Sex differences in landmark learning by children aged 5 to 12 years

Previous research has shown that men and boys learn routes faster and with fewer errors than do women and girls. Research with adults suggests that men use Euclidean cues when learning a route, whereas women use landmark-based strategies. The strategies used by children have received little study. In Exp. 1, 50 boys and girls, ages 5 to 12 years, were shown a map that contained only landmarks (no streets or roads) and were asked to learn a route consisting of 23 of the landmarks. The children used a pointer to trace the route on the map to a criterion of two successive trials without errors. The performance of boys and girls did not differ significantly on this route-learning task on three measures (number of trials to reach criterion, total time to reach criterion, and total number of errors). In Exp. 2, 52 boys and girls, ages 5 to 12 years, were shown the same map as in Exp. 1 and were asked to learn a route consisting of 12 landmarks. The children traced the route by picking pictures of landmarks in the correct order from a stack of cards with pictures of landmarks on them. Girls made significantly fewer errors than boys on this route-learning task in Exp. 2, and a significantly larger number of girls than boys completed the task. None of the boys in the 5- to 6-yr.-old age group learned the route. When Euclidean cues were minimized in Exp. 2, boys made more errors and took as much time as girls to reach the criterion of two successive correct trials.     

Disability and rehabilitation research. Opportunities for participation,collaboration, and extramural funding for psychologists

The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) funds research and related activities that promote new knowledge that helps individuals with disabilities to perform regular activities in the community and increases the capacity of society to provide full opportunities and supports for individuals with disabilities. NIDRR achieves this goal by promoting interdisciplinary research and related activities. Psychologists play a key role in many of these activities and assist with improving understanding of disability and rehabilitation by participating in peer review of research proposals or by reviewing NIDRR's proposed research priorities. Psychologists also contribute by taking advantage of training and the many other opportunities for support outlined in this article.     

Connections among symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder: a case series

Theoretical, clinical, and empirical implications of the functional connections between symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are abundant. As such, four cases are presented here of men and women who met criteria for comorbid OCD and PTSD. All had been diagnosed with treatment-resistant OCD and were seeking treatment from an OCD specialty clinic or institute, all reported a history of traumatic experiences prior to the onset of OCD, and all appeared to demonstrate negative treatment outcomes. Upon examination, it appeared that symptoms of OCD and PTSD were connected such that decreases in OCD-specific symptoms related to increases in PTSD-specific symptoms, and increases in OCD-specific symptoms related to decreases in PTSD-specific symptoms. Speculations about the function of OCD symptoms in relation to post-traumatic psychopathology are put forth; and theoretical, research, and treatment implications are discussed.     

Values and beliefs of vegetarians and omnivores

Following the claim by some anthropologists and sociologists that 1 symbolic meaning of meat is a preference for hierarchical domination (C. J. Adams, 1990; N. Fiddes, 1989; D. D. Heisley, 1990; J. Twigg, 1983), the authors compared the values and beliefs of vegetarians and omnivores in 2 studies conducted in New Zealand. They compared the full range of vegetarians and omnivores on right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, human values, and consumption values. The participants tending toward omnivorism differed from those leaning toward veganism and vegetarianism in 2 principal ways: The omnivores (a) were more likely to endorse hierarchical domination and (b) placed less importance on emotional states. Accordingly, the acceptance or rejection of meat co-varied with the acceptance or rejection of the values associated with meat; that finding suggests that individuals consume meat and embrace its symbolism in ways consistent with their self-definitions.     

Resistance to extinction of conditioned odor perceptions: evaluative conditioning is not unique

A tasteless odor will smell sweeter after being sampled by mouth with sucrose and will smell sourer after being sampled with citric acid. This tasty-smell effect was found in experiments that compared odor-taste and color-taste pairings. Using odors and colors with minimal taste (Experiment 1), the authors found that repeated experience of odor-taste mixtures produced conditioned changes in odor qualities that were unaffected by intermixed color-taste trials (Experiment 2). An extinction procedure, consisting of postconditioning presentations of the odor in water, had no detectable effect on the changed perception of an odor (Experiments 3 and 4). In contrast, this procedure altered judgments about the expected taste of colored solutions. Evaluative conditioning (conditioned changes in liking) is claimed to be resistant to extinction. However, these results suggest that resistance to extinction in odors is related to the way they are encoded rather than to their hedonic properties.     

Safety first,but for whom? Shifts in risk perception for self and others following COVID-19 vaccination

Vaccines can affect the mind as well as the body. Research on the psychological impact of vaccines has largely focused on risk-related judgments and behaviors involving the recipient. Here, we extend this work to risk-related judgments of others. In a prospective cohort study involving three samples and two timepoints (N = 588 adults), we tested competing hypotheses about the effects of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine on perceived risks to the unvaccinated: (1) a self/other differentiation hypothesis (vaccination will lead to estimation of lower risk for the self but higher risk for others) versus (2) a self/other correspondence hypothesis (vaccination will lead to estimation of lower risk from contracting COVID-19 for both self and others). Results revealed risk estimates as well as preferences for COVID-related social policies more consistent with the former hypothesis. We discuss potential psychological mechanisms and implications of these findings.     

Social interaction skills and theory of mind in young children

Two studies explored relations between peer social skills and theory of mind in young children. In Study 1, a global teacher rating of social skills with peers, performance on a traditional false-belief task, a standardized assessment of auditory language comprehension, and a time sampling of amount of speech with peers were obtained. Positive, but moderate, zero-order correlations were observed between the false-belief measure and social skills, and false belief accounted for a significant amount of additional variance in social skills after covarying age and the 2 measures of language. Study 2 replicated the findings of Study 1 by using a larger sample and a standardized teacher questionnaire. The results are discussed with regard to the critical role of a mentalistic theory of behavior for human social interactions.