Differential susceptibility to discipline: The moderating effect of child temperament on the association between maternal discipline and early childhood externalizing problems.

This study investigated the interaction of child temperament and maternal discipline in the prediction of externalizing problems in early childhood. Interaction effects were evaluated in a sample of 227 one- to three-year-old children with relatively high externalizing problems scores on the Child Behavior Checklist/1 1/2-5. Child temperament was reported by the mothers, maternal discipline was observed in a laboratory session, and child outcome measures included both mother-reported externalizing problems and observed physical aggression. Results indicate that children with difficult temperaments are more susceptible to negative discipline (i.e., they showed more externalizing problems) as well as more susceptible to positive discipline (i.e., they showed fewer externalizing problems and less physical aggression), as compared with children with relatively easy temperaments. These findings provide empirical evidence for the differential susceptibility hypothesis and suggest directions for enhancing the effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing early childhood externalizing problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Overcoming adolescents' resistance to anti-inhalant appeals.

This research was concerned with factors that affect adolescents' evaluations of persuasive anti-inhalant messages and the association of these evaluations with usage intentions. Sixth and 7th graders (N=894) received anti-inhalant messages that varied as a result of the factorial combination of message source (doctor or peer), suggested harm (social or physical), and target (message was addressed directly or indirectly to receivers). Manipulated variables were crossed with inhalant-user status (resolute nonuser, vulnerable nonuser, and user). Significant (p     

Effects of perceived dependency relationships upon conformity to group expectations.

The study was designed to test the hypothesis that "group members perceiving themselves as interdependent for their reward attainment become highly motivated toward the group task." Results generally are in accord with several predictions, one of which is that: "Members of groups who are instrumentally interdependent become more highly motivated toward the group task than Ss who can achieve their goals independently of the others in the group." Another prediction supported by results is that: "Under conditions of instrumental independence, Ss who are told that both they and their teammates can attain a valued goal through the group activity become more highly task motivated than Ss who are told either that only S or Ss partner can attain this goal." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Linking perceived unfairness to physical health: The perceived unfairness model.

Can perceiving unfairness influence physical health? To address this question the authors propose the Perceived Unfairness Model, synthesized from psychological and epidemiological research. The model starts from the premise that perceiving unfairness, directed at beings to which the perceiver is emotionally attached, activates a cascade of psychological and physical processes. This cascade may be experienced by low or high status group members, and by the target or observer of the perceived unfairness. With repeated episodes, the effects of perceiving unfairness may accumulate and compromise physical health. Whether perceiving unfairness is potentially toxic or benign is a function of two key components of social location: identity relevance and helplessness to redress the unfairness. The authors conclude by discussing directions for developing the model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Judging health status: Effects of perceived prevalence and personal relevance.

Investigated whether people's evaluations of the seriousness of a health disorder are influenced by the perceived prevalence and personal relevance of that disorder. As part of a study ostensibly concerned with college students' health characteristics, 60 undergraduates were tested for the presence of a fictitious enzyme deficiency. Ss discovered either that they had the deficiency (deficiency-present Ss) or that they did not have it (deficiency-absent Ss) and were led to believe either that 1 of the 5 people in the laboratory had the deficiency (low-prevalence Ss) or that 4 of them had it (high-prevalence Ss). As predicted, the low-prevalence Ss evaluated the deficiency as more serious than did the high-prevalence Ss. In addition, consistent with the view that personal relevance affects perceptions of health disorders, the deficiency-present Ss evaluated the deficiency as less serious than did the deficiency-absent Ss. The deficiency-present Ss also derogated the validity of the test ostensibly used to diagnose the deficiency compared with other Ss. The deficiency-present Ss requested more information about the deficiency than did the deficiency-absent Ss. (53 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictors of perceived susceptibility of breast cancer and changes over time: A mixed modeling approach.

