Problematic Factorial Validity of Three Language Versions of the Basic Psychological Needs Scale (BPNS): Why and What are the Implications?

Self-determination theory is a macrotheory of human motivation that describes fundamental matters such as personality development, goals and aspirations, and self-regulation. Basic psychological needs theory, a subtheory of self-determination theory, postulates that the needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness are universal and the satisfaction thereof essential for human functioning. Despite the theory’s strong universality claim, almost no studies tested the assumption on the African continent. The present study addressed this by exploring the factorial validity of English, Afrikaans, and Setswana versions of the Basic Psychological Needs Scale (N = 1056). After incorporating a negative-worded method effect and removing several problematic items, the fit of the intended three-factor model was good for the Afrikaans version, marginal for the English version, and poor for the Setswana version. The resulting factors’ reliabilities were low. Configural, metric, and partial scalar invariance were established between the English and Afrikaans versions. Although these findings primarily highlighted problems with the particular scale, there is also the possibility that it could have implications for the validity of the universality assumption of basic psychological needs theory and/or assumptions about denotations or manifestations of the main constructs in various cultural contexts. The study indicated the conceptual and linguistic complexities involved in assessment across diverse and multicultural contexts.     

Metaphors for God: Why and How Do Our Choices Matter for Humans? The Application of Contemporary Cognitive Linguistics Research to the Debate on God and Metaphor

This article explores and critiques conservative and liberal theological understandings of metaphor in light of the contemporary research in cognitive linguistics. This assessment is followed by a cognitive examination of the biblical metaphors for God, their unconscious entailments, an assessment of why certain metaphors are more effective than others, and a short discussion of the implications of this effectiveness.     

Warrior Resilience and Thriving (WRT): Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) as a Resiliency and Thriving Foundation to Prepare Warriors and Their Families for Combat Deployment and Posttraumatic Growth in Operation Iraqi Freedom, 2005–2009

Warrior Resilience and Thriving (WRT) and Warrior Family Resilience and Thriving were the U.S. Army’s first combat Soldier and Family cognitive resiliency training classes based on Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). WRT, as a pilot program, was designed to enhance soldier and family resiliency, thriving and posttraumatic growth prior to, during and following combat deployments. WRT alloys REBT self-coaching, Army Warrior Ethos, Stoic, survivor and resiliency strategies to teach and promote advanced resiliency, emotional management and critical thinking to soldiers and their families. This article will describe efforts initiated by the author, who served twice in Operation Iraqi Freedom where he developed WRT, as well as training he conducted for over 12,500 Warriors as the Prevention Team Leader for the 98th Combat Stress Control Detachment serving Baghdad. Risk Factors for Army Warriors and families and the advantages of existential and philosophically-based interventions like REBT are described along with a brief inventory of Army resiliency initiatives.     

From “4Rs and 2Ss” to “Amaka Amasanyufu” (Happy Families): Adapting a U.S.-based Evidence-Based Intervention to the Uganda Context

In Uganda, one in five children presents mental health challenges, including disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs). DBDs can persist through adulthood and result in negative outcomes. Effective interventions for DBDs have been developed and tested in high-poverty communities in developed countries. Yet, most African countries, such as Uganda, lack such interventions. This paper describes the adaptation process of an evidence-based intervention of U.S. origin to optimize fit to context with intervention fidelity, as part of a randomized trial conducted with youth that exhibit behavioral challenges and their caregivers in 30 schools in Uganda. The process involved: initial meetings with headteachers and teachers to introduce the study and the main concepts of the intervention; initial manual review focusing on 4Rs and 2Ss content by the Uganda team; engagement of community stakeholders for additional feedback on content and cultural relevance; final revision of the manual; and collection of children’s drawings for the illustration of the manual. This paper describes both similarities and differences between the original and adapted intervention content and methods of delivery. The findings also highlight the importance of involving community stakeholders in the adaptation process.     

What determines the speed of lexical access: homophone or specific-word frequency? A reply to Jescheniak et al. (2003)

A. Caramazza, A. Costa, M. Miozzo, and Y. Bi (2001) reported a series of experiments showing that naming latencies for homophones are determined by specific-word frequency (e.g., frequency of nun) and not homophone frequency (frequency of nun + none). J. D. Jescheniak, A. S. Meyer, and W. J. M. Levelt (2003) have challenged these studies on a variety of grounds. Here we argue that these criticisms are not well founded and try to clarify the theoretical issues that can be meaningfully addressed by considering the effects of frequency on homophone production. We conclude that the evidence from homophone production cannot be considered to provide support to 2-layer theories of the lexical system.     

