Intentional faking of the single category Implicit Association Test and the Implicit Association Test

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) provides a relative measure of implicit association strengths between target and attribute categories. In contrast, the Single Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT) measures association strength with a single attribute category. This can be advantageous if a complementary category--as used in the IAT--cannot be composed or is undesired. If the SC-IAT is to be a meaningful supplement to the IAT, it should meet the same requirements. In an online experiment with a large and heterogeneous sample, the fakability of both implicit measures was investigated when measuring anxiety. Both measures were fakable through specific instruction (e.g., "Slow down your reactions") but unfakable through nonspecific faking instruction even though nonspecific instruction was given immediately before the critical blocks (e.g., "Alter your reaction times"). When comparing the methodological quality of both implicit measures, the SC-IAT had lower internal consistency than the IAT. Moreover, with specific faking instructions, the SC-IAT was possible to fake to a larger extent than the IAT.     

Beyond one work day? A daily diary study on causal and reverse effects between experienced workplace incivility and behaving rude towards others

In this diary study with N = 348 employees, we examine whether the contagion effect of workplace incivility transfers beyond one work day that is whether the experience of workplace incivility is related to showing rude behaviours towards others the next day. Additionally, we examine whether ruminating in the evening of a work day and building an intention for revenge behaviour mediate this relationship, and explore whether a serial mediation process exists where experienced incivility triggers ruminative thoughts, which, in turn, increase the likelihood of intending to act, which transfers into actual rude behaviour the next day. Using a multilevel path analysis, our results confirmed a lagged relationship between workplace incivility one day and rude behaviours towards others the next day. Between-persons’ workplace incivility was also related to showing rude behaviour towards others. Neither rumination nor revenge behaviour intent proved to be mediators of this relationship. Additionally, the serial mediation process was not confirmed; however, parts of the process—namely the relationship between experienced workplace incivility and ruminating about work in the evening—received support. Importantly, the reverse relationship (i.e., showing rude behaviour one day leads to experiencing workplace incivility the next) was not supported in our analysis. By adding a new, daily time perspective, our study suggests that participants do not intentionally provoke episodes of incivility, but rather react to others’ incivility.     

Working memory in children: tracing age differences and special educational needs to parameters of a formal model

Parameters of a formal working-memory model were estimated for verbal and spatial memory updating of children. The model proposes interference though feature overwriting and through confusion of whole elements as the primary cause of working-memory capacity limits. We tested 2 age groups each containing 1 group of normal intelligence and 1 deficit group. For young children the deficit was developmental dyslexia; for older children it was a general learning difficulty. The interference model predicts less interference through overwriting but more through confusion of whole elements for the dyslexic children than for their age-matched controls. Older children exhibited less interference through confusion of whole elements and a higher processing rate than young children, but general learning difficulty was associated with slower processing than in the age-matched control group. Furthermore, the difference between verbal and spatial updating mapped onto several meaningful dissociations of model parameters.     

Integrating multiple perspectives on error-related brain activity: The ERN as a neural indicator of trait defensive reactivity

In the past 20 years, research concerning the error-related negativity (ERN), a negative-going deflection in the event-related brain potential (ERP) following an erroneous response, has flourished. Despite a substantial body of research, debate regarding its functional significance persists. In what follows, we selectively review literature on the ERN, and outline several prominent cognitive theories related to the generation and significance of the ERN. Cognitive theories predict that the size of the ERN should relate to variation in behavior, although there is substantial evidence that the ERN and behavioral measures are at least partially dissociable. Moreover, individual difference measures, psychopathology, and motivational factors all appear to impact basic mechanisms that generate the ERN to moderate the magnitude of the ERN, suggesting a need to integrate alternative perspectives into models of ERN amplitude. Insofar as errors prompt the mobilization of defensive responses, we view variation in the ERN in terms of error detection in the service of protecting the organism. Based on data indicating that the ERN is highly stable over time, heritable, and related to broad dimensions of personality, we propose that the ERN is a neural index of a neurobehavioral trait and variation in its amplitude is related in part to individual differences in defensive reactivity. Implications and future directions are considered.     

