Heather K. Terrell

Delay Discounting of Different Commodities

ABSTRACT When outcomes are delayed, their value is decreased. Delay discounting is a much-studied topic because it is correlated with certain disorders (e.g., pathological gambling). The present study attempts to determine how people would delay discount a number of different commodities, ranging from money to dating partners to federal education legislation. Participants completed delay discounting tasks pertaining to 5 different commodities, with a different set of 5 commodities for 2 groups. Results showed that different commodities were often discounted differently. Both data sets were also subjected to factor analysis. A 2-factor solution was found for both, suggesting that there are multiple “domains” of commodities. This finding is of interest because it suggests that measuring delay discounting for one commodity within a particular domain of commodities will be predictive of how people discount other commodities within that domain but will not be predictive of how they discount commodities within another domain.

Deconstructing the complex perceptions of gender roles, gender identity, and sexual orientation among transgender individuals

Conventional heteronormative beliefs about the nature of gender roles, gender identity, and sexual orientation are fundamentally challenged by the experiences of many transgender individuals. Eleven self-identified transgender individuals were interviewed about their definitions of, understanding of the relationships between, and perceptions of their own gender roles, gender identity, and sexual orientation. The questions focused on how transgender individuals define gender roles vs gender identity, how they defined themselves on these dimensions, and how they perceived the relationships among gender roles, gender identity, and sexual orientation. All of the participants understood gender roles to be social constructs and viewed gender identity as being more fluid, compared to essentialist, binary, heteronormative ideas about gender. Most viewed sexual orientation as being dynamically related to gender identity. These findings are discussed in terms of an emerging transgender theory of the nature of gender that transcends essentialist, traditional ideas, as well as social constructionist views of feminist and queer theories.

Development and Validation of the Internalized Racial Oppression Scale for Black Individuals.

This article describes the development and validation of the Internalized Racial Oppression Scale (IROS) for Black individuals in 2 studies using a total sample of 468 Black college students. The IROS is intended to measure the degree to which racial oppression is internalized and replicated by Black individuals in the United States. An exploratory factor analysis suggested a five-factor solution: Belief in the Biased Representation of History (BRH), Devaluation of the African Worldview and Motifs (DAW), Alteration of Physical Appearance (APA), Internalization of Negative Stereotypes (INS), and Hair Change (HC). Confirmatory factory analysis supported an adequate model fit of a four-factor model: BRH, APA, INS, and HC. All factors of the IROS were positively correlated with the Pre-Encounter subscale of the Racial Identity Attitude Scale (RIAS-B; J. E. Helms & T. A. Parham, 1996), and 4 of the factors were negatively correlated with the Immersion/Emersion subscale of the RIAS-B. Four factors of the IROS were negatively correlated with all subscales and total scores of the African Self-Consciousness Scale (J. A. Baldwin & Y. R. Bell, 1985). These results provide some support of the validity of the IROS.

College Students Discount Money “Won” More Than Money “Owed”

Evidence in the research literature indicates people may treat “won” money differently than they would their own money. The present study had a sample of 648 college students complete a delay-discounting task that involved the hypothetical monetary amounts of

Testing the Reliability of Delay Discounting of Ten Commodities Using the Fill-in-the-Blank Method.

1,000 or

Delay Discounting of Different Commodities II: Confirmatory Analyses

100,000. Participants were asked repeatedly what amount they would accept immediately rather than waiting a given length of time for the full amount. One group was told these amounts were money they had won; the other group was told that the amounts were money they were owed. Results showed participants discounted money “won” more than money “owed,” indicating that won money was less valued than their own money. These results suggest that researchers who study discounting should be aware that contextual factors may play a role in delay discounting.

Testing the Construct Validity of the Gambling Functional Assessment–Revised

Several measures of delay discounting have been shown to be reliable over periods of up to 3 months. In the present study, 115 participants completed a fill-in-the-blank (FITB) delay-discounting task on sets of 5 different commodities, 12 weeks apart. Results showed that discounting rates were not well described by a hyperbolic function but were significantly correlated across the 12 weeks for all 10 commodities. Discounting, when measured by area under the curve, was significantly correlated across the 12 weeks for 9 of the 10 commodities. Absolute values of both measures of discounting sometimes differed across the two administrations of the task. These results support the reliability of the FITB method but raise a number of issues to consider when choosing a method to study delay discounting.

Codependency, Perceived Interparental Conflict, and Substance Abuse in the Family of Origin

ABSTRACT Delay discounting occurs when individuals are increasingly willing to accept less than the full amount of something to receive it immediately as the delay to the full amount increases. Previous research has reported different “domains” of commodities, with discounting in one domain not being informative about discounting in another. In the present study, 283 participants completed a delay-discounting task with 1 of 2 sets of 5 commodities identical to those used in previous research (Weatherly, Terrell, & Derenne, 2010). Confirmatory factor analyses determined that the observed discounting conformed to previously reported domains. Also replicated was finding that discounting differs both as a function of commodity and how the commodity is framed. These results provide strong support for the idea that temporal decisions made about certain consequences may not necessarily be informative about how an individual will make decisions about other consequences. Also, the framing of the decision can significantly influence observed levels of discounting, potentially clouding interpretation.

Validating the Gambling Functional Assessment—Revised in a United Kingdom Sample

An attempt was made to modify the Gambling Functional Assessment (GFA), which was proposed to identify four possible contingencies maintaining the respondent’s gambling behavior. However, previous research found that it only identified two contingencies (i.e., positive vs. negative reinforcement), with some items cross-loading on both contingencies and one not loading at all. A total of 1,060 undergraduate students completed a revised version of the GFA containing 22 items. Exploratory factor analyses conducted on a random selection of half of the participants led to a two-factor solution (positive and negative reinforcement) for 16 of the items that strongly loaded on the two factors. Confirmatory factor analyses conducted using structural equation modeling on the data from the other half of the sample confirmed the two-factor model. The GFA–Revised consists of 16 items, 8 each measuring positive and negative reinforcement contingencies. Although this revised measure cleanly parses the two contingencies, the data indicate that gambling maintained by positive reinforcement is more frequent than gambling maintained by negative reinforcement. This outcome will make directly comparing the two contingencies difficult, especially given that evidence suggests that gambling maintained by negative reinforcement is more strongly associated with pathology than gambling maintained by positive reinforcement.

The Development of the Sexual Assertiveness Questionnaire (SAQ): A Comprehensive Measure of Sexual Assertiveness for Women

Codependency has been found to originate in many different environments, namely the family of origin. The most popularly researched environment is the family of origin that exhibits substance abuse. However, little research has clearly demonstrated that codependency is most prevalent in children of substance abusers. Previous research has not examined how codependency is correlated with perceived interparental conflict. This study examined the relationships among codependency, interparental conflict, and substance abuse in the family of origin. Results of this study found that codependency in adulthood was related to perceived interparental conflict in the family of origin, but was not related to the family of origin that exhibited substance abuse.