Heterosocial perception in rapists.

This research explored the hypothesis that rapists are selectively deficient in their ability to process interpersonal cues from women, especially negative cues. A measure of heterosocial cue-reading accuracy was administered to 11 volunteer subjects in each of three groups of white male inmates from a federal prison: rapists, violent nonrapists, and nonviolent nonrapists. Rapists were significantly less accurate than subjects in either control group when reading cues in simulated first-date interactions; violent nonrapists, in turn, were less accurate than nonviolent nonrapists. Rapists were especially deficient in reading women's cues. Errors associated with negative cues accounted for the largest proportion of variance in these effects. All subjects had more difficulty reading men's cues than women's cues. The demonstration of specific deficits in social cue-reading abilities, or decoding skills, among white inmates with histories of rape is consistent with a social information-processing analysis of rape behavior. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex steroids are necessary in the second postnatal week for the expression of male alloparental behavior in prairie voles (Microtus ochragaster).

Sex steroids play a significant role in organizing male social behavior, which is associated with low levels of pro-social behavior and high levels of aggression. However, the role of steroids in organizing behavior in highly social males is unclear. The authors tested the hypothesis that low levels of sex steroids facilitate the expression of pro-social behavior in male prairie voles (Microtus ochragaster), predicting that inhibition of testosterone and estradiol would reduce spontaneous-alloparental behavior. Treatment with the aromatase inhibitor 1,4,6-androstatriene-3,17-dione (ATD) or the androgen receptor blocker flutamide, days 8–14, significantly reduced the expression of alloparental behavior in 21-day old males. While both treatments reduced alloparental behavior and increased pup-directed aggression, there were differential treatment effects. Flutamide altered initial response, increasing latency to enter the pup cage and the likelihood of retreat from initial contact. ATD-treated males that were alloparental showed increases in sniffing and latencies to lick and huddle. Results indicate that endogenous steroids play a role in the development of male pro-social behavior and the effects of estrogens and androgens differ. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Performance following ability-focused physical therapy intervention in individuals with severely limited physical and cognitive abilities

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Do individuals with severely limited physical and cognitive abilities improve their gross motor abilities when given physical therapy intervention, and does improvement transfer to nontreatment settings? SUBJECTS: The subjects were 24 individuals (10 female, 14 male), aged 3 to 30 years (X = 20.1, SD = 8.1), who were nonambulatory and had limited adaptive behavior. METHODS: Change in gross motor ability during 18 weeks of twice-weekly therapy was measured using goal attainment scaling (GAS). Three gross motor goals were developed for each subject based on individual or caregiver needs, with one goal randomly selected as a control. Physical impairments were treated, and behavioral management principles, low-level communication approaches, high-repetition practice of goals, and a progressive reduction of both physical assistance and multisensory cues were used. An independent rater scored goal level from randomly ordered videotapes recorded during therapy and in recess and home settings. RESULTS: Mean GAS T scores were higher for treatment goals (X = 45.6, SD = 10.5) compared with control goals (X = 34.6, SD = 11.8). When the expected goal level (50) was met during therapy, mean GAS T scores in recess settings ( X = 35.9, SD = 11.5) and home settings (X = 42.2, SD = 12.2) were lower. At the conclusion of therapy, there were no differences in goal levels between treatment and control goals in both the recess and home settings. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION: The subjects demonstrated improvement of gross motor abilities practiced during therapy. Level of ability during therapy, however, did not consistently transfer to the recess of home settings. [Brown DA, Effgen SK, Palisano RJ. Performance following ability-focused physical therapy intervention in individuals with severely limited physical and cognitive abilities.     

The role of inhibitory processes in young children's difficulties with deception and false belief

This research examines whether children's difficulties with deception and false belief arise from a lack of inhibitory control rather than from a conceptual deficit. In 3 studies, 3-year-olds deceived frequently under conditions requiring relatively low inhibitory control (e.g., misleading pictorial cues or arrows) but failed to do so under conditions of high inhibitory control (deceptive pointing). Study 2 ruled out that the findings were due to social intimidation: Children were equally successful using an arrow to deceive under anonymous and public conditions. Study 3 indicated that, under well-controlled conditions, children did not reveal greater understanding of false belief in deceptive than nondeceptive conditions. The results of these studies suggest that children may have greater deceptive abilities than some earlier studies indicated, and that the source of their difficulty on deceptive pointing tasks lies in a failure of inhibitory control. More generally, it is argued that children's performance on false belief tasks is also likely to be affected by inhibition deficits.     

