A Psychometric Evaluation of the Thought Control Ability Questionnaire (TCAQ) and the Prediction of Cognitive Control

Study 1 evaluated the psychometric properties of the English version of the Thought Control Ability Questionnaire (TCAQ; Luciano et al. 2005), an index of perceived control over intrusive cognitions. Confirmatory factor analysis in a sample of 720 University students revealed a clear uni-dimensional structure (after removal of items 5, 7, 8, 14, and 25) with high internal consistency (α = .87, 95% CI = [.86, .88]) and test-retest reliability after a six month interval (r = .68). Correlational analyses supported an inverse relationship with measures of depression, anxiety, maladaptive cognitive control strategies, and obsessive–compulsive symptomatology. Study 2 tested the ability of the TCAQ to predict successful cognitive control during an experimental suppression protocol. Results demonstrated that weak thought control ability was predictive of the frequency and associated levels of distress of a target thought while under instruction to suppress. Additionally, weak perceived thought control ability was predictive of increased efforts to suppress the target material. Collectively, results suggest that thought control ability is a measurable individual difference variable and that the TCAQ is a reliable index of perceived cognitive control.     

对宫颈癌中前哨淋巴结检测的认识

广泛子宫切除+盆腔淋巴结清扫是治疗早期宫颈癌的标准术式.但对无盆腔淋巴结转移患者,淋巴结清扫并无治疗意义,且伴随多种并发症.前哨淋巴结检测有望解决这一问题,其在宫颈癌中的应用有较大可行性,亦存在局限性.只有正确认识并应用之,才能造福患者.     

Graduate Student Selection: Graduate record examination,socioeconomic status,and undergraduate grade point average as predictors of study success in a western European University

Graduate students' mobility has increased within Europe. Yet, empirical evidence on the validity of standardized admission tests in Europe is still scarce. The aim of the present study was therefore to investigate the incremental validity of the GRE® revised general test above undergraduate grade point average (U‐GPA) by focusing on a multinational sample of master students (N = 282) enrolled at a Dutch university. Results indicated that the Analytical Writing part of the GRE predicts graduate grade point average above and beyond U‐GPA. Furthermore, the results suggest that the relationship is independent of students' socioeconomic status as indexed by parental education. Implications for graduate student selection in a European context are discussed.     

Which Teacher Should I Choose?: A Xunzian Approach to Distinguishing Moral Experts from Fanatics

This essay examines whether an invocation of an epistemological privilege on the part of supposed moral experts prevents potential students from being able to evaluate among potential candidates for the role of plausible moral teacher. Throughout, it works to demonstrate that it is possible for even the untutored student to distinguish between a fanatic and a moral expert. In particular, this essay focuses on the version of virtue ethics espoused by the early Chinese philosopher Xunzi. It argues that by reflecting on the attributes of fanatics, as well as on Xunzi's ideas and arguments about students and teachers, it is possible to arrive at a general set of principles that provide beginners with the tools necessary to distinguish dangerous fanatics from plausible moral teachers, even given the fact that both claim for themselves an epistemological privilege.     

A Comparison of Within- and Across-Activity Choices for Reducing Challenging Behavior in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Offering children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) choices between activities (e.g., working on math or English), instructional materials (e.g., using a pen or pencil), or environmental arrangements (e.g., where to sit) has been shown to reduce challenging behavior maintained by escape from task demands. However, the majority of research investigating choice-based interventions for challenging behavior has examined across-activity choices (i.e., choosing between activities) and relatively few studies have examined within-activity choice (i.e., choosing between instructional materials or environmental arrangements). The purpose of this study is to replicate and extend previous research on choice-based challenging behavior interventions by comparing the effects of across-activity choices and within-activity choices on the escape-maintained challenging behavior of 4 children with ASD. An alternating treatment design was embedded within the “B” phase of an ABAB design in which the “A” phase represented a no-choice baseline condition. Both choice formats resulted in less challenging behavior than the baseline condition for all participants. Across-activity choice resulted in less challenging behavior than within-activity choice for 3 participants. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