Objective: To examine predictors of perceived susceptibility to breast cancer and assess differences across three dependent measures. Design: Annual surveys were completed by US women veterans (N = 3,758) participating in a repeat mammography intervention trial. Multivariable non-linear mixed model analyses examined individual- and group-level changes in perceived susceptibility to breast cancer. Dependent Measures: Three single-item measures of perceived susceptibility to breast cancer (percent risk, ordinal risk, and comparative risk likelihood). Predictors included demographic, health status, health behavior, affect, knowledge, and subjective norm variables. Results: Breast symptoms and greater cancer worry increased perceived susceptibility for all three measures. Other predictors varied by dependent measure. Random change, indicating individual variability, was observed for percent risk only. Conclusion: Despite small model effect sizes, breast symptoms and cancer worry were consistent predictors and may be good targets for messages designed to influence women's perceived susceptibility to breast cancer. Researchers may benefit from using measures of perceived susceptibility with larger response scales, but additional measurement research is needed. Combining indicators of perceived susceptibility may be undesirable when different predictors are associated with different measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Negative life events, perceived stress, negative affect, and susceptibility to the common cold.

After completing questionnaires assessing stressful life events, perceived stress, and negative affect, 394 healthy Ss were intentionally exposed to a common cold virus, quarantined, and monitored for the development of biologically verified clinical illness. Consistent with the hypothesis that psychological stress increases susceptibility to infectious agents, higher scores on each of the 3 stress scales were associated with greater risk of developing a cold. However, the relation between stressful life events and illness was mediated by a different biologic process than were relations between perceived stress and illness and negative affect and illness. That these scales have independent relations with illness and that these relations are mediated by different processes challenges the assumption that perceptions of stress and negative affect are necessary for stressful life events to influence disease risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping with the energy crisis: Effects of fear appeals upon attitudes toward energy consumption.

One neglected strategy for coping with an impending energy crisis has been experimental investigations of methods to persuade consumers to use less energy. A 2 * 2 factorial experiment examined the persuasive effect of 2 communication variables that are confounded frequently in a fear appeal and are also constructs in valence-instrumentality-expectancy theory: (a) the magnitude of noxiousness of a threatened event and (b) the probability of its occurrence. Ss were 60 undergraduates. Results disclose that, although increases in the perceived likelihood of an energy shortage had no effect, increments in the perceived noxiousness or severity of a energy crisis strengthened intentions to reduce energy consumption. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Converting the unconverted: The effect of inclination and opportunity to discount health-related fear appeals.

Two experiments indicated that the conventional wisdom for designing fear appeals, higher fear arousal, and a consequences–recommendations ordering, was more persuasive for adherents, or those who were already following the advocated recommendations. Instead, lowering the level of fear arousal and reversing the order of the consequences and recommendations were more effective for persuading the unconverted. The unconverted were more persuaded by the latter message format because it reduced the level of message discounting. Specifically, unconverted participants who received either a low fear appeal or recommendations preceding consequences perceived themselves to be more susceptible, perceived the consequences as more severe, regarded the recommendations as more efficacious, believed they were more able to follow the recommendations, and were less likely to refute the message claims. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of employee's sex and threatening versus pleading appeals on managerial evaluations of grievances.

Studied the influence of appellant's sex and type of appeal on managers' evaluations of grievances in a simulation administered to 73 male and 28 female bank managers. 2 grievances, each written in 4 forms so as to manipulate appellant's sex and type of appeal, were embedded in an in-basket simulation. When the appellant was male, a polite, pleading appeal was very favorably received, and an aggressive, threatening appeal was fairly well received. When the appellant was female, an aggressive, threatening appeal was quite favorably received, but a polite, pleading appeal was much less well received. It appears that women who employ a deferent approach may be victimized by their own sex role stereotypes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The time-out grid: A guide to effective discipline.

Describes the Time-out Grid, a heuristic tool for analyzing and solving problems associated with implementing time-out in the classroom. Its conceptual foundation is based on research that has demonstrated the importance of relative reinforcing stimulus change in determining the effectiveness of time-out. The Grid illustrates behavioral outcomes associated with differing amounts of reinforcing stimulus change between the time-in and time-out environments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of confidence and motivation on susceptibility to informational social influence.

