The abstraction of visual prototypes by children

The present studies demonstrated that children as young as second graders could form prototypical representations from a set of highly similar stimuli. The prototype-plus-transformation model of this performance (Franks & Bransford, 1971) was contrasted with an attribute-frequency model (Neumann, 1974). Results supported the latter model when trigram stimuli were used to test differential predictions from the models.     

Clinical and pathophysiologic aspects of viral infections of the CNS

The available defensive mechanisms are generally sufficient to protect the central nervous system (CNS) against the penetration of infectious particles. The blood-brain-barrier plays a decisive role in this process. The present paper represents the most important circumstances realizing that: 1. The macrophage-lymphocyte-system, 2. the "oligoclonal-CSF-IgG-reaction", and 3. the influence of psychological and physiological burdens on clinical-chemical or immunological parameters. It seems to be important to overcome the instability of the immunosystem and to reestablish the base-line.     

Faculty work orientations as predictors of work attitudes in the physical and social sciences

This study examines the relationship between university professors' work orientation and attitudes toward their work. Specific and global work orientations are related to extrinsic and intrinsic attitudes toward (1) career attraction, (2) work satisfaction, and (3) commitment to the profession. The major findings of the study are (1) global work orientation is a strong predictor of attitudes toward intrinsic aspects of work in the social sciences and is a moderate predictor in the physical sciences; (2) specific work orientation is a strong predictor of attitudes toward extrinsic aspects of work in the physical sciences and is a moderate predictor in the social sciences; (3) global work orientation is not related to extrinsic work attitudes in the physical and social sciences; and (4) specific work orientation is not related to intrinsic work attitudes in the physical and social sciences.     

Understanding Workaholics' Motivations: A Self‐Determination Perspective

In order to explain the diverging well‐being outcomes of workaholism, this study aimed to examine the motivational orientations that may fuel the two main components of workaholism (i.e. working excessively and working compulsively). Drawings on Self‐Determination Theory, both autonomous and controlled motivation were suggested to drive excessive work, which therefore was expected to relate positively to both well‐being (i.e. vigor) and ill‐health (i.e. exhaustion). Compulsive work, in contrast, was hypothesised to originate exclusively out of controlled motivation and therefore to only associate positively with ill‐being. Structural equation modeling in a heterogeneous sample of Belgian white‐collar workers (N= 370) confirmed that autonomous motivation associated positively with excessive work, which then related positively to vigor. Controlled motivation correlated positively with compulsive work, which therefore related positively with exhaustion. The hypothesised path from controlled motivation to exhaustion through excessive work was not corroborated. In general, the findings suggest that primarily compulsive work yields associations with ill‐being, since it may stem from a qualitatively inferior type of motivation.     

America—Still in the Hero's Grip

Although the United States is clearly still reeling from its current and recent exported wars, it has never gotten close enough to fully witness their actual horror. As a result, the nation's profound identification with the archetypes of the warrior and hero has never undergone a corrective experience. The country's one-sided myth of its own exceptionalism and goodness has created not only an unattainable image to live up to, but also its flip side—a very repressed and ignored shadow, which is liable to pop up in highly unregulated forms. The psychic split this creates is now being played out in a deeply divided nation and the seemingly sudden emergence of a president who carries all the shadow aspects of the hero archetype. The United States is certainly not the only nation with a narrative elevating itself above all others—or that has ended up enthroning its own shadow. But because of its size and power, the consequences are much more damaging. It would serve the United States well to relativize its view of itself, and for it to take a more appropriate place among the nations of this world. However, history shows that this kind of shift does not happen voluntarily; instead it is forced upon a country by its own failure. It remains to be seen if the United States will be able to make the necessary leap in consciousness to avoid following in history's footsteps.     

Evidence for the Trait-Impulsivity Etiological Model in a Clinical Sample: Bifactor Structure and Its Relation to Impairment and Environmental Risk

The trait-impulsivity etiological model assumes that a general factor (trait-impulsivity) underlies attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and other externalizing disorders. We investigated the plausibility of this assumption by testing the factor structure of ADHD and ODD in a bifactor framework for a clinical sample of 1420 children between 6 and 18 years of age (M = 9.99, SD = 3.34; 85% male). Further, the trait-impulsivity etiological model assumes that ODD emerges only if environmental risk factors are present. Our results support the validity of the trait-impulsivity etiological model, as they confirm that ADHD and ODD share a strong general factor of disruptive behavior (DB) in this clinical sample. Furthermore, unlike the subdimensions of ADHD, we found that the specific ODD factor explained as much true score variance as the general DB factor. This suggests that a common scale of ADHD and ODD may prove to be as important as a separate ODD subscale to assess externalizing problems in school-age children. However, all other subscales of ADHD may not explain sufficient true score variance once the impact of the general DB factor has been taken into consideration. In accordance with the trait-impulsivity model, we also showed that all factors, but predominantly the general factor and specific inattention factor, predicted parent-rated impairment, and that predominantly ODD and impulsivity are predicted by environmental risk factors.     

Rapid communication: Sex differences in artificial grammar learning: evidence for different strategies in men and women

In this article we report an experiment that investigated differences in classification performance of women and men in artificial grammar learning (AGL). Women's and men's responses correspond to a large extent. Consistent differences, however, were found in a variable that codes overlaps between training and test items in terms of string fragments. The results are best explained by the assumption that women and men apply different cognitive strategies at test.