Recent Kalman Symposium Research

Jolie Dahlstrom

Psychology Department, Graduate Student 2008

Faculty advisor: David W. Evans

The Terrible Twos and Compulsive-Like Behavior in Typical Children

The goal of this study was to develop a measure of what is commonly referred to as “the terrible twos.” We present the new measure, explore its psychometric properties and examine the development of various facets of the “terrible twos” throughout development. We also explore the association between the “terrible twos” and ritualistic, compulsive-like behavior in children as measured by the Childhood Routines Inventory (CRI). In a preliminary phase, 10 participants described their understanding of what behaviors are involved in the “terrible twos”; their answers were used to create a questionnaire, the Terrible Twos Inventory (TTI), which consists of 65 items, rated on a 5 point scale, addressing various aspects of this construct. The TTI and CRI were distributed in both paper-based and web-based form to parents of children under 6 years of age. A principal components analysis with varimax rotation revealed 6 factors underlying the TTI. Based on their item composition, we called these factors Oppositional, Independent, Self, Activity, Exploration, and Externalizing. Each of these factors had strong internal consistency. Scores on the TTI vary with age. Additionally, a series of multiple stepwise regressions revealed that the Activity subscale of the TTI was a significant predictor of the CRI and each of its two subscales; also, the Independent subscale of the TTI was an additional predictor of the overall CRI score, as well as scores on the just-right subscale, though not the repetitive behaviors subscale. These results suggest that the “terrible twos” is a developmental and multidimensional phenomenon that is also related to the onset of children’s ritualistic, compulsive-like behaviors.

Michelle R. Kanga

Psychology Department, Class of 2008

Mentor: Professor Bill Flack

Predictors of College Sexual Assault Perpetration and Male Peer Support

In the context of college campus sexual assault, “male peer support” (MPS; Schwartz & DeKeseredy, 1997) refers to the social attachments among abusive men, and the resources that such networks provide, that encourage and legitimate the abuse of women. MPS is known to be significantly associated with sexual, physical, and psychological abuse of women. The current study examined sexual assault perpetration and male peer support in relation to narcissism, alcohol consumption, hostile sexism, conformity, empathy, benevolent sexism, and engagement in different types of “hooking up” (i.e., sexual encounters without the expectation of future relational commitment). Two hundred seventy-five randomly selected male undergraduates participated in a web-based survey, which included the recently revised version of the Sexual Experiences Survey (SES; Koss et al., 2007). The new SES yielded surprisingly low rates of self-reported assault perpetration: 2.5% for rape, 6.3% for sexual assault. MPS membership was the only significant predictor of sexual assault perpetration, whereas narcissism, alcohol consumption, hostile sexism, and conformity were all significant predictors of MPS involvement. Differences were found in the types of hooking up engaged in by perpetrators (one-time stranger encounters, multiple encounters with friends) and by members of MPS networks (one-time encounters with friends, multiple encounters with acquaintances). A better understanding of MPS networks will require investigation of the systemic and situational factors that promote their membership and development. Further understanding of such networks, particularly as they relate to the “hooking up” culture on college campuses, seems vital to the design of primary prevention programs.

Diana Pittman
Psychology Department, Graduate Student 2008
Advisor: Dr. Andrea R. Halpern

Individual Differences in Auditory Imagery

Is auditory imagery unitary, does auditory imagery for music and words consist of different components? Studies in visual imagery show two separable components in imagery ability; however, research in auditory imagery has yet to answer this question fully. Unlike the division in visual imagery into object and spatial abilities, auditory imagery might have a hierarchical form, in which one aspect of imagery builds onto the next. For instance, an object task requires retrieving and identifying a sound from memory, whereas a transformation task might require retrieving the image followed by manipulation of it in some way.

