Mimics: A symbolic conflict/cooperation simulation program,with embedded protocol recording and automatic psychometric assessment

This paper describes an interactive software environment designed as a social interaction simulator with embedded comprehensive recording and flexible assessment facilities. Using schematized visual sketches similar to cross-cultural facial universals (Ekman, 1999), Mimics (Shmelyov & Aidman, 1997) employs a computer-game-like scenario that requires the subject to identify with anavatar and navigate it through a playing field inhabited byhosts who display a range of facial expressions. From these expressions (which are highly consequential), the player has to anticipate the hosts’ reactions to the avatar (which may vary from friendly to obstructing or aggressive) and choose between negotiating with a host (by altering the avatar’s facial expression), attacking it, or searching for an escape route. Comprehensive recording of player moves and interactions has enabled computation of several finegrained indices of interactive behavior, such as aggressive response styles, efficiency, and motivation in conflict/cooperation contexts. Initial validation data and potential applications of the method in the assessment of personality and social behavior are discussed.     

Predicting preschoolers' externalizing behaviors from toddler temperament,conflict, and maternal negativity

Rarely have researchers elucidated early childhood precursors of externalizing behaviors for boys and girls from a normative sample. Toddlers (N = 104; 52 girls) were observed interacting with a same-sex peer and their mothers, and indices of conflict-aggression, emotion and behavior dysregulation, parenting, and child externalizing problems were obtained. Results indicated that boys initiated more conflictual-aggressive interactions as toddlers and had more externalizing difficulties 2 years later, yet girls' (not boys') conflict-aggressive initiations at age 2 were related to subsequent externalizing problems. When such initiations were controlled for, emotional-behavioral undercontrol at age 2 also independently predicted externalizing problems at age 4. Moreover, the relation between conflict-aggressive initiations at age 2 and externalizing problems at age 4 was strongest for dysregulated toddlers. Finally, the relation between age 2 conflict-aggressive initiations and age 4 externalizing problems was strongest for those toddlers who incurred high levels of maternal negativity. These findings illustrate temperament by parenting connections in the development of externalizing problems.     

Predicting conflict within romantic relationships during the transition to adulthood

We conducted a retrospective study between 1997 and 2000 with 200 participants in the Children in the Community Study at their mean age of 29 (range: 27–31 years). Participants completed detailed narrative interviews about their transition to adulthood and described monthly levels of partner conflict that had occurred between ages 17 and 27. Data from these interviews were used to investigate the developmental trajectory and predictors of conflict in romantic relationships. Multilevel growth models showed that partner conflict increased between ages 19 and 25 and then declined slightly. Parental divorce, low parental socioeconomic status, being an only child, being divorced, being married, cohabiting, and having biological offspring were associated with elevated partner conflict. Different patterns of association between these variables and partner conflict were observed in men and women.     

Predicting stuttering from linguistic factors for German speakers in two age groups

Brown's factors [J. Speech Disorders 10 (1945) 181] predict the likely loci of disfluency in English-speaking adults who stutter. A word is more likely to be stuttered for these speakers if it is a content word, starts with a consonant, is positioned at the beginning of a sentence, and if it is a long word. These same factors were examined in native German-speaking children and adults who stutter. Speech data of 15 German adults and 17 children were coded according to Brown's factors. For the adult group, it was predicted that words starting with consonants would not lead to as much of an increase in disfluencies compared with English samples, because of cross-linguistic differences in syllable onset properties. It was predicted that stuttering would be more likely in later sentence positions in German because in German the verb is usually near the end of a sentence. There were no obvious reasons to expect differences on the two remaining factors, content words and word length. With children, it was hypothesised that Brown's factors that specify level of linguistic difficulty would not be such a good predictor of stuttering rate. Specifically, it was predicted that the difference in stuttering rate between function and content words would be lower in children. For the adults both word type (content/function) and word length increased stuttering rate significantly, whereas changes in stuttering rate for the other two factors were non-significant. It was also found that when word difficulty (based on a combined measure of all factors) increased, stuttering rate rose. With children, only the word-length factor was significant, and stuttering rate was not governed to the same extent by overall word difficulty. Conclusions are drawn as to the effect of linguistic and motor influences on stuttering. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: The reader will learn about and be able to describe: (1) how linguistic factors affect stuttering rates in German; (2) the different patterns of adults and children who stutter and how language might influence this pattern; and (3) how to interpret these findings in light of a current theory of fluency failure.     

Psychosocial impacts of communal conflicts in a sample of secondary school youths from two conflict communities in south east Nigeria

In Nigeria, communal conflicts arise due to misunderstanding from ownership of land for farming, oil deposits, solid minerals or water for fishing activities. It may also arise in defence of community pride and properties or even in defence of the people involved in the conflict. The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), The Short Screening Scale for Post traumatic stress disorder, The Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-2) were used to assess psychosocial impacts of communal conflicts among 560 secondary school youths from two communities in south east Nigeria. Result revealed various forms of psychosocial impacts of communal conflicts among the youths.     

