Parents’ Judgments about the Desirability of Toys for Their Children: Associations with Gender Role Attitudes,Gender-typing of Toys,and Demographics

Parental toy selection and responses to toy play are important factors in children’s gender socialization. Reinforcing play with same-gender-typed toys guides children’s activities and limits their action repertoires in accordance with gender stereotypes. A survey of 324 Austrian parents of three- to six-year-old children was conducted to investigate parents’ judgments about the desirability of different types of toys for their children and how these judgements relate to parents’ gender-typing of toys, gender role attitudes, and demographics (age, education, gender). Results show that parents rated same-gender-typed and gender-neutral toys as more desirable for their children than cross-gender-typed toys. The traditionalism of parents’ gender role attitudes was not associated with their desirability judgments of same-gender-typed toys, but was negatively related to their desirability judgments of cross-gender-typed toys. This indicates that egalitarian parents permit a greater range of interests and behaviors in their children than traditional parents do. Younger parents, parents with lower educational levels, and fathers reported more traditional gender role attitudes than did older parents, parents with higher educational levels, and mothers. However, no differences based on age, educational level or gender were found in parents’ judgments of toy desirability. The present study demonstrates that parents’ judgments about the desirability of toys for their children do not accurately reflect their gender role attitudes. This finding highlights the importance of simultaneously investigating different aspects of parents’ gender-related attitudes in order to gain a better understanding of parental transmission of gender stereotypes.     

Long-term improvement in coping skills following multimodal treatment in war veterans with chronic PTSD

Due to the long-lasting and resistant symptoms characteristic of chronic combat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), its treatment is complex and often requires a tailored therapeutic approach incorporating both psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy. A multimodal approach of psychoeducative, sociotherapeutic, and dynamically oriented trauma-focused groups is described. We assessed the short- and long-term effectiveness of this therapeutic program by monitoring its impact on PTSD symptoms, depression, neurotic symptoms, coping skills, and quality of life for three years. The findings revealed short-term reduction in the symptoms of PTSD and depression, while the long-term results were manifested as the increased use of all coping mechanisms and a greater level of obsession.     

Motivation to regulate mood as a mediator between state extraversion and pleasant-unpleasant mood

This experience sampling study investigated whether state extraversion (i.e., momentary extraverted behavior) is positively associated with pleasant affect within persons and whether mood regulation motivation mediates this relationship. Seven times per day for one week, 162 participants reported on their state extraversion, pleasant-unpleasant mood, and mood regulation intention. Higher state extraversion was related to more pleasant mood, and this within-persons relationship held for 89% of individuals. Analyses with lagged predictors revealed that state extraversion predicted an increase in pleasant mood from one occasion to the next. Dispositional extraversion did not moderate the within-persons relationship. Hedonic mood regulation intention mediated the relation between state extraversion and pleasant-unpleasant mood. The findings support a self-regulation explanation of the extraversion-pleasant affect link.     

Time-course analysis of temporal preparation on central processes

Participants usually respond faster to a response signal (RS) when this signal is preceded by a warning stimulus than when it is not. A question of theoretical importance is the locus of this facilitating effect within the information processing stream. Recently, Los and Schut (Cogn Psychol 57:20–55, 2008) suggested that temporal preparation acts on central processes while perception of the RS is under way. The present study provides a stochastic model (central preparation model, CPM) based on this hypothesis and presents three experiments testing this model. To track the complete time-course of temporal preparation, the warning signal could either precede or follow the RS. The data show some systematic deviation from the model’s predictions, questioning CPM’s assumption that temporal preparation acts only on central processes. An alternative mechanism of temporal preparation based on the parallel grains model [Miller and Ulrich (Cogn Psychol 46:101–151, 2003)] is discussed.     

