Texture perceived with the fingers

Relative assessments of 10 attributes commonly used to describe the texture of liquids on skin were obtained for 14 liquids of widely varying rheological properties. The results were analyzed to show that these judgments can be predicted accurately from the assessments of just three attributes, smoothness, thinness, and warmth. Smoothness was found to be closely related to the forces of contact lubrication, and could be predicted from measurements of coefficients of friction. Thinness was found to be closely related to viscous forces, consistent with other predictions of assessments of thickness and spreadability. Warmth was not studied further. The results show how careful definition of the stimulus on the skin’s surface can sharply simplify the interpretation of the psychophysical experiment.     

Developmental theories of parental contributors to antisocial behavior

In view of the increased interest in a developmental approach to psychopathology, and mounting evidence of the importance of parent-child interactions in the etiology of early antisocial behavior, the following questions were posed for this review. What theories of parent-child relationships and family management techniques are available? How developmental are they, how specific and transactional are they relative to parent and child behaviors involved? And how well do they cover the period in which antisocial behavior develops? Six theories have some developmental features but the attachment theories (by L. A. Sroufe, B. Egeland, and M. T. Greenberg) and two social learning theories (by G. R. Patterson and J. Martin) are most clearly developmental. They postulate reciprocal interactions of parent and child, and transformations in the form of normative changes in the child or changes in family processes. The social learning theories of Patterson and Martin are most specific, microanalytic in fact, as to the interaction processes involved, and the attachment theories at least specify kinds of behavior involved and also do not rely on traits or types of influence as their units of analysis. Conceptualization is most weak and overly general between late infancy and the preschool years. This gap makes it difficult to link attachment and social learning theories, both of which have driven a large number of studies. A bridging theory is offered to link the two sets of theories in the critical period involved.     

Combining whole-school and targeted programs for the reduction of bullying victimization: A randomized,effectiveness trial

Despite the extensive evaluation of school-based interventions for bullying, victimization remains a significant problem in schools. Bullying victimization is significantly predicted by contextual (school-related) factors. As a consequence whole-school programs have been commonly used to prevent and reduce bullying victimization. Evidence also points to individual risk factors (such as emotional distress) in predicting victimization, yet programs to prevent bullying victimization by changing these individual risks are far less developed. Few studies have approximated “real-world” implementation conditions in their trials. The current effectiveness trial evaluated the combination of a whole-school program designed to prevent bullying perpetration and victimization together with a targeted intervention for at-risk students, teaching them individual and dyadic strategies to reduce their anxiety and manage victimization, allowing schools some latitude to implement programs as they typically would. Students from Grades 3 and 4 (N = 8,732) across 135 schools were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: combined intervention; whole-school intervention only; individual intervention only; and care as usual. Victimization decreased significantly and similarly across all four conditions at 12 and 24 months following baseline. Similar reductions and failure to discriminate conditions were found on other key constructs: anxiety; bullying perpetration; and depression. Possible reasons for the failure to demonstrate victimization prevention differences and lessons learned from this large, effectiveness trial are considered.     

Church-Based Social Support and Religious Coping

The purpose of this study is twofold: to explore the nature of church-based social support, and to see whether support received in religious settings is related to the use of religious coping methods. The data come from a nationwide survey of members of the Presbyterian Church USA. Three dimensions of religious support are examined in detail: emotional support from church members, spiritual support from church members, and emotional support from the pastor. These dimensions of support are used to evaluate an issue that has been largely overlooked in the literature—the relationship between religious support and religious coping. The findings reveal that people are especially inclined to use positive religious coping responses when they receive spiritual support from church members. Even though emotional support from the pastor also increases the use of religious coping methods, the relationship is not as strong. Finally, emotional support from church members has no effect.     

Physical Environmental Adversity and the Protective Role of Maternal Monitoring in Relation to Early Child Conduct Problems

Research on the development of externalizing behaviors during early childhood has focused on child and parenting factors. Fewer studies have investigated effects of aversive features of the micro-level physical environment, such as overcrowding and chaos in the home, and the macro-level environment, such as neighborhood quality. This study extends research on physical environmental factors by examining their association with children's early externalizing behaviors, and exploring how maternal monitoring may serve as a protective factor in such contexts. 120 male toddlers at high risk for developing early externalizing behaviors were followed from ages 2 to 5 years. Direct longitudinal associations were found for micro-level environmental factors beginning at age 2 and for neighborhood risk beginning at age 3. Maternal monitoring served as a protective factor for child externalizing behaviors in the context of neighborhood risk. Implications for prevention research and the development of early externalizing behaviors are discussed.     

Sender Demeanor: Individual Differences in Sender Believability Have a Powerful Impact on Deception Detection Judgments

Sender demeanor is an individual difference in the believability of message senders that is conceptually independent of actual honesty. Recent research suggests that sender demeanor may be the most influential source of variation in deception detection judgments. Sender demeanor was varied in five experiments (N = 30, 113, 182, 30, and 35) to create demeanor–veracity matched and demeanor–veracity mismatched conditions. The sender demeanor induction explained as much as 98% of the variance in detection accuracy. Three additional studies (N = 30, 113, and 104) investigated the behavioral profiles of more and less believable senders. The results document the strong impact of sender effects in deception detection and provide an explanation of the low‐accuracy ceiling in the previous findings.