Exploring Individual‐Level Factors Related to Employee Energy‐Conservation Behaviors at Work1

The higher costs of energy have increased organizations' interest in searching for ways to reduce energy use. Typically, organizations have utilized structural or operational changes to decrease their energy use. Another approach involves the energy‐conservation behaviors of an organization's employees. Drawing on value‐belief‐norm theory ( Stern, 2000b ), we examined the individual‐level factors related to energy‐conservation behaviors at work among employees of a large state university. Using path analysis, we found that environmental personal norms predicted self‐reported energy‐conservation behaviors, as well as behavioral intentions. Environmental personal norms also mediated the relationship of environmental worldviews with self‐reported energy‐conservation behaviors, as well as behavioral intentions. Implications for theory and organizational energy‐conservation interventions are discussed.     

Rapid facial reactions to emotional facial expressions in typically developing children and children with autism spectrum disorder

Typical adults mimic facial expressions within 1000 ms, but adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) do not. These rapid facial reactions (RFRs) are associated with the development of social-emotional abilities. Such interpersonal matching may be caused by motor mirroring or emotional responses. Using facial electromyography (EMG), this study evaluated mechanisms underlying RFRs during childhood and examined possible impairment in children with ASD. Experiment 1 found RFRs to happy and angry faces (not fear faces) in 15 typically developing children from 7 to 12 years of age. RFRs of fear (not anger) in response to angry faces indicated an emotional mechanism. In 11 children (8-13 years of age) with ASD, Experiment 2 found undifferentiated RFRs to fear expressions and no consistent RFRs to happy or angry faces. However, as children with ASD aged, matching RFRs to happy faces increased significantly, suggesting the development of processes underlying matching RFRs during this period in ASD.     

Pathways to suicidal behaviors in childhood

Path analyses were applied to test a model that includes internalizing and externalizing behavior problems as predictors of suicidal behaviors in children. Parents of an inpatient sample of boys (N=87; M age=9.81 years) rated the frequency of suicidal ideation and completed standardized measures of behavior problems. Blind raters rated the severity of the children's suicidal behaviors. Results revealed a significant direct effect for suicidal ideation on suicide attempt and for depressive symptoms on suicidal ideation. There was also a significant indirect path from impulsivity to suicidal ideation through aggressive and depressive symptoms. Clinical implications are discussed.     

Acute stress or systemic insulin injection increases flunitrazepam sensitive-GABAA receptor density in synaptosomes of chick forebrain: Modulation by systemic epinephrine

Interactions between acute stress and systemic insulin and epinephrine on GABAA receptor density in the forebrain were studied. Here, 10 day-old chicks were intraperitoneally injected with insulin, epinephrine or vehicle and then immediately stressed by partial water immersion for 15 min and killed by decapitation. Non-stressed controls were similarly injected, then returned to their rearing boxes for 15 min and then killed. Forebrains were dissected and GABAA receptor density was measured ex vivo in synaptosomes by 3[H]-flunitrazepam binding assay. In non-stressed chicks, insulin at 1.25, 2.50 and 5.00 IU/kg of body weight (non-hypoglycemic doses) increased Bmax by 33, 53 and 44% compared to saline, respectively. A similar increase of 41% was observed in receptor density after stress. However, the insulin effect was not additive to the stress-induced increase suggesting that both effects occur through similar mechanisms. In contrast, epinephrine, at 0.25 and 0.5 mg/kg did not induce any changes in Bmax in non-stressed chicks. Nevertheless, after stress these doses increased the receptor density by about 13 and 27%, respectively. Similarly, the same epinephrine doses co-administered with insulin (2.50 IU/kg), increased the receptor density by about 20% compared to insulin alone. These results suggest that systemic epinephrine, perhaps by evoking central norepinephrine release, modulates the increase in forebrain GABAA receptor binding induced by both insulin and stress.     

A practical method for analyzing factorial designs with heteroscedastic data

The Type I error rates and powers of three recent tests for analyzing nonorthogonal factorial designs under departures from the assumptions of homogeneity and normality were evaluated using Monte Carlo simulation. Specifically, this work compared the performance of the modified Brown-Forsythe procedure, the generalization of Box's method proposed by Brunner, Dette, and Munk, and the mixed-model procedure adjusted by the Kenward-Roger solution available in the SAS statistical package. With regard to robustness, the three approaches adequately controlled Type I error when the data were generated from symmetric distributions; however, this study's results indicate that, when the data were extracted from asymmetric distributions, the modified Brown-Forsythe approach controlled the Type I error slightly better than the other procedures. With regard to sensitivity, the higher power rates were obtained when the analyses were done with the MIXED procedure of the SAS program. Furthermore, results also identified that, when the data were generated from symmetric distributions, little power was sacrificed by using the generalization of Box's method in place of the modified Brown-Forsythe procedure.     