The influence of another's perspective on children's recall of previously misconstrued events.

Children's abilities to reframe their memories of events after hearing another child's perspective of the same events were examined, and links between memory reframing, cognitive ability, and social competence were explored. Nine- to 11-year-olds (N = 79) were told to imagine that the events in a narrated story happened to them. Next, they heard another story that described either the same events (experimental condition) or unrelated events (control condition) from another child's perspective. The children in the experimental group reframed their memories in light of the alternative perspective, whereas the children in the control condition did not. Children with higher cognitive scores had higher memory reframing scores and received higher social competence ratings than children with lower cognitive scores. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mediation of interpersonal expectancy effects: Counselor's tone of voice.

Investigated the role of tone of voice as a possible factor in the mediation of naturally occurring rather than experimentally produced interpersonal expectancy effects. 10 camp counselors (aged 18–22 yrs) talked about children at camp whom they believed to have high social ability (high social expectancy), high athletic ability (high athletic expectancy), low social ability (low social expectancy), and low athletic ability (low athletic expectancy) in tape-recorded interviews. The counselors themselves were rated by experts at the camp on 8 competence dimensions. 10 judges (5 male and 5 female undergraduates) rated the tone of voice (content-filtered recording) of these interviews. Judges rated the counselors' tone of voice as warmer and less hostile when talking about children for whom they had high expectations than when talking about children for whom they had low expectations. Nonverbal expectancy effects were also detected more accurately by male than female judges and when the counselors talked about social rather than athletic abilities. Counselors who displayed less competent and more ineffective attributes were more prone to biasing effects as reflected in tone of voice, whereas counselors who displayed more competent and more effective attributes generally did not show differential expectancy effects as reflected in their tone of voice. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Boundary spanning and individual performance: The impact of self-monitoring.

Boundary-spanning positions require occupants to interact with groups whose norms may differ from one another. It was hypothesized that individuals holding these positions would perform better if they were sensitive to social cues and able to adapt their behavior to fit the circumstances. 93 field representatives (average age 30.5 yrs) who acted as boundary spanners were given the Self-Monitoring Scale. Results show that significant relationships existed between job performance and an individual difference variable (self-monitoring) that assessed the ability of respondents to adjust their self-presentation to fit the situation; self-monitoring was most important during the period of early tenure. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Type A behavior pattern and the self-evaluation of abilities: Empirical tests of the self-appraisal model.

The self-appraisal model proposes that Type A behavior reflects active attempts to generate diagnostic information about abilities, particularly in situations that evoke high uncertainty. In Study 1, subjects were provided feedback indicating high or low uncertainty about underlying abilities in two domains. When subjects were more uncertain of their ability in one domain than in the other, Jenkins-Activity-Survey-defined Type As (but not Type Bs) subsequently constructed tests that were biased to assess the more uncertain domain. Study 2 examined postfailure performance. The model holds that Type As perform poorly because they suspend information gathering when faced with evidence that requisite abilities are absent. Results indicated that deficits emerged only if Type As believed that a second task assessed the same abilities as the initial task on which they failed. A final study examined social comparison among Type As and Bs. Results indicated that Type As engaged in social comparison to obtain diagnostic information, primarily when they were uncertain of their ability levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expression des émotions dans le dessin d'un homme chez l'enfant de 5 à 11 ans.

This study examines the development of children's ability to express emotions in their human figure drawing. Sixty children of 5, 8, and 11 years were asked to draw "a man," and then a "sad", "happy," "angry" and "surprised" man. Expressivity of the drawings was assessed by means of two procedures: a limited choice and a free labelling procedure. Emotionally expressive drawings were then evaluated in terms of the number and the type of graphic cues that were used to express emotion. It was found that children are able to depict happiness and sadness at 8, anger and surprise at 11. With age, children use increasingly numerous and complex graphic cues for each emotion (i.e., facial expression, body position, and contextual cues). Graphic cues for facial expression (e.g., concave mouth, curved eyebrows, wide opened eyes) share strong similarities with specific "action units" described by Ekman and Friesen (1978) in their Facial Action Coding System. Children's ability to depict emotion in their human figure drawing is discussed in relation to perceptual, conceptual, and graphic abilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Style of adaptation to perceived aversive maternal stimulation and selective attention to evaluative cues.

