Setting the bar: divergent sociocultural norms for women's and men's ideal appearance in real-world contexts

Research suggests that exposure to sociocultural norms for idealized appearance can reduce both women's and men's body satisfaction. Despite comparable effects for both genders in the lab, in the “real-world” women's body satisfaction is chronically lower than men's. Real-world gender differences may arise from discrepancies in men's and women's everyday exposure to norms. Across eight studies using a variety of content analysis, survey, and experimental methods, we examine differences in sociocultural norms for ideal appearance pertaining to women and men in “daily life” contexts. We demonstrate that appearance norms encountered by women in daily life are more rigid, homogenous and pervasive than those for men, and that more messages implying the attainability of the ideal appearance are directed at women. Finally, experimental results show that homogeneous, rigid norms (like those typically encountered by women) are more harmful to body image than heterogeneous, flexible norms (like those typically encountered by men).     

Brief report—Phonological awareness and visual-spatial sketchpad functioning predict early arithmetic attainment: Evidence from a longitudinal study

This study examines the relationships between phonological awareness, visual-spatial sketchpad (VSSP) functioning and arithmetic attainment in young children. A sample of 42 children had their VSSP functioning and phonological awareness assessed when they were 5 years old. Approximately 12 months later their nonverbal reasoning, vocabulary, arithmetic, and reading attainment were assessed. Together, VSSP functioning, phonological awareness, vocabulary, and nonverbal reasoning predicted 41% of the variation in the children's arithmetic attainment. Only phonological awareness and VSSP functioning were significant independent predictors. In contrast, only phonological awareness was a significant independent predictor of reading attainment. These findings are consistent with phonological awareness influencing both the development of reading and arithmetic, whilst VSSP functioning only impacts on arithmetic development.     

Involvement of the σ Receptor inPassive-Avoidance Learning in the Day-Old Chick during the Second Wave of Neuronal Activity

The specific σ-receptor agonist (+)-SKF 10047 and antagonist BD 1047 were used to investigate whether this receptor was involved in passive-avoidance training in the day-old chick. We found 300 μM (+)-SKF 10047 to be amnesic when injected into the lobus parolfactorius 5 h after training (p < .01). Higher or lower concentrations of (+)-SKF 10047 did not disrupt memory formation. The amnesia produced by the efficacious dose of (+)-SKF 10047 was reversed by the specific antagonist, BD 1047. It is suggested that the σ-receptor may exert its effect on passive-avoidance memory consolidation during the later stages of long-term memory formation by modulation of memory-related neurotransmission.     

Research Report: Students' knowledge of abnormal psychology

The present study aims to compare whether final year psychology students (n = 26) could answer more items on a multiple choice questionnaire (MCQ) correctly on abnormal psychology than prospective psychology candidates (n = 77) and final year engineering students (n = 26). The three groups of students completed MCQs in five different fields of abnormal psychology namely; eating disorders, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders and depression, sexual disorders, and personality and compulsive disorders, respectively. They were also asked to indicate their confidence level in relation to the accuracy of the answers they had given. The results showed that final year psychology students scored higher on levels of accuracy, as well as confidence on all measures compared to the two other groups. On the subject of sexual disorders, engineering students scored higher than prospective psychology students. Implications of the present findings are discussed.     

The development of antisocial behaviour patterns in childhood and adolescence

A developmental model of antisocial behaviour is presented in this paper. Arguments and evidence are presented for the position that although many factors such as parent criminality, social and economic disadvantage, child temperament, and marital discord systematically affect the development of antisocial child behaviour, their influence is mediated by the extent to which they disrupt day-to-day parenting practices. Particularly, it is argued that irritable, ineffective discipline and poor parental monitoring are the most proximal determinants of the early development and maintenance of antisocial behaviour. The implications of this model for prevention and intervention in child conduct problems are discussed, using examples of promising clinical work that focuses on direct parent training.     

