The Price of Rights: High School Students' Civic Values and Behaviors

Previous analyses of U.S. civics textbooks documented an overwhelming emphasis on citizen rights to the relative exclusion of citizen obligations and participation. Despite evidence of this uneven coverage, scholars have not yet investigated the psychological and behavioral consequences of this asymmetry, which may be especially consequential in the U.S., a predominantly individualistic culture. The present research does just this by analyzing survey data collected from high school students in civics courses. As expected, and in accordance with the content of civics curricula, students show greater endorsement of rights than of obligations. Moreover, higher support for obligations increases students' intention to vote and to participate in civic and extracurricular activities, whereas endorsement of rights is negatively associated with political participation.     

Decision-Making About Reproductive Choices Among Individuals At-Risk for Huntington's Disease

We explored how individuals at-risk for HD who have or have not been tested make reproductive decisions and what factors are involved. We interviewed 21 individuals (8 with and 4 without the mutation, and 9 un-tested) in-depth for 2 hours each. At-risk individuals faced a difficult series of dilemmas of whether to: get pregnant and deliver, have fetal testing, have pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, adopt, or have no children. These individuals weighed competing desires and concerns: their own desires vs. those of spouses vs. broader moral concerns (e.g., to end the disease; and/or follow dictates against abortion) vs. perceptions of the interests of current or future offspring. Quandaries arose of how much and to whom to feel responsible. Some changed their perspectives over time (e.g., first “gambling,” then being more cautious). These data have critical implications for genetic counselors and other health care workers and future research, particularly as more genetic tests become available.     

Test-retest reliability of psychophysiological assessment

Thirty subjects participated in a study of the test-retest reliability of five psychophysiological assessment procedures: habituation. Quiz Electrocardiogram, anger imagery, aversive slides and startle. The procedures were presented in identical fashion, 2 weeks apart. Skin conductance level and response, heart rate, vasomotor response, skin temperature, frontalis and forearm electromyogram, respiration rate. and systolic and diastolic blood pressure were recorded continuously. The following analyses were performed on Test-Retest data: correlations, baseline changes, profile similarity, and stability of ranked standardized physiological scores. Significant but modest Test-Retest correlations were found for skin conductance level and response, skin temperature, respiration rate, heart rate and systolic blood pressure. Absolute scores were more often stable than change scores. All baselines were stable from Test to Retest. Four baselines and four test procedures had Test-Retest Profile Similarity Index scores indicating reliability. Chi-square analyses of Retest ranks of standardized physiological scores showed that the two most and least responsive measures accounted for Test-Retest stability. Conclusions were: (a) Psychophysiological response patterns are reliable for baselines and procedures, and single psychophysiological measures (especially absolute scores) are moderately stable; (b) Traditional (correlational) estimates of the reliability of single psychophysiological responses are limited by individual-response stereotypy, but multivariate analysis of response pattern provides a better index of reliability.     

The development of the Body Morph Assessment version 2.0 (BMA 2.0): Tests of reliability and validity

This study tested the psychometric characteristics of the Body Morph Assessment version 2.0 (BMA 2.0). A sample of 563 adults composed of four groups classified by gender and ethnicity (Caucasian men and women and African-American men and women) were studied. Support for the internal consistency and test–retest reliability of the BMA 2.0 was found for both men and women. A study of convergent validity was conducted. The BMA 2.0 was found to have adequate reliability and validity. Norms were established for the BMA 2.0 estimates of current body size (CBS), ideal body size (IBS), and acceptable body size (ABS) for Caucasian and African-American men and women. In summary, the BMA 2.0 is a reliable and valid computerized measure of CBS, IBS, ABS, the CBS–IBS discrepancy (body dissatisfaction), and provides an estimate of over/underestimation of body size as compared to individuals of the same sex and body mass index.     

Precision of imitation as a function of preschoolers' understanding of the goal of the demonstration

The authors argue that imitation is a flexible and adaptive learning mechanism in that children do not always reproduce all of the details they can from a demonstration. Instead, they vary their replications depending on their interpretation of the situation. Specifically, the authors propose that when children do not understand the overall reason for a model's behavior, they will be more likely to imitate precisely. By copying conservatively in these situations, children may have a good chance of reproducing the action of the model correctly. In contrast, when the reason for an action is clear, children will be more likely to deviate from the manners and flourishes of the model and use their own means to complete the action.     

Functional cerebral asymmetry in hostility: a dual task approach with fluency and cardiovascular regulation

The influence of hostility levels on verbal and nonverbal fluency, and the concurrent cerebral regulation of autonomic nervous system functioning was examined in 48 right-handed males, half classified as low-hostile, and half as high-hostile. Recent research has supported inhibitory roles for the anterior right cerebrum in sympathetic regulation, and the anterior left cerebrum in parasympathetic regulation. Two neuropsychological tests purportedly mediated by left and right anterior cerebral systems, respectively, are the Controlled Oral Word Association Test and the Ruff Figural Fluency Test. Fluency and perseverative errors were assessed using these measures. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate were assessed with a digital blood pressure meter. It was predicted that high-hostile men would evidence interference on cardiovascular regulation concurrent with the nonverbal fluency task in comparison to low-hostile males. Further, interference was expected to manifest in the cognitive variable with more perseverative errors on the nonverbal fluency task in high-hostile males than in low-hostile males. The results support a capacity-limited prediction. High-hostile males evidenced significantly heightened systolic blood pressure during the nonverbal fluency task in comparison with low-hostile males. Further, high-hostile males displayed more perseverative errors in nonverbal fluency than did the low-hostile males. These results support the expectation that differences exist between high- and low-hostile males for right frontal functioning. These findings were discussed within the proposed anterior-posterior inhibition model of hostility.     

An Examination of Stimulus Control in Fluency-Based Strategies: SAFMEDS and Generalization

Fluency-based strategies such as Say All Fast a Minute Each Day Shuffled (SAFMEDS) effectively promote fluent responding (i.e., high rate and accuracy). It is possible, however, that the stimulus control developed through these activities inhibits stimulus generalization. We investigated this concern in a two-part study with college students. Study 1 assessed generalization of rates of responding from training with SAFMEDS to a novel set of equivalent SAFMEDS flashcards. Results indicate that SAFMEDS promoted fluent responding, but rates of responding decreased during generalization probes. Furthermore, higher rates of responding during training were correlated with a greater decrease in rates of responding during generalization probes. This may indicate that students attend to irrelevant stimulus features of SAFMEDS during training. Study 2 examined the effects of embedding multiple-exemplar training within SAFMEDS. Results indicate that multiple-exemplar training can promote generalization of accurate and high-rate responding when incorporated in a SAFMEDS activity.