Advances in cognitive-socialpersonality theory : applications to sport psychology

Many theories and intervention techniques in sport psychology have a cognitive-behavioral emphasis, and sport psychologists have long been interested in individual differences. Recent developments in cognitive social personality theory offer new opportunities for understanding sport behavior. The finding of stable individual differences in situationbehavior relations has helped resolve the person-situation debate of past years, and idiographically-distinct behavioral signatures have now been demonstrated for coaching behaviors across differing game situations. Moreover, coaching behaviors are differentially related to athletes' liking for the coach, depending on whether they occur during winning or losing game situations. Mischel and Shoda's (1995) Cognitive-Affective Processing System offers a new template within which to study sport psychology constructs, such as achievement goal orientations and anxiety. Just as social cognitive theory can inform research, theory development, and interventions in sport psychology, research in sport settings can advance the future development of cognitive social personality theory

AMERICA'S FORGOTTEN PEOPLE AND PLACES: ENDING THE LEGACY OF POVERTY IN THE RURAL SOUTH

This study focuses on the longstanding impoverishment of the rural South and three of its subregions-Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta, and the Black Belt. The poor quality of life in rural Appalachia and along the Mississippi Delta has been publically acknowledged by programs and commissions for improving conditions. However, the more comprehensive Black Belt subregion that links parts of Southern Appalachia and the Southern Delta has not received such regional policy attention. While the South as a whole is more rural and impoverished than other U.S. regions, this is largely due to the poor conditions in the Black Belt. In addition to region and rurality, a third feature of the pattern is race. It is in the Black Belt that the South's poor socioeconomic conditions are most concentrated. Policy and program attention are needed for regional solutions that take rurality and race into account along with demographic and other subregional characteristics.Appalachia, Black Belt, Mississippi Delta, policy, poverty, quality of life, rural, South, Community/Rural/Urban Development,

Do nonphysical punishments reduce antisocial behavior more than spanking? a comparison using the strongest previous causal evidence against spanking

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The strongest causal evidence that customary spanking increases antisocial behavior is based on prospective studies that control statistically for initial antisocial differences. None of those studies have investigated alternative disciplinary tactics that parents could use instead of spanking, however. Further, the small effects in those studies could be artifactual due to residual confounding, reflecting child effects on the frequency of all disciplinary tactics. This study re-analyzes the strongest causal evidence against customary spanking and uses these same methods to determine whether alternative disciplinary tactics are more effective in reducing antisocial behavior.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This study re-analyzed a study by Straus et al.<abbrgrp><abbr bid="B1">1</abbr></abbrgrp> on spanking and antisocial behavior using a sample of 785 children who were 6 to 9 years old in the 1988 cohort of the American National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. The comprehensiveness and reliability of the covariate measure of initial antisocial behavior were varied to test for residual confounding. All analyses were repeated for grounding, privilege removal, and sending children to their room, and for psychotherapy. To account for covarying use of disciplinary tactics, the analyses were redone first for the 73% who had reported using at least one discipline tactic and second by controlling for usage of other disciplinary tactics and psychotherapy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The apparently adverse effect of spanking on antisocial behavior was replicated using the original trichotomous covariate for initial antisocial behavior. A similar pattern of adverse effects was shown for grounding and psychotherapy and partially for the other two disciplinary tactics. All of these effects became non-significant after controlling for latent comprehensive measures of externalizing behavior problems.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results are consistent with residual confounding, a statistical artifact that makes all corrective actions by parents and psychologists appear to increase children's antisocial behavior due to child effects on parents. Improved research methods are needed to discriminate between effective vs. counterproductive implementations of disciplinary tactics. How and when disciplinary tactics are used may be more important than which type of tactic is used.</p

Distance of Interference of Red Rice (Orya sativa) in Rice (O. sativa)

Three rice cultivars were grown to determine the distance at which red rice affects growth and grain yield. Red rice reduced grain yield of Lemont when rice plants grew within 71 and 53 cm of red rice in 1986 and 1988, respectively. Grain yield of Newbonnet was reduced when grown within 53 cm of red rice in both years. Grain yield of Tebonnet was reduced when grown within 53 and 36 cm of red rice in 1986 and 1988, respectively. Grain yield reduction in influenced areas averaged 35, 26 and 21% for Lemont, Newbonnet, and Tebonnet, respectively. As the distance increased at 10-cm increments from the red rice row, Lemont, Newbonnet, and Teboment grain yields increased 49 to 85, 32 to 40, and 24 to 33 g/m2, respectively. Rice straw dry weight was reduced when Lemont and Tebonnet were grown within71 and 36 cm of red rice in 1986 and 1988, respectively. Straw dry weight of Newbonnet was reduced when grown within 36 cm of red rice in both years. As the distance increased at 10-cm increments from the red rice row, Lemont, Newbonnet and Tebonnet straw biomass increased 22 to 46, 10 to 18, and 12 to 20 g/m2,respectively. Rice panicles/ m2 were reduced when Lemont, Newbonnet, and Tebonnet were grown within 36, 18, and 18 cm of red rice, respectively. Rice grains/panicle were reduced when rice was grown within 71, 71, and 36 cm of red rice for Lemont, Newbonnet, and Tebonnet, respectively

Structural and functional effects of acoustic exposure in goldfish: evidence for tonotopy in the teleost saccule

