Irrational beliefs that can lead to academic failure for African American middle school students who are academically at-risk

This article describes how rational emotive behavior therapy and other cognitive-behavioral therapies can be used to improve the achievement of academically at-risk African American students at the middle-school level. Definitions of at-risk and a review of relevant literature are provided. This article offers an outline of several main irrational beliefs that can lead to academic failure for African American students at the middle-school level. This author suggested that escalating preferences for justice, acceptance within the African American community, and acceptance by European Americans are at the core for causing academic failure for many of these students. The author describes empirical data which show that once these students learn a realistic philosophy of life—to be more rational, tolerant, nonutopian, and nondemanding—the students improve in their academic self-concept and achievement.     

Evidence that nonconscious processes are sufficient to produce false memories

Are nonconscious processes sufficient to cause false memories of a nonstudied event? To investigate this issue, we controlled and measured conscious processing in the DRM task, in which studying associates (e.g., bed, rest, awake...) causes false memories of nonstudied associates (e.g., sleep). During the study phase, subjects studied visually masked associates at extremely rapid rates, followed by immediate recall. After this initial phase, nonstudied test words were rapidly presented for perceptual identification, followed by recognition memory judgments. On the perceptual identification task, we found significant priming of nonstudied associates, relative to control words. We also found significant false recognition of these nonstudied associates, even when subjects did not recall this word at study or identify it at test, indicating that nonconscious processes can cause false recognition. These recognition effects were found immediately after studying each list of associates, but not on a delayed test that occurred after the presentation of several intervening lists. Nonconscious processes are sufficient to cause this memory illusion on immediate tests, but may be insufficient for more vivid and lasting false memories.     

Sound changes that lead to seeing longer-lasting shapes

To survive, people must construct an accurate representation of the world around them. There is a body of research on visual scene analysis, and a largely separate literature on auditory scene analysis. The current study follows up research from the smaller literature on audiovisual scene analysis. Prior work demonstrated that when there is an abrupt size change to a moving object, observers tend to see two objects rather than one—the abrupt visual change enhances visible persistence of the briefly presented different-sized object. Moreover, if a sequence of tones accompanies the moving object, visible persistence is enhanced if the tone frequency suddenly changes at the same time that the object’s size changes. Here, we show that although a sound change must occur at roughly the same time as a visual change to enhance visible persistence, there is a fairly wide time frame during which the sound change can occur. In addition, the impact of a sound change on visible persistence is not simply matter of the physical pattern: The same pattern of sound can enhance visible persistence or not, depending on how the pattern is itself perceived. Specifically, a change in a tone’s frequency can enhance visible persistence when it accompanies a visual size change, but the same frequency change will not do so if the shift is embedded in a larger pattern that makes the change merely a continuation of alternating frequencies. The current study supports a scene analysis process that is both multimodal and actively constructive.     

Episodic future thought and its relation to remembering: evidence from ratings of subjective experience

The goal of the present study was to examine the hypothesis that the ability to construct vivid mental images of the future involves sampling the contents of memory. In two experiments, participants envisioned future scenarios occurring in contextual settings that were represented in memory in varying degrees of perceptual detail. In both experiments, detailed contextual settings were associated with more detailed images of the future and a stronger subjective experience. Our findings suggest that the contents of memory are routinely sampled during the construction of personal future scenarios.     

Why learning and development can lead to poorer recognition memory

Current models of inductive reasoning in children and adults assume a central role for categorical knowledge. A recent paper by Sloutsky and Fisher challenges this assumption, showing that children are more likely than adults to rely on perceptual similarity as a basis for induction, and introduces a more direct method for examining the representations activated during induction. This method has the potential to constrain models of induction in novel ways, although there are still important challenges.     

Team allegiance can lead to both optimistic and pessimistic predictions

Although team allegiance is usually associated with optimistic predictions about team performance, the authors hypothesized that preferences for one’s group can also lead to pessimistic predictions. Upon arrival to the laboratory, groups of four participants were split into teams of two based on bogus criteria. Participants were informed that their teammate would compete against a member of the other team in a trivia game consisting of both easy (e.g., “pop culture”) and hard (e.g., “50’s movies”) categories. They provided likelihood estimates regarding outcomes for each category. As predicted, team allegiance inflated participants’ optimism about their teammate winning the easy categories, but deflated optimism about their teammate winning the hard categories. Path analyses supported the proposed account indicating that preferences for a teammate to win led to an enhanced focus on the teammate’s strengths and weaknesses (and neglect of the strengths and weaknesses of the other competitor).     

