Validity of test score interpretations for three self-concept measures based on differing theoretical models

Three theoretical models have been proposed to represent self-concept: (a) unidimensional; (b) multidimensional; (c) multidimensional hierarchical. Inventories have been developed under each of the three competing theoretical models; which model best represents self-concept is unclear. Typically, self-concept construct validation has utilized various approaches including correlational, multitrait-multimethod, and factor analytic methods. Another method, however, for assessing validity would be to determine the consequences of score interpretations using different measures specific to each of the theoretical models. This paper examined Messick's notion (1989) of the validity of test-score interpretations as applied to three of the most widely used measures derived under each of the three different theoretical models of self-concept. Results suggest that overall multidimensional measures are more consistent in classifying individual's self-concept than unidimensional measures.     

Children's perceptions of dangerous substances

The aim of this research was to examine age differences in children's perceptions of dangerous substances. Children's responses to photographs of child models encountering alcohol, a syringe, medicine, glue, and household bleach were coded for recognition of substance, awareness of potential danger, and understanding of danger or harm. Responses from 59 children (28 girls and 31 boys, who were all children of the required age in an urban primary school) were compared across three age groups (6-7 years, 8-9 years, and 10-11 years). 15 to 18 of 20 children in each of three age groups recognised all the dangerous substances. Significant differences across age groups were found for awareness of the potential harm from alcohol, glue, and medicine, but not for the syringe or bleach. Children reported less serious consequences from ingesting alcohol than other substances, the consequences of sniffing glue tended to be confused with the sticking properties of glue, children's understanding of transmission of germs, disease, and AIDS through syringes was varied, and there was a tendency among the older children to underestimate the potential harm of self-administration of medicines. Findings were discussed in relation to children's concepts of danger and safety education.     

Choosing or Being Chosen by Aggressive–Disruptive Peers: Do They Contribute to Children's Externalizing and Internalizing Problems?

The goal of this study was to investigate the extent to which aggressive-disruptive peers contribute to the development of externalizing and internalizing problems in children, while controlling for children's own behavior. We examined 2 sets of peers: (1) those that the child nominated as friends, and (2) those that nominated the child as a friend. The participants were 236 boys and girls attending 3rd to 5th grade at the beginning of the study, who were followed over a period of 2 years. Results showed that choosing more aggressive peers on the nomination procedure was associated with more externalizing problems and self-reported depressive symptomatology over time. On the other hand, being liked by more aggressive children generally was not associated with elevated externalizing or internalizing problems.     

Sticks and stones can break my bones, but ethnophaulisms can alter the portrayal of immigrants to children

An archival study examined the portrayal of ethnic immigrants to children as a function of the prevailing cognitive representation of those ethnic immigrant groups in ethnophaulisms. The complexity in ethnophaulisms (and, to a lesser degree, the valence in ethnophaulisms) predicted the portrayal of ethnic immigrant groups. Overall, ethnic immigrant groups characterized in terms of ethnophaulisms of low complexity were less frequently present in children's literature, children from these ethnic groups were described more in terms of physical appearance than in terms of personal traits, fictional child characters from those ethnic groups were portrayed with smaller heads and with lower verbal complexity, and the folksongs attributed to these groups had a more negative affective tone. The implications of these results for approaches to intergroup relations are considered.     

Interpersonal perception in Japanese and British observers

We compared performance of Japanese and British observers in deciphering images depicting Japanese interpersonal relationships. 201 Japanese and 215 British subjects were assessed by means of a test consisting of 31 photograph problems accompanied by two or three alternative solutions one of which was correct. Japanese subjects outperformed British subjects on the test overall (z = 3.981, p < 0.001). A two-factor ANOVA (culture x gender) was performed for each of the problems. A cultural effect was found in 17 problems. Surprisingly, British subjects outperformed Japanese subjects in 7 of these problems. There was a gender effect in 4 problems and a culture x gender interaction in 6 problems. The results indicate that cultural experience facilitates nonverbal appraisal of interpersonal relationships, but it may sometimes cause specific errors. Differences in the perceptual cues used suggest that British subjects had difficulty reading Japanese facial expressions.     

Distance estimation in a dynamic simulated environment: a visual field dependence problem?

