A comparative analysis of serial and free recall

Multitrial free and serial recall tasks differ both in recall instruction and in presentation order across trials. Waugh (1961) compared these paradigms with an intermediate condition: free recall with constant presentation order. She concluded that differences between free and serial recall were due only to recall instructions, and not to presentation order. The present study reevaluated the relation between free and serial recall, using Waugh's three conditions. By examining recall transitions and the organization of information retained across trials, we conclude that presentation order is an important factor, causing participants to exhibit the same temporal associations in serial recall and in free recall with constant presentation order.     

Divergent thinking and constructing episodic simulations

Divergent thinking likely plays an important role in simulating autobiographical events. We investigated whether divergent thinking is differentially associated with the ability to construct detailed imagined future and imagined past events as opposed to recalling past events. We also examined whether age differences in divergent thinking might underlie the reduced episodic detail generated by older adults. The richness of episodic detail comprising autobiographical events in young and older adults was assessed using the Autobiographical Interview. Divergent thinking abilities were measured using the Alternative Uses Task. Divergent thinking was significantly associated with the amount of episodic detail for imagined future events. Moreover, while age was significantly associated with imagined episodic detail, this effect was strongly related to age-related changes in episodic retrieval rather than divergent thinking.     

Memory for emotional simulations: remembering a rosy future

Mental simulations of future experiences are often concerned with emotionally arousing events. Although it is widely believed that mental simulations enhance future behavior, virtually nothing is known about how memory for these simulations changes over time or whether simulations of emotional experiences are especially well remembered. We used a novel paradigm that combined recently developed methods for generating simulations of future events and well-established procedures for testing memory to examine the retention of positive, negative, and neutral simulations over delays of 10 min and 1 day. We found that at the longer delay, details associated with negative simulations were more difficult to remember than details associated with positive or neutral simulations. We suggest that these effects reflect the influence of the fading-affect bias, whereby negative reactions fade more quickly than positive reactions, and that this influence results in a tendency to remember a rosy simulated future. We discuss implications of our findings for individuals with affective disorders, such as depression and anxiety.     

Emotional Skillfulness as a Key Mediator of Aggression

Psychological research has documented several predictors of aggression, including adherence to hegemonic masculinity, trauma symptoms, and insecure attachment. However, at present, little is known about why these variables predict aggression. This study used acceptance theory to introduce the concept of emotional skillfulness as a counterpoint to emotion dysregulation. In an effort to better understand the pathways through which these variables predict aggression, this study used a clinical sample to test three mediational models which hold that emotional skillfulness functions as a common link between the aforementioned predictors and aggression in both men and women. Results indicated that emotional skillfulness is a mediator of aggression for both men and women, but that the predictors of aggression differed by gender.     

Historigism and historical laws of development

Philosophers, social thinkers, and social activists continue to puzzle over the notion of an historical law of development. What this paper attempts is: (1) a statement of what might reasonably be understood by the notion of an historical law of development as well as some historical background to the notion, (2) a discussion of the various logical possibilities regarding the status of historical laws of development, (3) an examination of the views of Karl Popper on historical laws of development and social science, and (4) a suggestion or two concerning the connection between the analysis of the notion of an historical law of development and politics.