Mediators of Posttraumatic Mental Health in Sexual Assault Survivors

The development of posttraumatic growth (PTG) and the relationship between PTG and distress outcomes in sexual assault is an important area of investigation. Recent research suggests that some forms of cognitive processing might be critical in the development, maintenance, and resolution of posttraumatic mental health among sexual assault survivors. The objective of this study was to examine factors associated with posttraumatic mental health among sexual assault survivors. Seventy-three participants who experienced sexual assault completed measures of trauma symptoms, PTG, changes in outlook, cognitive processing, and support and coping. Results revealed that significant levels of posttraumatic symptomatology and low levels of PTG were reported 3 years following sexual assault. A weak relationship was found between symptoms of distress and growth. Contrary to predictions, only ratings of hope and brooding rumination were mediators of the relationship between posttraumatic symptoms and PTG. Reflective rumination was not related to the development of PTG.     

Successful Aging Across Adulthood: Hassles,Uplifts, and Self-Assessed Health in Daily Context

To examine the ways in which age, sex, daily uplifts, and daily hassles influence fluctuations in self-assessed health (SAH). A 14-day experience sampling study was conducted among community-dwelling adults (N?=?87). The distribution-free method of generalized estimating equations was used to examine whether changes in the intensity of daily hassles and changes in intensities of daily uplifts predicted subsequent changes in SAH. Both hassles and uplifts influenced SAH, although neither age nor sex influenced these associations. Findings are discussed in terms of the benefits of examining the daily context as an influence on successful aging.     

Is STEM running out of steam for Asian Americans? College admissions officers' perceptions of applicants

While many people view Asian Americans as ‘model minorities’ who excel in math, science and music, they are also negatively stereotyped as nerdy and unsociable. Research has shown that Asian Americans have to outperform other races academically to receive equal consideration by colleges. This study is the first to test whether this bias is directed towards all Asian Americans or only those who fit the model minority stereotype. The present experiment investigates the effect of race and stereotypes on perceptions of students in the college admission process. College admission officers (N = 79) were randomly assigned to view a shortened version of a college application. The participants rated the student whose application they saw according to likelihood of being accepted into college, social competence, academic competence and contribution to a college's diversity. The stereotypical Asian American student was perceived to be significantly less likely to be accepted into college and had a lower perceived social competence than the other three students. Additionally, students who participated in counter‐stereotypical Asian activities were perceived as being more likely to be accepted, more socially competent and to contribute more diversity than students who participated in stereotypical Asian activities. A multiple regression revealed that social competence was the only significant predictor of likely acceptance. This study suggests that rather than all Asian American students being disadvantaged in the college admissions process, it is only those who fit common stereotypes who are affected.     

Unconscious masked priming depends on temporal attention

The cognitive processes at work in masked priming experiments are usually considered automatic and independent of attention. We provide evidence against this view. Three behavioral experiments demonstrate that the occurrence of unconscious priming in a number–comparison task is determined by the allocation of temporal attention to the time window during which the prime–target pair is presented. Both response–congruity priming and physical repetition priming vanish when temporal attention is focused away from this time window. These findings are inconsistent with the concept of a purely automatic spreading of activation during masked priming.     

Predicting dangerousness with two Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory psychopathy scales: the importance of egocentric and callous traits

Psychopathy in youth has received increased recognition as a critical clinical construct for the evaluation and management of adolescents who have come into contact with the law (e.g., Forth, Hare, & Hart, 1990; Frick, 1998; Lynam, 1996, 1998). Although considerable attention has been devoted to the adult construct of psychopathy and its relation to recidivism, psychopathy in adolescents has been less thoroughly researched. Recently, a psychopathy scale (Murrie and Cornell Psychopathy Scale; Murrie & Cornell, 2000) was developed from items of the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI; Millon, 1993). This scale was found to be highly related to the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (Hare, 1991) and was judged to have demonstrated good criterion validity. A necessary step in the validation process of any psychopathy scale is establishing its predictive validity. With this in mind, we investigated the ability of the MACI Psychopathy Scale to predict recidivism with 55 adolescent offenders 2 years after they had been evaluated at a juvenile court evaluation unit. In addition, we devised a psychopathy scale from MACI items that aligned more closely with Cooke and Michie (2001) and Frick, Bodin, and Barry's (2001) recommendations for the refinement of psychopathy and tested its predictive validity. Results indicate that both scales had predictive utility. Interpersonal and affective components of the revised scale were particularly important in the prediction of both general and violent reoffending.     

