Ethnicity Moderates the Association between Autonomic Functioning and Temperament in Preschool Children

Abstract

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) has been extensively investigated as a marker of adaptive emotional functioning in both children and adults, with studies linking RSA to temperamental dimensions such as positive affect and extraversion. However, few studies have examined the extent to which relations between RSA and temperament characteristics vary across ethnicity in childhood. We examined relations between respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and temperament dimensions (Activity Level, Task Orientation, and Affect-Extraversion) and the moderating role of ethnicity among preschoolers. Chinese- American (n?=?28, M_age = 54.30?months) and European American (n?=?32, M_age = 50.41?months) preschoolers were assessed for their temperament and RSA. Findings indicated higher levels of Affect-Extraversion among European American children. Ethnicity moderated the association between the baseline RSA and the Affect-Extraversion dimension of temperament, with a significant positive association found only for European American children. More research is needed to examine the effects of social-cultural experiences on the relation between children’s affective regulation and autonomic functioning development.     

Validation of the Suicide Resilience Inventory‐25 with American and Chinese College Students

This study is the first to evaluate evidence for measurement invariance and the psychometric properties of the Suicide Resilience Inventory‐25 (SRI‐25; Osman et al., 2004 ) in college‐age samples in both the United States and China. We found strong support for full measurement invariance of the three‐factor structure of the SRI‐25 in the U.S. (113 men and 238 women) and Chinese (121 men and 205 women) samples. In addition, we found that the U.S. sample scored significantly higher than the Chinese sample on all the individual scale scores. Composite scale reliability estimates ranged from moderate (ρ = .83) to high (ρ = .93) across the groups. Although not an aim of the current study, we examined estimates of internal consistency of the SRI‐25 scales for men and women within each sample. Differential correlates of the SRI‐25 scales were explored further for each sample. These results provide support for the use of the SRI‐25 in U.S. and Chinese student samples.     

Relational Complexity and Ethical Responsibility

Richard Miller uses the concepts of alterity and intimacy as touchstones for analyzing neglected aspects of our interpersonal and social relationships. He argues that, as persons in relation, we oscillate between experiences of alterity and intimacy, and it is with a greater awareness of this oscillation that we do best to consider our ethical responsibilities. This paper affirms the value of thinking about—and potentially reimagining—how we conceive and relate to various others. It also makes explicit that, as persons, each of us is separate, not only from some, but from all other persons, even as we are also one with them. Moreover, each of us is different from all other persons, even as we are also like them. The aspects of persons and relationships on which we focus, in a given situation, matter because they partly determine the choices that we make in another’s regard.     

Autonomy,Vote Buying,and Constraining Options

A common argument used to defend markets in ‘contested commodities’ is based on the value of personal autonomy. (1) Autonomy is of great moral value; (2) removing options from a person's choice set would compromise her ability to exercise her autonomy; (3) hence, there should be a prima facie presumption against removing options from persons’ choice sets; (4) thus, the burden of proof lies with those who wish to prohibit markets in certain goods. Christopher Freiman has developed a version of this argument to defend markets in votes. I argue that Freiman's argument fails, and that its failure illustrates the falsity of the widespread claim that the more options a person has available to her the better able she will be to exercise her autonomy. In Part 1, I outline Freiman's argument from ‘the presumption of voter liberty’ for legalising markets in votes. In Part 2, I argue that the option to sell one's vote in a legal market for them would be a ‘constraining option’ – an option which, if chosen, would be likely to lead to a diminution in a person's future ability to exercise her autonomy. In Part 3, I respond to objections to my arguments.     

More than g: Evidence for the Incremental Validity of Performance-Based Assessments for Predicting Training Performance

Past research has consistently shown that tests measuring specific cognitive abilities provide little if any incremental validity over tests of general mental ability when predicting performance on the job. In this study, we suggest that the seeming lack of incremental validity may have been due to the type of content that has traditionally been assessed. Therefore, we hypothesised that incremental validity can be obtained using specific cognitive abilities that are less highly correlated with g and are matched to the tasks performed on the job. To test this, we examined a recently developed performance-based measure that assesses a number of cognitive abilities related to training performance. In a sample of 310 US Navy student pilots, results indicated that performance-based scores added sizeable incremental validity to a measure of g. The significant increases in R² ranged from .08 to .10 across criteria. Similar results were obtained after correcting correlations for range restriction, though the magnitude of incremental validity was slightly smaller (ΔR² ranged from .05 to .07).     

The influence of mood on the intensity of emotional responses: Disentangling feeling and knowing

The results of three experiments suggest that pre-existing mood increases the intensity of affectively congruent emotions while dampening the intensity of incongruent emotions independent of attributional knowledge. This result was obtained using a new method for inducing mood states unobtrusively and with minimal or no cognitive concomitants. The results of Experiment 1 revealed that for participants who were exposed to positive feedback a pre-existing positive mood led to stronger feelings of pride in comparison to negative mood. The results of Experiments 2 and 3 suggest that pre-existing mood directly influences the experience of subsequently elicited emotions independent of what one knows about the causes of this feeling. When participants were required to differentiate between the funniness of a cartoon and their subjective humour response, mood influenced only the latter judgement (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, reminding participants of the mood induction resulted in a contrast effect in judging the funniness of a cartoon. However, the pre-existing mood continued to exert an assimilation effect on the overt mirth response. In conclusion, these results suggest that the feeling and knowledge component are partly independent bases of emotional responses.