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mammalian and avian auditory hair cells display tonotopic mapping of frequency along the length of the cochlea and basilar papilla. It is not known whether the auditory hair cells of fishes possess a similar tonotopic organization in the saccule, which is thought to be the primary auditory receptor in teleosts. To investigate this question, we determined the location of hair cell damage in the saccules of goldfish (<it>Carassius auratus</it>) following exposure to specific frequencies. Subjects were divided into six groups of six fish each (five treatment groups plus control). The treatment groups were each exposed to one of five tones: 100, 400, 800, 2000, and 4000 Hz at 176 dB re 1 μPa root mean squared (RMS) for 48 hours. The saccules of each fish were dissected and labeled with phalloidin in order to visualize hair cell bundles. The hair cell bundles were counted at 19 specific locations in each saccule to determine the extent and location of hair cell damage. In addition to quantification of anatomical injury, hearing tests (using auditory evoked potentials) were performed on each fish immediately following sound exposure. Threshold shifts were calculated by subtracting control thresholds from post-sound exposure thresholds.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>All sound-exposed fish exhibited significant hair cell and hearing loss following sound exposure. The location of hair cell loss varied along the length of the saccule in a graded manner with the frequency of sound exposure, with lower and higher frequencies damaging the more caudal and rostral regions of the saccule, respectively. Similarly, fish exposed to lower frequency tones exhibited greater threshold shifts at lower frequencies, while high-frequency tone exposure led to hearing loss at higher frequencies. In general, both hair cell and hearing loss declined as a function of increasing frequency of exposure tone, and there was a significant linear relationship between hair cell loss and hearing loss.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The pattern of hair cell loss as a function of exposure tone frequency and saccular rostral-caudal location is similar to the pattern of hearing loss as a function of exposure tone frequency and hearing threshold frequency. This data suggest that the frequency analysis ability of goldfish is at least partially driven by peripheral tonotopy in the saccule.</p

Morphological asymmetry in mammals: genetics and homeostasis reconsidered

It has been hypothesized that developmental stability is increased at higher levels of genetic variability (heterozygosity) in animals. However, the existence of this relationship is questionable for homeotherms in general and mammals in particular. The difference between the sides of a bilateral character in an individual is a measure of fluctuating asymmetry that can be used as a measure of the developmental stability of mammals. Increased developmental stability should result in a greater degree of similarity between the right and left side of the body even though environmental variability would tend to increase the differences between right and left sides of the body. It is necessary to separate the effects of the three types of asymmetry so that an accurate estim.ate of the variance attributable to fluctuating asymmetry can be made. In addition, many early studies of asymmetry in poikilotherms used meristic characters (such as scale counts), and these types of characters are not easily studied in mammals. Mammals, because of their precise regulation of body temperature show little phenotypic effect of environmental variability, and thus may exhibit low absolute levels of asymmetry. Mammals may also be able to reduce the level of asymmetry during their prolonged intrauterine development and juvenile growth period. The literature is reviewed relative to relationships between genetic variation and asymmetry in mammals. Hypotheses are reviewed as they relate to the relationship between fluctuating asymmetry and heterozygosity observed in previous studies. Finally, recommendations are put forth regarding the design and interpretation of future research into the relationship between developmental homeostasis and genetic variability

The impact of manganese substitution on the structure and properties of tetrahedrite

The crystal structure of the tetrahedrites Cu12-xMnxSb4S13 (x = 0, 1) has been studied by powder neutron diffraction between room temperature and 773 K. At all temperatures investigated, manganese exclusively occupies tetrahedral sites, while the trigonal-planar sites contain only copper. In situ diffraction data confirm the stability of the tetrahedrite phase up to 773 K, with no evidence of copper mobility at elevated temperatures. Analysis of atomic displacement parameters indicate that there are low-energy vibrations associated with the trigonal-planar and the tetrahedral copper cations. The Einstein temperatures for the copper cations range between 79 and 91 K. Manganese substitution increases the electrical resistivity and the Seebeck coefficient, while the thermal conductivity is reduced. This results in a modest improvement in the thermoelectric figure of merit for Cu12MnSb4S13, which reaches ZT=0.56 at 573 K

Are autistic traits in the general population stable across development?

There is accumulating evidence that autistic traits (AT) are on a continuum in the general population, with clinical autism representing the extreme end of a quantitative distribution. While the nature and severity of symptoms in clinical autism are known to persist over time, no study has examined the long-term stability of AT among typically developing toddlers. The current investigation measured AT in 360 males and 400 males from the general population close to two decades apart, using the Pervasive Developmental Disorder subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist in early childhood (M = 2.14 years; SD = 0.15), and the Autism-Spectrum Quotient in early adulthood (M = 19.50 years; SD = 0.70). Items from each scale were further divided into social (difficulties with social interaction and communication) and non-social (restricted and repetitive behaviours and interests) AT. The association between child and adult measurements of AT as well the influence of potentially confounding sociodemographic, antenatal and obstetric variables were assessed using Pearson's correlations and linear regression. For males, Total AT in early childhood were positively correlated with total AT (r = .16, p = .002) and social AT (r = .16, p = .002) in adulthood. There was also a positive correlation for males between social AT measured in early childhood and Total (r = .17, p = .001) and social AT (r = .16, p = .002) measured in adulthood. Correlations for non-social AT did not achieve significance in males. Furthermore, there was no significant longitudinal association in AT observed for males or females. Despite the constraints of using different measures and different raters at the two ages, this study found modest developmental stability of social AT from early childhood to adulthood in boys