Temperament, ADHD and peer relations among schoolchildren: the mediating role of school bullying

The goal of the study is to investigate the link between temperament, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, social preference, bullying and victimization. The study sample consisted of 195 children attending the fourth and fifth grade (age 8-10), their mothers and their teachers. A multiinformant approach was used: mothers were interviewed about the temperament of their children; teachers were asked about ADHD symptoms; children responded to a peer nominations inventory designed to investigate their roles as bullies and/or victims and their social preferences (liked and disliked peers). A Structural Equation Model multigroup analysis (males and females) was used to test the relationships among variables hypothesized by the authors. The analysis showed that temperamental variables have a direct relation to ADHD symptoms, that ADHD has a direct relation to bullying behavior in males and to victimization in females and that bullies and victims are less well accepted than peers who belong to neither category. ADHD has only an indirect relation to social preference through the mediating role of school bullying.     

Labels can override perceptual categories in early infancy

An extensive body of research claims that labels facilitate categorisation, highlight the commonalities between objects and act as invitations to form categories for young infants before their first birthday. While this may indeed be a reasonable claim, we argue that it is not justified by the experiments described in the research. We report on a series of experiments that demonstrate that labels can play a causal role in category formation during infancy. Ten-month-old infants were taught to group computer-displayed, novel cartoon drawings into two categories under tightly controlled experimental conditions. Infants were given the opportunity to learn the two categories under four conditions: Without any labels, with two labels that correlated with category membership, with two labels assigned randomly to objects, and with one label assigned to all objects. Category formation was assessed identically in all conditions using a novelty preference procedure conducted in the absence of any labels. The labelling condition had a decisive impact on the way infants formed categories: When two labels correlated with the visual category information, infants learned two categories, just as if there had been no labels presented. However, uncorrelated labels completely disrupted the formation of any categories. Finally, consistent use of a single label across objects led infants to learn one broad category that included all the objects. These findings demonstrate that even before infants start to produce their first words, the labels they hear can override the manner in which they categorise objects.     

Evaluation of absolute and relative reinforcer value using progressive-ratio schedules

We evaluated behavior exhibited by individuals with developmental disabilities using progressive-ratio (PR) schedules. High- and low-preference stimuli were determined based on the results of a paired-stimulus preference assessment and were evaluated in subsequent reinforcer and PR assessments using concurrent and single schedules of presentation. In Experiment 1, results showed that for 2 of 3 participants, stimuli determined to be low-preference functioned as reinforcers when evaluated independent of high-preference stimuli. Further, the results from Experiment 2 showed that low-preference stimuli also functioned as reinforcers under gradually increasing PR requirements. Results suggest that for cases in which a high-preference stimulus is unavailable or impractical, the contingent delivery of relatively less preferred stimuli may maintain appropriate behavior, even as schedule requirements increase.     

Reinforcement magnitude: an evaluation of preference and reinforcer efficacy

Consideration of reinforcer magnitude may be important for maximizing the efficacy of treatment for problem behavior. Nonetheless, relatively little is known about children's preferences for different magnitudes of social reinforcement or the extent to which preference is related to differences in reinforcer efficacy. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the relations among reinforcer magnitude, preference, and efficacy by drawing on the procedures and results of basic experimentation in this area. Three children who engaged in problem behavior that was maintained by social positive reinforcement (attention, access to tangible items) participated. Results indicated that preference for different magnitudes of social reinforcement may predict reinforcer efficacy and that magnitude effects may be mediated by the schedule requirement.     

冲动性对吗啡诱导的条件性位置偏爱及行为敏感化的影响

许多研究显示, 冲动性与尼古丁、可卡因、海洛因等药物成瘾显著相关, 但它对吗啡成瘾的影响尚未见到报道。本实验考察冲动性对吗啡诱导的条件性位置偏爱及行为敏感化的影响。实验采用延迟奖赏模型将大鼠的冲动性区分为高、中、低三个水平, 每个水平设置吗啡处理组和盐水处理组。结果发现：动物对吗啡诱导的条件性位置偏爱的程度表现为低冲动组>中冲动组>高冲动组, 并且中、低冲动组动物形成了条件性位置偏爱而高冲动组没有形成这种偏爱; 在行为敏感化表达期, 与相应的盐水组比较, 高、中冲动组动物的吗啡运动激活效应显著, 而低冲动组没有达到显著水平。这些结果提示, 条件性位置偏爱任务中, 动物的冲动性越高, 吗啡的强化效应越低; 行为敏感化任务中, 动物的冲动性越高, 吗啡的运动激活效应越高。由此可见, 动物的冲动性对吗啡诱导的条件性位置偏爱及行为敏感化的影响存在差异。     

