SPJI 2011 by Student Psychology Journal of Ireland

Student Psychology Journal Trinity College Dublin

VOLUME II

Published by the Student Psychology Journal C/O Department of Psychology, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Republic of Ireland. All rights reserved. Copyright ÂŠ Contributors to the Student Psychology Journal All views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or sponsors. All correspondence or complaints should be addressed to: The Editor, Student Psychology Journal, C/O Department of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Republic of Ireland. or email: journal@tcd.ie Printed by Brunswick Press Ltd. The Student Psychology Journal is also available online at: www.tcd.ie/psychology/SPJ

SPONSORS The Psychological Society of Ireland * The Open University * Graduate Studies Office, Trinity College * School of Psychology, Trinity College

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PEER REVIEWERS We would like to extend our immense gratitude to the peer reviewers for their time and invaluable input.

Dr Michael Daly * Dr Paul Dockree * Dr Michael Gormley * Mr Kenneth McKenzie * Prof Fiona Newell * Dr Elizabeth Nixon * Prof Ian Robertson * Dr Howard Smith * Dr Lorraine Swords * Dr Charlotte Wilson

Student Psychology Journal Trinity College Dublin PRESIDENT Dr. Michael Gormely EDITOR Róisín White DESIGN OFFICER Daireann Ó Maoilmhichíl GENERAL MANAGER Magdalena Michalewska FINANCE OFFICER Owen McLaughlin SPONSORSHIP OFFICER James Moran JUNIOR COMMITTEE Áine Maguire Dónal Browne David Kane

Gulliver’s travels began in Trinity College Jonathan Swift wrote Gulliver’s Travels after he graduated from Trinity College. You could start your own voyage of discovery as a postgraduate student in Ireland’s oldest university. Discover more at the Trinity Open Day for Postgraduates next January 26th, 2012. Meet the staff from each School and ask them tough questions about our research facilities and courses. Over the last 400 years, our students have imagined giants and gone on to become giants of world culture. Come to Trinity in 2012 and see how big a footprint you can leave.

Visit www.tcd.ie/graduate_studies to see what you could become. vi

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Only €25 annual subscription Become a student subscriber now. For details, go to: http://www.psihq.ie/SSApp2010.pdf

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BEST ESSAY AWARD

MIRROR NEURONS: OUR CURRENT UNDERSTANDING Georgina Mullen

TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface

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Editor’s Introduction

EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATIONS The popularity and valuation of free products in an undergraduate student population -Clare Delargy

Attitudes towards transplant patients with alcoholic liver disease: The influence of prosocial personality and patient information on transplant priority ratings and organ donor willingness - Sinead Waldron

The effect of vocal and instrumental background music on primary school pupils’ verbal memory using a sentence recall task. -Anne O’Hare

REVIEW ARTICLES

Vulnerable Minorities: Sexual Orientation, Mental Health Issues and Substance Abuse -Aisling Ní Chonaire

Contributions of Developmental Research in Guiding Interventions for Immigrant Children. -Carly Fitzsimmons

TABLE OF CONTENTS

REVIEW ARTICLES (CONTINUED) Imaginary Companions: Are They Good For Children? -David Lydon

Successful Ageing; the Need for Objective and Subjective Measurement -Francesca Farina

Mirror Neurons: Our Current Understanding -Georgina Mullen

Childhood obesity: nature or nurture? -Grainne Fleming

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Developmental and Neuropsychological perspectives on the “self” -Laura Mangan

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Developmental Stability of Temperament Characteristics: A Review -Richard Lombard-Vance

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PREFACE Welcome to this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s volume of the Trinity College Student Psychology Journal. This journal has been established to provide an outlet for the outstanding contributions undergraduate students offer to our understanding of human behaviour. There is no comparable journal for psychology students in Ireland, and we feel that it is necessary that the considerable academic achievements of students be recognised in print. During the course of their studies, undergraduates produce original and exceptional work but often their potential contributions to our body of knowledge are left unacknowledged. We are excited and proud to offer an insight into the minds of Irelandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s psychology undergraduate students. Psychology can play an instrumental role in shaping society and seeking an understanding of the behaviour and choices which have affected Ireland recently. Recent psychology graduates face a different future on leaving college than that of graduates a few years ago. The insights of the new generation have never been more important, these are the people who will be rebuilding Ireland. The skill set developed during the undergraduate years means that psychology students are uniquely capable of doing this. The role psychology plays in society and public affairs can only increase in the future, and we believe that those published in this journal will play an integral part in doing so. The journal committee would like to thank everyone who has helped since our inception. In particular, our President, Dr. Michael Gormley, who has been a constant source of advice and encouragement. Many thanks also to the TCD School of Psychology for their financial and administrative support, to our Academic Peer Reviewers and the academics who helped us to attract sponsorship. Our thanks also to Mr Kenneth McKenzie for agreeing to launch the journal for us. To everyone who submitted to the journal, and those who are published in this edition, thank you all for your contributions and congratulations on your excellent submissions. I would like extend our gratitude to our sponsors Open University, TCD Graduates Office and Psychology Society of Ireland for supporting and having faith in a recently established journal. xiii

I would like to thank all members of the committee, the Editor Róisín, the Sponsorship Manager James, the Finance Manager Owen, and the Design Officer Darren, for all the hard work and dedication they have put in to the making of this volume, and also to our junior members Áine, David and Donal; I wish you all the best of luck with next year’s journal. Working with you all to create this publication has been a pleasure. I hope you find the 2011 Student Psychology Journal enjoyable and inspiring. Magdalena Michalewska General Manager, 2011

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EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION Over the past twelve months, it has been my great pleasure to build on the success of last year’s maiden edition and see the creative insights of psychology undergraduates find their way to publication. This year, we opened the Journal to submissions from undergraduate psychology students attending universities across Ireland. To my great delight the response from students has been tremendous and the articles presented here represent the hard work of two committees, dozens of authors, a psychology department, generous sponsors and countless others. The Journal is comprised of two sections. The first focuses on the original research designs undertaken by undergraduates. From a study looking into the area of product valuation to an investigation of students’ attitudes regarding organ donation, I hope that academics, students and enthusiasts in general enjoy the papers presented here. The second section concentrates on review papers in which undergraduates give fresh perspectives on various topics in psychology. It is here where the creativity of undergraduates really shines, covering areas as diverse as neuroscience, development, social psychology, sexuality, personality and the psychology of ageing. Analysis of this sort is crucial in shaping the direction of psychology as a discipline, and we hope that the papers presented here will make a valuable contribution in this endeavour. The selection process for this year’s Journal was an exceptionally difficult task. The quality of submissions received was exceptional and this inevitably led to a lot of lively debates amongst the committee. On that note, I’d like to extend my most sincere gratitude to my fellow committee members. Without their commitment to academic excellence and a meticulous attention to detail, the second edition of this Journal would not have met such a high standard. I would also like to extend my sincerest gratitude to the president of the journal, Dr Michael Gormely. His guidance throughout the year has been instrumental in ensuring that the Journal maintained the level of success enjoyed by last year’s edition. I would also like to sincerely thank the founding committee of the Journal, whose guidance we could not have done without. xv

The analyses presented here are a true testament to the authorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; determination and professionalism. I am confident that the second volume of the Student Psychology Journal meets the standard set out almost two years ago and will earn its place alongside the many outstanding publications of the undergraduate students of Ireland. RĂłisĂn White, Editor, 2011

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EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATIONS

Hypotheses are nets; only the one who casts will catch - Novalis

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THE POPULARITY AND VALUATION OF FREE PRODUCTS IN AN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT POPULATION Clare Delargy Graduated 2011, Psychology delargyc@tcd.ie

ABSTRACT This study investigated the popularity and valuation of free products. One hundred and one students from Trinity College Dublin took part in the study. In a hypothetical scenario, participants were asked to choose between €10 and €20 iTunes Vouchers that were discounted at three different price levels and to subsequently provide a valuation of the voucher they had chosen. Half of the sample engaged in reasoned analysis before all participants were asked if they would like to switch from their initial choice. A Chi square analysis indicated that significantly more participants chose the €10 voucher for free than the €20 voucher for €7, χ²(1, n=33) =10.93 , p< .001. A 2X3 Factorial ANOVA found that participants valued the free voucher significantly more than the €1 and €5 vouchers, F (2, 64) = 6.02, p<.05, N2 =.158. These results suggest that cost-benefit analysis and mapping difficulty, not the affect heuristic, may play a role in the zero price effect. Future research should clarify the role these factors may play in individual decision making about free products and further investigate why free products are valued so highly.

INTRODUCTION Consumer research has found that products which are offered for free enjoy an increased popularity compared to those offered at positive prices. The appeal of free goods is reflected in many product offers and promotions run by businesses (Chandran & Morowtiz, 2006; Diamond & Sanyal, 1990). Indeed, providing products or services for free is now proposed as a method of attracting customers in the ‘Freemium’ business model (Anderson, 2009; Gupta & Mela, 2008). Policies and initiatives are often based on the notion that paying even a small price for something elicits different behavioural and consumption patterns than paying

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nothing at all (Assato, 2006). Hardin (1968) concluded that overconsumption occurs as a consequence of the provision of free amenities. This is the ‘Tragedy of the Commons’, whereby individuals acting in their own self-interest by using a free product or service will ultimately bring about the destruction of the resource as a result of over exploitation. As such, it has been proposed that charging for products or services may be an effective method of reducing consumption (Assato, 2006). All these proposals rest on the fundamental assumption that when people pay a price for something, they respond differently to it compared to when it is provided for free.

THE ZERO PRICE EFFECT Shampanier, Ariely and Mazar (2007) suggested that products offered for free are perceived differently by consumers and enjoy an increased popularity as a result. This study aims to investigate whether free products are more popular than products which have positive prices and whether they are valued differently. If human decision making is viewed as rational, individuals are assumed to be continually trying to maximise their utility, which is reflected in their decisions and actions (Varian, 2006). When purchasing goods, rational consumers should perform a costbenefit analysis and select the product which generates the biggest gap between costs incurred and benefits accrued. As such, there should be no variation in demand for products which are reduced by identical amounts, even if one product is reduced to become free. Shampanier, Mazar and Ariely (2007) offered participants a choice between two chocolates, one commonly considered to be high quality (Ferrero Rocher) and the other low quality (Hershey’s Kiss), at varying prices. The better chocolate was always $.025 more expensive, so in any analysis, participants had to weigh up the benefits of receiving a superior chocolate with the increased material costs. In three conditions, Ferrero Rocher truffles and Hershey’s kisses were priced at $0.27 and $.02, $0.26 and $.01 or $0.25 and free respectively, such that the prices were reduced by the same amount ($0.01) in each condition. There was no significant difference in the demand observed for the chocolates when they were priced at $.027 and $0.02 or $0.26 and $0.01; participants opted for the Ferrero Rocher or the Hershey’s Kiss in a similar pattern for each condition. However, when the

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Hershey’s Kiss was offered for free, demand changed such that the Hershey’s Kiss became substantially more popular and the demand for Ferrero Rocher decreased significantly. In a second experiment, Shampanier, Ariely and Mazar (2007) investigated whether the increase in demand for free chocolates would be mirrored in different product offers. Participants were offered a choice between a €20 or a €10 Amazon gift voucher at three different price levels. The two vouchers were offered at €12 and €5, €8 and €1 or €7 and free respectively, such that there was always a €7 difference in price between the two vouchers. Demand for the two products offered followed a similar pattern in the first two conditions, but when the vouchers were offered for €7 or free, the free product became disproportionately more popular, with no participants choosing the €7 voucher. The results from these two experiments suggest that products offered for free may be qualitatively different to products offered at a positive price, even if the positive price is as small as $.01.

EXPLANATIONS OF THE EFFECT Shampanier, Ariely & Mazar (2007) consider a number of factors which may be behind the popularity of free products. The first two derive from economic theory. If participants choose whichever product will generate the most profit for them, a scenario where €10 and €20 vouchers are offered at a discount should result in the €20 voucher being chosen on each occasion, as the gross profit is always greater for the €20 voucher. The large number of participants choosing the free products suggests that participants are not using potential gross profit to make the choice between products. Shampanier, Ariely and Mazar (2007) put forward another possible contributor to the effect; the ratio of benefits to costs associated with each offer. If this underpins the popularity of free products, €10 vouchers offered for €1 or for free should be disproportionately popular as they offer a 90% or 100% reduction in price respectively. In this scenario, similar levels of demand would be seen for the €5 and €12 vouchers as they have similar percentage discounts. However, the levels of demand seen in the voucher experiment conducted by Shampanier, Ariely and Mazar (2007) suggest that these economic theories are not the driving force of the effect as the €1 voucher did not

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have similar levels of popularity to the free voucher and the €20 voucher was not more popular than the €10 one in any condition. Free products may be disproportionately favoured due to a lack of available cognitive input. Zajonc (1980) suggested that decisions are often made based on a purely affective judgement and whichever stimulus generates more positive affect is the one which is more likely to be chosen. Slovic, Finucane, Peters and McGregor (2006) suggest that an ‘affective pool’ is consulted during the decision making process; this pool contains the positive and negative aspects associated with each choice, and is used as the basis for decision making. Decisions which are made based on affect tend to be made when people are under time constraints (Pham, Cohen, Pracejus and Hughes, 2001), and do not require as much cognitive processing resources (Epstein, 1990). Individuals’ positive or negative feelings towards a product have been shown to impact upon on their evaluations of and behaviours towards the product (Cohen, Pham & Andrade, 2008; Hsee & Kunreuther, 2000). Nowlis and Shiv (2005) demonstrated that curbing access to cognitive resources resulted in an increased use of the affect heuristic in decision making. Shampanier, Mazar and Ariely (2007) hypothesised that free products may be more attractive to the consumer and thus generate more positive affect. This increases the likelihood that the free product will be chosen. As a result, if considered thought about a product is provoked, the zero price effect may be tempered and demand could revert to the patterns seen in the other conditions. Shampanier, Mazar and Ariely (2007) found that participants had more favourable attitudes towards a free good in comparison to the other products offered. In one variation of the experiment, participants were asked questions before they made their choice; these were designed to provoke analysis of the alternative product choices at their disposal. When participants answered these questions before making their decision, the larger demand for free products was not observed. Another possible explanation for the zero price effect is related to the difficulty individuals can have when deciding which product they prefer. Studies suggest that individuals are often unsure of their own preferences, and as a result may construct their preferences using external cues such as anchors (Tversky & Kahneman, 1974; Simonsohn & Loewenstein, 2006; Slovic, 1995). Mere ownership of a product has also been shown to influence product valuation (Kahneman, Knetsch &

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Thaler, 1990). Ariely, Loewenstein and Prelec (2003) found that when participants were asked to value different products, initial valuations can be arbitrary and are often influenced by anchors, but individuals retroactively impose self-consistency on their valuations and as a result subsequent valuations form a pattern. Shampanier, Ariely and Mazar (2007) suggest that when trying to decide between two different products, participants may have â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;mapping difficultyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;; they cannot convert the utility they may receive from a particular product into a price. Studies have confirmed that individuals are loss averse; they react differently to losses and gains of a similar magnitude and losses are felt much more keenly than gains (Tversky & Kahneman, 1992). As a result, free products may be disproportionately popular because individuals are guaranteed to gain something when they choose them, and do not incur any losses. However, Shampanier, Ariely and Mazar (2007) found that the zero price effect was still seen when the product offered, a voucher, and the mechanism by which it was paid for were both monetary. The researchers concluded that mapping difficulty may not play an important role in the mechanisms of the effect.

VALUATION OF FREE PRODUCTS If free products are disproportionately popular, this may indicate that individuals value them differently to positively priced products. Little consensus has been achieved on whether free products are overvalued or undervalued, economic theory predicts that individuals do not value free products as much, and as such the provision of goods or services for free leads to overconsumption (Assato, 2006). Consumer research indicates that providing free gifts as a promotion lowers the overall perceived value of the deal (Krishna, Briesch, Lehmann & Yuan, 2002). Conversely, Shampanier, Mazar and Ariely (2007) propose that it is precisely because free products are over-valued that they are more attractive and thus more popular. Ascertaining how much people value products can be challenging, and as previously described, research indicates that when individuals are asked to calculate the value of products they often fail to provide accurate estimates and are influenced by external factors (Ariely, Loewnstein & Prelec, 2003). Studies show that anchors can profoundly influence individual judgements (Kahneman & Tversky, 1974), even when incentives should discourage their use or they are explicitly told to refrain

EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION

from using them (Wilson & Brekke, 1994). When comparing expert and non-expert valuations of a piece of real estate, Northcraft and Neale (1986) found that though the experts were marginally more accurate in their predictions, both sets of groups were influenced by the listing price, which should not have had any bearing on valuations. While acknowledging the difficulties in obtaining valuations independent of external factors, eliciting information from participants about the extent to which they value the products they have chosen may help to explain why participants react to free products differently.

CURRENT EXPERIMENT AND HYPOTHESES This experiment aimed to further explore the effect of free products on decision making by offering participants a choice between a €20 or €10 iTunes voucher priced at three different levels: €12 or €5, €8 or €1 and €7 or Free of charge. Participants were split up into two further groups to ascertain whether the affect heuristic may be a factor in decision making around free products. Half of the participants across all conditions were asked questions about their decision in order to provoke reasoned analysis, before being asked if they would like to switch their choice. The participants in the no-analysis groups were merely asked if they would like to change their mind. The question of whether participants value free products differently was examined by asking participants what was the minimum price they would be willing to sell their recently acquired voucher for. Finally, participants were asked to provide two reasons for their choice, in order to gain further insight into the decision making process.

METHOD This experiment aimed to further explore the effect of free products on decision making by offering participants a choice between a €20 or €10 iTunes voucher priced at three different levels: €12 or €5, €8 or €1 and €7 or Free of charge. Participants were split up into two further groups to ascertain whether the affect heuristic may be a factor in decision making around free products. Half of the participants across all conditions were asked questions about their decision in order to provoke reasoned analysis, before being asked if they would like to switch their choice. The participants in the no-analysis groups were merely asked if they would

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like to change their mind. The question of whether participants value free products differently was examined by asking participants what was the minimum price they would be willing to sell their recently acquired voucher for. Finally, participants were asked to provide two reasons for their choice, in order to gain further insight into the decision making process. Design: This study used a 2X6 factorial design to investigate the zero price effect. Participants were randomly assigned to groups according to the price of the voucher offered. There were three price groupings, wherein the €20 and €10 vouchers were offered for (a) €12 and €5, (b) €8 and €1 or (c) €7 and free respectively. The further subdivision was made according to the type of analysis participants performed and contained two levels, Reasoned Analysis or no Reasoned Analysis. Standardised questions about the minimum price a voucher would be sold for and reasons for selecting a particular voucher were answered by all participants. Participants: One hundred and one participants took part in this study, of which 39 (38.6%) were males and 62 (61.38%) were females. Psychology students at Trinity College Dublin participated to obtain course credit. Other participants did not receive an incentive to take part in the experiment but were known to the researcher. Participants ages ranged from 18-60, (Mean=22.31; SD=6.5), two participants did not specify their age. Participants were assigned to different groups on a random basis; a detailed breakdown of the groupings is available in Appendix A. One participant who did not choose either voucher was excluded from the analysis. Participants were recruited through the researcher’s contacts and in the School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin. First and Second year students were provided with one research credit in exchange for their participation. Materials: The scenario and questions used in the experiment were derived from Shampanier, Ariely and Mazar’s (2007) original experiment. See Appendix E for the content of the booklet.

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Initial Choice The first part of the scenario presented all participants with a hypothetical choice between two gift vouchers for the online music store iTunes. Participants were asked to choose which voucher they would prefer to buy. The three price groupings are described in Appendix A. Participants were also given the option to choose neither of the vouchers. The sequence in which the â&#x201A;Ź10 and â&#x201A;Ź20 vouchers were presented was counterbalanced to avoid order effects. Reasoned Analysis Participants in the three Reasoned Analysis groups were asked two questions about the products and asked to rate on a 7-point Likert scale how much they reflected their feelings about the products. These two questions were designed to provoke cognition and adapted from those used by Ariely, Shampanier and Mazar (2007). Participants in the three groups not undergoing Reasoned Analysis were not asked these questions. Second Choice All participants were provided with the two vouchers they had been offered initially and asked to make the choice again. Participants were able to change their minds or stick with their initial choice. Valuation Participants then provided a valuation of the product they had chosen. Drawing from Ariely, Loewenstein and Prelec (2003), participants were asked to state the minimum payment they would accept for the voucher if it was for sale on the auction site eBay.com. Justification Finally, in an attempt to ascertain how individuals had arrived at their choices and the factors influencing the choice; participants were asked to give two justifications for their particular selection. Procedure Permission was obtained by email from two lecturers and a tutor at the Trinity College School of Psychology to invite students to participate in the experiment following lectures. Testing sessions were conducted after

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five lectures. Participants voluntarily remained after lectures to take part in the study. Participants known to the experimenter carried out the experiment in groups of at least two in a room free from distractions. Booklets were distributed by the experimenter and sorted prior to testing to ensure that participants were randomly assigned to different groups in each session. Before commencing, the experimenter reminded participants that the questions were not testing intelligence, and instructed participants to answer the questions in the order presented in the booklet. Participants were requested to refrain from returning to previous questions once they had been answered. Participants were asked to read and sign a consent and information form before completing the booklet. Each study was completed in approximately five minutes. On completion of the experiment, all participants were given a debriefing form (contained in Appendix D) with more information about the aims of the experiment and the researcher’s contact details.

RESULTS: Voucher Preferences A Chi Square analysis was performed to determine if there was a difference in demand for the €10 and €20 vouchers, irrespective of the price conditions participants were in. The preference frequencies are depicted in Table 1. Participants across all conditions were significantly more likely to choose the €10 voucher χ²= 11.56 (1, n=100,) p< .001. Voucher

Participants Selecting

€ 10

€ 20

Table 1: Participants selecting €10 and €20 vouchers

A Chi Square analysis was carried out to ascertain if participants in the separate conditions were more likely to choose the €10 or €20 vouchers. Participants in the €7 and free condition were significantly more likely to choose the free voucher, χ²= 10.93 (1, n=33) p< .001. Participants in the €8 or €1 condition were also significantly more likely to choose the €1 voucher, χ²= 16.03 (1, n=33), p< .001. For the €12 and €5 condition, the difference in the demand for the two vouchers was statistically

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Number of Participants

insignificant, χ²= 1.88 (1, n=34), p =.170. The numbers of participants choosing each voucher can be seen in Figure 1. 40 €10

€20

30 20 10 0

€12 or €5

8 or €1

7 or Free

Price Condition Figure 1: Participants initial selection of Vouchers

TYPE OF ANALYSIS A binomial test was carried out to determine if a significant number of participants switched from the free condition into the €7 condition in the reasoned analysis condition. The number of participants maintaining their initial choice was significant, 15 out of a total of 17 did not switch to the €7 voucher, p <.05.

Reasoned Analysis

€ 12 1

No Reasoned Analysis

€20 Voucher €8 0 0

€10 Voucher €7 2

€5 2

€1 0

Free 0

Table 2: Number of Participants switching into each condition

VALUATION OF PRICES The average minimum price participants were willing to sell the €20 voucher for was €11.56 (SD= 4.6), while the average price for the €10 voucher was €6.58, (SD= 4.81). The profit margin each participant would have incurred if they had sold their voucher at the price indicated was calculated from the Minimum price valuation participants gave. The

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average prices and profit margins given by participants in each condition can be seen in Appendix B. A 2X3 independent subjects factorial ANOVA was carried out on the profit margins for each participant who chose a €10 voucher to determine if the price of a voucher or the analysis performed influenced subsequent valuations of the voucher. The two levels of analysis were Reasoned Analysis and No Reasoned Analysis. The three levels of price were €5, €1 or Free. There was a significant main effect of price paid on valuation given, F (2, 64) = 6.02, p<.05, N2 =.158. There was a non-significant main . There was a non-significant interaction between the price paid and analysis on valuations, F (2, 64) = 1.32, p=.274, N2 = .04. A Bonferroni correction was carried out to determine if the price paid influenced the level of profit participants’ sold their vouchers for. There was a significant difference in the scores for the €5 (M= 2.58, SD= 3.93) and Free (M= 6.62, SD= 5.96) conditions, p< .05. The difference in scores between the €1 (M= 4.55, SD= 4.01) and Free (M= 6.62, SD= 5.96) was on the margins of significance, p= .077. The difference between the €1 and €5 conditions was not statistically significant, p= .663. Figure 2 depicts the average profit margins for the €5, €1 and free vouchers. 8

Average Profit Margin

7 6 5 €5

€1

Free

2 1 0

€10 Voucher Figure 2: Average profit margins for the €10 voucher

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DISCUSSION This experiment aimed to further investigate the influence that offering a product for free has on demand for and valuations of products. When asked to choose between discounted €10 or €20 vouchers for the iTunes music store, participants across all conditions were more likely to choose a €10 voucher compared to one priced at €20. This pattern was broadly replicated when the actual price at which the voucher was offered at was taken into account. The €10 vouchers which were reduced to €1 or free were significantly more popular than the €20 vouchers offered for €8 or €7. However, in the scenario where the €10 voucher was offered for €5 and the €20 voucher for €12, similar demand for the two vouchers was observed. Few participants in any group changed their mind about the voucher they had chosen when offered the opportunity. The number of participants switching from the free voucher to the €7 voucher after reasoned analysis was not statistically significant, with the significant majority of participants staying with their initial choice. Participants were asked to estimate the minimum amount of money they would accept when selling their voucher. The purchase price of the voucher had a significant effect on the sum the participants were willing to accept for the €10 voucher. Participants who were offered a free voucher attached significantly greater value to and sought a higher profit margin for their purchase than those who chose a €10 voucher for €5. A similar pattern was observed in the valuation of the free and €1 vouchers and these results were on the margins of significance. There was no significant difference in participant’s valuation of the €5 and €1 vouchers, suggesting that the free voucher elicited different valuations from those which were priced positively. The presence or absence of reasoned analysis by participants had no significant impact on valuations. Voucher Preferences Participants were more inclined to choose the €10 voucher compared to the €20 voucher when it was offered either for free or for €1; this pattern was not replicated when it was offered for €5. The popularity of the free voucher is consistent with Shampanier, Ariely and Mazar (2007). However, the demand for the €1 voucher differs from that seen in the original experiment. In this study, the €10 voucher offered for €1 was

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significantly more popular than the €20 offered voucher for €8, whereas Shampanier, Ariely and Mazar (2007) found similar levels of demand for these vouchers. Shampanier, Ariely and Mazar (2007) suggest that when deciding quickly between products individuals have to make a rapid value judgement. Free products are more attractive and are thus more likely to be chosen. If participants engage in reasoned analysis, the popularity of free products diminished for subsequent decisions. However, in this study, few participants changed their minds after making their initial choice of voucher. The number of individuals switching from a free to a €7 voucher was not statistically significant. It may be that, following their initial choice, participants justified to themselves why the voucher they had selected was superior and thus were reluctant to change their minds. When participants are asked to choose between two options and rate their desirability, the product which is chosen is invariably regarded as more favourable (Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959; Brehm, 1956). This cognitive dissonance may be the reason why participants were reluctant to switch from their initial choice. A second explanation may be that the affect heuristic is not the central force influencing participants’ choices in this instance. Reasoned analysis may fail to change participants’ minds because free products are not chosen simply due to a lack of considered thought. The high demand for the free and €1 vouchers also suggests that participants do not use the gross profit as a factor in their decision making (Ariely, 2008). If gross profit was the main influence on decision making, the €20 voucher should have been more popular in each condition as it provides a larger profit in each case. A difficulty in mapping the expected utility of selecting a particular voucher onto a price for that voucher may explain the popularity of the free product. Though Shampanier, Ariely and Mazar (2007) did not find evidence linking mapping difficulty to the selection of free products, when offered the choice of a free voucher or one at a positive price, participants may chose the lowest priced option as they are certain of the benefits of their choice. In this experiment, mapping difficulty may account for the popularity of the free voucher, however it cannot account for the discrepancy in demand found between the €5 and the €1 vouchers. If mapping difficulty is the driving force behind participants’ decisions, equal demand for the €5 and €1 vouchers should

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have been observed, as both are positively priced and should thus cause similar problems in evaluation for participants. Another possible explanation for the demand patterns seen in this experiment is that participants may be calculating the costs and benefits of choosing each voucher and basing their choice on this estimation. The €10 voucher is reduced by a much greater percentage than the €20 voucher in the conditions where the €10 voucher was offered for €1 or for free, whereas the €5 and €12 vouchers were reduced by a similar percentage. If individuals are using these percentage reductions as a basis for their choice, this may explain why the demand pattern for the €12 and €5 vouchers is similar, but the demand for the €1 and free vouchers is much greater (Shampanier, Ariely and Mazar, 2007). This explanation may account for the overall pattern of the results and the findings from the individual conditions. However, the fact that a minority of participants still chose the €7 and the €8 vouchers even when a cost benefit analysis did not favour it, suggests that not all participants are using these percentage reductions as a basis for their choice. As such, other decision making strategies should also be investigated. Valuation of €10 Vouchers The lower the purchase price of the €10 iTunes voucher, the higher the valuation participants attributed to it. When valuing products, individuals can place a higher value on objects simply because they own them (Kahneman, Knetsch & Thaler, 1990). If this endowment effect was influencing valuation significantly, this would have been reflected across all conditions and higher valuations in the €5 and €1 conditions should have been seen. This higher valuation was not observed, suggesting that the influence of ownership does not play a significant role in this instance. However, this experiment was not designed to investigate the role of the endowment effect on valuations, and subsequent experiments may reveal an impact of ownership on the valuation of free products. Similarly, the results of this experiment indicate that participants did not use price anchors when forming a valuation. If participants had used the prices they had paid for their vouchers as an anchor in their valuations, the €5 voucher would have been the highest valued and the free voucher would have had the lowest valuation. This offers further evidence that mapping difficulty is not the central cause of the zero price effect, as individuals do

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not seem to rely on external cues when valuing the products. This may indicate that they are capable of performing an internal valuation of the vouchers. The findings of this experiment are in line with Shampanier, Ariely and Mazarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (2007) hypothesis that free products may be disproportionately popular because they are overvalued by individuals. In this experiment, the overvaluation does not seem to be attributable to anchoring or the endowment effect, and the reason why this increase in valuation occurs is unclear. Limitations and Future Research Due to experimental constraints, participants in this study were first asked to choose between two vouchers and were asked questions about their purchase following this initial selection. Shampanier, Ariely and Mazar (2007) asked participants questions designed to provoke analysis of the two options before they made any choice, and the zero price effect was not seen when such reasoned analysis took place. It may be that cognitive dissonance (Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959) was a factor in the reluctance of participants to switch conditions. Subsequent experiments could consider alternative methods of provoking reasoned analysis in order to minimise the influence of cognitive dissonance on decision making around free products. Given that the results of this experiment did not identify a singular reason why participants were more likely to choose the free vouchers, it is possible that decision making in this instance depends on individual differences. The policy implications of these findings merit further investigation. It was previously suggested that attaching a small positive price to services may reduce demand (Assato, 2006). However, the fact that there was little difference in the popularity of the â&#x201A;Ź1 and free vouchers in this experiment suggests that this may not be the case. In addition, if overconsumption occurs when products or services are free, it is important to be aware of what may be influencing these trends. The high valuation of free products seen in this experiment argues against the notion that people over-consume goods and services because they do not value them (Assato, 2006).

