Adaptive memory: enhanced location memory after survival processing

Two experiments investigated whether survival processing enhances memory for location. From an adaptive perspective, remembering that food has been located in a particular area, or that potential predators are likely to be found in a given territory, should increase the chances of subsequent survival. Participants were shown pictures of food or animals located at various positions on a computer screen. The task was to rate the ease of collecting the food or capturing the animals relative to a central fixation point. Surprise retention tests revealed that people remembered the locations of the items better when the collection or capturing task was described as relevant to survival. These data extend the generality of survival processing advantages to a new domain (location memory) by means of a task that does not involve rating the relevance of words to a scenario.     

Are we there yet? A review of gender comparisons in three behavioral journals through the 20th century

Despite overwhelming evidence that gender plays a significant role in the course of numerous psychological disorders, researchers have historically neglected to address gender similarities and differences in their research. Previous reviews of the psychological literature have indicated that personality, psychotherapy, and behavioral psychology journals have published few studies that focus on gender comparisons. The current review examined published articles in three prominent behavioral psychology journals—Behavior Therapy, Behavior Modification, and Behaviour Research and Therapy—from their inception through 2001. Raters coded each article (N = 4,635) for gender content in the title or abstract, analyses of gender differences, and discussion of gender. Overall, very few articles focused on gender content in the title, abstract, or discussion or analyzed data by gender. Implications of these results and suggestions for enhancing attention to gender comparisons are discussed.     

Does Providing Prompts During Retrieval Practice Improve Learning?

The purpose of this investigation was to identify ways to prompt retrieval practice to make recall even more effective at producing meaningful learning. In two experiments, subjects read educational texts and practiced retrieval across two periods. During prompted retrieval, subjects were cued to explain and describe concepts from the text, whereas during free recall, subjects recalled as much of the material from the text as they could. A reading control condition was also included. Learning was assessed using both verbatim and higher‐order questions 1 week later. Practicing retrieval improved learning relative to the control on both types of questions; however, whether subjects practiced free or prompted retrieval did not matter for learning. Subjects rated prompted retrieval as less enjoyable and interesting than the other retrieval conditions. Results demonstrate practicing retrieval promoted meaningful learning, and that subjects' initial retrieval success was highest when they used their own retrieval strategies during recall. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Childhood attachment to parents and frequency of prayer during the college years

This study examines the association between childhood attachment with parents and the frequency of prayer among people raised in Mormon families. Three types of attachment with fathers and mothers – secure, anxious, and avoidant – were measured on a Likert scale. Undergraduate students at a state university in Utah completed questionnaires that included measurements of childhood attachment with parents and frequency of prayer. According to bivariate correlations, frequency of prayer was related to the nature of childhood attachment to parents; according to multiple regression analyses, the correlation between frequency of prayer and childhood attachment was largely, but not entirely, accounted for by other factors involving general frequency of religious activity; finally, these results differed somewhat between men and women. Men who had an avoidant relationship with their mother in childhood prayed less often when they were in college, while for women this association was not statistically significant.     

When Women are Urged to have Casual Sex More than Men are: Perceived Risk Moderates the Sexual Advice Double Standard

Sociocultural and biological frameworks suggest a Sexual Advice Double Standard (SADS; wherein heterosexual men are encouraged to have causal sex more than heterosexual women are) motivated by intransigent factors (e.g., patriarchy or evolved dispositions). Alternatively, people generally perceive casual sex as riskier for women, who may be discouraged from sex to protect them from stigma and danger (Rudman et al. 2013). If so, manipulating perceived risk to reduce or reverse the costs of casual sex for men and for women should eliminate or reverse the SADS, respectively. Results investigating American adults (N = 180) supported risk assessment’s explanatory power. When costs to both partners were mild, the SADS was eliminated, but when costs to men were higher, women were urged to have casual sex more than men were. The SADS emerged only when costs to women were higher. The findings have implications for gender equality and sexuality theories, but also practitioners (e.g., therapists, sex educators, and physicians). The SADS is far from intractable, but believing in rigid sexual double standards creates psychological conflict in women caught between motives to be seen as moral and sexually desirable, which negatively impacts their sexual health (e.g., Katz and Farrow 2000).     

