Using images to increase exercise behavior: prototypes versus possible selves

This study investigated the impact of health-related prototypes and possible selves on exercise behavior. In addition, this study examined if these effects might be moderated by individual differences-specifically social comparison (SC) and consideration of future consequences (CFC). One hundred and fifty-two students participated in all three waves of the study-premanipulation, manipulation, and follow-up. As expected, results indicated that individuals who were high on SC and exposed to a prototype manipulation increased their exercise behavior at follow-up. Furthermore, individuals who were future-oriented and exposed to a possible selves manipulation increased their exercise behavior at follow-up. Overall, results revealed that health images have an important impact on health behavior. Implications for behavior change are discussed.     

Juror reactions to jury duty: perceptions of the system and potential stressors

Jurors were surveyed on their general perceptions of the court system and factors that may cause stress immediately after trial, after participating in a post-trial debriefing, and a month after trial. Jurors had an overall positive view of the court system but did report some perceived inequities. The two most stressful elements of jury duty were related to the complexity of the trial and the decision-making involved in the trial, although jurors reported low levels of stress overall. Women reported more stress than men, and trial characteristics such as trial length also affected stress levels. The debriefing intervention was perceived as helpful, but jurors' stress levels were similar at pre- and post-debriefing. Finally, although stress on some measures was lower at the 1 month follow-up, this reduction was not moderated by whether or not jurors received the debriefing.     

Communicative skills in relation to gender, birth order, childcare and socioeconomic status in 18-month-old children

Variation in communicative skills, defined as gestures, vocabulary comprehension and vocabulary production, was examined as a function of gender, birth order, childcare and socioeconomic status (SES) in 1,019 18-month-old children. The children were recruited at their regular check-up at a number of randomly selected Child Health Care centers in a Swedish county. The participation rate was 88%. The children were assessed by their mothers using a short version of the Swedish Early Communicative Development Inventories. The results demonstrate significant effects of gender and birth order on vocabulary comprehension and vocabulary production. Girls scored higher than boys and first-born children scored higher than later-born children. Type of childcare (family care, care at home and day-care centers) interacted with gender and birth order on vocabulary production and indicated that family care is not as advantageous as care at home or at day-care centers. SES had no effect on children's communicative skills at this age.     

Single, but not multiple pairings of sucrose and corticosterone enhance memory for sucrose drinking and amplify remote reward relativity effects

This study tested whether pre-training pairings of ingestion of a 32% sucrose solution and injection(s) of corticosterone (B) would enhance later ingestion in the absence of B, and whether these effects would carry over into later contrast-like effects when animals were subsequently shifted to 4% sucrose. Frequency-dependence of these pairings was also examined. Three groups of male Sprague-Dawley rats were adrenalectomized (ADX). A fourth group was sham ADX. Each ADX group received three presentations of sucrose and B (666 microg/kg, s.c.). One received unpaired presentations (separated by days), one received two unpaired presentations and one paired (i.e., simultaneous) presentation, and one received three paired presentations. Shams received three sucrose presentations paired with saline. Single, but not multiple pairings of B with ingestion of a 32% sucrose solution enhanced later sucrose ingestion, a memorial-like effect that carried over into later, opposite contrast-like effects upon presentation of a less-preferred 4% sucrose solution. These effects could not be easily ascribed to differences in training, other than the pairing regimen itself, nor to motivational differences at the time of testing, and were presumed to be memorial. The pairing and frequency-dependence of these appetitive phenomena are analogous to what is frequently observed during acute or chronic exposure to aversive situations and/or neuromodulatory stress hormones, in terms of their bidirectional effects on memory. Through effects on memory, stress hormones may modulate reward and reward relativity.     

