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Research suggests that posture exerts powerful affective and cognitive influences, although recent studies have indicated that these embodiment effects are moderated by gender. We examined two sociocultural factors that may contribute to the effects of postural feedback in women: self-objectification and power. Across a 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects design, 80 female undergraduates completed various cognitive tasks and self-report measures after having been in an upright or slouched posture, seated in either a (powerful) throne or child’s chair, and wearing either a formfitting (objectifying) tank top or loose sweatshirt. The results showed that posture had the predicted influence on mood, with those seated upright reporting more positive mood than those seated in a slouched position. For the cognitive tasks, our findings were more complex and, due to low power, are best considered preliminary. Participants who were seated upright in a child’s chair while wearing a sweatshirt attempted the highest number of math items compared to those in the other conditions, supporting our prediction that postural benefits would be greatest in a context where power cues were gender-appropriate and self-objectification effects were attenuated. On a measure of satisfaction with performance, our findings suggest that self-objectification outweighed the power manipulation, leading to poorer outcomes when a seated position emphasized sexualized features of the body. Taken together, our results suggest that embodiment effects appear to be impacted by contextual cues, perhaps particularly for women.

Objective: To evaluate via a research literature survey the anterior neurological significance of decreased olfactory functioning following traumatic brain injuries. Materials and Methods: A computer literature review was performed to locate all functional neuro-imaging studies on patients with post-traumatic anosmia and other olfactory deficits. Results: A convergence of findings from nine functional neuro-imaging studies indicating evidence for reduced metabolic activity at rest or relative hypo-perfusion during olfactory activations. Hypo-activation of the prefrontal regions was apparent in all nine post-traumatic samples, with three samples yielding evidence of reduced activity in the temporal regions as well. Conclusions: The practical ramifications include the reasonable hypothesis that a total anosmic head trauma patient likely has frontal lobe involvement.

According to the facial feedback hypothesis, people’s affective responses can be influenced by their own facial expression (e.g. smiling, pouting), even when their expression did not result from their emotional experiences. For example, Strack, Martin, and Stepper (1988) instructed participants to rate the funniness of cartoons using a pen that they held in their mouth. In line with the facial feedback hypothesis, when participants held the pen with their teeth (inducing a “smile”), they rated the cartoons as funnier than when they held the pen with their lips (inducing a “pout”). This seminal study of the facial feedback hypothesis has not been replicated directly. This Registered Replication Report describes the results of 17 independent direct replications of Study 1 from Strack et al. (1988), all of which followed the same vetted protocol. A meta-analysis of these studies examined the difference in funniness ratings between the “smile” and “pout” conditions. The original Strack et al. (1988) study reported a rating difference of 0.82 units on a 10-point Likert scale. Our meta-analysis revealed a rating difference of 0.03 units with a 95% confidence interval ranging from −0.11 to 0.16., 0, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Strong cultural messages are sent to women that their bodies are unacceptable as they are, thus encouraging engagement in a variety of body-altering practices. It seems that one of the obligations that women have in a culture that sexually objectifies their bodies is to conceal their bodies' more physical functions, such as menstruation. A new scale was constructed to measure women's attitudes and emotions toward menstruation. A study was conducted to test the relationship between self-objectification and women's menstrual self-evaluations. Results showed that women who internalize a more sexually objectified view of their physical selves have more negative attitudes and emotions, including disgust and shame, toward their own menstrual cycles.

An experiment tested the hypothesis that reminders of a woman's menstrual status lead to more negative reactions to her and increased objectification of women in general. Participants interacted with a female confederate who ostensibly accidentally dropped either a tampon or hair clip out of her handbag. Dropping the tampon led to lower evaluations of the confederate's competence, decreased liking for her, and a marginal tendency to avoid sitting close to her. Furthermore, gender schematic participants responded to the reminder of menstruation with increased objectification of women in general, an effect we view as an effort to “protect” culturally sanitized views of the feminine. These findings are discussed from the perspective of feminist theory and a terror management perspective on the role of ambivalence about the human body in the objectification of women.

