Set-size and Frequency-of-occurrence Judgements in Young and Older Adults: The Role of the Availability Heuristic

Two experiments examined the cognitive processes underlying judgements of set size and judgements of frequency of occurrence in young (Experiments 1 and 2) and older (Experiment 2) adults. Previous research has implicated the availability heuristic in set-size judgements, whereas an automatic processing mechanism has been implicated in judgements of frequency of occurrence. In the current experiments, path analysis was employed to investigate the role of an availability bias in performance on the judgement tasks. In Experiments 1 and 2, both types of judgement were influenced by repetition frequency of words independent of the availability (recall) of specific exemplars. Experiment 2 extended the investigation to include age differences. Although older adults' recall performance was poorer overall, the availability bias was age invariant, and there were no age differences in either set-size or frequency-of-occurrence judgements. Our results indicate that both set-size and frequency-of-occurrence judgements are independent of the availability bias evident in recall, and they support the notion that an automatic processing mechanism underlies both types of judgement.     

The polarising effect of female leaders: Interest in politics and perceived leadership capability after a reminder of Australia's first female prime minister

The current study examined the impact of observing successful women being attacked on gender lines through reactions to gender‐based criticism directed towards Australia's first female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. Australian undergraduate students completed a measure of conformity to gender norms and then read statements about either: (a) generic difficulties for leaders; or (b) statements about gender‐based difficulties experienced by Gillard. Results showed that, relative to those who read the generic article, female participants high on conformity to feminine norms displayed lower desire to be involved in politics after reading about Gillard's gender‐based difficulties, while low conformers showed greater desire to be involved in politics. For male participants, those high on conformity to masculine norms showed greater belief in their own leadership capabilities after reading about Gillard's gender‐based difficulties than when reading about generic difficulties, while low conforming men showed the opposite pattern. Implications for achieving gender equality are discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Who Cares What She Thinks, What Does He Say? Links between Masculinity, In-Group Bonding and Gender Harassment

Previous research has linked threats to masculinity and gender harassment, the most pervasive form of sexual harassment. Using a computer harassment paradigm, an ingroup bonding explanation of this link was directly examined. The study was conducted with heterosexual male undergraduate students from an inner city Australian university. Participants received a threat to masculinity before being exposed to an ostensible gender ingroup member whose reaction to sexist jokes was manipulated. Data from 74 participants revealed that men high on conformity to masculine norms altered their behavior to correspond with feedback from the gender ingroup member after a masculinity threat, whereas men low on conformity to masculine norms rejected gender ingroup feedback after a masculinity threat. A variable examining reported liking of the gender ingroup member produced a similar pattern, while no changes were observed in reported liking of a gender outgroup member These results suggest that the perceived response of other members of the gender ingroup, but not members of the gender outgroup, influence men’s proclivity to enact gender harassing behaviors.     

Global ethics: dimensions and prospects

Global ethics is an emerging discipline which has not yet reached maturity. The main tasks before it to gain maturity are: first, to achieve a greater integration of various domains of enquiry all of which are concerned with global normative issues. At a general level this includes integrating global ethics with cosmopolitanism, global justice and human right discourse. At the level of areas of concern, there needs to be greater integration of various areas such as development, trade, environment and climate change. And it must grapple with the question of diversity within universality: how far can diversity of practices be accommodated within a culturally sensitive universal framework? Second, there is the question of finding a shared normative framework with respect to the diverse worldviews that may lie behind this: what degree and kind of convergence/consensus are worth working for? Third, there is the task of creating the conditions for its own wider acceptance, which should include taking the idea of global citizenship seriously.     

