The Role of Attachment and Language in Analogical Reasoning

The present study examined the relationships between attachment and analogical reasoning within two domains: social reasoning and physical reasoning. Verbal reasoning was assessed as a possible mediator of these relationships. This study was conducted with 67 typically-developed children between the ages of nine to 11 years of age who were recruited from The University of Southern Mississippi\u27s student population and from schools in Hattiesburg, MS and Ocean Springs, MS. Attachment security was assessed using the Kerns Security Scale (Kerns, Klepac, & Cole, 1996), and verbal reasoning was assessed with the Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children-3rd edition (Weschler, 1991). Analogical reasoning within social and physical domains was assessed using analogous match-to-sample tasks. To assess social reasoning, the participants were required to reason about others\u27 emotions such as happiness, sadness, fear, and anger. To assess physical reasoning, they were required to reason about physical tasks that others were engaged in, such as sports, cooking, art, and school activities. The results revealed that verbal reasoning was significantly related to social reasoning, while the relationship between verbal reasoning and physical reasoning approached significance. Attachment was not significantly related to any of the other variables in this study

The Phylogenetic Roots of Cognitive Dissonance

We presented 7 Old World monkeys (Japanese macaques [Macaca fuscata] gray cheeked mangabey [Lophocebus albigena] rhesus macaques [Macaca mulatta] bonnet macaque [Macaca radiate] and olive baboon [Papio anubis]) 3 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) 6 members of the parrot (Psittacinae) family and 4 American black bears (Ursus americanus) with a cognitive dissonance paradigm modeled after Egan Santos and Bloom (2007) In experimental trials subjects were given choices between 2 equally preferred food items and then presented with the unchosen option and a novel equally preferred food Item In control trials subjects were presented with I accessible and 1 inaccessible option from another triad of equally preferred food Items They were then presented with the previously inaccessible item and a novel member of that triad Subjects as a whole did not prefer the novel item in experimental or control trials However there was a tendency toward a subject by condition interaction When analyzed by primate versus nonprimate categories only primates preferred the novel item in experimental but not control trials indicating that they resolved cognitive dissonance by devaluing the unchosen option only when an option was derogated by their own free choice This finding suggests that this phenomenon might e 1st within but not outside of the primate orde