Deterring the Drunk Driver: An Examination of Conditional Deterrence and Self-Reported Drunk Driving

This project uses a representative U.S. population sample and Generalized Structural Equation Modeling (GSEM) to explore the deterrence of driving under the influence (DUI) and it’s moderation by the differential deterrability of problem and non-problem drinkers. As hypothesized, the results indicate that personal and vicarious experiences with punishment and punishment avoidance were significant predictors of punishment certainty and self-reported DUI. Significant heterogeneity in both the formulation of perceived certainty of punishment and the relationship between this perception and DUI also exists between problem and non-problem drinkers. Most notably, certainty of punishment was a more robust negative predictor of DUI offending for problem drinkers, and prior punishment appears to have little effect on perceptions of punishment certainty for problem drinkers.

What’s the Big Deal about Horror Movies, and Who Watches Them, Anyway?

The audience for horror films is more diverse than many people seem to assume. The genre appeals to women and men, young and old, thrill seekers and neurotics alike. The horror genre is also more popular than many might assume, with hundreds of horror movies being produced in the United States each year, and an increase in horror movie production in recent decades. When people seek out horror movies, they desire emotional stimulation, and the fear elicited by a horror movie is a main attraction, not an unfortunate byproduct. The threat simulation theory of horror argues that people have safe, vicarious experiences with dangerous scenarios through scary fiction. This adaptive function of horror explains the paradoxical appeal of the genre.

Benefits of Integrating an Explicit Self-Efficacy Intervention With Calculation Strategy Training for Low-Performing Elementary Students

This study examined the malleability of math self-efficacy (SE) among children with poor calculation fluency via an intervention that targeted four sources of SE (mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, social persuasions, and emotional and physiological states). The effect of pure strategy training was contrasted with an intervention that integrated strategy training and explicit SE support. Moreover, the changes in SE source experiences and their relation with math SE, as well as the relation between math-SE profiles and calculation fluency development, were examined. In a quasi-experimental design, 60 Finnish children with calculation fluency problems in Grades 2 to 4 participated in strategy training (N = 38) or in an intervention that integrated SE support with strategy training (N = 32) for 12 weeks. The results showed that the explicit SE intervention integrated with strategy training enhanced math SE among children with poor calculation fluency and low SE (effect size, r = 0.61). Changes in mastery experiences and social persuasions were positively associated with changes in math SE among children who received the explicit SE intervention. An initially high math-SE profile and a profile indicating an increase from low to high math SE were related to growth in calculation fluency that approached the children's average age level during the interventions. In conclusion, an integrated approach that combined skill training and SE intervention was especially beneficial for children with poor calculation fluency and low math SE.

Reproducing fear: the effect of birth stories on nulligravid women’s birth preferences

Objective Preference for caesarean birth is associated with higher fear and lower self-efficacy for vaginal birth. Vicarious experience is a strong factor influencing self-efficacy in nulligravid women, and is increasingly accessible via digital and general media. This study assessed the effect of exposure to different birth stories on nulligravid women’s childbirth preferences and the factors mediating these effects. Methods Nulligravid women (N = 426) were randomly allocated to one of four conditions exposing them to written birth stories. Stories varied by type of birth (vaginal/caesarean) and storyteller evaluation (positive/negative) in a 2 × 2 design. Childbirth preference, fear of labour and vaginal birth, and self-efficacy for vaginal birth were measured before and after exposure via a two-way between groups analysis of covariance. Hierarchical regression models were used to determine the mediating effects of change in childbirth fear and childbirth self-efficacy. Results Variations in type of birth and storyteller evaluation significantly influenced childbirth preferences (F (1, 421) = 44.78, p < 0.001). The effect of vaginal birth stories on preference was significantly mediated by fear of labour and vaginal birth and self-efficacy. Effects of exposure to caesarean birth stories were not explained by changes in fear or self-efficacy. Conclusions Childbirth preferences in nulligravid women can be significantly influenced by vicarious experiences. For stories about vaginal birth, the influence of birth stories on women’s fear and self-efficacy expectancy are partly responsible for this influence. The findings highlight the importance of monitoring bias in vicarious experiences, and may inform novel strategies to promote healthy childbirth.