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CONCLUSION This study aimed to further investigate the zero price effect and the factors that may contribute to the surge in popularity for products and services which are free. The study replicated the main effect observed by Shampanier, Ariely and Mazar (2007), that when products were offered for free they became disproportionately popular. However, the high demand for the voucher with a small positive price in this study is at odds with the findings of the original experiment. The pattern of results in this study indicates that participants may be performing a cost-benefit analysis before making their choice, However, this cost-benefit analysis does not explain the results in full and individual differences in decision making should be investigated further. With regard to valuations of vouchers, participants’ valuations of the free voucher were higher than those which were positively priced as predicted by Shampanier, Ariely and Mazar (2007).

REFERENCES Amir, O., Carmon, Z & Ariely, D. (2008) The dissociation between monetary assessment and predicted utility. Marketing Science, 27(6), 1055-1064. Anderson, C. (2009). Free: The Future of a Radical Price. New York: Hyperion Ariely, D., Loewenstein, G. & Prelec, D. (2003) Coherent Arbitrariness: Stable demand curves without the stable preferences. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118(1), 73-105. Ariely, D. (2008) Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape our Decisions. US: Harper Collins Assato, J. (Ed.) (2006). Charging Ahead? Spreading the costs of modern public services. London: Social Market Foundation. Brehm, J.W. (1956) Post-decision changes in the desirability of alternatives. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 52, 384-389 Chandran, S. & Morwitz, V.G. (2006). The Price of ‘Free’-dom: Consumer Sensitivity to Promotions with Negative Contextual Influences. Journal of Consumer Research, 33, 384-39. Cohen, J.B., Pham, M.T. & Andrade, E.B. (2008) The Nature and Role of Affect in Consumer Behavior. C. Haugtvedt, F. Kardes and P. Herr (Eds) in Handbook of Consumer Psychology (pp. 297–348). New York: Psychology Press Diamond W.D., and Sanyal A., (1990). The Effect of Framing on Choice of Supermarket Coupons. Advances in Consumer Research, 17, 494-50.

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Epstein, S. (1990). Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory. In L. A. Pervin (Ed.), Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research (pp. 165-192). New York / London: The Guilford Press Festinger, L., & Carlsmith, J.M. (1959). Cognitive consequences of forced compliance. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 58(2), 203–210 Gupta, S. & Mela, C.F. (2008) What is a free customer worth? Harvard Business Review, 86 (11),102-109. Hardin, G. (1968) The Tragedy of the Commons. Science, 162 (3859), 1243-1238. Hsee, C.K., Kunreuther, H. (2000) The affection effect in insurance decisions. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 20, 141–159. Kahneman, D., Knetsch, J.L. & Thaler, R. (1991) The endowment effect, Loss Aversion and Status Quo Bias. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 5(1), 193-206. Krishna, A., Breisch, R., Lehmann, D R., & Yuan, H. (2002). A meta analysis of the impact of price presentation on perceived savings. Journal of Retailing, 78(2), 10 Mayor of London (2004) Congestion Charging Central London: Impacts Monitoring: Second Annual Report. Transport for London: UK. Northcraft, G.B. Neale, M.A. (1987) Experts, Amateurs and Real Estate: An Anchoring and Adjustment Perspective on Property Pricing Decisions. Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, 83, 87-93. Nowlis, S. M., & Shiv, B. (2005). The influence of consumer distractions on the effectiveness of food-sampling programs. Journal of Marketing Research, 42(2), 157-168. Pham, M. T., Cohen, J. B., Pracejus, J. W., & Hughes, G. D. (2001). Affect monitoring and the primacy of feelings in judgment. Journal of Consumer Research, 28(2), 167-188. Robinson, P. (2004) How do we pay? The funding of Public Services in the EU. UK Institute for Public Policy Research. Shampanier, K., Mazar,N. & Ariely, D. (2007) Zero as a special price: The true value of free products. Marketing Science, 26(6),742-757. Slovic, P., Finucane, M.L., Peters, E. & MacGregor, D.E. (2007) The affect Heuristic. European Journal of Operational Research, 177, 1333-1352. Simonsohn, U. & Loewenstein, G. (2006) Mistake #37: The effect of previously encountered prices on current housing demand. The Economic Journal, 116(1), 175-199. Slovic, P. (1995) The construction of preference. American Psychologist, 50(5), 364-371. Tversky, A. & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science, 185, 1124-1130 Tversky, A. & Kahneman, D. (1992) Advances in Prospect Theory: Cumulative Representation of Uncertainty. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 5: 297–323.

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Varian, H.R. (2006) Intermediate Micro Economics: A Modern Approach. London: W.W. Norton & Company. Wilson, T.D. & Brekke, N.C. (1994) Mental contamination and Mental Correction: Unwanted Influence on Judgments and Evaluations. Psychological Bulletin, 116, 117-142. Zajonc, R. B. (1980). Feeling and Thinking - Preferences Need No Inferences. American Psychologist, 35(2), 151-175.

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ATTITUDES TOWARDS TRANSPLANT PATIENTS WITH ALCOHOLIC LIVER DISEASE: THE INFLUENCE OF PROSOCIAL PERSONALITY AND PATIENT INFORMATION ON TRANSPLANT PRIORITY RATINGS AND ORGAN DONOR WILLINGNESS SinĂŠad Waldron Graduated 2011, psychology waldros@tcd.ie

ABSTRACT One hundred and eighty eight participants (105 females and 83 males) completed batteries of scales that measured organ donation willingness and prosocial personality levels. Participants also read vignettes that described patients in need of liver transplants. Participants rated the patient with a history of alcohol abuse who was no longer drinking as a significantly lower priority for transplant surgery than a patient with a genetic liver condition. This implied that patients with alcoholic lover disease were perceived as less deserving of liver transplants. It was also found that completing the scales and reading vignettes significantly increased levels of organ donation willingness. This supported the theory that encouraging people to think about organ donation and other prosocial behaviours increased their intention to engage in related activities. Prosocial personality levels did not influence the extent of change in organ donation willingness. The control group that did not read a vignette showed a slightly larger increase in willingness compared with either of the groups that read a vignette. This may be because reading about patients aroused mortality anxiety that inhibited prosocial attitudes. This result although not statistically significant, suggested that giving people information about patients is less effective at promoting donation willingness than encouraging them to think about organ donation more generally.

INTRODUCTION According the World Health Organisation, approximately 100,900 organs were transplanted worldwide in 2008 (World Health organisation, 2010).

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This represents less than 10% of the global demand for organs (World health Organisation, 2010). The demand for organs is growing and it continually exceeds supply. It is clear that the shortage of organs available is a serious public health problem. The majority of people in the EU are in favour of organ donation but many fail to take action to become a donor. Seventy seven percent of Europeans surveyed in 2010 said that they would be happy for their organs to be donated when they died; Fifty three percent of Europeans also said that they would be willing to consent to the donation of organs belonging to close family members (European Commission, 2010). Mostafa (2010) developed a battery to measure overall willingness to donate organs after death. This battery consisted six scales: an organ donation altruistic values scale, an organ donation knowledge scale, a organ donation perceived benefit scale, an organ donation fear and risk scale and an organ donation intention scale. Many public health campaigns that aim to increase public support for organ donation are designed to increase knowledge about the transplantion system. Feeley, Tamburlin, and Vincent (2008) claimed that giving people information about organ donation and particularly information regarding patients in need of organ transplants increased levels of organ donation willingness and intention. The current study examined whether presenting participants with information about patients resulted in a change in organ donation willingness levels. It has been proposed people with certain types of personalities and value orientations are more likely to be willing to become organ donors. Penner, Fritzche and Craiger (1995) proposed that some individuals had a prosocial personality profile. They conceptualized prosocial personality as consisting of two distinct factors, other orientated helping and helpfulness. Penner et al. (1995) developed a battery of tests to measure prosocial personality. This battery included reliable scales that measure social responsibility, empathetic concern, moral reasoning and self-reported altruism. This battery of tests reliably predicted prosocial actions across a range of domains. Prosocial personality predicts higher rates of helping behaviours (VanLange, Otten, DeBruin & Joireman, 1997). It has been found that prosocial personality was related to increased willingness to donate organs after death (Blanca, Rando, Frutos, & Lopez-Montiel, 2007).This study investigated the relationship between the organ donor willingness battery Mostafa (2010) and the prosocial personality battery

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(Penner et al., 1995). This study assessed the correlations between elements of prosocial personality and willingness to donate organs after death. This study used Reynolds (1982) short social desirability scale to gauge the influence of impression management on responses to items from each of the batteries. It was deemed important to control for impression management as this study investigated social attitudes and activities. Mistrust of organ allocation system Research suggested that people also mistrust the organ allocation system. Hyde & White (2010) found that many people fear that if they donate their organs they will be given to someone who the donor deems to be â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;undeservingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of them. Many people feel that patients who are perceived as being responsible for their illnesses should not have equal access to organs suitable for transplantation (Ubel & Loewenstein, 1996). Rodrigue, Hoffman, Park and Sears (1998) investigated this by presenting participants with vignettes regarding patients who needed a liver transplant. They found that participants assigned the patient with the history of alcohol abuse who was no longer drinking as a lower priority for liver transplant surgery than a patient who was suffering from a genetic liver disease. It is argued that many members of the public feel that lifestyle choices and responsibility for illness should be considered when allocating scarce health care resources. This study used similar methods to investigated peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s organ allocation preferences. Alcohol related liver disease and liver transplants Alcohol related liver disease (ALD) is a common result of persistent alcohol abuse and liver transplant surgery is often the only effective treatment available to patients in the advanced stages of this disease (Thornton, 2009). Sixty seven percent of all the livers transplanted in Ireland between 1993 and 2005 were given to patients suffering from ALD (St. Vincent's Hospital, Dublin., 2010). Patients with ALD are considered for transplantation if they have stopped drinking for at least six months and are committed to never drinking again (St. Vincent's Hospital, Dublin., 2010). Once patients meet these requirements they are put on the waiting list and allocated a suitable organ once it becomes available like every other patient. A fundamental principle of medical ethics requires healthcare professionals to treat patients on the basis of clinical need.

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Medical staff should not allow their opinions of the moral deservingness of a patient to influence their clinical decisions (Thornton, 2009). It is proposed that many members of the public think that the cause of a patientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s illness should be considered when allocating scarce medical resources. This perception seems to be particularly prevalent in relation to the treatment of alcoholics. The established medical and psychological opinion of alcoholism is that it is a disease that has a variety of biological, psychological and social causes (Thonton, 2009). However, many members of the public do not agree with this view of alcoholism. Brudney (2007) argued that many members of the public view alcoholism as a sign of moral weakness rather than an illness. Brudney (2007) claimed that many members of the public view patients with alcohol related liver disease as responsible for their conditions and want to punish them by not allowing them equal access to liver transplants. Many people fear that substance abusers who are given transplants will return to their old behaviours and damage their precious new organ (Neuberger, 1999). Several high profile cases have lead to the perception that recidivism is common amongst substance abusers that receive organ transplants (Thornton, 2009). Thornton (2009) claimed that BBC coverage of cases such as George Best, the famous footballer who received a liver transplant and continued to drink heavily negatively affected familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decisions to consent to the transplantation of organs belonging to deceased relatives. Neuberger (1999) has argued that in argued that the vast majority of former substance abusers who receive organ transplants do not return to substance dependence and so this fear of recidivism is disproportionate. It would seem that there is a discrepancy between what many members of the public believe to be a fair system to allocate scare medical resources and the practice of the medical establishment. (Tong, Howard, Jan, Cass, Rose & Chadban, 2010) proposed that perceptions of moral deservingness were important for people in terms of allocation decisions. Perception of the fairness of the allocation system may also factor influence individuals willingness to become organ donors (Gamliel & Peer, 2010).

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Research Aims This study aimed to investigate the association between prosocial personality and willingness to donate organs posthumously. This study also investigated participantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; preferences for organ allocation. The study investigated whether patients with a history of alcohol abuse were deemed to be lower priorities for transplant surgery than a patient with a genetic liver disease. This study also investigated whether presenting information about potential transplant recipients changed scores on scales from the organ donation willingness battery. The study also explored if any change in organ donation willingness was associated with patient history and the participantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; scores on scales from the prosocial personality battery. Hypothesis 1: It was predicted that there would be a significant correlation between scores on scales from the prosocial personality battery and scores on scales from the organ donation willingness battery. Hypothesis 2: It was predicted that the patient with a history of alcohol abuse would receive a lower transplant priority rating than the patient who was suffering from a genetic condition. Hypothesis 3a: It was predicted that reading either vignette would increase organ donation willingness scores. Hypothesis 3b: It was predicted that reading the vignette 1 (which described the patient with a history alcohol abuse) would result in a smaller increase in willingness ratings than reading the vignette 2 (which described the patient with the genetic condition. Hypothesis 4: It was predicted that participants with higher levels of prosocial personality would show more less change in willingness scores after reading the vignettes than those with lower levels of prosocial personality.

METHOD A mixed factorial design was used. Participants were assigned to one of four groups. Participants were recruited from the general population. A total of one hundred and eighty-eight participants completed the study (One hundred and five females and eighty-three males). The age range was from eighteen to sixty five years old. The mean age was 25.38 years old (SD = 9.04). 48.9% of participants had completed secondary education. 32.5% had also completed third level education and a further 18.6% had also completed a postgraduate degree or diploma. 43.6% of participants

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reported having an organ donor card. There were forty-six participants assigned to group one (twenty males and twenty-six females). The mean age of this group was 26.52 years (SD = 11.34). There were forty- four participants assigned to group two (eighteen males and twenty-six females). The mean age of this group was 24.89 years (SD = 8.27). There were fifty-one participants assigned to group three (nineteen males and twenty-six females). The mean age of this group was 23.88 (SD = 6.24). There were forty-seven participants assigned to group four (twenty-six males and twenty one females). The mean age of this group was 26.36 years old (SD = 11.09). Organ donation willingness battery An adapted form of the organ donation willingness battery (Mostafa, 2010) was used. This battery consisted six scales: an organ donation altruistic values scale, an organ donation knowledge scale, a organ donation perceived benefit scale, an organ donation fear and risk scale and an organ donation intention scale. Cronbachs alpha coefficients for the scales ranged from 0.625-0.872 (Mostafa, 2010). Prosocial personality battery The prosocial personality battery (Penner et al., 1995) was used. This battery consisted of four scales: a social responsibility scale, an empathy scale, a moral reasoning scale and a self-reported altruism scale. Participants responded to all items on these scales using five point likert scales. The Cronbachâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s alpha coefficients for these scales ranged from 0.77-0.85 (Penner, et al., 1995). Social desirability scale Reynolds (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960; Reynolds, 1982) short form of the Marlowe-Crowne (1960) scale of social desirability was used. The short form that was used in this study had thirteen items and has been found to be a reliable. The cronbachâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s alpha coefficient for this scale is 0.76 (Reynolds, 1982). Vignettes Vignette we presented describing a patient who needed a liver transplant. They were adapted from vignettes designed by Rodrigue, et al. (1998). Vignette one described a patient who had alcoholic liver disease and was

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no longer drinking; vignette two described a patient with a genetic condition. They were identical in all other ways. Distraction task: Vocabulary exercises: SAT vocabulary questions were used as a distraction task. These ten questions were taken from practice SAT exams designed by Dulan (2006). PAWStatistics 18.0 was the computer software used to analyze the data. Procedure Participants randomly assigned to one of four groups. Participants were then sent a link to the questionnaire. The procedure for each group is outlined below. Group 1: Completed demographic questions, the organ donation willingness battery, the prosocial personality battery and the social desirability scale. Read vignette describing a patient with history of alcohol abuse and rated priority for transplant surgery. They then attempted vocabulary exercises (distraction task) and completed the organ donation willingness battery for a second time. Group 2: Completed demographic questions, the organ donation willingness battery, the prosocial personality battery and the social desirability scale. Read vignette describing a patient with a genetic condition and rated priority for transplant surgery. They then attempted vocabulary exercises (distraction task) and completed the organ donation willingness battery for a second time. Group 3: Completed demographic questions, the organ donation willingness battery, the prosocial personality battery and the social desirability scale. They then attempted vocabulary exercises (distraction task) and completed the organ donation willingness battery for a second time. Group 4: Completed demographic questions, the organ donation willingness battery, the prosocial personality battery and the social desirability scale.

RESULTS The data from each of the scales were normally distributed and met the assumptions required for parametric analysis. Composite scores on each battery were calculated by combining scores on each of the continuant

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scales from the battery appropriately. Details of how composite scores for each of the batteries were calculated are outlined below: Composite organ donation willingness score = Organ donation altruistic values scale score + Organ donation knowledge scale score + organ donation scale score + organ donation perceived benefits scale score – organ donation fears and risks scales score +organ donation intention scale score. Composite prosocial personality score = social responsibility scale score + empathy scale score+ moral reasoning scale score + self-reported altruism scale score. The median score of composite prosocial personality (median = 40) was used as the cut-off point to distinguish between levels of prosocial personality. Participants who scored forty and above on composite prosocial personality were deemed to have ‘high prosocial personality’ and those with a score below forty were deemed to have ‘low prosocial personality’ for the purposes of further analysis. Table four below illustrates the distribution of participants with high and low prosocial personality within the sample. Social desirability scores were treated as covariates in the analysis of variance of scores on both batteries. This controlled for the influence of impression management as a confounding variable. Social desirability scores were evenly distributed across the sample. Several scales from the organ donation willingness battery were significantly correlated with each other and scores on scales from the prosocial personality battery also. Table 1 below shows these correlations. Table 1 Correlation matrix Composite organ donation willingness

Composite prosocial personality

Social desirability

-0.23**

0.13*

Organ altruistic values

0.50**

0.21**

Organ donation knowledge

0.13*

-0.51

Perceived benefits

0.698**

0.41**

Risks and fears Intention

-0.63** 0.37**

-0.16* 0

Social responsibility

0.66

0.37**

Empathy

0.14*

0.55**

Moral reasoning

0.13*

0.71**

Self reported altruism

-0.2

0.48**

Composite donation willingness

0.381**

Composite prosocial personality.

0.38**

**=p<0.01. *=p<0.05.

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The priority ratings assigned to the patients described in the vignettes is illustrated below. The figure shows that the patient with the genetic patient was given a higher priority rating.

Frequency

Priority ratings given

20 10 0 Very High

High

Alcohol group

Neither

Low

Genetic group

Figure 1: Priority ratings given to patients described in vignettes

An independent group t-test showed that there was a significant difference between the priority rating given to the patient in the genetic condition than the alcohol condition t(88)= -3.182, p<0.05. Composite scores on the organ donation willingness battery increased across the trials for every group, figure 2 below illustrates this trend.

Mean scores

Composite willingness scores across groups and time

40 20 0 Group 1

Group 2 Time 1

Group 3 Time 2

Group 4

Figure 2. Composite scores on organ donation willingness battery.

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A mixed ANCOVA was used to analysis the change these scores. The between subject factors were the scores (time one and time two). The between subjects factors were group and high/low prosocial personality. Social desirability was the covariate. The ANCOVA revealed that the main effect of change in scores was significant F(1,108)= 20.53, p<0.01, Îˇp2= 0.16 A one way ANOVA revealed that there was a significant difference between composite scores at time two of all groups and composite scores for group four, F(3,2)= 159.74, p<0.01

DISCUSSION Participants rated a patient with a history of alcoholic liver disease who was no longer drinking as a significantly lower priority for liver transplant surgery than a patient who had a genetic liver disease. It was observed that organ donation willingness increased as a result of completing the two batteries and reading the vignettes. Composite organ donation willingness increased significantly over time across all groups. The analysis revealed that there were no significant interactions between changes in scores and prosocial personality levels. The study found that composite organ donation willingness was positively correlated with several constructs from the prosocial personality battery. This supported the argument that high prosocial personality levels predict higher organ donation willingness levels (Blanca, et al., 2007). The hypothesis that the patient with a history of alcohol abuse would receive a lower priority rating for transplantation was supported. These findings were similar those found by Rodrigue, et al., (1998). It would seem from these findings that some people do believe that alcoholics are less deserving of liver transplants than those with other types of conditions. Further research is needed to investigate perceptions that patients with histories of substance abuse should be lower priorities for transplant surgery. It would also be interesting to investigate possible differences between the opinions of medical staff and the general public on the subject of organ allocation. These findings would suggest that perhaps more consultation is needed between the health service and the general public on the subject of organ allocation as public preferences do not seem to match the current protocol for organ allocation.

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It is clear that completing the first part of the study did facilitate an increase in organ donor willingness in general. Comparisons between scores from the organ donation willingness battery across time reveal that there were consistently significant differences between the willingness scores between trials. This suggests that doing the study itself increases organ donation willingness. This finding is consistent with other studies that have found that encouraging people to think about prosocial activities increases their intention engage in these types of behaviour in the future (Einolf, 2008). The presence of the second control group (group 4) allowed comparisons to be made to assess whether the first part of the study influenced the result. This type of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Solomon four group designâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; may increase the internal of the study. It seems that reading either vignette resulted in a similar sized increase in organ donation willingness levels. This suggests that reading the vignette describing the patient with a history of alcohol abuse does not seem to inhibit organ donation willingness significantly. This finding is interesting in the light of the previously discussed findings that patients with a history of alcohol abuse receive lower priority ratings. It would seem that although participants would like the patient with alcoholic liver disease to be a lower priority for transplant surgery, reading about his situation promoted organ donation willingness to the same extent as reading about a patient with a genetic liver condition. This may imply that perceptions of the fairness of the allocation system are separate from the sympathy that participants feel for the patients described in the vignettes. Future research could investigate this further. It is interesting to note that the study also found that the control group that did not read a vignette increased their donation willingness slightly more than participants who read either vignette. This finding proposes that completing the organ donation willingness and prosocial personality batteries alone promoted a slightly greater increase in organ donation willingness levels compared with completing batteries and reading the vignettes also. This trend may be explained in terms of terror management theory as outlined in Hirschberger, Ein-Dor and Almakias, (2008). Terror management theory proposes that people develop psychological mechanisms to defend themselves against threatening thoughts of death. When people become aware of their own mortality they become

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defensive and retreat from prosocial activity; they also show higher levels of disgust and revulsion (Hirschberger, et al., 2008). Hirschberger, et al. (2008) found that participants who were primed with thoughts of death were less likely to register as organ donors. A similar effect may have occurred in this study. It is possible that personal mortality became more salient for participants who read a vignette because they could relate to the patient in the scenario. The reality of serious illness may have been more acute for participants in these groups compared with the control group that did not read a vignette. This increased mortality anxiety may have interfered with the increase in willingness ratings for groups one and two. However, it must be noted this difference between the groups was not statistically significant and future research should investigate whether it is replicated to a larger extent in further studies. There was no significant interaction between changes in willingness and levels of prosocial personality. Therefore, the hypothesis that individuals with high prosocial personality would be more consistent in their organ donation willingness ratings across time was not supported. This study had several limitations. Although the research sought to recruit a sample from a general population it must be noted that the majority of participants were university students or graduates. The sample used for this research does not encompass a wide variety of socioeconomic levels and therefore it is not truly representative of a general population. It must be noted that 49.8% of participants doing this study said that they had an organ donor card. This sample may have been skewed towards increased levels of organ donation willingness to begin with. There was also a significant gender imbalance in the sample. This may have skewed the results. Women have been fund to express higher levels of organ donation willingness overall (Wakefield, Watts, Homewood, Meiser, & Siminoff, 2010). Future research should be conducted to investigate the influence of prosocial personality and patient information with a more varied sample. The second limitation is that using composite scores for both of the batteries may not have been an appropriate way to analysis the data. It was done in order to conceptualize organ donation willingness and prosocial personality as complete concepts. However, it should be remembered that the scales on each of the batteries represent distinct constructs in relation to organ donation willingness and prosocial personality and so calculating composite scores for each of the batteries

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may have resulted in a lack of understand of the nuisances of the concepts. It may have been more useful to break prosocial personality into its two factors: other orientated empathy and helpfulness and perform analysis on these two factors separately. The third limitation was the manner that the repeated measures element of the study was conducted. Participants completed the two questionnaires within minutes of each other. The distraction task may not have been very effective and so the test- retest reliability of this study may have been compromised by this design. This study found that there is an association between prosocial personality and organ donation willingness. This study suggested that people who are orientated to think more about others and engage in more helping behaviours in general are more likely to be willing to be organ donors after their deaths. It may be beneficial to do further research into ways of encouraging people with low levels of prosocial personality to donate their organs. Public health campaign could emphasize the benefits for donor and their families (such helping families cope with bereavement) as well as the benefits of organ transplants for transplant recipients. This may attract people with more individualistic personalities to the idea of organ donation. This proposal could be investigated further in future research. The study also found that people gave a patient with a history alcohol abuse who was no longer drinking a significantly lower priority rating for transplant surgery than a patient with a genetic liver condition. This may reflect the stigma and prejudice that surrounds alcoholism in society. This study proposes that further consultation is needed between members of the public and the medical establishment regarding the allocation of scarce medical resources. It could be argued that members of the public need more information about how these kinds of treatment allocation decisions are made by medical professionals. It is also important that health services are aware of concerns that the public may have so that people do not become alienated from the transplant system. This study demonstrated that encouraging people to think about organ donation and prosocial behaviours in general lead to an increase in organ donation willingness. This suggests that public health campaigns that encourage people to think and talk about organ donation can be effective in increasing the likelihood that people will register to donate and consent to the donation of organs belonging to their deceased relatives.

