Animals can either be extrinsically motivated, where an external reward drives their behavior, or intrinsically motivated, where they are driven to engage in the behavior simply for the act itself. The overjustification hypothesis states that if an intrinsically motivated behavior is followed by the delivery of an external reward, the intrinsic motivation to engage in that same behavior is reduced. Lepper et al. (1973) found that children who expected to receive a certificate for drawing freely spent less time drawing (i.e., were less intrinsically motivated to draw) compared to children that unexpectedly received a certificate or did not receive one at all. The current study observed if the overjustification effect could occur in rats when using lever pressing as a measure of intrinsic motivation. For all rats, intrinsic motivation was measured in Phases 1 and 3 by the number of lever presses made by each rat in the absence of an extrinsic reward (chocolate food pellet). In Phase 2, Group Expected Reward (ER) received a reward for each lever press, Group Unexpected Reward (UR) received a reward based on a pseudorandom reinforcement schedule and Group No Reward (NR) received no reward. The overjustification hypothesis was not observed in this study; rather, both expected and unexpected reinforcement had no effect on intrinsic motivation on lever pressing behavior in rats.

In October and November of 2022, TCU’s Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development hosted the Hope Connection 2.0 camp which is a trauma-informed, therapeutic intervention for adoptive families. Children in adoptive families often have histories of trauma which impacts many aspects of their lives. Sensory processing is the mechanism in the brain that manages incoming sensory information and is known to be affected by early experiences with trauma. The Hope Connection 2.0 camp is designed to address many of the effects of trauma, including sensory processing. This study evaluated the efficacy of the Hope Connection 2.0 camp at reducing sensory processing deficits and improving children’s ability to process sensory input. Ten families participated in the camp which took place over two weekends. Parents completed surveys providing information on their children’s capacity for sensory processing prior to attending camp and after attending the final session in November. The information gathered at each time point was then analyzed to determine the change in the child’s ability to process sensory information over time.

Much research finds that low socioeconomic status (SES) in childhood has a lasting impact on women’s psychosexual development and later sexual behavior. Women from harsh environments have been found to begin puberty earlier, have an earlier sexual debut, and have more sexual partners than women from less stressful, higher SES environments. However, little research has examined the psychological changes within individuals who grew up in low SES communities which would facilitate an accelerated mating strategy in response to stress. Do stressed women from low SES backgrounds show more sexual fluidity and more attraction to a range of gender identities than women who are not stressed out? The current work addresses this gap by first measuring participants’ baseline sexual fluidity and attraction to a range of gender identities through an online survey. Stress was then experimentally manipulated in single, undergraduate women. Participants were randomly assigned to either the stress condition or the control condition of the Trier Social Stress Test, before reporting their sexual fluidity and scope of gender inclusive attraction again. Psychological shifts in mating psychology were examined by assessing the changes in sexual fluidity and gender inclusive attraction before and after the stressor. Results revealed a relationship between experimentally manipulated stress exposure and shifts in mating psychology in women.

Stigma, or the negative social attitude towards an attribute of a perceived individual (American Psychological Association, 2023), could contribute to treatment avoidance among people experiencing problems related to their mental health. In a previous study, stigma towards mental health treatment had a negative impact on college students' willingness to see psychologists or psychiatrists (Komiya et al., 2000). The current study collected surveys from 59 college undergraduates to describe the internalized stigma felt by those with mental health disorders (MHDs) compared to the level of stigma reported by individuals without a MHD. Results indicated that participants with a diagnosed MHD were more likely ready for treatment than those with an undiagnosed MHD. Treatment readiness and social support were positively correlated, as was problem recognition and MHD stigma (n = 23; ps < .05). These results provide knowledge on how internalized and externalized stigma affects the willingness of individuals who are struggling with MHDs to receive treatment, which can be used to better inform the development of interventions and awareness programs.

