A Comparative Study in the levels of Human Values: People's Republic of China, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United States

This study investigates the relative importance of human values at four levels: (a) global, (b) national, (c) family, and (d) individual, among university students from four countries – the United States (137 females, 78 males, one unspecified), the People's Republic of China (66 females, 170 males, one unspecified), Taiwan (156 females, 101 males), and Singapore (148 females, 119 males). Students rated the importance of passing on the 68 items in the Child Socialization Value Survey to their children or to future generations. Principal Components Analysis was performed on the pooled sample of student responses and revealed a five-factor solution described by: universalism, family, nationalism, prestige, and autonomy. This study demonstrates that the values endorsed by samples of Chinese across different geopolitical backgrounds are not consistent.     

Event-related potentials in cognitive neuropsychology: Methodological considerations and an example from studies of aphasia

Recording event-related potentials (ERPs) from neurological patients introduces some methodological problems that are unique to this type of work. Important issues include, for example, the signal-to-noise ratio in patients relative to control subjects and changes in conductivity that are due to brain lesion. Therefore, in order to be able to reliably interpret possible changes in the ERP effects of brain-damaged patients as reflecting changes in underlying cognitive processes, it is important to clearly identify the factors that might contaminate the results of the experiments and to apply appropriate controls. Possible controls are discussed, and, as an example, some studies illustrating the use of ERPs in aphasic patients are reviewed.     

A COMPARISON OF SIMULTANEOUS AND DELAYED REINFORCEMENT AS TREATMENTS FOR FOOD SELECTIVITY

This study compared the relative efficacy of providing simultaneous or delayed reinforcement on food acceptance during meals. The participant was a 7-year-old boy with pervasive developmental disorder and a history of food selectivity. Results indicated that both procedures were effective in increasing acceptance; however, the simultaneous reinforcement procedure produced more rapid behavior change and a higher overall percentage of food acceptance.     

The relationship between family history,gender role attitudes,and susceptibility to gender inequitable perceptions of family and family member functioning

This research examined how family roles, gender of family leadership, beliefs about the consequences of maternal employment, and family history of parental division of responsibility related to young adults' perceptions of family and individual family member functioning. One hundred seven (107), predominantly Anglo American undergraduate students completing courses in educational psychology at a large midwestern university rated two videotaped family interviews. One interview demonstrated a matriarchal style of family interaction and the second demonstrated a patriarchal style. It was found in perceptions of family functioning that a personal family history characterized by elevated paternal involvement in family tasks and child care in combination with traditional gender-related attitudes was associated with views favoring male family leadership. In ratings of individual family member functioning, it was found that individuals whose family history was characterized by elevated paternal involvement and whose gender attitudes were more traditional held more favorable views of the matriarchal mother than the mother in the patriarchal interview in comparison to adults whose fathers were less involved and whose attitudes were less traditional regarding gender roles. It was also found that individuals whose family history was characterized by elevated paternal involvement and whose gender attitudes were more traditional held more favorable views of the father in the patriarchal interview than the matriarchal father in comparison to adults whose fathers were less involved and whose attitudes were less traditional regarding gender roles. These findings suggest that adults may be vulnerable to biased views of families and individuals within family settings related to gender roles, personal history, and attitudes.     

Taking “the boss” into the real world: Field interrater reliability of the Short‐Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability: Adolescent Version

There is emerging evidence that the performance of risk assessment instruments is weaker when used for clinical decision‐making than for research purposes. For instance, research has found lower agreement between evaluators when the risk assessments are conducted during routine practice. We examined the field interrater reliability of the Short‐Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability: Adolescent Version (START:AV). Clinicians in a Dutch secure youth care facility completed START:AV assessments as part of the treatment routine. Consistent with previous literature, interrater reliability of the items and total scores was lower than previously reported in non‐field studies. Nevertheless, moderate to good interrater reliability was found for final risk judgments on most adverse outcomes. Field studies provide insights into the actual performance of structured risk assessment in real‐world settings, exposing factors that affect reliability. This information is relevant for those who wish to implement structured risk assessment with a level of reliability that is defensible considering the high stakes.     

