What causes the word gap? Financial concerns may systematically suppress child-directed speech

Parents with fewer educational and economic resources (low socioeconomic-status, SES) tend to speak less to their children, with consequences for children's later life outcomes. Despite this well-established and highly popularized link, less research addresses why the SES “word gap” exists. Moreover, while research has assessed individual-level contributors to the word gap—like differences in parenting knowledge—we know little about how structural constraints that vary according to SES might affect caregivers’ speech. In two pre-registered studies, we test whether experiencing financial scarcity can suppress caregivers’ speech to their children. Study 1 suggests that higher-SES caregivers who are prompted to reflect on scarcity—particularly those who reflect on financial scarcity—speak less to their 3-year-olds in a subsequent play session, relative to a control group. Study 2 suggests that mid- to higher-SES caregivers engage in fewer back-and-forth exchanges with their children at the end of the month—when they are more likely to be experiencing financial hardship—than the rest of the month. These studies provide preliminary evidence that—above and beyond caregivers’ individual characteristics—structural constraints may affect how much parents speak to their children.     

Ambivalent sexism: a tool for understanding and improving gender relations in organizations

This study tested predictions regarding ambivalent sexism, previously studied cross-culturally, here "within-culturally", between groups from different organizational settings. Based on three samples (334 adults in general, 744 industrial employees, and 189 high school students), completing a Swedish version of the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI), the results revealed that men scored higher on hostile and benevolent sexism than women, and high school students scored higher than both adult samples on both forms of sexism. The results generally confirmed the predictions; the gender gap in benevolent sexism decreased as a function of increasing levels of general sexism and the correlation between hostile and benevolent sexism decreased with higher levels of general sexism. In fact, the groups scoring highest on general sexism displayed significant negative correlations indicating a polarized ideology of women among these groups. Implications, both theoretical and practical, derived from these results are discussed.     

Perceptions of psychotherapy trainees of psychotherapy research

Aims: The research‐practice gap and lack of engagement with research by trainees and qualified therapists is a widely discussed issue amongst psychotherapy researchers. The present study investigates the perceptions of psychotherapy trainees of psychotherapy research and explores what would encourage them to participate in research. Method: Two focus groups of 16 trainees in total were conducted at two separate psychotherapy training institutes to explore trainees’ attitudes and perceptions. Data was analysed using Braun and Clarke's (2006) thematic analysis. Results: Three superordinate themes emerged: negative perception of research; recognition of the importance of research; and what would be needed to facilitate engagement in research. Discussion: The results suggest that interest in and willingness to participate in research exists, however it is necessary for negative perceptions about research to be addressed and for researchers to design projects which are supportive of participants.     

反向眼跳的实验范式、机制及影响因素

反向眼跳任务是研究内源性眼跳的主要方法。1978年,Hallett在研究中首次使用了反向眼跳的实验任务。实验中要求被试抑制对外围目标的注视,并注视它的相反位置。反向眼跳任务是研究行为控制以及注意功能的有效范式。目前认为反向眼跳任务中的朝向眼跳和反向眼跳计划是同时加工并相互竞争的,并且反向眼跳的产生与额顶叶皮层下组织有关。反向眼跳会受到多种因素的影响,例如,空白效应、工作记忆、认知老化、目标离心率等。     

Planning and preparatory actions facilitate physical activity maintenance

ObjectiveMany people do not behave in line with their self-imposed goal to be more physically active. To bridge this intention–behavior gap, detailed planning is regarded as being instrumental. Moreover, preparatory actions are supposed to facilitate physical activity in conjunction with planning. Thus, preparatory actions are seen as mediators between intention and behaviors. The present study examines whether intention is translated into physical activity stepwise via planning as well as via preparatory actions.DesignAt three points in time, physical activity, planning, preparatory actions, and the intention to be physically active were assessed in 338 participants.MethodsBy means of structural equation modeling, it was examined whether the pathway from intention to physical activity includes a mediating sequence of planning as well as preparatory actions.ResultsThe sequential mediation model confirmed pathways from intention to planning, from planning to preparatory behaviors, and from preparatory behaviors to follow-up physical activity, while controlling for baseline indicators. Furthermore, there was an indirect effect of intention on preparatory actions via planning, an indirect effect of planning on physical activity via preparatory actions, and an indirect effect of intention on physical activity via planning and preparatory actions thus, confirming the hypothesized sequence.ConclusionsIndividuals who are motivated to be physically active are likely to make a plan, and if they do so, they are more likely to take preparatory actions, resulting in a higher chance to perform the target behavior.     

