Clinical,developmental and social aspects of infant crying and colic

Persistent unexplained infant crying in the first few months is a common source of distress for parents and is costly for the health services. The aim was to assess the merits of developmental and social conceptualizations of this phenomenon, compared to the clinical approach as represented by the concept of colic. From a community sample of 530 infants, 67 who met the ‘rule of threes’ definition of colic by fussing and crying for 3 or more hours per day at 4-5 weeks of age were chosen. To avoid confusion, these infants were called ‘persistent criers’. Groups of ‘evening criers’ (N = 38) and ‘moderate cries’ (N = 55) were also selected. These 160 infants were assessed by researcher measures of their consolability and by maternal diary measures of their amounts of fussing, crying and colic behaviour when 5-6 weeks old. The persistent and evening criers cried more than the moderate criers. However, irritable, ‘fussy’ behaviour was the predominant form of distress for all three groups of infants. Colic bouts–defined as ‘bouts of intense, unsoothable crying and other behaviour, perhaps due to stomach or bowel pain’–were rare even among the persistent criers and only 7% of these infants were found to be inconsolable. The results support growing evidence that normal infant developmental processes are central to this phenomenon. In addition, social interactions between infants and parents, and parental subjective variables, appear to be involved. Colic was distinguished as a rare and separate form of distress by the infants' mothers. Further evidence needs to determine whether colic is a distinct clinical phenomenon or an extreme degree of normal distress interpreted within a western cultural framework.     

Cognitive Style,Creativity Framing and Effects

This study investigates how individuals with different cognitive styles respond to choices involving framing effects. The results suggest that cognitive style as defined by Kirton (1976) is far more complex than previous studies indicate. Kirton characterises “Innovators” as rule breakers and “Adaptors” as conformists. The most important finding of this study is that in some decision contexts, Innovators and Adaptors exhibit similar preferences for rule breaking. In other situations, Adaptors actually prefer non‐conformity in comparison to Innovators. The study analysed responses from 146 university students and professional managers to 25 binary choices involving investment decisions, job choices and travel routes. The questions were constructed to reveal significant reversals of preference related to risk and attribute based framing effects. Additionally, some questions were constructed to reveal preferences for certain operational aspects of creativity. Overall, the results suggest that framing effects may provide an important tool for unlocking individual creativity in organisations, as long as cognitive style and context are carefully taken into account.     

大学生认知方式与人际交往及创造力之间关系的研究

１问题提出 关于创造力与场依存——独立性的关系,国内外学者都有过论述,但是,对认知方式与创造力之间关系的定量研究,尚不多见。关于场依存性认知方式与人际交往之间的关系,威特金（Ｗｉｔｋｉｎ）等人研究认为,场依存性的人是社会定向,他们对社会线索更敏感,更喜欢与人有联系的情境,而不喜欢独处;与他人相处,在社会行为特征和习惯方式方面表现得更熟练。场独立的人则是非社会定向,在人际关系中表现出更多自主性,较少考虑他人的意见。场依存性者的社会定向是否就说明他们社会交往技能高？在人际交往过程中不同认知方式的人会…     

The dependent personality: developmental, social, and clinical perspectives.

Developmental, social, and clinical studies of dependency have produced remarkably consistent results. A review and integration of these findings allow strong conclusions to be drawn regarding the etiology and dynamics of dependency. The etiology of dependency appears to lie in overprotective, authoritarian parenting. In social settings, dependency is associated with suggestibility, conformity, compliance, interpersonal yielding, affiliative behavior, and sensitivity to interpersonal cues. Dependency predicts the onset of certain psychological disorders and follows the onset of others. It seems that the fundamental motivation of the dependent person, from which the behaviors that are exhibited in different situations are derived, is a strong desire to obtain and maintain nurturant, supportive relationships. Implications of these findings for different theoretical models of dependency are discussed.     

认知抑制对科学创造力和艺术创造力的影响

研究通过2个实验,考察不同高低抑制水平对科学创造力和艺术创造力的影响。通过安排不同难度的Simon任务（不一致试次占70%或10%）来消耗被试的认知资源,达到操纵被试的抑制水平,以侧抑制任务的前后测来评估被试抑制水平的变化情况,实验1和实验2分别以科学创造力测验和粘贴画任务测量被试的科学创造力和艺术创造力。结果发现,在科学创造力测验上,高抑制水平组被试的流畅性和灵活性得分显著高于低抑制水平组;在粘贴画任务中,低抑制水平组被试的创造性、可爱程度、综合印象得分以及总分均显著高于高抑制水平组。表明高认知抑制水平有利于科学创造力,低认知抑制水平有利于艺术创造力,认知抑制对科学创造力和艺术创造力的影响存在分离效应。     

A developmental approach examining social and personal correlates in relation to alcohol use over time

This study's aim was to determine the interrelationship of personality, peer, and parental domains and alcohol use over time during preadolescence and adolescence. Children and teenagers (N = 510; 9 to 18 years old) and their mothers were separately interviewed at two points in time, two years apart. The results were evaluated using multiple hierarchical regression analysis. In preadolescence, personality factors appear to serve as mediators for family and peer factors in relation to alcohol use over time whereas, in adolescence, peer and personality factors serve as mediators for family factors. Peer factors apparently become more important between preadolescence and adolescence, but parental factors do not seem to lose their importance. The theoretical implications and practical applications for alcohol education and alcohol abuse prevention programs are discussed.     

