Social Capital Groups and Crime in Urban Counties

Social capital has produced a large amount of research in many different academic disciplines. Several studies demonstrate a relationship between social capital and reductions in crime. Recent research has begun to demonstrate that social capital may affect violent and property crime differently and that specific aspects of social capital affect crime differently. This study examines social capital’s effect on crime for urban counties in the United States using Olsen-Type groups, Putnam-Type groups, and Recreation-Type groups. Findings indicate that the only the Putnam-Type groups were a significant indicator of reduced crime.     

Effect of anxiety on behavioural pattern separation in humans

Behavioural pattern separation (BPS), the ability to distinguish among similar stimuli based on subtle physical differences, has been used to study the mechanism underlying stimulus generalisation. Fear overgeneralisation is often observed in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder and other anxiety disorders. However, the relationship between anxiety and BPS remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of anxiety (threat of shock) on BPS, which was assessed across separate encoding and retrieval sessions. Images were encoded/retrieved during blocks of threat or safety in a 2?×?2 factorial design. During retrieval, participants indicated whether images were new, old, or altered. Better accuracy was observed for altered images encoded during periods of threat compared to safety, but only if those images were also retrieved during periods of safety. These results suggest that overgeneralisation in anxiety may be due to altered pattern separation.     

Context Sensitivity in Canadian and Japanese Children’s Judgments of Emotion

Previous studies showed that East Asians are more sensitive than North Americans to contextual information, and that the cultural differences in context sensitivity emerge in preschool children. Yet, little is known about whether this generalizes to children’s emotional judgments. The present study tested Canadian and Japanese preschool children and examined cross-culturally the extent to which facial expressions of surrounding people influence judgments of a target person’s emotion. Japanese children were more likely than Canadian children to judge an emotionally-neutral target as more negative (positive) when the background emotion was negative (positive), demonstrating an assimilation effect. Canadian children, however, showed a contrast effect: judging the target person’s neutral emotion as more negative when the background emotion was positive. These data extend extant understanding of emotion recognition by illuminating nuances in perceptual processes across developmental and cultural lines.     

Personality-Based Job Analysis and The Self-Serving Bias

This study tested the hypothesis that personality-based job analysis (PBJA) ratings are correlated with subject matter expert (SME) personality scale scores (through a self-serving bias). Some support was found for the hypothesis. However, PBJA ratings were somewhat predictive of the criterion-related validity of scale scores for the big five personality dimensions.     

U.S. antitrust policy,interface compatibility standards,and information technology

To be a player in the international standards-setting arena of network industries, such as those dealing with information technology, reaching an early domestic consensus for a critical interoperable technology design is often essential. While in most cases efficient outcomes emerge through the market-driven, U.S. technology standards system, there have been situations where a timely consensus has failed to be attained with negative consequences for the international competitiveness of the U.S. economy (e.g., second generation of cellular telephony). An anticipatory policy approach, based on a standards competition which takes into consideration antitrust and intellectual property rights, is proposed as a solution.     

Considering the role of personality in the work-family experience: Relationships of the big five to work-family conflict and facilitation

Using a national, random sample (N=2130), we investigated the relationship between each of the Big Five personality traits and conflict and facilitation between work and family roles. Extraversion was related to greater facilitation between roles but was not related to conflict, whereas neuroticism was related to greater conflict but only weakly related to facilitation. Conscientiousness was related to less conflict, presumably reflecting efficient time use and organizational skills. In general, conflict was negatively related to work-family outcomes (e.g., lower job and family effort and satisfaction) whereas facilitation was positively related to the same outcomes. Conflict and facilitation were shown, however, to be orthogonal rather than opposite constructs. Implications for work-family theory, for the understanding of personality traits, and for enhanced responsibilities of organizations are discussed.     

Lessons Learned from the Parents Matter! Program

We present a discussion of some of the lessons the investigators learned during the development and implementation phases of the Parents Matter! Program (PMP). Lessons were learned that are relevant to various groups involved in large scale, multi-site, community-based intervention studies: investigators, community leaders, community members, project staff, and participants. Specific lessons learned include: (1) forge collaboration early: (2) maintain communication; (3) clearly delineate policies and procedures; and (4) develop proactive strategies. We also include a list of important questions to consider when contemplating similar projects.     

The influence of target and perceiver race in the categorisation of male sexual orientation

Although sexual orientation can be judged from faces, in previous work Caucasian or racially unspecified targets and perceivers have been primarily studied. Here, target and perceiver race were considered in the accurate categorisation of male sexual orientation. Asian, Black, and Caucasian participants categorised the sexual orientations of Asian, Black, and Caucasian men. Accuracy was significantly above chance and consistent across all combinations of perceivers and targets. Response bias scores showed that targets were significantly more likely to be categorised as straight, rather than gay, regardless of target or perceiver race. Moreover, judgments of individual targets were significantly correlated for perceivers from all three groups, suggesting cross-race consistency in target legibility. The perception of sexual orientation from faces therefore appears to be robust against variations in target and perceiver race.     

The cognitive dynamics of negated sentence verification

We explored the influence of negation on cognitive dynamics, measured using mouse-movement trajectories, to test the classic notion that negation acts as an operator on linguistic processing. In three experiments, participants verified the truth or falsity of simple statements, and we tracked the computer-mouse trajectories of their responses. Sentences expressing these facts sometimes contained a negation. Such negated statements could be true (e.g., "elephants are not small") or false (e.g., "elephants are not large"). In the first experiment, as predicted by the classic notion of negation, we found that negation caused more discreteness in the mouse trajectory of a response. The second experiment induced a simple context for these statements, yet negation still increased discreteness in trajectories. A third experiment enhanced the pragmatic context of sentences, and the discreteness was substantially diminished, with one primary measure no longer significantly showing increased discreteness at all. Traditional linguistic theories predict rapid shifts in cognitive dynamics occur due to the nature of negation: It is an operator that reverses the truth or falsity of an interpretation. We argue that these results support both propositional and contextual accounts of negation present in the literature, suggesting that contextual factors are crucial for determining the kind of cognitive dynamics displayed. We conclude by drawing broader lessons about theories of cognition from the case of negation.     

Gain face,but lose happiness? It depends on how much money you have

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of face consciousness on happiness and the moderating role of financial situation on this relationship. We first examined our hypotheses in study 1 in a particular setting of consumption, and replicated our findings in study 2 in a more generalized setting of interpersonal situations. The two studies produced essentially consistent results. We found individuals high on face consciousness tend to be less happy, and the negative association between face consciousness and happiness is ameliorated by their financial situation. These results revealed the importance of face consciousness as an individual difference in predicting happiness. The implications of these findings for future research are discussed.