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Interestingly, the study also found that asking people about their attitudes towards organ donation and other prosocial behaviours alone was slightly more effective at increasing organ donation willingness than asking the same questions and also presenting information about potential organ transplant recipients. This might suggest that people are more comfortable thinking about organ donation in an abstract sense. It is argued that the mortality salience that may result from information about transplant recipients interferes with peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s willingness to donate organs. Public health campaigns to encourage organ donation may be more effective if they promote organ donation as an altruistic act that benefits society generally rather than providing information about transplant patients. Further research is of course needed to investigate effective strategies for encouraging organ donation.

REFERENCES Blanca, M. J., Rando, B., Frutos, M. A., & Lopez-Montiel, G. (2007). Psychological profile of potential organ donors and non-organ donors. Psicothema, 19(3), 440-445. Brudney, D. (2007). Are alcoholics less deserving of liver transplants? Hastings Center Report, 37(1), 41-47. Crowne, D. P., & Marlowe, D. (1960). A new scale of social desirability independent of psychopathology. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 24(4), 349-354. Dulan, S., W. (2006). SAT/PSAT. Indianapolis: Que Publishing. Einolf, C. J. (2008). Empathic concern and prosocial behaviors: A test of experimental results using survey data. Social Science Research, 37(4), 1267-1279. European Commission. Eurobarometer Special survey 72.3. Brussels, Belgium: Directorate General Health and Consumers. Feeley, T. H., Tamburlin, J., & Vincent, D. E. (2008). An educational intervention on organ and tissue donation for first-year medical students. Prog Transplant, 18(2), 103-108. Gamliel, E., & Peer, E. (2010). Attribute framing affects the perceived fairness of health care allocation principles. Judgment and Decision Making, 5(1), 11-20. Hirschberger, G., Ein-Dor, T., & Almakias, S. (2008). The self-protective altruist: Terror management and the ambivalent nature of prosocial behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(5), 666-678. Hyde, M. K., & White, K. M. (2010). Exploring Donation Decisions: Beliefs and Preferences for Organ Donation in Australia. Death Studies, 34(2), 172-185. Mostafa, M. M. (2010). Altruistic, cognitive and attitudinal determinants of organ donation intention in Egypt: a social marketing perspective. Health Mark Q, 27(1), 97-115.

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Neuberger, J. (1999). Allocating livers to substance and alcohol misusers. Addiction biology, 4, 385-390. Penner, L., A., Fritzsche, B., A., Craiger, P., J., & Freifeld, T. S. (1995). Measuring the prosocial personality In J. Butcher & C. D. Spielberger (Eds.), Advances in personality assesment (Vol. Vol 10). New Jersey: LEA. Reynolds, W. M. (1982). Development of reliable and valid short forms of the MarloweCrowne Social desirability scale. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 38(1), 119-125. Rodrigue, J. R., Hoffman, S. J., Park, T. L., & Sears, S. F. (1998). Perceptions of liver transplant candidates with or without an alcohol use history. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 5(2), 199-211. St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin., (2010 ). Liver transplant information. Retrieved 25th October, 2010 from http://www.stvincents.ie/Liver_Transplant_Unit/Transplantation.html Thornton, V. (2009). Who gets the liver transplant? The use of responsibility as the tie breaker. Journal of Medical Ethics, 35(12), 739-742. Tong, A., Howard, K., Jan, S., Cass, A., Rose, J., Chadban, S., et al. (2010). Community Preferences for the Allocation of Solid Organs for Transplantation: A Systematic Review. Transplantation, 89(7), 796-805. Ubel, P. A., & Loewenstein, G. (1996). Distributing scarce livers: The moral reasoning of the general public. Social Science & Medicine, 42(7), 1049-1055. VanLange, P. A. M., Otten, W., DeBruin, E. M. N., & Joireman, J. A. (1997). Development of prosocial, individualistic, and competitive orientations: Theory and preliminary evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(4), 733-746. World Health Organisation. (2010). Global observation of organ donation and transplantation: Activities, laws and organisation 2010. Retrieved 9 Dec, 2010 from http://www.who.int/ethics/topics/human_transplant/en/

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THE EFFECT OF VOCAL AND INSTRUMENTAL BACKGROUND MUSIC ON PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS’ VERBAL MEMORY USING A SENTENCE RECALL TASK. Anna O’Hare Graduated 2011, Psychology anna.o-hare@ucdconnect.ie

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to determine whether there is a difference between vocal and instrumental music on verbal memory and to examine the listening habits of students while they study, using a questionnaire. Participants consisted of 108 children from five primary school classes of 4th class from three different schools in Dublin. Students ranged in age from 8-10 years (M = 9.37, S.D. = .620) with a female to male ratio of approximately 7:3. Group one consisted of 26 children who experienced the silent control condition, group two of 41 children who listened to instrumental music and group three of 41 children who listened to vocal music. All groups performed a sentence recall memory test from Pressley’s (1987) study and completed a music listening habits questionnaire. No significant difference was found between memory performance of children listening to music overall in comparison with the silent control group. However when the music condition was split into vocal and instrumental groups a significant difference was found. Post hoc tests showed the instrumental group had significantly higher scores than silent group and the vocal group had significantly worse performance than the instrumental group. Findings were discussed in relation to possible practical applications in school, at home and at work, methodological weaknesses and future research in the area.

INTRODUCTION “Just as there can be no music without learning, no education is complete without music”- (Anderson, Henke, McLaughlin, Ripp & Tuffs, 2000). Research throughout the years has demonstrated that playing music in the background can have positive effects on memory recall, particularly spatial memory recall and this is known as the Mozart effect (Rauscher,

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Shaw & Ky, 1993; as cited in Yao, Sun, Poggio, Liu, Zhong & Huang, 2010). The present study examined the difference between the effects of vocal and instrumental music on verbal memory task performance using a new method- a sentence recall task. It also considered music listening habits of students in a range of contexts. Hallam, Price and Katsarou (2002) stated that little is known about the extent to which children are exposed to music in their everyday lives or its effects on their mental functions and the present study strived to add to this knowledge base. The effect of background music on behaviour, emotions, moods and mental tasks has been noted throughout history. Memory is the general process of encoding, storing and retrieving information (Martin, Carlson & Buskist, 2007). Several studies have shown that listening to Mozartâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s music may induce an improvement on the performance of certain kinds of mental tasks. The Mozart effect was first reported by Rauscher, Shaw and Ky (1993; as cited in Yao et al 2010). Experiments have since been replicated. Don Campbell claimed that listening to Mozart may produce other beneficial effects on mental function (Campbell, 1997). Music is said to have an effect on memory (Simmons-Stern, Budson & Ally, 2010). Not all research has found positive effects. Salame and Baddeley (1989) found that music disrupted short term memory performance in the immediate serial recall of sequences of nine visually presented digits; this is known as working memory. Working memory allows us to manipulate material in short term memory, remembering material whilst engaging in a different, related task (Martin, Carlson & Buskist, 2007). It is susceptible to disruption by irrelevant speech- the irrelevant speech effect. Irrelevant speech impairs the immediate serial recall of visually presented material (Gisselgard, Petersson & Ingvar, 2004). There may be differences in the effect of music on verbal working memory depending on the type of music being played, particularly the difference between effects of vocal and instrumental music (Newman, Hunt & Rhodes, 1966; as cited in Furnham & Bradley, 1999). Salame and Baddeley (1989) found vocal music to be more disruptive in the serial recall of the visually presented digits. Hallam, Price and Katsarou (2002) looked at the effect of music on a memory task in children. The memory task required pupils to remember a word from a sentence with recall cued by the remainder of the sentence being presented. There were a total of ten sentences taken from a study by Pressley, McDaniel, Turnure, Wood and

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Ahmad (1987). Music that was calming led to better performance on the memory task compared to no music. In addition, there have been studies that look at the impact of background music on behaviour in a range of environments including situations where individuals listen to music while studying (Kotsopoulou & Hallam, 2004). Kotsopoulou (1977; as cited in Kotsopoulou & Hallam, 2004) developed a questionnaire to explore students’ listening habits including statements relating to listening to music while studying. The study looked at the differences of listening habits across different cultures to examine cross cultural differences but there been no research done on Irish students and therefore identifies a gap in the research. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of vocal and instrumental background music on primary school pupil’s performance on a sentence memory recall task. The present study used a method from the Hallam et al (2002) study which originally came from the study by Pressley et al (1987) and strived to see if there was a difference between vocal and instrumental music and their impact on verbal memory. This method has not been previously used to study this difference. Hallam et al (2002) reported that more systematic work needed to be undertaken. As the majority of research done has found that vocal music has a detrimental effect on verbal recall, but instrumental music has a positive effect (Salame & Baddeley, 1989) the hypotheses were: Hypothesis One: Performance in a memory test is better when listening to instrumental music compared to listening with vocal music or with no music. Hypothesis Two: Performance is worse when listening to vocal music in comparison with no music and instrumental music. Another aim was to examine listening habits of students while studying, using the questionnaire used by Kotspoulou and Hallam (2004). These were compared to results found by Kotsopoulou and Hallam to see if habits had changed and what Irish children’s habits in three different schools were. Most research has focused on the use of music while students undertake tasks and has not reflected the ways that people listen to music while doing homework, therefore the present study explored this and the differences in students’ use of music in their studying.

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METHOD The manipulated variable in this study is the music condition and has three levels; instrumental music, vocal music and no music (the control group). The dependent variable is memory recall. A pilot study was carried out, piloting the measures with four children with parental consent. Children ranged in age from 7 to 10 years and were balanced for gender. Changes were made in the verbal instructions given to the children as there were queries regarding the questionnaire; whether it referred to listening habits in school or at home, and whether they could include other activities during which they listen to music. This was made clearer in the instructions. The target sample was five primary school classes of 4th class from three different schools in Dublin. Students ranged in age from 8-10 years (M=9.37, S.D = 0.62). The first class sample where the condition was listening to instrumental music, the second where in one class the condition was listening to vocal music and another class was the silent condition. The silent condition was a control group. The third school had the independent variable of vocal music. The size of the study population was 108 pupils. Only two of the schools were mixed males and females and there were more females than males in both of these classes. Therefore gender was not balanced as females outnumbered males approximately 7:3, with 18 males and 23 females in the instrumental condition, 11 males and 30 females in the vocal condition and 26 females in the silent group. The following materials were used: (i) Memory test from Pressley’s (1987) study consisting of a booklet for each child of ten stimulus sentence cards, and a booklet of ten cued recall cards. (see Appendix D); (ii) Questionnaire (Section Three from study by Kotspoulou and Hallam (2004) relating to listening to music while studying. (see Appendix C); (iii) Music of instrumental and vocal version of “Summertime” by Ella Fitzgerald; (iv) Folders to collect the tests and questionnaires.

PROCEDURE Letters were sent to principals of the three different schools seeking permission to carry out the research in their schools. This permission was granted. Ethics Approval was sought from the UCD Undergraduate Research Ethics Commitee- School of Psychology. Information sheets (see Appendix A) and parental permission forms (see Appendix B) were sent to

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the schools and were given to children to bring home to their parents to be signed and returned if they decided to take part. Communication was made via phone between the researcher and principals and a suitable day for testing was decided upon. The study was explained to the students and they were reminded that the experiment was voluntary. Children who did not bring back parent consent forms were instructed to read a book. Participants were instructed not to write their names but to write their gender and age. Each student was provided with the booklet of ten stimulus sentences and instructed as follows: “The purpose of this study is to find out how well you can learn sentences while instrumental music/vocal music/no music is played in the background. Please read the following sentences and try to memorise them. I will read each sentence out loud and you will have 10 seconds to read each one. Every ten seconds I will tell you to turn the page to the next sentence. Do you all understand? Are there any questions?” Every ten seconds the children were asked to turn to the next page. When the sentences had been read, the booklets were collected by the researcher and the questionnaire (Section Three) including statements relating to listening to music while studying was given out. The questionnaire was explained and they were told to put an “X” in the box if it applied to them and only to answer the questions on the sheet. After students had completed this, the cued-recall booklets were given out and the children instructed: “You have to fill in the gaps with the missing word in every sentence. Spelling mistakes do not matter. You will have 10 seconds to write the missing word in each sentence. Every 10 seconds I will tell you to turn the page. Do you understand? Are there any questions?” The background music was played throughout with volume controlled. Each piece was repeated until completion of the study. Any questions children had after testing were answered and they were all thanked for their time and participation.

RESULTS The background music was played throughout with volume controlled. Each piece was repeated until completion of the study. Any questions children had after testing were answered and they were all thanked for their time and participation. A 3 x 1 One-way ANOVA found that there

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was a statistically significant main effect of group on the variable age df(2), F = 21.119; p < 0.001. Post Hoc tests showed the silent group were significantly younger than the other groups â&#x20AC;&#x201C; instrumental group (p = .022) and the vocal group (p = .001). The vocal group were significantly younger than the instrumental group (p < .001). Therefore age needs to be taken into account as a confounding variable. In order to determine whether music overall made a difference to memory scores, a two-tailed t-test was carried out. No significant differences on memory scores of the silent group (N = 26) and the music group i.e. instrumental and vocal groups combined (N = 82) was found overall. (df (106) t = .255, p > 0.001). (See means and standard deviations in table 3.2). A one-way ANOVA comparison of total scores across groups found a significant main effect of group df (2), F = 14.485, p < .001. Post Hoc tests carried out showed that the instrumental group performed significantly better than the two other groups (p < .001) and the silent and vocal groups were not significantly different from each other (p = .250). The groups differed significantly in the extent to which they listened to music whilst studying, revising, writing, reading, solving maths problems, thinking and studying their favourite subject. The only activities where groups did not differ was studying their least favourite subject and learning a foreign language. Given these differences between groups it is important to consider the probability of familiarity with listening to music as a possible confounding variable. Males and females performance on the memory test were compared over all- males (M = 7.30, S.D = 2.87) females (M = 6.19, S.D = 2.37). A comparison t-test was carried out and no significance was found df (106) t = 1.548; p = .125. A 2 x 2 ANOVA was performed to determine if there was a main effect of gender or an interaction between gender and music condition. Vocal and instrumental groups were compared across boys and girls and a significant difference between the instrumental and vocal groups was found. It was not possible to include the silent group in this analysis as they were all females. There was a main effect of group, as previously identified (F (1) = 31.33; p < .001). However, there was no main effect of gender (F (1) = 0.06; p = .811), nor an interaction between gender and

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condition (F (1) = .03; p = .866). Thus, it is unlikely that the results from the main section are attributable to gender. Pearsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s correlation parametric tests were carried out to see if there is a relationship between age and memory performance for the whole sample there was a strong trend towards age being significantly correlated with memory score, R = .187, p = .053. Therefore, age was entered as a covariate in the ANOVA to establish whether the main effect of group was still significant. There was a reduction in the level of significance after covarying for age, but there was still a main effect of group (F = 15.060; p <.001). There were no significant differences in memory recall scores between those who listened to music during each activity and those who did not overall. Therefore it is unlikely that group differences in familiarity with listening to music can account for the overall main findings.

DISCUSSION The aim of this study was to examine the effect of vocal and instrumental background music on primary school pupilsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; performance on a sentence memory recall task and to examine the listening habits of students while they study using a questionnaire. This study demonstrates that type of background music can have distinctive effects on memory task performance. In looking at the silent group versus the music group as a whole, no significant difference was found over all. However, when the music group was separated into vocal and instrumental groups, the findings suggest that the effects of music on memory task performance depend on the type of music, whether instrumental or vocal. The first hypothesis stating that performance in a memory test will be better when listening to instrumental music in comparison to with vocal music or no music was supported. Instrumental music was seen to have a positive effect on memory recall as children remembered the ten missing words in cued recall better than in the other two groups. The second hypothesis stating performance will be better when listening to no music than listening to vocal music was not supported as the difference was not significant. However in comparison with instrumental music the vocal group performed significantly worse on the task. Overall, the findings from results of the questionnaires indicate that students reported listening to music while writing the most, followed by

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thinking and reading. The least reported activities undertaken while listening to music were revising and solving maths problems. No relationship was found between results on the memory recall test and questionnaire results; answers of participants who reported listening to music during the activities on the questionnaire did not impact on results of the memory task. This meant that familiarity with listening to music while studying did not affect results on the sentence memory recall task. Potentially confounding variables- age and gender were examined to see if they made a difference to results. There was a statistically significant difference between ages over all as they all differed from each other as tested by an ANOVA, but when correlation was carried out; there was no significant correlation between age and memory total score. No significant difference for gender was found when a comparison t-test was carried out, and therefore there was no main effect for gender. This led to the conclusion that age and gender cannot be used as an explanation for support of the two main hypotheses of this study. Results for hypothesis 1 which stated that performance in a memory test would be better when listening to instrumental music in comparison with vocal music or no music was consistent with the majority of findings in this area; that memory recall will be better when listening to instrumental music in comparison to vocal or no music. The results supported the findings of such researchers as Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Donnell (1999) who found that learning potential can be increased a minimum of five times using music, and Dr. Belanger (1978; as cited in Anderson et al, 2000)who found that background instrumental music creates the optimal learning environment for memorising information. The results therefore, support the concept of the Mozart effect. Anderson et al (2000) found instrumental music to be a promoter of higher memory recall in classroom work rather than studying in silence or listening to vocal music. Salame and Baddeley (1989) found vocal music to be more disruptive than instrumental music in serial recall of digits. Results for hypothesis two partially supported this finding, as memory recall when listening to vocal music was worse than when listening to instrumental music but not when listening to no music. These results supported the findings of Crawford and Strapp (1994) who found that vocal music disturbed performance more than no music in an objectnumber test which involve associative learning and memory. This has

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been said to be because of irrelevant speech influencing the phonological loop system which is responsible for retention of material in working memory (Martin-Loeches, Schweinberger & Sommer, 1997). There were strengths to this study relating to the procedure and measures. In other studies volume of music was sometimes not controlled for, therefore volume was held constant throughout the conditions by keeping the speakers at the same level for each condition and by not placing anyone very near the speakers. The nature of the memory task was a strength of the study as participants were told that they were going to have to try and remember the ten sentences. This makes it comparable to a learning task or piece of work in school, which means the study has practical applications (discussed later). Although the test used was comparable to an academic task in school, the particular test was novel and the children had no previous exposure to it. The research reported here provides a contribution to the understanding of the ways music might affect memory and various aspects and forms of studying. Hallam, Price and Katsarou (2002) said that much more systematic work needed to be undertaken taking into account the nature of the music being played, and this was done in the present study. The silent group were all girls; therefore gender was not matched across groups. A methodological limitation was only recording childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ages in years. If ages were recorded by years and months, then perhaps the groups would have been better matched. A possible methodological limitation of the questionnaire on listening habits is that it is based on self-report and not corroborated by another source. Experimentally manipulated conditions were strived for in this experiment but some children did talk which may have disrupted concentration (Tomasi, Caparelli, Chang & Ernst, 2005). An important issue to consider is that some members of the classes were not of Irish nationality and English was not their first language. This was not recorded in the demographic characteristics. The majority of participants from the instrumental condition were non-nationals which could have impacted on their understanding. However, given that they outperformed the other groups, it is unlikely that there as an extremely adverse effect on performance of poor English. For childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s memory both inside and outside of school, parents should be made aware of the effects that music can have, particularly

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where they might be negative; e.g. children listening to vocal pop music while doing homework. Teachers should be made aware of positive effects, which may not only increase enhance learning in the classroom but also have other positive effects benefiting education such as enhancing musical knowledge. The findings could be relevant to all people who work in a communal area, i.e. open-plan offices listening to music. Management should be made aware of research on this topic as it could be taken into consideration in devising strategies for optimising workforce output. Further research should look at characteristics of the individual, listening environment, and recent life events that the students may have experienced- Hallam, Price and Katsarou (2002) referred to these further needed areas of study in their research. More attention should be paid to other distraction effects as well as whether the music is instrumental or vocal. These might include the participant’s individual liking of the musical piece being played, familiarity with the particular song, the speed of the music and the tonality of the piece (either atonal which is known to make people feel uneasy, major which tends to evoke positive emotions, or minor which has a tendency to evoke more negative, sad feelings). Due to the self-report nature of the questionnaire based on self-perceptions, further research should be carried out to explore whether the children’s perceptions of their use of music in the academic tasks is accurately reported.

REFERENCES Anderson. S., Henke. J., McLaughlin. M., Ripp. M., Tuffs. P., (2000). Using Background Music to Enhance Memory and Improve Learning. Master’s Action Research Project. Saint Xavier University. Campbell, Don (1997). The Mozart Effect: Tapping the Power of Music to Heal the Body, Strengthen the Mind, and Unlock the Creative Spirit. HarperCollins. Chou. P. (2008). The Effects of Background Music on Reading Performance.VDM Verlag. Crawford. H., Strapp. C. (1994). Effects of vocal and instrumental music on visuospatial and verbal performance as moderated by studying preference and personality. Personality and Individual Differences 16(2), 237-245. Furnham. A., Bradley. A., (1999). Music while you work: the differential distraction of background music on the cognitive test performance of introverts and extraverts. Applied Cognitive Psychology 11(5) 445-455.

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Gisselgard. J., Petersson. K., Ingvar. M., (2004). The irrelevant speech effect and working memory load. Neuroimage 22(3): 1107-1112. Hallam. S., Price. J., Katsarou. G., (2002). “The Effects of Background Music on Primary School Pupil’s Task Performance”, Educational Studies, 28: 2, 111-122. Kotsopoulou. A., Hallam. S., (2004). Cross –cultural Differences in Listening to Music while Studying. Proceedings of the 8th International Conference of Music Perception & Cognition. Leung. M., Fung. L., (2005). Enhancement of classroom facilities of primary schools and its impact on learning behaviours of students. Facilities, 23(13), 585-592. Martin. G., Carlson. N., Buskist. W., (2007). Psychology. Pearson Education Limited. Martin-Loeches. M., Schweinberger. S., Sommer. W. (1997). The phonological loop model of working memory: An ERP study of irrelevant speech and phonological similarity effects. Memory & Cognition, 25(4), 471-483. O’ Donnell. L. (April, 1999). Music and the Brain. Retreived October 2, 2010, from http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n15/mente/musica.html PASW Statistics (2009). PASW Statistics 18.0 for Windows/Apple Mac. SPSS Inc., Chicago Pressley. M. (1987). Generation and Precision of Elaboration: Effects on Intentional and Incidental Learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition 13(2), 291-300. Salame. P., Baddeley. A., (1989). Effects of Background Music on Phonological Short-term Memory. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 41 (1), 107-122. Simmons-Stern. N., Budson. A., Ally. B. (2010). Music as a memory enhancer in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Neuropsychologia 48, 3164-3167. Tomasi. D., Caparelli. E., Chang. L., Ernst. T. (2005). fMRI- Acoustic noise alters brain activation during working memory tasks. Neuroimage 27(2) 377-386. Yao. Y., Sun. R., Poggio. T., Liu. J., Zhong. N., Huang. J., (2010). Brain Informatics: International Conference. Springer: Canada.

REVIEW SECTION The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them. - William Bragg

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VULNERABLE MINORITIES: SEXUAL ORIENTATION, MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE Aisling NĂ Chonaire Senior Sophister, Psychology nichonas@tcd.ie

ABSTRACT Social stigma has been referred to as a primary force in sexual minority mental health issues in comparison to lower mental health prevalence rates in heterosexuals (Cochran et al., 2003). With mental health issues on the rise, and given that substance abuse and mental health problems are correlated in many ways (e.g. Hughes et al., 2010) this paper sets out to review the relevant research which focuses on sexual minorities and the mental health issues that members of the LGBTQ community may face.

INTRODUCTION Human sexuality concerns the sexual experiences, behaviours and expressions that we evoke as human beings (Rathus, Nevid & FichnerRathus, 2008). Sexual identity plays an integral role in human sexuality. Definitions of male and female socio-cultural gender roles can dictate much of oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experiences and behaviours. Sexuality in terms of sexual attraction and orientation has been a common theme throughout the ages and has been part of an enormous amount of debate within many an arena. Heterosexual orientation involves the attraction to, as well as a preference for, being involved in romantic relationships with a member of the opposite sex (Rathus et al., 2008), whereas homosexual orientation would refer to a member of the same sex. Those that express attraction to both their own and the opposite sex are commonly referred to as bisexual. Kinsey and his colleagues (1948, 1953) developed a 7-point sexual orientation continuum ranging from mostly heterosexual to mostly homosexual, with bisexuality located in-between. Results from their research suggested that 10% of the United States population were mostly homosexual. Sexual minorities can be defined by way of three categories; sexual attraction, sexual self-identification and sexual behaviour (Haas et al.,

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2011). Sexual attraction refers to the sex to which the individual is most attracted to, or where both sexes are perceived as equally attractive by the individual. Sexual self-identification alludes to which sex an individual identifies themselves with, regardless of biological factors. Lastly, sexual behaviours and interactions might not always correspond to sexual selfidentification therefore must also be considered. Minority individuals of these categories may be sexually orientated towards the same sex as themselves or the same sex as well as the opposite sex. They also may identify themselves with a gender different to their biological categorisation, sometimes referred to as transgender (Haas et al., 2011). Although it is clear that these individuals and groups are very diverse, they are often grouped together as can be seen by references to the LGB or LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) community. Being part of a minority group can lead to vulnerability. How are individuals in sexual minorities affected in terms of mental health matters and substance abuse due to their vulnerability? Are there support services available? And how can the situation be improved?