Cognitive aspects of suicidal behavior.

Recent efforts to quantify various aspects of suicide ideation are described. The Suicide Intent Scale, Hopelessness Scale, and the Scale for Suicide Ideation all assess components of the individual's suicidal ruminations. Hopelessness seems to account for the bulk of the relationship between depression and suicidal intent. The Scale for Suicide Ideation seems to show promise as a predictive instrument, as a dependent variable in research on treatment efficacy, and as a tool for clinical assessment of suicide potential. Implications for further research and clinical practice are discussed.     

The role of developmental features,environmental crises,and personal resources (self-control and social support) in adolescents' aggressive behavior

Aggression among adolescents is a social problem that has sharply escalated in recent years, instigating research into related factors. This article outlines the characteristics of adolescents' aggressive behavior in line with Buss and Perry's (1992) theory linking it to the tendency to develop hostile thoughts and angry emotions. Aggressive behavior may be described as a possible outcome of normal development on the one hand, and as a result of exposure to crisis and trauma on the other. Thus, developmental characteristics highlight the role of age and sex in adolescents' aggressive behavior. In addition, possible external crises and distress (e.g., war, divorce) may contribute to adolescents' aggression. This article also identifies two possible resources that may contribute to a reduction in aggressive behavior under normal and crisis conditions: social support as an environmental resource, and self-control as a personal resource. We conclude with suggestions for reducing aggression through a unified intervention setting that integrates developmental features, environmental and family components, as well as personal components.     

Regulated Divergence: Textual Patterns,Creativity and Cognitive Emotion Regulation

According to literature, several forms of creativity relate to primary process and adaptive regression. The major aim of this study was to examine whether a specific pattern of creativity and primary- and secondary-process thinking could be identified among stories while investigating some personal variables. 78 undergraduate students (41 women, 37 men), with the average age of 21.44 years (SD = 2.15) participated. After story writing, divergent thinking skills and cognitive emotion regulation abilities were measured. Storytelling creativity and the level of primary and secondary thinking were analysed through the written texts. The hypothesized textual patterns significantly emerged by cluster analysis. The distinguished 2 types of stories were labelled extraordinary texts (higher level of creativity and primary process with an average level of secondary process) and ordinary texts (lower level of creativity and primary process with an average level of secondary process). The authors of extraordinary texts had higher originality scores (on Circle Task of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking) and lower maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies, compared to the authors of ordinary texts. Results extend the knowledge of cognitive- and personality psychological aspects of creativity.     

认知抑制对艺术创造力的影响:认知风格的调节作用

以114名大学生为被试, 采用Mittenecker指向测验和粘贴画任务考察了认知抑制能力与艺术创造力的关系, 并采用镶嵌图形测验考察了认知风格在其中所起的调节作用。研究结果表明:(1)认知抑制能力与艺术创造力之间呈现负相关, 认知抑制对于个体的创造程度、沟通传播水平和艺术创造综合印象可以起到显著的负向预测作用, 对于个体艺术创造的可爱程度和想象水平可以起到边缘显著的负向预测作用;(2)认知风格在认知抑制能力与艺术创造力的关系中起着调节作用, 主要表现为认知抑制能力对于场依存个体的创造程度、想象水平和沟通传播水平具有显著的预测作用, 对于场独立个体的艺术创造力则不具有预测作用。     

Cognitive representation of personal stereotypes

A production task analogue of the traditional multiple choice trait checklist method was used to investigate stereotypes. Subjects were asked to supply rather than to select the most characteristic attributes of specified social groups. In a departure from tradition, stability of the content of stereotypes was analysed for personal stereotypes held by individuals rather than for social stereotypes shared by a cultural group. In contrast to the widely held belief that social stereotypes are fixed and unchanging, personal stereotypes were found to be only moderately stable over time. Only about two-fifths of the most characteristic attributes were duplicated in sessions separated by one week, and only about one-fifth of the most Characteristic attributes were duplicated in sessions separated by one-month or two-month intervals. Findings also supported the notion that general attributes, most characteristic attributes, and least characteristic attributes of a social category are not totally redundant and are represented quasi-independently in memory. Only about half of the most characteristic responses had also occurred on free response protocols and over half of the least characteristic responses tended not to be polar opposites of the most characteristic responses. It was the case, however, that with a production analogue of the multiple-choice trait checklist, trait-adjectives were the most frequent class of person information and accounted for between 50 and 60 per cent of the responses. However, eleven other classes of person information also occurred. Empirical results were applied toward a reexamination of the concepts of stereotype (data structure for the most characteristic attributes of a social group) and stereotyping (rigid procedures for processing data structures) and to a conceptual analysis of how stereotypes and social categories are structurally related.     