Subconscious performance goals: Investigating the moderating effect of negative goal-discrepancy feedback

ABSTRACT

Building on theories of conscious goals and feedback, we investigated the moderating effect of negative feedback on the relation between subconscious goals and performance. In two lab experiments, we manipulated subconscious performance goals and negative feedback about personal performance as well as social comparison information. In Study 1 (n = 80), subconscious goals positively influenced performance in an attention and concentration task when participants had received no feedback and negatively when participants had been confronted with negative performance feedback. In Study 2 (n = 90), additional comparison feedback indicating a higher performance of others led to higher performance of participants with versus without subconscious performance goals. The moderating effect of feedback was visible in self-efficacy, and we found partial support for its mediating role.     

Endless Qualifications,Restless Consumption: The Governance of Novel Foods in Europe

Functional foods and foods derived from genetically modified organisms represent two forms of intervention in the design of foodstuffs that have given rise to distinct political and regulatory dynamics. In Europe, regulatory agencies have tried, unsuccessfully, to affix a definitive legal meaning to these categories of food artificiality. This incomplete process of legal disambiguation has gone hand in hand with the delegation of the responsibility for overseeing new products to consumers, who are asked to continuously consider and assess the qualities of foods when making their choices in the marketplace. In the case of genetically modified foods, we have witnessed strategies of avoidance premised on the consideration of genetic modification as a blemish on the conventional character of foodstuffs. Functional foods, on the other hand, are increasingly mobilized in practices of naturalistic enhancement. What both examples have in common is the open-ended character of their respective regulatory regimes, and the continuous prodding of consumers to involve themselves more intensely in the weighing of their food choices. The result is a particular mode of market activism that we describe as restless consumption.     

Professional Development in Sport Psychology: Relating Learning Experiences to Learning Outcomes

To enhance the training of sport psychology consultants, it is important to know which learning experiences are useful for which components of professional development. We interviewed 15 novice consultants on their learning experiences related to 13 different topics. Traditional learning experiences (e.g., courses, teachers) were related to the development of practical know-how. Learning from others (e.g., peers, colleagues) was related to professional development (i.e., dealing with issues, challenges, and dilemmas that occur in sport psychology practice). Practical experience and reflective activities were related to both know-how and professional development. These results can be used to shape effective sport psychology education.     

ERP correlates of performance monitoring in elderly

Previous studies on performance monitoring repeatedly found attenuated error-related negativities (Ne/ERN) in elderly, while findings for the correct-related negativity (Nc/CRN) are inconsistent. The present study aimed at clarifying inconsistent Nc/CRN results in elderly. Therefore, a refined design was employed to control for potential influences on the Nc/CRN, namely decision uncertainty and partial error processing. Further, we intended to study Nc/CRN variations with trial compatibility that were found in previous studies for younger but not for older adults. Results revealed increased Nc/CRN and decreased Ne/ERN amplitudes in older compared to younger adults. While the Ne/ERN was larger than the Nc/CRN in younger adults, both components were similar-sized in older adults. Further, a modulation of Nc/CRN amplitudes between compatible and incompatible trials was observed in younger adults, but was absent in older adults. Reduced differentiation of response-related negativities with response accuracy or stimulus compatibility in elderly suggests a reduced adaptation of associated processes to changing demands. Further, this might also point to different processes reflected by Nc/CRN and Ne/ERN and to reduced error-specific monitoring but increased general or strategic monitoring in elderly.     

Marital and Family Therapist’s Action Research in Light of Some Research Problems: A One-Cycle Example

Some major problems in marital and family therapy (MFT) research remain evident. Practitioners often see research as insufficiently related to their concerns and want it to be more applicable. Often-used integrative (or eclectic) practices in MFT and their idiographic nature make the applicability of research even more problematic. Greater use of action research, which often has been overlooked in MFT, could be useful for addressing some of these problems. There are many types of action research; one of the most common uses repeating cycles of the four basic steps (observing and gathering information, reflecting, planning, and acting). In this article the authors’ use of these four steps for studying MFT is presented and discussed in the light of some research trends and problems. A one-cycle case example is used to illustrate the process.