A closer look at ability emotional intelligence (EI): What are its component parts,and how do they relate to each other?

In this review, we focus on two key questions about the nature of emotional intelligence (EI). First, we consider what the different parts of EI might be, suggesting a taxonomy that builds on the well‐known hierarchical four‐branch model to include six narrow abilities (emotion perception, emotion expression, emotion attention regulation, emotion understanding, emotion regulation of self, and emotion regulation of others). Second, we review evidence for the interrelations between these six narrow abilities. The interrelationships of the EI narrow abilities are a key criterion for viewing EI as a kind of intelligence, rather than a typical way of behaving. Our review concludes that the six narrow abilities comprising EI are all positively interrelated—the component parts of EI converge to form a whole. In addition, the level of interrelationships shows that emotion expression and emotion perception are clearly separate, with weaker evidence for the separation between emotion regulation of self versus emotion regulation of others. Using the older research tradition of emotion recognition (which predates EI), we present a detailed overview of the relationship between emotion perception and other narrow abilities of EI. We conclude that the narrow facets of EI converge with each other, providing one form of evidence to support the validity of EI as a type of intelligence.     

Mental health problems in rural contexts: A broader perspective: Response to Jackson et al. (2007) Mental health problems in rural contexts: What are the barriers to seeking help from professional providers?

The objectives of this article are to expand and comment upon a recent review in Australian Psychologist of the literature in relation to mental health problems in rural contexts by Jackson et al. (2007). In the present article we review recently published qualitative research on the help‐seeking attitudes and experiences of rural Australian adolescents. While we agree on the utility of the Macintyre, Ellaway, and Cummins (2002) conceptual framework based on notions of health and place, we note that this framework specifically emphasises the importance of the collective dimension. We present a broader perspective on health and place than Jackson et al. (2007) by incorporating social geographic research. We argue that rural mental health research has been hampered by a simplistic view of social stigma of mental illness and that a more thorough conceptualisation of the phenomenon is needed. Finally, we make some further recommendations based on a broader perspective of mental health in rural contexts: one that incorporates an in‐depth understanding of the help‐seeking attitudes and experiences of rural adolescents as well as an appreciation of the collective social functioning of rural communities.     

Developmental dynamics and contemporary evolutionary psychology: status quo or irreconcilable views? Reply to Bjorklund (2003), Krebs (2003), Buss and Reeve (2003), Crawford (2003), and Tooby et Al. (2003)

The authors address commentaries by D. F. Bjorklund (2003); D. M. Buss and H. K. Reeve (2003); C. B. Crawford (2003); D. L. Krebs (2003); and J. Tooby, L. Cosmides, and H. C. Barrett (2003) on their analysis of the underlying assumptions of contemporary evolutionary psychology (R. Lickliter & H. Honeycutt, 2003). The authors argue that evolutionary psychology currently offers no coherent framework for how to integrate genetic, environmental, and experiential factors into a theory of behavioral or cognitive phenotypes. The authors propose that this absence is due to a lack of developmental analysis in the major works of evolutionary psychology, resulting in an almost exclusive focus on adaptationist accounts of evolution by natural selection rather than a more broad-based focus on the process and products of evolution by epigenetic developmental dynamics.     

The thalamus and basal ganglia: What is exactly where? A reply to 'Neuropsychological consequences of right thalamic injury: case study and review,' MJ Summers, Brain and Cognition 50 (2002)

The present paper re-analyzes anatomical and clinical data of a previous case report (Summer, 2002). In this case study, a patient with severe neuropsychological and behavioral impairments is described and it is claimed that these impairments are causally linked to an right thalamic lesion. A simple method how to perform a lesion analysis is introduced which shows that PD's lesion was a striatocapsular hematoma, and not a thalamic bleeding. The results of this anatomical re-analysis challenge the original behavioral-lesion hypothesis and emphasize the importance to provide appropriate data on brain lesions and clinical findings in neuropsychological case reports.