Exploring the Limits of Social Cognitive Theory: Why Negatively Reinforced Behaviors on TV May Be Modeled Anyway

Despite extensive discussion of the potential for viewers' social learning of risky health behaviors from TV programming, there has been relatively little effort to test behavioral modeling predictions. That is, it is not clear whether televised depictions of negatively reinforced undesirable behaviors (e.g., unsafe sex), in fact, influence the value viewers attach to those behaviors and their future likelihood of performing them, as social cognitive theory (SCT) would predict. Indeed, we argue that social learning in likely minimal in such contexts due to the programming schemas audiences bring to the viewing experience. In Study 1, the contents of serial TV programming schemas are examined. Results suggest that viewers expect main characters to ultimately survive and thrive, despite the adversity they face. In Study 2, competing predictions from SCT and schema theory are tested. College women ( N = 400) were exposed to various portrayals of promiscuous sexual behavior (1-night stands) that were edited to display more or less positive or negative outcomes. Results suggested that, consistent with SCT, those with direct experience with the behavior were not influenced by the portrayals. However, inconsistent with SCT, but consistent with the schema argument, those without direct experience were more likely to expect future participation in the unsafe behavior, regardless of the valence of the reinforcement depicted. Implications for future research on media, SCT, and risky behaviors are discussed.     

Depression and sensitization to stressors among young women as a function of childhood adversity.

The authors tested a stress-sensitization version of a diathesis-stress approach to depression. In a 2-year longitudinal follow-up design, exposure to stressful life events was examined in young women in the transition to adulthood. The authors hypothesized that those who had experienced one or more significant childhood adversities would have a lower threshold for developing a depressive reaction to stressors. Results indicated that women with exposure to one or more childhood adversities—such as family violence, parent psychopathology or alcoholism, and others—were more likely to become depressed following less total stress than women without such adversity. The results could not be accounted for by chronic stress or prior depression. Both biological and psychological sensitization mechanisms may be speculated to play a role, but the actual mechanisms of stress sensitization remain to be explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reading aloud: Qualitative differences in the relation between stimulus quality and word frequency as a function of context.

Virtually all theories of visual word recognition assume (typically implicitly) that when a pathway is used, processing within that pathway always unfolds in the same way. This view is challenged by the observation that simple variations in list composition are associated with qualitative changes in performance. The present experiments demonstrate that when reading aloud, the joint effects of stimulus quality and word frequency on response time are driven by the presence/absence of nonwords in the list. Interacting effects of these factors are seen when only words appear in the experiment, whereas additive effects are seen when words and nonwords are randomly intermixed. One way to explain these and other data appeals to the distinction between cascaded processing (or interactive activation) on the one hand versus a thresholded mode of processing on the other, with contextual factors determining which mode of processing dominates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A model of acoustic transmission in the respiratory system

A theoretical model of sound transmission from within the respiratory tract to the chest wall due to the motion of the walls of the large airways was developed. The vocal tract, trachea, and the first five bronchial generations are represented over the frequency range from 100 to 600 Hz by an equivalent acoustic circuit. This circuit allows the estimation of the magnitude of airway wall motion in response to an acoustic perturbation at the mouth. The radiation of sound through the surrounding lung parenchyma is represented as a cylindrical wave in a homogeneous mixture of air bubbles in water. The effect of thermal losses associated with the polytropic compressions and expansions of these bubbles by the acoustic wave is included and the chest wall is represented as a massive boundary to the wave propagation. The model estimates the magnitude of acceleration over the extrathoracic trachea and at three locations on the posterior chest wall in the same vertical plane. The predicted spectral characteristics of transmission are consistent with previous experimental observations. This theoretical approach suggests that the locations of the spectral peaks are a strong function of the geometry and the wall properties of the airways, while the attenuation at higher frequencies is primarily associated with the absorption of sound in the parenchyma.     

2008设计流行趋势预测

日前，美国的流行趋势专家C．DaVis Remignanti在家具网站上发布了2008设计流行趋势报告，他与其设计顾问们忠告消费者：“好的设计是有机的并且灵活多变的——既要顾及当今的流行趋势，又不能太在意这个趋势。对于什么是好的设计，这是没有硬性规定的，接不接受流行完全凭自己的喜好。并且要记住一点，无论你把房间装饰得多么时髦，它总是会过时的，如果—个时尚的空间不能让置身其中的人感到舒服和亲切，那这个设计一定是失败的”。     

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF POLARISCOPES FOR USE IN GLASS FACTORIES1

This paper presents the most important considerations in the design and construction of polariscopes for routine factory use as found in the author's experience. A short summary of the various methods of obtaining plane-polarized light is given in which preference is given to the reflection method for this type of instrument. The use of binocular analyzers, together with the importance of the matching of the field colors due to the tint-plates, is pointed out.     

Observed and perceived parental overprotection in relation to psychosocial adjustment in preadolescents with a physical disability: The mediational role of behavioral autonomy.

The purpose of this study was to test a mediational model of associations between parental overprotectiveness (OP), behavioral autonomy, and psychosocial adjustment in 68 families with 8- and 9-year-old preadolescents with spina bifida and a demographically matched sample of 68 families with able-bodied children. Measures included questionnaire and observational assessments of parental OP; parent and child reports of behavioral autonomy; and parent, child, and teacher reports of preadolescent adjustment. On the basis of both questionnaire and observational measures of OP, mothers and fathers of children with spina bifida were significantly more overprotective than their counterparts in the able-bodied sample, although this group difference was partially mediated by children's cognitive ability. Both questionnaire and observational measures of parental OP were associated with lower levels of preadolescent decision-making autonomy as well as with parents being less willing to grant autonomy to their offspring in the future. For the questionnaire measure of OP, and only for the spina bifida sample, the mediational model was supported such that parental OP was associated with less behavioral autonomy, which was, in turn, associated with more externalizing problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aerobic Oxidative Coupling of o‐Xylene: Discovery of 2‐Fluoropyridine as a Ligand to Support Selective Pd‐Catalyzed C?H Functionalization

An improved method for the direct oxidative coupling of o‐xylene could provide streamlined access to an important monomer used in polyimide resins. The use of 2‐fluoropyridine as a ligand has been found to enable unprecedented levels of chemo‐ and regioselectivity in this palladium‐catalyzed aerobic oxidative coupling reaction. Preliminary insights have been obtained into the origin of the effectiveness of 2‐fluoropyridine as a ligand.     

Application of real-time quantitative PCR for the detection of selected bacterial pathogens during municipal wastewater treatment

Bacteria were detected at five stages of municipal wastewater treatment using TaqMan(R) real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). Thirteen probe and primer sets were tested for diverse pathogens that may be present in wastewater, including Aeromonas hydrophila, Bacillus cereus, Clostridium perfringens, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, E. coli O157:H7, Helicobacter pylori, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Legionella pneumophila, Listeria monocytogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella sp., and Staphylococcus aureus. The sensitivity of the assay was 100 fg of genomic DNA (=22 gene copies), based on a standard curve generated using A. hydrophila purified DNA. Samples from five stages of wastewater treatment were collected, including raw wastewater, primary effluents, mixed liquor, waste activated sludge and final effluents. In duplicate samples, E. coli, K. pneumoniae, C. perfringens and E. faecalis were detected throughout the wastewater process, and their numbers decreased by 3.52-3.98, 4.23-4.33, 3.15-3.39, and 3.24 orders of magnitude respectively, between the raw wastewater and final effluent stage. This qPCR method was effective for the detection of pathogens in wastewater and confirmed that the risk of exposure to pathogens in the wastewater discharge was well within the Environment Canada guidelines.