Use of an explicit rule decreases procrastination in university students

The procrastination behavior of students from a small rural university was decreased by presenting them with a rule indicating that a sooner final due date for a writing assignment would be contingent on procrastination during earlier phases of the paper. A counterbalanced AB BA design was used to measure the effects of the rule‐based treatment across 2 introductory psychology classes (N = 33). Overall, participants engaged in less procrastination, missed fewer deadlines, and produced higher quality writing in the treatment condition.     

Sports Media Representations of Concussions in the National Rugby League

Objective

Concussion is poorly understood by the general public who are regularly exposed to this type of injury via televised sports such as the National Rugby League (NRL). This study investigated media representations of concussion by examining the terminology used by the commentators during the 2010 and 2011 NRL seasons.

Method

Data was obtained through a surveillance design where commentary statements were recorded for each observable concussion.

Results

Dramatic terminology was the most frequently used followed by entertaining and humorous terminology. Commentators often portrayed the way the incident had occurred and the player's reaction to being concussed. However, information about a player sustaining an injury that required medical attention was rarely conveyed.

Conclusion

Media tend to trivialise concussion and this may have an impact on the public's knowledge of, and influence their response to, concussion.     

Maternal responsiveness and search for hidden objects and contingency learning by infants

The relationship between maternal responsiveness and infant cognition was examined during two activities: the search for hidden objects and the learning of a contingency rule. Thirty-four mother–infant dyads were observed in a laboratory setting when the infants were 11 months old. The experimental session included three phases: a search for hidden objects (Piagetian tasks), the learning of a contingency rule on a touch screen, and a mother–infant play session using a standardised toy. The results indicated a link between performances in the search and contingency tasks. Moreover, infants who succeeded in both tasks had mothers who displayed higher responsiveness score. The findings are discussed in terms of the infant's detection of relevant stimulus information. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

肿瘤疫苗治疗肿瘤的前景

肿瘤疫苗的发展已经历了一个多世纪,20世纪50年代,人们开始了自体肿瘤疫苗的研究.使肿瘤疫苗(主动性免疫治疗)成为继手术、放疗、化疗之后的肿瘤治疗方法.肿瘤疫苗作为主动特异性免疫治疗,在临床中起到越来越重要的作用,人们开始尝试利用多种方法制备肿瘤疫苗并利用其促进机体免疫应答,从整体细胞,分子水平调控机体对肿瘤的免疫.目前肿瘤疫苗的研制已取得很大进展,给人类战胜肿瘤提供很大希望.     

维度改变卡片分类任务中的负启动效应及其发生的条件

为了探讨负启动效应在学前儿童规则灵活转换中的作用, 用几个不同负启动版本的维度改变卡片分类任务(DCCS)研究了DCCS中的负启动效应及其在3、4岁儿童中的发展。实验一验证了儿童在负启动版本DCCS任务中的年龄发展趋势, 发现与标准版本一样, 大多数3、4岁儿童都不能通过, 但随着年龄增长负启动会逐渐减少, 更多的儿童能够顺利通过任务。实验二考察了DCCS中负启动发生的条件, 发现在任务的转换前阶段, 无论分类规则间存在冲突还是目标卡片与测试卡片间无关维度值上存在冲突, 负启动都会发生, 由此揭示出能引起选择性注意和主动抑制的冲突是负启动发生的关键。实验三探讨了负启动时主动抑制发生的层面, 发现儿童主动抑制的并非是无关维度中一个或某几个特定的值, 而是整个无关的维度, 表明抑制发生在维度这一更抽象的上位水平上。说明由抑制而产生的负启动或许也应成为儿童认知灵活性发展中需要克服的一个问题。     

Do aggression and rule‐breaking have different interpersonal correlates? A study of antisocial behavior subtypes,negative affect,and hostile perceptions of others

There is mounting evidence that physical aggression and nonaggressive, rule‐breaking delinquency constitute two separable though correlated subtypes of antisocial behavior. Even so, it remains unclear whether these behavioral subtypes have meaningfully different interpersonal correlates, particularly as they are subsumed within the same broad domain of antisocial behavior. To evaluate this, we examined whether hostile perceptions of others (assessed via exposure to a series of neutral unknown faces) were linked to level and type of antisocial behavior aggression vs. rule‐breaking, and moreover, whether this association persisted even when also considering the common association with negative affect (as manipulated via written recollection of one's best and worst life experiences). Analyses revealed that aggression, but not rule‐breaking, was uniquely tied to hostile perceptions of others. Furthermore, this association persisted over and above the common association of both hostile perceptions and aggression with negative affect (at both trait and state levels). Such results provide additional support for clinically meaningful differences between the behavioral subtypes of aggression and nonaggressive rule‐breaking and for the independent role of hostile perceptions in aggressive behavior. Aggr. Behav. 35:453–461, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

THE HISTORICAL CONNECTION BETWEEN THE GOLDEN RULE AND THE SECOND GREATEST LOVE COMMAND

The golden rule, perhaps the most recognizable moral maxim in Western culture, is an inadequate basis for morality. In light of its flaws as a precept and its apparent lack of moral content, it is initially perplexing that the historic Judeo‐Christian tradition has often linked the golden rule with the second greatest command to love one's neighbor as oneself. However, after examining the presuppositions behind this link and investigating the biblical context of these sayings, it is clear that the Judeo‐Christian tradition is justified in making this connection. Although the golden rule and the love command should not be conflated and their distinctions should not be abandoned, the biblical intention of the golden rule can only be understood and properly practiced in connection with the love command.