The purpose of this study is to describe and compare the culturally perceived aspects of childhood, from pregnancy to adulthood, of four different countries. The elements of childhood included in this research relate to different attitudes towards and aspects of childhood events (e.g., childbirth, education, puberty), childhood milestones, rites of passage, and reaching adulthood. The four focus countries include France, the United States of America, India, and Kenya. To obtain data, 4-5 participants from each country were interviewed via Zoom, in-person, or by email. The objective of the research is to explore how childhood experiences vary in different communities and uncover common themes that appear in this period of life. Through these interviews, we (1) gain knowledge on how each country values children and childhood events, (2) step out of the expectations of the western world to evaluate how children globally are raised, and (3) discover common themes amongst various cultures in child rearing.

Humans, are capable of is finding a relationship between two objects that are otherwise unrelated based on similar shared relationships i.e. if A = B and B = C, then A = C. Despite not being told A = C, a person makes this inference by using their prior experiences and events in a relational network. Previous research has examined effects of learning strategies on this outcome, visualization. In a derived relational task referred to as the intraverbal naming task, participants are taught the names to various images, and then later taught certain names are related. Then participants are tested on the relationships between different pictures in a match to sample test (derived relations). In previous studies, participants who were instructed to visualize the images when taught the words pairs performed better at correctly identifying image relational pairs than non-instructed participants. However, in a recent study participants asked to engage in verbal mnemonics during the word pairing stage, performed equally as well as the visualization group in the match to sample test. The current study seeks further compare the effects of two different instructed behaviors, using more monitorable learning behaviors than previous studies. During the intraverbal phase, one group of participants will be instructed to draw images related to the word pairs; another group will be instructed to complete verbal mnemonic exercises on paper, and a third will receive instructions to simply copy the word pairs from the screen.

Previous research on life history theory has suggested that childhood environments characterized by low socioeconomic status (SES) and exposure to high levels of unpredictability reliably predict unhealthy eating and greater risk of obesity. While perhaps evolutionarily advantageous in adverse environments, disordered eating behaviors can contribute to obesity risk. For example, higher levels of environmental unpredictability and lower childhood SES predict less mindful eating and more eating in the absence of hunger (EAH) through its impact on body awareness. Furthermore, slower salivary habituation (i.e., decreasing salivation over time) to new foods has been displayed in obese individuals. These previous findings highlight a largely unexplored area addressing the biological mechanisms linking childhood environment and obesity. The current research aimed to explore whether childhood environment leads to EAH due to changes in salivary habituation. We hypothesized that individuals from low SES and highly unpredictable childhood environments would exhibit less salivary habituation to food stimuli. We tested this hypothesis using a sample of 116 female undergraduates. We began by measuring participants’ blood glucose levels to control for physiological hunger levels. Then, we measured participants’ saliva responses to baseline stimuli (0.5 ml water), habituating stimuli (lemon lollipops), and novel stimuli (green lollipops) over the course of 14 trials using the Strongin-Hinsie-Peck technique. In addition to measuring saliva production and blood glucose levels, participants also completed surveys assessing their childhood SES and childhood unpredictability. Consistent with our prediction, the results demonstrated that childhood SES significantly predicted levels of salivary habituation, such that higher levels of childhood SES were associated with greater salivary habituation. Overall, this suggests that women from lower childhood SES environments habituated to the food stimuli less than women from higher childhood SES environments. This relationship may explain why individuals from low childhood SES environments exhibit greater eating in the absence of hunger, and therefore, greater risk for obesity. We discuss the implications of these results in understanding how interactions between early life environments and evolutionary biology influence the development and progression of disordered eating behaviors.

Previous research finds that childhood socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with chronic inflammation and exaggerated inflammatory responses to stress in adulthood. Some researchers have hypothesized that elevated inflammation may function to promote better immune function in environments with greater pathogen and injury stressors, like low SES environments. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between stress, inflammation, and immune function among adults from different childhood environments. Participants reported their childhood SES, completed a baseline measure of their perceived immune function, and provided an intravenous blood sample to measure baseline inflammation. Then, participants were randomly assigned to either the stress of control condition of the Trier Social Stress Test before reporting their perceived immune function and providing another blood sample. Inflammatory response was measured by examining the changes in participants’ levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines taken before and after the stressor. Perceived immune function was measured by examining the changes in participants’ perceived immune function from baseline to after the stressor. A measure of actual immune function was obtained by examining the ability of participants’ white blood cells to destroy E. coli particles, in vitro. The results reveal no relationship between stress-induced inflammation and immune function among those with low childhood SES. These findings suggest that although individuals with low childhood SES have elevated levels of inflammation, it does not benefit their immune function later in life.

