Defensive copers show a deficit in passive avoidance learning on Newman's go/no-go task: implications for self-deception and socialization

The present study investigated whether passive avoidance learning was retarded by defensive coping strategies designed to minimize exposure to negatively valenced stimuli. High-anxious individuals, low-anxious individuals, and defensive copers completed a computerized go/no-go task, in which they learned when to press or not to press a button, in response to contingent positive and negative feedback. The duration that feedback remained onscreen was self-regulated. Defensive copers showed preferential reflection away from negative feedback, committed more passive-avoidance errors, and were characterized by impaired learning, overall. Further, the ratio of reflection on negative feedback to reflection on positive feedback directly mediated both passive-avoidance errors and overall learning. Defensive coping strategies, therefore, appear to interfere with passive avoidance learning, thereby fostering perseverative, dysfunctional action patterns by reducing knowledge gained from previous mistakes. Implications for the learning of effective socialization strategies, and for psychopathy-which is commonly characterized by similar passive-avoidance deficits-are subsequently considered.     

The influence of belief that a car crashed on witnesses' estimates of civilian and police car speed

The authors performed 2 experiments investigating the influence of the belief that a vehicle crashed on witnesses' estimates of the vehicle's speed. In Experiment 1, participants saw a video of a civilian car being driven, after which they were assigned to 1 of 2 conditions. The 1st group was told that the vehicle subsequently crashed; the 2nd group was not told that the vehicle crashed. The results indicted no differences between the 2 groups on a number of factors, including estimates of the vehicle's speed. Experiment 2 was identical except that the video showed a police car using flashing lights and sirens. Participants who had been told that the car had crashed overestimated speed, the likelihood of a crash, and the likelihood of someone being killed. Participants who were not told that the vehicle crashed estimated the speed of the vehicle accurately. Confidence in their estimates of speed was not significantly different between the 2 groups. Results are discussed with regard to police investigations of road accidents.     

Finding the "genuine" schizotype: a model and method for resolving heterogeneity in performance on laboratory measures in experimental psychopathology research

Heterogeneity in the performance of persons affected with schizophrenia or schizotypic psychopathology on various laboratory tasks has long been recognized, both for its consistency across tasks and studies and for the massive methodological and substantive challenges it poses for experimental psychopathology, genetic, and other investigations. Traditional multivariate techniques, such as factor analysis, discriminant function analysis, and cluster analysis, have all been deemed inadequate for resolving heterogeneity, because of one or another statistical limitation. Here, an objective statistical approach based on a formal statistical model that uses the ubiquitous and well-developed expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm (A. P. Dempster, N. M. Laird, & D. B. Rubin, 1977) is presented, which enables one effectively to partition a group of experimental subjects, in this case identified initially using the well-known Perceptual Aberration Scale (L. J. Chapman, J. P. Chapman, & M. L. Raulin, 1978), in a manner that reduces heterogeneity and allows for the separation of what are termed genuine and false-positive schizotypes. The validity of the parsing strategy was supported by reference to other laboratory indexes of relevance to schizophrenia and schizotypy that were not included in the initial EM-based analyses. The potential utility of this approach is discussed with reference to future schizophrenia and schizotypy research.     

Examining college students' food security coping strategies and experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic

College students' food situations may have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which could have affected their health and well-being. However, little is known about how the pandemic impacted students' food experiences and how students coped with food-related disruptions, particularly from the student's own perspective. This study reviews data from 571 undergraduates who attended public colleges during Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 and wrote a narrative about the pandemic's impact on their food experiences. Most students indicated they experienced a wide range of food difficulties and adapted new food practices. Despite these challenges, students emphasized proactive coping strategies and positive pandemic outcomes rather than difficulties and negative outcomes. These findings have implications for students' long-term health and well-being.     

Gender and Truthfulness in Daily Life Situations

To determine the extent to which perceivedgender enters into judgments of credibility indaily-life situations, 46 raters (23 males and 23females matched for age and education) read a set ofaccusations and rated synthetic speakers' audiotapedresponses to the accusations on how believable the maleand female synthetic speakers were. The results suggestthat on the daily-life scenarios posed, both male and female speakers are equally likely to judgefemale speakers to be more credible than male speakers,whether the accusation is deemed to reflect anintentional or negligent act.     

Brief Counseling With Hispanic American College Students

Sixteen Hispanic American college students met with a Puerto Rican counselor for 2 brief counseling sessions. Brief counseling was a viable and effective approach in helping the students reach their goals. Types of student concerns about and student perceptions of brief counseling were also examined.     

Clothing interests, body satisfaction, and eating behavior of adolescent females: related or independent dimensions?

Adolescents' clothing interests, body satisfaction, and eating behaviors were examined for conceptual dimensions and possible interrelationships. Generation of hypotheses was the goal of this exploratory research. Instruments measuring adolescents' dress concerns, body satisfaction, and eating behaviors were administered to 751 females. Principal component analysis was used to identify five clothing dimensions (experimentation, self-enhancement, conformity, economics and practicality, and modesty), two body satisfaction dimensions (face and extremities, midsection and weight), and two eating dimensions (drive for thinness and binging). Items measuring clothing interests, body satisfaction, and eating behaviors were conceptually independent; clothing factors showed little or no correlation with either body satisfaction or eating factors. Hypotheses were generated related to concepts identified in the factors.     

An Applied Mereology of the City: Unifying Science and Philosophy for Urban Planning

Based on their research showing that growing cities follow basic principles, two theoretical physicists, Luis Bettencourt and Geoffrey West, call for researchers and professionals to contribute to a grand theory of urban sustainability. In their research, they develop a ‘science of the city’ to help urban planners address problems that arise from population increases. Although they provide valuable insights for understanding urban sustainability issues, they do not give planners a manageable way to approach such problems. I argue that developing an applied mereology to understand the concept of ‘city identity’ gives planners a theoretical device for addressing urban affairs, including ethical concerns. In turn, I devise a model of city identity to show how a ‘philosophy of the city’ contributes to a grand theory of urban sustainability.     

Diversity of Life Experiences: The Development and Validation of a Biographical Measure of Receptiveness to Dissimilar Others

In light of changing demographics one of the biggest future challenges for selection and promotion will be identifying individuals who are able to effectively work with dissimilar others and are receptive to differences in others. Since a reliable and valid measure of individuals’ receptiveness to dissimilar others does not currently exist, a biodata-based measure of this construct was developed using traditional scale development techniques. Evidence of the new measure’s reliability and validity are provided. Implications for theory-building and future research are presented, as well as potential applications for selection and assessment.     

Follow-up survey of pregnancies with diagnoses of chromosomal abnormality

A small clinical survey was undertaken at East Carolina University School of Medicine to examine the factors which influenced the decisions of five families to continue pregnancies after a chromosomal abnormality was detected. Little has been published concerning the psychosocial effects after continuing pregnancies in which the fetus was diagnosed with a chromosome abnormality by amniocentesis. In order to identify the factors that influenced their decisions, an interview with each couple was undertaken using a 25-part questionnaire. This paper addresses the method of interviewing, case material, and background concerning each couple and the summary of the results.