MENTAL HEALTH AND SEXUAL MINORITIES It is estimated that in Ireland, 1 in 5 people between the ages of twelve and eighteen are experiencing a mental health problem at any one time (Get on Board, 2011). A mental health problem or mental illness can be defined as “a psychological or behavioural abnormality of sufficient severity that psychiatric intervention is warranted” (Reber, Allen & Reber, 2009, p.465). In 2006, the Health Service Executive (HSE), the Irish Government and a number of experts in the area of mental health collaborated in order to produce a Vision for Change, a detailed report on mental health services in Ireland and the recommended reforms to be introduced over a number of years. Referencing statistics from the World Health Organisation, it was found that mental health was ranked second highest in the international burden of disease (Vision for Change, 2006, p.17). Mental health is crucial for overall general health and has been incorporated into many definitions of general health, which define health as “the state of being bodily and mentally vigorous and free from disease” (World English Dictionary, 2009). Many studies have indicated connections between minorities, prejudice and stigma, be it ethnic minorities (e.g. Agerstrom & Rooth,

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2008), religious minorities (e.g. Saroglou, Lamkaddem, Van Pachterbeke, & Buxant, 2009) or sexual minorities (e.g. Parrott, Peterson & Bakeman, 2011). Furthermore others have identified the high prevalence of mental health issues within the LGB community (Hughes, Szalacha & McNair, 2010; Kuyper & Fokkema, 2011; Lehavot & Simoni, 2011). This has been noted to include men and women, from adolescents through to adulthood (Kuyper et al., 2011). A meta-analysis carried out by Meyer (2003) indicated that sexual minorities are approximately two times more likely to suffer from disorders of mood, anxiety or substance abuse than heterosexuals. Some studies have indicated that from sub-groups of sexual minorities, those that identify themselves as bisexual are at the highest risk of mental health problems (Marshal et al., 2008; Robin et al., 2002; as cited in Kuyper & Fokkema 2011) which will be discussed further. Social stigma has been referred to as a primary force in sexual minority mental health issues in comparison to lower mental health prevalence rates in heterosexuals (Cochran et al., 2003). Meyer’s Minority Stress Model (2003) formulates a theoretical framework describing how societal stigma attached to homosexuality can negatively affect people from the LGB community. It depicts mental health outcomes in terms of a stress and coping model. This has been supported by other research such as Kuyper and colleagues’ (2011) report examining the findings of the model on a Dutch ‘gay-friendly’ population. This research was somewhat unique as other studies that had examined the model were mainly comprised of US populations. The interesting outcome of this study was that even though a country such as the Netherlands, where homosexuality is more accepted in terms of governmental rule and societal attitudes than the United States, sexual minority stress was still apparent and it negatively affected mental health outcomes. Sexual minority men were shown to have higher levels of internalised homonegativity but there were no significant differences between sexual minority men and women in terms of openness about their sexuality. Internalised homonegativity refers to an individual’s development and how social stigma, homophobia or negative expression of homosexuality can be internalised into the image of one self in one’s mind (Gonsiorek, 1988). This can affect self-esteem and induce self-doubt or even self-hatred (Gonsiorek, 1988). Bisexual individuals expressed lower levels of people reacting negatively to them, they were found to be less

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open and were shown to internalise homonegativity more so than gay men or lesbians. An interesting finding is that of the low levels of negative reaction affecting bisexual individuals. Kuyper and colleagues (2011) speculated that this may be due to bisexual individuals “retreating into their opposite-sex attraction” (p.7) if negative reaction is expressed by another. This action can deflect any articulated negative feedback to the expression of their sexuality. It appears that minority stress is something that cannot be avoided. It is also clear that there are deficiencies in education which could be used to reduce prejudice, stigma and discrimination; sufficient and effective support services would be a priority here. Studies conducted by Cochran and his colleagues have identified that sexual minorities are more likely to suffer from mood or anxiety disorders, as well as having more problems with substance abuse, which have resulted from prejudicial behaviour (Cochran, Sullivan & Mays, 2003; Cochran & Mays 2000). Eliason (2011) noted that research in this area has broadened from examining cases of “individual risk factors such as depression, to the larger social forces that create minority stress” (p.5). Many studies comparing the mental health of heterosexuals to members of the LGBTQ community show the latter to be at a higher risk of having depression, suicidal ideation and having problems with substance abuse (Eliason, 2011). What is emerging from these studies is the major impact that occurs with negative reactions from individuals close to those ‘coming out’, be it a family member, friend, relative or teacher. These studies have mostly examined the United States population. Gonsiorek (1988) developed a 4-step model used to describe the process of ‘coming out’: 1) denial of the individual’s own sexuality, 2) state of crisis, 3) experimentation with individual(s) from the same sex, which may again be followed by a state of crisis if the relationship ends, 4) integration occurs and identity is formed. This 4-step model illustrates the issue of emotional distress that often occurs as part of this process. Gonsiorek (1988) also noted that adolescent males are especially high risk to succumbing to mental health issues during this period. In particular when they are not in the company of social support and when they have not been educated in sexuality and issues that may arise because of it. More recent support of these findings came in 2009 with Ryan, Huebner, Diaz and Sanchez. They reported

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negative outcomes were apparent when families rejected a family member who ‘came out’. These negative outcomes included higher rates of depression, suicide attempts and substance abuse. It is suggested that family supports are improved by way of family education with regards mental health concerns of family members identifying with sexual minorities. In the area of eating disorders, the majority of sufferers of both Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa are women. However, within the confines of the male population of sufferers, a large number are categorised as homosexual (Feldman & Meyer, 2010). It has been reported that up to 42% of the men suffering from an eating disorder are either gay or bisexual (Mosher et al., 2005; as cited in Feldman et al., 2010). Reports are mixed for samples of lesbian or bisexual women and a consensus has not yet been reached on whether this population are under, over or sufficiently represented in populations of eating disorder sufferers (Feldman & Meyer, 2010). LGB men and women who suffer from eating disorders are more likely to suffer from another comorbid disorder in comparison to LGB men and women that do not suffer from an eating disorder (Felman & Meyer, 2010). In 2011, the Journal of Homosexuality published a special edition focusing on sexual minorities and mental health issues that members of the LGBTQ community may face. In the previous year 2010, in the United States, between the 9th of September and the 1st of October, seven young gay men, as young as 13 years of age, took their lives due to harassment, bullying and other difficulties that they may have faced in their own lives due to their sexual orientation. Ratner et al.’s (2003) research on suicide rates within the male gay community found that suicidal ideation was 55.3% while 14.7% of the sample had attempted suicide (Herrell et al., 1999; Bagley & Tremblay, 1997; as cited in Ratner et al., 2003). We should note however that there is a difficulty in determining the sexual orientation of individuals that are deceased by way of suicide, as this is not a figure generally recorded. Some psychologists have overcome this issue by way of interview with both family and friends of those deceased. However, results from these ‘psychological autopsies’ did not indicate sexual minorities to be at a higher risk e.g. only 7% of the suicides examined in Quebec (Renaud, Berlim, Begolli, McGirr & Turecki, 2010)

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and only 2.5% of adolescent suicides in the New York area (Shaffer, Fisher, Hicks, Parides & Gould, 1995) were indicated as being classed as sexual minorities. There is therefore some disagreement over the prevalence of suicide in the LGB community and further clarification is needed on the issue.

SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND SEXUAL MINORITIES Issues of substance abuse and mental health issues are correlated in many ways (e.g. Hughes et al., 2010). The issue of addiction is concerned with the physical and psychological dependence on a substance. Many reports support the notion that women from sexual minorities are more likely to be at risk of alcohol abuse than heterosexual women (e.g. Hughes et al., 2010; Meyer, 2003). As with other mental health issues, bisexual women are at a higher risk than others of developing issues around alcohol (Hughes et al., 2010). There has been speculation for the reasons for this high risk factor. Some have commented that those individuals attracted to both their own sex and the opposite sex are sometimes excluded or marginalised by both heterosexual communities and homosexual communities (Hughes et al., 2010). Hughes and her colleagues examined a sample of Australian women to evaluate the influence that sexual orientation can have on mental health issues and substance abuse. Participants ranged from exclusively heterosexual to exclusively homosexual on a 5-point scale. As the study indicated, mental health issues and other factors have been shown to predict substance abuse. Therefore depression, anxiety, selfharm, perceived stress and social support were used as predicting variables of substance abuse in this study. Sexual minority women were again shown to have higher stress levels and lower mental health levels than those classed as ‘exclusively heterosexual’, with bisexuals scoring lowest on both. Lesbian women were shown to have the highest levels of social support than any of the sexual identity groups. As this was a long-term study, it was also shown that as these women aged, sexual minority women’s intake of alcohol and other drugs were slower to decrease than heterosexual women’s. Bisexual women were more likely to binge drink and use marijuana as well as other illicit drugs. The findings again supported Meyer’s (2003) Minority Stress Model, as perceived stress was found to be the most important indicator of alcohol

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and drug abuse. Baiocco, D’Alessio and Laghi (2010) found high rates of binge drinking in a population of gay and lesbian Italians. This was apparent in 43.6% of the sample. This is significantly higher in comparison to a previous study on a heterosexual Italian sample (D’Alessio et al., 2006), especially in terms of those from the LG group that were heavy drinkers (18.8% vs. 7.4%). Baiocco et al.’s (2010) data expressed the correlations between amount of internalised homonegativity, negative reactions and alcohol consumption. Substance abuse within the LGB community is of clear concern from the above findings. Individuals from this community have been found to consume more alcohol, more frequently than their sexual majority counterparts (e.g. Baiocco et al., 2010; D’Alessio et al., 2006; Hughes et al., 2010). Also, illicit drug use within this population has been shown to be more prevalent than in heterosexual populations (e.g. Hughes et al., 2010).

CONCLUSION It is clear that there is an enormous body of research suggesting the relationship between sexual minorities, mental health and substance abuse. Members of the LGB community face similar struggles to those of other minority groups. As the WHO have reported, mental health is integral to our overall health, and the fact that there is an enormous body of work suggesting the high prevalence in sexual minorities is a clear indication of the focus that practitioners and clinicians should take. These issues range from depression, to substance abuse to eating disorder to suicide. The importance of family and social support during the coming out phase has been identified as an area that needs targeting. Also a valuable and realistic suggestion is to include the question of sexual identity/orientation during intake interviews with clinicians. Through this, mental health or substance abuse issues could be more easily identified within these populations and those at a higher risk could be targeted for additional attention and supports. Further research into other possible ways to target high risk individuals would also benefit the comprehensive body of research already compiled.

REFERENCES Agerström, J. & Rooth, D.O. (2008). Implicit Prejudice and Ethnic Minorities: Arab-Muslims in Sweden. The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn Discussion paper no. 3873

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Baiocco, R., D’Alessio, M. & Laghi, F. (2010). Binge drinking among gay, and lesbian youths: The role of internalized sexual stigma, self-disclosure, and individuals’ sense of connectedness to the gay community. Addictive Behaviours, 35, 896-899. BelongTo website (2010). About http://belongto.org/about.aspx?contentid=104.

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Cochran, S.D. & Mays, V.M. (2000a). Relation between psychiatric syndromes and behaviourally defined sexual orientation in a sample of the US population. American Journal of Epidemiology, 151, 516-523. Cochran, S.D., Sullivan, J.G. & Mays, V.M. (2003). Prevalence of mental disorders psychological distress and mental health service use among lesbian, gay and bisexual adults in the United States. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 71, 53-61. D’Alessio, M., Baiocca, R. & Laghi, F. (2006). The problem of binge drinking among Italian university students: A preliminary investigation. Addictive behaviours, 31, 2328-2333. Eliason, M. (2011). Introduction to Special Issue on Suicide, Mental Health, and Youth Development. Journal of Homosexuality, 58, 4-9. Feldman, M.B. & Meyer, I.H. (2010). Comorbidity and age of onset of eating disorders in gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals. Psychiatry Research, 180, 126-131. Get on Board (2011). Five Facts about your Mental Health. Retrieved from http://www.getonboard.ie/about/fivefacts.html. Gonsiorek, J.C. (1988). Mental Health Issues of Gay and Lesbian Adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health Care, 9, 114-122. Haas, A.P., Eliason, M., Mays, V.M., Mathy, R.M., Cochran, S.D., D'Augelli, A.R., Silverman, M.M., Fisher,P.W., Hughes, T., Rosario, M., Russell, S.T., Malley, E., Reed, J., Litts, D.A., Haller, E., Sell, R.L., Remafedi, G., Bradford, J., Beautrais, A.L., Brown, G.K., Diamond, G.M., Friedman, M.S., Garofalo, R., Turner, M.S., Hollibaugh, A. & Clayton, P.J. (2011). Suicide and Suicide Risk in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Populations: Review and Recommendations. Journal of Homosexuality, 58, 10-51. health. (n.d.). Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. Retrieved March 18, 2011, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/health Health Service Executive (n.d.). Look After Yourself, Look After Your Mental Health; Information for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People. Retreived March 6 from http://www.healthpromotion.ie/uploads/docs/HSP00631.pdf. Hughes, T., Szalacha, L.A. & McNair, R. (2010). Substance abuse and mental health disparities: Comparisons across sexual identity groups in a national sample of young Australian women. Social Science & Medicine, 71, 824-831. Kinsey, A., Pomeroy, W. & Martin, C. (1948). Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders.

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Kinsey, A., Pomeroy, W., Martin, C., & Gebhard, P. (1953). Sexual Behavior in the Human Female. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders. Kuyper, L., & Fokkema, T. (2011). Minority stress and mental health among Dutch LGBS: Examination of differences between sex and sexual orientation. Journal of Counseling Psychology, doi:10.1037/a0022688. Lehavot, K., & Simoni, J. M. (2011). The impact of minority stress on mental health and substance use among sexual minority women. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, doi:10.1037/a0022839. Mental Illness (2009). In A.S. Reber, A. Allen & E.S. Reber (Eds.), Penguin Dictionary of Psychology (p. 465, 4th ed.). London: Penguin Books. Meyer, I.H. (2003). Prejudice, social stress and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: conceptual issues and research evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 674â&#x20AC;&#x201C;697. Parrott, D. J., Peterson, J. L., & Bakeman, R. (2011). Determinants of aggression toward sexual minorities in a community sample. Psychology of Violence, 1(1), 41-52. Rathus, S.A., Nevid, J.S. & Fichner-Rathus, L. (2008). Human sexuality in a world of diversity. London: Pearson (7th ed). Ratner, P.A., Johnson, L.J., Shoveller, J.A., Chan, K., Martindale, S.L., Schilder, A.J., Botnick, M.R. & Hogg, R.S. (2003). Non-consensual sex experiences by men who have sex with men: prevalence and association with mental health. Patient Education and Counselling, 49, 67-74. Renaud, J., Berlim, M. T., Begolli, M., McGirr, A., & Turecki, G. (2010). Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 55(1), 29â&#x20AC;&#x201C;34. Ryan, C., Huebner, D., Diaz, R.M. & Sanchez, J. (2009). Family rejection as a predictor of negative outcomes in white and Latino lesbian, gay and bisexual young adults. Pediatrics, 123, 346-352. Saroglou, V., Lamkaddem, B., Van Pachterbeke, M., & Buxant, C. (2009). Host society's dislike of the Islamic veil: The role of subtle prejudice, values, and religion. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 33(5), 419-428. Shaffer, D., Fisher, P., Hicks, P. H., Parides, M., & Gould, M. (1995). Sexual orientation in adolescents who commit suicide. Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior, 25

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CONTRIBUTIONS OF DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH IN GUIDING INTERVENTIONS FOR IMMIGRANT CHILDREN. Carly Fitzsimmons Graduated 2011, Psychology, fitzsice@tcd.ie

ABSTRACT Immigration rates have doubled in the last decade as many families have moved from developing countries to Western countries in hope of finding a better life for their children (Shields & Behrman, 2004). In most cases, it appears that the majority of immigrant children integrate successfully into their new cultures. However, for many there are often negative outcomes: familial financial hardship, poor health, educational difficulties, exclusion, and racism from peers for example (Berry, Phinney, Sam & Vedder, 2006). With these outcomes in mind, this paper explores the contributions of developmental research towards practical implications for intervention strategies.

INTRODUCTION In the last decade, many developmental psychologists have increasingly explored the outcomes of children who have immigrated to cultures significantly different from their own culture (Aronowitz, 1984; SuรกrezOrozco & Carhill 2008). Immigrant children represent an important part of many societies, as many as one in five children in the U.S are children from immigrant families (Shields & Behrman, 2004), while immigrant children also make up 20 per cent of the migrant population in Ireland (Ni Laoire, Bushin, Carpena-Mendez & White, 2009). By 2035, projections indicate that more than half of the children in the U.S will be from immigrant groups (Hernandez, 2004); therefore research into how immigrant children develop is crucial to the successful integration of the future generation. Research has been useful in guiding practice as it highlights the importance of the implementation and development of family supports, health and education for this rapid growing population to promote a cohesive society with a brighter future (Shields & Behrman, 2004). 61

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BERRY’S ACCULTURATION THEORY One useful framework for understanding the process of how children and youth adapt to a different country has been proposed by Berry (1997), who examined the developmental outcomes of immigrant youth and investigated how they adapt into another culture. He proposed that they used different acculturation strategies to cope with the cultural and psychological change associated with intercultural contact (Berry, 2003). Berry, Phinney, Sam and Vedder’s (2006) international study conducted in settler countries such as Australia, Canada, Israel, New Zealand, UK, and USA found that the majority of immigrant youth had adapted using an integration acculturation strategy, in which immigrant youth maintained their own culture as well as engaging with their new culture. This strategy has been found to have the most beneficial psychological and socio-cultural outcomes for development and adaption (Berry, Phinney, Sam & Vedder, 2006). Other common acculturation strategies are known as separation and assimilation. If an immigrant youth uses the separation strategy, they maintain their own culture while having no interaction with their new culture (Berry, Phinney, Sam & Vedder, 2006). Assimilation has the opposite effect as it involves interaction within the new culture without maintaining original culture (Berry, Phinney, Sam and Vedder, 2006). Both of these acculturation strategies have been found to have more negative effects on developmental outcomes (Berry, Phinney, Sam and Vedder, 2006). However, the use of marginalisation as a strategy appears to have the worst psychological and socio-cultural outcomes of development and adaption, as it involves migrants having no interest in maintaining their own culture as well as no interaction with the new culture (Berry, 1997). Immigrant youth that use this strategy often feel rejected by the new culture and lack clear orientation and direction of purpose in their new society (Berry, Phinney, Sam and Vedder, 2006). Berry’s (1997) acculturation strategies could be useful for practitioners when assessing how well an immigrant child has adapted into their new culture. Although, acculturation strategies show that there is a risk of an immigrant child developing negative strategies, ‘risk is not destiny’ (Beiser et al., 1988) as most immigrant children have made positive adaptations to their new culture. Berry’s (1997) research further suggests that the integration profile should be promoted to help immigrant children adapt easily and to make a culturally plural society. Practitioners and other service providers should encourage the acceptance 62

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of cultural diversity and provide support for immigrant children’s community organisations so that cultural loss is prevented as well as to encourage immigrant children to participate within their new society (Berry, Phinney, Sam and Vedder 2006).

FAMILIAL FACTORS Family circumstance is also a main factor that can influence the development of immigrant children. Research has demonstrated that family support is very important to an immigrant child, to ease the transition from one culture to another (Ni Laoire, Bushin, CarpenaMendez & White, 2009; Yoshikawa & Way, 2008). Shields and Behrman (2004) claimed that immigrant families have protective factors such as a two-parent home with a working father and mother at home or an extended family. It is suggested that these protective factors promote healthy development and insulate their children from the negative influences of their new society. This research could be useful to practitioners as it shows how important positive family structures and support are to the developmental outcomes of immigrant children. Another protective factor that promotes healthy development among immigrant families is ethnic or racial socialisation, a mechanism in which parents transmit information, values, and perspective about ethnicity and race to their children (Hughes et al., 2006). Hughes and colleagues (2006) claimed that practitioners should encourage ethic socialisation amongst immigrant parents as it has positive outcomes for immigrant children’s development; teaching children to recognise and cope with discrimination as well as enhancing children’s awareness of opportunities and decreases the risk of internalising and externalising problems. Although some literature has stated the strengths of immigrant families, research has also observed that they face many challenges which may have negative outcomes on their children’s development (Shields & Behrman, 2004). Due to language barriers and lack of understanding systems, some immigrant families find themselves in low wage work and in economic deprivation. These difficulties may cause a lack of access to appropriate health care and education and consequently, may have poor developmental outcomes for immigrant children (Shields & Behrman, 2004).

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Language barriers and other difficulties can also cause some immigrant families to be unaware about what government supports they are eligible for or else they may not take advantage of these supports if they have undocumented family members for fear of their discovery (Shields & Behrman, 2004). Yoshikawa, Godfrey and Rivera (2008) commented that lack of resources among immigrant families could contribute to great psychological distress and low cognitive outcomes for their children. Practitioners can draw on these challenges by clearly demonstrating eligibility of resources and by promoting more support for immigrant families and children when they arrive in a new culture. The research further suggests that immigrant families need to be made more aware of what detrimental effects economic hardship and lack of resources can have on their childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s development (Yoshikawa, Godfrey & Rivera, 2008).

HEALTH FACTORS The standard of physical and mental health is a further factor that affects the developmental outcomes of immigrant children. Shields and Behrman (2004) observed that most immigrant children in the U.S. are healthier than their peers as they have fewer health problems, lower infant mortality rates, and less low birth weights. However, a conflicting study by Crosnoe (2006) found that non-white immigrant children typically arrive at elementary school with poorer physical and mental health than their white peers. This contrast in findings is interesting as Crosnoe (2006) suggests that non-white immigrant children in particular are more at risk of health problems, whilst immigrant children from other ethnic groups present more resilience to health problems (Shields & Behrman, 2004). Therefore, these findings suggest that practitioners may need to be more aware of the potential health risks for non-white immigrant children and could explore the factors that make immigrant children from other ethnic groups more resilient to health problems.

EDUCATIONAL FACTORS Another factor that has effects on the developmental outcomes of immigrant children is education. Shields and Behrman (2004) commented that immigrant families promote a strong work ethic and immigrant children typically have higher educational aspirations and positive developmental outcomes. Although the majority of immigrant children excel at school, some children struggle with the language barriers (Suarez64

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Orazco & Carhill, 2008). Hernandez (2004) also suggested that low parental education might contribute to some immigrant children’s poor academic achievements. This research could be useful in guiding practice with immigrant children as it demonstrates that more special education resources are needed to combat language barriers and low parental education. The research implies that if more specialised education was implemented, more immigrant children could have positive developmental outcomes.

SOCIAL FACTORS Social interactions within the school environment are a further factor that has implications for the development of immigrant children. An Irish study by Devine and Kelly (2006) identified that inter-ethnic mixing does occur effectively in primary schools, but young Irish children sometimes exclude immigrant children on the basis of differences, language, religion, colour of skin, and other non-Irish traits. Devine and Kelly also found that boys and girls mix differently with ethnic groups. They found that Irish boys mix more effectively with ethnic groups and only tend to exclude immigrant boys on basis of sporting and academic ability. Irish girls, on the other hand, tend to exclude immigrant girls regularly on the basis of difference and common interests. This research implies that the exclusion of immigrant children may cause distress and negative outcomes on development, particularly in immigrant girls (Devine & Kelly, 2006). In an additional study, Devine, Kenny & Macneela (2008) examined Irish children’s constructions and experiences of racism of ethnic groups. They found that there was a general acceptance of ethnic groups on the surface, but there was evidence of underlying hostility and racism. The researchers also found that name-calling was the main form of racism. The majority of Irish children used name calling in a ‘heat of the moment’ style when an immigrant child annoyed them (Troyna & Hatcher, 1992), while a minority used name calling to dominate and control others. This enquiry suggests that name-calling and hostility towards immigrant children could have negative psychological effects on their development. This research could also be useful guiding practice with immigrant children by suggesting that schools need to plan for and appreciate diversity by introducing different cultural traditions and activities into curriculum.

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In Devine, Kenney and Macneela’s (2008) study, the Irish children were asked what was meant by racism, but it was evident that they had limited understanding of what it was. This study shows a need for practitioners working with immigrant children and schools to implement anti-discrimination policies while explaining racism and the negative outcomes for immigrant children’s development that could result.

CONCLUSIONS Although research (e.g. Berry, 1997; Shields & Behrman, 2004; Devine & Kelly, 2008) has shown that the majority of immigrant children integrate successfully into their new culture with positive developmental outcomes, some research suggests that there are some factors such as negative acculturation strategies, familial economic hardship, poor health, educational difficulties, exclusion, and racism from peers, that could have negative and enduring effects on immigrant children’s development. The research has been useful in providing practitioners with implications on how to prevent immigrant children from having negative developmental outcomes.

REFERENCES Aronowitz, M. (1984). The Social and Emotional Adjustment of Immigrant Children: A Review of the Literature. International Migration Review, 18:237-57. Beiser. M., Barwick, C., Berry, J.W., da Costa. G., Fantino, A., Ganesan. S., Lee. C., Milne. W.Naidoo. J., Prince, R., Tousignant. M., & Vela, E. (1988). Mental health issues affectingimmigrants and refugees. Ottawa: Health and Welfare Canada. Berry, J. W. (1997). Lead Article: Immigration, Acculturation and adaption. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 46(1): 5-68. Berry, J. W. (2003). Conceptual approaches to acculturation. In K. Chun, P. BallsOrganista, & G. Marin (Eds.), Acculturation: Advances in theory, measurement and applied research (pp. 17–37). Washington, DC: APA Press. Berry, J. W., Phinney, J. S., Sam, D. L., & Vedder, P. (2006). Immigrant youth: Acculturation, Identity and Adaption. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 55(3): 303-332. Crosnoe, R. (2006), Health and the Education of Children from Racial/Ethnic Minority and Immigrant Families. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, 47: 77-93 Devine, D & Kelly, M. (2006). ‘I Just Don’t Want to Get Picked on by Anybody’: Dynamics of Inclusion and Exclusion in a Newly Multi-Ethnic Irish Primary School. Children & Society, 20: 128–139.

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Devine, D., Kenny, M., & Macneela, E. (2008). Naming the ‘other’: children’s construction and experience of racisms in Irish primary schools. Race Ethnicity and Education, 11(4): 369–385. Harker, K. (2001). Immigrant generation, assimilation and adolescent psychological wellbeing. Social Forces, 79(3): 969-1004. Hernandez, D. J. (2004). Demographic Change and the life Circumstances of Immigrant families. The Future of Children: Children of Immigrant Families. USA: The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Hughes, D., Rodriguez, J., Smith, E. P., Johnson, D. J., Stevenson, H. C., & Spicer, P. (2006). Parents’ Ethnic–Racial Socialization Practices: A Review of Research and Directions for Future Study. Developmental Psychology, 42(5): 747–770 Ni Laoire, C., Bushin, N., Carpena-Mendez, F., & White, A. (2009). Migrant childrens’ experiences of moving to and living in Ireland. Tell me about yourself: Executive Summary. University College Cork. Shaffer, D. R & Kipp, K. (2007). Developmental Psychology: Childhood and Adolescence. (7th Ed.) USA: Wadsworth. Shields, M. K., & Behrman, R. E. (2004). Children of Immigrant Families: Analysis and Recommendations. The Future of Children: Children of Immigrant Families. USA: The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Suárez-Orozco, C., & Carhill, A. (2008). After word: New directions in research with immigrant families and their children. In H. Yoshikawa & N. Way (Eds.) Beyond the family: Contexts of immigrant children’s development. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 121, 87–104. Troyna, B., and R. Hatcher. (1992). Racism in children’s lives: A study of mainly-white primary schools. London: Routledge. Waddington, G.E. (1966). Principles of Development and Differentiation. New York: Macmillan. Yoshikawa, H., Godfrey, E. B., & Rivera, A. C. (2008). Access to institutional resources asa measure of social exclusion: Relations with family process and cognitive development in the context of immigration. In H. Yoshikawa & N. Way (Eds.) Beyond the family: Contexts of immigrant children’s development. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 121, 63–86. Yoshikawa, H., & Way, N. (2008). From peers to policy: How broader social contexts influence the adaptation of children and youth in immigrant families. In H. Yoshikawa & N. Way (Eds.), Beyond the family: Contexts of immigrant children’s development. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 121, 1–8.

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IMAGINARY COMPANIONS: ARE THEY GOOD FOR CHILDREN? David Lydon Graduated 2011, Psychology dlydon@tcd.ie

ABSTRACT Early research on imaginary companions viewed the phenomenon negatively. Imaginary companions were often associated with psychopathology and an inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality. The prevailing view on imaginary companions has shifted in recent years with many studies focusing on the positive attributes exhibited by children with imaginary friends. Methodological issues which may lead to better insights into the phenomenon are highlighted by the author.

INTRODUCTION Early studies on imaginary companions viewed the phenomenon negatively, often associating it with psychopathology and an inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality (Vostrovsky, 1895; Svendsen, 1934). This view has shifted significantly in recent years with studies focusing on the positive attributes exhibited by children with imaginary companions. Both early and more recent findings, along with methodological flaws in the literature, will be discussed in order to determine whether or not imaginary companions are good for children.

