Effects of Scarcely Dressed Models in Advertising on Body Esteem for Belgian Men and Women

We explore how more revealing displays of models’ bodies in advertising impact individuals’ body esteem. The first study exposed a snowball sample of 215 Belgian men and women starting from a research department’s database to an advertisement containing a male or female model in pajamas or underwear. Scarcely dressed models had a negative effect on individuals’ body esteem compared to dressed models, especially for opposite-sex models. The second study replicated the results of the first with a representative sample of 123 women from a consumer panel, using different models. Both scarce dress of the opposite-sex model and reported sexual arousal affected body esteem. Model attractiveness served as a moderator for same-sex models.     

“When passion breeds justice”: procedural fairness effects as a function of authority's passion

The present research examined how procedural fairness predicts negative emotions and withdrawal behavior as a function of authority's display of passion. A first study revealed that reinforcing the concept of passion made the concept of justice and fairness more accessible to participants, as such suggesting that authority passion should make people focus more on procedural fairness information. Corroborating this line of reasoning, a scenario experiment and a laboratory experiment thereafter yielded consistent evidence that the effects of procedural fairness (i.e., voice vs. no voice) were stronger on negative emotions and willingness to withdraw when the authority was passionate relative to not being passionate. In addition, the results of both studies also revealed that negative emotions mediated the effect of procedural fairness on withdrawal, but only so when the authority was passionate (i.e., mediated moderation). It is concluded that more research is needed focusing on the interactions between different authority styles/characteristics and procedural fairness effects. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Paradoxical effects of base rates and representation in category learning

The inverse base rate effect (IBRE) continues to be a puzzling case of decision making on the basis of conflicting information in human category learning. After being trained via feedback over trials to assign combinations of cues to high- and low-frequency categories, participants tend to respond with the low-frequency category to an otherwise perfectly conflicting pair of test cues, contrary to the category base rates. Our Experiment 1 demonstrated that decision making on the basis of an explicit summary of the cue-outcome and outcome base rate information from the standard learning task does not result in the effect. The remaining experimental conditions evaluated the necessary and sufficient conditions for the effect by systematically exploring experimental deviations between the standard learning task and the pure decision-making task. In partial disagreement with both recent theoretical accounts of the effect, these experiments indicate that asymmetric outcome representation and profound base rate neglect are individually necessary and jointly sufficient conditions. Broader theoretical implications are discussed.     

Religious and National Identity after the Belfast Good Friday Agreement

National and religious identification processes can be seen as the basis of the conflict in Northern Ireland, and over the course of the conflict preferred social and political identities became increasingly oppositional and entrenched. This paper reviews this evidence using population-level studies of self-categorized national and religious identity. In an attempt to explore the bases of these identities, two interrelated qualitative studies examining the constructions of national and religious identification are reported. The findings presented suggest the continuing predominance of national and religious identities that have generally been constructed as opposing. Evidence of complete overlap of the identities is evidenced in conflation of religion and nationality in adolescents' essays. Theoretical sampling of adults living on the border between Northern Ireland, the republic of Ireland, and those in mixed marriages highlight the strategic use of national and religious identities that may act to support divisions in post-Agreement Northern Ireland.     

Rethinking Collaborative Learning Through Participation in an Interdisciplinary Research Project: Tensions and Negotiations as Key Points in Knowledge Production

As social and cultural psychologists of learning, we are persuaded of the crucial role of interaction in development and learning. But how do we experience this assumption in our own research practices and in our collaboration with colleagues? Taking as our object of study our own participation in a European Research and Development project that aimed to enhance interactive and argumentative skills in learning settings, this study shows how collaboration among project partners is not something that is to be taken for granted, but something that is elaborated and evolves in time, takes diverse forms, and is mediated by multiple tools. The psychological processes—more particularly tensions and negotiation—involved in collaboration are developed and discussed. The study explores the processes of establishing collaboration and, through the analysis of specific zones of tensions, sheds light on the way new knowledge (on how to do research, how to communicate, how to work together) is constructed. It contributes to the understanding of the issues and conditions for the development of a community of practice.     