The impact of personality on cognitive, behavioral, and affective political processes: the effects of need to evaluate

Need to evaluate (NE) is a personality trait that reflects a person's proclivity to create and hold attitudes; people high in NE are especially likely to form attitudes toward all sorts of objects. Using data from the 1998 National Election Survey Pilot and the 2000 National Election Survey, NE was shown to predict a variety of important attitude-relevant cognitive, behavioral, and affective political processes beyond simply holding attitudes: NE predicted how many evaluative beliefs about candidates a person held, the likelihood that a person would use party identification and issue stances to determine candidate preferences, the extent to which a person engaged in political activism, the likelihood that a person voted or intended to vote, the extent to which a person used the news media for gathering information, and the intensity of emotional reactions a person felt toward political candidates. Thus, NE appears to play a powerful role in shaping important political behavior, emotion, and cognition.     

Das Traumgenerierungsmodell von Ulrich Moser und Ilka von Zeppelin

Moser and von Zeppelin developed a dream generation model. Based on an empirical scientific method for dream coding derived from this model, affect regulation processes within dreams can be reconstructed. A dream of a Canadian soldier is used to illustrate this approach and to examine its possibilities as well as limitations. Finally, this article discusses how far such a procedure can be helpful in a didactical, institutional or academic context when approaching the dream phenomenon and as a process preceding dream interpretation.     

Guilty or Innocent? Women's Reliance on Inadmissible Evidence in a Simulated Rape Case

This study investigated the extent to which women disregard inadmissible evidence in a simulated rape case as a function of when they receive a judge's global legal instructions concerning presumption of innocence, burden of proof, reasonable doubt, and inadmissible evidence. We hypothesized that participants would be more likely to disregard incriminating inadmissible evidence when the instructions were given before rather than after the trial. Participants listened to audiotaped excerpts from a rape trial. They were given pretrial, predeliberation, or both sets of instructions; and received admissible or inadmissible avidence or no prior rape testimony, after which they made judgments. The results supported hypothesis that pretrial instructions are more effective than predeliberation instructions in allowing participants to disregard inadmissible evidence.
One cannot unring a bell; after the thrust of a saber, it is difficult to say forget the wound; and finally, if you throw a skunk into the jury box, you can't instruct the jury not to smell it ( Dunn v. United States , 1962 , p. 886).     

The Distress Disclosure Index: a research review and multitrait-multimethod examination

The Distress Disclosure Index (DDI; J. H. Kahn & R. M. Hessling, 2001) is a brief self-report measure of one's tendency to disclose personally distressing information. The purpose of this article was to summarize what is known about the DDI, present new validity evidence, and make recommendations for use of the DDI. This article reviews research on the DDI from the past decade that indicates that distress disclosure is associated with well-being, professional help-seeking attitudes and intentions, and success in brief psychotherapy. On the basis of the reviewed literature, the authors report a reliability generalization study of DDI scores that strongly supports the internal consistency and test-retest reliability of DDI scores, and they review criterion-related and construct validity evidence. Next, the authors present a new multitrait-multimethod validity study of the DDI. Participants (N = 153) and peer informants (N = 153)--one per participant--completed paper-and-pencil questionnaire packets. Convergent validity of self-reported DDI scores was supported by a strong association with self-reports of emotional self-disclosure in response to a specific, unpleasant event, and self- and peer reports on the DDI were moderately correlated. DDI scores were not strongly associated with cognitive reappraisal and ambivalence over emotional expression, thus supporting discriminant validity. DDI scores were strongly associated with expressive suppression, and correlations between DDI scores and affect, depression symptoms, coping, and emotional expressivity were similar to those found with expressive suppression. The authors offer possible hypotheses explaining the overlap between distress disclosure and expressive suppression and present recommendations for future use of the DDI.