Introduction: Constructivism and social constructionism in the career field

The impact of constructivism and social constructionism upon vocational psychology has often been through the use of the more generic “constructivism.” In this article constructivism is distinguished by its focus on how the individual cognitively engages in the construction of knowledge from social construction which claims that knowledge and meaning are historically and culturally constructed through social processes and action. The considerable ambiguity in the use of these terms is also discussed. Their contributions, challenges, and opportunities to the career field’s dominant discourses are examined: the dispositions discourse, the contextualizing discourse, the subjectivity and narrative discourse, and the process discourse. Broader challenges and opportunities for the field are also noted. The historical construction of knowledge, concern with language, action, and process problematize traditional understandings of career. They raise opportunities to question fundamental assumptions, focus on context, culture, the person-environment interaction, and practice.     

Religious Faith and Substance Problems in Undergraduate College Students: A Replication

The present study examined the relations between religious faith and alcohol and drug problems in undergraduate college students at a large public university in the Southeastern United States. The Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire—Short Form and the Alcohol Problems and Drug Problems scales of the Personality Assessment Inventory were given to 303 undergraduate students. Findings indicated that religious faith was inversely associated with drug and alcohol problems in both males and females. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Personality and gender differences in global perspective

Men's and women's personalities appear to differ in several respects. Social role theories of development assume gender differences result primarily from perceived gender roles, gender socialization and sociostructural power differentials. As a consequence, social role theorists expect gender differences in personality to be smaller in cultures with more gender egalitarianism. Several large cross‐cultural studies have generated sufficient data for evaluating these global personality predictions. Empirically, evidence suggests gender differences in most aspects of personality—Big Five traits, Dark Triad traits, self‐esteem, subjective well‐being, depression and values—are conspicuously larger in cultures with more egalitarian gender roles, gender socialization and sociopolitical gender equity. Similar patterns are evident when examining objectively measured attributes such as tested cognitive abilities and physical traits such as height and blood pressure. Social role theory appears inadequate for explaining some of the observed cultural variations in men's and women's personalities. Evolutionary theories regarding ecologically‐evoked gender differences are described that may prove more useful in explaining global variation in human personality.     

On the value-dependence of value-driven attentional capture

Findings from an increasingly large number of studies have been used to argue that attentional capture can be dependent on the learned value of a stimulus, or value-driven. However, under certain circumstances attention can be biased to select stimuli that previously served as targets, independent of reward history. Value-driven attentional capture, as studied using the training phase-test phase design introduced by Anderson and colleagues, is widely presumed to reflect the combined influence of learned value and selection history. However, the degree to which attentional capture is at all dependent on value learning in this paradigm has recently been questioned. Support for value-dependence can be provided through one of two means: (1) greater attentional capture by prior targets following rewarded training than following unrewarded training, and (2) greater attentional capture by prior targets previously associated with high compared to low value. Using a variant of the original value-driven attentional capture paradigm, Sha and Jiang (Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, 78, 403–414, 2016) failed to find evidence of either, and raised criticisms regarding the adequacy of evidence provided by prior studies using this particular paradigm. To address this disparity, here we provided a stringent test of the value-dependence hypothesis using the traditional value-driven attentional capture paradigm. With a sufficiently large sample size, value-dependence was observed based on both criteria, with no evidence of attentional capture without rewards during training. Our findings support the validity of the traditional value-driven attentional capture paradigm in measuring what its name purports to measure.     

Interaction between the basolateral amygdala and dorsal hippocampus is critical for cocaine memory reconsolidation and subsequent drug context-induced cocaine-seeking behavior in rats

Contextual stimulus control over instrumental drug-seeking behavior relies on the reconsolidation of context-response-drug associative memories into long-term memory storage following retrieval-induced destabilization. According to previous studies, the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and dorsal hippocampus (DH) regulate cocaine-related memory reconsolidation; however, it is not known whether these brain regions interact or independently control this phenomenon. To investigate this question, rats were trained to lever press for cocaine reinforcement in a distinct environmental context followed by extinction training in a different context. Rats were then briefly re-exposed to the cocaine-paired context to destabilize cocaine-related memories, or they were exposed to an unpaired context. Immediately thereafter, the rats received unilateral microinfusions of anisomycin (ANI) into the BLA plus baclofen/muscimol (B/M) into the contralateral (BLA/DH disconnection) or ipsilateral DH, or they received contralateral or ipsilateral microinfusions of vehicle. They then remained in their home cages overnight or for 21 d, followed by additional extinction training and a test of cocaine-seeking behavior (nonreinforced active lever responding). BLA/DH disconnection following re-exposure to the cocaine-paired context, but not the unpaired context, impaired subsequent drug context-induced cocaine-seeking behavior relative to vehicle or ipsilateral ANI + B/M treatment. Prolonged home cage stay elicited a time-dependent increase, or incubation, of drug-context-induced cocaine-seeking behavior, and BLA/DH disconnection inhibited this incubation effect despite some recovery of cocaine-seeking behavior. Thus, the BLA and DH interact to regulate the reconsolidation of cocaine-related associative memories, thereby facilitating the ability of drug-paired contexts to trigger cocaine-seeking behavior and contributing to the incubation of cocaine-seeking behavior.     

