Influence of weight loss therapy programs in body image self-perception in adults with intellectual disabilities

Some studies suggest that people with intellectual disabilities (ID) might show distortions regarding body image self-perception. The objectives of this study were to investigate whether people with ID could correctly identify their body image and to determine if participating in a weight loss therapy program (WLTP) influenced in any way that perception. For that purpose, an experiment was proposed and all along a weight loss therapy program, a comparison between a body image subjective measure, as the Stunkard scale, and an objective one, as body mass index, was performed. The results obtained showed that individuals with ID (n = 24) perceived in a wrong way their body image before any intervention program (58%). After applying the WLTP for ten weeks, an accentuation in this perception distortion (83%), mostly related with underestimation, was observed with respect to actual body mass index values. The strongest conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that people with ID do not correctly identify their body image. Furthermore, participating in WLTP influences their physical self-concept perception in the way that controlling two variables, as exercise and caloric restriction, causes greater disruption in that perception than controlling only one of them.     

Coping responses in the midst of terror: The July 22 terror attack at Utøya Island in Norway

This study examined the peri‐trauma coping responses of 325 survivors, mostly youth, after the July 22, 2011 terror attack on Utøya Island in Norway. The aim was to understand peri‐trauma coping responses and their relation to subsequent post‐traumatic stress (PTS) reactions. Respondents were interviewed face‐to‐face 4–5 months after the shooting, and most were interviewed at their homes. Peri‐trauma coping was assessed using ten selected items from the “How I Cope Under Pressure Scale” (HICUPS), covering the dimensions of problem solving, positive cognitive restructuring, avoidance, support seeking, seeking understanding, and religious coping. PTS reactions were assessed with the UCLA PTSD Reaction Index. The participants reported using a wide variety of coping strategies. Problem solving, positive cognitive restructuring, and seeking understanding strategies were reported most often. Men reported using more problem‐solving strategies, whereas women reported more emotion‐focused strategies. There were no significant associations between age and the use of coping strategies. Problem solving and positive cognitive restructuring were significantly associated with fewer PTS reactions. The results are discussed in light of previous research and may help to inform early intervention efforts for survivors of traumatic events.     

The role of idiosyncratic attribute evaluation in mass customization

The growing use of mass customization necessitates an understanding of consumers' evaluations of mass customization platforms. We hypothesize that consumers' objective and subjective knowledge of the customized product moderate the influence of idiosyncratically evaluated (i.e., personalizable) attributes on satisfaction with a customization platform. Consistent with our theoretical framework, results from three experiments show that offering greater variety in idiosyncratically evaluated attribute options increases consumers' satisfaction to a greater extent for: (1) novices than experts (2) consumers with more subjective knowledge, and (3) miscalibrated consumers whose subjective knowledge does not match their objective knowledge, than calibrated consumers whose subjective and objective knowledge match.     

A Cross-Cultural Exploration: Body Image in Older Black and White Women in the Workplace

This study investigated body image attitudes in a non-clinical sample of black and white older professional women in the workplace in South Africa. Participants were 125 professional women (white woman n=76 and black women n = 49). They completed the shortened version of the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) (Cooper, Taylor, Cooper & Fairburn, 1987). The BSQ is a self-report instrument that measures weight and shape concerns. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-tests for independent samples were used to determine the univariate relationships between variables. Following this, a two-way analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was conducted to explore the interaction between ethnicity and BMI. The results indicate that Body Mass Index (BMI) and ethnicity are significantly and independently related to the body shape image. Women with higher BMI scores tended to have more concern about their bodies. Black women with higher BMI scores had more concerns than their white colleagues.     

Idealized media images and adolescent body image: "comparing" boys and girls

Sociocultural theories of body image suggest that body dissatisfaction results from unrealistic societal beauty ideals, and one way of transmitting these ideals is through the mass media. The present research aimed to examine the effect of exposure to images of idealized beauty in the media on adolescent girls’ and boys’ body image. The participants (595 adolescents) viewed television commercials containing either images of the thin ideal for women, images of the muscular ideal for men, or non-appearance television commercials. Body dissatisfaction was measured before and after commercial viewing. It was found that exposure to idealized commercials led to increased body dissatisfaction for girls but not for boys. Idealized commercials led to increased negative mood and appearance comparison for girls and boys, although the effect on appearance comparison was stronger for girls. Further, participants high on appearance investment reported greater appearance comparison after viewing idealized commercials than those less strongly invested in their appearance. The results suggest the immediate impact of the media on body image is both stronger and more normative for girls than for boys, but that some boys may also be affected.     

Terrorism in the Evolution Wars: Mass Media and Human Nature

Antievolutionist and New Atheist pundits invoke the specter of terrorism in widely distributed mass media. Notably, allusions to terrorism within such Evolution Wars communications are frequently associated with discourse on human nature, morality, and values. Such discourse includes references to substantive and relational traits linked with human distinctiveness, as well as the moral implications of evolution and religion. This paper examines broadcasts disseminated by the most media vocal Darwin skeptics and New Atheists, revealing the ways in which the dread of terrorism is married to discussions of evolutionary theory.     

Pauses and syntax in American sign language

Research on spoken languages has shown that the durations of silent pauses in a sentence are strongly related to the syntactic structure of the sentence. A similar analysis of the pauses (holds) in a passage in American Sign Language reveals that sequences of signs are also interspersed with holds of different lengths: long holds appear to indicate the ends of sentences; shorter holds, the break between two conjoined sentences; and the shortest holds, breaks between internal constituents. Thus, pausal analysis is a guide to parsing sentences in ASL.     

On the meaning of statistical interactions

The problems which can arise in predicting the presence or absence of statistical interactions when a theoretical model is not set into correspondence with the experimental design model are considered in the context of a specific study of developmental differences in distractibility. It is concluded that intuitive or incomplete theoretical analyses often lead to incorrect prediction concerning statistical interactions and to spurious or ambiguous conclusions based on the confirmation or disconfirmation of those predictions and that the analysis of the relationship between a theoretical model and the experimental design model will offer considerable protection against such undesirable outcomes.     

Children's size judgments when size and distance vary: Is there a developmental trend to overconstancy?

A review of the experimental literature on size constancy in children shows that studies permitting unrestricted viewing in natural settings provide only limited support for the hypothesis, proposed by Wohlwill, of a developmental trend from under- to overconstancy. A study is reported in which subjects aged 8 to 18 years made magnitude estimations of height for targets whose height and distance from them varied. For distances up to 15 m, and heights from 5 to 50 cm, size constancy prevailed at all ages: The same number was assigned to a given height at every distance. If a developmental trend exists, it requires either younger subjects or greater distances to be revealed.     

Self-directed activity and cognitive development

Both in constructivist theories of development and in educational applications of such theories, self-directed activity is aleged to play a critical role in the developmental process. The purpose of the present study was to subject this popular assertation to empirical examination. Subjects were fourth- and fifth-graders who showed no formal operational reasoning. Subjects assigned to an experimental condition were matched with yoked-control partners of the same sex and grade. An additional group of subjects was assigned to a simple control condition. Experimental and yoked-control subjects were given opportunities to solve problems requiring formal operational reasoning over a three-month period. The procedure for experimental subjects differed from that for yoked-controls only in that experimental subjects selected the particular information-seeking activities they would engage in. Yoked-control subjects carried out the same activities that had been chosen by their experimental partners. Both groups showed significant progress in the construction of new reasoning strategies, but experimental subjects showed greater progress than yoked-controls. The enhanced progress of the experimental subjects, it is suggested, was due to the increased presence of anticipatory schemes regarding the outcomes of their actions. These anticipatory schemes allowed subjects to better “make use of”, in the cognitive sense—in other words, assimilate into a theoretical framework—the data yielded by the experiments, and thus they gained more from their experience.