Risk perception of a chronic threat of terrorism: Differences based on coping types,gender and exposure

High levels of risk perception of terrorism (RPT) may impair an individual's quality of life and welfare. To understand the mechanisms responsible for RPT, this study investigated the association of gender and coping styles with individual differences in two key elements of RPT: perceived control and perceived vulnerability. A convenience sample of 400 Israelis (181 men and 219 women) filled out questionnaires on sociodemographic background, RPT and coping. Employing a multidimensional approach for coping, we divided participants into four coping types: problem-focused (n = 65), emotion-focused (n = 70), mixed (n = 122) and minimal (n = 142). The results indicate that problem-focused coping is associated with higher levels of perceived control than other types of coping and mixed coping is associated with higher levels of perceived vulnerability than other coping strategies. Also, interactions between gender and exposure to terrorism contributed to understanding the differences in perceived control. The discussion addresses gender differences in RPT and coping in the context of traditional gender roles. The study concludes with implications for risk management and therapeutic interventions regarding high levels of fear of terrorism.     

Relationships between perfectionism,self-report impulsivity measures and delay discounting

Perfectionism and impulsivity are multidimensional constructs. While different perfectionism dimensions are exclusively measured through self-reports, different impulsivity dimensions can be measured through self-report or behaviour via preferences for different rewards. This study explored differential associations between perfectionism and impulsivity based on both dimension and measurement modality (self-report/behavioural). We then examined whether adaptive or maladaptive perfectionism would be differentially associated with impulsivity. Two-hundred and six students completed two perfectionism and three impulsivity measures (two self-report; one behavioural). Two self-report impulsivity measures were associated with specific perfectionism dimensions, whereas the behavioural measure was not associated with perfectionism. Maladaptive perfectionism was associated with decreasing impulsivity, whereas adaptive perfectionism was associated with increasing impulsivity. Perfectionism related to impulsivity differently depending on how each construct was measured.     

Murray Sidman: A life of giving

Murray Sidman's contributions to the science of behavior span many areas including avoidance behavior, coercion and its effects, stimulus control, errorless learning, programmed learning, stimulus equivalence, and single-subject methodology. He was also a great mentor to many and helped shape the discipline we now call behavior analysis. In this memoriam, we briefly highlight his scholarly legacy and share some personal anecdotes.     

Aging Affects the Ability to Process the Optic Flow Stimulations: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectrometry Study

Abstract

Optic flow (OF) has been utilized to investigate the sensory integration of visual stimuli during postural control. It is little known how the OF speed affects the aging brain during the sensory integration process of postural control. This study was to examine the effect of OF speeds on the brain activation using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and postural sway between younger and older adults. Eleven healthy younger adults (5M/6F, age 22?±?1-year-old) and ten healthy older adults (4M/6F, age 71?±?5-year-old) participated in this study. A virtual reality headset was used to provide the OF stimulus at different speeds. A forceplate was used to record the center-of-pressure to compute the amplitude of postural sway (peak-to-peak). Compared with younger adults, older adults showed significantly increased activation in the OF speed of 10?m/s and decreased activation in the OF speed of 20?m/s in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Older adults also showed decreased activation in the left temporoparietal region (VEST) in the OF speed of 20?m/s. A significant difference in peak-to-peak was found between groups. Our results indicated that age might be associated with the ability to process fast OF stimulation.     

“They've Put Nothing in the Pot!”: Brexit and the Key Psychological Motivations Behind Voting 'Remain' and 'Leave'

In June 2016, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. Voting followed a general trend: disadvantaged areas of the United Kingdom tended to vote “leave,” and more affluent areas tended to vote “remain.” This project investigates the psychological variables underlying this overall trend by distinguishing four psychological motivations: the need for justice, threat reduction needs, need to belong, and the need for control. Participants were recruited from different areas across Greater Manchester (N = 158). A survey assessed voting preference, socioeconomic status, collective relative deprivation (CRD), perceptions of threat from immigration, European and British identification, sense of control in life, and relative gratification. Discriminant function analysis showed that leave voting was characterized by greater realistic threat, symbolic threat, CRD, and British identification. Remain voting was characterized by strong European identification. Findings highlight that a need for justice, threat-reduction needs, and identity needs were key predictors of voting behavior.     

