The Apartment Test: validity of a memory measure

The Memory in Reality (MIR) test, or Apartment Test, was designed as an ecologically valid alternative to word list recall measures. Participants name 10 everyday objects, place them in a scale model of an apartment and after a delay with interference, recall the objects and their placement. Two studies are reported. Study 1 included 51 older adult volunteers. Study 2 was a population-based sample of 633 older twins. The Apartment Test Recall and Placement tasks were highly correlated with word list delayed recall. Ecological validity was supported by correlations with informant reports of participants' functioning. Apartment Test Recall was not affected by education. Analysis of Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) showed Apartment Test Recall performed as well as word list delayed recall in distinguishing participants with and without dementia. We conclude that the Apartment Test is a valid measure of verbal memory with evidence of ecological and concurrent validity.     

A quantitative estimate of schema abnormality in socially anxious and non-anxious individuals

Although cognitive theories of anxiety suggest that anxious individuals are characterized by abnormal threat-relevant schemas, few empirical studies have estimated the nature of these cognitive structures using quantitative methods that lend themselves to inferential statistical analysis. In the present study, socially anxious (n = 55) and non-anxious (n = 62) participants completed 3 Q-Sort tasks to assess their knowledge of events that commonly occur in social or evaluative scenarios. Participants either sorted events according to how commonly they personally believe the events occur (i.e. "self" condition), or to how commonly they estimate that most people believe they occur (i.e. "other" condition). Participants' individual Q-Sorts were correlated with mean sorts obtained from a normative sample to obtain an estimate of schema abnormality, with lower correlations representing greater levels of abnormality. Relative to non-anxious participants, socially anxious participants' sorts were less strongly associated with sorts of the normative sample, particularly in the "self" condition, although secondary analyses suggest that some significant results might be explained, in part, by depression and experience with the scenarios. These results provide empirical support for the theoretical notion that threat-relevant self-schemas of anxious individuals are characterized by some degree of abnormality.     

Differentiating cognitive content between depressed and anxious outpatients

Quantitative research suggests that depressed and anxious patients can be differentiated based on their cognitive content. This study used qualitative research methods to separate the specific components of open-ended depressive and anxious thought content in 79 psychiatric outpatients. Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD; n = 36), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD; n = 10), and other psychiatric disorders (PC; n = 33) were instructed to (a) describe their most bothersome problem; (b) imagine the worst possible negative outcome followed by the best possible positive outcome; and (c) describe associated thoughts and emotions for each scenario. The content of patients' responses were coded to examine (a) the types and severity of problems; (b) the presence or absence of hopelessness, catastrophizing, hopefulness, and unrealistic positive expectations; and (c) the presence or absence of particular emotions associated with imagined worst and best outcomes. More GAD patients than MDD and PC patients indicated anticipated anxious emotions associated with imagined worst outcomes, and fewer MDD patients than GAD and PC patients indicated anticipated happiness associated with imagined best outcomes. No group differences emerged for the other variables considered. These findings suggest that depressed and anxious patients differ in their cognitive expectancies about future life events in terms of their own anticipated emotional reactions.     

Assessing body image in patients with systemic sclerosis (scleroderma): validation of the adapted Satisfaction with Appearance Scale

People with scleroderma often experience disfiguring appearance-related changes in socially visible and interpersonally salient areas. Although disfigurement can lead to body image dissatisfaction, this phenomenon has not been well investigated due to the lack of a disfigurement-specific measure. The Satisfaction With Appearance (SWAP) scale, previously developed in burn survivors, was adapted and administered to 254 participants with scleroderma to evaluate its psychometric integrity and its validity for use in a different medical population that experiences changes in appearance. Principal component analysis revealed two factors – Subjective Dissatisfaction and Perceived Social Impact – rather than the four found in burn victims. Excellent estimates of internal consistency and temporal stability and strong evidence for the reliability of the two-factor solution were found. The resulting factor structure in a scleroderma population suggests that differing medical conditions may create alternate constellations of BID, reflects the need for body image researchers to assess psychometrics across medical populations and may have clinical implications for BID interventions.     

Modeling the Gender Difference in Depression: A Commentary on Cambron, Acitelli, and Pettit

In reviewing Cambron, Acitelli, and Pettit’s interpersonal contingent self-esteem model of the gender difference in depression, we applaud their domain-match vulnerability-stress approach as well as their specification of the processes mediating self-esteem and depression. However, we argue that models of the gender difference in depression must address five key points in order to provide compelling and meaningful explanations. Such models should: consider that vulnerability, stress, or vulnerability-stress interactions may vary across domains; articulate the processes by which stress-reactive negative affect develops into depressive symptoms; take a developmental approach; be sensitive to social and political implications; and provide clear hypotheses regarding the mediating and moderating mechanisms implicated in the model. These suggestions apply to all researchers interested in explaining the gender difference in depression.     

Indirect evidence and the poverty of the stimulus: the case of anaphoric one

It is widely held that children's linguistic input underdetermines the correct grammar, and that language learning must therefore be guided by innate linguistic constraints. Here, we show that a Bayesian model can learn a standard poverty-of-stimulus example, anaphoric one , from realistic input by relying on indirect evidence, without a linguistic constraint assumed to be necessary. Our demonstration does, however, assume other linguistic knowledge; thus, we reduce the problem of learning anaphoric one to that of learning this other knowledge. We discuss whether this other knowledge may itself be acquired without linguistic constraints.     

Burning and cutting: Identifying the traits of individuals with an enduring propensity to tan and to undergo cosmetic surgery

• The research investigated the trait predictors of the propensity to use two beautification procedures that have the potential to harm health – the propensities to tan and to obtain cosmetic surgery. The results of a survey of 231 adult consumers revealed that a different combination of hierarchically arranged traits was predictive of the two procedures. These results suggest that different strategies are required in order to market or demarket tanning and plastic surgery. The research also made methodological contributions by revealing that two forms of vanity identified in the literature – physical view vanity and physical concern vanity – represent two different constructs rather than two dimensions of an underlying construct.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Changing Institutional Location: A Reflective Conversation on the Move from Undergraduate to Seminary/Divinity School Teaching

The editor of Teaching Theology and Religion facilitated this reflective conversation with four teachers who recently moved from undergraduate institutions to seminaries and divinity schools. Three major themes emerge in the conversation: (1) developing their pedagogical craft in undergraduate settings made them better teachers in their new contexts; (2) they moved, in part, to achieve a “better balance” between teaching and scholarship, and while this was generally achieved it was manifest in unexpected ways; (3) the communities or publics among whom and on behalf of whom they engage in broader service shifted in ways that have effected both their scholarship and their teaching; and (4) the move to a new teaching context enhanced their professional lives because they were able to consider their own visions of career in relation to the mission of their new institutions.     

Contributions of weight perceptions to weight loss attempts: Differences by body mass index and gender

Previous studies have consistently observed that women are more likely to perceive themselves as overweight compared to men. Similarly, women are more likely than men to report trying to lose weight. Less is known about the impact that self-perceived weight has on weight loss behaviors of adults and whether this association differs by gender. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis among an employee sample (n = 899) to determine the association of self-perceived weight on evidence-based weight loss behaviors across genders, accounting for body mass index (BMI) and demographic characteristics. Women were more likely than men to consider themselves to be overweight across each BMI category, and were more likely to report attempting to lose weight. However, perceiving oneself to be overweight was a strong correlate for weight loss attempts across both genders. The effect of targeting accuracy of self-perceived weight status in weight loss interventions deserves research attention.