The Family Environment of “Quick-Witted” Persons: Birth Order,Family Communication Patterns,and Creative Facility

“Creative facility” refers to the ease, rapidity, or fluency with which people are able to formulate and produce novel, appropriate messages. Previous research indicates that people differ in this regard and that the phenomenon is linked to various personality and cognitive-style variables. This study aims to investigate whether aspects of family structure (i.e., birth order) and family processes (i.e., family communication patterns) are related to creative facility. Results indicated a significant interaction between birth order and family conversation orientation such that, for first-borns, higher levels of conversation orientation were associated with slower message production. No effects were observed for family conformity orientation. Among the implications of the findings is the need to assess birth order in studies of family communication patterns.     

How Do You Like Your Forgiveness? Communication Style Preferences and Effects

Two studies examined forgiveness recipients’ evaluations of, and responses to, four styles of forgiveness-granting communication: engaging, deemphasizing, conditional, and suppressing. In the context of close friendships, Study 1 showed that whereas the engaging style was highly preferred, the suppressing and conditional styles were not. Content analysis suggested that the latter two styles are perceived as unclear, inauthentic, and/or in violation of norms. Study 2 suggested that engaging forgiveness is preferable because it effectively addresses personal and relational face needs and reduces uncertainty. Implications for the conceptualization of forgiveness-granting styles and the practical construction of forgiveness expressions are discussed.     

Extinction of a taste aversion in the absence of the consummatory response

Rats were initially conditioned to avoid saccharin presented orally and were then given 40 intravenous injections of saccharin or saline. Those injected with saccharin showed more rapid extinction of the aversion to saccharin presented orally. Results are related to studies of shock avoidance using curarized subjects.     

校园中的流浪者[大结局]

The most peculiar feature of the whole affair was the friendship of the young man for Tiburcio. The latter was the practical hunter, which actual experience only can produce. He could foretell the coming of a norther twenty-four hours in advance. Just which course deer would graze he could predict by the quarter of the wind. In woodcraft he was a trustworthy though unquoted authority.