There is more to anger coping than "in" or "out"

There is growing dissatisfaction with a dichotomized "anger-in" versus "anger-out" view of anger coping. Three studies using student and community adultsamples revealed a broader understanding of the nature of anger coping styles and led to the development of the new Behavioral Anger Response Questionnaire (BARQ). The BARQ is empirically derived and factorially validated and has good psychometrics. Results suggest that dichotomizing anger responses as "in" versus "out" is too coarse and that a 6-factor model may be more appropriate. The 6 factors identified here are Direct Anger-Out, Assertion, Support-Seeking, Diffusion, Avoidance, and Rumination. Women reported use of a wider range of anger coping styles, especially more social support-seeking and more use of anger diffusion strategies than men.     

Income Source and Race Effects on New-Neighbor Evaluations1

Two studies investigated the effect of income source and race on ratings of and objections to potential neighbors. Equivalent amounts of income from different sources included work only, work and public assistance, or work and a small inheritance. The race variable included African American, European American, or Hispanic. Subjects for Study 1 were undergraduate psychology students. Subjects for Study 2 were homeowners. Class bias was not a symbolic way to express race bias. There was a clear distinction between class bias and race bias in expression and function. Results indicate that class bias was used when subjects gave ratings of new neighbors. These biased ratings do not correlate with measures of racism. Furthermore, results indicate that objections to the new neighbors were more frequent for those gaining income from sources other than work. The findings indicate that class prejudice based on income source is primary and openly expressed, whereas racial prejudice does not appear as an important contributing factor in this context.     

Introduction to the Special Issue on Developmental Disabilities

This special issue of the Journal of Genetic Counseling focuses on developmental disabilities and includes commentaries, original research, personal accounts, and practice guidelines.     

Development of decision making: sequential versus integrative rules

Decisions can be made by applying a variety of decision-making rules-sequential rules in which decisions are based on a sequential evaluation of choice dimensions and the integrative normative rule in which decisions are based on an integration of choice dimensions. In this study, we investigated the developmental trajectory of such decision-making rules. In the Gambling Machine Task, participants choose between options that differ in three dimensions: frequency of loss, amount of loss, and certain gain. The task was administered to 231 children and adolescents (age range=8-17 years). Latent group analysis of their performance allowed precise classification of the underlying decision rules. The majority of participants used sequential decision rules, and the number of evaluated dimensions in these rules increased with age. Integrative rule use decreased with age. We discuss these results in light of traditional developmental theories and fuzzy trace theory.     

Hierarchical integration of agency and communion: a study of influential moral figures

The purpose of this research is to (a) identify which of recent history's influential figures did and which did not personify moral excellence, and (b) to examine the motives that drove these individuals along such divergent paths. In Study 1, 102 social scientists evaluated the moral qualities of influential figures from Time Magazine's lists. In Study 2, we selected the 15 top ranking of these figures to comprise a moral exemplar group and the bottom 15 to comprise a comparison group of similarly influential people. We measured the motivational aspects of their personality (agency and communion) by content-analyzing extant speeches and interviews. Moral exemplars exhibited the hierarchical integration of agency and communion by treating agentic motives as a means to an end of communal motives. Comparison subjects, by contrast, personified unmitigated agency by treating motives of agency as both a means to an end and an end unto itself. These results imply that both the strength and structure of a person's motives account for moral behavior.     

Development of Mathematical Knowledge in Young Children: Attentional Skill and the Use of Inversion

The principle of inversion, that a + b ? b must equal a, is a fundamental property of arithmetic, but many children fail to apply it in symbolic contexts through 10 years of age. We explore three hypotheses relating to the use of inversion that stem from a model proposed by Siegler and Araya (2005 Siegler , R. S. , &; Araya , R. ( 2005 ). A computational model of conscious and unconscious strategy discovery . In R. V. Kail (Ed.), Advances in child development and behavior (pp. 1 – 42 ). New York , NY : Elsevier .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Hypothesis 1 is that greater calculational skill is related to greater use of inversion. Hypothesis 2 is that greater attentional skill is related to greater use of inversion. Hypothesis 3 is that the relation between attentional skill and the use of inversion is particularly strong among children with high skill in calculation. We found suggestive evidence for Hypothesis 2 and clear evidence for Hypothesis 3, indicating that for children who are strong at calculation, attentional flexibility is related to use of inversion.     

Relationship between sports experience and executive function in 6–12‐year‐old children: independence from physical fitness and moderation by gender

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between sports experience (i.e., tennis experience) and executive function in children while controlling for physical activity and physical fitness. Sixty‐eight participants (6–12 years old, 34 males and 34 females) were enrolled in regular tennis lessons (mean = 2.4 years, range = 0.1–7.3 years) prior to the study. Executive functions, including inhibitory control (the Stroop Color‐Word Test), working memory (the 2‐back Task), and cognitive flexibility (the Local–global Task) were evaluated. Participants’ levels of daily physical activity, ranging from moderate to vigorous, were evaluated using triaxial accelerometers. The total score for physical fitness was assessed using the Tennis Field Test. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed interaction effects between gender and tennis experience on participants’ reaction time (RT) on the switch cost of the Local–global Task after controlling for age, BMI, gender, physical activity, physical fitness, and tennis experience. Longer tennis experience was associated with shorter switch cost in males but not in females. Higher scores on physical fitness were positively associated with lower interference scores on the Stroop Color‐Word Test, RT on the 2‐back Task, and RT in the switching condition of the Local–global Task, after controlling for age, BMI, gender, and physical activity. In conclusion, all three foundational components of executive function (i.e., inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) were more strongly related to physical fitness than to physical activity in males and females, whereas greater cognitive flexibility was related to tennis experience only in the males.     

Examining Psychosocial Pathways Underlying Gratitude Interventions: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Despite their unprecedented popularity, the psychological mechanisms through which gratitude journals operate are poorly understood. Also the use of gratitude journaling to enhance social relationships has been neglected in past research, despite the importance of healthy relationships for people’s happiness. This randomized controlled study examined the effect of (a) a traditional gratitude journal (fostering gratitude for daily life), and (b) an interpersonal gratitude journal (fostering gratitude for one’s existing social relationships), versus (c) an active control journal, on life satisfaction. Ninety-one participants were randomized to one of three conditions with 2-week and 1-month follow-ups. The traditional gratitude intervention (vs. control) showed improvements in friendship at immediate post-test and 1-month follow-up, and these effects were accounted for by changes in gratitude over time. Additionally, the traditional gratitude intervention (vs. control) predicted enhanced life satisfaction at follow-up, and this was serially mediated by 6 week changes in gratitude and perceived friendship quality. No such differences over time were observed between the interpersonal gratitude intervention and either the control intervention or the traditional gratitude intervention. Actively appreciating things in daily life appears to be effective in enhancing the quality of people’s social relationships, and producing sustained improvements in subjective wellbeing.