Applications of social cognitive theory to the career development of women of color

This article provides a review of the literature on the educational and career development of women of color within the context of social cognitive career theory (Lent, et al, 1994 and Lent, et al, 1996). Specifically, possible gender, ethnic, racial, and cultural influences on career self-efficacy and outcome expectations are explored to delinate the potential mechanisms whereby ethnicity, culture, and ethnic and racial identity development, in interaction with gender, affect career choice and adjustment. Suggestions for future research on social cognitive career theory and the career development of women of color are presented.     

Processing Grammatical Gender During Language Comprehension

The paper reviews empirical evidence on the processing of grammatical gender during language comprehension, mainly focusing on gender priming. Evidence comes from behavioral experiments investigating gender priming and from behavioral as well as neurophysiological experiments evaluating the interaction of gender priming with semantic information. While the behavioral data do not provide a completely unambiguous picture, the neurophysiological data and the most reliable behavioral effects are more in line with a modular than with an interactive view of lexical access.     

An Initial Look at Sibling Reports on Children's Behavior: Comparisons with Children's Self-Reports and Relations with Siblings' Self-Reports and Sibling Relationships

The authors examined siblings' reports of children's depression, anxiety, and aggression, and their reports of the sibling relationship, and compared them with children's self-reports. In two samples, including 169 sibling pairs (age M = 9.98 years, SD = 1.51), no significant differences emerged in the levels of depression and anxiety found in siblings' reports of children's behavior and children's self-reports, although siblings reported children to have significantly higher levels of aggression than the children self-reported. Age, the difference in ages between siblings, sex, and sibling sex were not related to siblings' reports of children's behavior. The relations between children's and siblings' reports of children's behavior were significant, yet moderate (average r = .22). Both siblings' self-reports of internalizing behavior and their perceptions of aspects of the sibling relationship (affection, rivalry, hostility, and satisfaction with the sibling relationship) explained significant, and unique, variance in siblings' reports of children's internalizing behavior. The findings for aggressive behavior were similar, although siblings' perceptions of affection in the sibling relationship were not significantly related to their reports of children's aggression. The potential uses and benefits of sibling reports of children's behavior, and sibling and family relationships, are discussed.     

Towards understanding the effects of interviewer training in evaluating the cognitive interview

The effectiveness of the cognitive interview (CI) technique has been demonstrated in experimental studies of eyewitness memory conducted in the USA, Germany, and the UK. Much of the research, however, has used college students as interviewers rather than professionals who regularly interview witnesses (e.g. police officers). The aim of this research was to examine the effects of such CI training using experienced police officers with established interviewing styles. An armed robbery was staged and information was elicited in witness interviews. The CI did not significantly increase correct recall but tended to produce more suppositions and errors. A qualitative analysis of interviewer behaviour showed that many officers had difficulty in applying the new cognitive techniques and in avoiding the use of closed and leading questions. The paper addresses two issues: first, that of training experienced police officers who have received relatively little prior training in investigative interviewing, and second, the extent to which we can generalize from the laboratory data elicited in previous studies of CI.     

The impact of motor responses on serial-pattern learning

Subjects are able to learn even very complex serial patterns in serial-reaction-time tasks. The investigation of the learning processes behind this phenomenon has yielded contradictory results. Some studies have come to the conclusion the subjects had learned the sequence of stimuli. Other studies have assumed that the sequence of responses had been learned or a combination of both stimuli and responses. The present experiments stress the impact of motor responses on serial-pattern learning. The subjects had to respond to serial targets that were presented within a matrix of distractors. The position of each target could be predicted from the identity and position of the previous target. If the subjects were to learn this pattern, they would be able to speed up the search for the target and give faster responses. The results indicated that the relation between the target identity and the position of the next target was acquired much better by those subjects who had to respond to each target with a special motor response. If the same response was required for the relevant targets, knowledge of the rule was somewhat fragmentary. To explain these results, mechanisms of motor learning and motor planning are discussed. It is assumed that learning of the rules occurs if the position changes appear to be effects of different motor responses.     

Another Round for the Brewers: Television Ads and Children's Alcohol Expectancies1

In an experimental study of how beer commercials affect alcohol expectancies, 92 fifth graders watched 40 television ads that included either five beer commercials, five soft-drink commercials, or five beer commercials plus two antidrinking messages. Afterwards, as an unrelated task, they completed the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire-Adolescent Form (AEQ-A; Christiansen, Goldman, & Inn, 1982). Exposure to different commercials produced no differences in drinking expectancies. The experiment was repeated on 74 eighth graders with similar null results; however, eighth-grade girls more strongly believed (p <.02) that alcohol leads to deteriorated cognitive and behavioral function. In a comparison of fifth and eighth graders from the same school, eighth graders had significantly more positive scores on three AEQ-A scales that tapped social/emotional expectancies. The failure of beer commercials to create positive alcohol expectancies is consistent with limited and null findings of previous investigations. Research to date does not support a ban on alcohol advertising.     

Postpartum Depression: An Overview

Occurring in about 12% of postpartum women, postpartum depression has been the focus of considerable research. Variables that have been correlated with postpartum depression range from biological causes, to lack of social support, to relationship with husband, to attributional styles, to psychodynamic explanations. There is a need for a more circumscribed operational definition of the syndrome and norming of depression measures. It is also important to assess each person individually and to design interventions that focus on particular contributive factors.     

Navigation,browsing, and understanding in an anatomical “hypermedia” environment

A variety of theories of how spatial information is represented in cognitive models have been proposed and numerous strategies (e.g., fish-eye views and nested boxes) have been devised to assist users in browsing and navigation within hypertext and “hypermedia” information systems. These methods of spatial information representation, as well as hypermedia browsing and navigation strategies, are discussed in relation to human anatomy, and a model graphics-based browsing tool, which makes use of the classical regional (spatial) and systematic (functional) arrangement of the human body, is illustrated. This browsing scheme is described in relation to human anatomy, but could be used with other complex spatially organized systems (e.g., in engineering). The integration of this graphics-based browsing tool with other established textually-based strategies is discussed.     

Comparative optimism and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic

Past research suggests that being comparatively optimistic about one's risk for disease is associated with benefits to mental health, such as lowered stress and anxiety. However, few studies have longitudinally examined whether comparative optimism has the same protective benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. The current study examined levels of comparative optimism, changes in comparative optimism over time, and the association between comparative optimism and COVID-related mental and physical health outcomes among a US adult sample during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants completed online surveys at four timepoints, over the course of four weeks in May and June of 2020. Results from paired-samples t-tests revealed that comparative optimism was present, such that participants estimated their risk for COVID-19 as being significantly lower than that of others their age and sex. Results from linear mixed models suggested that people who were more comparatively optimistic reported lower anxiety, depression, and stress. However, at times when people were more comparatively optimistic, they also reported greater depression and poorer sleep quality. Together, the findings suggest that the relationship between comparative optimism and health may be more complex than previously anticipated and further research is needed to examine the potential pathways through which comparative optimism affects health.