Psychosocial Stimulation: A Qualitative Study on Kenyan Mother’s Motives and Challenges to Promote Children’s Development

Interventions designed to enhance the mental and socio-emotional development of children in low and middle income countries through improving psychosocial stimulation are the subject of national and international organizations research and programs. Before new interventions can be designed and tested in low income countries, it is important to understand what psychosocial stimulation mothers are already providing, how beliefs influence the stimulation used, and what challenges are faced by mothers when trying to do this. We aimed to find out what types of stimulation are being commonly used by mothers in Kenya, alongside exploring the beliefs and associated challenges in providing psychosocial stimulation. This is a qualitative study using focus group discussions held in Kisumu, a regional urban centre in Western Kenya, with 35 mothers caring for at least one child under the age of 5 years. Mothers in this study identified four key themes of commonly employed stimulation: singing, play, dancing and story-telling. A range of challenges were raised such as ensuring their child’s basic physiological needs were met, managing marital conflict, and trusting non-familial caregivers, with mothers concerned that their child may be mistreated through accidental or purposeful harm. Findings indicate that mothers in a low income country are faced with multiple challenges when trying to provide psychosocial stimulation for their child’s development. It is important to consider these results when designing an intervention for this setting.     

Three-dimensional joint kinematics of ACL-deficient and ACL-reconstructed knees during stair ascent and descent

Mechanical environmental changes in the knee are induced by altered joint kinematics under cyclic loading during activities of daily living after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. This is considered a risk factor in progressive cartilage degeneration and the early onset of osteoarthritis following ACL injury and even after reconstructive surgery. The purpose of this study was to examine 3D joint kinematics of ACL-deficient and ACL-reconstructed knees to health controls during stair ascent and descent. A 3D optical video motion capture system was used to record coordinate data from reflective markers positioned on subjects as they ascended and descended a custom-built staircase. Spatiotemporal gait and knee joint kinematic variables were calculated and further analyzed. The ACL-deficient knees exhibited a significant extension deficit compared to the ACL-intact controls. A more varus and internally rotated tibial position was also identified in the ACL-deficient knees during both stair ascent and descent. The ACL-reconstructed knees exhibited less abnormality in both spatiotemporal gait parameters and joint kinematics, but these variables were not fully restored to a normal level. The kinematic profiles of the ACL-reconstructed knees were more similar to those of the ACL-deficient knees when compared to the ACL-intact knees. This suggests that the ACL-reconstructed knees had been "under-corrected" rather than "over-corrected" by the reconstructive surgery procedure. Findings from this study may provide more insight with respect to improving ACL reconstruction surgical techniques, which may aid the early progression of cartilage degeneration in ACL-reconstructed knees.     

Seeing through The Bell Jar: Investigating Linguistic Patterns of Psychological Disorder

As a means of conveying difficult personal experiences, illness narratives and their analysis have the potential to increase awareness of patients' lives and circumstances. Becoming sensitised to the linguistic texture of narrative offers readers a means of increasing narrative understanding. Using the fictional narrative of The Bell Jar, this paper outlines a novel method for exploring the language of illness narratives. Corpus stylistics provides new insights into narrative texture and demonstrates the importance of recurrent linguistic features in shaping meaning. The paper concludes by proposing the application of a similar methodology to non-fictional illness narratives in therapeutic contexts.     

Biased attentional processing of positive stimuli in social anxiety disorder: an eye movement study

Despite the established relationship between social anxiety and attentional bias towards threat, a growing base of evidence suggests that social anxiety is additionally maintained by a deficit in the attentional processing of positive information. However, it remains unclear which component of attention is implicated in this deficit. Using eye movement-based measures and a novel attentional cuing methodology, the present study sought to investigate the presence of anxiety-linked bias in attentional engagement with, attentional disengagement from, and total fixation time to, socially relevant emotional stimuli in individuals diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, relative to non-socially anxious controls. Socially anxious individuals were found to exhibit faster attentional disengagement from positive stimuli, and reduced total fixation time to all emotional stimuli, relative to controls. Additionally for socially anxious individuals, lower total fixation times to positive stimuli were associated with higher levels of state anxiety. No differential pattern of engagement was evident between groups. We conclude that social anxiety is maintained in part by the aberrant processing of positive social stimuli.