WHAT ARE IMAGINARY COMPANIONS? First, though, it is important to provide a definition of imaginary companions. Svendsen (1934) defined imaginary companions as invisible characters with no objective basis with which children play for a significant period of time, at least several months. Svendsenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (1934) definition explicitly rejects personified objects or instances in which the child assumes the role of a pretend identity, phenomena which are often included in more recent studies (Taylor, Shawber, & Mannering, 2008). Researchers including personified objects and pretend identities within the definition of imaginary companions argue that these activities are similar

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to those involved in creating and playing with an imaginary companion in that they involve role play (Harris, 2000). Support for this extended definition comes from the finding that children with invisible companions, personified objects, and pretend identities share similar abilities and personality characteristics that distinguish them from children without these forms of imaginary companions (Taylor, 1999). Further support for the inclusion of personified objects within the definition of imaginary companions is the, perhaps surprising, finding that there is often no less imagination involved in the experience of playing with a personified object than with an invisible friend (Walton, 1990). The personified object’s appearance to the child may have little objective basis as is clear from a study by Benson and Pryor (1973) in which a participant, showing her childhood personified object to the experimenters, reacted as if she had never before seen the object for what it was before stating “I never realised how tattered it was” (p.460). Whether the same can be said for pretend identities is difficult to determine as very little has been written about this phenomenon (Taylor, 1999). This essay will consider findings relating to imaginary companions that include both invisible friends and personified objects as often they are not separated. However, the author encourages a separation of these phenomena in future research following the finding by Gleason, Sebanc and Hartup (2000) that children form egalitarian relationships with invisible friends whereas relationships with personified objects resemble parent-child relationships to a greater extent and a more recent finding revealing distinctions in social development between children with invisible friends and personified objects (Gleason, 2004), findings which suggest that both phenomena may be carrying out different functions.

EARLY CONCERNS OVER THE PHENOMENON Early research on imaginary companions exhibited concern over children’s ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality (Vostrovsky, 1895). Researchers working in the early 1930s expressed concern that children with imaginary companions might be at risk for psychopathology (Singer & Singer, 1990). Thus, a negative view of imaginary companions and the children who create them pervaded early research. In order to establish whether or not imaginary companions are good for children, the evidence for the association between imaginary companions and the inability to

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distinguish fantasy from reality, as well as the risk for psychopathology, will be explored.

DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN FANTASY AND REALITY Norsworthy and Whitley (1918) stated that the creation of an imaginary companion is the result of confusion between fantasy and reality. This suggested inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality, Taylor (1999) suggests, is at the base of parents’ concern over the presence of an imaginary companion. Children are quite adept at distinguishing between fantasy and reality. Children as young as three-years old perform well when asked to classify a variety of objects as real or pretend (Bourchier & Davis, 2000). Three-year olds also understand that knowledge reflects reality more accurately than imagination (Golomb & Galasso, 1995). There are a number of reasons that it is believed that children with imaginary companions have more trouble distinguishing fantasy from reality than children without imaginary companions. The emotional involvement of children with their imaginary companions and the fact that sometimes children with imaginary companions report not having control over their companions are two main findings present in the literature which potentially illustrate children with imaginary companions have difficulty distinguishing between fantasy and reality. Children can become emotionally involved in pretend play and can even become afraid by that which is not real (Bourchier & Davis, 2000; DiLalla & Watson, 1988). This has led researchers to believe that children experience confusion between fantasy and reality. However, adults also experience intense emotions during pretense. For example, Walton (1990) analyzed the emotional reactions of adults to films and found that, although adults experience real emotions towards the pretense of films, they do not lose their understanding of the distinction between fantasy and reality. Thus, children’s emotional responses to their imaginary companions are not proof that they are confusing reality and fantasy, their reactions may be similar to that of an adult’s emotional response to a film (Lillard, 1994). Children’s beliefs that their imaginary companions act autonomously and that they have little control over them is an interesting phenomenon. Approximately one third of children in a study by Taylor, Carlson, and Shawber (2007) described their imaginary companions as disobedient or unpredictable. Taylor (1999) provides other examples of children

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describing unruly imaginary companions who talked too loudly, would not share, and would not do as they were told. This could be taken as evidence that children believe their imaginary friends are real. However, a line of research involving writers and the characters they create allow for a different explanation. Watkins (1990) provides examples, using autobiographical accounts of famous writers such as Enid Blyton and Henry James, of writers experiencing their characters as having minds of their own. Enid Blyton, for example, wrote, in reference to her characters that she doesn’t “know what anyone is going to say or do. I don’t know what is going to happen” (Stoney, 1974, p.206). Watkins suggests that writers experience their characters as autonomous and Taylor (1999) relates this to the child’s experience of a seemingly autonomous imaginary companion. We do not view writers who experience their characters as autonomous as unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality and, thus, the argument that children’s experience of loss of control over their imaginary companions illustrates a confusion between fantasy and reality is problematic. Thus, although children with imaginary companions engage in behaviours which may lead to the belief that they have trouble distinguishing between fantasy and reality, engagement in these behaviours is not evidence for children’s inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality. Other researchers have noted that during interviews with children who have imaginary companions, children often stress that their imaginary companion is “just pretend, you know” (Taylor, 1999, p.112). A study by (Taylor, Cartwright, & Carlson, 1993) found that, overall, children with imaginary companions appear to appreciate the fantasy status of their imaginary companions. Thus, there is little evidence for the negative views of imaginary companions arising from the belief that they are associated with children’s inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality. Indeed, it is suggested that being adept at fantasy may aid children to master the relationship between mental life and reality (Taylor, 1999; Flavell, Flavell & Green, 1987), suggesting that imaginary companions may positively contribute to development.

IMAGINARY COMPANIONS AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY Another belief at the base of the negative views of imaginary companions is that imaginary companions are associated with psychopathology.

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Studies focusing on imaginary companions and pathology have focused on dissociative identity disorder (DID). Researchers have noted a high incidence of imaginary companions in individuals with DID (Hornstein & Putnam, 1992). A study involving both boys in treatment for DID and school boys found that less imaginary companions were reported among school boys than those in treatment and that all boys meeting DID criteria reported imaginary companions (Trujillo, Lewis, Yeager & Gidlow, 1996). Indeed, a model of DID development developed by Pica (1999) has imaginary companions at its core. Pica (1999) proposes three stages in the development of DID. He states that children predisposed to create imaginary companions may develop DID if they experience trauma during a developmental window in early childhood. In the first stage, in which the child experiences trauma, aspects of the traumatic experience are deferred to the imaginary companion. In the second stage, the imaginary companion takes over for the child during times at which the child feels threatened or anxious. In the third stage, imaginary companions that have been filling in during anxious situations transform into distinct personality states and are now termed alter personalities. Thus, for Pica (1999), imaginary companions represent precursors to DID. This theory has certain flaws. For example, its assumption that DID will not develop in the absence of imaginary companions. Also, its focus on imaginary companions as precursors to DID fails to take other variables, such as high frequency of malevolent parenting and the associated chaotic environments (Klein, 1985; Singer & Singer, 1990), into account, variables which largely account for the lack of integration found in DID (Friedberg, 1995). These critiques, and recent evidence from a longitudinal study finding no evidence that having an imaginary companion is an early sign of DID (Taylor, Hulette, & Dishion, 2010), call for a reconceptualisation of the role of imaginary companions in DID and psychopathology in general. Rather than being a cause of psychopathology, the creation of imaginary companions has been regarded as a coping response (Friedberg, 1995). Findings from the developmental literature on pretend play suggests processes through which imaginary companions may help in coping with trauma. For example, research has found that children often project their emotions and anxieties onto toy figures (Knell, 1998; Axline, 1969) and imaginative play can provide children with opportunities to play out and assimilate experiences (Piaget, 1962).

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Indeed, there are many examples in the literature of imaginary companions buffering children from trauma. For example, Taylor (1999) provides the example of a woman who fondly remembers her imaginary companion helping her cope with her dysfunctional family environment by “giv[ing] [her] her undivided attention as [she] poured out all [her] hurts, all [her] betrayals, all [her] goodness and [her] badness” (p.78). Nagera (1969) presents an example in which a 5-year old girl created an imaginary companion at a time when her parents divorced and her mother was hospitalised for mental illness. Other children in the family responded to the difficult period with sleep disturbances, regression, and school difficulties. The 5-year old girl did not display these symptoms and Nagera (1969) attributes this to the presence of her imaginary companion. A more recent study (Sadeh, Hen-Gal, & Tikotzky, 2008) assessed the effects of a Huggy-Puppy Intervention (HPI) on children’s reactions to war-related stress. The intervention was modelled according to the developmental literature on the benefits of pretence discussed above. The children were given a Huggy-Puppy doll which, the experimenter explained, was sad and scared and that the child is now responsible for caring for the doll. It was thought, following the developmental literature on play, that the children would project their feelings and anxieties onto the doll, to identify with those feelings, and to regulate those emotions while caring for the doll. The authors found that HPI reduced stressrelated symptoms. Also of interest was the finding that the reduction in stress symptoms was associated with the level of adherence to the intervention and the child’s attachment to the Huggy-Puppy. Thus, imaginary companions may provide children with a way of coping with traumatic situations or events. In the case of individuals with DID, Singer and Singer (1990) state that it is likely that the creation of an imaginary companion occurred defensively as a result of abuse but, due to a lack of benign parenting, the imaginary companion could never be internalised and so formed a more permanent, alternative self.

METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES Thus, research with a negative view of imaginary companions has been challenged and, though once the presence of an imaginary companion was believed to illustrate a child’s confusion between fantasy and reality and a precursor to psychopathology, it is now suggested that the presence of an imaginary companion is evidence for a nuanced understanding of the

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distinction between fantasy and reality, and that imaginary companions may be a coping response to trauma and psychopathology. Taylor (1999) suggests that the negative view of imaginary companions arose from certain methodological issues with earlier studies. The fundamental flaw she identifies is that early studies failed to compare the characteristics of the children studied with those of children with imaginary companions. By comparing these groups it is possible to identify problems that may be more common among children with imaginary companions than other children, not simply the problems of children with imaginary companions. Another problem that helps to explain the negative view of imaginary companions is the method of recruitment in earlier studies. For example, in a study by Ames and Learned (1946), which contended that all children with imaginary companions must have a personality defect, participants were recruited from the Yale Clinic of Child Development and also from the private practice of a mental health professional. When these methodological issues are corrected and when a nonclinical, random sample of children is studied, a different picture of imaginary companions emerges.

POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF HAVING IMAGINARY COMPANIONS An unpublished doctoral dissertation by Jennifer Mauro (1991; as cited in Taylor, 1999) represents one of the most comprehensive longitudinal studies on imaginary companions. Children with and without imaginary companions participated in Mauro’s study and the results showed more similarities than differences between the two groups. Differences between the groups emerged in shyness and attentional focus and, in contrast to earlier studies, the differences were in favour of participants with imaginary companions with children with imaginary companions being less shy and better able to focus attention. Similar differences in performance in favour of children with imaginary companions have been reported in other socio-cognitive areas such as social competence (SeiffgeKrenke, 1997), theory of mind task performance (Taylor & Carlson, 1997), and language skills (Bouldin, Bavin, & Pratt, 2002). Researchers have posited a number of potential reasons for the skills that children with imaginary companions are found to possess. Somers and Yawkey (1984) refer to the process of decontextualisation, which they define as “the use of real situations out of their contexts during play” (p.86), when discussing potential processes through which imaginary

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companions may facilitate cognitive development. During decontextualisation, children may rehearse events that occurred during the day and this may help them gain an understanding of them (Taylor, 1999). The rehearsal of social interactions may also improve their social skills. The opportunity for the development of social skills, including narrative skills, may also be increased in children with imaginary companions as children may share details about their imaginary companion with interested adults (Gleason, 2004). The high-fantasy characteristic of the play involved with imaginary companions is also thought to allow children to practice and expand creative thought, thus promoting intellectual and creative growth (Somers & Yawkey, 1984).

CONCLUSION Thus, having an imaginary friend can provide children with many opportunities for development in a wide range of cognitive domains. Imaginary companions can also, as discussed earlier, buffer children from trauma. The early negative views of imaginary companions explored above have been exposed as having little evidence to support them. Thus, it seems that imaginary friends are, indeed, good for children. However, there are a number of methodological issues that need to be addressed before a satisfying conclusion about imaginary companions can be reached. For example, studies to ascertain whether or not having an imaginary friend leads to improvements in socio-cognitive skills should be longitudinal in nature, taking note of the level of skill exhibited at the beginning of the study as well as throughout. They should include both children with imaginary companions and children without them. The nature of the imaginary companions and the relationship between the imaginary companion and its creator should be examined. It is also important to include the presence of other forms of pretend play in both groups of children. Studies adopting this approach could potentially offer better insights into the question of whether or not imaginary friends are good for children.

REFERENCES Ames, L.B. & Learned, J. (1946) Imaginary companions and related phenomena. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 69, 147-167. Axline, V. (1969) Play Therapy. New York: Ballantine.

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Benson, R.M. & Pryor, D.B. (1973) When friends fall out: Developmental interference with the function of some imaginary companions. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 21, 457-468. Bouldin, P., Bavin, E.L. & Pratt, C. (2002) An investigation of the verbal abilities of children with imaginary companions. First Language, 22, 249-264. Bourchier, A. & Davis, A. (2000) The influence of availability and affect on children’s pretence. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 18, 137-156. DiLalla, L.F. & Watson, M.W. (1988) Differentiation of fantasy and reality: Preschoolers’ reactions to interruptions in their play. Developmental Psychology, 24, 286-291. Flavell, J.H., Flavell, E.R. & Green, F.L. (1987) Young children’s knowledge about the apparent-real and pretend-real distinctions. Developmental Psychology, 23, 816-822. Friedberg, R.D. (1995) Allegorical lives: Children and their imaginary companions. Child Study Journals, 25, 1-21. Gleason, T.R. (2004) Imaginary companions and peer acceptance. International Journal of Behavioural Development, 28, 204-209. Gleason, T.R., Sebanc, A.M. & Hartup, W.W. (2000) Imaginary companions of preschool children. Developmental Psychology, 36, 419-428. Golomb, C. & Galasso, L. (1995) Make believe and reality: Explorations of the imaginary realm. Developmental Psychology, 31, 800-810. Harris, P. (2000) The Work of the Imagination. Massachusetts: Blackwell. Hornstein, N.L. & Putnam, F.W. (1992) Clinical phenomenology of child and adolescent dissociative disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 31, 1077-85. Klein, B.R. (1985) A child’s imaginary companion: A transitional self. Clinical Social Work Journal, 13, 272-282. Knell, S.M. (1998) Cognitive-behavioural Play Therapy. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 27, 28-33. Lillard, A. (1994) Making sense of pretense. In C. Lewis & P. Mitchell (Eds.) Children’s Early Understanding of Mind (pp.211-234). New Jersey: Erlbaum. Nagera, H. (1969) The imaginary companion: Its significance for ego development and conflict resolution. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 24, 89-99. Norsworthy, W. & Whitley, M.T. (1918) Psychology of Childhood. New York: Macmillan. Piaget, J. (1968) Six Psychological Studies. New York: Vintage Books. Pica, M. (1999) The evolution of alter personality states in dissociative identity disorder. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 36 404-415.

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Sadeh, A., Hen-Gal, S. & Tikotzky, L. (2008) Young children’s reactions to war-related stress: A survey and assessment of an innovative intervention. Pediatrics, 121, 46-53. Seiffge-Krenke, I. (1997) Imaginary companions in adolescence: Sign of a deficient or positive development? Journal of Adolescence, 20, 137-154. Singer, D.G. & Singer, J.L. (1990) The House of Make-Believe: Children’s Play and the Developing Imagination. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Somers, J.U. & Yawkey, T.D. (1984) Imaginary play companions: Contributions of creative and intellectual abilities of young children. The Journal of Creative Behaviour, 18, 77-89. Stoney, B. (1974) Enid Blyton: A Biography. London: Hodder. Svendsen, M. (1934) Children’s imaginary companions. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 2, 985-999. Taylor, M. (1999) Imaginary Companions and the Children Who Create Them. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Taylor, M. & Carlson, S.M. (1997) The relation between individual differences in fantasy and theory of mind. Child Development, 68, 436-455. Taylor, M., Carlson, S.M. & Shawber, A.B. (2007) Autonomy and control in children’s interactions with imaginary companions. In I. Roth (Ed.) Imaginative Minds (pp.81-100). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Taylor, M., Cartwright, B.S. & Carlson, S.M. (1993) A developmental investigation of children’s imaginary companions. Developmental Psychology, 29, 276-285. Taylor, M., Hulette, A.C. & Dishion, T.J. (2010) Longitudinal outcomes of young high-risk adolescents with imaginary companions. Developmental Psychology, 1632-1636. Taylor, M., Shawber, A.B. & Mannering, A. (2008) Children’s imaginary companions: What is it like to have an invisible friend? In K. Markman, W. Klein & J. Suhr (Eds.) The Handbook of Imaginary and Mental Simulation (pp.221-224). New York: Psychology Press. Trujillo, K., Lewis, D.O., Yeager, C.A., & Gidlow, B. (1996) Imaginary companions of school boys and boys with dissociative identity disorder/multiple personality disorder. Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 5, 375-391. Vostrovsky, C. (1895) A study of imaginary companions. Education, 15, 383-398. Walton, K. (1990) Mimesis as Make-believe. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Watkins, M. (1990) Invisible Guests: The Development of Imaginal Dialogues. Boston: Sigo Press.

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SUCCESSFUL AGEING; THE NEED FOR OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE MEASUREMENT Francesca Farina Graduated 2011, Psychology francesca.farina.2009@nuim.ie

ABSTRACT Promoting greater health in old age is becoming an increasing concern globally as life expectancy continues to rise. By the year 2050, the population of individuals aged sixty and above is projected to equal the young population (fifteen or younger) for the first time (World Population Ageing: 1950–2050, 2001). Accordingly, the challenge of improving quality of life in addition to length of life faces both ageing research and policy alike. Methodologies employed to measure ‘successful ageing’ however, vary greatly across the literature. In particular, the use of objective or subjective measures has been debated. This paper aims to investigate the relative utility of these methodologies. The importance of including both criteria in measuring successful ageing will be discussed.

INTRODUCTION We all want to age ‘successfully’. At present however, there is no universally accepted definition of what the term ‘successful ageing’ means, nor is there a standard methodology for measuring this process (Pruchno, Wilson-Genderson, Rose, & Cartwright, 2010). Measurement criteria for successful ageing vary greatly throughout the literature, typically reflecting the viewpoint of the investigator (Bowling, 2007). As such, definitions of ageing successfully have included; the compression of morbidity (Willcox, Willcox, & Ferrucci, 2008); happiness and life satisfaction (Dillaway & Byrnes, 2009); avoidance of disease (Rowe & Kahn, 1987) and adaptation following losses (Baltes & Baltes, 1993). As the meaning of successful ageing shifts, so too does the methodology employed to measure it. Depp and Jeste (2009), for example, found a variance of 0.4–95% in the prevalence of successful ageing among those over 60 years reported across studies, depending on the measurement criteria applied.

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The issue of how to measure successful ageing continues to be debated, with researchers deliberating whether objective or subjective criteria should be used (Tan, Ward, & Ziaian, 2010). Alternatively, it has recently been proposed that a combinatory approach to the measurement of successful ageing processes be adopted, whereby objective and subjective measures would be used in tandem (Young, Frick, & Phelan, 2009). This review considers research relating to the use of both of these measurements of successful ageing and discusses the utility of both criteria in establishing a more comprehensive measurement rationale.

OBJECTIVE MEASUREMENTS The manipulated variable in this study is the music condition and has Objective, or researcher-defined measures of successful ageing have traditionally received more attention in the literature compared with subjective ones (Pruchno et al., 2010). One reason for this has been the widespread application of Rowe and Kahn’s successful ageing model (1987, 1997, 1998). Rowe and Kahn (1987) emphasized the importance shifting perceptions about ageing away from physical or cognitive losses which occur, highlighting instead the possibility for maintained functionality. Thus Rowe and Kahn (1987) suggested measuring successful ageing according to absence of disease. The authors later expanded upon their model, adding in two supplementary measures; maintenance of cognitive and physical functioning and sustained engagement with life (Rowe & Kahn, 1997). Early research using Rowe and Kahn’s specifications (1987) distinguished a group of ‘high’ functioning older individuals aged between 70–79 (without disease) from ‘usual’ and ‘impaired’ functioning groups experiencing varying degrees of impairment (Berkman et al., 1993). Crosssectional analyses highlighted that those ageing successfully, on average, engaged in more physical activity, spent longer in formal education, participated in more volunteer work, scored higher on self-efficacy and life satisfaction scales, and were less likely to have incomes under 5,000 dollars, or to smoke (Berkman et al., 1993). Rowe and Kahn (1997) subsequently conducted a follow-up study of the aforementioned high functioning group approximately two years later. From this the authors established that length of education was the strongest indicator of maintained cognitive functioning (Rowe & Kahn,

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1997). Additionally, successful physical ageing was influenced by physical activity and emotional support, while engagement with life was moderated by marital status (Rowe & Kahn, 1997).

CRITICISMS OF ROWE AND KAHN Primarily, Rowe and Kahn have been primarily criticised for overestimating the prevalence of older individuals progressing through old age disease-free (Ouwehand, de Ridder, & Bensing, 2007). Evidence from centenarian studies indicates that reaching advanced old age without impairment is extremely difficult (Motta et al., 2005). Additionally, the restrictive nature of these measurement criteria has been questioned. Weir, Meisner, and Baker (2010), for example, found the prevalence of successful ageing reported using Rowe and Kahn’s model (1997) to decrease markedly as age increased. Within their sample (n = 14,749, 60–80 years), disease-related disability and impaired functioning featured most heavily as barriers to ageing successfully. For example, individuals aged 80+ were over five times more likely than those ten years younger to be impaired. Similar findings were reported by McLaughlin, Connell, Heeringa, Li and Roberts (2010) with 16.2% of 65–74 year olds reported as successful compared to a mere 1.6% of 80+ year olds. The above results suggest that the emphasis placed on disease may not allow for an accurate representation of the heterogeneity of ageing.

ALTERNATIVE OBJECTIVE MEASURES Rather than measuring successful ageing dichotomously as Rowe and Kahn had suggested, Young and colleagues (2009) propose a continuous measurement of success. The flexibility of the authors’ model allows for successful ageing according to any, not just all criteria thus ensuring that individuals experiencing physical disability are not prevented from achieving success psychologically or socially (Young et al., 2009). According to Young and colleagues (2009), the presence of compensatory mechanisms such as resilience, coping, and social support distinguish those who are ageing more successfully than others. Although promising in terms of its aim to provide a more comprehensive measure of successful ageing, further research is necessary to establish the utility of Young and colleagues model (2009).

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Moreover, the low prevalence of successful ageing reported across objective measures indicates that such measures do not represent the entire successful ageing story. Meta-analytical research by Hank (2011) demonstrates this; documenting a strikingly low successful ageing prevalence of 8.5% throughout Europe and Israel. Hank’s research also indicated high cultural variation, with one in six older individuals in Ireland ageing successfully compared to less than one in 50 older individuals in Poland (Hank, 2011). Taken together, this research implies the need for less constrained measures of successful ageing.

SUBJECTIVE MEASUREMENTS Subjective measures of successful ageing are lay views, or those which are defined by older individuals themselves. Advocates of subjective measures argue that objective criteria fail to incorporate older individuals’ views of how successful ageing should be classified (Hilton, Kopera-Frye, & Krave, 2009). Crucially, when asked to rate their own level of successful ageing, a larger proportion of older individuals tend to categorize themselves as successful when compared to the percentages typically documented by objective measures (Doyle, McKee, & Sherriff, 2010). Strawbridge and colleagues (2002) found that half (50.3%) of older individuals (n = 867) included in their study agreed strongly with the statement “I am aging successfully (or aging well)”, while less than a fifth of participants (18.8%) met objective criteria (Rowe and Kahn’s measurements).

OBJECTIVE MEASURES VIEWED SUBJECTIVELY An interesting study carried out by Phelan, Anderson, LaCroix and Larson (2004) attempted to reconcile objective and subjective measurements. The authors provided a sample of older individuals (n = 1890, mean age = 79) with a list of 20 objectively-defined successful ageing characteristics typical of the literature. Participants were required to rate each statement in terms of its importance to successful ageing. “Remaining in good health until close to death” and “Being able to take care of myself until close to the time of my death” were the two highest ranked factors, with over 90% of participants rating them as important (Phelan et al., 2004). Of the 20 attributes, 13 were considered important to the majority of individuals. The diversity of statements

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rated highly; including elements of physical, functional, psychological, and social health, highlights the multi-dimensional nature of subjectively defined successful ageing. Although this study could suggest a consistency across objectively defined measures and those considered important by older individuals, the authors admit that open-ended questions may not have provided the same results.

THE OLDER INDIVIDUALS PERSPECTIVE A more genuine indication of older individuals’ perceptions of how successful ageing should be measured can be obtained by simply asking them. A study by Bowling and Dieppe (2005) reported “having good health and functioning” as the most popular response to an open-ended question of how successful ageing might be measured, with 75% of this sample rated themselves as successful. Factors such as financial security and the availability of community facilities were mentioned less frequently as indicators of success (Bowling & Dieppe, 2005). In a further study, Laditka and colleagues (2009) carried out a series of focus groups to examine older individuals’ views of how ageing well should be quantified. Four main concepts emerged: being physically active, mentally agile, independent, and socially engaged (Laditka et al., 2009). Apart from independence, these criteria are comparable to those reported from objective measures. Additional factors mentioned by participants including; having a positive attitude, coping and adaptation, and spirituality are however less well documented objectively. von Faber and colleagues (2001) asked Dutch individuals aged 85 and above; “Are you, in general, satisfied with your present life?” 45% of participants classified themselves as successful agers. Similar to the subjective accounts reported above, adaptability to change and the use of coping mechanisms to offset loneliness and maintain self-esteem were highlighted as appropriate measures of successful ageing (von Faber et al., 2001). Crucially, von Faber et al. (2001) noted that in cases where physical or cognitive functioning decreased, these effects tended to be accepted as a part of growing older, rather than a failure to achieve successful ageing on the part of the individual. Contrastingly, some individuals with no

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physical impairments considered themselves unsuccessful due to social context decrements. Weir and colleagues (2010) suggest a compensatory mechanism as an explanation for these findings, whereby an individuals’ ability to complete a task through compensation may result in them viewing their ageing as successful. Silverstein and Parker (2002) support this view. The authors illustrated that increasing leisure activity involvement could result in participants perceiving an improvement in their life conditions. This was particularly evident among those who were older, widowed, had a weak social support network, or who experienced functional decline (Silverstein & Parker, 2002). Successful Ageing and Physical Impairment The above findings invoke the question of whether successful ageing can be achieved in the presence of disease- or disability-related impairment. Addressing this, Strawbridge and colleagues (2002) found that 42.7% of over 65-year olds with one chronic condition classified themselves as ageing successfully, while 35% of those with two conditions, and 16.7% with three conditions did so. Strawbridge and Wallhagen (2003) subsequently found that one third of older individuals (n = 899) with chronic illness rated themselves successful, while an identical proportion of those without an illness considered themselves as not having aged successfully. However, as Strawbridge and Wallhagen (2003) point out, it remains unclear whether successful ageing in the presence of physical impairment represents a normal occurrence, or an exception to the rule.

OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE MEASURES

It is clear that there are drawbacks to both objective and subjective measures of successful ageing. As Blazer (2006, in Weir et al., 2010) emphasizes, perhaps what is most important is whether successful ageing should be considered as a ‘state of mind’, or as maintaining good functionality physically, cognitively, and socially. It seems unwise to ignore the views of the ageing population in considering how their own ageing process should be measured. As Scheidt, Humpherys and Yorgason (1999) eloquently proclaim; utilizing objective measures alone is reminiscent of a Boy Scout who, in attempting to aid an ageing pedestrian, pulls them unwillingly across a busy street. This

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depiction emphasizes the necessity for researchers to consider a model of successful ageing which is relevant to older individuals own perspectives. However, as Weir et al. (2010) highlight, although it is undoubtedly a positive outcome when individuals can consider themselves successful in spite of functional or other impairments, these individuals may not be maintaining a high quality of life. Therefore, an obvious limitation of subjective measures is their failure to account for factors such as performance or cognition, which provides little information to those researchers who aim to improve health and overall lifespan (Nusselder & Peeters, 2006). Furthermore, the possibility of bias within subjective accounts of ageing, as in any self-report measure, cannot be ignored (Franklin & Tate, 2009).