Exploring the relationship between students’ values and the values of postsecondary institutions

Little is known of how institutional and individual value systems are related among university undergraduates. With three different measures and samples of college students, perceptions of university mission and values (i.e., institutional values, creating pro-social climates, and developing a life-long commitment to values) loaded independently of their personal values systems, and often negatively with social desirability. Perceptions of institutional values were generally independent of personal value systems, using either a rank-order (Sample 1, n = 199) or rating scale method (Sample 2, n = 107), or by focusing on moral behavior structures (Sample 3, n = 208). Together, these results indicate that higher education assessment may reflect institutional values that are independent of student personal value systems.Portions of this paper were presented at the 2004 Institute for College Student Values, Tallahassee, FL     

How similar is similar enough? Job profile similarity benchmarks using occupational information network data

Job comparison research is critical to many human resources initiatives, such as transporting validity evidence. Job analysis methods often focus on critical attribute (e.g., tasks, work behaviors) overlap when assessing similarity, but profile similarity metrics represent an alternative or complementary approach for job comparisons. This paper utilizes Occupational Information Network (O*NET) data to establish a distribution of job profile correlations across all job pairs for five attributes – generalized work activities, knowledge, skills, abilities, and work styles. These correlations represent effect sizes, or degree of shared variance between jobs. Practitioners may reference these correlational distributions as benchmarks for gauging the practical significance of the observed degree of similarity between two jobs of interest compared to the broader world of work.     

Unfolding the concept of person by verbal abuse

Examined the prevalence of an interpersonal device, namely insult types, in a collectivistic and individualistic cultural context as an index of how the concept of person is culturally constructed. Insults were divided into three general categories, individualistic (those that refer directly to a person), relational (those that refer to a person and his/her significant relations) and swear-words. An examination of the insults subjects produced in Catania, southern Italy (collectivistic), Trieste, northern Italy (individualistic) and Bologna, central Italy, partially confirmed the hypothesized differences in types of verbal abuse. In the collectivistic context instances of verbal abuse are significantly more likely to be directed to a person and his/her relations than in the individualistic context. The social psychological implications of these findings are discussed.     

Advancing Creativity Theory and Research: A Socio-cultural Manifesto

This manifesto, discussed by 20 scholars, representing diverse lines of creativity research, marks a conceptual shift within the field. Socio-cultural approaches have made substantial contributions to the concept of creativity over recent decades and today can provide a set of propositions to guide our understanding of past research and to generate new directions of inquiry and practice. These propositions are urgently needed in response to the transition from the Information Society to the Post-Information Society. Through the propositions outlined here, we aim to build common ground and invite the community of creativity researchers and practitioners to reflect up, study, and cultivate creativity as a socio-cultural phenomenon.     

Physical activity and determinants of sedentary behavior in Brazilian adolescents from an underdeveloped region

The purpose of the study was to analyze the physical activity and the determinants of sedentary behavior in 1,268 Brazilian adolescents (638 girls, 630 boys) between the ages of 15 and 18 years, randomly selected from a relatively underdeveloped region. Data were collected from a community-based survey in the city of Jo?o Pessoa, Paraiba, Brazil. Information related to physical activity was derived on the short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. The prevalence of sedentary behavior was 28.2% for girls and 19.1% for boys, whilst 28.9% of the girls and 36.7% of the boys showed high physical activity. The sedentary behavior varied by sociodemographic and environmental determinants studied. Parents' education, socioeconomic status, school's characteristics, transport to school, paid work, smoking, alcohol use, and BMI scores were significantly related to sedentary behavior for boys and girls.     

Reducing dehumanisation outcomes towards Blacks: The role of multiple categorisation and of human identity

This contribution addresses the issue of reduction of dehumanisation towards Blacks, an outgroup that has been historically targeted by heinous prejudice. The study tested, for the first time, whether the combination of multiple categorisation and human identity represents the most optimal condition for reducing dehumanisation towards Blacks. The main dependent variables were attribution of secondary emotions and inalienability of human rights. Results highlighted the combination of multiple categorisation and human identity as the most effective strategy in reducing dehumanisation towards Blacks. Evidence of this study sheds light on the possible ways through which conceiving others in terms of complex categorical criteria, that is, as members of the human group in conjunction with other communal or different social categories, can lead to more harmonious intergroup relations. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.