Sarah Palin, A Nation Object(ifie)s: The Role of Appearance Focus in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election

In 2008, Republican John McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, lost the U.S. presidential election to Barack Obama and his vice presidential candidate, Joe Biden. During the campaign, Palin??s physical appearance, including her reported $150,000 makeover, received extensive media coverage. But, could the focus on her appearance have impacted the outcome of the election? Several lines of laboratory research suggest that this focus may have been detrimental to the Republican ticket because 1) it likely undermined perceptions of Palin??s competence, warmth and morality, and 2) it may have increased Palin??s focus on her own appearance, which, consistent with research on self-objectification, likely impaired the competency of her actual performance. Voting research supports the importance of candidates?? perceived competence and character. Thus, while acknowledging the diverse influences on an election??s outcome, a strong empirical case can be made that people objected to Sarah Palin (and therefore, John McCain), in part, because she was objectified. In contrast, there is no evidence to suggest that men suffer these same consequences when others, or they themselves, focus on their appearance. Therefore, it is not likely that the Democratic Obama-Biden ticket was hurt by these same factors.     

An Evaluation of Behavioral Approach in Adults with ADHD

Motivational models emphasizing altered reinforcement sensitivity have been increasingly implicated in etiological accounts of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Overactive behavioral approach tendencies are identified among these motivational models and are addressed within reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST). RST proposes that overactive behavioral approach is associated with over responsiveness to immediately reinforcing stimuli and results from an overactive appetitive motivational subsystem of the brain—the behavioral approach system. The current study tested the hypothesis that behavioral approach would be higher in a clinical sample of adults diagnosed with ADHD relative to a control group. Experimental and self-report measures of behavioral approach were administered. Behavioral approach was higher in the ADHD group across both methods of assessment. Effect size estimates fell within the medium to large range. Implications for how these findings might be incorporated into future ADHD models are discussed.     

Social Exclusion and the Desire to Reconnect

People have a fundamental need to belong that, when satisfied, is linked to a variety of indicators of well‐being. The current article discusses what happens when social relationships go awry, namely through social exclusion. It seeks to resolve discrepancies in the literature by proposing that responses to social exclusion depend primarily on the prospect of social acceptance. When people feel socially excluded, they want to regain acceptance and thus may respond in ways that can help them do so. When the possibility of acceptance is not forthcoming, however, socially excluded people become selfish and antisocial. Evidence for this pattern was found at behavioral, cognitive, and biological levels. The motivation to gain acceptance may drive people to engage in negative health behaviors, such as smoking. Thus, excluded people demonstrate sensitivity to possible social acceptance, but they can exude an air of selfishness and hostility when there is no possibility of satisfying their need to belong.     

Approach-withdrawal and the role of the striatum in the temperament of behavioral inhibition

Behavioral inhibition is a temperament characterized in infancy and early childhood by a tendency to withdraw from novel or unfamiliar stimuli. Children exhibiting this disposition, relative to children with other dispositions, are more socially reticent, less likely to initiate interaction with peers, and more likely to develop anxiety over time. Until recently, a dominant model attributed this disposition to reductions in the threshold for engaging the circuitry supporting fear learning, particularly the amygdala. Recent work, however, also has implicated striatal circuitry and other regions that constitute components of a presumed reward system. A series of studies found that behaviorally inhibited adolescents display heightened activation of striatal structures to cues indicating an opportunity to receive reward. This article reviews evidence implicating dual roles for fear and reward circuitry in the expression of behavioral inhibition.     

BIS and BAS interact with perceived parental affectionless control to predict personality disorder symptomatology

The objective of this study was to examine if and how two basic dimensions of temperament-behavioral inhibition system (BIS) and behavioral approach system (BAS) sensitivity-might interact with exposure to perceived parental affectionless control (AFC) to predict personality disorder (PD) symptomatology. Measures of BIS, BAS, AFC, and PD symptomatology were administered to a large nonclinical sample (n = 318). As predicted, exposure to AFC was positively associated with PD symptoms in general, BIS was positively associated with Cluster A and C symptoms, and BAS was positively associated with Cluster B symptoms. BIS and BAS were also found to interact with each other to predict Cluster B symptomatology. In addition, BIS, BAS, and maternal AFC interacted to predict Cluster A symptomatology. In the latter case, it was found that individuals who reported high BIS, high BAS, and high maternal AFC reported the highest overall level of Cluster A symptoms.     

