Ensemble perception of size in 4–5‐year‐old children

Groups of objects are nearly everywhere we look. Adults can perceive and understand the ‘gist’ of multiple objects at once, engaging ensemble‐coding mechanisms that summarize a group's overall appearance. Are these group‐perception mechanisms in place early in childhood? Here, we provide the first evidence that 4–5‐year‐old children use ensemble coding to perceive the average size of a group of objects. Children viewed a pair of trees, with each containing a group of differently sized oranges. We found that, in order to determine which tree had the larger oranges overall, children integrated the sizes of multiple oranges into ensemble representations. This pooling occurred rapidly, and it occurred despite conflicting information from numerosity, continuous extent, density, and contrast. An ideal observer analysis showed that although children's integration mechanisms are sensitive, they are not yet as efficient as adults’. Overall, our results provide a new insight into the way children see and understand the environment, and they illustrate the fundamental nature of ensemble coding in visual perception.     

The effect of communication deficits on anxiety symptoms in infants and toddlers with autism spectrum disorders

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are life-long developmental disorders characterized by impairments in the development of reciprocal social and communication skills, abnormal language development, and a restricted repertoire of behaviors and interests. While it has been known for some time that children with ASD can evince elevated rates of anxiety symptoms, little research has been conducted on whether deficits in communication skills affect the range of anxiety symptoms in infants and toddlers with ASD. This study represents a first attempt to determine whether deficits in communication skills have an effect on the expression of anxiety in infants and toddlers with autistic disorder and pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified. Seven hundred thirty-five infants were evaluated with respect to the nature and extent of anxiety symptoms and developmental functioning. Both receptive and expressive communication skills appeared to play a significant role in the manifestation of anxiety symptoms.     

Enacting modesty in Chinese culture: The joint contribution of personal characteristics and contextual features

This research revealed the joint impact of personality traits, social axioms, role relationships and the privacy of social situations on the enactment of three types of modesty, namely, avoiding attention, self‐effacement, and enhancement of others, among Hong Kong Chinese teenage females. The modest personality trait was found to relate positively to these modest behaviours. An individual's belief in reward for application significantly predicted self‐effacement, and the belief in social cynicism significantly predicted avoiding attention and enhancement of others. Contextual variables as measured by the role relationships and the privacy of the social setting also significantly affected the levels of these modest behaviours.     

Primary Care Physicians’ Awareness, Experience and Opinions of Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing

The purpose of this study was to assess primary care physicians’ awareness, experience, opinions and preparedness to answer patients’ questions regarding direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing. An anonymous survey was mailed to 2,402 family and internal medicine providers in North Carolina. Of the 382 respondents, 38.7% (n = 148) were aware of and 15% (n = 59) felt prepared to answer questions about DTC genetic tests. Respondents aged 50 or older were more likely to be aware of DTC genetic testing than those less than 40 years old (OR = 2.42). Male providers were more likely to feel prepared to answer questions than female providers (OR = 2.65). Among respondents who reportedly were aware, family practitioners were more likely than internists (OR = 3.30) to think DTC testing was clinically useful, and 18.9% had patients ask questions or bring in test results. The small percent of physicians who were aware of DTC genetic testing or felt prepared to answer questions about it suggests that education of providers will be necessary if testing becomes more widespread.     

The Impact of Cognitive Expenditure on the Ethical Decision-Making Process: The Cognitive Elaboration Model

The extent to which decision-makers are willing and able to purposely expend cognitive effort in resolving ethical issues is an important area of study in the ethical decision-making literature. In this article we describe the role that cognitive expenditure is expected to play in the ethical decision-making process by presenting an integrated model of ethical decision-making. This model provides the foundation for a series of research propositions suggesting the manner in which purposive cognitive expenditure is expected to influence the ethical decision process and, ultimately, the likelihood of engaging in moral behavior.     

Gender Differences in Risk and Promotive Classifications Associated With Adolescent Delinquency

How likely are children exposed to multiple risk factors to engage in delinquent behavior, to what extent do promotive factors mitigate exposure to these risk factors, and do the predictors of delinquent behavior differ by gender? To address these questions, the authors analyzed data from youths (229 boys, 187 girls) who completed the third wave of the Lehigh Longitudinal Study using Latent Profile Analysis. A unique risk and promotive class with slightly elevated rates of exposure to parental violence, mean levels of other risk factors and low levels of promotive factors was present for girls but not for boys. Additionally, for boys and girls, high-risk, low-promotive individuals were significantly more likely to engage in delinquent behavior than low-risk, high-promotive cases. Findings suggest the need to examine risk and promotive factors in combination to account for their shared influences on developmental outcomes for youth.     

The emergence and reduction of bias in letters of recommendation

Despite the widespread use of letters of recommendation (LORs) in selection systems, research has largely failed to consider the potential emergence of bias in interpretations of LORs. The present study fills this void by examining both race and gender bias in evaluations of LORs and assessing the efficacy of elaboration as a strategy for reducing such bias. Undergraduate students (n = 423) rated four LORs that varied with regard to applicant race and gender. Results suggest that bias does exist in evaluations of LORs, but that requiring raters to expand on their evaluations (i.e., elaborate) reduces this bias. Implications include elaboration as a strategy organizations can implement to reduce bias from emerging when relying on LORs as a selection tool.