Observational learning from tool using models by human-reared and mother-reared capuchin monkeys (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cebus apella</Emphasis>)

Studies of wild capuchins suggest an important role for social learning, but experiments with captive subjects have generally not supported this. Here we report social learning in two quite different populations of capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). In experiment 1, human-raised monkeys observed a familiar human model open a foraging box using a tool in one of two alternative ways: levering versus poking. In experiment 2, mother-raised monkeys viewed similar techniques demonstrated by monkey models. A control group in each population saw no model. In both experiments, independent coders detected which technique experimental subjects had seen, thus confirming social learning. Further analyses examined fidelity of copying at three levels of resolution. The human-raised monkeys exhibited fidelity at the highest level, the specific tool use technique witnessed. The lever technique was seen only in monkeys exposed to a levering model, by contrast with controls and those witnessing poke. Mother-reared monkeys instead typically ignored the tool and exhibited fidelity at a lower level, tending only to re-create whichever result the model had achieved by either levering or poking. Nevertheless this level of social learning was associated with significantly greater levels of success in monkeys witnessing a model than in controls, an effect absent in the human-reared population. Results in both populations are consistent with a process of canalization of the repertoire in the direction of the approach witnessed, producing a narrower, socially shaped behavioural profile than among controls who saw no model. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Bimodal bilinguals reveal the source of tip-of-the-tongue states

Bilinguals report more tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) failures than monolinguals. Three accounts of this disadvantage are that bilinguals experience between-language interference at (a) semantic and/or (b) phonological levels, or (c) that bilinguals use each language less frequently than monolinguals. Bilinguals who speak one language and sign another help decide between these alternatives because their languages lack phonological overlap. Twenty-two American Sign Language (ASL)-English bilinguals, 22 English monolinguals, and 11 Spanish-English bilinguals named 52 pictures in English. Despite no phonological overlap between languages, ASL-English bilinguals had more TOTs than monolinguals, and equivalent TOTs as Spanish-English bilinguals. These data eliminate phonological blocking as the exclusive source of bilingual disadvantages. A small advantage of ASL-English over Spanish-English bilinguals in correct retrievals is consistent with semantic interference and a minor role for phonological blocking. However, this account faces substantial challenges. We argue reduced frequency of use is the more comprehensive explanation of TOT rates in all bilinguals.     

Attitudes and Attributions Associated With Female and Male Partner Violence1

In an interview study, we examined attitudes toward intimate partner violence (IPV). We examined whether attitudes toward IPV varied as a function of sample (student, general, and incarcerated), participant gender, and abuse history, or as a function of perpetrator gender. Additionally, participants' conflict‐resolution strategies were examined. Findings revealed that perpetrator gender and participant abuse history were the most influential factors in shaping attitudes. Males and females evaluated violence similarly. Overall, there was greater acceptance for abuse perpetrated by females than by males, and participants who had either perpetrated or received abuse were the most condoning of IPV. A lack of conflict skills was associated with IPV. For males, this lack of skills generalized to situations outside of the relationship.     

The Irony of Harmony: Intergroup Contact Can Produce False Expectations for Equality

ABSTRACT— Positive intergroup contact has been a guiding framework for research on reducing intergroup tension and for interventions aimed at that goal. We propose that beyond improving attitudes toward the out-group, positive contact affects disadvantaged-group members' perceptions of intergroup inequality in ways that can undermine their support for social change toward equality. In Study 1, participants were assigned to either high- or low-power experimental groups and then brought together to discuss either commonalities between the groups or intergroup differences. Commonality-focused contact, relative to difference-focused contact, produced heightened expectations for fair (i.e.,  egalitarian) out-group behavior among members of disadvantaged groups. These expectations, however, proved unrealistic when compared against the actions of members of the advantaged groups. Participants in Study 2 were Israeli Arabs (a disadvantaged minority) who reported the amount of positive contact they experienced with Jews. More positive intergroup contact was associated with increased perceptions of Jews as fair, which in turn predicted decreased support for social change. Implications for social change are considered.     

Attachment-related strategies during thought suppression: ironic rebounds and vulnerable self-representations

The authors conducted 2 studies of attachment-related variations in thought suppression. Participants were asked, or not asked, to suppress thoughts about a relationship breakup and then to perform a Stroop task under high or low cognitive load. The dependent variables were the rebound, of previously suppressed separation-related thoughts (Study 1) and the accessibility of self-traits (Study 2). Under low cognitive load, avoidant individuals did not show any rebound of separation-related thoughts and activated positive self-representations. Under high cognitive load, avoidant participants failed to suppress thoughts of separation and were more likely to activate negative self-representations. Attachment anxiety was associated with high activation of negative self-representations and unremitting separation-related thoughts. The results are discussed in terms of the hidden vulnerabilities of avoidant individuals.     