Tested the hypothesis that given sustained exposure to aversive maternal control, the male child tends to adapt by 1 of 2 coping styles: (a) a closed style involving social avoidance and narrowed attention to evaluative cues, and (b) an open style embracing manipulative social approach and heightened attention to evaluative cues. 49 experimentally defined closed style and open style aversive-control male undergraduates were compared in their ability to recognize briefly exposed evaluative words. The closed style group correctly identified fewer words than the open style group as predicted. Incorrectly identified words reflected a tendency toward evaluative self-enhancement for both groups. Control comparisons revealed neither difference. Some promising relations between coping styles, breadth of attention to evaluative cues, and paranoid behavior are noted. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictors of social acceptance in preschool children.

Attempted to evaluate, through observation and a measure of sociometric acceptance, the relative contribution of a number of child characteristics to the prediction of social acceptance in 164 3–6 yr old preschool children. The following variables were investigated as predictors of sociometric acceptance: positive social interactions, occupied behavior when not interacting, MA, CA, and sex. A stepwise multiple regression analysis indicated that MA was the best predictor of sociometric acceptance and that positive social interactions significantly increased the correlation. Occupied behavior, CA, and sex did not significantly increase the multiple correlation. Results support the efficacy of intervention procedures that focus on helping social isolates to develop the ability to interact positively with their peers. Within the limited preschool age range, mental maturity appears to be more important to social acceptance than CA per se. This may be a factor in the findings of low popularity for mainstreamed handicapped children. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personalized inferences of emotions and appraisals: Component processes and correlates.

Examined children's abilities to consider other people's personal history when inferring their cognitive appraisals and probable emotional reactions. Study 1 explored the sources of children's difficulty in making personalized inferences of emotion. Interviewed children averaging 6, 8, and 11 years of age about a series of stories describing a person's behavior or experience in one situation, followed by a second, related situation, or about partial stories. The youngest children had trouble figuring out mental appraisals from personal history information. Older children were capable of inferring appraisals but had trouble applying them to later situations when both steps were required to infer the person's emotion. Study 2 examined the extent to which social and cognitive factors are associated with the ability to make personalized inferences among 8-year-olds. The tendency to make personalized inferences of appraisals was more clearly associated with sociometric status than with cognitive capacity measures, suggesting that this may be an important element of children's social competence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of human visual attention cues by olive baboons (Papio anubis) in a competitive task.

The ability of 4 olive baboons (Papio anubis) to use human gaze cues during a competitive food task was investigated. Three baboons used head orientation as a cue, and 1 individual also used eye direction alone. As the baboons did not receive prior training with gestural cuts, their performance suggests that the competitive paradigm may be more appropriate for testing nonhuman primates than the standard object-choice paradigm. However, the baboons were insensitive to whether the experimenter could actually perceive the food item, and therefore the use of visual orientation cues may not be indicative of visual perspective-taking abilities. Performance was disrupted by the introduction of a screen and objects to conceal food items and by the absence of movement in cues presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal mediation deficits: Relation to behavior and achievement in children.

Examined relationships between specific types of verbal mediation deficiency and patterns of behavior and achievement in 59 7–11 yr old children with deficits in verbal intelligence (as determined by the WISC). Ss were also given the Hiskey-Nebraska Test of Learning Aptitude, the Wide Range Achievement Test, and the Behavioral Problem Checklist. Results show that abstract reasoning ability was positively related to self-control of acting-out behavior, inhibition of impulse, and adequate academic progress. Ss with reasoning deficits but adequate sequencing-memory abilities exhibited variable self-regulation behavior. Ss with both reasoning and sequencing-memory deficits showed relatively high levels of acting-out behavior, less inhibition, and low academic achievement. Findings suggest that different cognitive processes may underlie different patterns of behavioral self-control. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Effects of Overhearing Peers Discuss an Authority's Fairness Reputation on Reactions to Subsequent Treatment.

Fairness heuristic theory was used to examine how information from one's peers affects an individual's interpretation of, and reactions to, an authority's subsequent behavior. Participants (N=105) overheard their peers discuss an experimenter's reputation (fair, unfair, or absent) before interacting with the experimenter who behaved more versus less fairly. Results showed that the social cues biased participants' subsequent information processing: Controlling for the experimenter's behavior, interactional justice mediated the effect of social cues on retaliation. Social cues and the authority's behavior also interacted to predict retaliation. Participants who were treated less fairly retaliated more after being led to expect fair treatment than did participants who heard no prior information about the experimenter. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social behavior and off-target verbosity in elderly people.