This research extends previous work that identified groups of youth characterized by profiles of perceived family and peer transactions. Predictions derived from self-enhancement and self-consistency theories concerning how such transactions might relate to self-esteem in a diverse sample of early adolescents (N = 635) were investigated. Both theories indicate independent contributions of family and peer transactions to self-esteem. The theories differ, however, with regard to implications for how the two microsystems might interrelate in their linkages with self-esteem, with self-enhancement theory implying a moderational model and self-consistency theory a mediational model. As predicted, family and peer profiles each made independent contributions to the prediction of self-esteem. Consistent with self-consistency theory, the relations of family transactions to self-esteem were mediated in part by their associations with peer transactions, with particularly strong linkages evident between qualitatively similar profiles of family and peer experiences. Support for a moderational model, however, was not found.

This study of 132 clinic-referred 6to 12-year old boys with behavior problems examined the concurrent external validity of dimensions of the DSM-IV and Two-Factor diagnostic models. Both models used parent responses to the same DSM structured interview, focusing the study on conceptual differences between the models. Age at evaluation accounted for major variation and was held constant in all analyses. Both models, in both twoand three-dimension versions, had considerable external validity. The Two-Factor inattention-overactivity (10) dimension predicted more external variables than the DSM-IV inattention (IN) dimension. DSM oppositional/conduct (OD/CD) accounted for some variation that is usually misattributed to DSM-IV hyperactivity-impulsivity (HI). In hierarchical analyses, the 10 and AG dimensions of the Two-Factor model predicted more variation in more dependent variables than did the IN and HI dimensions of the DSM model of ADHD. However, when the often-ignored third dimension (OD/CD) was included, the complete three-dimension DSM-IV model accounted for more variation in more dependent variables than did the Two-Factor model. When the excluded third dimension (HI) was added to the Two-Factor model, the two three-dimension models were essentially equal in external validity.

This article offers objectification theory as a framework for understanding the experiential consequences of being female in a culture that sexually objectifies the female body. Objectification theory posits that girls and women are typically acculturated to internalize an observer's perspective as a primary view of their physical selves. This perspective on self can lead to habitual body monitoring, which, in turn, can increase women's opportunities for shame and anxiety, reduce opportunities for peak motivational states, and diminish awareness of internal bodily states. Accumulations of such experiences may help account for an array of mental health risks that disproportionately affect women: unipolar depression, sexual dysfunction, and eating disorders. Objectification theory also illuminates why changes in these mental health risks appear to occur in step with life-course changes in the female body.

Preliminary validity of DSM-IV ADHD was examined in a sample of 6- to 12-year-old boys with behavior problems. Problem identification, extent of impairment, cognitive/attentional, family context, and behavioral symptom differences were examined among 28 boys with ADHD, inattentive type; 9 with ADHD, hyperactive-impulsive type; 59 with ADHD, combined type; and 18 with no ADHD diagnosis. Some evidence for validity of ADHD was suggested, especially for the inattentive and combined subtypes, and on measures of impairment, mother-, father-, and teacher-rated disruptive symptoms, and observed playroom behavior. Few differences were obtained on measures of family context and age-corrected indices of cognitive/attentional functioning. Supplementary analyses of the boys with ADHD, combined type, subgrouped on the presence or absence of oppositional and conduct disorders, highlight the role of such diagnostic comorbidity in some of the dysfunctions attributed to ADHD.

An experiment tested three possible explanations for gender differences in responsiveness to others' evaluations in achievement settings. Results replicated previous studies and showed that women and men perceived the valence of evaluative messages similarly. Further, women's privately made self-evaluations reflected the valence of others' evaluations to a greater extent than men's. Finally, women saw others' evaluations as more accurate assessments of their performance than did men and said they were more influenced by those evaluations than did men. The best explanation for the gender difference in responsiveness to others' evaluations, therefore, seems to lie in women's and men's differing construals of the informational value of those evaluations. The authors propose that different experiences girls and boys have with evaluative feedback may lead to gender differences in beliefs about the informational value of others' evaluations of our competence.

There are numerous instances in which auditory patterns could be employed to give a variety of signals or messages. The aim of this research was to investigate those sound qualities which contribute to an auditory signal's pleasantness and distinctiveness. A variety of auditory schemes were assesed, based on a number of different musical and acoustic dimensions. It was observed that patterns that varied along the rhythmic domain were most easily distinguished while frequency modulated intervals were judged to be most pleasant. The scheme-that optimized both-distinctiveness and pleasantness entailed four-note melodic sequences.