their neurophysiological characteristics, and other more sophisticated methods. I then review experiments, none very recent, comparing brain-stimulation reward to natural rewards and finally indicate how the information so far collected may be incorporated into theories of learning and motivation.