Egocentric distance estimation implies that the subject perceives his own location in the environment. In a simulated environment, subjects have to transpose perceptively their own observation point in order to assume their virtual body position. As only visual information specifies this position, their ability to perceive the camera viewpoint should be linked to the field dependence independence factor (FDI). Field-independent subjects underestimated the mid-distance between their own virtual body position and a far-located target; their bisection was located between the projective (2-D) and the simulated (3-D) mid-distance which indicates their difficulty in considering the in-depth simulated spatial references. High correlations between the vertical estimation in the rod-and-frame test and the egocentric-distance-estimation task (with shifted camera) suggest a similar perceptive process in both tasks. This result is confirmed by the better performances of the field-dependent subjects in this condition. In conclusion, we discuss the relationship between FDI and the sense of presence in virtual environments.     

Revisiting Snodgrass and Vanderwart's object pictorial set: the role of surface detail in basic-level object recognition

Theories of object recognition differ to the extent that they consider object representations as being mediated only by the shape of the object, or shape and surface details, if surface details are part of the representation. In particular, it has been suggested that color information may be helpful at recognizing objects only in very special cases, but not during basic-level object recognition in good viewing conditions. In this study, we collected normative data (naming agreement, familiarity, complexity, and imagery judgments) for Snodgrass and Vanderwart's object database of 260 black-and-white line drawings, and then compared the data to exactly the same shapes but with added gray-level texture and surface details (set 2), and color (set 3). Naming latencies were also recorded. Whereas the addition of texture and shading without color only slightly improved naming agreement scores for the objects, the addition of color information unambiguously improved naming accuracy and speeded correct response times. As shown in previous studies, the advantage provided by color was larger for objects with a diagnostic color, and structurally similar shapes, such as fruits and vegetables, but was also observed for man-made objects with and without a single diagnostic color. These observations show that basic-level 'everyday' object recognition in normal conditions is facilitated by the presence of color information, and support a 'shape + surface' model of object recognition, for which color is an integral part of the object representation. In addition, the new stimuli (sets 2 and 3) and the corresponding normative data provide valuable materials for a wide range of experimental and clinical studies of object recognition.     

Cognitive neural prosthetics

Research on neural prosthetics has focused largely on using activity related to hand trajectories recorded from motor cortical areas. An interesting question revolves around what other signals might be read out from the brain and used for neural prosthetic applications. Recent studies indicate that goals and expected value are among the high-level cognitive signals that can be used and will potentially enhance the ability of paralyzed patients to communicate with the outside world. Other new findings show that local field potentials provide an excellent source of information about the cognitive state of the subject and are much easier to record and maintain than spike activity. Finally, new movable probe technologies will enable recording electrodes to seek out automatically the best signals for decoding cognitive variables.     

Does color synesthesia pose a paradox for early-selection theories of attention?

Abstract— P.M. is a synesthete who experiences colors when viewing alphanumeric symbols. Her search for a target differing from distractors by a synesthetic color feature takes the form of a pop-out search. Thus, it would seem that synesthesia can occur preattentively. However, discrepancies between the regression functions of response times observed in target-present trials and target-absent trials, and the fact that fast response times occur only when the target is within a few degrees of visual angle from fixation, indicate that P.M.'s synesthesia does not occur preattentively, but rather is within the focus of attention. We conclude that synesthesia is a genuine perceptual phenomenon that can have substantial influence on visual processing.     

Family Environments of Women Seeking BRCA1/BRCA2 Genetic Mutation Testing: An Exploratory Analysis

Although there is some understanding of the shared characteristics and predictors of psychological distress of women participating in hereditary breast and ovarian cancer registries, these same characteristics are only beginning to be identified in research on community women seeking genetic testing for BRCA1/BRCA2 gene mutations. This study provides an initial exploration of characteristics associated with family environments for 51 community women waiting to receive such genetic testing results. Thirty-four of the 36 women classified on family environment type of the Family Environment Scale (FES) were from Personal Growth-Oriented families. Comparisons of women with and without personal cancer histories resulted in a trend for women with personal cancer histories to be classified as from Independence-Oriented families. Reported distress appears to vary for different family emphases based on family and personal cancer history. A moral-religious family emphasis consistently appeared to be associated with decreased psychological distress. Preliminary analyses comparing these community women (who were not part of a hereditary registry but were self- or physician-referred) seeking genetic testing with normal and distressed family means found that increased cohesion and expressiveness may be related to decreased conflict, indicative of potentially supportive family environments for these women. When compared with normative data, a subset consisting of the Ashkenazi Jewish women showed a trend of less cohesion than normal families, but similar cohesion levels as distressed families.