To test this idea, we administered a questionnaire, the Auditory Object Transformation Questionnaire (AOTQ), which was newly developed for this project as a self-assessment of auditory imagery. The AOTQ has four subscales: music object, music transformation, verbal object, and verbal transformation, and was designed to predict performance on tasks that use these different subcomponents of auditory imagery. In addition to the AOTQ, five tasks were created to assess individual differences that correspond to the subcomponents of musical and verbal imagery. There are two music object tasks. The first task has a familiar tune (such as a nursery rhyme, a patriotic song or a Christmas song) and white noise played simultaneously. The participant is asked to identify the tune he or she hears. The second task has a participant decide if the second note of a song is higher, lower, or the same as the first note. For the verbal object task, lyrics from familiar tunes were used, but structurally important words or parts of words were omitted. The participant had to write the complete phrase. Two other tasks were developed that required transformation imagery. The music transformation task presented the participants with two sequences of three to four notes, then the participants had to identify if the second sequence of notes was the first sequence in reverse or not. The verbal transformation task gave the parent of a word or non-word presented in reverse.

To further explore individual differences in auditory imagery, I recruited people with varied musical and writing experience. Experts in either field were selected for better comparison of musical and verbal imagery. People without extra training in either field were also recruited to compare to the experts. Participants were classified as musicians, people with eight years of musical training or more, or nonmusicians, people with two years of musical training at most. Participants with additional writing training in poetry and creative writing were classified as verbal imagery experts.

Preliminary data using step-wise multiple regressions showed music object items on the AOTQ were the strongest predictors of the music object task, and music transformation items on the AOTQ and musical experience were the strongest predictors of the music transformation task. Verbal object items on the AOTQ predicted the verbal object task, only for people with extra writing experience. In support of our hypothesis of imagery having a hierarchical structure, we found musical background did not predict the music object task but did predict the music transformation task.

Jennifer Bohrman

Advisor: Peter Judge

Functional Semantics and Vocal Complexity in Canis and Vulpes

I investigated the functional semantics of vocalizations in three species of canids (gray wolf-domestic dog hybrids, coyotes, and red foxes) in order to examine the relationship between vocal complexity and social complexity. Since gray wolves and descendant domesticated dogs are considered the most gregarious of the social canids, I predicted that the wolf-dog hybrids would demonstrate a more complex and varied vocal repertoire than the coyotes and red foxes. I collected visual and acoustical data from 17 individuals using a field recorder and camcorder. Spectrograms were obtained from recorded vocalizations and used to measure the phonetic properties of calls, while video recordings were used to define the precise behavioral and environmental contexts surrounding each vocalization. I then conducted discriminant analyses to determine whether distinct acoustical parameters could predict the contexts of vocalizations. Following discriminant analysis, I compared vocal repertoires across the three species. Vocal complexity was ranked according to the frequency of vocal behavior, the number of phonetically-distinct vocalization types within each behavioral context, and the proportion of context-specific calls occurring within each species. Although data collection is ongoing, preliminary analyses suggest that coyotes may possess a more intricate and varied vocal repertoire than both red foxes and wolf-dog hybrids. Results contradict some previous findings and conflict with the hypothesis that vocal complexity correlates with social gregariousness. Results are more consistent with other studies that report more vocal complexity in coyotes, although these studies have not speculated why coyotes may exhibit a more multifaceted vocal repertoire than wolves.

Mallory St. Pierre

Animal Behavior Program, Class of 2009

Advisor: Dr. Peter Judge

Abroad Spring 08

A test for picture recognition of familiar conspecifics in brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella)

Two-dimensional computer images are often used to test cognitive capacities of non-human primates; however, it remains unclear whether monkeys recognize images of conspecifics as the individuals they portray. To test for conspecific recognition capabilities in non-human primates, one male and one female adult brown capuchin monkey were tested using a touch screen computer. Both monkeys previously demonstrated picture recognition of food during an experiment in which, after being trained that they would receive a piece of the food whose image they touched, they spontaneously selected images of their preferred foods when given a choice between two images. In this study, a similar method was used to test whether animals would select images of their preferred social partners in order to gain access to them. Differential selection of images of preferred social partners would provide evidence that the subjects recognized the individuals portrayed in the images. Prior to testing, both monkeys’ social preferences were determined by collecting behavioral observations of their affinitive interactions with group mates. Images of medium-preference monkeys were used in a training phase in which a subject was presented with images of two different monkeys, each of which were visible in compartments to the left and right of the subject. Upon selection of an image by the subject, a door to that animal's compartment was opened and the subject was given assess to the monkey whose image they selected. The purpose of the training was to teach the subjects that they would be released into the compartment with the individual whose image they selected. Following training, images of the subjects’ most and least preferred social partners were used with those animals in adjacent compartments to test whether the subjects would select images of their preferred partners in order to be released into the compartment with them rather than the compartment with their least-preferred partners. Neither subject selected images of their preferred social partners more than images of their least preferred partners (male subject: c² (1, N = 80) = 0.05, p = 0.82; female subject: c² (1, N = 80) = 2.45, p = 0.12). Results suggest that the subjects did not recognize the images as pictures of familiar group members. Alternatively, if they did recognize the images, either they had not adequately learned that they would be released into the compartment of the individual whose image they selected or they did not exhibit preferences for their usual social partners within the context of the experimental situation.

