Generalizing Kant's Distinction between Perfect and Imperfect Duties to Trust in Different Situations

Based on previous research that violations of perfect duties cause stronger correspondent inferences than violations of imperfect ones, the authors performed four experiments to generalize this effect to trust. In Experiment 1, abstract violations of perfect duties resulted in less trust than violations of imperfect ones for specific trust scenarios. In Experiments 2 and 3, the authors experimented with different levels of abstractness of the duty violations and obtained similar effects. Experiment 4 was concerned with generalizing further—from duty violations in one situation to trust in a different situation. Although mostly consistent with the findings from Experiments 1–3, the data also demonstrated partial generalization for violations of both perfect and imperfect duties.     

The development of an evidence-based treatment: Regulation-Focused Psychotherapy for Children with externalising behaviours (RFP-C)

There is a critical need for the development, evaluation and implementation of evidence-based psychodynamic treatments for children and adolescents. Currently, there are no empirically supported, manualised psychodynamic treatments for children and adolescents with disruptive behaviour problems. The field of manualised psychodynamic treatments with measurable equivalence or superiority to other established forms of psychotherapy is in its nascent stage. This paper details a novel, manualised, time-limited psychodynamic treatment approach for children who manifest disruptive behaviours and emotional dysregulation. Regulation-Focused Psychotherapy for Children (RFP-C) conceptualises children’s disruptive and acting out behaviours as expressions of maladaptive emotion regulation. Externalising symptoms are conceptualised as attempts to defend against painful emotions and thus protect the child from disturbing feelings such as sadness, shame and guilt. This paper provides the theoretical basis for the treatment approach and through the use of a clinical example demonstrates the systematic application of RFP-C in a single case.     

Featured book review

The family that dreams together…

Bynum, Edward Bruce. Families and the Interpretation of Dreams: Awakening the Intimate Web. Harrington Park Press, 1993, 250 pp.     

Using System-Wide Trust Theory to Make Predictions About Dependence on Four Diagnostic Aids

The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether performance on a subsequent exam was affected when two lessons were as similar as possible except that one was presented in class and the other was presented online. In a hybrid course, half of the lessons were presented in the classroom as narrated Power Point presentations and half of the lessons were presented online as narrated Power Point presentations. Online student–teacher interaction took place in a chatroom. Furthermore, for each question on the midterm or final examination, the students had answered a pre-lesson and post-lesson question, integrated with the appropriate lesson, which queried the same fact statement as the exam question. Students performed better on post-lesson questions asked in class than post-lesson questions asked online. They also performed better on exam questions on classroom lessons than exam questions on online lessons. The results support the conclusion that social interaction aids learning.     

Using a Sharp Instrument to Parse Apart Strategy and Consistency: An Evaluation of PPT and Its Assumptions

Potential Performance Theory (PPT) is a general theory for parsing observed performance into the underlying strategy and the consistency with which it is used. Although empirical research has supported that PPT is useful, it is desirable to have more information about the bias and standard errors of PPT findings. It also is beneficial to know the effects of violations of PPT assumptions. The authors present computer simulations that evaluate bias and standard errors at varying levels of strategy, consistency, and number of trials per participant. The simulations show that, when the assumptions are true, there is very little bias and the standard errors are low when there are moderate or large numbers of trials per participant (e.g., N = 50 or N = 100). But when the independence assumption is violated, PPT provides biased findings, although the bias is quite small unless the violations are large.     

Time Pressure Heuristics Can Improve Performance Due to Increased Consistency

Our goal is to demonstrate that potential performance theory (PPT) provides a unique type of methodology for studying the use of heuristics under time pressure. While most theories tend to focus on different types of strategies, PPT distinguishes between random and nonrandom effects on performance. We argue that the use of a heuristic under time pressure actually can increase performance by decreasing randomness in responding. We conducted an experiment where participants performed a task under time pressure or not. In turn, PPT equations make it possible to parse the observed change in performance from the unspeeded to the speeded condition into that which is due to a change in the participant's randomness in responding versus that which is due to a change in systematic factors. We found that the change in randomness was slightly more important than the change in systematic factors.     

Structure and Validity of Sluggish Cognitive Tempo Using an Expanded Item Pool in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

We evaluated the latent structure and validity of an expanded pool of Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT) items. An experimental rating scale with 44 candidate SCT items was administered to parents and teachers of 165 children in grades 2–5 (ages 7–11) recruited for a randomized clinical trial of a psychosocial intervention for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Predominantly Inattentive Type. Exploratory factor analyses (EFA) were used to extract items with high loadings (>0.59) on primary factors of SCT and low cross-loadings (0.30 or lower) on other SCT factors and on the Inattention factor of ADHD. Items were required to meet these criteria for both informants. This procedure reduced the pool to 15 items. Generally, items representing slowness and low initiative failed these criteria. SCT factors (termed Daydreaming, Working Memory Problems, and Sleepy/Tired) showed good convergent and discriminant validity in EFA and in a confirmatory model with ADHD factors. Simultaneous regressions of impairment and comorbidity on SCT and ADHD factors found that Daydreams was associated with global impairment, and Sleepy/Tired was associated with organizational problems and depression ratings, across both informants. For teachers, Daydreams also predicted ODD (inversely); Sleepy/Tired also predicted poor academic behavior, low social skills, and problem social behavior; and Working Memory Problems predicted organizational problems and anxiety. When depression, rather than ADHD, was included among the predictors, the only SCT-related associations rendered insignificant were the teacher-reported associations of Daydreams with ODD; Working Memory Problems with anxiety, and Sleepy/Tired with poor social skills. SCT appears to be meaningfully associated with impairment, even when controlling for depression. Common behaviors resembling Working Memory problems may represent a previously undescribed factor of SCT.     

The Short Form of the Revised Almost Perfect Scale

We created a shorter and more refined item set from the Almost Perfect Scale–Revised (APS–R; Slaney, Mobley, Trippi, Ashby, & Johnson, 1996; Slaney, Rice, Mobley, Trippi, & Ashby, 2001) to measure 2 major dimensions of perfectionism: standards (high performance expectations) and discrepancy (self-critical performance evaluations). In Study 1, after testing the internal structure of the measure (N = 749), a subset of the current APS–R items was derived (Short Almost Perfect Scale [SAPS]) that possessed good psychometric features, such as strong item–factor loadings, score reliability, measurement invariance between women and men, and criterion-related validity through associations with neuroticism, conscientiousness, academic performance, and depression. Controlling for neuroticism and conscientiousness, factor mixture modeling supported a 2-factor, 3-class model of perfectionism, and results were consistent with labeling the classes as nonperfectionists and adaptive and maladaptive perfectionists. Measurement results were cross-validated in a separate sample (N = 335). Study 2 also provided substantial evidence for the convergent, discriminant, and criterion-related validity of SAPS scores. Both studies supported the SAPS as a brief and psychometrically strong measure of major perfectionism factors and classes of perfectionists.