Racist Victimization, Legal Estrangement and Resentful Reliance on the Police in Sweden

Scholarly literature offers much insight into aggressive policing of racial minorities. However, research is not equally extensive regarding the experiences of racial minorities with law enforcement when police response might be decisive for their sense of recognition and protection as a community. Bridging debates from critical race studies, hate crimes and legal cynicism, this paper addresses how policing of racist victimization is experienced by members of racially targeted communities in Sweden. Drawing on interviews with people having personal and/or vicarious experiences with racist victimization, I analyze resentful reliance on the police through the concept of legal estrangement. While most respondents describe police treatment in somewhat positive terms, there is a shared resentment at the police due to the lived experience that racism often remains undetected. Previous interactions with law enforcement also pave the way for accumulated skepticism toward the utility of the policing of racial hatred. Disenchantment with law enforcement notwithstanding, reliance on the police manifests a will not just to be recognized as a victim, but also to make the pervasiveness of racism more visible.

The Comparison of Students’ Perceived Levels of Self-Efficacy in Live, Online and Live Online Courses

Education during COVID-19 pandemic has been greatly disrupted. While live courses where students meet face-to-face in classrooms are physically limited, online courses become more popular where students learn from pre-recorded videos at their own pace. In contrast, live online courses are learning modes where students and teachers meet via webinar tools such as zoom, skype, google meet, webex, teams, to name a few. This study compared students’ perceived levels of self-efficacy in these three different settings. Self-efficacy is defined as belief in one’s own ability to accomplish a task, which can be influenced by mastery experiences, verbal persuasion, vicarious experiences, and physiological states. An online questionnaire with 12 closed-ended statements based on a 5-Likert scale was developed, representing the four factors in the three modes of learning. A total of 105 voluntary responses were received. Statistical differences in the mean scores were determined by a paired sample t-test. The results at the significance level of 95% showed that the mean score of mastery experiences was the greatest in live courses (4.5), followed by live online (4.4) and online courses (3.3). The same was observed in vicarious experiences where live courses gained the greatest mean (4.5), followed by live online (4.3) and online courses (1.7). The means of verbal persuasion between live (4.5) and live online courses (4.3) did not differ significantly, but the lowest was in online courses (1.6). Interestingly, the reverse trend was found in psychological states in which the greatest was found in online (4.7), followed by live online (4.5) and live courses (3.6). The analysis above was based upon students who had no technical difficulties to access live online courses. However, this may not be applicable to contexts where internet connect is problematic. For educational implications, the findings revealed that live online courses are proven to be the most appropriate mode of learning during the pandemic. In contrast, online courses are associated with lower levels of mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, and verbal persuasion perceived by learners; whereas live courses lowered psychological states.

Visceromotor Roots of Aesthetic Evaluation of Pain in art: an fMRI Study

Empathy for pain involves sensory and visceromotor brain regions relevant also in the first-person pain experience. Focusing on brain activations associated to vicarious experiences of pain triggered by artistic or non-artistic images, the present study aims to investigate common and distinct brain activation patterns associated to these two vicarious experiences of pain and to assess whether empathy for pain brain regions contribute to the formation of an aesthetic judgment in non-art expert observers. Artistic and non-artistic facial expressions (painful and neutral) were shown to participants inside the scanner and then aesthetically rated in a subsequent behavioural session. Results showed that empathy for pain brain regions (i.e., bilateral insular cortex, posterior sector of the anterior cingulate cortex and the anterior portion of the middle cingulate cortex) and bilateral inferior frontal gyrus are commonly activated by artistic and non-artistic painful facial expressions. For the artistic representation of pain, the activity recorded in these regions directly correlated with participants’ aesthetic judgment. Results also showed the distinct activation of a large cluster located in the PCC/precuneus for non-artistic stimuli. This study suggests that non-beauty specific mechanisms such as empathy for pain are crucial components of the aesthetic experience of artworks.