Probing Linear and Nonlinear Relations Among Schizotypy,Hypomania, Cognitive Inhibition,and Creativity

This study explored the relationship between schizotypy, hypomania, and indicators of creativity in 152 adult undergraduate students. We were interested in exploring a possible inverted U-shaped relationship between mental illness and creativity where moderate (vs. high or low) amounts of pathology are associated with facilitating creative responses. An indicator of cognitive inhibition derived from Stroop mismatch reaction times was also evaluated as a potential moderating factor between symptomatology and levels of creativity. College students (n = 152) were recruited from an introductory psychology class and completed a series of questionnaires (Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-BR; Hypomania Checklist-32; Creative Achievement Questionnaire) and experimental tasks (color Stroop task; Wallach-Kogan Creativity Test) with a research assistant in a controlled environment. Polynomial regression results suggested that creative accomplishments were predicted by levels of disorganized schizotypy, but negatively associated with levels of interpersonal schizotypy. Scores on two divergent thinking indices were predicted by levels of disorganized schizotypy, yet surprisingly negatively associated with scores of hypomania. Although the relationship between disorganized symptoms and creative processes was not anticipated, these results may reflect certain nonconforming characteristics (e.g., tendency to wander off the topic in conversations) associated with this symptom domain. Although there was no definitive evidence supporting an inverted-U relationship between symptom severity and creativity within our sample, several linear relationships emerged suggesting that cognitive inhibition acted as a moderator variable for originality in those with higher levels of interpersonal schizotypy. Limitations and recommendations for future research are discussed.     

Depressive symptoms, social support, and personal health behaviors in young men and women.

This study investigated the relationship of depressive symptoms, social support, and a range of personal health behaviors in 2,091 male and 3,438 female university students from 16 countries. Depressive symptoms and social support were measured using the short Beck Depression Inventory and the Social Support Questionnaire; 9 personal health behaviors were also assessed. After the authors took age, social support, and clustering by country into account, depressive symptoms were significantly associated with lack of physical activity, not eating breakfast, irregular sleep hours, and not using a seat belt in both men and women, and additionally with smoking, not eating fruit, and not using sunscreen among women. Low social support was independently associated with low alcohol consumption, lack of physical activity, irregular sleep hours, and not using a seat belt in men and women. Bidirectional causal pathways are likely to link health behaviors with depressed mood.     

Cognitive developmental biology: history, process and fortune's wheel

Biological contributions to cognitive development continue to be conceived predominantly along deterministic lines, with proponents of different positions arguing about the preponderance of gene-based versus experience-based influences that organize brain circuits irreversibly during prenatal or early postnatal life, and evolutionary influences acting through selection on small numbers of genes. This article discusses evolutionary, mechanistic and probabilistic aspects of developmental processes that cognitive scientists need to better integrate. Developmental processes inseparably fuse experience-dependent and experience-independent components, have important stochastic contributions, and exhibit a greater degree of mechanistic continuity between developing and adult nervous systems than previously thought. Their balanced integration leads to new models for "critical or sensitive" period phenomena and behavioral biases. A general understanding of behavioral development - cognitive developmental biology--will require better coordination between comparative animal and human developmental research programs.     

Cognitive aspects of mental activity during sleep.

Upon nighttime experimental awakening of 27 subjects in four sleep conditions (sleep onset early; sleep onset late; Stage 2; and rapid eye movement, REM, sleep), 108 dream reports and their association reports were collected. Dream reports were analyzed for length (temporal units) and content categories (continuity; implausibility; presence of the dreamer [i.e., "the self"], a setting, characters). Associations were classified as episodic, abstract self-referred, and semantic memories. The two sets of results tend to show a basic homogeneity among mentation reports in the four sleep conditions considered. These findings are interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that the same cognitive mechanisms operate, at different levels of engagement, in dream generation rather than the hypothesis of multiple dream-generation systems dependent upon the physiological characteristics of the various sleep stages.     

Cognitive deficits in developmental disorders

The existence of specific developmental disorders such as dyslexia and autism raises interesting issues about the structure of the normally developing mind. In these disorders distinct cognitive deficits can explain a range of behavioural impairments and have the potential to be linked to specific brain abnormalities. One possibility is that there are specific mechanisms dedicated to particular types of information processing. These mechanisms may function independently of more general information processing systems and may have a distinct anatomical basis in the brain.     

Different Effects of Cognitive Shifting and Intelligence on Creativity

The relationship between creativity and executive control has long been controversial. Some researchers view creative thinking as a defocused process with little executive control involvement, whereas others claim that executive control plays a vital role in creative thinking. In this study, we focused on one subcomponent of executive control, cognitive shifting, and examined its relationship with creativity by using latent variable analysis and structural equation modeling. We also analyzed whether this relation was mediated by intelligence. The results showed that: (a) cognitive shifting ability had a positive relationship with creativity, but only on the quantitative aspects (fluency and flexibility); (b) Intelligence had a positive relationship with both quantitative and qualitative aspects (originality) of creativity, and its effect on qualitative aspect was stronger than that on the quantitative aspect; (c) There was a mediating effect of intelligence on the relationship between creativity cognitive and shifting.