Association between Sexual Victimization History,Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms,and Women’s Decision Making in Risky Social Situations: the Moderating Effect of Ethnicity

This study evaluated the association between sexual victimization history, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and women’s decision making in social situations, and whether ethnicity moderated these associations. Participants were 334 undergraduate women between ages 18 and 24. The sample was diverse ethnically (Non-Hispanic white, n = 177; Hispanic, n = 157) and composed primarily of freshman, single women. Stimuli were written vignettes describing social situations that varied in their degree of victimization risk. Participants completed tasks that assessed their ability to generate and select responses to the situations, as well as their perceived efficacy in executing responses. They then completed the Sexual Experiences Survey to quantify the severity of victimization experiences and the PTSD Checklist – Civilian Version to measure symptoms of posttraumatic stress. Structural equation modeling (SEM) of women’s decision making revealed that more severe victimization history and greater posttraumatic stress symptoms were associated with less effective response generation, and greater posttraumatic stress symptoms was associated with reduced perceived efficacy in executing effective responses. Ethnicity also moderated the effect of victimization history on perceived efficacy. For Non-Hispanic White women, more severe victimization history was related to less effective response generation and perceived efficacy when considering responses, while for Hispanic women, victimization history was unrelated to both decision making processes. This study emphasizes the importance of decision making as it relates to women’s victimization risk. These processes, as well as the influence of ethnicity on women’s decision making, appear relevant to consider when developing preventative interventions for college women.     

Aesthetic appreciation of poetry correlates with ease of processing in event-related potentials

Rhetorical theory suggests that rhythmic and metrical features of language substantially contribute to persuading, moving, and pleasing an audience. A potential explanation of these effects is offered by “cognitive fluency theory,” which stipulates that recurring patterns (e.g., meter) enhance perceptual fluency and can lead to greater aesthetic appreciation. In this article, we explore these two assertions by investigating the effects of meter and rhyme in the reception of poetry by means of event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Participants listened to four versions of lyrical stanzas that varied in terms of meter and rhyme, and rated the stanzas for rhythmicity and aesthetic liking. The behavioral and ERP results were in accord with enhanced liking and rhythmicity ratings for metered and rhyming stanzas. The metered and rhyming stanzas elicited smaller N400/P600 ERP responses than their nonmetered, nonrhyming, or nonmetered and nonrhyming counterparts. In addition, the N400 and P600 effects for the lyrical stanzas correlated with aesthetic liking effects (metered–nonmetered), implying that modulation of the N400 and P600 has a direct bearing on the aesthetic appreciation of lyrical stanzas. We suggest that these effects are indicative of perceptual-fluency-enhanced aesthetic liking, as postulated by cognitive fluency theory.     

The differential effects of solution-focused and problem-focused coaching questions on the affect,attentional control and cognitive flexibility of undergraduate students experiencing study-related stress

Previous research has demonstrated that Solution-Focused (SF) coaching can help individuals to attain positive outcomes. However, not much is known about the processes through which these positive outcomes are achieved. In two experiments, we subjected undergraduate students to either SF or Problem-Focused (PF) questions about their study-related problems. In Experiment 1, we hypothesized and found that SF questioning (as compared to PF questioning) leads to higher positive affect (H1a) and lower negative affect (H1b). Contrary to our expectations, SF questions did not lead to higher attentional control (H2). In Experiment 2, we aimed to replicate the hypotheses for positive and negative affect and additionally hypothesized that SF questioning leads to higher cognitive flexibility (H3a). The results supported these hypotheses. However, our hypothesis that the differential effects of SF and PF questioning on cognitive flexibility are mediated by positive affect (H3b) was not supported. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

NGO-government partnerships

In an effort to streamline service and generate efficiency, governments have looked increasingly to non-government organizations (usually not-for-profit charities) to deliver service to the public. This new way of subcontracting is often referred to as partnership and has created interesting challenges for both government and non-government sectors. These range from threats to the autonomy of NGOs to the downloading of deficits to the private sector. The field of immigration and settlement provides a particularly interesting example of study.     

The Effect of Multiple Roles of South Korean Married Women Professors: Role Changes and the Factors Which Influence Potential Role Gratification and Strain

In this paper, we examine role gratification and role strain of married middle-class South Korean women by comparing a sample of women professors and a sample of housewives whose husbands are professors and researchers. The results show that the married women professors, compared with the housewives, experienced both greater gratification and greater strain. The findings also show that sociodemographic factors are not strongly related to role gratification and strain. It was found that married women professors have more nontraditional gender-role attitudes as compared with housewives. In addition, the research indicates that transnational resocialization from overseas experiences in a Western society has positive effects on role gratification among the married women professors.     

The reductio argument against epistemic infinitism

Synthese - Epistemic infinitism, advanced in different forms by Peter Klein, Scott Aikin, and David Atkinson and Jeanne Peijnenburg, is the theory that justification of a proposition for a person...     

A prologue to nostalgia: savouring creates nostalgic memories that foster optimism

How are nostalgic memories created? We considered savouring as one process involved in the genesis of nostalgia. Whereas nostalgia refers to an emotional reflection upon past experiences, savouring is a process in which individuals deeply attend to and consciously capture a present experience for subsequent reflection. Thus, having savoured an experience may increase the likelihood that it will later be reflected upon nostalgically. Additionally, to examine how cognitive and emotional processes are linked across time, we tested whether nostalgia for a previously savoured experience predicts optimism for the future. Retrospective reports of having savoured a positive event were associated with greater nostalgia for the event (Study 1). Retrospective reports of savouring a time period (college) were associated with greater nostalgia for that time period when participants were in a setting (alumni reunion event) that prompted thoughts of the time period (Study 2). Savouring an experience predicted nostalgia for the experience 4–9 months later (Study 3). Additionally, nostalgia was associated with greater optimism (Studies 2-3). Thus, savouring provides a foundation for nostalgic memories and an ensuing optimism.     

Editorial: Harmful or helpful to learning? The impact of seductive details on learning and instruction

Most previous research found negative effects on learning outcomes when interesting but irrelevant information (i.e., seductive details) is added to an instruction. To what degree such effects are bound to specific conditions is in the focus of this special issue. Specifically, 11 empirical studies are reported within this special issue. They all address the topic of seductive details in learning and instruction by focusing either on cognitive moderators (e.g., working memory capacity and current beliefs) or on noncognitive moderators (e.g., arousal and affect) of the seductive details effect. Taken together, results from the empirical studies hint towards new moderators and suggest that the negative effects of seductive details on learning outcomes may be smaller than expected based on previous research.     

Adding emotionality to seductive details—Consequences for learning?

According to the seductive detail effect, adding interesting but irrelevant information (i.e., seductive details) can be detrimental to learning success. In this study, it was explored within two experiments whether the valence of text‐based seductive details might affect learning outcomes differently. For Experiments 1 and 2, we pretested text‐based seductive details for their emotional valence (n = 32 or n = 25 students, respectively). For the main studies of Experiments 1 (n = 105) and 2 (n = 131), university students were randomly assigned to one of four conditions that varied with respect to the presence of seductive details and their emotional valence (no vs. positive vs. negative vs. neutral). Unexpectedly, results revealed in both experiments no seductive details effect and also no differences between the three seductive detail conditions for the used learning outcome measures retention and transfer. Possible reasons for these findings and their implications are discussed.