Developmental differences in the use of task goals in a cued version of the stroop task

The ability of children (M= 8.8 years) and adults (M= 25.6 years) to maintain task goals was examined by comparing their performance on a cued version of the Stroop colour‐word task. The experimental task presented a cue on each trial that instructed the participant to either read aloud the forthcoming word or name the colour of the word's lettering. Participants were tested with each of two cue‐stimulus delays (1,000 and 5,000 ms). Analysis of error rates in the colour‐naming condition revealed that children experienced greater interference than adults at each of the cue‐stimulus delays. In an effort to separate the relative contributions of colour‐naming and word‐reading processes, additional analyses were performed based on the process dissociation procedure of Lindsay and Jacoby (1994) . While colour‐naming process estimates did not vary with age group or cue‐stimulus delay, word‐reading process estimates were found to vary with age group and cue‐stimulus delay. Specifically, adults were superior to children in the inhibition of irrelevant word information only during a long cue‐stimulus delay. Collectively, these findings indicate that children have difficulty maintaining task goals in order to suppress stronger, goal‐irrelevant responses.     

Economic Envy

Envy of others' material possessions is a potent motivator of consumerism. This makes it a prudentially and morally hazardous emotional response. After outlining these hazards, I present an analysis of the emotion of envy. Envy, I argue, presents things in the following way: the envier lacks some good that her rival possesses; this difference between them is bad for the envier; this difference reflects poorly on the envier's worth; and this difference is undeserved. I then discuss the conditions under which these presentations can be satisfied by differences in material possessions. My conclusion is that no difference in material possessions can simultaneously be all the ways envy presents it as being. Consequently, economic envy is systematically irrational: it is never a warranted response to the distribution of material wealth. Recognising this bolsters the prudential and moral case for reducing the degree to which we feel it and for resisting the inclinations it gives rise to when we do.     

Physical Disability and Suicidal Ideation: A Community‐Based Study of Risk/Protective Factors for Suicidal Thoughts

Although the significance of poor physical health for suicide risk is well established, the potential relevance of physical disability, as distinct from diseases and traumas that give rise to disability, has received little attention. Prior evidence suggests the possible utility of the stress process theoretical model for understanding variations in risk for suicide ideation and the contribution of physical disability to such risk. In this article, we examine the independent and joint explanatory significance of physical disability and components of the stress process model for risk of suicide ideation. Data from an ethnically diverse and representative sample of disabled and nondisabled adults (n = 1,768) reveal that physical disability is associated with a greater risk of lifetime suicidal ideation.     

Expectancy priming of smoking cessation messages enhances the placebo effect of tailored interventions.

OBJECTIVE: Previous research (Webb, Simmons, & Brandon, 2005) suggested that smokers' reactions to self-help materials were more positive if they believed that the materials had been personally tailored to their individual characteristics and if they held expectancies that tailored interventions are superior to standard, or generic, interventions. The authors' objective in the current study was to replicate and extend this research by testing the efficacy expectancy priming before intervention delivery. DESIGN: In a 2 x 2 factorial experiment, 210 smokers (M = 23 cigarettes/day) recruited from the community (62% female; 92% Caucasian; mean age = 49) were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions: placebo-tailored intervention/no priming, placebo-tailored intervention/priming, standard intervention/no priming, or standard intervention/priming. The tailoring-related expectancies of participants' in the priming conditions were primed before they were presented with the respective intervention booklets. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Content evaluations, readiness to quit smoking, cessation self-efficacy, smoking-related knowledge, and progress toward quitting (behavior changes). Assessments occurred by mail at baseline and at 1-month postintervention. RESULTS: Similar to the earlier study, the placebo-tailored booklets produced superior evaluations and smoking-related cognitive and behavioral changes. Moreover, the pretreatment expectancy priming successfully altered participants' tailoring-related expectancies and also produced superior evaluations and outcomes. CONCLUSION: Findings support a causal role of tailoring-related expectancies on the efficacy of tailored interventions and suggest that interventions can be enhanced via expectancy priming.