Attitudes held by members of the clergy about alcohol

Alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuse continue to cause major threats to the physiological, psychological, sociological and spiritual health of the nation. According to recent statistics, over 80% of the illegal drugs used by youth, both male and female, is marijuana, with cocaine, opium and their derivatives comprising at least 15% of the drugs used by youth. When considering the ill effects of drug abuse, it is the legal one, alcohol that is responsible for the greatest impact on society. While it remains imperative that allied health professionals understand the many ramifications of substance abuse, it is also critical that leaders of faith communities have the knowledge and skills to meet this challenge competently. Due to the relevance of ministries as a possible resource, the focus of this exploratory study is to assess the knowledge, skills and attitudes of clergy about substance use and abuse and to determine their confidence of clergy in assisting their congregation with need related to this area.     

Colored-Speech Synaesthesia Is Triggered by Multisensory, Not Unisensory, Perception

ABSTRACT— Although it is estimated that as many as 4% of people experience some form of enhanced cross talk between (or within) the senses, known as synaesthesia, very little is understood about the level of information processing required to induce a synaesthetic experience. In work presented here, we used a well-known multisensory illusion called the McGurk effect to show that synaesthesia is driven by late, perceptual processing, rather than early, unisensory processing. Specifically, we tested 9 linguistic-color synaesthetes and found that the colors induced by spoken words are related to what is perceived (i.e., the illusory combination of audio and visual inputs) and not to the auditory component alone. Our findings indicate that color-speech synaesthesia is triggered only when a significant amount of information processing has occurred and that early sensory activation is not directly linked to the synaesthetic experience.     

A behaviour modification technique for the hyperactive child

This paper describes a procedure for the conditioning of attending behaviour in a brain-injured hyperactive boy.

Observations of the behaviour of two hyperactive children were made in the classroom setting. These observations were made from an observation bootn adjoining the classroom and provided data on the frequency of occurrence of the following high rate responses: walking, talking, distraction, “wiggling”. Each child was observed for a minimum of ten minutes a day, four days a week. Following several weeks of baseline observation, the conditioning procedure was begun with the expel imental subject. The conditioning trials took place in the classroom setting. During each time interval in which one of the high rate responses did not occur, S received an auditory stimulus (secondary reinforcer). This auditory stimulus had previously been paired with the delivery of candy and pennies. The stimulus was dispensed by a radio device which activated an earphone worn by the subject. At the end of each conditioning trial, S received whatever candy or pennies he had “earned”.

The data show that the control subject showed no significant change in the frequency of occurrence of the high rate responses during the three month period. The experimental subject showed a significant decrease in non-attending behaviour. This reduction in rate was maintained over a four week extinction period.     

Factor structure of the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory: a parent rating scale of Oppositional Defiant Behavior Toward Adults, Inattentive Behavior, and Conduct Problem Behavior

Used the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI) to measure disruptive behavior problems in children and adolescents. A controversy exists, however, on the dimensional structure of the ECBI. To evaluate this issue, an exploratory factor analysis was first performed on a sample of 1,263 children and adolescents. This analysis identified 3 meaningful factors (i.e., Oppositional Defiant Behavior Toward Adults, Inattentive Behavior and Conduct Problem Behavior) and a fourth, poorly defined factor. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) evaluated the fit of the 3 meaningful factors in a second sample of 1,264 children and adolescents. The 3-factor model with 2 correlated errors provided a excellent fit. This 3-factor model also provided a significantly better fit than 2- and 1-factor models. Multiple group CFA indicated that the factor pattern, item-factor loadings, factor correlations, and correlated errors were equivalent across the samples. The CFA on sex yielded similar results. Initial normative information is presented for boys (n = 1,322) and girls (n = 1,205) within 4 age ranges (i.e., 2-5, 6-9, 10-13, 14-17) for the 3 factors. The use of these 3 factors, especially Oppositional Defiant Behavior and Conduct Problem Behavior, should make the ECBI more useful as a screening and outcome measure.