Are parents' gender schemas related to their children's gender-related cognitions? A meta-analysis.

Meta-analyses were conducted of 43 articles (with 48 different samples) investigating the relationship between parents' gender schemas and their offspring's gender-related cognitions. The parents' offspring ranged in age from infancy to early adulthood. Offspring measures included gender self-concept, gender attitudes toward others, gender-related interests, and occupational attitudes. Overall, a small but meaningful effect size (r = .16) indicated a significant and positive correlation between parent gender schemas and offspring measures. Specifically, parents with more traditional gender schemas were more likely than parents with more nontraditional schemas to have offspring with gender-typed cognitions about themselves or others. In addition, the magnitudes of observed effect sizes were influenced by particular moderator variables, including type of parent gender schema (gender self-concept vs. gender attitudes toward others), type of offspring gender-related cognitions, parent gender, offspring gender, offspring age, and publication characteristics. The results are cautiously interpreted as suggesting a possible influence of parents on the development of their children's gender-related thinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit self-theories of shyness.

Three studies examined implicit self-theories in relation to shy people's goals, responses, and consequences within social situations. Shy incremental theorists were more likely than shy entity theorists to view social situations as a learning opportunity and to approach social settings (Study 1). Shy incremental theorists were less likely to use strategies aimed at avoiding social interaction (Studies 2 and 3) and suffered fewer negative consequences of their shyness (Study 3). These findings generalized across both hypothetical and actual social situations as well as both self-reports and observer reports and could not be attributed to individual differences in level of shyness. Together, these studies indicate that implicit self-theories of shyness are important for understanding individual differences among shy people and suggest new avenues for implicit self-theories research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations of shyness and low sociability to regulation and emotionality.

The relations of shyness and low sociability (i.e., the nonfearful preference to be alone) to measures of regulation and emotionality were examined. College students and (for some variables) friends reported on their relevant dispositional characteristics. In general, shyness was associated with low regulation and high negative emotionality (including intensity, negative affectivity, and personal distress), low positive affect, and low constructive coping. In contrast, low sociability was unrelated to negative emotionality; associated with low positive emotional intensity, low physiological reactivity, and high inhibition control; and correlated with low seeking of social support as a means of coping. The findings are considered within a heuristic model in which emotional reactivity and regulation are proposed as predictors of social responding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of risk-glorifying media exposure on risk-positive cognitions, emotions, and behaviors: A meta-analytic review.

In recent years, there has been a surge in the quantity of media content that glorifies risk-taking behavior, such as risky driving, extreme sports, or binge drinking. The authors conducted a meta-analysis involving more than 80,000 participants and 105 independent effect sizes to examine whether exposure to such media depictions increased their recipients' risk-taking inclinations. A positive connection was found for overall, combined risk taking (g = .41); as well as its underlying dimensions: risk-taking behaviors (g = .41), risk-positive cognitions and attitudes (g = .35), and risk-positive emotions (g = .56). This effect was observed across varying research methods (experimental, correlational, longitudinal); types of media (video games, movies, advertising, TV, music); and differing risk-related outcome measures (e.g., smoking, drinking, risky driving, sexual behavior). Multiple moderator analyses revealed 2 theoretically new boundary conditions for sociocognitive models. First, the effect was stronger for active (i.e., video games) than for passive (e.g., film, music) exposure to risk-glorifying media content. Second, the effect was stronger when there was a high degree of contextual fit between the media content and type of risk-taking measure. The theoretical, practical, and societal implications of the present research synthesis are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Explicit and implicit measures of expectancy and related alcohol cognitions: A meta-analytic comparison.

Implicit measures assess the influence of past experience on present behavior in the absence of respondents’ awareness of that influence. Application of implicit measurement to expectancy and related alcohol cognition research has helped elucidate the links between alcohol-related experiences, the functioning of alcohol-related memory, and alcohol-related behavior. Despite these advances, a coherent picture of the role of implicit measurement has been difficult to achieve because of the diversity of implicit measures used. Two central questions have emerged: Do implicit measures assess a distinct aspect of the alcohol associative memory domain not accessible via explicit measurement; when compared with explicit measurement, do they offer unique prediction of alcohol consumption? To address these questions, the authors conducted a meta-analysis of studies using both implicit and explicit measures of alcohol expectancy and other types of alcohol-related cognition. Results indicate that implicit and explicit measures are weakly related, and although they predict some shared variance in drinking, each also contributes a unique component. Results are discussed in the context of the theoretical distinction made between the 2 types of measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Area postrema damage and bait shyness.

