The Presence of Odd Pricing in the Texas State Lottery1

We examined 443 drawings from the Texas state lottery from 1992 to 1997 to determine whether odd pricing effects would be found in multimillion-dollar lotteries. Specifically, we predicted that many more lottery tickets than expected would be purchased when the jackpot amount was $10 million than when it was $9 million. Three findings emerged. First, the higher the jackpot, the more tickets were purchased. Second, odd pricing effects were found at $10 million such that approximately 670,000 more tickets were purchased than expected. Third, controlling for the jackpot amount, there were approximately 620,000 fewer tickets purchased for each drawing per year. This final finding provides evidence that people are becoming less interested in multimillion-dollar lotteries.     

Correction to gonzalez (2012)

Reports an error in "Association of solitary binge drinking and suicidal behavior among emerging adult college students" by Vivian M. Gonzalez (Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, Advanced Online Publication, Jan 30, 2012, np). In the article, there is an error in the introductory paragraph. The number of students who had seriously considered attempting suicide in the Barrios, Everett, Simon, & Brener (2000) study should have been reported as 11.4%, not 1.4%. Additionally, in the Participants section, data for the study were collected from March 2009 to September 2010, not March 2009 to January 2010 as reported. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2012-02608-001.) Emerging adult college students who binge drink in solitary contexts (i.e., while alone) experience greater depression and suicidal ideation than do students who only binge drink in social contexts, suggesting that they may be at greater risk for suicidal behavior. This study examined the association of a previous suicide attempt, one of the best predictors of future suicide attempts and suicide, and severity of recent suicidal ideation with drinking in solitary and social contexts. Participants were binge drinking, emerging adult (18- to 25-year-old) college students (N = 182) drawn from two studies of college drinkers. A logistic regression analysis revealed that both suicide attempt history and severity of suicidal ideation were significantly associated with a greater likelihood of being a solitary binge drinker as opposed to only a social binge drinker. Students with a previous suicide attempt were nearly four times more likely to be solitary binge drinkers. Multiple regression analyses revealed that suicide attempt history was significantly associated with greater frequency and quantity of drinking in solitary, but not social contexts. Suicidal ideation was significantly associated with drinks per solitary drinking day, but not frequency of solitary drinking once suicide attempt history was accounted for. Given the associations found between solitary binge drinking and a history of suicide attempts, as well as greater severity of recent suicidal ideation, it appears that these students are in need of suicide prevention efforts, including treatment efforts aimed at reducing binge drinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Understanding of Genetic Inheritance among Xhosa-Speaking Caretakers of Children with Hemophilia

Hemophilia A and B are X-linked recessive inherited bleeding disorders that have a profound impact on the family of affected individuals. Education is vital to enable women to appreciate the implications of being a carrier and the implications for a prospective child. Prior research has shown that cultural, socio-economic and linguistic issues in South Africa are major barriers to communication for first-language Xhosa-speakers. This exploratory study aimed to investigate the basic knowledge of genetic inheritance among this cultural group in order to promote culturally-sensitive, effective genetic counseling. Ten in-depth interviews were conducted with Xhosa-speaking mothers or caregivers of boys with hemophilia. Results suggest that the participants had a very limited understanding of the clinical management, genetic consequences and cause of hemophilia. While treatment and care by health care service providers was fully accepted, several participants believed that traditional methods would provide them with more satisfactory explanations. These findings suggest that there is a critical need for socio-culturally tailored, language-specific education for families with hemophilia.     

I like you but I don't know why: Objective facial resemblance to significant others influences snap judgments

Does a new person's objective facial resemblance to a significant other influence snap judgments of liking, and if so, does this effect occur even when individuals are not consciously aware of the resemblance? Participants (romantic couples) made trait judgments about 24 novel faces, each shown for 500 ms. Objective facial resemblance was manipulated using morphing techniques such that half of the novel faces resembled participants' partner and half did not. We found that women's evaluations of novel men who resembled their partner (vs. those who did not) were more positive, but men's evaluations of novel women were not appreciably affected by facial resemblance. These results held even when individuals were not consciously aware of the resemblance. Moreover, the effect of facial resemblance on judgments of liking was more pronounced for individuals who were more satisfied in their relationship, suggesting that these results were due to activating the specific partner representation (rather than familiarity). This research shows that objective facial resemblance to a significant other influences snap judgments of liking automatically, effortlessly, and without conscious awareness.     

Mothers' voices: Coping with their children's initial disability diagnosis

For parents of infants and toddlers receiving a diagnosis of disability, a variety of responses may result. Yet, little is known about the specific ways families cope with the initial diagnosis. This qualitative study investigated 6 mothers' memories of their children's diagnoses. Mothers described their use of both palliative strategies (denying, questioning, and wishful thinking) and problem‐solving strategies (searching for information, seeking social support, reframing, and seeking spiritual support) to cope with their children's initial diagnoses. The results of this study may improve professionals' understanding of parents' need for information and support at the time of initial diagnosis.     

