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Perspectives on Psychological Science is a publication of the Association for Psychological Science.
Editor
Barbara A. Spellman University of Virginia School of Law
Associate Editors David A. Sbarra University of Arizona Bethany A. Teachman University of Virginia Special Associate Editors Alex O. Holcombe University of Sydney Alison Ledgerwood University of California, Davis Kristina R. Olson University of Washington Daniel J. Simons University of Illinois Advisory Editors
John T. Cacioppo University of Chicago
Robert W. Levenson University of California, Berkeley
Elizabeth F. Loftus University of California, Irvine
Walter Mischel Columbia University
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Perspectives on Psychological Science
Volume 10, Number 2
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The links below take you to the journal via the APS website. If not already logged in, you will be redirected to log-in using your last name (Garcia) and Member ID (81665).
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Editorial From the Incoming Editor: Should I Submit My Article to Perspectives on Psychological Science?
Robert J. Sternberg
One of a researcher's main goals is to share opinions, findings, and theories with the scientific community, and the decision of where to submit a paper so it reaches the right audience is often a difficult one. In this editorial, incoming Perspectives on Psychological Science (PPS) Editor Robert Sternberg helps authors decide whether their work might be appropriate for inclusion in PPS. Those wishing to learn more about submitting to PPS can visit the journal's Submission Guidelines page.
Learn more about Robert Sternberg's vision for PPS in an interview published in the December 2014 Observer.
Robert J. Sternberg will be speaking at an event for students and beginning researchers titled "How to Get Published" at the 27th APS Annual Convention in New York, NY, USA.
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Perceiving Political Polarization in the United States: Party Identity Strength and Attitude Extremity Exacerbate the Perceived Partisan Divide
Jacob Westfall, Leaf Van Boven, John R. Chambers, and Charles M. Judd
The political climate in the U.S. Congress has led to what seems to be an alarming divide between Republicans and Democrats. However, some researchers believe that this apparent divide is exaggerated by both the public and social scientists. An examination of more than 20,000 responses to the American National Election Study found that Americans do overestimate political polarization between Democrats and Republicans. The data support a new three-factor framework that suggests that the categorization of supporters into "our group" and "their group," the strength with which people identify as a Democrat or a Republican, and the extremity of people's personal attitudes on political issues predict these exaggerated perceptions.
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Beyond Good and Evil: What Motivations Underlie Children's Prosocial Behavior?
Alia Martin and Kristina R. Olson
Developmental researchers have often debated whether children are innately good and helpful or innately selfish, needing to be taught generosity. It has become clear that children -- even quite young children -- do engage in prosocial behavior. This has led researchers to turn their attention toward understanding factors that influence children's decisions to help. A review of recent research suggests that young children's willingness to help others is influenced by aspects of the person in need of help, the context in which the help is given, and the helper's own mindset -- many of the same things that influence prosocial behavior in adults. Although these findings present a promising start, more research is needed to fully understand the mechanisms underlying prosocial behavior in early life and how these mechanisms change across development.
Kristina R. Olson will be speaking in the invited symposium "The Social Bases of Ownership - Good, Bad, and Surprising" at the 27th APS Annual Convention held in New York, NY, USA.
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Learning Versus Performance: An Integrative Review
Nicholas C. Soderstrom and Robert A. Bjork
The main goal of learning is to facilitate the long-term retention of knowledge and skills; performance, by contrast, is the temporary change in behavior or knowledge seen during or immediately after information or skill acquisition. Research using animal models and research from the motor- and verbal-learning domains has demonstrated the disassociation between learning and practice. Unfortunately, people do not seem to understand this dissociation and often mistake gains in performance as evidence that long-term learning has taken place. This leads people to favor training strategies that do not actually promote long-term retention of information. Those examining learning and memory need to be cognizant of this dissociation and its implications for research, theory, and practice.
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Special Section on Loneliness
Although almost everyone knows what it is to feel lonely, there is still much that psychological scientists don't understand about loneliness. This special series, introduced by David A. Sbarra, offers an important summary of the current state of loneliness research. These integrative and thought-provoking papers help set a high standard for future research into the unexplored, and less understood, areas of this field.
Loneliness is often conceptualized as a uniquely human phenomenon; however, J. Cacioppo and colleagues discuss research suggesting that loneliness may be seen across different species and -- because of the benefits gained through social connections -- serves as an adaptive response to situations in which there is a discrepancy between actual and preferred social relationships.
Because of its complexity, loneliness is likely to be influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. Goossens and colleagues review empirical work examining these influences and look to future research -- such as genome-wide association studies or studies in epigenetics -- that could help researchers identify the ways networks of genes influence loneliness.
In a meta-analysis, Holt-Lunstad and colleagues explore the relationship between objective and subjective measures of social isolation and mortality, finding that these factors have an influence on mortality similar to that of other well-established mortality risk factors -- an influence that seems to be stronger for middle-aged adults than it is for older adults.
As our understanding of the mental and physical impacts of loneliness grows, so does the need for better interventions to prevent and treat loneliness. S. Cacioppo and colleagues investigate the effectiveness of psychobiological treatments -- such as cognitive behavioral therapy -- and pharmaceutical treatments -- such as oxytocin.
The aversive feelings associated with loneliness encourage people to connect with others -- something Qualter and colleagues refer to as the reaffiliation motive (RAM). In this last special-section article, they detail how developmental changes in RAM, and the presence of individual difference risk factors, can contribute to the failure of RAM processes and the development of prolonged loneliness.
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Perspectives on Psychological Science is a publication of the Association for Psychological Science. Please contact APS by email or by telephone at +1 202.293.9300 with questions or comments. Visit APS on the Web
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