Conducted 2 experiments with naive male Sprague-Dawley rats. Results indicate that thermal cauterization of the area postrema region prevented food aversion learning ("bait shyness") induced by injections of methylscopolamine, but failed to affect that induced by injections of amphetamine. The anorexic effect of amphetamine was similarly unaffected by area postrema damage. Bait shyness induced by different drugs appears to be mediated by different mechanisms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The instability of health cognitions: Visceral states influence self-efficacy and related health beliefs.

Objective: To determine how visceral impulses, such as hunger and drug craving, influence health beliefs. Design: The authors assessed smokers' self-efficacy and intentions to quit while in a randomly assigned state of cigarette craving or noncraving (Study 1), and assessed dieters weight-loss beliefs while hungry or satiated (Study 2). Main outcome measures: Self-efficacy, smoking cessation, weight-loss goals. Results: The authors found, in both the context of smoking and weight-loss, that participants in a cold (e.g., satiated) state had different health beliefs than participants in a hot state (e.g., hungry). Specifically, in Study 1, the authors found that smokers who experienced cigarette craving had lower self-efficacy than did satiated smokers. Consequently, smokers who craved a cigarette had less intention to quit smoking in the future compared with satiated smokers. In Study 2, the authors found that hungry dieters had less self-efficacy than did satiated dieters. This difference led hungry dieters to form less ambitious future weight-loss goals and view prior weight-loss attempts with more satisfaction. Conclusion: These findings contribute to our understanding of the nature of health beliefs and reveal that health beliefs are more dynamic than previously assumed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Health condition, impairment, activity limitations: Relationships with emotions and control cognitions in people with disabling conditions.

Objectives: To gain a better understanding of the influence of the health condition on emotions and control cognitions by using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework. The relations between health condition, impairment, activity limitations, and emotions or control cognitions were investigated in people with 1 of 2 different disabling conditions, chronic idiopathic axonal polyneuropathy (CIAP) or stroke. Method: Two existing databases were used: cross-sectional data from 56 participants with CIAP; longitudinal data of 100 participants with stroke. Participants were assessed on measures of the health condition, impairment, activity limitations, emotions, and control cognitions. Results: In participants with CIAP, impairment explained variance in concurrent control cognitions (9%-25%), activity limitation in concurrent depression (8%), and control cognitions (26%-36%). In stepwise regression activity, limitation was more powerful in explaining variance in emotions and control cognitions than impairment. In people with stroke, only activity limitations explained variance in emotions (4%-9%) and control cognitions (4%-7%). Conclusions: These results suggest that targeting activity limitations in rehabilitation efforts is likely to relate to control cognitions, which in themselves have been shown to benefit recovery of physical consequences in chronic illness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toddlers' context-varying emotions, maternal responses to emotions, and internalizing behaviors.

Relations of toddlers' observed negative affect in high- and low-threat contexts to maternal perceptions of their toddlers' internalizing problems and to mothers' responses to emotions (RTE) for fear and sadness were examined. Child-driven, parent-driven, and reciprocal transactional models across 1 year were directly compared. Two-year-old toddlers (N = 106) participated in lab-based activities to elicit distress, and their negative affect was coded. Mothers completed measures of their child's internalizing behaviors and their responses to their toddler's fear and sadness at ages 2 and 3. At age 2, only negative affect in low-threat contexts was associated with greater internalizing problems. Mothers' punishing and minimizing RTE at age 2 predicted an increase in internalizing problems across 1 year. Age 2 internalizing problems predicted an increase in mother's use of supportive RTE over time. Results highlight the importance of considering the context of toddlers' negative affective displays and supported a reciprocal conceptualization of toddlers' internalizing behaviors and mothers' RTE. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Videotape replay and recall in group work.