Closing the empathy gap in college students' judgments of end‐of‐life tradeoffs

When considering hypothetical end‐of‐life (EOL) scenarios involving 80‐year‐old intensive‐care unit patients, young adults are more likely than older adults to judge that shorter lifespan would be a fair trade in exchange for a more pleasant death. This result has been interpreted in terms of an empathy gap, in which individuals fail to relate to the affective states of others. If so, the effect should be reduced when young adults consider scenarios involving patients similar to themselves. The present study examined college students' willingness to trade healthy lifespan for better death in EOL scenarios involving 80‐year‐old and 22‐year‐old cancer victims. Results indicated students under 30 were less likely to trade lifespan in the 22‐year‐old scenarios, and were less likely to trade lifespan in either set of scenarios when the 22‐year‐old scenarios were presented first. The findings are consistent with an empathy gap account of judgments concerning EOL care.     

Exogenous and endogenous spatial attention effects on visuospatial working memory

In this study, we investigate how exogenous and endogenous orienting of spatial attention affect visuospatial working memory (VSWM). Specifically, we focused on two attentional effects and their consequences on storage in VSWM, when exogenous (Experiment 1) or endogenous (Experiment 2) orienting cues were used. The first effect, known as the meridian effect, is given by a decrement in behavioural performance when spatial cues and targets are presented in locations separated by vertical and/or horizontal meridians. The second effect, known as the distance effect, is given by a decrement in the orienting effects as a function of the spatial distance between cues and targets. Our results revealed a dissociation between exogenous and endogenous orienting mechanisms in terms of both meridian and distance effects. We found that meridian crossing affects performance only when endogenous cues were used. Specifically, VSWM performance with endogenous cueing depended more on the number of meridian crossings than on distance between cue and target. By contrast, a U-shaped distance dependency was observed using exogenous cues. Our findings therefore suggest that exogenous and endogenous orienting mechanisms lead to different forms of attentional bias for storage in VSWM.     

Numerical representation: Abstract or nonabstract?

Until now it has been a commonly held view that numbers are represented abstractly in the human brain. However, a recent imaging study challenged the existence of an abstract representation at least of digits and number words, at the brain level, and argued that previous studies and paradigms were not sensitive enough to detect deviations from abstract representation at the behavioural level. The current study addressed this issue with an analysis of distance and sequential effects in magnitude classification. Previous studies that used this paradigm did not find deviation from abstract representation for digits and number words (e.g., Dehaene, 1996 Dehaene, S. 1996. The organization of brain activations in number comparison: Event-related potentials and the additive-factors method. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 8: 47–68. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Schwarz & Ischebeck, 2000 Schwarz, W. and Ischebeck, A. 2000. Sequential effects in number comparison. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 26: 1606–1621. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). However, in the current study a short stimulus–response interval was used, which reduced subjective expectancy and increased automatic processing. The current results showed deviation from abstract representation in both reaction time and accuracy and therefore support the idea that nonabstract representations of numbers do exist.     

Prior expectation and the interpretation of natural language quantifiers

Abstract

The interpretation of natural language quantifiers depends, in part, on one's prior expectations about what the proportion being described might be. This hypothesis is tested empirically, by comparing the interpretation of 10 different quantifier expressions in three contexts which contained proportions about which subjects' expectations were reliably different (Experiment 1). It is further argued that quantifiers perform many functions which cannot be observed by considering only the proportion(s) denoted by a quantifier. The experimental evidence presented shows that quantifiers can provide information about what the user of the quantifier had expected before “knowing the facts” (Experiment 2). It is also clear that when writers produce a quantifier, they can reveal their assumptions about the prior expectations held by their readers (Experiment 2).     

Relationship Quality,Commitment, and Stability in Long‐Distance Relationships

Using a nationally representative sample (N = 870), the present study compared long‐distance romantic relationships to close‐proximity romantic relationships in terms of relationship quality, commitment, and stability. Individuals in long‐distance relationships generally reported higher levels of relationship quality on a number of relationship quality variables, as well as higher levels of dedication to their relationships and lower levels of feeling trapped (i.e., felt constraint), but were similar to individuals in close‐proximity relationships in terms of perceived and material constraints. Although individuals in long‐distance relationships perceived a lower likelihood of breaking up with their partner at the initial time point, they were as likely as the individuals in close‐proximity relationships to have broken up by the follow‐up assessment.