Co‐Witness Confidence,Conformity, and Eyewitness Memory: An Examination of Normative and Informational Social Influences

We explored conformity and co‐witness confidence in eyewitness memory. Confederates provided misleading information and confidence ratings during a cued recall test, and participants publicly provided answers to this test in turn. Participants performed memory tests with a confederate, then completed individual memory tests. Results indicated that confederates who answered questions prior to participants impacted their public and private memory reports for accurate information but only impacted public reports for misleading information. Participants' confidence in their performance in the presence of a confederate mirrored the confederate's confidence levels, suggesting a confidence conformity effect. Results are explained in terms of differential effects of informational and normative influence for accuracy and confidence in co‐witness memory reports. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An examination of the relation between traumatic event exposure and panic-relevant biological challenge responding among adolescents

The current study uniquely extended research that has linked traumatic event exposure to panic-spectrum problems among adolescents. It was hypothesized that among 127 adolescents (age range: 10 to 17 years; M = 14.63, SD = 2.24), those who endorsed a history of traumatic event exposure would evidence significantly greater anxious and fearful reactivity to a well-established 3-min voluntary hyperventilation procedure compared to nonexposed individuals. Results were consistent with hypotheses, suggesting traumatic event exposure is associated with anxious and fearful reactivity to abrupt increases in bodily arousal among adolescents. Moreover, consistent with hypotheses, anxiety sensitivity significantly mediated the relations between traumatic event exposure and both self-reported panic symptoms and panic symptoms elicited by the challenge. Future prospective research is now needed to better understand temporal relations between traumatic event exposure and indices of panic and related vulnerability.     

The congruency sequence effect emerges when the distracter precedes the target

The congruency effect in distracter interference tasks is typically smaller when the previous trial was incongruent as compared to congruent, suggesting the operation of a control process that minimizes the influence of irrelevant stimuli on behavior. However, both the conditions under which this congruency sequence effect (CSE) can be most easily observed without the typical learning and memory confounds, and the control process underlying it, remain controversial. We therefore tested a recent hypothesis that the CSE is most easily observed without the typical confounds when the distracter is processed before the target. In line with this “distracter head start” hypothesis, in Experiments 1 and 2 the CSE was larger when the distracter appeared before, relative to with, the target. Further, in Experiment 3, we observed a negative congruency effect after incongruent trials when a long interval separated the distracter from the target, consistent with a modulation of the response engendered by the distracter but not with a shift of attention toward the target. These findings reveal an important determinant of CSE magnitude when the typical learning and memory confounds are absent and new insights into the nature of control processes that contribute to this phenomenon.     

Changes in materialism,changes in psychological well-being: Evidence from three longitudinal studies and an intervention experiment

Few studies have examined how changes in materialism relate to changes in well-being; fewer have experimentally manipulated materialism to change well-being. Studies 1, 2, and 3 examined how changes in materialistic aspirations related to changes in well-being, using varying time frames (12 years, 2 years, and 6 months), samples (US young adults and Icelandic adults), and measures of materialism and well-being. Across all three studies, results supported the hypothesis that people’s well-being improves as they place relatively less importance on materialistic goals and values, whereas orienting toward materialistic goals relatively more is associated with decreases in well-being over time. Study 2 additionally demonstrated that this association was mediated by changes in psychological need satisfaction. A fourth, experimental study showed that highly materialistic US adolescents who received an intervention that decreased materialism also experienced increases in self-esteem over the next several months, relative to a control group. Thus, well-being changes as people change their relative focus on materialistic goals.     

An educational test of health behavior models in relation to emergency helping.

This study used a true experimental design to evaluate the quality and occurrence of emergency helping behavior among university first-aid students in response to a supplemental educational unit designed to improve bystander helping. The educational unit addressed the inhibitors of emergency helping behavior within the framework of bystander behavior models and was delivered using several behavior modification strategies. Using chi-square analysis, it was found that the 43 treatment students exposed to the supplemental unit responded appropriately to a simulated emergency more often than 41 similar control students not exposed to the unit (32.6% vs. 7.3%, p = .004) and that the effect was confined primarily to women (p = .001). Future emergency care education incorporating similar theory-based educational strategies might improve trained bystander responsiveness and thus enhance the efficiency of prehospital care. Theoretical and future research implications are discussed.     

Lessons Learned From a Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial Testing an Inhibitory Learning Approach to Exposure in Anxious Youth

Accumulating evidence from basic and translational research indicates that fear extinction may be best explained by principles of “inhibitory learning,” by which prefrontal cortical structures inhibit activity in the amygdala. New guidelines for the clinical practice of exposure therapy have arisen from research on inhibitory learning, but these guidelines have received little empirical testing in clinical samples of youth receiving treatment for anxiety disorders. We investigated the acceptability, feasibility, and initial efficacy of conducting exposure therapy for anxiety disorders in youth according to clinical guidelines developed from basic research on inhibitory learning principles, using a pilot randomized controlled trial design. Thirteen youths (ages 7 to 16) were recruited from a university hospital-based pediatric outpatient clinic to participate in a 9-week treatment study and were randomized to either an inhibitory learning-based exposure condition or a standard exposure condition. Results supported the feasibility and acceptability of an inhibitory learning-based approach to exposure therapy in youth and, despite the small sample size, effect sizes were in favor of the inhibitory learning approach on several measures. Differences between the standard exposure and inhibitory learning conditions are discussed using two case examples. Discussion of results and lessons learned may contribute to changes in clinical guidelines for optimally effective practice of exposure.