God,Yoga, and Karate

We investigate the location patterns of organizations that embody key religious‐spiritual traditions and that have grown to prominence in the latter 20th and early 21st centuries: evangelical churches, yoga, and martial arts. The distribution of key cultural organizations depends on the degree to which they are able to frame themselves in relation to one another and to core American traditions. Organizations associated with the American religious divide are more polarized in their social appeal and spatial distributions, and those framed as broadly neutral elements of popular culture are more widely distributed. Using a national database of local amenities, we find that theologically conservative churches are popular in many neighborhoods but concentrated in less‐educated and nonwhite areas. Yoga studios are less geographically dispersed and more spatially concentrated in college‐educated and white areas. Compared to these, martial arts schools, sports clubs, and other pop‐culture amenities are more widely distributed across different types of areas.     

No Harm,Still Foul: Concerns About Reputation Drive Dislike of Harmless Plagiarizers

Across a variety of situations, people strongly condemn plagiarizers who steal credit for ideas, even when the theft in question does not appear to harm anyone. Why would people react negatively to relatively harmless acts of plagiarism? In six experiments, we predict and find that these negative reactions are driven by people's aversion toward agents who attempt to falsely improve their reputations. In Studies 1–3, participants condemn plagiarism cases that they agree are harmless (i.e., stealing credit from an anonymous source). This effect is mediated by the extent to which participants perceive the plagiarizer to have falsely benefitted from plagiarizing. In Studies 4–5, we demonstrate that this effect is not explained solely by participants’ negative response to lies or violations of permission. In Study 6, participants condemn a plagiarism case in which the idea's original author actually benefits, providing the strongest evidence that people condemn plagiarism for reasons beyond perceived harm. We discuss how this work connects to broader questions of intellectual property and impression management.     

A Step‐by‐Step Guide to Using Secondary Data for Psychological Research

The purpose of this paper is to serve as a primer for those who have never used, or even considered using, secondary data as a resource for psychological research. Secondary data (SD) can provide a unique methodological tool with which to examine psychological issues and can serve as a valuable contribution to a program of research. However, this important resource may often be overlooked because its use can sometimes appear daunting and time‐consuming. We seek to assist new users of SD by describing the process in a step‐by‐step manner. We address both benefits and challenges to anticipate when using SD, and discuss identifying and acquiring potential datasets, creating a personalized dataset, variable creation, statistical considerations, and the potential problem of conflicting findings when large datasets are used by multiple researchers. Our goal is to encourage researchers who are novices to the approach to consider using SD as an adjunct to their program of research.     

Growing up in the shadow of terrorism: youth in America after 9/11

Research conducted in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks (9/11) suggests that, except for those who directly witnessed or suffered loss from the attacks, for most children the emotional impact was relatively transitory. We review this literature as well as consider other ways in which the attacks may have played a role in the development of adolescents and young adults as they came of age in the shadow of 9/11 in the United States. Specifically, we discuss the potential impact of the collective trauma of 9/11 on children's coping and emotional regulation, their sociopolitical attitudes, and their general beliefs about the world. Developmental issues and the role of parents in shaping their children's responses to 9/11 are also addressed. Researchers interested in children's social, emotional, and psychological development have much to learn about children's reactions to events like 9/11 and factors that might mitigate the negative consequences of such events on children's development.     

Postural Asymmetries in Response to Holding Evenly and Unevenly Distributed Loads During Self-Selected Stance

The authors examined postural asymmetries during quiet stance and while holding evenly or unevenly distributed loads. Right-hand dominant subjects preferentially loaded their right lower limb when holding no load or a load evenly distributed in both hands, but no differences in center of pressure (CoP) were observed between the left and right limbs. However, longer CoP displacement was observed under the preferentially loaded limb, which may reflect a functional asymmetry that allows quick movement of one limb in response to a potential perturbation. When a load was held only in the nondominant hand, sample entropy decreased in the left (loaded) limb but increased in the right (unloaded) limb, suggesting the unloaded foot compensated for a loss of control flexibility in the loaded foot.     

Future Selves and Self-Control Motivation

Self-control is well established as a predictor of crime and deviance. Little is known, however, about the motivation to exert self-control, or the degree to which individuals perceive self-control to be relevant or necessary. This is because the “self” in self-control theory is under-theorized. We argue that self-control over criminal and deviant behavior is influenced by the desired and feared conceptions people have of themselves in the future. We argue that people's projections of their future selves engender commitments to lines of action, which mobilize the motivation to exercise self-control. By developing a more detailed conception of the “self” in self-control theory, we hope to orient criminology more fully to the importance of individuals' projected future selves and intended lines of action for understanding the relationship between self-control and criminal behavior.     

The role of perceived similarity in supportive responses to victims of negative life events

The authors examined whether participants' perceived similarity to an ostensible victim of a negative life event influenced their supportiveness during a live interaction. Two competing models were considered: (a) increased similarity would be associated with increased supportiveness through attraction to the target and (b) increased similarity would be associated with decreased supportiveness through anxiety (due to heightened vulnerability). Participants (N = 241) met individually with a confederate posing as a cancer patient. Reactions were assessed, including verbal and nonverbal behaviors, both before and after the interaction, by participants themselves and by observers of the interaction. Results supported a model based on the classic similarity/attraction paradigm: Perceived similarity indirectly predicted participant-reported supportiveness/warmth and smiling through its relationship to attraction. Results extend the literature on similarity and attraction to the stress and coping arena and suggest that emphasizing perceived similarities to victims would be beneficial.     

Pharmacotherapy of posttraumatic cognitive impairments

Pharmacotherapy may contribute to the rehabilitation of persons with posttraumatic cognitive impairments. This article reviews first the neurobiological consequences of traumatic brain injury with a particular emphasis on acute and long-term posttraumatic neurochemical disturbances. Studies of pharmacotherapies for posttraumatic cognitive impairments are reviewed next, and are organized according to medication class and the neurotransmitter system they affect most. Based on the evidence provided by that review, augmentation of posttraumatic cerebral catecholaminergic and cholinergic function are suggested as potentially useful neurochemical targets for pharmacologic intervention in this population. More specifically, it is suggested that persons with posttraumatic impairments in arousal, speed of processing, and possibly attention may benefit most from treatment with an agent that augments cerebral catecholaminergic function, and that persons whose predominant posttraumatic impairment is in the domain of memory may benefit most from treatment with cholinesterase inhibitors. Practical considerations regarding the use of pharmacotherapies for posttraumatic cognitive impairments are offered, and the need for additional research in this area is highlighted.