Pearls in the desert: Death reminders provoke immediate derogation of extrinsic goals, but delayed inflation

Psychologists and philosophers have argued that explicitly contemplating one’s mortality makes extrinsically oriented goal pursuits, such as for wealth and fame, seem unimportant. Research inspired by terror management theory has shown, however, that when thoughts of death are active outside current focal attention, individuals bolster culturally sanctioned standards of self-worth. The present studies thus examined the hypotheses that (a) immediately after explicit reminders of mortality, individuals will trivialize extrinsic goals, but (b) when a delay and distraction follows an explicit mortality reminder, individuals will favorably evaluate extrinsic goals. Consistent with these hypotheses, Studies 1 and 2 showed that, relative to subjects reminded of an aversive control topic, mortality salience led to lower importance ratings for extrinsic goals. Study 2 further showed that, when mortality salience was followed by a distracter task, subjects gave higher importance ratings for a high priority extrinsic goal.     

Early stress and social support influences on mothers' and high-risk infants' functioning in late infancy

The relationships among early stress, maternal social network supports, and mother-infant functioning during later infancy were explored in a group of 52 mothers and their high-risk premature infants. Maternal stress and support data were collected 1 month after infants were released from the hospital, and measures of parenting, mother-infant interaction, infant social and developmental competence, and infant attachment were collected at infant corrected ages of 8 and 12 months. Results indicated that stress and support from various ecological sources, including professionals, were related to parent and infant outcomes at both measurement occasions. Varying sources of support differentially predicted varying parent and infant measures where support had a stress buffering effect only under certain conditions. Professional support was found to account for significant amounts of variance in relation to some parenting factors beyond that attributable to other support sources. The results are discussed within the context of previous support findings and in relation to transactional models of high-risk infant development.     

A descriptive study of facial expressions during Brazelton Neonatal Behavior Assessments

The facial expressions of 96 term and preterm neonates were recorded during the Brazelton Neonatal Behavior Assessment. The expressions that occurred most frequently during the neurological reflex items were interest, disgust, sadness, and crying. The predominant facial expression during the orienting items was that of interest. Although happy and surprised faces were more common during the orienting than the reflex items, they occurred very infrequently. Some of the reflex items elicited more negative expressions than others and some of the orienting items elicited more frequent expressions than others and some of the orienting items elicited more frequent expressions of interest than others, suggesting that facial expressions might reflect the degree to which the stimuli were experienced as pleasant or unpleasant and more or less interesting. Although the examiner's face and voice were more effective than inanimate stimuli in eliciting positive expressions in term neonates, the reverse was true for preterm neonates. Thus facial expressions may provide additional information on the degree to which neonates experience stimulation as pleasant/unpleasant and on individual differences in responsiveness to physical and social stimulation.     

Common coding in symbolic matching tasks with humans: Training with a common consequence or antecedent

The present experiments explored the importance of training with a common antecedent or consequence for common coding in symbolic matching-to-sample tasks with human subjects using reversal and transfer tests. Experiment 1 assessed common coding following training in many-to-one (MTO) and one-to-many (OTM) symbolic matching-to-sample tasks by comparing learning of partial and total reversals of these contingencies. Experiment 2 assessed common coding in MTO and OTM tasks by comparing performances in transfer tests when the common coding relations in the transfer phase were either consistent or inconsistent with those present during initial training. Evidence for common coding in the MTO and OTM discriminations was obtained in both experiments, although the amount of common coding was greater in the MTO discrimination in Experiment 1. These data are discussed in terms of associative mediational approaches to common coding phenomena. It is suggested that a basic requirement of an associative theory is that common coding should be more likely to occur when the stimuli are trained with a common consequence than when they are trained with a common antecedent, and that this requirement has been at least partly satisfied in the present studies.     

The moderating role of executive functioning in older adults' responses to a reminder of mortality

In previous research, older adults responded to mortality salience (MS) with increased tolerance, whereas younger persons responded with increased punitiveness. One possible explanation for this is that many older adults adapt to challenges of later life, such as the prospect of mortality, by becoming more flexible. Recent studies suggest that positively oriented adaptation is more likely for older adults with high levels of executive functioning. Thus, we hypothesized that the better an older adult's executive functioning, the more likely MS would result in increased tolerance. Older and younger adults were randomly assigned to MS or control conditions, and then evaluated moral transgressors. As in previous research, younger adults were more punitive after reminders of mortality; executive functioning did not affect their responses. Among older adults, high functioning individuals responded to MS with increased tolerance rather than intolerance, whereas those low in functioning became more punitive.     

The measurement of executive function at age 5: psychometric properties and relationship to academic achievement

This study examined the psychometric properties and criterion validity of a newly developed battery of executive function (EF) tasks for use in early childhood. The battery was included in the Family Life Project (FLP), a prospective longitudinal study of families who were oversampled from low-income and African American families at the birth of a new child (N = 1,292). Ninety-nine percent (N = 1,036) of children who participated in the age 5 home visit completed 1 or more (M = 5.8, Mdn = 6) of the 6 EF tasks. Results indicated that tasks worked equally well for children residing in low-income and not low-income homes, that task scores were most informative about the ability level of children in the low-average range, that performance on EF tasks was best characterized by a single factor, and that individual differences on the EF battery were strongly related to a latent variable measuring overall academic achievement, as well as to individual standardized tests that measured phonological awareness, letter-word identification, and early math skills.     

A terror management analysis of self-awareness and anxiety: The hierarchy of terror

Abstract

In this article, we apply terror management theory to the operation of self-awareness processes. According to the theory, self-esteem consists of accepting a cultural conception of reality and believing that one is living up to the standards of value inherent in that conception. The function of self-esteem is to buffer the anxiety that results from the awareness of human vulnerability and mortality that results from our capacity for self-awareness. We argue that self-awareness leads to comparisons with standards, and to behavior aimed at reducing any discrepancies that are detected, because of the potential for existential terror that self-awareness creates. Existential terror is seen as the emotional manifestation of the instinct for self-preservation. Management of this terror is conceptualized as the superordinate goal in a hierarchy of standards through which behavior is regulated. A hierarchical terror management model is proposed. This structure provides a unique analysis of the self-system and its relationship to other attitudes, values, and beliefs. The theory posits several dynamic principles that specify how self-awareness and disruptions determine the movement of conscious attention through various levels of the hierarchy. The implications of this analysis for unresolved theoretical questions about self-awareness processes, unconscius sources of motivation, and clinical problems are discussed.