Emotions that associate with uncertainty lead to structured ideation

This study tested the role of emotion in structured ideation, a process in which newly generated ideas and insights closely follow previously generated ideas and insights. Emotions can be differentiated on a number of underlying dimensions, including uncertainty, and uncertainty can influence information processing. On these grounds, we proposed and tested the idea that (1) emotions that associate with appraisals of uncertainty (fear, sadness) lead to more structured ideation than emotions that associate with appraisals of certainty (happiness, anger) and that (2) appraisals of uncertainty drive this effect. Findings of four experiments on idea generation in which (un)certainty was primed (Study 1) and emotions were induced through self-generated imagery (Study 2-4) supported these predictions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Anxiety and expectancy violations: Neural response to false feedback is exaggerated in worriers

This study investigated how individual differences in anxiety modulate the neural response to errors and performance feedback. The design included false feedback on some trials in order to test the hypothesis that anxious people show stronger neural reactions to feedback that is worse than expected. Participants completed a trial-and-error learning task that required learning the correct key to press in response to face images. EEG was recorded during the task, and the response-locked error-related negativity (ERN) and feedback-locked ERN were computed to measure neural responses to error commission and feedback. As expected, errors produced a response-locked ERN and false feedback produced a feedback-locked ERN in the group as a whole. High levels of trait worry predicted a disproportionately larger ERN following false feedback, but did not predict the magnitude of the response-locked ERN following errors. These results imply that worry-prone people react more strongly to violations of expectations, rather than to errors themselves.     

An experimental test of a core REBT hypothesis: evidence that irrational beliefs lead to physiological as well as psychological arousal

While numerous studies support Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and Theory (REBT), they tend to be limited by their use of correlational designs, simulated scenarios and self-report measures. This study tested a core REBT hypothesis in an experimental design using multiple physiological as well as psychological measures. Ninety patients from a medical practice were placed in a real-life stressful situation while holding either a rational, an irrational, or an indifference belief. Those holding a rational belief reported the greatest increase in concern whereas those holding an irrational belief reported the greatest increase in anxiety. Of particular significance, those holding a rational belief showed a decrease in systolic blood pressure whereas those holding an irrational belief showed an increase (diastolic blood pressure increased in both conditions). These results not only support the core REBT hypothesis, but also suggest a way to differentiate between beliefs and emotions by measuring physiological as well as psychological changes.     

Spontaneous trait inferences are bound to actors' faces: evidence from a false recognition paradigm

A false recognition paradigm showed that spontaneous trait inferences (STIs) are bound to the person performing a trait-implying behavior. In 6 experiments, participants memorized faces and behavioral sentences. When faces were paired with implied traits in a recognition test, participants falsely recognized these traits more often than unrelated traits paired with the same faces or the same traits paired with familiar faces. The effect was obtained for a large set of behaviors (120). each presented for 5 s, and for behaviors that participants did not subsequently recognize or recall. Antonyms of the implied traits were falsely recognized less often than unrelated traits, suggesting that STIs have extended implications. Explicit person-trait judgments predicted both false recognition and response times for implied traits.     

A prospective study of factors that lead to body dissatisfaction during pregnancy

This study examined changes in body image and predictors of body dissatisfaction during pregnancy. It was expected that higher levels of depression, social comparison tendencies, teasing, societal pressure to be thin and public self-consciousness would predict body dissatisfaction prospectively. Healthy pregnant women (n = 128) completed questionnaires on three occasions during their pregnancies reporting on a total of four time points: 3 months prior to pregnancy (retrospectively reported), in the early to mid-second trimester, the late-second/early-third trimester, and the latter part of the third trimester. For the most part women reported adapting to the changes that occurred in their body; however, women were most likely to experience higher levels of body dissatisfaction in early to mid-second trimester. Findings related to predictors of body dissatisfaction revealed that both social and psychological factors contributed to body image changes in pregnancy. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Mindful learning can promote connectedness to nature: Implicit and explicit evidence