A Comparison of a Subjective and Statistical Method for Establishing Score Comparability in an Organizational Culture Survey

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to compare the results of a subjective and a statistical method of detecting non-comparable items in 14 language-translated forms of a survey measuring organizational culture.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were obtained from a large multinational organization using a 60-item organizational culture survey. Each of 14 language-translated forms were administered to members of their respective language groups and compared to the original English (United States) form. Subjective reviews were conducted using fluent bilingual organizational members whom flagged items they did not believe were comparable. Statistical analyses using an item response theory (IRT) approach were used to detect problematic items from 14 samples with sizes ranging from 304 to 3,014. Detection patterns from these two approaches were compared.

Findings

The subjective approach identified far less items as problematic and did not agree with the statistical approach.

Implications

Our results suggest that the subjective approach as a pre-screening adaptation procedure has little added value over a careful translation/back-translation procedure.

Originality/Value

The use of language-adapted organizational surveys has become increasingly important to multinational organizations. In examining scores from such surveys the establishment of score comparability is essential. IRT analyses are often used to determine whether scores are comparable across language translations. It is also common for subjective reviews of item content to be utilized prior to statistical techniques to determine if the translated items are comparable to the original form. No research known to authors has compared modern statistical and subjective approaches to addressing these issues.     

The Role of Socioeconomic Status in SAT-Grade Relationships and in College Admissions Decisions

This article examines the role of socioeconomic status (SES) in the relationships among college admissions-test scores, secondary school grades, and subsequent academic performance. Scores on the SAT (a test widely used in the admissions process in the United States), secondary school grades, college grades, and SES measures from 143,606 students at 110 colleges and universities were examined, and results of these analyses were compared with results obtained using a 41-school data set including scores from the prior version of the SAT and using University of California data from prior research on the role of SES. In all the data sets, the SAT showed incremental validity over secondary school grades in predicting subsequent academic performance, and this incremental relationship was not substantially affected by controlling for SES. The SES of enrolled students was very similar to that of specific schools' applicant pools, which suggests that the barrier to college for low-SES students in the United States is a lower rate of entering the college admissions process, rather than exclusion on the part of colleges.     

Does enhanced cognitive behaviour therapy for eating disorders improve quality of life?

Quality of life (QOL) is the degree of enjoyment and satisfaction experienced in life, and embraces emotional well-being, physical health, economic and living circumstances, and work satisfaction. QOL recovery with eating disorder treatment has received sparse attention, and until now, no study has investigated QOL recovery with enhanced cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT-E). Patients (n?=?196) admitted to a specialist eating disorders outpatient programme and receiving CBT-E completed measures of QOL, eating disorder psychopathology, depression, anxiety and self-esteem, before and after treatment. QOL at intake was compared with community norms, and QOL below the norm was predicted from sociodemographic and clinical correlates with logistic regression. Baseline QOL below the norm was associated with depression and anxiety Axis I comorbidity, and severity of depressive symptoms. Predictors of post-treatment QOL were baseline QOL and level of depressive symptoms and self-esteem at post-treatment. CBT-E was associated with gains in QOL over the course of treatment, in addition to eating disorder symptom relief. Copyright ? 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.     

Self‐Control Inhibits Aggression

Aggression brings tremendous costs to individuals, relationships, and society. Yet, people behave aggressively toward strangers and close others at alarmingly high rates. The current article seeks to unlock part of the mystery of why people behave aggressively. We review evidence that self‐control failure plays an integral role in many acts of aggression and violence. We begin by reviewing theoretical models that emphasize the importance of self‐control processes in understanding aggressive and other criminal behaviors. We also discuss how a theoretical model that originally neglected self‐control processes can be extended to incorporate self‐control theorizing. We then discuss recent empirical evidence (a) showing that self‐control failure is a crucial predictor of aggression toward strangers and romantic partners and (b) identifying the neural processes relevant to the self‐control of aggression. Finally, we review evidence that self‐control processes can also explain why people engage in displaced aggression toward bystanders. By appreciating the importance of self‐control processes, researchers and laypersons can gain a better understanding of why people behave aggressively – and how aggression can be prevented.