The anxiety disorder spectrum: Fear imagery,physiological reactivity,and differential diagnosis∗

Abstract

This review considers recent research assessing psychophysiological reactivity to fear imagery in anxiety disorder patients. As in animal subjects, fear cues prompt in humans a state of defensive motivation in which autonomic and somatic survival reflexes are markedly enhanced. Thus, a startle stimulus presented in a fear context yields a stronger (potentiated) reflex, providing a quantitative measure of fearful arousal. This fear potentiation is further exaggerated in specific or social phobia individuals when viewing pictures or imagining the phobic object. Paradoxically, fear imagery studies with more severe anxiety disorder patients – panic disorder with agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder, or anxious patients with comorbid depression – show a blunted, less robust fear potentiated response. Furthermore, this reflex blunting appears to systematically be more pronounced over the anxiety disorder spectrum, coincident with lengthier chronicity, worsening clinician-based judgments of severity and prognosis, and increased questionnaire-based indices of negative affectivity, suggesting that normal defensive reactivity may be compromised by an experience of long-term stress.     

Using Dual Tasks to Test Immediate Transfer of Training Between Naturalistic Movements: A Proof-of-Principle Study

Theories of motor learning predict that training a movement reduces the amount of attention needed for its performance (i.e., more automatic). If training one movement transfers, then the amount of attention needed for performing a second movement should also be reduced, as measured under dual task conditions. The authors’ purpose was to test whether dual task paradigms are feasible for detecting transfer of training between two naturalistic movements. Immediately following motor training, subjects improved performance of a second untrained movement under single and dual task conditions. Subjects with no training did not. Improved performance in the untrained movement was likely due to transfer, and suggests that dual tasks may be feasible for detecting transfer between naturalistic actions.     

Adolescents with high mental toughness adapt better to perceived stress: A longitudinal study with Swiss vocational students

A mindset of mental toughness enables an individual to cope successfully with the pressures and demands of life. This 10-month study prospectively examined the association between mental toughness and stress resilience in 865 students (M = 17.86 years, 42.7% girls) from two vocational schools. Within each school, separate cluster analyses identified groups with different profiles of risk (assessed with perceived stress) and adaptation (operationalized with depressive symptoms and life satisfaction). Four clusters emerged characterizing students with well-adjusted (low risk, good adaptation), maladjusted (elevated risk, bad adaptation), deteriorated (low initial risk, worsening adaptation) and resilient profiles (elevated initial risk, improving adaptation). The latter two clusters reported similar levels of mental toughness at baseline, but resilient adolescents scored significantly higher on mental toughness at follow-up. After controlling for possible confounds, baseline toughness levels predicted depressive symptoms and life satisfaction over time. This study shows that mental toughness operates as a stress resilience resource. Mental toughness is, therefore a topic of interest for health specialists working with adolescent populations.     

群际信任的增进:社会认同与群际接触的方法

群际信任是衡量群际关系的一个重要尺度.群际信任指人们在群际互动中对其他群体成员的行为或意向做积极预期而且愿意承受相应的风险,这种信任主要是由群体成员所属的社会身份所决定的,表现为内群体成员对外群体成员的信任.影响群际信任的因素包括社会群体身份及其表征和群体之间的接触经验,增进群际信任的方法主要包括社会认同与群际接触两大类方法.未来的研究需结合已有进展和社会现实问题对中国的群际信任问题及增进方法进行深入和系统的探讨.     

《入法界品》研究史考察

《华严经.入法界品》可看作是整部经文的缩影,历史上曾出现过很多它的相关论著。立足于史料的考察,我们对这些论著从研究方法上加以整理,并说明由早期注疏、语言学研究发展到六经注我,所表现出的研究态度是基于不同的理论立场;而对《入法界品》的义理研究最终失音于实利追求,也是中国佛教义学发展的现实写照。