Sexual Victimization History and Perceived Similarity to a Sexual Assault Victim: A Path Model of Perceiver Variables Predicting Victim Culpability Attributions

Extant research consistently has shown that culpability attributions toward sexual assault victims are predicted by perceiver gender, perceived similarity to victims, empathy for victims, and rape myth acceptance. The purpose of the present study was to conceptually organize these predictors, which often have been treated disparately in literature. The present sample was composed of 69 female undergraduate students, recruited from a psychology research pool at a university in the southwestern United States. Results of a path analysis demonstrated strong empirical support for a hypothesized causal model linking perceivers?? sexual victimization histories and, in turn, perceptions of similarity to a sexual assault victim based upon these histories, to established predictors of perceivers?? culpability attributions toward sexual assault victims. Basic and applied research implications are discussed.     

Reassessing the Assessment of Change in At-Risk Youth: Conflict and Coherence in Overall Versus Contextual Assessments of Behavior

This research examined how a contextual approach to personality assessment can reveal change processes that are obscured by measures of overall behavior frequencies. Using field observations of 336 children from three summers at a program for at-risk youth, we illustrate how children’s social experiences change over time, how their reactions to these experiences change, and how both processes contribute to changes in the overall frequencies of their prosocial, aggressive, and withdrawn behavior. Children showing opposite patterns of change in their environments and their reactions to them were nevertheless similar in their overall amount of change. The results clarify how changes in reactions and social experiences can be disentangled and reintegrated in order to deepen our understanding of personality change processes. Implications for change assessments that rely on overall behavior summaries are highlighted for program, individual, and intra-individual levels of analysis.     

Effects of cognitive impairment on prosodic parameters of speech production planning in multiple sclerosis

Cognitive impairment (CI) affects 40–65% of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). CI can have a negative impact on a patient's everyday activities, such as engaging in conversations. Speech production planning ability is crucial for successful verbal interactions and thus for preserving social and occupational skills. This study investigates the effect of cognitive-linguistic demand and CI on speech production planning in MS, as reflected in speech prosody. A secondary aim is to explore the clinical potential of prosodic features for the prediction of an individual's cognitive status in MS. A total of 45 subjects, that is 22 healthy controls (HC) and 23 patients in early stages of relapsing-remitting MS, underwent neuropsychological tests probing specific cognitive processes involved in speech production planning. All subjects also performed a read speech task, in which they had to read isolated sentences manipulated as for phonological length. Results show that the speech of MS patients with CI is mainly affected at the temporal level (articulation and speech rate, pause duration). Regression analyses further indicate that rate measures are correlated with working memory scores. In addition, linear discriminant analysis shows the ROC AUC of identifying MS patients with CI is 0.70 (95% confidence interval: 0.68–0.73). Our findings indicate that prosodic planning is deficient in patients with MS-CI and that the scope of planning depends on patients’ cognitive abilities. We discuss how speech-based approaches could be used as an ecological method for the assessment and monitoring of CI in MS.     

Seeking authenticity in diverse contexts: How identities and environments constrain “free” choice

Diversity and inclusion are a key goal in 21st century society, but people continue to self‐segregate in occupations, communities, and everyday interactions. Are people's choices to separate by groups into these different spaces truly “free?” In this paper, we review and extend a new framework for understanding how social identities contextually and automatically constrain the choices people make. We consider how situations subtly cue a sense of fit to one's identity, automatically eliciting state authenticity and a desire to return to those settings that afford authenticity and avoid those that do not. Actors and observers alike often explain these behaviors after the fact as freely chosen. We discuss how the SAFE model can clarify and expand what it means to feel a sense of belonging and explain why those who are advantaged in a setting are often less aware of the way in which their identity advantages them. We end by highlighting how environments can be shaped to foster fit and authenticity among members of underrepresented groups as a means to facilitate diversity.