From cooperation to conflict: The role of collective narratives in shaping group behaviour

In this paper, we review the concept of collective narratives and their role in shaping group behaviour. We see collective narratives as ‘meta-stories’ embraced by groups that incorporate values and beliefs about social reality, therefore providing a blueprint for group norms which, in turn, inform group members' behaviour. Our aim is to both describe the psychological processes underpinning the relation between collective narratives and group behaviours and develop an integrative typology of the functions of collective narratives (as they connect to various collective behaviours). We start by discussing definitions in the recent literature and propose an integrative conceptualisation which positions collective narratives in the context of collective action research. Next, we focus on the process by which collective narratives provide the bases for identity formation, development, and change, thus shaping group behaviour. We see collective narratives as central in understanding group behaviour, as they function as ‘meta-stories’ that incorporate moral codes and values, and beliefs about the ingroups and outgroups—providing a blueprint for group norms which, in turn, inform group members' behaviour. In the second part of the article, we describe a typology of collective narratives according to their functions, structured around two core dimensions: the context/s in which collective narratives develop and are shared (i.e., intragroup vs. intergroup) and their effects within these contexts (i.e., driving consensus vs. driving dissent). We identify four distinctive types of collective narrative functions and review research showing how each of them shapes specific social identity content, including behaviour prescribing norms. We then show how these specific norms shape behaviours ranging from cooperation and pro-social action to hostile intergroup conflict. The implications of this contribution are twofold. First, by providing a systematic account and categorisation of how collective narratives function in society and of their connections to social identities (and their content), we can more accurately deduct group norms and predict behaviours in specific circumstances, including in relation to political violence. Second, by better understanding the narratives that provide the bases of identity formation, development, and change, we can improve attempts to create alternative narratives that unify rather than divide people, so that pathways to co-operation might be chosen over conflict.     

中国文化中两种信仰体系的冲突——论宋代理学家的排佛及其目标的落空

宋代理学家在排斥佛学和道学问题上力图超越唐代诸儒,试图从理论源头上昭明儒学与佛道的界限,从根本上揭明佛道之非。但是,理学家的努力最终并未达到这一目的,他们仍然未走出以义利公私之辨的尺度批评佛道的窠臼。在这个意义上,理学家排斥佛老的努力是失败的。     

Perceived size and distance as a perceptual conflict between two processing modes

Three different sized squares were successively presented at the same physical distance under three observational conditions which provided different information about distance in the visual field. The 60 observers in each observational condition were asked to give verbal absolute judgments of perceived size and perceived distance for each of the squares. The results showed that in a full-cue situation a ratio of perceived absolute sizes is equal to that of the corresponding visual angles, with perceived distances appearing equal to each other; in a reduced-cue situation an object of smaller perceived size is judged to be farther away than one of larger perceived size, with the observers tending to assume the two objects as the same object or identically sized objects. These results were analyzed in terms of the perceptual conflict between primary perception and secondary perception.     

Recovering from conflict in romantic relationships: a developmental perspective

This study adopted a developmental perspective on recovery from conflict in romantic relationships. Participants were 73 young adults (target participants), studied since birth, and their romantic partners. A novel observational coding scheme was used to evaluate each participant's degree of conflict recovery, operationalized as the extent to which the participant disengaged from conflict during a 4-min "cool-down" task immediately following a 10-min conflict discussion. Conflict recovery was systematically associated with developmental and dyadic processes. Targets who were rated as securely attached more times in infancy recovered from conflict better, as did their romantic partners. Concurrently, having a romantic partner who displayed better recovery predicted more positive relationship emotions and greater relationship satisfaction. Prospectively, target participants' early attachment security and their partners' degree of conflict recovery interacted to predict relationship stability 2 years later, such that having a partner who recovered from conflict better buffered targets with insecure histories.     

Stimulus conflict predicts conflict adaptation in a numerical flanker task

Conflict monitoring theory states that response conflict triggers conflict adaptation, resulting in reduced congruency effects after response-incongruent trials (Botvinick, Braver, Barch, Carter, & Cohen, 2001). Verbruggen, Notebaert, Liefooghe, and Vandierendonck (2006) observed conflict adaptation after stimulus-incongruent trials without any response conflict. In this study, we further explore the hypothesis that stimulus conflict is an important trigger for conflict adaptation. We propose a measure for stimulus conflict that adequately explains the data of Verbruggen et al. and new data from a numerical flanker task. We conclude that stimulus conflict and response conflict have dissociable effects on behavior Whereas response conflict is a good predictor of response times, stimulus conflict is a better predictor of the adaptation effect.     

Predicting knowledge acquisition in two clinician groups: Rethinking the standard paradigm

The focus of this study was an innovative antibiotic preventive regimen recommended by experts and regularly updated. Data about knowledge of this regimen and potential predictors of knowledge levels were obtained from representative samples of New York State urban and rural general dental practitioners. Using multivariate analyses, four research objectives were achieved: measurement of clinicians' level, of knowledge in both groups; identification of personal and professional work and communication factors influencing clinicians' knowledge level; assessment of the effect of each of these factors on knowledge; and differentiation between sets of predictors for each group. Explanatory factors in this study appeared to be specific, situational, and/or ecologic. The role of distinct configurations of communication networks in the knowledge acquisition process is noted. Donald Sadowsky is professor, Department of Dentistry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Research interests include the latter stages of professional socialization, measurement of clinician knowledge and knowledge-related behavior, and planned interventions to change that behavior. Carol Kunzel is assistant professor of dentistry at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Her academic degree is in sociology. She is currently studying clinician knowledge and its role in the prevention of bacterial endocarditis in a national sample of general practice dentists.     

Predicting from expressed vocational choice: a review

Information on the predictive validity of expressed vocational choice was gathered in a review of large-sample longitudinal studies. These results indicate that, in general, a person's expressed vocational choice predicts his future employment about as well as interest inventories or combinations of personality and background characteristics. Expressed vocational and educational field choices are moderately stable over one- to five-year periods during and after college. Difficulties and shortcomings in past research are discussed, and recommendations are made for future research on the predictive validity of expressed choice. Implications of these results for the practicing counselor are also considered.