A COMBINATORY APPROACH Pruchno and colleagues (2010) provide an intriguing, contemporary example of a model incorporating both objective success and subjective success. Objective criteria within this model included having few chronic conditions, maintaining functional abilities, and low pain experience. Subjective measures consisted of three questions assessing participants own perceptions of their ageing process (Pruchno et al., 2010). In comparing objectively successful and subjectively successful groups, the latter group were on average more likely to be older or female, to have higher BMI levels, to have better social support networks, to exercise, less likely to be working, and to be more religious than the former group (Pruchno et al., 2010). Findings also revealed that higher levels of education, not having been incarcerated, lower Body Mass Index, engaging in more exercise, and having better social support networks differentiated individuals who were ageing successful according to both objective and subjective criteria from those ageing successfully according to one, or neither. Although both objective and subjective criteria outlined by the authors may be somewhat arbitrarily defined, this study represents an attempt at reconciling objective and subjective measures of successful ageing, while offering provisional evidence as to the factors which may distinguish between the two.

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DISCUSSION The measurement of successful ageing has been debated at length within the literature. Objective measures typically report a low prevalence of successful ageing among older individuals (e.g. 18.8%; Strawbridge et al., 2002), while subjective measures have reported levels as high as 92% (Montross et al., 2006). Given the large disparity between the two, a combination of measures has been proposed in order to provide a more comprehensive account of how successful ageing might reliably be measured. Chapman (2005, in Rozanova, 2010) argues that the measurement of successful ageing has thus far been problematic as its aim has largely been to establish how older individuals should age, rather than endeavouring to understand how people come to view themselves as having aged successfully. Worryingly, such perspectives may place blame on the individual if success according to particular criteria are not upheld (Scheidt et al., 1999). Balancing older individuals’ own perceptions of their ageing process with objectively defined measures will serve to guard against many of the limitations intrinsic to either measure used in isolation. The inclusion of both objective and subjective measures of successful ageing, considered within their cultural context and accounting for the heterogeneity of ageing can together provide a more comprehensive measure of ageing successfully (Minkler & Fadem, 2002), thus better informing future healthy ageing policy within the rapidly expanding older population.

REFERENCES Baltes, P. B., & Baltes, M. M. (1993). Psychological perspectives on successful aging: The model of selective optimization with compensation. In P. B. Baltes, & M. M. Baltes (Eds.), Successful aging: Perspectives from the behavioral sciences (pp. 1–34). New York: Cambridge University. Berkman, L. F., Seeman, T. E., Albert, M., Blazer, D., Kahn, R., Mohs, R., Finch, C., Schneider, E., Cotman, C., McClearn, G., Nesselroade, J., Featherman, D., Garmezy, N., Mckhann, G., Brim, G., Prager, D., & Rowe, J. (1993). High, usual, and impaired functioning in community-dwelling older men and women: Findings from the MacArthur Foundation research network on successful aging. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 46(10), 1129–1140. Bowling, A. (2007). Aspirations for older age in the 21st century: What is successful aging? International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 64(3), 263–297.

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Bowling, A., & Dieppe, P. (2005). What is successful ageing and who should define it? British Medical Journal, 331(7531), 1548–1551. Depp, C. A., & Jeste, D. V. (2009). Definitions and Predictors of Successful Aging: A Comprehensive Review of Larger Quantitative Studies. Focus, 7(1), 137–150. Dillaway, H. E., & Byrnes, M. (2009). Reconsidering successful aging: A call for renewed and expanded academic critiques and conceptualizations. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 28(6), 702–722. Doyle, Y. G., McKee, M., & Sherriff, M. (2010). A model of successful ageing in British populations. European Journal of Public Health, 1–5. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckq132 Fiocco, A. J., & Yaffe, C. (2010). Defining Successful Aging: The Importance of Including Cognitive Function over Time. Archives of Neurology, 67(7), 876–880. Franklin, N. C., & Tate, C. A. (2009). Lifestyle and Successful Aging: An Overview. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 3(1), 6–11. Hank, K. (2011). How “successful” do older Europeansage? Findings from SHARE. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 66B(2), 230–236. Hilton, J. M., Kopera-Frye, K., & Krave, A. (2009). Successful Aging from the Perspective of Family Caregivers. The Family Journal: Counselling and Therapy For Couples and Families, 17(1), 39–50. Laditka, S. B., Corwin, S. J., Laditka, J. N., Liu, R., Tseng, W., Wu, B., Beard, R. L., Sharkey, J. R., & Ivey, S. L. (2009). Attitudes About Aging Well Among a Diverse Group of Older Americans: Implications for Promoting Cognitive Health. The Gerontologist, 49(1), 30–39. McLaughlin, S. J., Connell, C. M., Heeringa, S. G., Li, L. W., & Roberts, J. S. (2010). Successful aging in the United States: prevalence estimates from a national sample of older adults. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 65B(2), 216–226. Minkler, M., & Fadem, P. (2002). "Successful Aging:" A Disability Perspective. Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 12(4), 229–235. Motta, M., Bennati, E., Ferlito, L., Malaguarnera, M., Motta, L., & Italian Multicenter Study on Centenarians (IMUSCE). (2005). Successful aging in centenarians: myths and reality. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 40(3), 241–251. Nusselder, W. J., & Peeters, A. (2006). Successful aging: measuring the years lived with functional loss. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 60(5), 448–455. Ouwehand, C., de Ridder, D. T. D., & Bensing, J. M. (2007). A review of successful aging models: Proposing proactive coping as an important additional strategy. Clinical Psychology Review, 27(8), 873–884.

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Phelan, E. A., Anderson, L. A., LaCroix, A. Z., & Larson, E. B. (2004). Older adults’ views of “successful aging”– How do they compare with researchers’ definitions? Journal of American Geriatrics Society, 52(2), 211–216. Pruchno, R. A., Wilson-Genderson, M., Rose, M., & Cartwright, F. (2010). Successful Aging: Early Influences and Contemporary Characteristics. The Gerontologist, 50(6), 821–833. Rowe, J. W., & Kahn, R. L. (1987). Human Aging: Usual and Successful. Science, 237(4811), 143–149. Rowe, J. W., & Kahn, R. L. (1997). Successful Aging. The Gerontologist, 37(4), 433–440. Rowe, J. W., & Kahn, R. L. (1998). Successful aging. New York: Pantheon. Rozanova, J. (2010). Discourse of successful aging in The Globe & Mail: Insights from critical gerontology. Journal of Aging Studies, 24(4), 213–222. Scheidt, R. J., Humpherys, D. R., & Yorgason, J. B. (1999). Successful Aging: What's Not to Like? Journal of Applied Gerontology, 18(3), 277–282. Silverstein, M., & Parker, M. G. (2002). Leisure Activities and Quality of Life among the Oldest Old in Sweden. Research on Aging, 24(5), 528–547. Strawbridge, W. J., & Wallhagen, M. I. (2003). Self reported successful aging: Correlates and predictors. In L. W. Poon, S. H. Gueldner, & B. Sprouse (Eds.), Successful aging and adaptation with chronic diseases in older adulthood (pp. 1–24). New York: Springer. Strawbridge, W. J., Wallhagen, M. I., & Cohen, R. D. (2002). Successful Aging and WellBeing: Self-Rated Compared With Rowe and Kahn. The Gerontologist, 42(6), 727–733. Tan, J., Ward, L., & Ziaian, T. (2010). Experiences of Chinese Immigrants and AngloAustralians Ageing in Australia: A Cross-cultural Perspective on Successful Ageing. Journal of Health Psychology, 15(5), 697–706. von Faber, M., Bootsma-van der Wiel, A., van Exel, E., Gussekloo, J., Lagaay, A. M., van Dongen, E., Knook, D. L., van der Geest, S., & Westendorp, R. G. (2001). Successful aging in the oldest old: Who can be characterized as successfully aged? Archives of Internal Medicine, 161(22), 694–700. Weir, P. L., Meisner, B. A., & Baker, J. (2010). Successful Aging across the Years: Does One Model Fit Everyone? Journal of Health Psychology, 15(5), 680–687. Willcox, B. J., Willcox, D. C., & Ferrucci, L. (2008). Secrets of Healthy Aging and Longevity from Exceptional Survivors around the Globe: Lessons from Octogenarians to Supercentenarians. Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, 63A(11), 1181–1185. World Population Ageing: 1950–2050. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. (2001). Magnitude and speed of population ageing. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/worldageing19502050/pdf/80chapterii.pdf

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Young, Y., Frick, K. D., & Phelan, E. A. (2009). Can Successful Aging and Chronic Illness Coexist in the Same Individual? A Multidimensional Concept of Successful Aging. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 10(2), 87â&#x20AC;&#x201C;92.

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MIRROR NEURONS: OUR CURRENT UNDERSTANDING Georgina Mullen Senior Freshman, Psychology, UCD georgina.mullen@ucdconnect.ie

ABSTRACT Mirror neurons are a relatively new phenomena, first observed in the premotor cortex of macaque monkeys when a number of neurons were observed to respond both when a monkey performed a goal orientated task, and when the monkey watched another (human or monkey) perform that task. A number of researchers have suggested that mirror neurons also exist in humans. It is proposed that a human mirror neuron system may contribute to a number of cognitive functions such as action understanding; ‘theory of mind’, humans’ abilities to infer another’s mental state through experiences or others’ behaviour; emotion understanding; imitation; and speech perception. Faulty human mirror neurons have even been suggested to underpin social impairments such as those characteristic of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, there has been much debate regarding the existence and functional roles of mirror neurons in humans. While there is much literature regarding human mirror neurons, the majority consist of reviews while few concern empirical experiments. Additionally concern has been expressed for some of the experimental methods used in empirical studies. A recent experiment from Mukamel et al. (2010) is the first of its kind to directly gather evidence for the existence of mirror neurons in humans and for their function subserving action understanding. The present review critically outlines the growth in this controversial field of research, taking into account the recent direct recording of human mirror neurons, and what implications this may have on our understanding of social cognition.

INTRODUCTION Social cognition involves any process among conspecifics, allowing for individuals to understand the actions, intentions and emotions of others. Such social abilities are a crucial aspect of human survival and success (Blakemore et al., 2004). For this reason much research has been devoted to exploring what mechanisms and processes underlie social cognition.

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This expansive research has resulted in what has been suggested by some to be the greatest recent discovery in neuroscience; mirror neurons (Ramachandran, 2000). Ramachandran (2000) suggests that the discovery of mirror neurons will impact the field of psychology as DNA influenced biology; that mirror neurons can provide a unifying framework which can explain a number of humansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; mental abilities. However, such grand claims have not gone undisputed. While it is largely accepted that mirror neurons exist in macaque monkeys where they were originally recorded (Casile et al., 2011), researchers have been skeptical regarding the existence and proposed functions of a human mirror neuron system (Dinstein et al., 2008).

MIRROR NEURONS IN MONKEYS Direct recordings in macaque monkeys have found that both observation of an action and performance of that action can lead to the discharge of a subset of neurons, called mirror neurons (Gallese et al., 1996). These mirror neurons were first observed in the F5 area of the premotor cortex (di Pelegrino et al., 1992; Gallese et al., 1996) but were later observed in the inferior parietal lobule (Fogassi et al., 2005; Rozzi et al., 2008) (see Figure 1). Further research investigated mirror neuron activity in two conditions; when a monkey watched a human hand reach and grasp an object (the visible condition), and when the monkey watched a human hand reach and then disappear behind a screen (the hidden condition) (Umilta et al., 2001). Some mirror neuron activation was recorded during the hidden condition, but only when the monkeys had first seen an object at the location behind the screen, suggesting that mirror neurons in monkeys are responsible for action understanding (Umilta et al., 2001). Furthermore Fogassi et al. (2005) suggested that mirror neurons contribute to monkeysâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; understanding of intention, based on their experiment in which different populations of parietal neurons fired when a monkey grasped an object which was subsequently eaten, and when the monkey grasped an object which was subsequently placed in a box.

A HUMAN MIRROR NEURON MECHANISM Based on the discovery of mirror neurons in monkeys, researchers began to question whether a similar mirror mechanism may exist in humans (Gallese et al., 1996). Experiments that support the existence of a human

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mirror neuron mechanism have mostly used indirect methods which indicate neural activation. Some of the first evidence was derived from Hari et al.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (1998) study which recorded neuromagnetic oscillatory activity in participantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; precentral cortex. Hari et al. (1998) measured brain activity using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) while participants manipulated a small object with their hand. They observed a significant modification in neuromagnetic activity when participantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; observed others manipulating objects. This indicated the existence of an action observation/execution matching system in the human brain, similar to the one previously observed in monkeys (Hari et al., 1998). Subsequently a number of empirical studies investigated the presence and possible functions of a human mirror system. These appeared to support a mirroring mechanism within humans located in the frontal and parietal areas of the brain (Iacoboni et al., 1999; Iacoboni et al., 2005), and in other motor regions (Hari et al., 1998; Koski et al., 2003; Gazzola & Keysers, 2009) (see Figure 2). Additionally multisensory mirroring mechanisms have been observed in nonmotor regions such as the amygdala and insula (Hutchison et al., 1999; Calder et al., 2000; Wicker et al., 2003; Keysers et al., 2004). These studies used a number of techniques to measure brain activation, including functional (f)MRI, MEG, electroencephalography (EEG), positron emission tomography (PET), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and lesion studies (observation of neurological patients). These methods do not allow for a direct and exclusive measure of mirror neuron activity, which has led a number of researchers to question the validity of the assumption that a mirror neuron system exists in humans (Dinstein et al., 2008; Hikock, 2009). While it is clear that these indirect methods cannot provide definite evidence, they are thought to correlate well with direct measures (Iacoboni, 2009). Dinstein et al. (2008) caution the inferences drawn from indirect methods such as fMRI as responses may not be generated by mirror neurons but by other neural populations. These interpretations therefore fail to take into account the fact that mirror neurons in monkeys only make up a small minority of neurons in these areas and thus the activation may not be from mirror neurons but rather from neighbouring visual, motor, and visuomotor neurons (Dinstein et al., 2008). Recent research from Mukamel et al. (2010) recorded single neuron activity in humans, rather than using indirect methods. This recording

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during action observation and execution appears to support previous indirect suggestion that a mirroring mechanism exists in humans. While past research has focused on recording activity in areas of the brain homologous to regions containing mirror neurons in monkeys, Mukamel et al. (2010) detected a mirroring mechanism in areas of the medial frontal and temporal cortices which were not previously suggested to contain mirror neurons. Mukamel et al. (2010) did not record in areas where human mirror neurons had been suggested as placement of electrodes was determined only by clinical considerations (participants consisted of patients with pharmacologically intractable epilepsy). Despite Mukamel et al.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (2010) influential evidence, some criticisms of a human mirroring mechanism remain valid. For example, the argument that evidence for mirror activation in humans does not have key features in common with the mirror neuron system seen in monkeys (Heyes, 2009). Specifically, human mirror activation occurs in both homologous areas and in areas where mirror neurons have not been reported in monkeys (Dinstein et al., 2008). Additionally the majority of mirror neurons found in monkeys are responsive to actions on objects, while proposed human mirror neurons often respond to gestures as well as actions on objects (Hickok, 2009).

POTENTIAL FUNCTIONS OF A HUMAN MIRROR MECHANISM ACTION UNDERSTANDING As mirror neurons in monkeys are thought to be the neural basis of action understanding (Umilta et al., 2001), when researchers began to question the existence mirror neurons in humans, they did so with the assumption that if mirror neurons were observed, their function would involve action perception (Hari et al., 1998; Grezes & Decety, 2001; Gazzola & Keysers, 2009; Mukamel et al., 2010). Further research questioned what other functions mirror neurons might subserve, including higher social cognitive abilities such as communication (Rizzolatti & Craighero, 2004), empathy (Iacoboni, 2009), sensations (Keysers et al., 2004) and emotions (Wicker et al., 2003). Gazzola and Keysers (2009) used fMRI to record shared neural activity in individuals during action observation and execution. The areas of the brain suggested to contain shared voxels include the dorsal premotor cortex, the supplementary and cingulate motor areas, the superior parietal lobe, the somatosensory cortices and the cerebellum (Gazzola & Keysers, 2009) (see Figure 2). While Gazzola and Keysers

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(2009) propose that their findings contribute to the body of evidence that supports a human mirror neuron system, they do caution that further research must be carried out as a voxel contains millions of neurons. Stronger evidence from Mukamel et al.’s (2010) report suggests that multiple systems in humans may have neural mirroring mechanisms for both the integration and differentiation of execution and observation of actions, supporting earlier indirect evidence. Some recent reviews have argued that most of the current findings offer little more than a minor, non-specialised contribution to action understanding, rather than a major specialised one (Heyes, 2010; Hikock, 2009). It has been argued that this weakens the theory behind a human mirror neuron system (Hikock, 2009). However, Heyes (2009) suggests that this criticism against a human mirror mechanism is only valid if mirror neurons are accepted to have evolved for the adaption of action understanding. For this reason Heyes (2009) champions the alternative suggestion that mirror neurons are a byproduct of associative learning.

IMITATION AND EMPATHY A human mirror neuron mechanism has been suggested to mediate imitation. While this assumption is widely accepted there is little empirical evidence for mirror neurons’ role in imitation. (Catmur et al., 2009). Mukamel et al. (2010) observed an opposing pattern of excitation and inhibition when recording single cell activity during action observation and execution which they suggested may contribute to an individual’s sense of being the owner of their action, but may also exert control on unwanted imitation during observation. Earlier studies also support this proposition, such as Iacoboni et al.’s (1999) fMRI experiment in which two areas of the brain; the inferior frontal gyrus and the rostral part of the posterior parietal cortex showed activation both during imitation and observation. In addition studies of neuropsychological patients have offered evidence which suggests a role for mirror neurons in imitation, although they cannot offer specific locations of mirror neurons (Catmur et al., 2010). For example, lesions to the inferior parietal lobe (an area thought to contain mirror neurons) often results in apraxia, a deficit in imitation and mimicking (Wheaton & Hallett, 2007). Goldenberg and Karnath (2006) also reported impaired imitation, specifically in hand gestures after lesions to the left inferior parietal lobe. Accounts of echopraxia, a condition in which patients suffering from frontal lobe

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damage repeat all observed movements (Luria, 1966), and ‘obstinant imitation behaviour’, a severely increased urge to imitate observed action, even when explicitly instructed not to (Lhermitte et al., 1986) support a mirror neuron function for imitation as both conditions involve frontal lobe damage and increased imitation (Bien et al., 2009). Furthermore Iacoboni (2005) suggests that a core cortical circuitry exists for imitation, and that this system’s interaction with the limbic system allows individuals the ability for social mirroring and empathy. Carr et al. (2003) propose that empathy is enabled by a large-scale neural network composed of the mirror neuron system connected by the insula to the limbic system. In such a system mirror neurons would support the simulation of facial expressions observed in others, which would then activate the limbic system, allowing the observer to experience others’ emotions (Carr et al., 2003). Further research has used fMRI study on typically developing preadolescents asked to observe and imitate emotional expressions, and has found that activity in mirror neuron areas is positively correlated with interpersonal competence and empathetic concern (Pfeifer et al., 2008).

EMOTIONS AND SENSATION Higher social cognitive functions such as understanding others’ emotions and sensations have also been attributed to a neural mirroring mechanism (Hutchison et al., 1999). Wicker et al. (2003) conducted a study using fMRI when participants both inhaled odours that induced a strong feeling of disgust, and observed others’ emotional expressions of disgust. Wicker et al.’s (2003) findings suggested that observing an emotion activates a similar neural representation of that emotion. Keysers et al. (2004) questioned whether watching a movie that depicts touch would activate the viewer’s somatosensory cortices and found that while the primary somatosensory cortex was not activated, the secondary somatosensory cortex was, indicating that the neural mechanisms which subserve the sensation of touch may also be the basis of humans’ understanding of touch. While such studies suggest that mirror-like neurons may exist for emotions and sensations, without direct single cell recording, this suggestion remains tentative.

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SOCIAL IMPAIRMENTS Because of the large number of social cognitive functions that have been associated with human mirror neurons, researchers have proposed that a dysfunction of the mirror neuron system may result in symptoms of social impairment, particularly those typical of ASD (Ramachandran & Oberman, 2006). ASD is characterised by abnormal social development, poor language capacity, difficulty mimicking others’ actions and strong obsessional interests from a young age. Many of these have been associated, albeit weakly, with mirror neurons (Fan et al., 2010). Conflicting evidence exists regarding mirror neurons’ potential contribution to ASD, and what little empirical evidence exists is indirect (Fan et al., 2010). Oberman et al.’s (2005) study suggests that mirror neurons appear faulty in those with ASD. However, further study has indicated that mirror neuron function appears to be retained to some degree in individuals with ASD (Hamilton et al., 2007; Fan et al., 2010). Ultimately, further research into the neurocognitive models of social behaviour both within and beyond the dysfunctional mirror neuron account is necessary (Fan et al., 2010).

CONCLUSION Evidently this controversial field of research has greatly evolved in the past decade. Researchers have been critical of some of the inferences made regarding mirror neurons and higher cognitive functions, which are often based on little empirical evidence but largely based on assumptions (Hikock, 2009). Due to these inferences, some have become skeptical of the existence of a human mirror neuron system. Currently, evidence suggests that mirror neurons do exist in animals. However, implications that mirror neurons play a causal role in cognitive functions such as ‘theory of mind’ (Gallese & Goldman, 1998), empathy (Carr et al., 2003), sensations (Hutchison et al., 1999), language (Rizzolatti & Craighero, 2004) and autism (Oberman et al., 2005) are weak and are far from being widely accepted by researchers. These proposed connections between mirror neurons and social functioning is in no doubt fascinating, and may greatly expand our current understanding of the human brain. Without repeated, sound empirical evidence, the suggestion that human mirror neurons cause social cognitive functions remains speculative. Further knowledge of mirror neurons can also be gained through understanding their evolution (Heyes, 2009). Mirror neurons can offer further insight into

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the social brain, but to achieve this, speculation and controversy must be replaced by careful experimentation in order to reach a solid scientific understanding.

Figure 1. Lateral view of the left hemisphere of the macaque brain. Highlighted areas contain neurons that discharge during both observation and exectuion of bodily movements (created from data recorded by Gallese et al., 1996, and Rozzi et al., 2008).

Figure 2. Lateral view of the left hemisphere of the human brain. Highlighted areas indicate regions in which voxels are shared between action observation and execution (created from data recorded by Gazzola and Keysers, 2009).

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REFERENCES Bien, N., Roebroeck, A., Goebel, R., & Sack, A.T. (2009). The brain's intention to imitate: The neurobiology of intentional versus automatic imitation. Cerebral Cortex, 19, 2338-2351. Blakemore, S., Winston, J., & Frith, U. (2004). Social cognitive neuroscience: Where are we heading? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8(5), 216-222. Calder, A.J., Keane, J., Manes, F., Antoun, N., & Young, A.W. (2000). Impaired recognition and experience of disgust following brain injury. Nature Neuroscience, 3, 1077-1078. Carr, L., Iacoboni, M., Dubeau, M., Mazziotta, J.C., & Lenzi, G.L. (2003). Neural mechanisms of empathy in humans: A relay from neural systems for imitation to limbic areas. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 100(9), 5497-5502. Casile, A., Caggiano, V., & Ferrari, P.F. (2011)., The mirror neuron system: A fresh view. The Neuroscientist, 20(10), 1-15. Catmur, C., Mars, R.B., Rushworth, M.F., & Heyes, C. (2010). Making mirrors: Premotor cortex stimulation enhances mirror and counter-mirror motor facilitation. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. Retrieved from MIT Press, http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/jocn.2010.21590 Catmur, C., Walsh, V., & Heyes, C. (2009). Associative sequence learning: The role of experience in the development of imitation and the mirror system. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 364, 2369-2380. di Pelegrino, G., Fadiga, L., Fogassi, L., Gallese, V., & Rizzolatti, G. (1992). Understanding motor events: A neurophysiological study. Experimental Brain Research, 91, 176-180. Dinstein, I., Thomas, C., Behrmann, M., & Heeger, D.J. (2008). A mirror up to nature. Current Biology, 18(1), 13-18. Fogassi, L., Ferrari, P.F., Gesierich, B., Rozzi, S., Chersi, F., & Rizzolatti, G. (2005). Parietal lobe: From action organization to intention understanding. Science, 308, 662-667. Gallese, V., Fadiga, L., Fogassi, L., & Rizzolatti, G. (1996). Action recognition in the premotor cortex. Brian, 119, 593-609 Gallese, V., & Goldman, A. (1998). Mirror neurons and the simulation theory of mindreading. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2(12), 493-501. Gazzola, V., & Keysers, C. (2009). The observation and execution of actions share motor and somatosensory voxels in all tested subjects: Single-subject analysis of unsmoothed fMRI data. Cerebral Cortex, 19, 1239-1255. Grezes, J., & Decety, J., (2001). Functional anatomy of execution of actions, mental simulation, observation, and verb generation of actions: A meta-analysis. Human Brain Mapping, 12, 1-19. Goldenberg, G., & Karnath, H.O. (2006). The neural basis of imitation is body part specific. Journal of Neuroscience, 26, 6282-6287.

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Hamilton, A.F., Brindley, R.M., & Frith, U. (2007). Imitation and action understanding in autistic spectrum disorders: How valid is the hypothesis of a deficit in the mirror neuron system? Neuropsychologia, 45, 1859-1868. Hari, R., Forss, N., Kirveskari, E., Salenius, S., & Rizzolatti, G. (1998). Activation of human primary motor cortex during action observation: A neuromagnetic study. Neurobiology, 95, 15061-15065. Heyes, C. (2009). Where do mirror neurons come from? Neuroscience and Biobehavioural Reviews, 34, 575-583. Hickok, G. (2009). Eight problems for the mirror neuron theory of action understanding in monkeys and humans. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21(7), 1229-1243. Hutchison, W.D., Davis, K.D., Lozano, A.M., Tasker, R.R., & Dostrovosky, J.O. (1999). Pain-related neurons in the human cingulate cortex. Natural Neuroscience, 2, 403-405. Iacoboni, M. (2005). Neural Mechanisms of imitation. Current Opinions in Neurobiology, 15, 632-637. Iacoboni, M. (2009). Imitation, empathy and mirror neurons. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 653-670. Iacoboni, M., Molnar-Szakacks, I., Gallese, V., Buccino, G., Mazziotta, J.C., & Rizzolatti, G. (2005). Grasping the intentions of others with oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own mirror neuron system. Public Library of Science Biology, 3(3), 79.

Iacoboni, M., Woods, R.P., Brass, M., Bekkering, H., Mazziotta, J.C., & Rizzolatti, G. (1999). Cortical mechanisms of human imitation. Science, 286, 2526-2528. Keysers, C., Wicker, B., Gazzola, V., Anton, J.L., Fogassi, L., & Gallese, V. (2004). A touching sight: SII/PV activation during the observation and experience of touch. Neuron, 40, 335-346. Koski, L., Iacoboni, M., Dubeau, M.C., Woods, R.P., & Mazziotta, J.C. (2003). Modulation of cortical activity during different imitative behaviours. Journal of Neurophysiology, 89, 460-471. Lhermitte, F., Pillon, B., Serdaru, M. (1986). Human autonomy and frontal lobes. Part 1: Imitation and utilisation behaviour: A neurophysiological study of 75 patients. Annual Neurology, 19, 326-334. Luria, A.R. (1966). Higher Cortical Functions in Man. New York: Basic Books, Inc. Mukamel, R., Ekstrom, A.D., Kaplan, J., Iacoboni, M., Fried, I. (2010). Single-neuron responses in humans during execution and observation of actions. Current Biology, 20(8), 750-756. Oberman, L.M., Hubbard, E.M., McCleery, J.P., Altschuler, E.L., Ramachandran, V.S., & Pineda, J.A. (2005). EEG evidence for mirror neuron dysfunction in autism spectrum disorders. Cognitive Brain Research, 24, 190-198.