Assigned 37 university students to 1 of 4 groups to assess the effect of N. Kagan's Interpersonal Process Recall (IPR) videotape replay method on group work and compare it with a T-group method. The IPR groups showed significantly greater change in individual and group interaction factors, as measured by Bills's Index of Adjustment and Values, Jourard's Self-Disclosure Scale, and the Hill Interaction Matrix. The 2 group methods had a differential effect according to population. High self-esteem, socially active Ss showed no difference between methods. The self-confrontation of IPR was beneficial to the low self-esteem, socially inactive Ss, while the direct confrontation of the T-group method seemed to have an adverse effect. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early temperamental and family predictors of shyness and anxiety.

With a sample of 242 twins (135 girls, 107 boys) studied longitudinally, behavioral inhibition (BI) and inhibitory control (IC) measured at 3 years, as well as early and concurrent family process variables, were examined as predictors of shyness and of anxiety symptoms approximately 4 years later. Structured observational data from laboratory and home contexts were used in conjunction with parent and experimenter ratings. A key goal was to extend previous findings of the positive relationship between early BI and anxiety development by incorporating the consideration of IC and family process variables. Using hierarchical linear modeling with restricted maximum likelihood estimation to adjust for twin dependency, early BI (b = 0.37, p b = 0.14, p b = –0.22, p b = 0.14, p b = 0.20, p b = 0.26, p     

Attitude intensity and dissonant cognitions.

Balance and dissonance theory postulate that tension may be reduced by decreasing the importance of dissonant cognitions. 232 students at a southern university and 261 students at a northern university responded to 3 forms of an attitude scale toward integration. Attitude intensity was used as a measure of importance and was correlated with dissonance as measured by perceived discrepancy between Ss' attitude and those of their parents and close friends. The results suggest that: (a) individuals may markedly disagree with primary reference groups when these groups are perceived to be against the broader norms of his culture, and (b) dissonance may result in an increase as well as a decrease in attitude intensity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Incorporating biomarkers of exposure and genetic susceptibility into smoking cessation treatment: Effects on smoking-related cognitions, emotions, and behavior change.

In this article the authors report on the short-term impact of incorporating biomarker feedback about exposure and genetic susceptibility into minimal-contact quit-smoking counseling (QSC). Four hundred and twenty-seven smokers were randomized to 1 of 3 treatments: (a) QSC, (b) QSC + exposure biomarker feedback (EBF) about carbon monoxide in exhaled breath, or (b) QSC + EBF + biomarker feedback about genetic susceptibility to lung cancer (SBF). We observed significant immediate positive effects of SBF, compared with EBF and QSC, on perceived risk, perceived quitting benefits, and fear arousal. However, at the 2-month follow-up, there were no group differences in quit rates. SBF did lead to significant reductions in the number of cigarettes smoked for smokers who were in the preparation stage. Smokers in the EBF and QSC conditions showed reductions in depressive symptoms by 2 months, but smokers in the SBF condition did not. In the context of QSC, genetic feedback may heighten vulnerability and possibly promote distress, but may not immediately enhance quitting in most smokers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Videotape self-confrontation of schizophrenic ego and thought processes.

Recent studies in videotape self-confrontation, analogous to previous research with primarily nonverbal techniques, suggested an ideal treatment vehicle for modifying disturbed ego and thought processes in schizophrenics. Posttest data on the Rorschach Prognostic Rating Scale indicated no change in the 15 male schizophrenics exposed to videotape self-confrontation when compared to 15 nonexposed schizophrenics and 15 normals exposed to self-confrontation. Normals unexpectedly did change on 2 of 3 dependent variable measures. The role of defense in the self-confrontation experience is discussed in relation to the need for more definitive research with videotape applications. (40 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Three types of shyness in Chinese children and the relation to effortful control.

