Megachiropteran bats (Pteropus) utilize human referential stimuli to locate hidden food

Spontaneous point-following behavior has been considered an indicator of advanced social cognition unique to humans. Recently, it has been suggested that a close evolutionary relationship with humans could result in similar social skills in domesticated species. An alternative view is that the mechanism is not genetic domestication alone but instead a combination of phylogenetic and ontogenetic variables. Here we test the necessity of phylogenetic domestication by investigating the point-following behavior of a captive population of nondomesticated megachiropteran bats (Pteropus pumilus, Pteropus rodricensis, Pteropus conspicillatus, Pteropus vampyrus). Three of five subjects were highly successful in following an unfamiliar human's point to a target location, providing the first empirical evidence of cross-species social referencing in bats. The three successful bats were all born in captivity and socialized to humans early in life, whereas unsuccessful bats were wild-born individuals. This study provides evidence that referential point following is not restricted to domesticated animals and indicates that early experience may be important. Megachiropteran bats may prove to be a useful model for studying social behaviors.     

Associations of coping and appraisal styles with emotion regulation during preadolescence

We investigated the associations of appraisal and coping styles with emotion regulation in a community sample of preadolescents (N = 196, 9-12 years of age), with appraisal, coping styles, and emotion regulation measured at a single time point. In a previous study, we identified five frustration and four anxiety emotion regulation profiles based on children’s physiological, behavioral, and self-reported reactions to emotion-eliciting tasks. In this study, preadolescents’ self-reported appraisal and coping styles were associated with those emotion regulation profiles. Overall, findings revealed that children who were more effective at regulating their emotions during the emotion-eliciting tasks had higher levels of positive appraisal and active coping when dealing with their own problems. Conversely, children who regulated their emotions less effectively had higher levels of threat appraisal and avoidant coping.     

Differentiating challenge reactivity from psychomotor activity in studies of children's psychophysiology: considerations for theory and measurement

Current methods of assessing children’s physiological “stress reactivity” may be confounded by psychomotor activity, biasing estimates of the relation between reactivity and health. We examined the joint and independent contributions of psychomotor activity and challenge reactivity during a protocol for 5- and 6-year-old children (N = 338). Measures of parasympathetic reactivity (respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) and sympathetic reactivity (preejection period [PEP]) were calculated for social, cognitive, sensory, and emotional challenge tasks. Reactivity was calculated relative to both resting and a paired comparison task that accounted for psychomotor activity effects during each challenge. Results indicated that comparison tasks themselves elicited RSA and PEP responses, and reactivity adjusted for psychomotor activity was incongruent with reactivity calculated using rest. Findings demonstrate the importance of accounting for confounding psychomotor activity effects on physiological reactivity.     

Response competition and stimulus preference in the treatment of automatically reinforced behavior: a comparison

Clinicians are particularly challenged by the development of interventions for behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement because reinforcers that maintain the responses often cannot be directly observed or manipulated. Researchers have conducted either preference assessments or competing items assessments when developing effective treatments for behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement. However, interventions based on these assessments have not been directly compared. The current study evaluated procedures to make such a comparison. High-competition items resulted in greater reductions in vocal stereotypy than did high-preference items for a preschool boy with autism.     

Restricted interests and teacher presentation of items

Restricted and repetitive behavior (RRB) is more pervasive, prevalent, frequent, and severe in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) than in their typical peers. One subtype of RRB is restricted interests in items or activities, which is evident in the manner in which individuals engage with items (e.g., repetitious wheel spinning), the types of items or activities they select (e.g., preoccupation with a phone book), or the range of items or activities they select (i.e., narrow range of items). We sought to describe the relation between restricted interests and teacher presentation of items. Overall, we observed 5 teachers interacting with 2 pairs of students diagnosed with an ASD. Each pair included 1 student with restricted interests. During these observations, teachers were free to present any items from an array of 4 stimuli selected by experimenters. We recorded student responses to teacher presentation of items and analyzed the data to determine the relation between teacher presentation of items and the consequences for presentation provided by the students. Teacher presentation of items corresponded with differential responses provided by students with ASD, and those with restricted preferences experienced a narrower array of items.     

Using teacher greetings to increase speed to task engagement

We used a multiple baseline design across participants to determine if teacher greetings would reduce the latency to task engagement. Three participants were identified by their respective teachers as having difficulty initiating task-appropriate engagement at the beginning of class. Latency was measured from teacher greeting until the participant was actively engaged for 5 consecutive seconds. Results showed that teacher greetings were effective at reducing latency to task engagement for all participants.     

Terror management and reactions to undocumented immigrants: mortality salience increases aversion to culturally dissimilar others

The authors examine the idea, derived from Terror Management Theory, that concerns about undocumented immigrants stem from the need to protect death-buffering cultural values against the symbolic threat posed by dissimilar others. It is hypothesized that reminders of death will intensify aversion to culturally dissimilar immigrants. Forty-six university students were randomly assigned to a mortality salience or a control condition prior to evaluating either an illegal alien named Ben Johnson from Vancouver or Carlos Suarez from Mexico City. Consistent with the hypothesis, reactions to the Canadian target did not differ in the control and mortality salience conditions, whereas reactions to the Mexican immigrant were more negative in the mortality salience than in the control condition.     

Councils as Empowering Contexts: Mobilizing the Front Line to Foster Systems Change in the Response to Intimate Partner Violence

Collaborative approaches to change are common, and though evidence for their effectiveness is equivocal, there is growing support that councils facilitate desired changes in the systems response to intimate partner violence. Questions remain regarding the specific mechanisms by which this change is facilitated, and recent work has focused on examining the intermediate processes through which councils may produce more distal change. One such mechanism relates to the potential of councils to be empowering contexts for their membership, often comprised of front-line providers and responders. The present study examines what factors are positively related to perceived individual empowerment as an outcome for members, and importantly, considers not only perceived council context, but also the perceived organizational contexts in which each council member is employed. Study findings suggest that both contexts-council and organizational-are important when considering the degree to which members are empowered. Specifically, member participation, council leadership, and supportive council and organizational climates are significantly positively related to the degree to which councils function as empowering contexts. However, the effect of belonging to a council with a supportive climate, characterized in particular by shared power in decision-making, is stronger when members are from high organizational support settings versus low support settings.     

Proximal Outcomes Matter: A Multilevel Examination of the Processes by Which Coordinating Councils Produce Change

Communities are engaged in efforts to create a coordinated response to intimate partner violence. Though coordinating councils are commonly employed vehicles for such efforts, research provides only equivocal support regarding their effectiveness. These mixed findings may reflect methodological and conceptual challenges. Specifically, there is an over-reliance on conceptualizing council effectiveness in terms of distal outcomes (e.g., behavior change), rather than the intermediary processes by which councils affect change. A direct assessment of councils' proximal outcomes may highlight change mechanisms. To that end, this study investigates the extent to which councils impact proximal outcomes and examines the processes through which proximal outcomes are interrelated and linked to distal community change. Study findings suggest that perceived proximal outcomes do significantly predict variability in perceived distal community change across councils. Specifically, promotion of social capital and institutionalized change predict achievement of distal community change, and promotion of social capital also predicts achievement of institutionalized change.