Priming infants to use pattern information in an object individuation task: the role of comparison

There is evidence that 4.5-month-olds do not always use surface pattern to individuate objects but that they can be primed to attend to pattern differences through select experiences. For example, if infants are first shown events in which the pattern of an object predicts its function (dotted containers pound and striped containers pour), they will attend to pattern differences in a subsequent individuation task. However, 4.5-month-olds must see multiple exemplars of the pound and pour events and view the dotted and striped containers together during the events. These results suggest that it is the formation of event categories, in which pattern is linked to object function, that supports pattern priming and that direct comparison of the exemplars facilitates the extraction of event categories. The present research investigated conditions that support the comparison process in 4.5-month-olds. The results revealed that the comparison process was initiated only when the dotted and striped containers were seen directly adjacent to each other; if the containers sat far apart, so that infants had to shift their gaze to compare them, event categories were not extracted. In addition, it was comparison of the two patterned containers, and not comparison of the two function events, that was critical to the formation of event categories. These results join a growing body of research indicating the importance of comparison to category formation in infants and reveal the impact of categorization and comparison processes on object individuation in infancy.     

The acceptance model of intuitive eating: a comparison of women in emerging adulthood, early adulthood, and middle adulthood

The acceptance model of intuitive eating (Avalos & Tylka, 2006) posits that body acceptance by others helps women appreciate their body and resist adopting an observer's perspective of their body, which contribute to their eating intuitively/adaptively. We extended this model by integrating body mass index (BMI) into its structure and investigating it with emerging (ages 18-25 years old, n = 318), early (ages 26-39 years old, n = 238), and middle (ages 40-65 years old, n = 245) adult women. Multiple-group analysis revealed that this model fit the data for all age groups. Body appreciation and resistance to adopt an observer's perspective mediated the body acceptance by others-intuitive eating link. Body acceptance by others mediated the social support-body appreciation and BMI-body appreciation links. Early and middle adult women had stronger negative BMI-body acceptance by others and BMI-intuitive eating relationships and a stronger positive body acceptance by others-body appreciation relationship than emerging adult women. Early adult women had a stronger positive resistance to adopt observer's perspective-body appreciation relationship than emerging and middle adult women.     

Integrating Social Comparison Theory and Self-Esteem within Objectification Theory to Predict Women’s Disordered Eating

This study integrated social comparison theory and self-esteem into the objectification theory framework to broaden our understanding of sexual objectification as it relates to body shame and disordered eating. Women (N?=?274) from a Midwestern U.S. college completed measures of sexual objectification via appearance feedback, body surveillance, body shame, body comparison, self-esteem, and disordered eating. Structural equation modeling indicated that this expanded model fit the data. Appearance feedback predicted body surveillance, body comparison, self-esteem and—unexpectedly—disordered eating. Body surveillance, body comparison, and self-esteem predicted body shame. Furthermore, hierarchical moderated regression revealed that body comparison moderated the body surveillance—disordered eating link; women who frequently monitored their body and compared it to others’ bodies reported the highest disordered eating.     

VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS COGNITION: A COMPUTATIONAL APPROACH TO SELF-UNDERSTANDING IN THREE MONOTHEIST CONTEXTS

This study considered representations of divine and human others in the self-understanding of monotheists from three religions. Self-understanding was conceptualized on the basis of semantic and episodic knowledge in narrative response data. Given the importance of social context in the formation of cognitive schemas, the project emphasized self-understanding in a comparative religious design. The sample included sixty nominated religious exemplars who responded to a structured interview. Schemas were subsequently mapped for Jews, Muslims, and Christians by comparison of self and other representations in a computational model known as latent semantic analysis (LSA). Findings indicated that representation of the divine is far removed from parents in cognitive schemas for all participants. Unlike Jews and Christians, Muslims appear to represent human others on the basis of self-understanding which principally references the divine. When considered in a computational semantic space, exemplars generally represent the self in a manner corresponding with divine and peer figures.     

The Caregiver Eating Messages Scale: Development and psychometric investigation

Certain caregiver eating messages – restriction of food intake and pressures to eat – are associated with body dissatisfaction and eating disturbances among young girls. This study explored whether these messages are also associated with body attitudes and eating behaviors of young adult women and men. The Caregiver Eating Messages Scale was developed to measure this construct. Two studies (Ns = 238, 288) indicated that it contained two factors (restrictive/critical messages and pressure to eat messages) and yielded internally consistent, stable, and valid scores. Both factors were positively related to women's BMI, and restrictive/critical messages were positively related to men's BMI. Restrictive/critical messages predicted lower perceived familial body acceptance and intuitive eating and higher perceived familial pressure to be lean and disordered eating. Restrictive/critical messages predicted participants’ body attitudes indirectly via their perceptions of their family's attitude toward their body, with one exception: restrictive/critical messages uniquely predicted men's body appreciation.     