Psychopathic personality as a distinctive indicator of severity and persistence for child and youth conduct problems

Conduct problems are among the most discussed behavioral problems during childhood and adolescence. Given their heterogeneity, in recent years, researchers on this topic have called for delineation of early-onset conduct problems on the basis of affective, interpersonal and behavioral traits that resemble adult psychopathy. The present study aims to analyze, from both a cross-sectional and longitudinal perspective, whether early psychopathic traits allow identification of a group of individuals defined by severe and persistent behavioral problems. To achieve this goal, data from a sample of 192 children (aged 6 to 11) were analyzed; from this sample, 133 children were followed-up in a new data collection that took place three years later. From the data obtained with the mCPS and CBCL (parents), and APSD and TRF (teachers), we observed that children who showed early psychopathic traits, also showed greater frequency, severity and persistence of conduct problems. These results suggest the need to take into account the role of psychopathic traits (particularly, affective and interpersonal) as risk factors to delimit the most serious and persistent patterns of externalizing behavior.     

Exposure to severe urban air pollution influences cognitive outcomes, brain volume and systemic inflammation in clinically healthy children

Exposure to severe air pollution produces neuroinflammation and structural brain alterations in children. We tested whether patterns of brain growth, cognitive deficits and white matter hyperintensities (WMH) are associated with exposures to severe air pollution. Baseline and 1 year follow-up measurements of global and regional brain MRI volumes, cognitive abilities (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised, WISC-R), and serum inflammatory mediators were collected in 20 Mexico City (MC) children (10 with white matter hyperintensities, WMH⁺, and 10 without, WMH⁻) and 10 matched controls (CTL) from a low polluted city. There were significant differences in white matter volumes between CTL and MC children - both WMH⁺ and WMH⁻ - in right parietal and bilateral temporal areas. Both WMH⁻ and WMH⁺ MC children showed progressive deficits, compared to CTL children, on the WISC-R Vocabulary and Digit Span subtests. The cognitive deficits in highly exposed children match the localization of the volumetric differences detected over the 1 year follow-up, since the deficits observed are consistent with impairment of parietal and temporal lobe functions. Regardless of the presence of prefrontal WMH, Mexico City children performed more poorly across a variety of cognitive tests, compared to CTL children, thus WMH⁺ is likely only partially identifying underlying white matter pathology. Together these findings reveal that exposure to air pollution may perturb the trajectory of cerebral development and result in cognitive deficits during childhood.     

Shetland ponies (Equus caballus) show quantity discrimination in a matching-to-sample design

Numerical competence is one of the aspects of animal cognition with a long history of research interest, but few results are available for the horse. In the present study, we investigated the ability of three Shetland ponies to discriminate between different quantities of geometric symbols presented on a computer screen in a matching-to-sample arrangement. In Experiment 1, the ponies had to relate two similar quantities to another, paired in contrasts (1 vs. 2, 3 vs. 4 and 4 vs. 5) of the same stimulus (dot). Specific pairs of quantities (all differing by one) of up to five different geometrical symbols were displayed in Experiment 2. In each session, both quantities (more and less) were used as sample in such a way that each of the two quantities presented in one test served as positive and as negative stimulus, respectively. The three Shetland ponies were able to discriminate between the given quantities of dots by showing more than 80 % correct responses in two consecutive sessions. Only one of the ponies distinguished different shapes of geometric symbols at a level of 4 versus 5 items. The results show that all ponies were capable of visual quantity discrimination in the present matching-to-sample design, but task solving seemed more difficult when quantities were composed of heterogeneous stimuli. The present results confirm our hypothesis that the ponies based their decision on the matching concept of sameness and were not biased by a spontaneous preference for higher quantities.     

Attention to Emotion and Non-Western Faces: Revisiting the Facial Feedback Hypothesis

In a modified replication of Strack, Martin, and Stepper's demonstration of the Facial Feedback Hypothesis (1988), we investigated the effect of attention to emotion on the facial feedback process in a non-western cultural setting. Participants, recruited from two universities in Ghana, West Africa, gave self-reports of their perceived levels of attention to emotion, and then completed cartoon-rating tasks while randomly assigned to smiling, frowning, or neutral conditions. While participants with low Attention to Emotion scores displayed the usual facial feedback effect (rating cartoons as funnier when in the smiling compared to the frowning condition), the effect was not present in individuals with high Attention to Emotion. The findings indicate that (1) the facial feedback process can occur in contexts beyond those in which the phenomenon has previously been studied, and (2) aspects of emotion regulation, such as Attention to Emotion can interfere with the facial feedback process.