Attentional and interpretative biases in appearance concern: An investigation of biases in appearance-related information processing

The present study examined associations between high levels of appearance concern and information processing biases in interpretation and attention. An opportunity sample (N = 79) categorised ambiguous stimuli as related or unrelated to appearance. Participants then responded to the same stimuli in a modified visual dot-probe task assessing attentional bias. Participant responses were assessed in relation to level of appearance concern. The results indicated a valence specific bias towards interpretation of ambiguous stimuli as negative and appearance-related in individuals with higher levels of concern. There was also evidence of attentional bias towards information perceived as appearance-related in participants with higher levels of appearance concern. The study findings suggest that association between appearance-orientated information processing biases and level of appearance concern; this association may lead to mutually reinforcing bias and concern.     

A Systematic Review Into the Psychological Causes and Correlates of Plagiarism

Interventions that are designed to stem plagiarism do not always override the motivation of individuals to cheat and, therefore, may not diminish misconduct. To inform more effective approaches, we conducted a systematic review to clarify the psychological causes of plagiarism. This review of 83 empirical papers showed that a specific blend of circumstances may foster plagiarism: an emphasis on competition and success rather than development and cooperation coupled with impaired resilience, limited confidence, impulsive tendencies, and biased cognitions. Fortunately, whenever students feel their life and studies align to their future aspirations, many of these circumstances tend to dissipate.     

Item-specific proactive interference in olfactory working memory

We examine item-specific olfactory proactive interference (PI) effects and undertake comparisons with verbal and non-verbal visual stimuli. Using a sequential recent-probes task, we show no evidence for PI with hard-to-name odours (Experiment 1). However, verbalisable odours do exhibit PI effects (Experiment 2). These findings occur despite above chance performance and similar serial position functions across both tasks. Experiments 3 and 4 apply words and faces, respectively, to our modified procedure, and show that methodological differences cannot explain the null finding in Experiment 1. The extent to which odours exhibit analogous PI effects to that of other modalities is, we argue, contingent on the characteristics of the odours employed.     

Primary care decision making in response to psychological complaints: the influence of patient race

Eighteen general practitioners indicated diagnostic and treatment decisions in response to patient vignettes. Results indicated that White patients were more likely to be correctly diagnosed as having anxiety than any other complaint. Asians were just as likely to receive a physical diagnosis as they were to receive one of anxiety. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Inheritance of dominance and aggressiveness in captive red grouse Lagopus Lagopus scoticus

Sibling red grouse resembled each other and their parents in social dominance rank and in an aggressiveness score. This was shown by comparisons of variance within and among clutches, correlations between parents and offspring, and experiments involving selection. Both dominance and aggressiveness scores were inherited. There was weak evidence that a laying hen's nutrition and crowding might also influence the dominance of her offspring. These results indicate mechanisms that may underlie fluctuations in the numbers of wild red grouse.     

Attitudes of Employed Women Toward Parents Who Choose Full-Time or Part-Time Employment Following Their Child's Birth

Perceptions of married parents were examined as a function of their gender and their employment status following their child's birth. Women employed in hourly staff positions at a university (92% White, 8% African American, Asian American, or Hispanic American) evaluated a briefly described married employed parent on thirty-one 7-point bipolar scales that described nurturance behaviors, job performance characteristics, role overload variables, and personal adjustment characteristics. Each participant rated one of four parents portrayed as either a mother or a father who, following their child's birth, either continued to work full-time or reduced her/his work hours. Full-time employees were perceived as experiencing more stress and as being less family-oriented than reduced-hour employees. Mothers were viewed as better adjusted but as experiencing more stress than fathers.     

Choices and preferences: testing the effect of nationality

This paper presents exploratory research comparing French and UK life assurance literature. It highlights a number of critical differences in the approaches taken between the two countries, and places these in the context of the literature on cultural differences. The differences are illustrative of Samli's transference of Hofstede's findings to marketing. The implications of these findings are explored. Although there can be a universal Pan European approach, the research indicates the need to take national cultural considerations into account if one is not to perpetrate a jarring counter‐culturalism. It also seems likely that life assurance is not a prime candidate for global branding. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications.