Individual differences in children’s private speech: The role of imaginary companions

Relations between children’s imaginary companion status and their engagement in private speech during free play were investigated in a socially diverse sample of 5-year-olds (N = 148). Controlling for socioeconomic status, receptive verbal ability, total number of utterances, and duration of observation, there was a main effect of imaginary companion status on type of private speech. Children who had imaginary companions were more likely to engage in covert private speech compared with their peers who did not have imaginary companions. These results suggest that the private speech of children with imaginary companions is more internalized than that of their peers who do not have imaginary companions and that social engagement with imaginary beings may fulfill a similar role to social engagement with real-life partners in the developmental progression of private speech.     

Risk and resilience: The moderating role of social coping for maternal mental health in a setting of political conflict

Violence can threaten individual wellbeing and tear at the social fabric of communities. At the same time, suffering can mobilize social coping and mutual support. Thus, the backdrop of political violence increases risk factors and stimulates resilience. The current study examined the moderating role of social coping as reflective of risk and resiliency in Northern Ireland, a setting of protracted conflict. Specifically, structural equation modeling was used to investigate whether social coping protects from or exacerbates the negative impact of sectarian crime and nonsectarian crime on maternal mental health (N = 631). Nonsectarian crime predicted greater psychological distress for mothers in Belfast. Mixed support was found for the buffering and depletion moderation hypotheses; social coping functioned differently for nonsectarian crime and sectarian crime. Greater social coping buffered mothers’ psychological distress from the negative effects of nonsectarian crime, but exacerbated maternal mental health problems when facing sectarian crime. Results suggest that social coping is a complex phenomenon, particularly in settings of protracted political violence. Implications for interventions aimed at alleviating psychological distress by enhancing mothers’ social coping in contexts of intergroup conflict are discussed.     

Social Anxiety and the Post-Event Processing of Socially Distressing Events

The correlation between social anxiety, as measured by the Social Phobia Scale, and negative post-event processing of socially distressing events, as measured by a diary record, was studied in a sample of 62 undergraduate students during a 1-week period. Of the participants, 55 individuals reported the experience of at least 1 socially distressing event during this time; only 24 of the participants, however, reported distressing events of a negative-evaluational character during the recording week. Although the Social Phobia Scale did not correlate with post-event processing of socially distressing events in general, it showed moderate to strong correlations with post-event processing of negative-evaluational events both on the same day and on the following day. Furthermore, the degree of negative post-event processing that was reported the same day was strongly predictive of the degree of such processing that was reported the following day. The results confirm that negative post-event processing is a real phenomenon with regard to socially distressing situations, and that high social anxiety is associated with higher degrees of such post-event processing of negative-evaluational events. The results also suggest that social anxiety is only one of several forms of interpersonal distress that are characterized by such negative post-event processing; other forms of such distress involve other fears (fears of separation or loneliness, fears of hurting others, etc.) or other kinds of feelings (e.g. guilt and anger).     

Cognitive Bias Via the Internet: A Comparison of Web‐Based and Standard Emotional Stroop Tasks in Social Phobia

There is accumulating evidence to suggest that social phobia is associated with attentional bias for words related to social threat. Information processing in individuals with social phobia (n = 87) was investigated in the present study using 2 versions of the emotional Stroop task. Results from a standard emotional Stroop task indicated delayed colour naming of socially threatening words relative to neutral words, in line with previous research, whereas results from a Web‐based emotional Stroop task indicated a facilitation effect, with faster manual indication of colour choice for socially threatening words than for neutral words. Possible explanations for these contrasting findings and issues for further research are discussed.     

Suffering by comparison: Twitter users’ reactions to the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

Social comparison theory suggests that evaluating the self in comparison with others (e.g., peers, celebrities, models) can influence body image. Experimental studies that have tested effects of viewing idealized images in the media often show that women feel worse about themselves after seeing images that illustrate the beauty ideal. Twitter presents a naturally occurring opportunity to study viewers’ reactions. An analysis was conducted of 977 tweets sent immediately before and during the 2011 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show that reference the show. Although the majority were idiosyncratic remarks, many tweets contain evidence of upward social comparisons to the fashion models. There were tweets about body image, eating disorders, weight, desires for food or alcohol, and thoughts about self-harm. The results support social comparison theory, and suggest that vulnerable viewers could experience negative affect, or even engage in harmful behaviors, during or after viewing the show or others like it.     

The effects of exposure to slender and muscular images on male body dissatisfaction

This research examined the effects of appearance-based comparisons to muscular and slender idealized male bodies and the contribution of internalization and social comparison to change in body dissatisfaction. Participants were 111 male undergraduates who completed measures of body dissatisfaction, internalization, and social comparison and viewed images of either muscular or slender men in advertisements or product-only advertisements. Results indicated that exposure to both muscular and slender images was associated with an increase in body dissatisfaction, with no significant differences in the change in body dissatisfaction between the two image conditions. Internalization and trait social comparison were each associated with an increase in body dissatisfaction; however, upward social comparison was only a significant predictor of a change in body dissatisfaction for the males who viewed muscular images. These results highlight the impact of slender models on young men's body dissatisfaction and support the examination of media literacy interventions with this population.     

Social pretence with mothers and peers at 15 months

Previous research has shown that adults scaffold and direct early infant social pretend play making it difficult to establish infants' own contribution to pretence. To examine infants' social pretence abilities the present study compared infants' social pretend play in interactions with adults and same-age peers, who have similar socio-cognitive competence. Forty-five 15-month-old infants were observed during free-play interactions with their mother and two same-age, same-gender peers. The frequency and duration of parallel and coordinated social pretence were coded during both interactions. Results showed that while infants played pretence with both social partners, they engaged in more and longer coordinated social pretence with their mothers than with peers. Thus, although competent social partners play an important role in scaffolding complex pretence, infants' own socio-cognitive abilities contribute to the development of social pretence and enable them to pretend play with different partners regardless of their competencies.     

领悟社会支持对青少年生活满意度的影响

采用问卷法调查了1319名青少年,探讨了领悟社会支持对感恩与青少年生活满意度之间关系的中介效应以及压力性生活事件对此中介效应是否具有调节效应。结果发现：（1）领悟社会支持在感恩与青少年生活满意度之间起着部分中介作用;（2）领悟社会支持的中介作用受到压力性生活事件的调节,压力性生活事件调节了感恩 领悟社会支持 生活满意度这一中介过程的后半路径。因此,领悟社会支持对青少年生活满意度的影响是有调节的中介效应。研究结论对提高青少年的生活满意度具有重要的理论价值和参考价值。     

心理学视角下社交网络用户个体行为分析

以社交网络的典型代表Facebook为例, 以社交网络用户个体行为为着眼点, 从个体使用社交网络的动机、社交网络用户个体行为的主要表现及其影响因素和结果变量四个方面, 梳理国外心理学领域有关社交网络的最新研究成果。今后研究可以在社交网络用户个体行为的测量、样本代表性、线上和线下社交网络的交互作用、具体人格特质变量的预测作用以及对社交网络功能的动态考察等方面推进已有研究。     

Constructing a positive narrative for African sport consumerism

Sport consumerism is a burgeoning field of practice and serves both the utilitarian and behaviouristic goals. The utilitarian aspects are aligned to derivatives of value generated through the sport consumption effort. Behaviourism in the consumer context suggests a communal narrative, informed through observable actions which, in totality, construe social phenomena. This article applied social exchange theory to understand the utilitarian and behavioural functions sub-served by sport consumer psychology in the African context. An evaluation of literature from regional studies is made and the theory is explored with the view of putting forward research themes for the future.