Apparent negativity towards fatness is fostered by failure to consider other visible differences and by children's 'like me' peer preferences. It was less desirable in the eyes of most 5-year old girls to be a boy than to be fat. This offers some reassurance to those working to improve children's health literacy in obesity.

Based on the attributional reformulation of learned helplessness theory (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978) and Lazarus and Launier's (1978) primary‐secondary appraisal theory of stress, the present study sought to examine teleworkers' reactions to their work‐related problems. The role of attributions about the sources, and cognitions about the consesquences, of these problems in promoting positive adaptation was addressed. In particular, it was predicted that teleworkers who made optimistic attributions and cognitions would be more likely to employ problem‐focused coping strategies and, as a result, report more positive psychological and job‐related outcomes. Based on a survey sample of 192 teleworkers, the results indicated that a tendency to engage in self‐blame was related to the use of emotion‐focused coping strategies. In turn, there was evidence linking emotion‐focused coping strategies to negative outcomes and problem‐focused coping strategies to positive outcomes. The results are discussed in relation to attributional approaches to stress which highlight the importance of cognitions about the consequences of negative events. Finally, implications for the training of teleworkers are presented.

Summary Background While research has investigated negative stereotyping of fat body shapes, little has focused on young children's understanding of the mechanisms, motivations and consequences of weight change. Objectives To investigate children's understanding of how weight change is achieved, people's motivation for weight change, and the consequences of weight loss or weight gain. Methods One hundred children (mean age 5.2, 38 girls) read a book in which one of the main characters (male/female according to the child's sex) was either healthy weight or overweight. Afterwards, this character was described as gaining or losing weight, and drawings which depicted the child in the story as either healthy weight or overweight were presented to the child and discussed. An audio‐recorded semi‐structured interview followed and transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. Results Nearly all children described the weight/shape change and attributed this to food more frequently than exercise. Weight loss was viewed positively and both motivations and consequences grouped under two master themes (physical and social reasons). No clear gender differences were observed in these responses. Conclusions Talking with 5‐year‐olds showed them to be observant and knowledgeable, especially about motivations for and consequences of weight change. For those working to improve children's health literacy, this suggests receptiveness to early and fact‐based education.

Duplex perception, the simultaneous perception of a single stimulus in two phenomenologically distinct modes, was first observed, using musical stimuli, by Pastore et al. (1983). The present paper reports a two-part experiment designed to replicate and extend Pastore et al.'s study. Twenty subjects participated in both parts, the first of which was a modified replication of Pastore et al.'s Experiment 1, and the second of which was an extended replication in which the onset time of target notes was manipulated. As expected, in both parts of the study duplex perception was observed only when subjects were making musical judgments of dichotic stimuli; however, in the second part of the study, the prediction that duplex perception would be more likely to occur when target notes were on time as opposed to early or late was not supported. The overall incidence of duplex perception was lower than that reported by Pastore et al. Possible reasons for this discrepancy in findings are discussed.Duplex perception, the simultaneous perception of a single stimulus in two phenomenologically distinct modes, was first observed by Rand (1974), using synthetic speech stimuli. The phenomenon occurs when a single formant transition, or a pair of transitions, is isolated and presented to one ear, while the remainder of the syllable is presented to the other ear. Listeners report hearing a nonspeech "chirp" in the ear to which the isolated transition(s) was (were) presented and, simultaneously, the reconstituted syllable in the other ear. The perceived identity of the syllable-consonant depends on the contralateral formant transition.Mann, Madden, Russell, and Liberman (1981) applied this method to determine how a time-varying formant transition was integrated into the perception of a stop consonant. They observed that the reconstituted speech percept observed by their subjects seemed no different from the one that would have been produced had the base and isolated transitions been electronically mixed and presented in the normal manner. At the same time, their subjects perceived a nonspeech "chirp" not perceptibly different from what they would have perceived had the transition been presented in isolation. Isenberg and Liberman (1978) used only the F3 transition as the isolated cue, so that the remainder, all of the first and second formants, would be full and speech-like. The results indicated that this arrangement did make it relatively easy to obtain the duplex percept.There has since been much research using the duplex paradigm (e.g., Isenberg & Liberman, 1978; The author is grateful to Ian Christensen, Andrew Gregory, Tony Manstead, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.The author's mailing address is: Department of Psychology, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, England.

Objective This study aimed to investigate whether weight bias is apparent in young and older children’s interactions during a paired reading activity. Methods One hundred seventy‐two children (57% girls) read a book in which the main character, “Alfie,” was portrayed either as average weight or as having obesity. Younger children (mean = 6.1 years) were paired with a same‐sex older child (mean = 9.5 years). Questions within and at the end of the story prompted discussion. Children’s conversations were analyzed according to valence (emotional tone). Nonverbal behavior was noted via observation. Results Pairs of children reading about the Alfie character with obesity made significantly more negative and fewer positive comments when offering story completions. Just one pair of boys spoke about him being “fat.” There was no evidence that older children passed negative attitudes to younger children. Covertly expressed weight bias was more common. There was more frequent laughter while reading about the character with obesity, and two pairs made nonverbal reference to Alfie’s appearance. Conclusions Covert weight bias was apparent in the interactions of some of these children, but overt weight bias was rare. There is a need to establish a better chronology of children’s awareness of, and attitudes toward, obesity and how they are acquired.