Enacted and nonenacted encoding of social actions

Previous research has demonstrated that recall of enacted verbal commands is superior to recall of the same commands without enactment. The experiment reported explored whether the same effect would hold true in a social context as opposed to the non-social context used in previous research. The results demonstrated that this is indeed the case. Enacted verbal commands are better recalled than commands that are encoded verbally and better than commands that are encoded by means of observing them being performed. It was also demonstrated that items rated as having positive emotional value were better recalled than items rated as negative or neutral. This was true for enacted as well as for nonenacted commands. It is concluded that there is no basic difference between memory of commands enacted in the social context and memory of commands enacted in a non-social context. We discuss the data in relation to current theory of memory of actions.     

A new Swedish social attitude scale: Reliability and construct validity

The aim was to construct an updated and balanced version of a previous Swedish social attitude scale (Sidanius, 1976), and to assess the reliability and construct validity, employing a sample of 445 students, aged 14–17, from schools within metropolitan Stockholm. The results showed acceptable precision and internal consistency and reasonably high test-retest reliability for the scale as a whole. The a priori attitude domains (political-economic conservatism, religion, punitiveness, social inequality, ethnocentrism, and environment) were identified through use of confirmatory factor analysis. Most domains showed acceptable reliability. Differing results for the various age groups indicated that the present version of the scale should not be used among subjects below the age of 15.     

Encoding strategy and retroactive interference in short-term memory

Abstract.— The effect of encoding strategy upon retroactive interference in STM was studied. The subjects were presented two trigrams for retention with the Brown-Peterson method. In half the cases they were to recall both trigrams, in half to recall only the first. The results showed higher recall with the associative than with the rehearsal strategy. An increase in level of retroactive interference was found to increase number of retroactive interference errors in the rehearsal strategy condition and number of omissions in the associative strategy condition. The results were interpreted in terms of the memory trace integration hypothesis.     

Sex differences in self-reported anxiety for different situations and modes of response

Abstract.— A review was made of recent studies employing different S-R inventories of anxiety and fear. The review pointed to the need for studies of sex differences for inventories where both situations and modes of response are selected separately. Such an analysis was made in the present study with regard to sex differences in both level and variability of self-reported anxiety for both total scores, factor scores, and single situation and response scales. The Ss were 116 adolescents, about 16 years of age. The inventory comprised 17 situations and 18 modes of response. With a few minor exceptions the analyses showed consistent sex differences throughout, with girls scoring higher than boys and showing greater interindividual variability in reported anxiety. Among other things, the results are discussed in relation to sex differences reported for physiological variables.     

Recall as a function of orienting task and retrieval cue

Abstract.— In an incidental learning experiment, a 40 word list with 4 words representing each of 10 taxonom-ic categories and beginning with each of 10 first letters was presented to 120 subjects. Half the subjects sorted the words according to category, half according to initial letter. After an interval of either 1 or 6 min, retention was measured with cued or free recall tests. The subjects in the Category sort-Category cue condition obtained higher recall than the subjects in the Category sort-Letter cue condition, whereas level of recall did not differ between the Letter sort-Letter cue and Letter sort-Category cue conditions. These results together with other results from the experiment were considered as arguments against the Encoding Specificity Principle but in favor of a theory separating encoding from retrieval.     

正念减压疗法在护士职业倦怠干预中的应用

在当前的医疗和社会环境下,护士群体面临着巨大的压力,承受着职业枯竭困扰。针对国内护士职业倦怠干预研究的现状,着重介绍了西方临床心理学界广泛应用的正念减压疗法(mindfulness-based stress reduction,MBSR)及其在压力管理和身心疾病的康复等方面的积极疗效。根据正念减压疗法的特点、作用机制和其与护理理论的关系,探讨这种训练应用于护士职业倦怠预防和干预的合理性。     

Ethnicity and gender in late childhood and early adolescence: group identity and awareness of bias

The current study examined awareness of gender and ethnic bias and gender and ethnic identity in 350 African American, White/European American, and Latino/Hispanic students (Mage = 11.21 years, SD = 1.59) from the 4th, 6th, and 8th grades of diverse middle and elementary schools. The study collected (a) qualitative data to best capture the types of bias that were most salient to children and (b) daily diaries and individual measures to examine the multiple components of children's gender and ethnic identities. Results revealed ethnic, gender, and grade-level differences in awareness of ethnic and gender bias. Overall, more children were aware of gender bias than ethnic bias. This effect was most pronounced among White/European American youths. Among those in 4th grade, African American and Latino youths were more likely to be aware of ethnic bias than were White/European American youths. Analyses also examined how awareness of bias was related to gender and ethnic identity. For example, children who had a salient and important gender identity, and a devalued ethnic identity, were less likely than other children to be aware of ethnic bias.     

Political perception and political preference An exploratory study of Swedish political parties

Abstract.— Political perception was studied as a function of the perceiver's political viewpoint. The political stimuli used were the names of 9 Swedish political parties or organizations. Political viewpoint was defined by the person's political party preference. The subjects were 105 undergraduate psychology students. Different aspects of political party perception were studied concerning (a) perceived positions of the parties on a Left-Right continuum, ( b ) perceived similarity among parties, and (c) the number and nature of inferred dimensions and categories underlying the perception of the parties. With regard to (a) and (b), the analyses indicated systematic differences among political preference groups, whereas the number and nature of political dimensions seemed to be the same. Thus, for both socialists and nonsocialists the dimensions underlying the perception of Swedish political parties could be interpreted as "left-right", "extremity", and "religiosity".     

Cognitive functioning and socio-political ideology A multidimensional and individualized analysis

Abstract.— Relationships between certain cognitive behaviors within a political domain (i.e. Cognitive Differentiation, Cognitive Articulation) and certain dimensions of Socio-Political ideology (General Conservatism, Political-Economic Conservatism, Racism, Religion, Sexual Repression, and Authoritarian Aggression) were studied. Cognitive functioning was sampled via the use of uni- and multidimensional scaling analyses, with the stimuli consisting of Swedish political parties. Socio-Political ideology was defined by: (1) the S, Conservatism Scale and (2) the subjects' political party preferences. The subjects consisted of 105 psychology students from the University of Stockholm. The results showed that: ( a ) there were statistically significant relationships among the various indices of cognitive functioning based upon independent methods of assessment, and ( b ) there were statistically significant relationships between a number of cognitive functioning indices and certain dimensions of Socio-Political ideology. The results are discussed in terms of three hypotheses concerning the connection between Socio-Political ideology and certain forms of cognitive behavior.