Selective attention to imagined facial ugliness is specific to body dysmorphic disorder

Cognitive-behavioral models postulate that biases in selective attention are key factors contributing to susceptibility to and maintenance of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). Visual attention in particular toward the imagined defect in appearance may be a crucial element. The present study therefore examined whether individuals with BDD showed increased visual attention to flaws in their own and in unfamiliar faces. Twenty individuals with BDD, 20 individuals with social phobia, and 20 mentally healthy individuals participated in an eye-tracking experiment. Participants were instructed to gaze at the photographs of 15 pictures of themselves and several unfamiliar faces. Only patients with BDD showed heightened selective visual attention to the imagined defect in their own face, as well to corresponding regions in other, unfamiliar faces. The results support the assumption that there is a specific attentional bias in BDD.     

Empirically based dimensions of externalizing symptoms in children and adolescents: a multitrait-multisource approach

The present study sought to refine knowledge about the structure underlying externalizing dimensions. From a “top-down” ICD/DSM-based perspective, externalizing symptoms can be categorized into attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and conduct disorder (CD). From a “bottom-up” developmental theory-based perspective, disruptive behaviors can be meaningfully described as aggressive (AGG) and rule-breaking (RB) behaviors. We analyzed five large data sets comprising externalizing symptom ratings obtained with a screening instrument using different sources (parents, teachers, self-ratings) from different samples. Using confirmatory factor analyses, we evaluated several factor models (unidimensional; correlated factors; bifactor (S-1) models) derived from an ICD/DSM- and theory-based perspective. Our optimally fitting models were assessed for measurement invariance across all sources, sample settings, and sex. Following several model-based criteria (model fit indices; factor loadings; omega statistics; model parsimony), we discarded our models stepwise and concluded that both the ICD/DSM-based model with three correlated factors (ADHD, ODD, CD) and the developmental theory-based model with three correlated factors (ADHD, AGG, RB) displayed a statistically sound factor structure and allowed for straightforward interpretability. Furthermore, these two models demonstrated metric invariance across all five samples and across sample settings (community, clinical), as well as scalar invariance across sources and sex. While the dimensions AGG and RB may depict a more empirically coherent view than the categorical perspective of ODD and CD, at this point we cannot clearly determine whether one perspective really outperforms the other. Implications for model selection according to our model-based criteria and clinical research are discussed.

     

Communication of stereotypes in the classroom: biased language use of German and Turkish adolescents

Little is known about the linguistic transmission and maintenance of mutual stereotypes in interethnic contexts. This field study, therefore, investigated the linguistic expectancy bias (LEB) and the linguistic intergroup bias (LIB) among German and Turkish adolescents (13 to 20 years) in the school context. The LEB refers to the general phenomenon of describing stereotypes more abstractly. The LIB is the tendency to use language abstraction for in‐group protective reasons. Results revealed an unmoderated LEB, whereas the LIB only occurred when foreigners were in the numerical majority, the classroom composition was perceived as a learning disadvantage, or the interethnic conflict frequency was high. These findings provide first evidence for the use of both LEB and LIB in an interethnic classroom setting.     

Individual Differences in How Work and Nonwork Life Domains Contribute to Life Satisfaction: Using Factor Mixture Modeling for Classification

This study used factor mixture modeling to investigate individual differences in how life satisfaction is construed. Referring to the cognitive regulation of well-being we aimed to identify individuals for whom work and nonwork life domains contribute differently to overall life satisfaction. In a sample of 1,704 working adults two subgroups with different response patterns were identified. In the first subgroup work and nonwork life domains contributed equally to overall life satisfaction. In the second subgroup satisfaction with nonwork rather than work-related life domains were important sources of life satisfaction. Furthermore, participants in the second group processed negative affect from the work domain in ways that enabled them to maintain high levels of life satisfaction. We examined the external validity of class assignment and replicated our findings in a second sample. How factor mixture modeling can be used to uncover cognitive mechanisms that operate in evaluations of life satisfaction is discussed.     

Haft- und Therapieerfahrungen der Berliner Sicherungsverwahrten

The current reformation of preventive detention follows legal requirements and is not primarily derived from the treatment needs of inmates. Therefore, a fresh look at those persons who will be subjected to this new treatment is important before any legal provisions are put into practice. What are the individual life and delinquency experiences of inmates, how often, in which way and with which goal was treatment attempted? This article will expand on the current situation in the realization of the new legal standards and will describe first results on core delinquency data of a population study of 76 inmates with preventive detention in Berlin and 44 inmates in other federal states of Germany.