One popular facet of Internet gaming is the massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG). Some individuals spend so much time playing these games that it creates problems in their lives. This study focused on players of World of Warcraft. Factor analysis revealed one factor related to problematic usage, which was correlated with amount of time played, and personality characteristics of agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and extraversion.
Efforts to find missing or wanted individuals have been characterized as an example of event-based prospective memory called prospective person memory. We examined prospective person memory in the context of missing children. Participants studied 4 or 12 mock missing child posters. In Experiment 1, we equated total time per poster and found no difference between conditions in prospective person memory accuracy. In Experiment 2, we equated total time for all posters and found evidence of a decrease in prospective person memory accuracy in the 12-poster condition. In Experiment 3, we allowed free study and also found a decrease in prospective person memory accuracy. Across all three experiments, we also found evidence of a more liberal response bias in the 12-poster condition. Results are discussed in terms of both practical and theoretical implications.
Being an eyewitness to a crime can be a traumatic event, especially if the eyewitness is the victim. In addition, following the crime the witness is susceptible to being distressed further during questioning. The current research examined the effects a trained support dog would have on mock witnesses’ anxiety (as measured by heartrate) during questioning. Participants observed a video and answered questions from an actual uniformed police officer, similar to a normal eyewitness interview. During the interview, participants were either presented with a support dog or a glass of water (control). Results indicated that while the uniformed officer increased participants’ anxiety significantly, the support dog successfully decreased anxiety almost to the point of baseline, and significantly more than the control condition. Implications and real-world application are discussed.
Minimal studies have investigated individuals' evaluations of antigay hate crimes and hate crime legislation simultaneously, with most research focusing on one or the other. In a sample of 246 heterosexual undergraduates, the present study found that evaluations of antigay hate crimes and hate crime legislation were unrelated. Higher social dominance orientation (SDO) and crime control orientation scores were associated with more positive evaluations of antigay hate crimes. Positive evaluations of hate crime legislation were associated with more positive attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. We also found that the relationship between SDO and evaluations were mediated by crime control beliefs (for hate crimes evaluations) and antigay attitudes (for hate crime legislation evaluations). The present findings have possible implications for the manner in which organizations advocate for the extension of hate crime legislation to include sexual orientation.
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