Children's Moral Emotion Attribution in the Happy Victimizer Task: The Role of Response Format

Previous research in the happy victimizer tradition indicated that preschool and early elementary school children attribute positive emotions to the violator of a moral norm, whereas older children attribute negative (moral) emotions. Cognitive and motivational processes have been suggested to underlie this developmental shift. The current research investigated whether making the happy victimizer task less cognitively demanding by providing children with alternative response formats would increase their attribution of moral emotions and moral motivation. In Study 1, 93 British children aged 4–7 years old responded to the happy victimizer questions either in a normal condition (where they spontaneously pointed with a finger), a wait condition (where they had to wait before giving their answers), or an arrow condition (where they had to point with a paper arrow). In Study 2, 40 Spanish children aged 4 years old responded to the happy victimizer task either in a normal or a wait condition. In both studies, participants' attribution of moral emotions and moral motivation was significantly higher in the conditions with alternative response formats (wait, arrow) than in the normal condition. The role of cognitive abilities for emotion attribution in the happy victimizer task is discussed.     

Harbour seals (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Phoca vitulina</Emphasis>) are able to time precisely

Time along with space is one of the two fundamental dimensions of life. Whereas spatial aspects have been considered in experiments with marine mammals, research has so far not focused on timing per se although it is most likely involved in many behaviours such as foraging or navigation. This study investigated whether harbour seals possess a sense of time and how precisely they are able to discriminate time intervals. Experiments took place in a chamber that allowed keeping ambient illumination constant at 40 lx. The animal was presented with a white circle on a black background on a monitor displayed for a preset time interval. In a two-alternative forced-choice experiment, the animal had to indicate the presence of the standard or a longer comparison time interval by moving its head to one out of two response targets. Time difference thresholds were assessed for various standard intervals between 3 to 30 s adopting a staircase procedure. The experimental animal found access to the task easily and discriminated time intervals with difference thresholds partly in the millisecond range. Thus our study revealed a well-developed sense of time in a pinniped species. Time, besides information provided by the classical senses, is thus most likely an important parameter seals can rely on for various tasks including navigation and foraging.     

The organization of play fighting in the grasshopper mouse (Onychomys leucogaster): Mixing predatory and sociosexual targets and tactics

The body targets contacted, the type of contact made, and the patterns of defense and counterattack elicited by those attacks are examined in the play fighting of captive male and female pairs of grasshopper mice. The nape was the most frequently contacted body target, irrespective of the type of contact made, be it nosing, allogrooming, biting, or striking with a forepaw. The types of defense varied with both body area contacted and type of attack performed. Based on the topography and pattern of contact, it was concluded that grasshopper mice, as is the case for many other muroid rodents, primarily attack and defend targets otherwise contacted during precopulatory encounters. However, grasshopper mice, which are obligate carnivores, also attack and defend predatory targets, although less frequently than sociosexual targets. Surprisingly, predatory attacks were more likely to be counterattacked with predatory attacks, whereas sociosexual attacks were more likely to be counterattacked with sociosexual attacks. Conspecific aggression involves bites directed at the face, lower flanks, and dorsum. Neither the biting of these areas nor the tactics of attack and defense usually associated with such bites were observed during the juvenile interactions. There were no sex differences in either frequency or patterns of attack and defense in play fighting. The data presented for grasshopper mice shed light on the issue of mixing behavior patterns from multiple functional systems during play. Aggr. Behav. 26:319–334, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Unwanted Identities: A Key Variable in Shame–Anger Links and Gender Differences in Shame

The present study examined the role that unwanted identities play in accounting for extant findings concerning gender differences in shame-proneness. The construct of unwanted identities was also used to explain why powerful associations have been found between shame and anger. College students (48 men, 84 women) rated their feelings of shame, guilt, anger, and unwanted identities in response to the TOSCA-2 scenarios, known to yield robust gender differences in shame, and to new scenarios, meant to be more threatening to men's than women's identities. Even after accounting for shared variance between shame and guilt, evidence supported the conclusion that women's greater shame-proneness than men's could be an artifact, reflecting the more threatening nature of previous situations to women's identities. Mediational analyses also confirmed that unwanted identities elicit shame, which, in turn, is a powerful instigator of anger. Discussion focuses on inconsistencies between the present results and expectations based on previous theory and research.