"The general hypothesis… was that the individual's acceptance of the judgments of others varies as function of: (a) the relative confidence he has in his own judgment; and (b) his motivational orientation toward the task with which he was confronted… . conformity (as measured through a modified Crutchfield apparatus) was found to: (a) increase as the subjective probability that S was receiving information from the others increased; and (b) decrease as the frequency of errors made by the 'majority' increased. Motivational effects induced by the instruction that the task reflected the individual's intelligence resulted in a decrease in… [errors]." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of discipline techniques on children's personality trait inferences.

Investigated the effects of task-focused and approval-focused desists under conditions of limited information. 64 8th graders heard 1 of 2 tape-recorded desists. They then rated the target of the desist and the teacher administering the desist on personality trait and degree of confidence scales. A 2(Sex of Rater) * 2 (Type of Desist) multivariate analysis of variance revealed that the use of a negative approval-focused desist resulted in both the target of the desist and the teacher administering the desist being rated as having significantly less desirable personality traits than when a task-focused desist was used (p     

Effects of aging on source monitoring: Differences in susceptibility to false fame.

Older adults were less likely than young adults to spontaneously recollect the source of familiarity for previously read nonfamous names. Older adults were more likely to call old nonfamous names famous when subsequently encountered in a fame judgment task. Poor source monitoring by the elderly could not be accounted for by inability to recognize earlier read nonfamous names when specifically asked to do so. Both source-monitoring errors and recognition memory performance were based on attributions made about the experience of familiarity. Elderly subjects most prone to making familiarity errors recalled fewer items on a verbal learning task and were less likely to chunk information into semantic categories as it was recalled. This finding suggests that a decline in the tendency to spontaneously organize and integrate information underlies the poor source monitoring observed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology: The core discipline.

Because it deals with fundamental understanding of behavior, psychology is a core discipline for other social sciences concerned with human behavior. Its founders viewed psychology as integrating knowledge from many sources and disciplines. This diversity has posed problems in finding unifying themes and principles and has contributed to a discontinuity in psychology as a science and as a profession. As a core discipline, psychology contains scientific knowledge about human behavior and methods of applying that knowledge. There is a need for cooperation and integration between academic and applied psychology, with both serving to benefit society. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of age and gender on perceived facial attractiveness.

Examined 2 alternative predictions: (1) that Ss would find others similar to themselves as most attractive or (2) that men would prefer younger women and women more mature men. 22 men and 25 women (aged 17–29 yrs), 16 men and 18 women (aged 30–49 yrs) and 18 men and 32 women (aged 50+ yrs) rated the physical attractiveness of 72 photographs of faces from similar age/gender categories. For all groups of Ss, perceived attractiveness declined with age of face, particularly for women's faces. In addition, most groups rated women's faces as more attractive than those of men, the exception being men under 30 yrs, who rated men higher. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of sensory restriction on susceptibility to hypnosis: A hypothesis and more preliminary data.

Randomly assigned 45 young adult white male prisoners to 1 of 3 groups of equal size. Experimental Ss (Groups 2 and 3) were exposed to 1 hr. of sensory restriction. Ss in Group 2 were given a set of neutral instructions prior to sensory restriction, and Ss in Group 3 were given a set of nonneutral instructions. Controls (Group 1) were exposed to conditions similar to experimentals, but without sensory restriction per se. All Ss were tested before and after the above procedures with the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale. On posttesting, experimental Ss appeared to have increased in hypnotizability. (47 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hostility and withdrawal in marital conflict: Effects on parental emotional unavailability and inconsistent discipline.

This study examined the nature of pathways between marital hostility and withdrawal, parental disagreements about child rearing issues, and subsequent changes in parental emotional unavailability and inconsistent discipline in a sample of 225 mothers, fathers, and 6-year-old children. Results of autoregressive, structural equation models indicated that marital withdrawal and hostility were associated with increases in parental emotional unavailability over the one-year period, whereas marital hostility and withdrawal did not predict changes in parental inconsistency in discipline. Additional findings supported the role of child rearing disagreements as an intervening or mediating mechanism in links between specific types of marital conflict and parenting practices. Implications for clinicians and therapists working with maritally distressed parents and families are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)