The characteristics of separation-individuation in Turkish High School students

The aim of the present study was examine the characteristics of separation-individuation in Turkish high school students and to investigate the contribution of sociodemographic variables on this second individuation process of adolescence. The sample consisted of 618 adolescents between the ages of 14 and 18 in three urban and two rural high schools (338 females and 280 males). Measures used included a demographic questionnaire and the Separation-Individuation Test of Adolescence (SITA), developed by Levin, Green, and Millon (1986). Results indicated that the 16-year-old group had significantly higher mean scores on the Engulfment Anxiety, Dependency Denial, and Rejection Expectancy subscales than the 15-year-old group. Males had significantly higher scores on the Practicing-Mirroring subscale than girls. Tenth graders had significantly higher mean scores on the Practicing-Mirroring, Nurturance Seeking, Peer Enmeshment, Teacher Enmeshment, and Healthy Separation subscales but the mean scores on the Dependency Denial and Engulfment Anxiety subscales decreased. The means scores on the Practicing-Mirroring, Dependency, Denial, Separation Anxiety, Teacher Enmeshment, and Rejection Expectancy subscales were significantly different among the socioeconomic status groups. Also, rural adolescents can be distinguished from urban counterparts by their increased tendency to perceive themselves as self-centered, to experience separation anxiety, to seek close interpersonal ties with caretakers, teachers, and peers, and by an integration of needs for dependence and independence. The general pattern of results investigating the separation-individuation development of Turkish adolescents suggested that compared with individualistic Western cultures, Turkish culture stressed the importance of connection as well as separation and psychic restructuring and interpersonal relatedness changes leading to an autonomous self within relational contexts.     

Word association in early Alzheimer's disease

The hypothesis that Alzheimer's disease (AD) degrades semantic representations predicts that AD qualitatively alters spontaneous thoughts. In two experiments contrasting free associations to words with strong (e.g., bride-groom) versus weak (e.g., body-leg) associates participants with AD produced less common responses (e.g., bride-pretty) than normal controls but only for words with strong associations, and only on the first (but not on second or third) association response. Furthermore, all participants produced fewer semantically related responses to words with weak associates. Because strong associations should be retrieved more easily than weak associations these results are problematic for retrieval-based accounts of AD. Instead we propose that AD entails a semantic deficit, and that strong associations involve more semantic processing than weak associations (in all speakers).     

ORTHODOXY AND THE CHALLENGE OF BIBLICAL CRITICISM

Traditional Jewish theology and practice are predicated on belief in the divinity of the Torah. Biblical criticism has posed increasingly formidable challenges to this belief in modern times. To the extent that Modern Orthodoxy has addressed the problem, it has generally attempted to refute the findings of scientific scholarship on its own terms. This article will suggest that such an approach represents a misplaced framing of the question, by viewing all religious truth claims cognitively as simple statements of fact. Instead of questioning whether the doctrine of Torah from Heaven is true empirically, its “truth” is established via its function within the context of the “form of life” (in the Wittgensteinian sense) that it engenders.     

Young Children's Help‐Seeking as Active Information Gathering

Young children's social learning is a topic of great interest. Here, we examined preschoolers’ (M = 52.44 months, SD = 9.7 months) help‐seeking as a social information gathering activity that may optimize and support children's opportunities for learning. In a toy assembly task, we assessed each child's competency at assembling toys and the difficulty of each step of the task. We hypothesized that children's help‐seeking would be a function of both initial competency and task difficulty. The results confirmed this prediction; all children were more likely to seek assistance on difficult steps and less competent children sought assistance more often. Moreover, the magnitude of the help‐seeking requests (from asking for verbal confirmation to asking the adult to take over the task) similarly related to both competency and difficulty. The results provide support for viewing children's help‐seeking as an information gathering activity, indicating that preschoolers flexibly adjust the level and amount of assistance to optimize their opportunities for learning.     

The effect of age-at-testing on verbal memory among children following severe traumatic brain injury

Memory deficits are a common sequelae following childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI), which often have serious implications on age-related academic skills. The current study examined verbal memory performance using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) in a pediatric TBI sample. Verbal memory abilities as well as the effect of age at-testing on performance were examined. A sample of 67 children following severe TBI (age average = 12.3 ± 2.74) and 67 matched controls were evaluated using the RAVLT. Age effect at assessment was examined using two age groups: above and below 12 years of age during evaluation. Differences between groups were examined via the 9 RAVLT learning trials and the 7 composite scores conducted out of them. Children following TBI recalled significantly less words than controls on all RAVLT trials and had significantly lower scores on all composite scores. However, all of these scores fell within the low average range. Further analysis revealed significantly lower than average performance among the older children (above 12 years), while scores of the younger children following TBI fell within average limits. To conclude, verbal memory deficits among children following severe TBI demonstrate an age-at-testing effect with more prominent problems occurring above 12 years at the time of evaluation. Yet, age-appropriate performance among children below 12 years of age may not accurately describe memory abilities at younger ages following TBI. It is therefore recommended that clinicians address child’s age at testing and avoid using a single test as an indicator of verbal memory functioning post TBI.