Violent computer games and their effects on state hostility and physiological arousal

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the impact of violent computer games on state hostility, state anxiety and arousal. Participants were undergraduate students, aged from 18 to 25 years. Before the experimental sessions, participants filled in self‐report measures concerning their video game habits and were also pre‐tested for aggressiveness and trait anxiety. Physiological responses (heart rate and skin conductance) were measured during the experiment. After playing, information about state hostility and state anxiety was collected. The results showed that participants who played the violent game reported significantly higher state hostility, and support the assumption that an aggressive personality moderates the effect of playing a violent game on state hostility. Aggr. Behav. 32:146–158. 2006 © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Violent computer games and their effects on state hostility and Physiological arousal

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the impact of violent computer games on state hostility, state anxiety and arousal. Participants were undergraduate students, aged from 18 to 25 years old. Before the experimental sessions, participants filled in self‐report measures concerning their video game habits and were also pre‐tested for aggressiveness and trait anxiety. Physiological responses (heart rate and skin conductance) were measured during the experiment. After playing, information about state hostility and state anxiety was collected. The results showed that participants who played the violent game reported significantly higher state hostility and support the assumption that an aggressive personality moderates the effect of playing a violent game on state hostility. Aggr. Behav. 32:358–371. 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Personality, gender and violent criminality in prison inmates

The Antisocial Personality Questionnaire developed by Blackburn and Fawcett (1999) has shown adequate reliability and validity in studies of male offenders interned in psychiatric hospitals. This paper provides data on the APQ collected from a sample of offenders (males and females) without any diagnosed mental illness. The sample was made up of 216 offenders (108 males and 108 females) confined in Spanish prisons. We analyzed the psychometric properties of the instrument and we also examined differences in personality as a function of gender and type of crime (violent vs. non-violent). Results support the reliability of the APQ scales as well as the structure proposed by Blackburn. Additionally, we selected items that discriminate between offenders convicted for violent and non-violent crimes; when these items are factorized, a three-factor structure emerges, resembling Eysenck's model.     

Effects of pain acceptance and pain control strategies on physical impairment in individuals with chronic low back pain

Psychosocial treatments for chronic pain are effective. There is a need, however, to understand the processes involved in determining how these treatments contribute to behavior change. Control and acceptance strategies represent two potentially important processes involved in treatment, although they differ significantly in approach. Results from laboratory-based studies suggest that acceptance-oriented strategies significantly enhance pain tolerance and behavioral persistence, compared with control-oriented strategies. There is a need, however, to investigate processes of acceptance and control directly in clinical settings. The present study investigated the effects of three brief instructional sets (pain control, pain acceptance, continued practice) on demonstrated physical impairment in 74 individuals with chronic low back pain using an analogue experimental design. After controlling for baseline performance, the pain acceptance group demonstrated greater overall functioning on a set of 7 standardized physical tasks relative to the other two groups, which did not differ from one another. Further, the acceptance group exhibited a 16.3% improvement in impairment, whereas the pain control group worsened by 8.3% and the continued practice group improved by 2.5%. These results suggest that acceptance may be a key process involved in behavior change in individuals with chronic pain.     

Voluntary and involuntary attention have different consequences: the effect of perceptual difficulty

We propose that voluntary and involuntary attention affect different mechanisms and have different consequences for performance measured in reaction time. Voluntary attention enhances the perceptual representation whereas involuntary attention affects the tendency to respond to stimuli in one location or another. In a spatial-cueing paradigm, we manipulated perceptual difficulty and compared voluntary and involuntary attention. For the voluntary-attention condition, the spatial cue was predictive of the target location, whereas in the involuntary-attention condition it was not. Increasing perceptual difficulty increased the attention effect with voluntary attention, but decreased it with involuntary attention. Thus voluntary and involuntary attention have different consequences when perceptual difficulty is manipulated and hence are probably caused by different mechanisms.