Many believe that the flu shot can result in the flu. This a common health-related misconception; the flu vaccine cannot cause the flu, as it does not contain the whole live flu virus. Health-related misconceptions such as this can have a significant impact on the choices people make. Thus, correcting health-related misconceptions is essential, especially for older adults (typically 65+ years of age) who are more vulnerable to illness than are younger adults. Sitzman et al. (2022) found that when provided with immediate feedback and detailed explanations, both older adults and younger adults can correct many of their health-related misconceptions. However, there are instances in which feedback on a misconception can only be delivered after a delay, rather than immediately. For example, one may encounter health-related misconceptions online, but not receive feedback on their misconceptions until their next doctor’s appointment, months later. The aim of the current research was to explore how delayed feedback impacts the correction of health-related misconceptions in older adults and younger adults. Further, we explored how recalling prior answers to health-related questions may improve the effectiveness of delayed feedback. To explore these factors, we manipulated feedback timing (immediate feedback versus delayed feedback) and answer recall (recall initial answer versus no recall) between-participants for both younger adult and older adult participants. To begin the experiment, participants completed a true/false test on health-related knowledge and common health-related misconceptions (e.g., “Memories after a drinking “blackout” can be recovered with the correct method”). After answering each question, some participants were provided immediate and detailed feedback (e.g., “You are correct! This statement is false. Memory functioning is impaired when there is too much alcohol in the body and thus, a “blackout” occurs because a full memory was never made. However, people can build false memories based on what they are told or believe happened”). Other participants received delayed feedback; they received detailed feedback after they finished the entire test. Prior to receiving feedback, some participants were asked to recall their initial answer and some participants were not. Several days later, participants completed a true/false test on the same health-related misconceptions to determine the proportion of corrected misconceptions. We predicted that when participants did not recall their initial answer, immediate feedback would result in more corrected health-related misconceptions as compared to delayed feedback. However, when participants recalled their initial answer, delayed feedback would result in more corrected health-related misconceptions as compared to immediate feedback. Further, we predicted that both older adults and younger adults would benefit from recalling their initial answer when receiving delayed feedback. The results of the present research provide insight into the effect of delayed feedback on correcting health-related misconceptions for older and younger adults, as well as interventions that improve delayed feedback. These findings contribute to the development of effective strategies for correcting health-related misconceptions, particularly for older adults. By improving health-related knowledge through delayed feedback, older and younger adults can make more well-informed health decisions.

Individuals from stressful environments, such as those who grew up with low socioeconomic status (SES), exhibit an inflammatory response to stress which reflects a physiological present focus. Despite the negative long-term effects of elevated inflammation, the bodies of people with low childhood SES favor immediate survival under stressful conditions, at the expense of long-term health. However, less is known about whether people from low SES childhood environments also exhibit a psychological present focus in response to stress. The current research was designed to experimentally examine the impact of stress exposure on the impulsive decision making of undergraduates from various economic backgrounds. Participants completed baseline measurements of impulsivity, including their self-reported ability to delay gratification and sense of self-control. Next, participants were randomly assigned to either the stress or control condition of the Trier Social Stress Test, before completing the impulsivity measurements again and providing information about their childhood environment and demographics Psychological present focus was measured by comparing baseline and post-stress levels of impulsivity. Preliminary results indicate that stress exposure does not impact the psychological present-focus of people with relatively high childhood SES. However, results trended such that people with relatively low childhood SES reported a reduced ability to delay gratification and lower self-control after experiencing stress, compared to control. These patterns suggest a psychological present-focus in response to stress among those from stressful early life environments. However, results are preliminary and data collection is still ongoing.