The Altered Course of Learning: How Alcohol Outcome Expectancies Are Shaped by First Drinking Experiences

According to expectancy theory, outcome expectancies are first formed vicariously (through observing other people) and then through direct experience. This cohort-sequential longitudinal study explored these expectancy origins in 1,023 youths (52% female, ages 10.5–15.5 years at recruitment, M = 12.47 years, SD = 0.95). Discontinuous multilevel growth models described patterns of change in expectancies before and after the first experience of distinct drinking milestones (i.e., first sip, first full drink, first heavy-drinking situation). Youths’ expectations for positive and negative drinking outcomes generally increased and decreased over adolescence, respectively, reflecting general developmental trends. Drinking experiences altered learning trajectories, however, reifying positive expectancies and invalidating negative expectancies at each milestone and altering the course of expectancy change thereafter. For positive outcome expectancies, the influence of direct experience on learning was stronger when drinking milestones were met at an earlier age. Conversely, invalidation of negative expectancies was stronger when the first-drink milestone was met at a later age.

Recent adverse mortality trends in Scotland: comparison with other high-income countries

ObjectiveGains in life expectancy have faltered in several high-income countries in recent years. Scotland has consistently had a lower life expectancy than many other high-income countries over the past 70 years. We aim to compare life expectancy trends in Scotland to those seen internationally and to assess the timing and importance of any recent changes in mortality trends for Scotland.SettingAustria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England and Wales, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Poland, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and USA.MethodsWe used life expectancy data from the Human Mortality Database (HMD) to calculate the mean annual life expectancy change for 24 high-income countries over 5-year periods from 1992 to 2016. Linear regression was used to assess the association between life expectancy in 2011 and mean life expectancy change over the subsequent 5 years. One-break and two-break segmented regression models were used to test the timing of mortality rate changes in Scotland between 1990 and 2018.ResultsMean improvements in life expectancy in 2012–2016 were smallest among women (<2 weeks/year) in Northern Ireland, Iceland, England and Wales, and the USA and among men (<5 weeks/year) in Iceland, USA, England and Wales, and Scotland. Japan, Korea and countries of Eastern Europe had substantial gains in life expectancy over the same period. The best estimate of when mortality rates changed to a slower rate of improvement in Scotland was the year to 2012 quarter 4 for men and the year to 2014 quarter 2 for women.ConclusionsLife expectancy improvement has stalled across many, but not all, high-income countries. The recent change in the mortality trend in Scotland occurred within the period 2012–2014. Further research is required to understand these trends, but governments must also take timely action on plausible contributors.

MODELS OF JUDGMENTS OF BEHAVIOR RESPONSIBILITY IN CHINESE CULTURE FROM AN ATTRIBUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Participants in this study were 217 employees and managers. Two structural equation models that reflected the relationships among locus, stability, controllability, affect responses, the change of expectancy and judgments of responsibility were set up. EQS (Bentler, 2000) was used to test the models. The authors found that their models were well supported by the data. In these models, “cognition” (judgment of responsibility) and “affect” (sympathy and anger) had a two-way directional relationship. Not only were causal locus and stability important attributional dimensions that could contribute to the judgment of responsibility, but also affect response contributed to the judgment of responsibility. Causal attribution (including locus, controllability, stability), affect and expectancy change could serve as the antecedents of judgments of behavior responsibility. These findings have important significance for our understanding of people's social behavior.

Performance, Attribution, and Expectancy Linkages in Personal Selling

The authors examine the relationships among performance, causal attribution, and the expectancy component of sales force motivation through the measurement and manipulation of components of a proposed conceptual framework. They conducted one field survey, two laboratory experiments, and one field experiment to test hypothesized effects. The results generally support the hypotheses, indicating that causal attributions can either raise or lower expectancy, depending on certain underlying conditions. The results also suggest that salespeople's prior experience may moderate the effect of attribution on expectancy change. These findings have important implications for sales managers as coaches and trainers.