An animal model of fetishism

An animal model of sexual fetishism was developed with male Japanese quail based on persistence of conditioned sexual responding during extinction to an inanimate object made of terrycloth (Experiments 1 and 3). This persistent responding occurred only in subjects that came to copulate with the terrycloth object, suggesting that the copulatory behavior served to maintain the fetishistic behavior. Sexual conditioning was carried out by pairing a conditioned stimulus (CS) with the opportunity to copulate with a female (the unconditioned stimulus or US). Copulation with the CS object and persistent responding did not develop if the CS was a light (Experiment 1) or if conditioning was carried out with a food US (Experiment 2). In addition, subjects that showed persistence in responding to the terrycloth CS did not persist in their responding to a light CS (Experiment 3). The results are consistent with the hypothesis that conditioned copulatory behavior creates a form of self-maintenance that leads to persistent responding to an inanimate object. The development of an animal model of such fetishistic behavior should facilitate experimental analysis of the phenomenon.     

Motivated decision making: effects of activation and self-centrality of values on choices and behavior

Six studies examined the value-behavior relation and focused on motivational properties of values, the self, and value activation. Priming environmental values enhanced attention to and the weight of information related to those values, which resulted in environmentally friendly consumer choices. This only occurred if these values were central to the self-concept. Value-congruent choices were also found in response to countervalue behavior in an unrelated context. Donating behavior congruent with central altruistic values was found as a result of enhanced self-focus, thus demonstrating the importance of the self in the value-behavior relation. The external validity of the value-centrality measure and its distinction from attitudes were demonstrated in the prediction of voting. Values were thus found to give meaning to, energize, and regulate value-congruent behavior, but only if values were cognitively activated and central to the self.     

Differential effects of object orientation on imaginary object /viewer transformations

Given a specific view of a simple symmetrical object, participants were asked whether a certain imaginary transformation could result in a second viewed image. An experiment was conducted in which the participants had either to mentally rotate an object or to imagine themselves looking at the object from another position (i.e., the object-based condition and the viewer-based condition, respectively). In the experiment, combinations of these imagery tasks (i.e., the combined conditions) were also included. The symmetrical objects could be oriented horizontally or vertically. The performance in the object-based conditions was generally equal to or better than the performance in the viewer-based conditions. In addition, there were more confusions for shapes with a horizontal orientation, especially when viewer-based upside-down rotations were involved, with an apparent mediating role of object rotation in the combined conditions.     

Ingroup and outgroup differences in face detection

Humans show improved recognition for faces from their own social group relative to faces from another social group. Yet before faces can be recognized, they must first be detected in the visual field. Here, we tested whether humans also show an ingroup bias at the earliest stage of face processing – the point at which the presence of a face is first detected. To this end, we measured viewers' ability to detect ingroup (Black and White) and outgroup faces (Asian, Black, and White) in everyday scenes. Ingroup faces were detected with greater speed and accuracy relative to outgroup faces (Experiment 1). Removing face hue impaired detection generally, but the ingroup detection advantage was undiminished (Experiment 2). This same pattern was replicated by a detection algorithm using face templates derived from human data (Experiment 3). These findings demonstrate that the established ingroup bias in face processing can extend to the early process of detection. This effect is ‘colour blind’, in the sense that group membership effects are independent of general effects of image hue. Moreover, it can be captured by tuning visual templates to reflect the statistics of observers' social experience. We conclude that group bias in face detection is both a visual and a social phenomenon.     

Cognitive and Attitudinal Factors in the Analysis of Alternatives to Binge Drinking1

The present study examined cognitive and attitudinal factors relevant to binge-drinking tendencies in a college sample. Results indicate that positive expectations about binge-drinking activities were related to binge-drinking tendencies. Binge-drinking tendencies were also negatively related to expectations regarding nonbinge-drinking alternatives. General attitudes toward drinking and normative influences were found to have complex influences on binge-drinking tendencies involving indirect, direct, and moderated effects. The findings are discussed with respect to developing prevention programs.     

Cognitive correlates of depressive symptoms in 11-year-old children

Self-reports of depressive symptoms were obtained for 792 11-year-old New Zealand children using a structured interview. The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that depressive symptomatology in children is associated with impairment on cognitive tasks. The results did not support this hypothesis. Depression was unrelated to performance on various subscales of the WISCR, whereas self-reported inattention was associated with poor performance. Depressive symptoms, however, were significantly related to lower self-esteem and a poorer self-perception of scholastic ability.The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit is supported by the Medical Research Council of New Zealand and the Departments of Education and Health, and involves several departments of the University of Otago. Much of the data are gathered by voluntary workers from the Dunedin community. The authors are indebted to the many people whose contributions make this ongoing study possible.     

Speech act conditions as tools for reconstructing argumentative discourse

According to the pragma-dialectical approach to argumentation, for analysing argumentative discourse, a normative reconstruction is required which encompasses four kinds of transformations. It is explained in this paper how speech act conditions can play a part in carrying out such a reconstruction. It is argued that integrating Searlean insights concerning speech acts with Gricean insights concerning conversational maxims can provide us with the necessary tools. For this, the standard theory of speech acts has to be amended in several respects and the conversational maxims have to be translated into speech act conditions. Making use of the rules for communication thus arrived at, and starting from the distribution of speech acts in a critical discussion as specified in the pragma-dialectical model, it is then demonstrated how indirect speech acts are to be transformed when reconstructing argumentative discourse.