Your search

Swearing is prevalent in our society, but the influence of such language choices on judgments of others is not well understood. This study examines how the composition of conversational dyads, speaker's gender, and use of profanity influence impressions. Participants (N = 138) were randomly assigned to read two conversations and rate target speakers (one male, one female). The conversations had neither, one, or both speakers using profanity and consisted of same- or mixed-gender dyads. The result is a 2 (target speaker, male/female) x 2 (dyad composition) x 3 (profanity) mixed design with speaker gender as the repeated measure. Speakers using profanity had poorer impression ratings on several variables, including overall impression, intelligence, and trustworthiness. Speakers swearing in mixed-gender dyads were rated as less sociable, and males swearing in mixed-gender dyads were rated as more offensive. Language choices matter, and more research is needed to understand the unconscious biases held against those who use profanity.

In the Monty Hall dilemma, an individual chooses between three options, only one of which will deliver a prize. After the initial choice, one of the nonchosen options is revealed as a losing option, and the individual can choose to stay with the original choice or switch to the other remaining option. Previous studies have found that most adults stay with their initial choice, although the chances of winning are 2/3 for switching and 1/3 for staying. Pigeons, college students, and preschool children were given many trials on this task to examine how their choices might change with experience. The college students began to switch on a majority of trials much sooner than the pigeons, contrary to the findings by Herbranson and Schroeder (2010) that pigeons perform better than people on this task. In all three groups, some individuals approximated the optimal strategy of switching on every trial, but most did not. Many of the preschoolers immediately showed a pattern of always switching or always staying and continued this pattern throughout the experiment. In a condition where the probability of winning was 90% after a switch, all college students and all but one pigeon learned to switch on nearly every trial. The results suggest that one main impediment to learning the optimal strategy in the Monty Hall task, even after repeated trials, is the difficulty in discriminating the different reinforcement probabilities for switching versus staying.

The current study examined the nature and style of mother-adolescent conversations, how these conversations differ by subject matter and dyadic and individual differences. Thirty-one mother-adolescent dyads (17 boys, 14 girls) with a child between the ages of 11 and 14 had a nonstructured conversation and conversations about conflict and sexuality They also completed questionnaires on beliefs about acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Conversations were measured for turn taking, total number of words, and conversational dominance, as well as nonverbal measures of affiliation, shame, and contempt Conversations about sexuality involved less turn taking, fewer words, and more mother dominance than nonstructured conversations. Conversations about conflicts involved less turn taking but more words than nonstructured conversations Some gender and age differences were found. Move interactive conflict conversations contained higher levels of affiliation, and lower levels of child shame than conversations with fewer turns or higher mother dominance. In addition, children in move interactive dyads possessed a larger percentage of their mother's AIDS knowledge, and worried about AIDS a moderate amount.

This 2-year longitudinal study examined the affective nature of communication between mothers and adolescents from early to mid-adolescence. Eleven-to 16-year-old adolescents and their mothers were videotaped while engaging in conversations about everyday topics, dating and sexuality, and conflicts. Nonverbal displays of affiliation, embarrassment, and contempt were found to be fairly stable across conversations, across members of the same dyad, and across time for the mothers. However, there were some effects of conversational topic in that adolescents displayed less affiliation in the conflict conversation than in the other conversations during the 1st session. In addition, boys displayed more contempt when talking about dating and sexuality than about conflicts. Over the 2-year period, the level of affiliation decreased for adolescents, and maternal conversational dominance increased. In all conversations and at both time periods, adolescents displayed more embarrassment and contempt and less affiliation than did mothers. Both maternal and adolescent levels of affiliation during the conversations in the 1st session predicted degree of satisfaction with certain family characteristics expressed in the 2nd session. Copyright © 1997, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Constructing a personal narrative and consolidating identity is an ongoing process that becomes pressing in the face of mortality. The current pilot study examined the process of life review in a sample of older people, specifically examining the effects of participation in a memoir course on wisdom, identity, and well-being. We hypothesized that wisdom, identity fidelity and coherence, and subjective well-being would increase for those in the memoir group compared to a control. Eighteen elderly individuals from two senior retirement communities were randomly assigned to participate in weekly classes, for four weeks, either to work on a memoir or discuss films (control group). After engaging in the process of organizing their life story and writing about important memories, the nine individuals in the memoir group scored significantly higher on self-report measures of wise reminiscence, identity fidelity, and subjective well-being compared to those in the control group. Furthermore, exploratory analyses found that wise reminiscence statistically mediated relationships between the memoir condition and the outcome measures of identity fidelity, identity coherence, and subjective well-being. These findings point to the benefits of memoir writing for positive aging as well as potential mechanisms underlying its effectiveness.

Effects of compensatory strategies offered by Wii technology on physical activity, loneliness, and mood are investigated. Thirty-five individuals (M = 82 years) were randomly assigned to either playing Wii or watching television with a partner for 10 weeks. Physical activity, loneliness, mood, life satisfaction, and health were assessed. The elderly playing Wii had lower loneliness and a pattern of greater positive mood compared to the television group. No differences in life satisfaction or physical activity were found, but loneliness predicted positive mood, and positive mood predicted physical activity. This investigation points to the benefits of using Wii for well-being, particularly social connection and enjoyment. © 2011 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.