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Pfeifer, J.H., Iacoboni, M., Mazziott, J.C., & Dapretto, M. (2008). Mirroring others’ emotions relates to empathy and interpersonal competence in children. Neuroimage, 39, 2076-2085. Ramachandran, V. S. (2000). Mirror neurons and imitation as the driving force behind “the great leap forward” in human evolution. Retrieved from EDGE: The third culture, http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/ramachandran/ramachandran_p1.html. Ramachandran, V.S. & Oberman, L.M. (2006). Broken mirrors: A theory of autism. Scientific American, 295, 62-69. Rozzi, S., Ferrari, P.F., Bonini, L., Rizzolatti, G., & Fogassi, L. (2008). Functional organisation of inferior parietal lobule convexity in the macaque monkey: Electrophysiological chacterisation of motor, sensory and mirror responses and their correlation with cytoarchitectonic areas. European Journal of Neuroscience, 28, 1569-1588. Rizzolatti, G., & Craighero, L. (2004). The mirror neuron system. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 27, 169-192. Rizzolatti, G., Fogassi, L., & Gallese, V. (2001). Neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the understanding and imitation of action. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2, 661-670. Umilta, M.A., Kohler, E., Gallese, V., Fogassi, L., Fadiga, L., Keysers, C., & Rizzolatti, G. (2001). I know what you are doing. Neuron, 31, 155-165. Wheaton, L.A., & Hallett, M. (2007). Ideomotor apraxia: A review. Journal of Neurological Science, 260, 1-10. Wicker, B., Keysers, C., Plailly, J., Royet, J.P., Gallese, V., & Rizzolatti, G., (2003). Both of us disgusted in my insula: The common neural basis of seeing and feeling disgust. Neuron, 40, 655-664.

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CHILDHOOD OBESITY: NATURE OR NURTURE? Grainne Fleming Senior Sophister, Psychology gfleming@tcd.ie

ABSTRACT With a growing proportion of children now classified as obese, the causes of this condition urgently need to be established. This paper suggests that an interaction between nature and nurture causes this condition. Evidence from family, twin and adoption studies suggests that inheritance has an impact in genetic susceptibility and, although exact mechanisms have not been found to explain common obesity, genome-wide scans have had promising results. Environmental influences, including exercise and particularly diet impact on weight gain, with parents playing a crucial role in the provision of fatty foods, inappropriate portion sizes and eating patterns. These environmental influences could be regarded as more noteworthy as they are amenable to intervention. Future research should investigate how exactly nature and nurture interact to cause childhood obesity. Recommendations are made for intervention and treatment.

INTRODUCTION Hippocrates wrote â&#x20AC;&#x153;corpulence is not only a disease itself but a harbinger of othersâ&#x20AC;? (Haslam & James, 2005), marking obesity as a serious condition associated with physical problems such as hypertension, diabetes and psychological problems such as low self-esteem (Veugelers & Fitzgerald, 2005). Although body mass index (BMI) - assessing weight in relation to height - is an accepted way of defining obesity in adults, effects of age and sex on growth in children make classification using this index difficult (Haslam & James, 2005). However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) suggests that a child could be classified as obese if their weight is greater than 95% of their peers of a similar age and height (Anderson & Butcher, 2006). With over 7% of Irish children now obese (Williams et al., 2009), it is critical to establish causal factors with a view to prevention and treatment (Bouchard, 2009).

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In this paper, both sides of the nature-nurture debate will be addressed, however, rather than claiming that one plays the dominant role in childhood obesity, it will be suggested that how they interact is key. Firstly, genetic factors and their interaction with the environment will be reviewed. Then environmental influences and the mediating effects of genetics will be discussed in more detail.

NATURE Research suggests that susceptibility to weight gain is influenced by genetic components (O’Rahilly & Farooqi, 2006). Family, twin and adoption studies assess the influence of genetics on weight, and consistently report that 40-70% of the variation between children regarding their weight could be attributed to genes (Willer et al., 2009). These estimates are only slightly less than those for height, a trait almost unquestioningly regarded as heritable by the average person (Farooqi & O’Rahilly, 2006). Family studies have shown that children with obese parents or siblings are five times more likely to be obese (Bouchard, 2009). However, it is unclear from these studies whether this is a result of unhealthy family eating habits or genetic susceptibility.

TWIN AND ADOPTION STUDIES Supporting the importance of genes, one twin study comparing monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins showed that 90% of variance in weight was associated with genetic factors (Dubois, Girard, Girard, Tremblay, Boivin, & Pérusse, 2007). Additionally, as the genetic influence on weight declines with age, full environmental influence may not be detected in this study as it only follows children up to age 5 (Dubois et al., 2007). Addressing this limitation, another study following twins up to age 18 supports the assertion that there is a strong genetic component to weight (Silventoinen et al., 2007). While these studies do not rule out the effects of the environment, they do imply that environment does not influence weight independently of genetic influences (Dubois et al., 2007). Adoption studies are a useful way of separating environmental and genetic effects (O’Rahilly & Farooqi, 2006). One study investigating the weight of Danish children adopted over 23 years showed a greater correlation between adoptees and birth parents than adoptees and adoptive parents, reinforcing the gene-obesity association (Sorensen, Holst

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& Stunkard, 1998). However, most correlations were small, so the rest of the variation in weight must be influenced by factors such as environment. Also, the influence of the prenatal environment and postnatal environment before adoption cannot be ruled out (O’Rahilly & Farooqi, 2006). From reviewing the evidence presented, it could be suggested that genetic inheritance has an influence on obesity. Since one of the important implications for research is prevention and treatment, knowledge of the exact genes and mechanisms by which genes affect childhood obesity is essential.

GENES In recent years, research has associated a mutation in the gene controlling leptin production with obesity (Farooqi & O’Rahilly, 2006). Leptin is a hormone produced by fatty tissues in the body. It crosses the blood-brain barrier and interacts with receptors in the hypothalamus, stimulating the release of hormones known to influence weight by decreasing appetite and increasing energy expenditure (Farooqi et al., 2006). A mutation in the gene encoding leptin can result in hyperphagia (increased appetite) and so excessive food seeking and obesity (O’Rahilly & Farooqi, 2006). A mutation in the gene encoding proopiomelanocortin (POMC) has also been associated with obesity (Farooqi & O’Rahilly, 2006). POMC is associated with production of melanocortins in the hypothalamus which have a role in appetite regulation (O’Rahilly & Farooqi, 2006). The hyperphagia resulting from a lack of melanocortin increases food intake and is related to obesity (O’Rahilly & Farooqi, 2006). Notably, the environment plays a role whether these genes lead to obesity. Controlled experiments have shown that factors such as lack of exercise and a high fat diet increase the risk of obesity. Mice with a mutation on the POMC gene became hyperphagic and obese on a high fat diet but not on a standard balanced diet, and studies on people have supported this (Farooqi & O’Rahilly, 2006). This shows the importance of environmental influences on obesity, which will be further discussed later. However, it must be noted that mutations in genes encoding leptin and POMC together only account for about 5% of cases of childhood obesity (Bouchard, 2009). Therefore the value of this research in terms of prevention and treatment is limited, as the results are only applicable to,

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at best, 5% of obese people, and these are likely to be at the extreme end of the spectrum (Farooqi & Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Rahilly, 2006). More research needs to be done on genes that may explain a greater amount of the heritability of childhood obesity. Several genome wide scans carried out in the last few years have identified connections between commonly occurring genes and obesity. Herbert and colleagues (2006) showed that a common genetic variant near the INSIG2 gene, occurring in 10% of individuals is associated with obesity. The San Antonio Family Heart Study, an ongoing project started in 1991, produced evidence suggesting that chromosome 2, located near the POMC gene, is associated with leptin production (Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Rahilly & Farooqi, 2006). More research needs to be carried out to confirm these results, elucidate their exact mechanisms and clarify how they interact with environmental influences. From the evidence presented, it could be suggested that although genetics affects childhood obesity, the environment influences expression of genes. This paper will now review key aspects of the environment, with reference to how genes mediate their effects. Obesity is often conceptualized as an energy imbalance in susceptible subjects, and so the two main environmental factors that may cause this imbalance, diet and physical inactivity, will be reviewed.

NURTURE- FOOD INTAKE AND FOOD QUALITY Several factors surrounding diet have been associated with obesity such as total food intake, type of food ingested and eating patterns. If obesity is seen to be a result of an imbalance between energy intake and expenditure, the amount of food ingested is an important factor (Moreno & Rodriguez, 2007). Although some studies found no association between food intake and obesity, this may be due to under-reporting of food consumed (Newby, 2007). Two cross-sectional studies show that there is a positive association between energy intake and childhood obesity, even controlling for physical inactivity and parental body weight (Tucker, Seljaas & Hager, 1997). The role of parents in food intake is critical; overweight mothers have been found to serve their children larger portions and more fatty foods, contributing to weight gain (Nguyen, Larson, Johnson & Goran, 1996). Social learning theory posits that children learn from the actions of significant others such as parents (Bandura, 1999). If correct, it could be that unhealthy eating

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demonstrated by parents in these formative years results in heightened fat intake during adolescence and beyond (Bandura, 1999). In addition, research suggests that the type of food consumed may influence obesity levels. Some studies have shown that obese children eat more fatty foods and fewer carbohydrates than their lean counterparts, even taking physical fitness and parental weight into account (Moreno & Rodriguez, 2007). Fatty foods are energy dense and are associated with obesity because they are most likely to be stored in the body, do not provide strong satiety signals in contrast to carbohydrates and are generally considered to be palatable, thereby encouraging their consumption (Newby, 2007). Fast food contains high levels of fat and their frequent consumption may lead to elevated energy intake and reduced consumption of more low fat nutritious foods such as fruit and vegetables (Moreno & Rodriguez, 2007). Other types of food such as soft drinks have also been associated with obesity (Newby, 2007). Children fail to reduce solid food consumption to compensate for the extra calories ingested from soft drinks, leading to weight gain (Moreno & Rodriguez, 2007). Again, parental influence plays a role as children are more likely to eat excessive amounts of fatty foods if their mother is obese (Nguyen et al., 1996).

EATING PATTERNS Eating patterns may also influence childhood obesity. An uneven energy distribution throughout the day, where less is eaten at breakfast and lunch, and more is eaten at dinner may influence weight gain. Children are more likely to be inactive in the evening, usually watching TV or studying, and so excess energy is not burned off (Maffeis et al., 2000). Recurrent TV dinners are associated with increased fried food consumption which heightens chances of obesity (Moreno & Rodriguez, 2007). This may be because parents are more likely to provide food of greater nutritional value than children and adolescents would prepare themselves (Gillman et al., 2000). Also, family meals prevent TV dinners and potential â&#x20AC;&#x153;mindless eatingâ&#x20AC;? that may lead to increased calorie intake (Veugelers & Fitzgerald, 2005). In addition, a pattern of serving large food portions is associated with obesity as childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s energy intake increases (Newby, 2007). Over time, they become worse at regulating intake according to feelings of

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satiety, leading to further increases in intake (Newby, 2007). Parental influence is again important in this area, as obese parents have been shown to serve larger portions to their children (Nguyen et al., 1996). It must be noted that diet and eating patterns do not operate independent of genetics. Some children overeat to cope with negative emotions, and this pattern is associated with inherited characteristics (Tholin, Rasmussen, Tynelius & Karlsson, 2005). A genome-wide linkage analysis showed that an uninhibited eating pattern is associated with a gene that encodes peroxisome proliferator activated receptor Îł (PPAR- Îł). This receptor is mainly found in adipose tissue and is involved in leptin action, which influences eating and appetite (Steinle et al., 2002). Additionally, genetics can mediate the effects of systematic increased food intake. Bouchard and colleagues (1990) overfed MZ twin pairs and the amount gained by the twins varied from 3 kg to 12kg. The strongest predictor of weight gain for the identical twin was the amount of weight gained by other, suggesting that heredity has an important impact on weight gain in response to diet (Bouchard et al., 1990). So far, aspects of diet have been shown to impact on childhood obesity, although not independent of genetic influences on both eating behaviours and susceptibility to weight gain. The energy surplus caused by consumption of high energy food and large portion sizes can be combated by physical activity which utilizes excess energy (Hill & Wyatt, 2005). Collecting data on more than 130,000 youth from 34 countries, one study suggested that lower physical activity was associated with obesity (Janssen et al., 2005).

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY Although many factors affect childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s participation in physical activities, such as gender, availability of parks and psychological factors such as perceived competence (Sallis, Prochaska & Taylor, 2000) this discussion will focus on TV viewing and playing video games. Janssen and his colleagues (2005) found that TV viewing was associated with being overweight. However, there is inconsistent evidence to support the hypothesis that the cause of this link is a decreased amount of time spent engaging in physical activity (Han, Lawlor & Kimm, 2010). Exposure to advertisements on TV for high fat, low nutritional foods may provide an

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explanation. Advertising increases children’s desire for this food, as measured by increased requests for snacks, and fosters the belief that snack food consumption will not lead to excess weight gain, as the models in the advertisements are usually of average weight or thinner (Vandewater, Shim & Caplovitz, 2004). Vandewater and colleagues also (2004) found that time spent using video games was associated with weight gain. However, as this data was correlational cause and effect could not be established. In contrast to the standard interpretation – that video game use decreases the time spent in physical activities and so contributes to obesity – it could be the case that those who are overweight are less inclined to engage in physical activity and so use entertainment media more frequently (Vandewater et al., 2004). Although results supporting the idea that TV and video game use lead to obesity because of a reduced activity level are inconsistent, it cannot be concluded from this that exercise is unimportant. TV and video game use may just be a poor indicator of activity level (Han et al., 2010). Beneficial effects of exercise can clearly be seen in the obesity interventions discussed later.

BROADER ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES Although this discussion focused on more proximal factors that influence childhood obesity, broader environmental factors may also have an effect. For example, access to an outdoor play area can influence the amount of physical activity (Spurrier, Magarey, Golley, Curnow, & Sawyer, 2008). Also, changes to the built environment in the shape of urban sprawl increases motorised transport and so decreases the amount of energy children use during the course of their day (Anderson & Butcher, 2006). The amount of energy used for everyday living has fallen as people have adopted increasingly sedentary lifestyles (Prentice & Jebb, 1995). This is particularly problematic taking into account our evolutionary heritage which favoured individuals with parsimonious energy metabolism, and which stores energy as excess fats (Han et al., 2010). Some research has shown that genetics mediates the relationship between weight and physical activity (Esparza et al., 2000). One twin study showed that MZ twins were more similar in activity level than DZ twins, taking into account effects of the shared environment. This

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suggests heredity has an effect on activity level (Eriksson, Rasmussen, & Tynelius, 2006). In summary, evidence from family, twin and adoption studies suggests that inheritance has an impact in genetic susceptibility and although exact mechanisms have not been found to explain common obesity, genome-wide scans have generated promising results. Proximal environmental influences, including exercise and particularly diet impact on weight gain, with parents playing a crucial role in the provision of fatty foods, inappropriate portion sizes and eating patterns. Although these environmental influences can also be affected by inherited characteristics, it could be suggested that the environment is slightly more important as it is amenable to change and intervention. It is, however, important to keep in mind research about the genetic component to weight in order to identify groups that may be most at risk.

CONCLUSION: PREVENTION AND TREATMENT Measures regarding the prevention and treatment of obesity can be targeted at the individual, family and institutional levels (Han et al., 2010). Prevention is regarded as critical by the World Health Organisation in order to shield children from the difficulties of weight loss and comorbid disorders (World Health Organisation [WHO], 2004). At the individual level, treatments targeting children’s diet and activity patterns tend to have high efficacy rates, as children’s behaviour is quite malleable (McCambridge et al., 2006). Strength training seems to be of particular benefit, because results are apparent over a shorter time and overweight children are likely to be stronger than their peers, giving them an advantage (McCambridge et al., 2006). Walking with a pedometer (which has gadget appeal) instead of using transport has been found to aid weight loss (McCambridge et al., 2006). As parental influence on diet is critical, encouragement of parents to offer appropriate portions, nutritious foods and foster physical activity has made a difference to children’s weight (Hawkins et al., 2009). At an institutional level, government intervention is warranted as the estimated yearly cost of obesity is over €30 million. The Irish government has recommended an increase in the amount of physical activity in the school curriculum to two hours per week in order to decrease rates of obesity (Department of Health and Children [DOHC],

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2009). This is particularly important because according to the Growing Up in Ireland study, 75% of children did not partake in the recommended 60 minutes of exercise per day, one main reason being the lack of opportunity (Williams et al., 2009). In conclusion, it could be suggested that asking whether nature or nurture cause childhood obesity is not the right question. As this paper has argued, these factors are both at play and the real question that needs to be answered is how they interact to cause obesity. Further research is needed but we should note that because environmental factors can be altered to prevent or treat excessive weight gain, it could be suggested that they slightly outweigh the importance of genetic inheritance.

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Prentice, A. M. & Jebb, S. A. (1995). Obesity in Britain: Gluttony or sloth? British Medical Journal, 311(7002), 437-439. Sallis, J. F., Prochaska, J. J. & Taylor, W. C. (2000). A review of correlates of physical activity of children and adolescents. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 32(5), 963975. Silventoinen, K., Pietilainen, K. H., Tynelius, P., Sørensen, T. I. A., Kaprio, J. & Rasmussen, F. (2007). Genetic and environmental factors in relative weight from birth to age 18: The Swedish young male twins study. International Journal of Obesity, 31, 615-621. Sorensen, T. I. A., Holst, C. & Stunkard, A. J. (1998). Adoption study of environmental modifications of the genetic influences on obesity. International Journal of Obesity, 22, 7381. Spurrier, N. J., Magarey, A. A., Golley, R., Curnow, F. & Sawyer, M. G. (2008). Relationships between the home environment and physical activity and dietary patterns of preschool children: A cross-sectional study. International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity, 5, 31. Steinle, N. I., Hsueh, W. C., Snitker, S., Pollin, T. I., Sakul, H., St Jean, P. L., Bell, C. J., Mitchell, B. D. & Shuldiner, A. R. (2002). Eating behaviour in the old order Amish: Heritability analysis and a genome-wide linkage analysis. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 75, 1098-1106. Tholin, S., Rasmussen, F., Tynelius, P. & Karlsson, J. (2005). Genetic and environmental influences on eating behaviour: The Swedish young male twins study. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 81, 564-569. Tucker, L. A., Seljaas, G. T. & Hager, R. L. (1997). Body fat percentage of children varies according to their diet composition. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 97(9), 981986 Vandewater, E. A., Shim, M. & Caplovitz, A. G. (2003). Linking obesity and activity level with children’s television and video game use. Journal of Adolescence, 27, 71-85. Veugelers, P. J. & Fitzgerald, A. L. (2005). Prevalence of and risk factors for childhood overweight and obesity. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 173(6), 607-613. Williams, J., Greene, S., Doyle, E., Harris, E., Layte, R., McCoy, S., McCrory, C., Murray, A., Nixon, E., O’Dowd, T., O’Moore, M., Quail, A. Smyth, E., Swords, L & Thornton, M. (2009). Growing Up in Ireland: National Longitudinal Study of Children: The lives of 9-yearolds. Dublin: Department of Health and Children. Willer, C. J., Speliotes, E. K., Loos R. J. F., Li, S., Lindgren, C. M., Heid, I. M...& Hirschhorn, J. N. (2009). Six new loci associated with body mass index highlight a neuronal influence on body weight regulation. Nature Genetics, 41(1), 25-34. World Health Organisation. (2004). Global strategy on diet, physical activity and health. France: World Health Organisation.

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DEVELOPMENTAL AND NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE “SELF” Laura Mangan Graduate 2011, Psychology manganla@tcd.ie

ABSTRACT The Developmental paradigm posits that different aspects of the selfemerge at different developmental stages. For example, self-perception occurs at about 15 months and any recognition prior to this is most likely due to contingent action learning. Subsequently, following the development of higher cognitive processes the development of selfconsciousness takes place. Neuroscientific research has found a selfreference memory enhancement effect and the Depth-of-processing effect both of which result in a memory advantage for any information that is encoded with reference to the self. However, there is much debate as to whether or not the self can actually be studied empirically.

INTRODUCTION The study of the self has been a major focus of psychology from its formative years through to the present day. Over 100 years ago (1890) William James uncovered the concept of the self (Robinson & Sedikides, 2009) and following this theorists have offered various definitions of the self. For example, Pervin (2003, p. 261) suggested that the self is “the way we perceive and experience ourselves” and that the self is a major part of an individual’s experience and of his construction of the world. Farthing (1992, p. 139) postulated that the self is “the perceiver of our perceptions, the thinker of our thoughts, the feeler of our emotions and desires, and the agent of our actions.” Perry (1998) stated that the self is compiled of a set of characteristics that a person attributes to himself. According to John, Robins and Pervin (2008) the self is dependent on selfawareness and on stable mental representations. In contrast, Wolfe (2003) has stated that there is a lack of clarity surrounding the meaning of the term “self” and suggests that it needs to be more clearly defined. His own

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definition would suggest that the self is an individual’s reflexive awareness of his/her own behaviour, thoughts and feelings. Moreover, Blatt and Segal (1997) have commented on the rediscovery of the self by clinicians. They believe that this rediscovery has afforded greater acceptance and acknowledgement of the self with regard to treatment and psychopathology. The self has been studied from countless psychological perspectives and thus the current essay will endeavour to discuss the “self” with a particular focus on developmental and neuro-scientific evidence.

EVIDENCE FROM THE DEVELOPMENTAL PARADIGM Current developmental research has found that the infant will begin to formulate self-other differentiations by about 3 months (Lewis, 1990a). Butterworth (1992) has suggested that these differentiations are based on the difference between sensory input from the bodily self and the nonbodily self. For example the sensation of biting one’s own hand is very different from biting the hand of another. Support for self-other differentiation would be that infants show different responses for sounds they make as opposed to sounds made by others. Research has shown that one day old infants tend to cry less to their own sounds than to the sounds of others (Martin & Clark, 1982). Martin and Clark (1982) postulate that the day old infant is somehow able to both recognise and discriminate between its own vocalisations and ones made by other infants. Watson & Ramey (1972) conducted a study where week-old infants had a mobile attached to their cots. As part of the ‘Contingency’ condition a pressure-sensing pillow detected head movements which then activated the rotation of the mobile. Their results found that the infants in the ‘Contingency’ condition had a significant increase in the number of head movements. However, the ‘Non-contingency’ and ‘Stable’ conditions did not generate significant head activations. Thus they found that week old infants were able to show learning of contingencies between their head movements and resulting changes in their environment. Rovee-Collier (1993) supported the suggestion that infants show knowledge of actionoutcome contingency between their own actions and those of others. Pervin (2003) suggested that the knowledge of action-outcome contingencies is a contributing factor in developing self-perception. He

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also stated that cognitive developments, such as contingency learning are significant aspects of the development of the self.

SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS Research has shown that other species have the capacity for selfperception however; self-consciousness eludes all but humans and great apes (e.g. Lewis, 1992a). Self-consciousness involves self-reflection and treatment of the self as an object. The development of self-consciousness occurs at around 15 months. The establishment of self-consciousness can be observed through, for example, recognition of oneself in a mirror. The ‘Rouge’ test is an effective measure of the development of selfconsciousness. Lewis and Brooks-Gunn (1979) conducted a study where self-directed mirror behaviour of three groups of children was measured. The infants ranged from 9-12 months, 15-18 months and 21-24 months and were placed in front of a mirror with a red spot on their noses. The first group (9-12 months) responded socially to the ‘other’ child and made no attempts to remove the rouge. They did however; make contingent responses to their movements. Pervin (2003) argues that this group made no actual self-recognition response. The second and third groups showed self-directed activity where a response was made to the spot of rouge itself. Lewis and Brooks-Gunn (1979) provided evidence for these findings with another study involving television images. Infants who were 9-12 months were compared to a group of 15-18 month old infants for responses to live and week old images of themselves. There was a significant difference between the groups with the younger group showing no difference between responses for the live and week-old images. They found that the younger group could not differentiate between self-images and images of other infants on the week old recordings. They suggested that self-perception is cued by contingent learning of bodily movements and the corresponding movements on screen. Furthermore, they suggested that the 15-18 month group showed self-perception as they were able to differentiate between themselves and week old images. Thus Lewis and Brooks-Gunn concluded that selfperception takes place at approximately 15 months. Similarly, Gallup (1970) studied self-perception in chimpanzees and found that at first they responded as thought the image in the mirror was that of another chimp. Following several days with the mirrors they

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displayed self-directed mirror behaviours (e.g. grooming). The chimps were then anesthetised and a red unscented dot was placed on their faces. Instantly, the chimps explored the dots on their faces which, according, to Gallup is evidence of self-recognition. In humans, following self-recognition at 15 months, Lewis (1990a) has argued that self-consciousness develops. The development of selfconsciousness at this age is supported by cognitive developments such as the use of language to discriminate between the self and others and selfconscious emotions. Self-conscious emotions include shame, pride and embarrassment and are categorised as such because they require the development of self-consciousness.

NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES In contrast to the developmental approach the neuro-scientific perspective would argue that the self is formed through psychological processes and discrete mental activities. The psychological processes that form the self are dispersed throughout the brain and combine with contributions made from multiple subcomponents which determine discrete mental activities (Turk et al., 2003). Importantly, Heatherton, Krendl, Macrae and Kelley (2007) emphasise that the self is not localised but rather it is dispersed among several regions of the brain. According to Stuss and Levine (2002) frontal lobe insult seems to be reflected in many disorders of the self. For example frontal lobe damage has been associated with diminished capacity for self-awareness (Ackerly & Benton, 1947). Damage to this area of the brain has also been associated with the inability to process information relevant to the self (Wheeler, Stuss & Tulving, 1997).

SELF-REFERENCE MEMORY ENHANCEMENT EFFECT According to Rogers and colleagues (1977) there is a self-reference memory enhancement effect. This effect shows that there is a memory advantage for any information that is encoded with reference to the self. Individuals will tend to remember self-referential information better than information regarding another (Symons & Johnson, 1997). Studies using patients with severe amnesia (as a result of brain injury or Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disease) show that they can correctly indicate that specific traits are reflective of their selves (Klein, 2004). For example patient KC a profound amnesiac could correctly identify new personality traits that had emerged following his

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motorcycle accident (Tulving, 1993). With respect to individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, they have provided evidence of self-knowledge despite difficulty in the recognition of their own family members (Klein, Cosmides & Costabile, 2003). Patient KR, who suffered from severe Alzheimer’s displayed a preserved ability to correctly identify self-relevant personality characteristics (Klein et al., 2003). In addition, Rathbone, Moulin and Conway (2009) found that despite a lack of episodic detail in her memories their amnesiac patient’s sense of self remained intact. Therefore they proposed that conceptual memories alone are sufficient for the preservation of a coherent sense of self and speculated that conceptual autobiographical knowledge can be utilised to maintain a sense of self.