内隐自尊和风险偏好对大学生职业决策的影响

为研究影响大学生职业决策的影响因素和决策有效性,实验一、二分别从决策者心理特征（内隐自尊与风险偏好）和职业方案特征（框架效应与风险水平）入手,考察二者对大学生职业决策行为的影响。结果发现：内隐自尊和风险偏好的高低显著影响大学生择业倾向性;大学生对风险水平不同的职业方案的选择倾向由低到高依次为冒险、折中、保守方案;职业决策存在明显的框架效应。研究表明,大多数大学生倾向于选择保守的职业方案;高风险偏好的大学生倾向于选择冒险的职业方案;高内隐自尊大学生倾向于主动择业;积极表述的职业方案更受大学生所青睐。     

进化心理学视角下经济压力对女性择偶偏好影响研究

摘 要 择偶是婚姻过程中一个非常重要的环节,女性择偶是近年来研究的热门话题。本研究从进化心理学的择偶理论出发,研究女性在经济压力之下的择偶偏好。研究用实验的方法,结果表明（1）女性在经济压力之下,更青睐具有“好资源”的男性（2）对照组女性在外显测量的情况下往往表示更喜欢男性的“好爸爸”特质,而在阈下测量时,无论哪一组的女性都更重视男性的社会经济地位。研究结果表明,女性择偶时普遍更重视资源线索,在经济压力之下,这种择偶偏好更加明显。     

Clustering preference data in the presence of response-style bias

Preference data, such as Likert scale data, are often obtained in questionnaire-based surveys. Clustering respondents based on survey items is useful for discovering latent structures. However, cluster analysis of preference data may be affected by response styles, that is, a respondent's systematic response tendencies irrespective of the item content. For example, some respondents may tend to select ratings at the ends of the scale, which is called an ‘extreme response style’. A cluster of respondents with an extreme response style can be mistakenly identified as a content-based cluster. To address this problem, we propose a novel method of clustering respondents based on their indicated preferences for a set of items while correcting for response-style bias. We first introduce a new framework to detect, and correct for, response styles by generalizing the definition of response styles used in constrained dual scaling. We then simultaneously correct for response styles and perform a cluster analysis based on the corrected preference data. A simulation study shows that the proposed method yields better clustering accuracy than the existing methods do. We apply the method to empirical data from four different countries concerning social values.     

Measuring Long‐Term Patterns of Political Secularization and Desecularization: Did They Happen or Not?

Political secularization theories have predicted religion's decline in public and political life, and desecularization theories have predicted the reverse trend. However, there is little agreement on the timing of either phenomenon or even their existence. Until now, deep empirical tests of any of these were hampered by lack of historical country‐level data on religious preferences of governments (previously used data sets go back only to 1990). However, the new Government Religious Preference data set (GRP) measures state religion from 2015 back to the 1800s. Using GRP data, this article offers the first long‐term quantitative measurement of political secularization and in doing so, weighs in on competing claims regarding its timing. This article finds strong support that political secularization happened gradually over the long 19th century, accelerated after World War II, and peaked in the 1970s or 1980s. In contrast, the article finds only tepid support for the existence of political desecularization overall.     

Context influences preference for and level of physical activity of adolescents with intellectual and developmental disabilities

The purpose of the current study was to replicate and extend Hustyi, Normand, Larson, and Morley (2012) by determining the effects of different contexts on physical activity displayed by adolescents with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and determining preference for various activities. Results indicated that an exergaming condition produced the highest levels of activity. Results of a preference assessment indicated that 2 out of 3 participants preferred the physical activity context to the sedentary. For the third participant, an intervention was included to increase activity. Although the intervention was successful, participant preference for the sedentary activity context remained unchanged.