Associations Among Perceived Autonomy Support,Forms of Self-Regulation,and Persistence: A Prospective Study

According to self-determination theory, when the social context is autonomy supportive, people are motivated to internalize the regulation of important activities, and whereas when the context is controlling, self-determined motivation is undermined. A model that incorporates perceptions of coaches' interpersonal behaviors (autonomy support vs. control), 5 forms of regulation (intrinsic motivation, identified, introjected and external regulation, and amotivation), and persistence was tested with competitive swimmers (N = 369) using a prospective 3-wave design. Analyses using structural equation modeling revealed that experiencing relationships as controlling fostered non–self-determined forms of regulation (external regulation and amotivation). Greater levels of self-determined motivation occurred when relationships were experienced as autonomy supportive. Individuals who exhibited self-determined types of regulation at Time 1 showed more persistence at both Time 2 (10 months later) and Time 3 (22 months later). Individuals who were amotivated at Time 1 had the highest rate of attrition at both Time 2 and Time 3. Introjected regulation was a significant predictor of persistence at Time 2 but became nonsignificant at Time 3. External regulation was not a significant predictor of behavior at Time 2, but became negatively associated with persistence at Time 3. The findings are discussed in light of the determinants of the internalization process and the consequences of different forms of self-regulation for psychological functioning.     

Sooner versus later: factors associated with temporal sequencing of suicide

There are few (if any) population-based prospective studies that provide information on factors associated with temporal sequencing of suicide. In this prospective population-based study, the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), 1986-1994, was linked to the National Death Index (NDI), 1986-1997, to assess factors that predict recent (within 12 months of interview, termed sooner) suicide versus suicide further in the future (more than 12 months after interview, termed later). Of the 653 completed suicides in the NHIS cohort, 13.4 percent completed suicide within a year of interview, and 86.6 percent did so after a year. Sooner decedents were more likely to be White, less educated, unemployed, and to use firearms than any other method compared with later decedents. Surprisingly, sooner decedents had higher levels of self-rated health at baseline. These results have substantial implications for clinicians and other professionals who interact with people at highest risk of suicide. Unfortunately, it may be unrealistic to expect that health care providers can modify the behavior of individuals at highest risk of suicide.     

Games in Clinical Genetic Counseling Supervision

Games are defined as ongoing series of complementary ulterior transactions that are superficially plausible but have a concealed motivation to maximize pay-offs and minimize penalties for the initiator. While some games are harmless and part of socialization, others are destructive. Destructive game-playing in clinical supervision, in which game-playing (initiated by either supervisors or students) interferes with a student's realization of internship goals, has been documented in some allied healthcare professions but has not yet been studied in genetic counseling. Genetic counselors and clinical supervisors of genetic counseling students were anonymously surveyed regarding their experiences with destructive game-playing. Results show that such games do occur in genetic counseling clinical supervision. Some games are the same or similar to ones previously described in other health-care professions; others may be unique to genetic counseling. The purpose of this paper is to document these games as a first step to facilitating dialogue, understanding and awareness of them.     

Mechanisms for ovarian cycle disruption by immune/inflammatory stress

This review summarizes highlights of our experiments investigating mechanisms, mediators and sites by which endotoxin disrupts reproductive neuroendocrine activity and interferes with the estrous cycle of sheep. Endotoxin, or lipopolysaccharide (LPS), is a commonly used model for immune and inflammatory stress. When administered to ovary-intact ewes, endotoxin interrupts the follicular phase of the cycle by interfering with several steps in the preovulatory chain of endocrine events. One such step is the development of high frequency LH pulses, which provide an essential stimulus for the preovulatory increase in estradiol secretion from the ovarian follicle. Follow-up experiments in ovariectomized ewes demonstrate that endotoxin inhibits pulsatile LH secretion at both the hypothalamic and pituitary levels, suppressing pulsatile GnRH secretion and reducing pituitary responsiveness to GnRH. This disruption of GnRH and LH pulsatility is mediated by pathways that include the synthesis of prostaglandins and cortisol, both of which are increased by endotoxin. It is postulated that a prostaglandin-mediated pathway disrupts the cycle during immune and inflammatory stress, whereas a separate cortisol-mediated pathway reinforces this disruption and also participates more generally in suppressing cyclicity during other stressful situations that activate the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis.     

DNA-sequence patenting: National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) position paper

In November 2000, the Genetic Services Committee of the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) convened a working group to draft a position paper on patenting of DNA-sequences. The mandate of the group was to produce general position statements that support the perspective and needs of consumers of DNA-based genetic tests and therapies (our patients and their families) and participants in DNA-based genetic research. After review and discussion of the literature on DNA-sequence patenting issues, the working group drafted position statement points that support current United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) guidelines; broad licensing of DNA-sequence patents; nonenforcement of DNA-sequence patents in noncommercial research; reasonable royalty rates; an informed consent process for research participants that discloses whether they can share in any financial rewards relating to the project; the development of guidelines for licensing of DNA-sequence patents; and the establishment of oversight organizations to monitor licensing of DNA-sequence patents. These position statements were approved by the NSGC Board of Directors in the fall of 2001.