This study investigated social behavior in older adults with varying levels of off-target verbosity (OTV). After screening 455 adults in Phase 1, 198 individuals were selected to participate in both a get-acquainted conversation and an experimental cues situation and to complete social and cognitive measures. Higher OTV participants had lower cognitive inhibitory scores, talked more, were less interested in their partners, and focused more on themselves. Their conversational partners were less satisfied. Age and cognitive functioning were not related to OTV scores or conversational style for low and mid-range participants. Although high-OTV individuals talked less when exposed to social cues signalling boredom, they spoke more relative to other participants. Self-reported social behavior had little relation with OTV and conversational style, but higher OTV individuals were less accurate in judging videotaped social interactions. Gender differences in conversational behavior are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexuality, reproduction, and family planning in women with schizophrenia

This article reviews data about how schizophrenia affects sexuality, pregnancy, the puerperium, parenting, and family planning. Women with schizophrenia have high rates of coerced sex, sexual risk behavior, and unwanted pregnancies. High rates of obstetric complications and custody loss increase morbidity for women and their offspring. Since untreated psychosis increases these problems, the risks of withholding pharmacotherapy must be weighed against the risks of prescribing medications during pregnancy. The puerperium is a time when women are especially vulnerable to exacerbations of schizophrenia. Mothers with schizophrenia may have a reduced ability to read children's cues, and they often have weak social support networks. Their children may be more difficult to raise than other children. Parenting rehabilitation can address some of these problems. Often, women with schizophrenia who are sexually active and do not wish to become pregnant do not use contraception. Incorporating family planning measures into mental health care delivery systems may reduce unwanted pregnancies.     

The value of genuine and polite smiles.

Humans show remarkable ability to adapt their social behavior to suit the changing requirements of their interactions. An interaction partner's social cues, particularly facial expressions, likely play an important role in motivating and reinforcing this behavioral adaptation. Over three studies, we test a key aspect of this idea. Specifically, we ask how the reinforcement value of facial expressions compares to that of nonsocial feedback and to what degree two frequently occurring expressions (genuine and polite smiles) differ in reinforcement value. Our findings show that social feedback is preferred over nonsocial feedback and that genuine smiles are preferred over polite smiles. Based on a logistic model of our data, we show that both monetary and social values of stimuli contribute significantly to participants' decisions. Indeed, participants were willing to sacrifice the chance of a monetary reward to receive a genuine smile and produced inflated estimates of the value of genuinely smiling faces. These findings suggest that genuine smiles, and potentially other social cues, may be useful social reinforcers and therefore important in the control of social behavior on a moment-to-moment basis during interaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mother–child play and maltreatment: A longitudinal analysis of emerging social behavior from infancy to toddlerhood.

Mother–child play of maltreating and nonmaltreating families was analyzed when infants were 12 months old (Time 1), and 2 years old (Time 2), as a context to examine children's developing cognitive and social skills. At Time 1, infants from abusing families demonstrated less independent and more imitative behavior during play than did infants from neglecting and nonmaltreating families, suggesting a delay in emerging social behaviors. In this longitudinal follow-up, mother–child play was reassessed 1 year later (N = 78), with a focus on children's engagement in nonplay and pretend play and on children's abilities to initiate social exchanges and respond to parental requests. Play and social behavior were coded from semistructured and unstructured play paradigms at both time points. Maternal attention-directing behavior and limit setting also was assessed. At Time 2, children from abusing, neglecting, and nonmaltreating families did not differ in cognitive play complexity. However, children from abusing families engaged in less child-initiated play than did children from neglecting and nonmaltreating families, demonstrating less socially competent behavior. Longitudinal analyses revealed child initiated play at Time 2 was negatively associated with abuse and with maternal physical attention directing behavior at Time 1. Child negative reactivity at Time 2 was positively associated with Time 1 maternal physical behavior and child imitation and with Time 2 maternal controlling behavior. Implications for early intervention efforts are emphasized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of social behavior on interracial acceptance.

To test children's use of race and social behavior as cues in social acceptance, 128 Black and White male kindergartners and 1st graders rated 6 unknown videotaped target children for likability. Targets varied factorially on race (Black or White) and exhibited either positive, negative, or neutral classroom social behavior. Across age, socioeconomic status, and race, Ss used behavior as a cue, accounting for 50% of likability variance. Positive targets were liked equivalently, but Black neutral and negative targets were liked less than White counterparts. Racial but not socioeconomic status differences in the use of behaviors as social cues were found. Negative targets were liked more by Blacks than Whites and neutral targets were liked more by Whites than Blacks. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)