留守初中生同伴侵害与攻击性的关系:链式多重中介模型

为探究留守初中生同伴侵害与攻击性的关系机制,通过构建链式多重中介模型,考察歧视知觉、孤独感和心理韧性在二者关系中的多重中介效应。采用问卷调查法对519名留守初中生进行调查,结果显示：（1）留守初中生同伴侵害的发生率为96.3%,具有普遍性;（2）留守初中生同伴侵害、歧视知觉、孤独感、心理韧性与攻击性之间均呈显著相关;（3）留守初中生的歧视知觉、孤独感和心理韧性在其同伴侵害与攻击性的关系中具有链式多重中介作用;（4）同伴侵害与攻击性关系模型具有一定稳定性,同时在是否留守及单亲与双亲外出留守初中生群体中存在显著差异。研究结果揭示了同伴侵害与攻击性的关系机制,可为探索留守初中生不良同伴关系的教育策略提供参考。     

The role of midfrontal theta oscillations across the development of cognitive control in preschoolers and school‐age children

The development of cognitive control enables children to better resist acting based on distracting information that interferes with the current action. Cognitive control improvement serves different functions that differ in part by the type of interference to resolve. Indeed, resisting to interference at the task‐set level or at the response‐preparation level is, respectively, associated with cognitive flexibility and inhibition. It is, however, unknown whether the same neural mechanism underlies these two functions across development. Studies in adults have revealed the contribution of midfrontal theta (MFT) oscillations in interference resolution. This study investigated whether MFT is involved in the resolution of different types of interference in two age groups identified as corresponding to different latent structures of executive functions. Preschool (4–6 years) and school children (6–8 years) were tested with a task involving interference at the response level and/or the task‐set level while (electroencephalogram) EEG was recorded. Behaviorally, response time and accuracy were affected by task‐set. Both age groups were less accurate when the interference occurred at the task‐set level and only the younger group showed decreased accuracy when interference was presented at the response‐preparation level. Furthermore, MFT power was increased, relative to the baseline, during the resolution of both types of interference and in both age groups. These findings suggest that MFT is involved in immature cognitive control (i.e., preschool and school‐ages), by orchestrating its different cognitive processes, irrespective of the interference to resolve and of the level of cognitive control development (i.e., the degree of differentiation of executive functions).     

Effects of training and display content on Level 2 driving automation interface usability

IntroductionLevel 2 driving automation features, such as adaptive cruise control (ACC) combined with lane centering, primarily communicate their operating statuses through the instrument cluster. It remains unclear how interface-specific training and display content influence the ability to understand Level 2 activity in production vehicles.MethodsEighty participants viewed videos recorded from the driver’s point of view in a variety of driving scenarios with Level 2 activity displayed in the instrument cluster of a 2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class. Half viewed one of two instrument cluster layouts (simple or complex), and half received an orientation to the interface before the experiment. After each video, they were asked about the scenario they had just seen. We then examined what information in the displays participants used to identify Level 2 activity and the usability of the displays.ResultsTraining improved recognition accuracy of when lane centering was temporarily inactive and understanding of why it was inactive. Neither training nor display content affected the ability to recognize when ACC had adjusted the vehicle’s speed or detected a vehicle ahead, or when ACC initially did not detect a lead vehicle and understanding of why it had not detected it. Both factors influenced which sources of information participants used to determine Level 2 activity. Recognition accuracy of system activity improved when participants used valid sources of information. Training, but not display content, improved lane centering usability, but not ACC usability.DiscussionBasic training improves detection of notifications that potentially require further driver action, but not of those that display persistent status information. Training does not result in full understanding of all system notifications or functional limitations, which reinforces the need for intuitive, salient communication about system behavior and its limitations.     

Higher inhibitory control is required to escape the innate attraction to effort minimization

Recent evidence suggests humans have an automatic attraction to effort minimization. Yet, how this attraction is associated with response inhibition is still unclear. Here, we used go/no-go tasks to capture inhibitory control in response to stimuli depicting physical activity versus physical inactivity in 59 healthy young individuals. Higher commission errors (i.e., failure to refrain a response to a “no-go” stimulus) indicated lower inhibitory control. Based on the energetic cost minimization theory, we hypothesized that participants would exhibit higher commission errors when responding to physical inactivity stimuli rather than physical activity stimuli. Mixed effects models showed that, compared to physical activity stimuli, participants exhibited higher commission errors when responding to stimuli depicting physical inactivity (odds ratio = 1.59, 95% Confidence Interval = 1.18 to 2.16, p = .003). These results suggest that physical inactivity stimuli might require high response inhibition. This study lends support for the hypothesis that an attraction to effort minimization might affect inhibitory processes in the presence of stimuli related to this minimization. The study pre-registration form can be found at https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/RKYHB.