Browsing by Subject "impulsivity"
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Item Birth Weight Predicts Scores on the ADHD Self-Report Scale and Attitudes towards Casual Sex in College Men: A Short-Term Life History Strategy?(2012) Frederick, MichaelEarly development can have long-term effects on physiology and behavior. While severe disturbances predictably lead to dysfunction, recent work in humans and animals has led to a growing appreciation for the more subtle ways in which early conditions can modulate behavioral tendencies later in life. Life history theory predicts that early cues signaling a stressful or suboptimal environment might lead an organism to adopt a strategy favoring short-term gains and early reproduction. Fifty college men reported their birth weight, completed the Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Self-Report Scale, and answered a series of questions about their sexual history and attitudes towards short-term sexual encounters. Lower birth weights were associated with higher scores on the ADHD scale (r = -.352; p ≤ .05) and more favorable attitudes towards casual sex (r = -.456; p ≤ 0.001). There was a significant interaction between birth weight and casual sex favorability in predicting number of sexual partners (F1,46 = 4.994; p ≤ .05). This suggests that, although men who are smaller at birth may otherwise be at a disadvantage in reproductive terms, they may offset their reduced fitness by being more willing to engage in casual sex.Item Does the thought of death accelerate a fast life history strategy?: Evaluating a mortality salience prime(2016) Frederick, Michael; Khan, Humama; Ancona, MatthewThe characteristics of the developmental environment can have long-term effects on an individual's metabolism, stress-sensitivity, hormone levels, and gene expression. Life history theory suggests these outcomes can be broadly viewed as individual strategies along a continuum from 'fast' to 'slow', with stressful environments predisposing individuals towards faster, more short-term oriented strategies. Griskevicius et al. (2011a) reported an interaction between childhood socioeconomic status and a mortality prime when measuring economic impulsivity using a delay-discounting task. Specifically, participants who grew up in wealthier homes responded to a mortality prime by becoming less impulsive, while those who grew up less wealthy reacted to the prime by becoming more impulsive. The current study sought to replicate and expand upon these findings using a sample of university undergraduates (66 females and 19 males). Participants were exposed to a mortality prime, an anxiety prime, or a neutral prime before completing a questionnaire that included questions about childhood socioeconomic status and a delay discounting survey. When the results of the delay discounting measure were analyzed, no significant interaction between childhood environment and priming condition was observed. Thus, we failed to replicate the findings of Griskevicius et al. (2011a). We suggest that the limited saliency of the mortality prime may account for this discrepancy, and note that the results of other priming studies have often been difficult to replicate. Limitations and future directions for priming studies and life history research are discussed.Item Evaluating self-control and impulsivity in children with severe behavior disorders(Wiley Online Library, 1999-11) Vollmer, Timothy R.; Borrero, John C.; Lalli, Joseph S.; Daniel, DencyImpulsivity and self-control involve a choice between a smaller, more immediate reinforcer and a larger, more delayed reinforcer. Impulsive behavior occurs when responding produces the more immediate, relatively smaller reinforcers at the expense of delayed larger reinforcers. Self-control occurs when responding produces delayed larger reinforcers at the expense of immediate smaller reinforcers. Recently, researchers in applied behavior analysis have suggested that evaluations of self-control and impulsivity are relevant to socially important behaviors. Further, common behavioral treatments such as differential reinforcement may be influenced by variables such as reinforcer delay. In this study, we showed that aggression, reinforced by access to food, could be maintained as impulsive behavior. The participants were 2 young boys with severe developmental disabilities. For both participants, descriptive observations, care provider report, and functional analyses suggested that aggression was reinforced by food access (and television access for 1 participant). Next, we introduced a differential reinforcement procedure in which appropriate mands were reinforced. After various manipulations, we showed that aggression occurred when it produced immediate but small reinforcers even though mands produced larger, more delayed reinforcers. However, both participants displayed self-control when the delay to reinforcement was signaled (with a hand gesture or a timer).