Nicolette Vielee

Psychology Department, Class of 2008

Professor Boyatzis

Reading and Writing about Religious/Spiritual Body Affirmations Improves Body Esteem

Prior research has shown external factors like religion and spirituality influence women’s body image and eating behavior with religiosity being positively associated with higher body esteem (Boyatzis, Trevino, Manning, & Quinlan, 2006; Mahoney et al., 2005). Non-correlation research has shown that women who read positive religious or spiritual affirmations that promote self-love and acceptance are buffered by the assertions when looking at images of thin models, which would presumably activate negative body image concerns. The experimental group’s body esteem improved significantly post reading theological affirmations compared to both the spiritual affirmation condition and the control group who received no affirmations (Boyatzis, Kline, & Backof, 2007). More research was needed to explore the casual relationship that religion and spirituality may have on esteem. In the present research in progress, an experimental expressive-writing design explores the qualitative and quantitative effect of reading and writing about body affirmations. Women were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a control condition that read neutral statements about Bucknell University, an experimental condition that read spiritual, non-theistic statements affirming the body such as “my body is whole and perfect”, and an experimental condition that read religious statements affirming the divineness of the body “because I am a child of God, my body is perfect and whole”. After reading a set of similar statements women would reflect and then write their personal thoughts and feelings in response. The women took pre and post test measures that captured their body image ratings in terms of appearance and weight. Women in the religious and spiritual conditions went up significantly more in weight body esteem than women in the control group, while no significant findings were seen for the appearance body image. In addition to these findings, variations in the women’s writing will be explored in terms of their descriptions of the relationship between God and their body, theological stability, and compatibility with the affirmations presented. These findings we hope will enhance the current causal understanding of how or why religious/spiritual affirmations positively influence body esteem in college women.

Risa Wright ‘08

Jenny Bohrman ‘08

Lauri Kurdziel M ’07

Faculty Mentor: Professor Peter Judge, Psychology

Macaques (Macaca silenus) Recognize Pictures of Food

Pictorial representations of three-dimensional objects are often used to investigate animal categorization abilities; however, investigators rarely evaluate whether the animals conceptualize the two-dimensional image as the object it is intended to represent. For example, it is difficult to distinguish whether animals categorize pictures based on abstract concepts or similar physical features. We tested for picture recognition in lion-tailed macaques by presenting five monkeys with digitized images of familiar foods on a touch screen. Monkeys simultaneously viewed images of two different foods and learned that they would receive a piece of the one they touched first. After demonstrating that they would reliably select images of their preferred foods on one set of foods, animals were transferred to images of a second set of familiar foods. We assumed that if the monkeys recognized the images, they would spontaneously select images of their preferred foods on the second set of foods. Three monkeys selected images of their preferred foods significantly more often than chance on their first transfer session [binomial test: N=24 trials, p<0.05]. The two other monkeys also selected images of their preferred foods more often than non-preferred foods in their first transfer session, but the frequency was not significantly greater than chance. A “relative preference” experiment, in which the same food image was sometimes paired with a more preferred food and other times paired with a less preferred food, was also conducted to ensure that subjects were not rapidly learning associations between an unrecognizable image and its contingent food reward. The same three monkeys selected the moderate-preference food significantly more often than chance when it was paired with a lower-preference food and significantly less than chance when it was paired with a higher-preference food. Results indicate that macaques recognized the content of images containing food and categorized them according to personal preference. However not all animals demonstrated this ability, which should be taken into consideration when incorporating images into experimental designs.