Phonological recoding,rapid automatized naming,and orthographic knowledge

Phonological recoding, orthographic knowledge, and rapid automatized naming (RAN) are three major contributors to word identification. However, the interrelations between these components remain somewhat unclear. The current analyses focus on how phonological recoding and alphanumeric versus non-alphanumeric RAN contribute to different components of orthographic knowledge (word specific vs. general). Results indicate that alphanumeric and non-alphanumeric RAN contribute to orthographic knowledge components differently. Alphanumeric RAN relates more to word-specific orthographic knowledge, whereas non-alphanumeric RAN relates more to general orthographic knowledge. Furthermore, phonological recoding is more closely related to word-specific orthographic knowledge than to general orthographic knowledge.     

Rorschach Responses and Aggressive Characteristics of MMPI F>16 Scorers

Psychiatric patients with MMPI F>16 scores (E group) were matched with patients having similar diagnosis but F scores of 3-12 (C group) to assess personality characteristics of high F scorers. In Experiment I, E and C group Rorschachs showed no significant differences on formal scored characteristics. E group patients marked a significantly greater number of “obvious” than “subtle” MMPI items. In Experiment II, there was no significant E and C group difference in Rorschach aggressive content. Data from the hospital charts indicated that F>16 scorers had a significantly higher frequency of overt, actively directed anger and suicidal behavior plus a greater total incidence of hostile behavior across a variety of categories.     

Comparative Diagnostic Judgments from the Rorschach and the MMPI

Three experienced psychologists made diagnostic judgments from the Rorschach, the MMPI, and gave an overall diagnostic impression for 50 male and 48 female patients. Judgment on the first test viewed was given before looking at the second test. Order of viewing the tests and sex of patient were counterbalanced. The results indicated (a) the judges consistently rated the tests on a given individual as agreeing on diagnostic impression significantly more often than disagreeing; (b) interjudge agreement was low but significant for the MMPI and overall impressions, not significant for the Rorschach impressions; (c) in cases of disagreement, there was a highly significant tendency for the Rorschach to be seen as indicating more pathology than the MMPI.     

Response to Vassallo's claims from a historically situated view of self-regulated learning as adaptation in the face of challenge

This article is a response to Vassallo's claim that potentially problematic assumptions about social class are implicit in contemporary self-regulated learning research and practice. Rather than refuting the claim directly, this paper offers an elaborated view of the historically situated nature of self-regulated learning as adaptation in the face of challenge. This perspective acknowledges the critical importance of varied life experiences as opportunities for developing self-regulated learning processes both inside and outside of school.     

Obtaining guilty knowledge in human intelligence interrogations: Comparing accusatorial and information-gathering approaches with a novel experimental paradigm

Substantial research has assessed interrogations seeking to obtain a criminal confession, and consequently much has been learned regarding the potential problems with confession evidence. However, an increasing focus on counter-terrorism, and therefore intelligence interrogations, reveals an obvious gap in the literature. Intelligence interrogations are primarily focused on collecting information from individuals as opposed to a confession linked to an alleged event, and little of the extant psychological literature can speak directly to such a scenario. The current research developed an experimental paradigm to test interrogation approaches in an intelligence-gathering context, providing a method for gathering empirical data on human intelligence collection. In the first implementation of this paradigm, accusatorial and information-gathering interrogation strategies were tested using a procedure high in psychological realism. Results indicate that an information-gathering approach yields more relevant information than an accusatorial approach and leads to more diagnostic impressions by third party observers.     

Recurrence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Late Life: A Cognitive Aging Perspective

Clinical experience with older adults shows that many will experience PTSD symptoms in older adulthood because of trauma exposure early in life. Some of these patients struggled with PTSD in the distant past and remained symptomfree for decades only to have a recurrence of PTSD in late life. This paper outlines a cognitive aging explanation for the recurrence of PTSD. It is proposed that the age-related decreases in attention make the intrusion of trauma-related memories more likely. The increase in intrusive memories, combined with age-related decreases in working memory, explicit memory, and prospective memory, increases the subjective distress associated with the memories and results in a recurrence of PTSD.     

RECONSIDERING RESEARCH ON DIVORCE, FAMILY LIFE CYCLE, AND THE MEANING OF FAMILY

This article analyzes functionalist and normative assumptions about marriage, divorce, family, and gender in developmental models of family life cycle. An interdisciplinary review of the literature in family development, family sociology, and family therapy reveals how a deficit comparison model implicitly informs the discourse in the study of single-parent families, women who are alone, and the adjustment of women and children to divorce. A feminist critique of family life cycle as the prevailing conceptual model in family development and therapy is presented, and postmodern definitions that deconstruct the concept of family are discussed. Future perspectives for research on family life and form are considered in terms of new action theory that considers divorce as a mode of resistance and change for women and families.     

Some aspects of perceptual coding of duration in visual duration discrimination

Data are presented which indicate two major differences between duration discrimination performance and discrimination performance usually observed in other psychophysical tasks. A decrement in duration discrimination performance with increasing temporal delays between the presentation of two successive stimuli was not found, and the usual difference in level of performance between forced-choice and single-stimulus tasks was not observed. The time-order error in duration discrimination is also discussed.     

Dark Storm Clouds and Rays of Sunshine: Profiles of Negative and Positive Rumination About Daily Hassles and Uplifts

Daily negative events (hassles) and positive events (uplifts) have an impact on our subjective well-being, and how we react to those events (e.g., negatively ruminating by reflecting on the difficulties that come with hassles, positively ruminating by reflecting on the good aspects of uplifts) often has additional influence. However, little is known about the use of positive and negative rumination in combination. Using data from 469 adults, we examined retrospective accounts of negative and positive rumination about specific hassles and uplifts in reference to a 24-h period. Although differences in rumination were not observed across various domains (e.g., work, family, health), profiles emerged in relation to valence. Specifically, we identified four profiles of rumination: Non-Ruminators (39 %), Multivalence Ruminators (10 %), Positive Ruminators (26 %) and Negative Ruminators (24 %). Neither age nor gender systematically related to rumination profile. We further examined whether the associations among hassles, uplifts and well-being outcomes differed across these profiles. Results suggested few differences in the structural relations across the profiles, although the strength of associations was stronger for Negative Ruminators than Positive Ruminators. Results are discussed in terms of the robustness of effects of hassles and uplifts on subjective well-being across individual difference variables.