Some animals are more equal than others: Validation of a new scale to measure how attitudes to animals depend on species and human purpose of use

Globally, many millions of animals are used by humans every year and much of this usage causes public concern. A new scale, devised to measure attitudes to animal use in relation to the purpose of use and species, the Animal Purpose Questionnaire (APQ), was completed by in total 483 participants, 415 British nationals and 68 participants from 39 other countries. The APQ was presented in two survey formats, alongside an established Animal Attitudes Scale (AAS). In both surveys, participants also provided demographic details to provide a context to their attitudes to animals. As might be expected, and consistent with the validity of the new scale, overall scores on the AAS and APQ were highly correlated. However, the APQ provided a more differentiated measure of attitudes to animal use across a variety of settings. The results showed that there was overall higher levels of agreement with the use of animals in medical research and basic science, less endorsement for food production and pest control, and the use of animals for other cultural practices was generally disapproved of, irrespective of species. Participants overall disagreed with the use of rabbits, monkeys, badgers, tree shrews (survey 1), chimpanzees, dogs, dolphins and parrots (survey 2), but were neutral about the use of rats, mice, pigs, octopus, chickens, zebrafish (survey 1), carp, chickens, pigs, pigeons, rabbits and rats (survey 2). Interactions between species and purpose were largely driven by the consideration of using diverse species for food production. In general, females and vegetarians expressed less agreement with the use of animals with some differences by purpose of use. Pet keeping consistently predicted reduced willingness to use animals for basic science (only). The APQ provides a new tool to unpack how public attitudes depend on the intersectionality of demographics, species and purpose of use.

Alexithymia predicts loss chasing for people at risk for problem gambling

Background and aims The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between alexithymia and loss-chasing behavior in people at risk and not at risk for problem gambling. Methods An opportunity sample of 58 (50 males and 8 females) participants completed the Problem Gambling Severity Index and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). They then completed the Cambridge Gambling Task from which a measure of loss-chasing behavior was derived. Results Alexithymia and problem gambling risk were significantly positively correlated. Subgroups of non-alexithymic and at or near caseness for alexithymia by low risk and at risk for problem gambling were identified. The results show a clear difference for loss-chasing behavior for the two alexithymia conditions, but there was no evidence that low and at-risk problem gamblers were more likely to loss chase. The emotion-processing components of the TAS-20 were shown to correlate with loss chasing. Discussion and conclusion These findings suggest that loss-chasing behavior may be particularly prevalent in a subgroup of problem gamblers those who are high in alexithymia.

Loss-Chasing, Alexithymia, and Impulsivity in a Gambling Task: Alexithymia as a Precursor to Loss-Chasing Behavior When Gambling

Objective: To examine the relationship between loss-chasing, the propensity to continue gambling to recover from losses, alexithymia, a personality trait associated poor emotional processing and impulsivity, the tendency to act quickly without reflection or consideration of the consequences.

Method: Two experiments are reported (E1: N = 60, Males, 11; Age, 21.6 years. E2: N = 49, Males, 22; Age, 21.1 years). In experiment 1, two groups (low alexithymia, high alexithymia) completed the Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT). Loss-chasing behavior was investigated. In experiment 2, both alexithymia (low, high) and impulsivity (low, high) were examined also using the CGT. A further change was the order of bet proportion from ascending to descending.

Results: Experiment 1 shows loss-chasing behavior in participants high in alexithymia but not those low in alexithymia (ηp2=0.09). Experiment 2 shows loss-chasing behavior in participants both low and high in alexithymia but it was greater for participants high in alexithymia (ηp2 = 0.09). The effect of impulsivity was not statistically significant (ηp2 = 0.01). Loss-chasing behavior was correlated with the emotional facets of alexithymia but not the cognitive facet.

Conclusions: Alexithymia is a precursor to loss-chasing when gambling and loss-chasing reflects the cognitive and emotional aspects of gambling. Specifically, the tendency to loss-chase depends on the need to recoup previous losses and failure to process the emotional consequences of those losses.

Fast to forgive, slow to retaliate: intuitive responses in the ultimatum game depend on the degree of unfairness