DEPTH-OF-PROCESSING EFFECT Rogers and colleagues (1977) posited that the self was a cognitive structure that could lead to enhanced memorisation of processed material. Conversely, researchers have found that superior memory can occur as result of more elaborate encoding due to greater self-knowledge, also known as the Depth-of-processing effect (Klein & Kihlstrom, 1986). Positron Emission Topography (PET) and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) studies have shown that areas in the left prefrontal cortex (LPFC) are active when memorisation is intentional (Kelley et al., 1998) and in tasks that encourage memory formation (Wagner et al., 1998). Even when subjects make no attempts to memorise (e.g. semantic judgement tasks) they show high LPFC activation and increased remembering (Wagner et al., 1998). However surface-based judgements of words shows diminished frontal lobe activity and they are not likely to be remembered (Buckner, Kelley & Peterson, 1999). In a study by Craik and colleagues (1999) participant’s brain activity was measured using PET while they rated personality characteristics for their selves or for familiar others (e.g. the Canadian Prime Minister). Rating of self-referential information coincided with distinct activations in the frontal regions particularly in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and right prefrontal cortex (RPFC). In a separate study self-referential memory was examined using fMRI techniques (Kelley et al., 2002). Participants were required to attribute adjectives to the self or to a familiar other (e.g. George Bush). Their

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results found that characteristics encoded for the self had higher memorisation than those encoded for the familiar other. Conversely, Heatherton and colleagues (2007) have argued that LPFC activity cannot expound increased self-referential memory. They implicated activation in the MPFC in self-referential processing however, they failed to elucidate whether the MPFC is accountable for enhanced self-referential memory. In contrast, Kelley and colleagues (2002) stated that the MPFC supports the configuration of self-relevant memories. Also they proposed that self-referential processing is not connected to normal semantic processing as the self is â&#x20AC;&#x153;specialâ&#x20AC;? (p. 8). However, Aron and Frayley (1999) offer a criticism of this hypothesis as they suggest that it fails to include significant others in its account of the self. They implied that cognitive processes embrace close others (e.g. partners, parents, friends etc.) as part of the self. This was supported by findings that showed a lack of selfrelevant memory enhancement when encoding adjectives for the self or a close other (Keenan & Bailler, 1980). Conversely, these findings were not supported by Heatherton and colleagues (2007) who found a significant difference between activations of the MPFC between judgments of the self and a close other. They found much more activity for self-judgments than for judgments of a close or familiar other. Therefore they concluded that the MPFC makes a selfspecific response to self-based judgments as opposed to those made about intimate or familiar others. Furthermore they suggested that methodological confounds are the source of findings that differ from their own. Ultimately, the MPFC has an essential role in the storage of selfrelevant information which aids self-referential processing (Heatherton et al., 2007).

VENTRAL ANTERIOR CINGULATED CORTEX AND THE SELF With regard to affective self-relevant information research has suggested a possible processing hierarchy (Heatherton et al., 2007). The MPFC is receptive to self-relevant information whereas the ventral anterior cingulated cortex (vACC) is receptive to the affective impact of selfrelevant information. Supporting research has found an association between hypometabolism in the vACC and depression (Drevets et al., 1997). Drevets and colleagues suggested a causal link between hypometabolism in the vACC and low self-esteem, which is commonly

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associated with depression. Furthermore, Mayberg and colleagues (2005) revealed that deep brain stimulation in the vACC successfully improved depressive symptoms in a treatment-resistant sample. According to Heatherton and colleagues (2007) self-esteem oversees social acceptance and rejection. They also suggested that the vACC is uniquely responsive to social feedback especially social rejection. Leary’s theory posits that when one behaves in a manner that is conducive to social exclusion this produces cognitive conflict which induces behavioural change thus avoiding rejection (Heatherton et al., 2007). As a result of these findings, they also attribute a self-regulatory role to the vACC.

CRITICISMS OF STUDYING THE SELF CONCEPT Finally, Danziger (1997) has offered a criticism of both of these approaches in his argument that the self cannot be studied objectively. This is supported by Jussim and Ashmore (1997) who state that the study of the self is highly context dependant as the conceptualisation of the self depends on the specific historical approach. Constantino & Castonguay (2003, p. 6) emphasise the “empirically challenging nature” of the study of the self. Further to this, Danziger (1997, p. 34) stated that the self is an example of certain “essentially contested concepts” which are “saddled with an inescapable ambiguity” Thus the self is an ambiguous concept that poses difficulties for objective investigation. Although, Danziger (p. 34) does admit that the self may be studied empirically (“verified in experience”) nevertheless the indistinctness surrounding the self creates complications for the study of such a concept. Holland (1997) supports this supposition and denies the slightest possibility of the objective study of the self. She suggests that the study of the self is indirect and rather, the study of the social discourse surrounding the concept. In contrast, Jussim and Ashmore (1997) deny that the self can only be studied through discourse and experience and suggest that regardless of apparent limitations the self can indeed be studied objectively. They propose that through addressing the critical issues and limitations, the objective scientific approach to the self may be fortified.

CONCLUSION In conclusion, developmental and neuro-scientific approaches offer a wealth of knowledge about the self. Developmental research has found

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that self-perception occurs at about 15 months and any recognition prior to this is most likely due to contingent action learning (e.g. Rovee-Collier, 1993; Pervin, 2003). Self-consciousness follows the acquisition of selfperception and is reflective of the development of higher cognitive processes (Lewis, 1990a). The depth-of-processing effect has provided evidence in support of enhanced self-referential memory and this has been associated with higher activation in the MPFC. Research has also suggested a self-specific response from the MPFC with regard to self-relevant information processing (Heatherton et al., 2007). Furthermore, Mayberg and colleagues (2005) found that certain disorders of the self may be remedied as a result of research into the relationship between the vACC and depression. Nonetheless, reservations regarding the objectivity of the study of the self-have been expressed. In order to tackle this issue developmental and neuro-scientific research has adhered to a stringent scientific method, with for example, the use of functional imaging and video equipment. In contrast to the claims made by Holland (1997) and as might be expected, neither approaches rely on discourse analysis as a means of sourcing evidence. The debate surrounding the study of the self will continue for many years. Research in the paradigms of Developmental and Neuropsychology have provided sufficient evidence that the self can be studied empirically, however, in order to achieve greater clarity and coherence a clear definition of the self is greatly needed.

REFERENCES Ackerly, S. S., & Benton, A. L. (1947). Report of case of bilateral frontal lobe defect. Research Publications: Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Disease, 27, 479-504. Aron, A., & Fraley, B. (1999). Relationship closeness as including other in the self: Cognitive underpinnings and measures. Social Cognition, 17(2), 140-160. Blatt, S. J., & Segal, Z. V. (1997). Introduction. In Session: Psychotherapy in Practice, 3, 1â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 3. Buckner, R. L., Kelley, W. M., & Petersen, S. E. (1999). Frontal cortex contributes to human memory formation. Nature Neuroscience, 2, 311-314. Butterworth, G. (1992). Origins of self-perception in infancy. Psychological Inquiry, 3, 103111.

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Constantino, M. J., & Castonguay, L. G. (2003) Learning From the Basics: Clinical Implications of Social, Developmental, and Cross-Cultural Study of the Self. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 13(1), 3â&#x20AC;&#x201C;8. Craik, F. I. M., Moroz, T. M., Moscovitch, M., Stuss, D. T., Winocur, G., Tulving, E., et al. (1999). In search of self: A positron emission tomography study. Psychological Science, 10, 26-34. Cushman, P. (1992). Psychotherapy to 1992: A historically situated interpretation. In D. K. Freedheim (Eds.) History of psychotherapy: A century of change. (pp. 21-64) Wahsington D. C.: American Psychological Association. Danziger, K. (1997). The historical formation of selves. In L. Jussim & R. D. Ashmore (Eds) Self and Identity. Fundamental Issues. (pp. 137-160) Oxford: Oxford University Press. Drevets, W. C., Price, J. L., Simpson, J. R., Jr., Todd, R. D., Reich, T., Vannier, M., et al. (1997). Subgenual prefrontal cortex abnormalities in mood disorders. Nature, 386(6627), 824827. Farthing, G. W. (1992). The psychology of consciousness. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Gallup, G. G., Jr. (1970). Chimpanzees: Self-recognition. Science, 167, 86-87. Heatherton, T. F., Krendl, A. C., Macrae, C. N. & Kelley, W. M. (2007). A Social Brain Sciences Approach to Understanding Self. In C. Sedikides & S. J. Spencer (Eds) The Self. (p. 3-20) USA: Psychology Press. Holland, D. (1997). Selves as cultured: As told by an anthropologist who lacks a soul In L. Jussim & R. D. Ashmore (Eds) Self and Identity. Fundamental Issues. (pp. 160-191) Oxford: Oxford University Press. John, O. P., Robins, R. W., & Pervin, L. A. (2008). Handbook of personality: Theory and research. New York: The Guilford Press. Jussim, J., & Ashmore, J. (1997). Self and Identity. Fundamental Issues. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Keenan, J. M., & Baillet, S. D., (1980). Memory for Personality and Socially significant Events. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Kelley, W. M., Macrae, C. N., Wyland, C. L., Caglar, S., Inati, S., & Heatherton, T. F. (2002) Finding the self? An event-related fMRI study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14(50), 785-794. Kelley, W. M., Miezin, F. M., McDermott, K. B., Buckner, R. L., Raichle, M. E., Cohen, N. J., et al. (1998). Hemispheric specialization in human dorsal frontal cortex and medial temporal lobe for verbal and nonverbal memory encoding. Neuron, 20(5), 927-936. Klein, S. B. (2004). The Cognitive Neuroscience of Knowing Oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Self, Vol. 3. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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Klein, S. B., Cosmides, L., & Costabile, K. A. (2003). Preserved knowledge of the self in a case of Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dementia. Social Cognition, 21, 157-165. Klein, S. B., & Kihlstrom, J. F. (1986). Elaboration, organisation, and the self-reference effect in memory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 5-11. Lewis, M. (1990a). Challenge to the study of developmental psychopathology. In M. Lewis and S. M. Miller (Eds.), Handbook of developmental Psychopathology (pp. 29-40). New York: Plenum. Lewis, M., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (1979). Social cognition and the acquisition of self. New York: Plenum. Martin, G. B., & Clark, R. D. (1982). Distress crying in neonates: Species and peer specificity. Developmental Psychology, 18, 3-9. Mayberg, H. S., Lozano, A. M., Voon, V., McNeely, H. E., Seminowicz, D., Hamani, C., et al. (2005). Deep brain stimulation for treatment-resistant depression. Neuron, 45(5), 651-660. Rogers, T. B., Kuiper, N. A., & Kirker, W. S. (1977). Self-reference and the encoding of personal information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 677-688. Perry, J. (1998). The self and philosophy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 5-11. Pervin, L. A. (2003). The Science of Personality (2nd Edition). Oxford: Oxford Unversity Press. Rathbone, C. J., Moulin, C. J. A., & Conway, M. A. (2009). Autobiographical memory and amnesia: Using conceptual knowledge to ground the self. Neurocase, 15(5), 405-418. Robinson, M. D. & Sedikides, C., (2009) Traits and the Self: Towards an Integration. Eds. Corr, P. J. & Matthews, G. (2009) The Cambridge Handbook of Personality Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Rovee-Collier, C. (1993). The capacity for long-term memory in infancy. American Psychologist, 45, 489-493. Smith, P., Cowie, H. & Blades, M., (2003). Understanding Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Development 4th Edition. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Stuss, E. T., & Levine, B. (2002). Adult clinical neuropsychology: Lessons from studies of the frontal lobes. Annual Review of Psychology, 53(1), 401-433. Symons, C. S., & Johnson, B. T. (1997). The self-reference effect in memory: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 121, 371-394. Tulving, E. (1993). Self-knowledge of an Amnesiac Individual is Represented Abstractly. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Turk, D. J., Heatherton, T. F., Macrae. C. N., Kelley, W. M., & Gazzaniga, M. S. (2003). Out of contact, out of mind: The distributed nature of the self. Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 1001, 65-78.

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Wagner, A. D., Schacter, D. L., Totte, M., Koutstaal, W., Maril, A., Dale, A. M., et al., (1998). Building memories: Remembering and forgetting of verbal experiences as predicted by brain activity. Science, 281, 1188-1191. Watson, J. S., & Ramey, C. T., (1972). Reactions to response contingent stimulation early in infancy, Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 18, 219â&#x20AC;&#x201C;227. Wheeler, M. A., Stuss, D. T., & Tulving, E. (1997). Toward a theory of episodic memory: The frontal lobes and autonoetic consciousness. Psychological Bulletin, 121(3), 331-354. Wolfe, B. E. (2003). Knowing the self: Building a bridge from basic research to clinical practice. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 13(1), 83â&#x20AC;&#x201C;95.

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DEVELOPMENTAL STABILITY OF TEMPERAMENT CHARACTERISTICS: A REVIEW Richard Lombard-Vance Graduated 2011, Psychology richard.lombardvance3@mail.dcu.ie

ABSTRACT It has been argued that personality features, such as temperament or traits, possess a certain level of developmental stability (Thomson, Winer & Goodwin, 2011). In this review, attempts are made to explain why temperament may, or may not, remain stable over time by addressing the influence of genetic, environmental and cultural factors on temperament and the interaction between such influences. This essay will also address the notion of temperamental stability in the context of different developmental stages.

INTRODUCTION To begin with a definition of temperament might be appropriate: temperament is defined as a personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s characteristic emotional and behavioural modes of response to environmental events. Such responses might include irritability, activity level, sociability and fearfulness (Shaffer & Kipp, 2007) or threshold for distress (Marysko et al., 2010). Significant correlations between different measures of temperament have been found (Worobey, 1986). This has been borne in mind while dealing with the issues below; delineations within temperament shall remain as defined by specific researchers in specific studies. This position is adopted under the assumption that significant correlations would be found using different measures in studies similar to those dealt with. The development of the aforementioned aspects of personality is of critical importance to adult development; therefore an understanding of the reasons and mechanisms behind the stability of temperament is vital. A broad consensus has been reached that temperament has a biological basis (Kagan, 2005). This view has been supported by Buss and Plomin (1984, in Zentner & Bates, 2008) arguing that temperament is observable early in human ontogeny, hinting at genetic influences. Evidence has been

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found in support of this view however, there are a number of aspects of temperament which do not necessarily remain stable at all times during development.

PEASINA POD: TWIN STUDIES AND MOLECULAR GENETICS SUPPORT STABILITY Temperament is thought to have 3 aspects. The first is that it is constitutional; this dictates a biological basis for temperament, including the interaction of genes, maturation and experience. Secondly, temperament possesses relative consistency, meaning individual characteristics are stable and relative comparisons against age-matched controls will likely remain consistent across time, but not necessarily rigid. Finally, temperament interacts with all aspects of the environment (Bornstein & Lamb, 2011). Some characteristics are more susceptible to change than others, which may occur in certain contexts or at particular developmental milestones. The importance of heredity in the development of temperament has been underlined by twin/sibling adoption studies. Greater similarity has been demonstrated between identical twins than fraternal twins on measures of temperament. Braungart et al. (1992) found evidence of genetic influences on temperament at both 12 and 24 months. The authors studied both identical & fraternal twins and adoptive & non-adoptive siblings. Greater similarities were found between identical twins than fraternal twins and non-adoptive sibling pairs than adoptive sibling pairs. Similarities were found for a number of characteristics of temperament, including activity levels. Cyphers et al. (1990) found heritability to be a predictor of between-twin scores on 8 of 9 scales measuring temperament. They also found environmental factors to be predictors on 3 of the 9 scales. Their study involved infant and toddler participants. Gjone and Stevenson (1997) have also found evidence for the genetic basis of temperament in twin studies of behavioural problems. For twins to possess similar temperaments at differing developmental stages would suggest the role of biological factors in temperamental stability. The increased similarity of identical twins over fraternal twins supports this notion. Research in molecular genetics has found a common genetic basis for temperament. Ebstein, Benjamin and Belmaker (2000) found genetic polymorphism in the dopamine D4 receptor, an area found to be relevant

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to novelty-seeking. The researchers also found polymorphism in the serotonin transporter promoter, thought to be associated with harm avoidance. Results showing stability of temperament across time (Braungart et al., 1992), with the likelihood that genetic factors play a vital role (Ebstein et al., 2000) would reinforce the idea of general stability of temperament under biological influence, a view supported by Komsi, Raikonen, Pesonen, Heinonen, Keskivaara et al. (2006).

ENVIRONMENT AND CULTURE MAY AFFECT TEMPERAMENT While Thomson et al. (2011) argue that temperament is biologically based, there is also evidence that the environment exercises some influence over temperament, especially with regard to temperamental changes. As well as finding genetic influences, Cyphers et al. (1990) also found the influence of environmental factors on temperament in 3 of 9 scales in twins. Goldsmith et al. (1999) found both genetic and environmental factors to be influential in a behavioural assessment of a sample of 140, 9-month old twins. The authors found that genetic factors were most influential on cotwin similarity for distress and activity level. Environmental factors accounted for similarity on measures of soothability. This view has been echoed by Gartstein and Rothbart (2003) in their assessment of the infant behaviour questionnaire, using children ranging in age from 3 – 12 months. While cultural or even environmental factors may not influence neonatal temperament, these factors may come into play at later points in life or in the occurrence of specific events. Such a specific event may be a change in living arrangements (e.g. Wachs, 1988) Cultural effects have been seen by Kerr et al. (1996). In their comparison of Swedish adults and adults from the United States, the authors found a stark difference in career achievement between shy and outgoing participants. In males, shy Swedes’ careers were not impeded by their level of shyness, whereas, shy Americans’ careers were. Inter-cultural differences were not seen between Swedish and U.S. adults on predictions of parenthood and marriage. The question of whether culture impacts upon temperamental stability remains in question.

WEDNESDAY'SCHILDISFULLOFWOE:TEMPERAMENTALSTABILITYINNEONATES Matheny, Riese and Wilson (1985) assessed the temperament of neonates, focusing on irritability, resistance to soothing, activity, and reinforcement

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value. The researchers found that neonate temperament was a significant predictor of temperament in later life (9 months), with a generalised multiple correlation. This challenges the notion that early infanthood is marked by temperamental change and instability (Lemery, Goldsmith, Klinnert and Mrazek, 1999). Neonates across a number of cultures have been shown to share a common set of temperamental characteristics (Wachs et al., 2004). While studying neonates in developing countries, the authors found little difference between their study and previous studies undertaken in developed countries. The researchers were careful to acknowledge that cultural factors may play a part in temperamental differences at a later point in development. However, they also drew an interesting comparison to their findings with the inter-cultural consistency of the so-called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;big 5â&#x20AC;&#x2122; personality dimensions in adults, across numerous cultures. One could tentatively suggest that culture is not influential in the formation or stability of temperament, or at least not in a major way. Between-cultures effects may not have been seen, but this does not necessarily negate the possibility of within-culture variability due to the influence of other environmental factors, such as parenting style (Bornstein & Zlotnik, 2008). In a recent study, Jong et al. (2010) argued that neonatal pain cry parameters led to understanding of temperament in later development. They divided neonatesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; cry response to a vaccine into two parts (pre-part and post-part), delineated by observer consensus. Neonates with shorter post-part breath intervals showed higher activity levels at one month, while neonates whose post-part cry was of higher pitch and whose postpart cry sounds were shorter, showed lower adaptability at the same point. This study hints at the possibility of neonatal temperament stability, at least showing behavioural correlates with later temperament. This suggests a biological basis for temperament, with stable changes being brought about by environmental changes. One could also argue that pain response is response to a biological change

STABILITY IN INFANTS AND TODDLERS In early childhood, the importance of environmental factors becomes apparent. Lemery et al. (1999) found that temperament underwent change in early infancy but remained relatively stable from 24 to 48 months,

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when measured by questionnaires distributed to mothers. Additionally, the authors note that while relatively stable, some aspects of temperament may differ in functionality over time. Activity levels, for example, may be employed in accordance with positive or negative emotional states. Wachs (1988) has found that the physical environment brings its influence to bear on the temperament of toddlers at 12 months of age. The parents of the children involved in the study had varying socioeconomic backgrounds â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 20% of children had parents who had not completed second level education, while in 29% of cases at least one parent had a postgraduate qualification. Furthermore, 48% of mothers in the study were working (either full-time or part-time). All children participating in the study were from two-parent families. The author found child temperament to be influenced by crowding in the home environment. Crowding could exist in the sense of poor ratio of room size relative to number of inhabitants. It was found that children displayed more undesirable characteristics of temperament, such as lower approachability and lower levels of adaptability. The author further noted that measures of personal space were predictors of temperament, while availability of objects or toys was actually a function of child temperament. The author also found that child temperament was not influenced by parent temperament. Thus we see that the physical environment can alter temperament, with a certain level of consistency. It has been shown that levels of distress produced by novel stimuli at 4 months were associated with fear scores at 14 months (Marysko et al., 2010). The authors ascertained that these results were predicted by maternal judgement of infant stress at 4 months, lending credence to the notion of temperamental stability in infanthood. According to Shaffer and Kipp (2007), such stability is indicative of biological basis for temperament. We can however see that the presentation of a novel stimulus is an environmental change, producing a relative change in temperament. The stability of temperament at later stages of development may arise from the experience of having been presented with novel environmental stimuli, wherein a process similar to conditioning may occur (Gross, 2005). Environmental and biological factors combine to enable stability of temperament.

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OLD TRICKS: STABILITY IN OLDER CHILDREN AND LATER LIFE Stability of temperament has been found widely in younger children. Mufson, Fendrich and Warner (1990) found that participants in a 2 year longitudinal self-report measure maintained the view that temperament remained stable over time. In the study, the authors found evidence of fair to moderate levels of temperamental stability in child self-report measures. Perhaps more interestingly, they also found moderate to good evidence of stability in reports of the same children’s temperamental stability by their mothers. Temperamental stability does not seem to be confined to younger children. Neppl, Donnellan, Scaramella, Widaman, Spilman, et al. (2010) found stability of temperament from toddlers (24 months) to middle childhood (6 – 10 years). This stability was found in positive and negative aspects of temperament and constraint. Temperamental stability may increase over time. Using test-retest correlation, Roberts and Del Vecchio (2000) found that correlation coefficients for consistency increased from a mean of 0.31 in childhood to 0.54 in early adulthood (college years), to 0.64 at age 30. This rose to 0.74 for those aged 50 – 70. Such evidence would suggest the effect of biological experience on temperament, as well as increasingly stable environments across time. One would expect less temperamental stability in childhood, as it is characterised by rapid development, with adolescence being characterised by social, environmental and biological upheaval. Similarly, later adulthood often signifies fewer familial pressures and higher financial security relative to younger adulthood. Kerr, Lambert and Bem (1996) found further evidence for long-term stability of temperament. They found that timing of marriage and parenthood and career success in 35 year olds could be predicted by maternal ratings of shyness at age 8 – 10. In their case, those who were rated shy at age 8 – 10 married or became parents later than their non-shy counterparts. Temperament can change, and temperament characteristics may not progress to adulthood. Often, the deciding factor mediating whether temperament is likely to change over time is the goodness of fit between a child’s temperament and parenting styles. Bates, Pettit, Dodge and Ridge (1998) detail the effect of restrictive parenting on the externalization of behaviour. Children who were temperamentally resistant showed lesser externalization of behaviour in response to restrictive parenting at age 7 – 10 years, than those who weren’t temperamentally resistant. Thus we see

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early evidence of the effect of restrictive parenting on children with varying temperaments. Again, environmental influences can play a large part in temperamental variability, however it must be noted that such variability seems to remain consistent over time. Rothbart (1986) found that questionnaire scores of positive aspects of temperament (smiling, laughter, activity level, and vocal activity) increased with age; a consistent change in line with developmental progression. Participants in the study were aged from 3, 6, or 9 months.

DEVELOPMENT OF UNDERSTANDING: CONCLUDING REMARKS We have seen that temperamental stability is influenced by both biological and environmental factors, as well as cultural factors in some cases. We have seen the possibility of temperamental stability across different stages of development, including neonates (Jong et al., 2010), infants and toddlers (e.g. Lemery et al., 1999) and in later life (e.g. Neppl et al., 2010). We have also seen that temperamental stability increases over time (e.g. Robers & DelVecchio, 2000), suggesting the role of biological experience in increases of temperamental stability across development. We also saw the influence of goodness-of-fit between temperament and environmental factors such as parenting style (Bates et al. 1998). This has allowed us to develop an understanding that temperament remains essentially stable across the lifespan of the individual, with slight questions hanging over the stability of temperament in the neonatal period. However, a greater understanding of temperament requires further study of neonatal aspects of temperament. Furthermore, a life-length longitudinal study might be useful in order to generate a wider picture of temperamental development. Perhaps the continuation of previous longitudinal studies might make this task more manageable. Without a clear picture of temperament stability or changes across the whole lifespan of the individual, it might be unwise to conclude that temperament remains perpetually stable. For now, however, this view remains helpful.

REFERENCES Bornstein, M.H., & Lamb, M.E. (2011). Developmental science: An advanced textbook (6th ed.). New York, NY: Psychology Press.

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Bornstein, M.H., & Zlotnik, D. (2008). Parenting styles and their effects. Encyclopaedia of Infant and Early Childhood Development. doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2003.10.071. Cyphers, L.H., Phillips, K., Fulker, D.W., & Mrazek, D.A. (1990). Twin temperament during the transition from infancy to early childhood. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 29, pp. 392-397. Gartstein, M.A., & Rothbart, M.K. (2003). Studying infant temperament via the Revised Infant Behavior Questionnaire. Infant Behavior and Development, 26, pp. 64-86. Gjone, H., & Stevenson, J. (1997). A longitudinal twin study of temperament and behavior problems: Common genetic or environmental influences? Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, pp. 1448-1456 Goldsmith, H.H., Lemery, K.S., Buss, K.A., & Campos, J.J. (1999). Genetic analyses of focal aspects of infant temperament. Developmental Psychology, 35, pp. 972-985. Gross, R. (2005). Psychology: The science of mind and behaviour (5th ed.). London, UK: Hodder Jong, J-T., Kao, T., Lee, L-Y., Huang, H-H., Lo, P-T., & Wang, H-C. (2010). Can temperament be understood at birth? The relationship between neonatal pain cry and their temperament: A preliminary study. Infant Behavior and Development, 33, pp. 266-272. Kagan, J. (2005). Temperament. In: Tremblay, R.E., Barr, R.G., Peters, R.DeV. (Eds.). Encyclopedia on early childhood development (pp. 1-4). Montreal, Quebec: Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development. Kerr, M., Lambert, W.W., & Bem, D.J. (1996). Life course sequelae of childhood shyness in Sweden: Comparison with the United States. Developmental Psychology, 32, pp. 1100â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1105. Komsi, N., Raikonen, K., Pesonen, A-K., Heinonen, K., Keskivaarn, P., Jarvenpaa, A-L., & Strandberg, T.E. (2006). Continuity of temperament form infancy to middle childhood. Infant Behavior and Development, 29, pp. 494-508. Lemery, K.S., Goldsmith, H.H., Klinnert, M.D., & Mrazek, D.A. (1999). Developmental models of infant and childhood temperament. Developmental Psychology, 35, pp. 189-204. Matheny, A.P., Riese M.L., & Wilson, R.S. (1985). Rudiments of infant temperament: Newborn to 9 months. Developmental Psychology, 21, pp. 486-494. Mufson, L., Fendrich, M., & Warner, V. (1990). The stability of temperament by child and mother reports over two years. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 29, pp. 386-391. Neppl, T.K., Donnellan, M.B., Scaramella, L.V., Widaman, K.F., Spilman, S.K., Ontai, L.L., & Conger, R.D. (2010). Differential stability of temperament and personality from toddlerhood to middle childhood. Journal of Research in Personality, 44, pp. 386-396. Roberts, B.W., & Del Vecchio, W.F. (2000). The rank-order consistency of personality traits from childhood to old age: A quantitative review of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 126, pp. 3-25.

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Rothbart, M.K. (1986). Longitudinal observation of infant temperament. Developmental Psychology, 22, pp. 356-365. Shaffer, D.R., & Kipp, K. (2007). Developmental psychology: Childhood & adolescence (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth. Wachs, T.D. (1988). Relevance of physical environment influences for toddler temperament. Infant Behavior and Development, 11, pp. 431-445. Wachs, T.D., Pollitt, E., Cueto, S., & Jacoby, E. (2004). Structure and cross-contextual stability of neonatal temperament. Infant Behavior and Development, 27, pp. 382-396. Zentner, M., & Bates, J.E. (2008). Child development: An integrative review of concepts, research programs, and measures. European Journal of Developmental Science, 2, pp. 7-37.

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