Forgetting is effortful: Evidence from reaction time probes in an item-method directed forgetting task

Reaction time (RT) was measured in response to visual detection probes embedded within an item-method directed forgetting paradigm. In Experiment 1, study words were presented individually followed by an instruction to remember (R) or forget (F). Probes were presented at stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) of 1,400, 1,800, or 2,600 msec in relation to the study word or memory instruction. After the study trials, a yes-no recognition task measured retention of R and F words. Experiment 2 added a no-word control condition and no-probe catch trials. In both experiments, post-F probe RTs were longer than post-R probe RTs at early SOAs. Confirming that participants attended to the memory instructions, there was a significant directed forgetting effect, with greater recognition of R than of F words. These findings contradict the view that directed forgetting in the item-method paradigm is due to the passive decay of nonrehearsed F items; instead, they are consistent with the view that intentional forgetting in an item-method paradigm occurs via the operation of an active, potentially inhibitory, cognitive process.     

Explaining intra-individual variability in social behavior through idiographic assessment: The case of humor

Much variability in social behavior is intra-individual; people vary their actions strategically across contexts. Yet most personality assessment methods are inter-individual; they chart between-person differences in average behavioral tendencies. The present research advanced novel idiographic assessment methods to predict intra-individual variability in a behavioral domain of long-standing interest to personality psychologists: humor. Individuals participated in three assessment sessions. Personal beliefs about reasons for using humor were assessed either idiographically or with respect to a nomothetic system of humor-related reasons for action. The subjective relevance of nomothetically- and idiographically-identified reasons to everyday social situations was assessed. Subsequently, participants reported their perceived likelihood of using humor in specific social contexts. As predicted, likelihood of humor use varied substantially as a function of the relevance of situations to idiographically-identified reasons, but did not vary as a function of the relevance of situations to reasons identified nomothetically. Implications for personality and assessment are discussed.     

The nonverbal expression of pride: evidence for cross-cultural recognition

The present research tests whether recognition for the nonverbal expression of pride generalizes across cultures. Study 1 provided the first evidence for cross-cultural recognition of pride, demonstrating that the expression generalizes across Italy and the United States. Study 2 found that the pride expression generalizes beyond Western cultures; individuals from a preliterate, highly isolated tribe in Burkina Faso, West Africa, reliably recognized pride, regardless of whether it was displayed by African or American targets. These Burkinabe participants were unlikely to have learned the pride expression through cross-cultural transmission, so their recognition suggests that pride may be a human universal. Studies 3 and 4 used drawn figures to systematically manipulate the ethnicity and gender of targets showing the expression, and demonstrated that pride recognition generalizes across male and female targets of African, Asian, and Caucasian descent. Discussion focuses on the implications of the findings for the universality of the pride expression.     

MMPI-A forensic case studies: uses in documented court decisions

In this article, we describe 8 legal cases reporting the use of the MMPI-A (Butcher et al., 1992) that were identified by an exhaustive search of the Westlaw database. These case studies provide a unique perspective on the uses of the MMPI-A as reflected in documented court decisions. For each case, we first provide a brief discussion of the legal issue or standard of law addressed by the MMPI-A findings. We then provide an abstract of the facts of the case and the nature of the involvement of the MMPI-A. We conclude each case with a more general discussion of the psychological uses and limitations of the MMPI-A as applied to this specific legal issue or standard. Not only do these cases display a wide range of legal issues, but they also provide an excellent opportunity to discuss some important uses and limitations of MMPI-A assessment when used as a component in a forensic evaluation.     

What lies beneath: Parenting style and implicit self-esteem

The current studies extend previous research on self-esteem by examining one of the likely origins of implicit self-esteem. Three studies showed that young adult children who reported that their parents were more nurturing reported higher implicit self-esteem compared with those whose parents were less nurturing. Studies 2 and 3 added a measure of overprotectiveness and revealed that children who reported that their parents were overprotective also reported lower implicit self-esteem. Moreover, Study 3 revealed that mothers’ independent reports of their early interactions with their children were also related to children’s level of implicit self-esteem. In all three studies, these findings remained reliable when we controlled statistically for participants’ explicit self-esteem. These findings contribute to a growing body of literature validating the construct of implicit self-esteem.