Evolutionary accounts have difficulty explaining why people cooperate with anonymous strangers they will never meet. Recently models, focusing on emotional processing, have been proposed as a potential explanation, with attention focusing on a dual systems approach based on system 1 (fast, intuitive, automatic, effortless, and emotional) and system 2 (slow, reflective, effortful, proactive and unemotional). Evidence shows that when cooperation is salient, people are fast (system 1) to cooperate, but with longer delays (system 2) they show greed. This is interpreted within the framework of the social heuristic hypothesis (SHH), whereby people overgeneralize potentially advantageous intuitively learnt and internalization social norms to 'atypical' situations. We extend this to explore intuitive reactions to unfairness by integrating the SHH with the 'fast to forgive, slow to anger' (FFSA) heuristic. This suggests that it is advantageous to be prosocial when facing uncertainty. We propose that whether or not someone intuitively shows prosociality (cooperation) or retaliation is moderated by the degree (certainty) of unfairness. People should intuitively cooperate when facing mild levels of unfairness (fast to forgive) but when given longer to decide about another's mild level of unfairness should retaliate (slow to anger). However, when facing severe levels of unfairness, the intuitive response is always retaliation. We test this using a series of one-shot ultimatum games and manipulate level of offer unfairness (50:50 60:40, 70:30, 80:20, 90:10) and enforced time delays prior to responding (1s, 2s, 8s, 15s). We also measure decision times to make responses after the time delays. The results show that when facing mildly unfair offers (60:40) people are fast (intuitive) to cooperate but with longer delays reject these mildly unfair offers: 'fast to forgive, and slow to retaliate'. However, for severely unfair offers (90:10) the intuitive and fast response is to always reject.

Health specific traits beyond the Five Factor Model, cognitive processes and trait expression: replies to Watson (2012), Matthews (2012) and Haslam, Jetten, Reynolds, and Reicher (2012)

In this article we reply to the issues raised by the three commentaries on Ferguson's (2012) article. Watson argues that the four traits identified by Ferguson (2012) – health anxiety, alexithymia, empathy and Type D – do not lie outside the Five Factor Model (FFM). We present factor analytic data showing that health anxiety forms a separate factor from positive and negative affectivity, alexithymia forms a factor outside the FFM and while emotional empathy loads with agreeableness, cognitive empathy forms a separate factor outside the FFM. Across these analyses there was no evidence for a general factor of personality. We also show that health anxiety, empathic facets and alexithymia show incremental validity over FFM traits. However, the evidence that Type D lies outside the FFM is less clear. Matthews (2012) argues that traits have a more distributed influence on cognitions and that attention is not part of Ferguson's framework. We agree; but Ferguson's original statement concerned where traits have their maximal effect. Finally, Haslam et al. suggest that traits should be viewed from a dynamic interactionist perspective. This is in fact what Ferguson (2012) suggested and we go on to highlight that traits can also influence group processes.

Do personality traits predict individual differences in excitatory and inhibitory learning?

Conditioned inhibition (CI) is demonstrated in classical conditioning when a stimulus is used to signal the omission of an otherwise expected outcome. This basic learning ability is involved in a wide range of normal behavior – and thus its disruption could produce a correspondingly wide range of behavioral deficits. The present study employed a computer-based task to measure conditioned excitation and inhibition in the same discrimination procedure. CI by summation test was clearly demonstrated. Additionally summary measures of excitatory and inhibitory learning (difference scores) were calculated in order to explore how performance related to individual differences in a large sample of normal participants (n = 176 following exclusion of those not meeting the basic learning criterion). The individual difference measures selected derive from two biologically based personality theories, Gray’s (1982) reinforcement sensitivity theory and Eysenck and Eysenck (1991) psychoticism, extraversion, and neuroticism theory. Following the behavioral tasks, participants completed the behavioral inhibition system/behavioral activation system (BIS/BAS) scales and the Eysenck personality questionnaire revised short scale (EPQ-RS). Analyses of the relationship between scores on each of the scales and summary measures of excitatory and inhibitory learning suggested that those with higher BAS (specifically the drive sub-scale) and higher EPQ-RS neuroticism showed reduced levels of excitatory conditioning. Inhibitory conditioning was similarly attenuated in those with higher EPQ-RS neuroticism, as well as in those with higher BIS scores. Thus the findings are consistent with higher levels of neuroticism being accompanied by generally impaired associative learning, both inhibitory and excitatory. There was also evidence for some dissociation in the effects of behavioral activation and behavioral inhibition on excitatory and inhibitory learning respectively.

An application of the theory of planned behaviour to truck driving behaviour and compliance with regulations

A questionnaire study was conducted with truck drivers to help understand driving and compliance behaviour using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Path analysis examined the ability of the TPB to explain the direct and indirect factors involved in self-reported driving behaviour and regulation compliance. Law abiding driving behaviour in trucks was related more to attitudes, subjective norms and intentions than perceived behavioural control. For compliance with UK truck regulations, perceived behavioural control had the largest direct effect. The differing results of the path analyses for driving behaviour and compliance behaviour suggest that any future interventions that may be targeted at improving either on-road behaviour or compliance with regulations would require different approaches.

Memory bias in health anxiety is related to the emotional valence of health-related words

OBJECTIVES

A model based on the associative strength of object evaluations is tested to explain why those who score higher on health anxiety have a better memory for health-related words.

METHOD

Sixty participants observed health and nonhealth words. A recognition memory task followed a free recall task and finally subjects provided evaluations (emotionality, imageability, and frequency) for all the words. Hit rates for health words, d', c, and psychological response times (PRTs) for evaluations were examined using multi-level modelling (MLM) and regression.