Environmental problems have attracted increasing attention, yet individuals’ connectedness to nature remains a significant concern for potential solutions to these problems. In this article, we propose a novel method to promote connectedness to nature: mindful learning. One hundred and thirty-four students participated in the experiment. First, baseline measurements using the Connectedness to Nature Scale were obtained. Participants were then assigned to either a mindful or mindless learning condition. Finally, as a posttest, participants completed the Implicit Association Test and the Inclusion of Nature in the Self Scale. The performance of the mindful-learning group was better for both measures. Participants in the mindful-learning condition performed better on the Implicit Association Test and scored higher on the Inclusion of Nature in the Self Scale. These results provide empirical evidence that mindful learning may promote connectedness to nature, both implicitly and explicitly.     

Emotional costs of inaccurate self-assessments: both self-effacement and self-enhancement can lead to dejection

Despite the popularity of the idea in American culture that self-enhancement confers psychological benefits, the evidence for this idea is mixed. In the present research, we tested the contention that overly positive self-assessments could lead to psychological distress. In two correlational studies (Studies 1 and 2), we addressed some previous problems related to the measurement of self-enhancement. By measuring self-enhancement through the discrepancy between self-assessments of relative task performance and actual relative task performance, we found that self-enhancement, like self-effacement, was associated with greater vulnerability to depression. In two subsequent experiments (Studies 3 and 4), we found that leading low (or high) performers to perceive their performance as high (or low) through providing bogus performance feedback produced analogous effects on the magnitude of experienced dejection.     

Ageing- and dementia-friendly design: theory and evidence from cognitive psychology,neuropsychology and environmental psychology can contribute to design guidelines that minimise spatial disorientation

Cognitive Processing - Many older people, both with and without dementia, eventually move from their familiar home environments into unfamiliar surroundings, such as sheltered housing or care...     

Preschoolers find ways to resist temptation after learning that willpower can be energizing

Children's tendency to delay gratification predicts important life outcomes, yet little is known about how to enhance delay of gratification other than by teaching task‐specific strategies. The present research investigated the effect of exposing children to a model who experiences the exertion of willpower as energizing. In two experiments, 86 4‐ to 5‐year olds were read a story that represented the exertion of willpower as energizing or a control story before taking part in a delay of gratification task. Children exposed to a storybook character who struggled with waiting, but eventually found it energizing, spontaneously generated more delay strategies, which enhanced delay. By promoting the search for effective strategies, this approach provides a promising direction for efforts to foster self‐regulation early in development.     

Standoffish perhaps, but successful as well: evidence that avoidant attachment can be beneficial in professional tennis and computer science

Attachment-related avoidance and anxiety have repeatedly been associated with poorer adjustment in various social, emotional, and behavioral domains. We examined 2 domains in which avoidant individuals might be better equipped than their less avoidant peers to succeed and be satisfied--professional singles tennis and computer science. These fields may reward self-reliance, independence, and the ability to work without proximal social support from loved ones. In study 1, we followed 58 professional singles tennis players for 16 months and found that scores on attachment-related avoidance predicted a higher ranking, above and beyond the contributions of training and coping resources. In study 2, we sampled 100 students and found that those who scored higher on avoidance were happier with their choice of computer science as a career than those who scored lower on avoidance. Results are discussed in relation to the possible adaptive functions of certain personality characteristics often viewed as undesirable.     

Evidence that fixation digits can contribute to visual field asymmetries in lateralized tachistoscopic tasks

Fixation point digits have been widely used in tachistoscopic laterality studies as a simple and convenient means of ensuring unihemispheric projection of stimulus materials to the hemispheres. Previous findings demonstrate that fixation digits do not influence asymmetries in recognition accuracy studies with adult Ss. Present results, comparing four conditions differing in their use of fixation digits, show that in the naming latency paradigm the requirement to remember and report fixation control digits significantly augments RVF superiority. Implications for other latency tasks are discussed.