Gender Differences in Self-Reports of Depression: The Response Bias Hypothesis Revisited

This study was designed to revisit the response bias hypothesis, which posits that gender differences in depression prevalence rates may reflect a tendency for men to underreport depressive symptoms. In this study, we examined aspects of gender role socialization (gender-related traits, socially desirable responding, beliefs about mental health and depression) that may contribute to a response bias in self-reports of depression. In addition, we investigated the impact of two contextual variables (i.e., cause of depression and level of intrusiveness of experimental follow-up) on self-reports of depressive symptoms. Results indicated that men, but not women, reported fewer depressive symptoms when consent forms indicated that a more involved follow-up might occur. Further, results indicated differential responding by men and women on measures of gender-related traits, mental health beliefs, and beliefs about depression and predictors of depressed mood. Together, our results support the assertion that, in specific contexts, a response bias explanation warrants further consideration in investigations of gender differences in rates of self-reported depression.     

The Role of Rumination in Predicting Seasonality

The impact of the changing seasons on mood and behavior (i.e., seasonality) has long been of interest to researchers. Recently, researchers have begun to look beyond biological explanations to investigate psychological variables that may play a role in the development of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and subsyndromal (S-SAD) levels of seasonality. Rumination, in particular, has received initial support as a process that predicts more severe levels of winter depression. In the first study, we assessed the effects of rumination, current weather conditions, current level of depression, and attitudes toward weather conditions as predictors of seasonality. In addition to weather conditions, weather attitudes, and current depression, rumination emerged as a significant predictor of seasonality in females but not for males. In the second study, we followed individuals categorized as being high (S-SAD) and low in seasonality over time and assessed for depression at Time 1 and Time 2. Rumination, in addition to current weather conditions and weather attitudes, emerged as a significant predictor of depression for females in the S-SAD group. The results of these studies provide support for the role of rumination in seasonal depression, particularly for females. This type of research may contribute to attempts to better explain gender differences in seasonal depression.     

99 MULTIPLE MEANING WORDS FOR PRIMARY STUDENTS AND WAYS TO TEACH THEM

The cumulative first grade word lists from three widely‐used basal series were combined and alphabetized through the use of a computer program. Of the 255 words common to all three lists, 228 (almost 90%) had multiple meanings. From these a basic list of 99 multiple meaning words was selected by applying three criteria: (a) all or most definitions of the word could be related to primary grade children's experiences; (b) the word was used as more than one part of speech; and (c) the word had four or more different definitions. Activities to develop children's knowledge of the multiple meanings of words are suggested through the use of pictures and objects, picture dictionaires and concept books, semantic mapping, and sentence context.     

Activity Level,Activity Enjoyment,and Weather as Mediators of Physical Health Risks in Seasonal and Nonseasonal Depression

Research suggests that depression has negative consequences on physical health. One of the mechanisms driving this link may be the decrease in physical activity characteristic of individuals before and during a depressive episode. However, the factors that influence changes in physical activity across the seasons remain unclear. For instance, weather has been proposed to play an important role in the frequency of activities and enjoyment derived from them. In addition, research has not investigated how weather variables influence activity levels across the seasons in individuals with seasonal versus nonseasonal depression. The present study compared patterns of activity level and enjoyment in samples of women with seasonal and nonseasonal depression and controls. Women with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and MDD with a seasonal pattern (Seasonal Affective Disorder, SAD) reported similar patterns of activity; engaging in less frequent activity and deriving less enjoyment from activities than controls across the entire year, most notably during the winter months. Women with SAD also reported being significantly impacted by the weather such that their mood and energy levels increased with warmer temperatures an increased sunshine. Results suggest that women with seasonal depression may be at similar health risks as women with nonseasonal depression and activity patterns may have implications for behavioral activation treatments for depression.