The emotional costs of parents' conditional regard: a self-determination theory analysis

Parents' use of conditional regard as a socializing practice was hypothesized to predict their children's introjected internalization (indexed by a sense of internal compulsion), resentment toward parents, and ill-being. In Study 1, involving three generations, mothers' reports of their parents' having used conditional regard to promote academic achievement predicted (a) the mothers' poor well-being and controlling parenting attitudes, and (b) their college-aged daughters' viewing them as having used conditional regard, thus showing both negative affective consequences from and intergenerational transmission of conditional regard. Study 2 expanded on the first by using four domains, including both genders, and examining mediating processes. College students' perceptions of their mothers' and fathers' having used conditional regard in four domains (emotion control, prosocial, academic, sport) were found to relate to introjected internalization, behavioral enactment, fluctuations in self-esteem, perceived parental disapproval, and resentment of parents. Introjection mediated the link from conditional regard to behavioral enactment. The results suggest that use of conditional regard as a socializing practice can promote enactment of the desired behaviors but does so with significant affective costs.     

Effects of the presence of others on food intake: a normative interpretation

The authors review the effect of the presence of others on food intake. In social facilitation studies, people tend to eat more in groups than when alone. In modeling studies, the presence of others may facilitate or inhibit intake, depending on how much these other people eat. Studies of impression management demonstrate that people tend to eat less in the presence of others than when alone. The authors attempt to reconcile these divergent literatures by reference to a model of inhibitory norms that govern eating. In the presence of palatable food, and in the absence of clear signals of satiety, people look outward to cues from the environment to determine when to stop eating. Socially derived inhibitory norms can account for either increased or decreased intake in the presence of others, depending on how much the others eat and the extent to which one is eager to impress them.     

Psychometric analysis of the Revised Memory and Behavior Problems Checklist: factor structure of occurrence and reaction ratings

A modified version of the Revised Memory and Behavior Problems Checklist (RMBPC; L. Teri et al., 1992) was administered across 6 different sites to 1,229 family caregivers of community-dwelling adults with dementia. The total sample was divided randomly into 2 subsamples. Principal components analyses on occurrence responses and reaction ratings from the first subsample resulted in a 3-factor solution that closely resembled the originally proposed dimensions (memory-related problems, disruptive behaviors, and depression). Confirmatory factor analyses on data from the second subsample indicated adequate fit for the 3-factor model. Correlations with other caregiver and care-recipient measures supported the convergent and discriminant validity of the RMBPC measures. In addition, female caregivers and White caregivers reported more problems, on average, than male caregivers and African American caregivers, respectively.     

The Revised Memory and Behavior Problems Checklist--Nursing Home: instrument development and measurement of burden among certified nursing assistants

Confirmatory factor analysis of the Revised Memory and Behavior Problems Checklist--Nursing Home (RMBPC) replicated the factor structure of the community-based RMBPC (L. Teri et al., 1992). The reliability of the total score was high as indexed by estimates of internal consistency (alpha = .95), test-retest reliability (r = .86), and interrater reliability between 2 interviewers (r = .88). Notably, the interrater reliability between 2 independent certified nursing assistants (CNAs) regarding residents' behavior problem frequency was more modest (r = .46), possibly reflecting the degree to which resident behaviors capture individual CNA's attention. This may have implications for the interpretation of data from the Minimum Data Set. CNAs reported moderately severe burden associated with behavior problems in 47% of residents under their care.     

Explicit memory in anxiety disorders

Two experiments were conducted to study selective memory bias favoring anxiety-relevant materials in patients with anxiety disorders. In the 1st experiment, 32 patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), 30 with social phobia (speaking anxiety), and 31 control participants incidentally learned GAD-relevant words, speech anxiety-relevant words, strongly pleasant words, and words with a neutral valence. Participants did not show any explicit memory bias for threatening materials. Thirty patients suffering from panic disorder (PD) with agoraphobia and 30 controls took part in the 2nd experiment. The design was similar to the 1st experiment. This time a highly specific selective memory bias for threatening words was found. Words describing symptoms of anxiety were better recalled by PD patients. Results are consistent with previous findings but are inexplicable by existing theories.     

Rats' sensitivity to their direction of movement and spontaneous alternation behaviour

The response of rats to their prior direction of movement was examined in three spontaneous alternation experiments. In the first, a straight alley run interpolated between two T-maze trials increased goal arm alternation when it was in the same direction as that of the animal's first T-maze goal arm entry and decreased the alternation tendency when it was in the opposite direction. Experiment II found that multiple runs in one direction in a straight alley increased the likelihood that rats would subsequently enter the goal arm of a T-maze which permitted movement in an opposite direction. In the third experiment, rats entered those goal arms of an eight-arm radial maze which permitted movement in any direction which was different from that during a preceding straight alley trial. The results of these experiments indicate that rats are quite sensitive to their direction of movement and use it as a cue in guiding their behaviour in a variety of experimental situations.     

Expectations,gains, and losses in the anterior cingulate cortex

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) participates in evaluating actions and outcomes. Little is known on how action-reward values are processed in ACC and if the context in which actions are performed influences this processing. In the present article, we report ACC unit activity of monkeys performing two tasks. The first task tested whether the encoding of reward values is context dependent—that is, dependent on the size of the other rewards that are available in the current block of trials. The second task tested whether unexpected events signaling a change in reward are represented. We show that the context created by a block design (i.e., the context of possible alternative rewards) influences the encoding of reward values, even if no decision or choice is required. ACC activity encodes the relative and not absolute expected reward values. Moreover, cingulate activity signals and evaluates when reward expectations are violated by unexpected stimuli, indicating reward gains or losses.