Two studies were conducted to further differentiate 3 forms of shyness previously identified in Chinese children—shyness toward strangers, anxious shyness, and regulated shyness—by examining the relation of the 3 forms of shyness to children’s inhibited behavior, physiological reactivity (measured by heart period [HP]), and effortful control. In Study 1 (N = 237; M age = 9.17 years), the authors examined the 3 forms of shyness in relation to children’s inhibited behavior and HP assessed in 3 conditions: at baseline, during a stranger encounter, and in a card-sorting task with social evaluative cues. Results of confirmatory factor analyses provided support for a 3-factor model of shyness. Shyness toward strangers was associated with children’s inhibition (positively) and HP (negatively) in the stranger encounter and children’s HP (negatively) in the card-sorting session, whereas anxious shyness was related to children’s inhibition (positively) and HP (negatively) in the card-sorting session. Regulated shyness was not associated with children’s inhibition in any session but was negatively related to HP in the stranger encounter session. In Study 2 (N = 208; M age = 6.57 years), the authors examined children’s shyness toward strangers and effortful control at age 6 years in relation to anxious and regulated shyness 2 years later. Results showed shyness toward strangers was related to regulated shyness among children with high or moderate effortful control, and shyness toward strangers was related to anxious shyness among children with low or moderate effortful control. Findings support a multidimensional view of shyness in Chinese children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Willingness to express emotions to caregiving spouses.

This study examined the association between care-recipients' willingness to express emotions to spousal caregivers and caregiver's well-being and support behaviors. Using self-report measures in the context of a larger study, 262 care-recipients with osteoarthritis reported on their willingness to express emotions to caregivers, and caregivers reported on their stress and insensitive responding to care-recipients. Results revealed that care-recipients' willingness to express happiness was associated with less insensitive caregiver responding, and willingness to express interpersonal emotions (e.g., compassion, guilt) was associated with less caregiving stress. There were also gender differences, such that caregiving wives, in particular, benefited from their husband's willingness to express vulnerable (e.g., anxiety, sadness) and interpersonal emotions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Origins of individual differences in infant shyness.

Explored the origins of individual differences in infant shyness by studying its relationship to parental shyness, sociability (the tendency to prefer being with others rather than alone), and introversion–extraversion (a factor that combines shyness, low sociability, and lack of impulsivity). The parents of 152 adopted and 120 nonadoptive infants (aged 12–24 mo) rated their child's shyness on a 5-item scale and completed the 16PF and measures of emotionality, activity, sociability, and impulsivity. In addition, information on biological mothers was obtained. The Family Environment Scale and the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment were used to assess each infant's environment. Results show that infant shyness was positively related to shyness and negatively related to sociability and extraversion in nonadoptive mothers who shared both heredity and family environment with their infants. Genetic influence on infant shyness at 24 mo of age was shown by significant correlations of shyness and low sociability of biological mothers with shyness of their adopted-away infants. Infant shyness was also related to low sociability of adoptive mothers. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Infant sleep and parental sleep-related cognitions.

Infant sleep is a major source of distress in many families. The purpose of this study was to assess infant sleep and parental sleep-related cognitions about infant sleep in clinical and control samples. The clinical sample consisted of 48 infants referred to a sleep clinic because of night-wakings problems. The control sample included 48 infants with no parental complaints about sleep difficulties. Sleep of all participating infants was monitored for 1 week with actigraphs and parental daily logs. Parents completed 2 questionnaires testing their cognitions about infant sleep. As expected, significant group differences were found with regard to the sleep-quality measures and parental cognitions. Parental cognitions about difficulties in limit setting were associated with poorer sleep quality. Significant differences were found between fathers and mothers on the cognitions scales. The results highlight the links between parental cognitions and infant sleep and the unique perspective of each parent in this area. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal attachment cognitions and prediction of symptomatic responses to interpersonal stress.

The authors tested a cognitive-interpersonal hypothesis of depression by examining the role of interpersonal cognitions in the prediction of depression associated with interpersonal stressors. A measure of adult attachment assessed interpersonal cognitions about ability to be close to others and to depend on others and anxiety about rejection and abandonment. Participants were women who had recently graduated from high school; they were followed for 1 year with extensive interview evaluation of life events, depression, and other symptomatology. Generally, cognitions, interpersonal events, and their interactions contributed to the prediction of interview-assessed depressive symptoms, but the effects were not specific to depression and predicted general symptomatology measured by diagnostic interviews as well, and results also varied by attachment subscale. Results were discussed in terms of a developmental psychopathology approach to disorders in young women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)