RESULTS

Health words had a higher hit rate, which was greater for those with higher levels of health anxiety. The higher hit rate for health words is partly mediated by the extent to which health words are evaluated as emotionally unpleasant, and this was stronger for (moderated by) those with higher levels of health anxiety. Consistent with the associative strength model, those with higher levels of health anxiety demonstrated faster PRTs when making emotional evaluations of health words compared to nonhealth words, while those lower in health anxiety were slower to evaluate health words.

CONCLUSIONS

Emotional evaluations speed the recognition of health words for high health anxious individuals. These findings are discussed with respect to the wider literature on cognitive processes in health anxiety, automatic processing, implicit attitudes, and emotions in decision making.

Odors and sounds as triggers for medically unexplained symptoms: A fixed-occasion diary study of gulf war veterans

BACKGROUND

Both laboratory studies on healthy volunteers and epidemiological evidence from patient samples indicate that odor can act as a trigger for the reporting of medically unexplained symptoms (MUSs).

PURPOSE

The relationship between concurrent experiences of odor and MUSs has not been explored in a patient sample.

METHODS

This study used an 8-day fixed-occasion diary study, in which 17 veterans of the Persian Gulf War completed diary assessments of (a) the intensity and duration of odor and sound and (b) MUS severity.

RESULTS

The results showed that the intensity of odor was positively associated with the severity on the same day and subsequent days' symptoms, whereas the duration of odor was negatively related to the severity of MUS reporting on the same day.

CONCLUSIONS

These results are consistent with an associative mechanism underlying symptom reporting in veterans. By contrast, the duration, but not the intensity, of sound was related to the severity of MUS reporting on the same day.

Predicting future blood donor returns: past behavior, intentions, and observer effects

A prospective design was used to explore the efficacy of 6 factors (e.g., intentions) to predict the number of future blood donations in an initial sample of 630 blood donors. Differential predictions are made for the roles of past behavior and intentions with respect to occasional (4 or fewer previous blood donations) and regular (5 or more previous blood donations) blood donors. Intentions were predictive for occasional donors, and past behavior was predictive for regular donors. Furthermore, for regular donors only, an inverted U-shaped curve explained the relationship between past behavior and future behavior. Finally, it is reported that observing others fainting produces a reduction in the number of future donations for occasional donors. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Predicting future blood donor returns: past behavior, intentions, and observer effects

A prospective design was used to explore the efficacy of 6 factors (e.g., intentions) to predict the number of future blood donations in an initial sample of 630 blood donors. Differential predictions are made for the roles of past behavior and intentions with respect to occasional (4 or fewer previous blood donations) and regular (5 or more previous blood donations) blood donors. Intentions were predictive for occasional donors, and past behavior was predictive for regular donors. Furthermore, for regular donors only, an inverted U-shaped curve explained the relationship between past behavior and future behavior. Finally, it is reported that observing others fainting produces a reduction in the number of future donations for occasional donors. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

An intervention programme for children with moderate learning difficulties

BACKGROUND

Children with learning difficulties typically demonstrate problems generalising what they have learned in specific contexts to new situations. Intervention programmes that teach children regulatory skills have been shown to overcome these problems for children with reading difficulties. This study applies the principles that underlie such interventions to the design of a programme for children with more general learning difficulties.

AIM

The aim of the study reported here was to design and evaluate an intervention programme which would facilitate the transfer of skills learned over the course of the intervention to different types of task.

SAMPLE

A total of 41 children (aged 13-16 yrs; 14 females, 27 males) with moderate learning difficulties participated in the intervention programme.

METHOD

The children participated in a twelve-week intervention programme designed to promote regulatory strategies over a range of activities. The children worked in pairs and were guided by an adult who provided explicit instruction and modelled appropriate strategies. The children were assessed before and after the programme to determine whether improvements in strategic behaviour were evident and whether this generalised to new situations.

RESULTS

Gains made in regulatory skills over the course of the intervention were accompanied by improvements in other performance measures such as reading and IQ.

CONCLUSIONS

Even after a relatively short intervention, which focused on the development of regulatory skills, significant improvements on a range of tasks were observed for a group of children with moderate learning difficulties.

Season of birth and gender effects in children attending moderate learning difficulty schools

This paper examines the effects of season of birth and gender on academic achievement and cognitive abilities in children attending moderate learning difficulty schools. Given the high preponderance of both boys and children born in summer attending special schools it is important to consider how well these children perform in relation to their peers. A multivariate analysis reveals that both boys and summer born children perform better on tests of intelligence, mathematical ability, and reading comprehension. Summer born children also perform better on a test of communication skills. Discriminant functions analysis reveals that for both gender and season of birth IQ is the major predictor variable followed by reading comprehension, mathematical ability and communication skill. For gender, IQ discriminates more successfully than the other variables, whereas with season of birth the relative sizes of the effects are more comparable. The results of the analysis are discussed in terms of the implications for the identification of children for placement in moderate learning difficulty schools.