Significance of violence in stories of young children

Stories told by 72 5-yr.-old children were scored for themes of violence and correlated with their mothers' reports of aggressive or fearful behaviors. Values for the entire sample were not significant. However, when data for Hispanic children were removed from the sample the correlation of violent stories to ratings of children's aggression was significant (r = .27) and for a count of violent words r = .30. The correlation of violent words to fearfulness was .28 and for girls only .35. The count of violent words was also correlated with African-American children's ratings of fearfulness (r = .64).     

Methods of data collection,perceptions of risks and losses,and motivation to give truthful answers to sensitive survey questions

Two experiments examined survey respondents' concerns about risks and losses when answering sensitive questions in a survey. In Experiment 1 subjects watched one of eight different versions of a videotaped staged interview of a woman being asked about abortion and drunk driving. Experiment 2 was an actual survey interview about women's health issues, including abortion. In Experiment 2, a large proportion of the sample had a recent abortion for which validation information from the clinic was available. Results of both experiments indicate that, when responding to questions about sensitive topics, survey respondents are concerned about risks and losses other than those covered by standard confidentiality assurances and that these other concerns affect truthful reporting. Experiment 1 showed the importance of privacy in surveys of sensitive behaviours. The experiments suggest that under some circumstances interviewer‐administration of sensitive questions may produce data as good as or better than self‐administration. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Make America gracious again: Collective nostalgia can increase and decrease support for right-wing populist rhetoric

Democracies across the globe are shaken by a new class of populist right-wing politicians. A defining element of right-wing populism is a preference for antagonistic rhetoric to describe opponents. Three studies connect support for right-wing populist rhetoric to collective nostalgia for the past. Importantly, the results show that collective nostalgia can both increase and decrease support for right-wing populist antagonistic rhetoric, depending on how the past is conceptualized. Nostalgia for a past characterized by political incorrectness is associated with increased support, whereas nostalgia for the past's greater decorum is associated with decreased support for right-wing populism. Studies 1 and 2 show this with vignettes. Study 3 measures support for Trump and the GOP in the 2018 midterm elections. Although right-wing populism is often seen as the result of a wave of nostalgia, our results show that this link can be disconnected and even reversed.     

Cognitive implications of facilitating echoic persistence

Seventeen participants performed a tone-pattern-matching task at different presentation levels while concurrently engaged in a simulated-driving task. Presentation levels of 60, 65, and 70 dBC (SPL) were combined factorially with tone-matching delays of 2, 3, and 4 sec. Intensity had no effect on performance in single-task conditions and short-delay conditions. However, when the participants were engaged concurrently in the driving task, a significant interaction between presentation level and delay was observed. In the longest delay condition, the participants performed the tone-pattern-matching task more efficiently (more quickly and without additional errors) as presentation intensity increased. These findings demonstrate the interaction between sensory and cognitive processes and point to a direct-intensity relationship where intensity affects the persistence of echoic memory. Implications for facilitating auditory processing and improving auditory interfaces in complex systems (i.e., transportation environments), particularly for older and hearing-impaired listeners, are discussed.     

Cutting stress off at the pass: reducing vigilance and responsiveness to social threat by manipulating attention

Personality processes relating to social perception have been shown to play a significant role in the experience of stress. In 5 studies, the authors demonstrate that early stage attentional processes influence the perception of social threat and modify the human stress response. The authors first show that cortisol release in response to a stressful situation correlates with selective attention toward social threat. Second, the authors show in 2 laboratory studies that this attentional pattern, most evident among individuals with low self-esteem, can be modified with a repetitive training task. Next, in a field study, students trained to modify their attentional pattern to reduce vigilance for social threat showed lower self-reported stress related to their final exam. In a final field study with telemarketers, the attentional training task led to increased self-esteem, decreased cortisol and perceived stress responses, higher confidence, and greater work performance. Taken together, these results demonstrate the impact of antecedent-focused strategies on the late-stage consequences of social stress.     

The Latent Structure of the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale

Taxometric analyses were used to assess the latent structure of depressive symptoms as measured by the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. Participants were 3,395 college students enrolled in Introductory Psychology classes at a mid-size university. Analyses included data simulation strategies to assure that the data was appropriate for interpreting skewed indicators and small putative taxa. Four indicators (depressed mood, positive affect, somatic, and interpersonal symptoms) were derived from principal components analysis. Taxometric analyses indicated that distributions of the four CES-D factor based indicators were dimensional. Results are consistent with a continuity model of the latent structure of questionnaire measures of depressive symptoms in this young adult population, of which approximately 15% scored above the clinical cut-point for the CES-D scale.     

Computer game associating self-concept to images of acceptance can reduce adolescents' aggressiveness in response to social rejection

The experience of social rejection can lead to an aggressive response. However, the ability to maintain a sense of social connection may reduce the likelihood of this type of response. We tested a computer-based intervention designed to use simple learning principles to boost the sense of social connection and acceptance. Adolescents aged 9–15 (n=138) first completed a conditioning game on computer that repeatedly paired their own name with images of social acceptance (versus a control condition with no systematic pairing), and subsequently reported how aggressively they would behave in response to being rejected by a peer. Those completing the self-acceptance conditioning (particularly those low in self-esteem) reported less aggressive feelings and intentions.     

On mean‐sigma estimators and bias

When two test forms measure the same construct but are independently modelled using item response theory, the two forms’ respective metrics cannot be assumed to be equivalent. Thus, before comparing parameter estimates across forms, a linear transformation must be applied to at least one form's scale. The mean‐sigma method is a well‐known procedure for estimating this adjustment when a common set of items appears on both forms. In this paper, I show both analytically and empirically (through a small simulation study) that the mean‐sigma estimators of the transformation constants are biased. While this systematic error was modest relative to random error under the conditions studied here, it is nevertheless intrinsic and its magnitude is conditional on extrinsic design features that include the number of anchor items and the quality of their difficulty estimates.     

Self-esteem and the Dual Processing of Interpersonal Contingencies

Social cognitive research has shown that individuals with low self-esteem exhibit contingency expectations involving interpersonal acceptance and rejection (e.g., If I fail, then I will be rejected). We examined whether the processing differences between low and high self-esteem individuals would be evident in their most spontaneous reactions, or only in relatively deliberate responses. A lexical decision task measured people's reaction times to positive or negative interpersonal words, following success or failure primes. The stimulus onset asynchrony was manipulated to allow spontaneous or deliberate processing. Individuals with low self-esteem exhibited contingencies at the spontaneous level. These contingencies were not evident in individuals with high self-esteem. The findings support interpersonal models of self-esteem, and confirm that controlled, deliberate thought is not required for the activation of relational expectations.