Friendships with Peers Who are Low or High in Aggression as Moderators of the Link between Peer Victimization and Declines in Academic Functioning

This paper reports two prospective investigations of the role of friendship in the relation between peer victimization and grade point averages (GPA). Study 1 included 199 children (105 boys, 94 girls; mean age of 9.1 years) and Study 2 included 310 children (151 boys, 159 girls; mean age of 8.5 years). These children were followed for two school years. In both projects, we assessed aggression, victimization, and friendship with a peer nomination inventory, and we obtained children's GPAs from a review of school records. Peer victimization was associated with academic declines only when children had either a high number of friends who were above the classroom mean on aggression or a low number of friends who were below the classroom mean on aggression. These results highlight the importance of aggression levels among friends for the academic adjustment of victimized children.     

Adult attachment style and vulnerability to depression

The present study examined the role of adult attachment styles in differentiating ‘depressed’ and ‘non-depressed’ college students, and the association between attachment styles and the depressive personality vulnerabilities, sociotropy and autonomy. High scores on the fearful and, to a lesser extent, preoccupied attachment scales were associated with higher levels of depression, highlighting negative self-representation as a key factor in depression. While the sociotropy vulnerability construct correlated exclusively with the preoccupied attachment scale, correlations for the autonomy construct were more complex: as predicted, fearful attachment correlated with all three autonomy subscales while dismissive attachment correlated with the defensive-separation and control subscales, but not with the self-criticism subscale. With an emphasis on negative self-representation, preoccupied attachment also correlated with the self-criticism subscale. The results suggest that fearful attachment is consistent with autonomous vulnerability and preoccupied attachment with sociotropic vulnerability. Self-criticism, a component of both fearful and preoccupied attachment, is highlighted as a strong depressive vulnerability. Dismissive attachment, not involving the self-critical component, does not appear to be associated with depressive predisposition, despite involving self-reliance and avoidance of intimacy.     

A Test of Group Counseling

High school students were counseled in groups designed around either a “traditional” or an “accelerated interaction” format The efficiency of each approach in achieving the goals of guidance in education was studied. Group counseling appeared to be a useful counseling tool if organized on a weekly basis.     

Timed picture naming in seven languages

Timed picture naming was compared in seven languages that vary along dimensions known to affect lexical access. Analyses over items focused on factors that determine cross-language universals and cross-language disparities. With regard to universals, number of alternative names had large effects on reaction time within and across languages after target-name agreement was controlled, suggesting inhibitory effects from lexical competitors. For all the languages, word frequency and goodness of depiction had large effects, but objective picture complexity did not. Effects of word structure variables (length, syllable structure, compounding, and initial frication) varied markedly over languages. Strong cross-language correlations were found in naming latencies, frequency, and length. Other-language frequency effects were observed (e.g., Chinese frequencies predicting Spanish reaction times) even after within-language effects were controlled (e.g., Spanish frequencies predicting Spanish reaction times). These surprising cross-language correlations challenge widely held assumptions about the lexical locus of length and frequency effects, suggesting instead that they may (at least in part) reflect familiarity and accessibility at a conceptual level that is shared over languages.     

Chairmen, Cocaine, and Car Crashes: The Knobe Effect as an Attribution Error

In this paper, we argue that the so-called Knobe-Effect constitutes an error. There is now a wealth of data confirming that people are highly prone to what has also come to be known as the ‘side-effect effect’. That is, when attributing psychological states—such as intentionality, foreknowledge, and desiring—as well as other agential features—such as causal control—people typically do so to a greater extent when the action under consideration is evaluated negatively. There are a plethora of models attempting to account for this effect. We hold that the central question of interest is whether the effect represents a competence or an error in judgment. We offer a systematic argument for the claim that the burden of proof regarding this question is on the competence theorist. We sketch an account, based on the notion of the reactive attitudes, that can accommodate both the idea that these sorts of judgments are fundamentally normative and that they often constitute errors.     

Assessing readiness for change in adolescents with eating disorders

The Readiness and Motivation Interview (RMI) is a semistructured interview measure of readiness and motivation to change that can be used for all eating disorder diagnoses. The RMI has demonstrated excellent psychometric properties and has both clinical and predictive utility in adult samples. This study examined the psychometric properties of the RMI in a younger population, namely, 12- to 18-year-old girls with eating disorders. Study participants (N = 65) completed the RMI and measures of convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity. Adolescents with eating disorders were able to conceptualize and articulate their readiness for change and to report the extent to which change efforts were for themselves versus for others. RMI readiness profiles across eating disorder symptom domains in adolescents were comparable to those in adults, with higher reported readiness to change binge eating than to change dietary restriction or compensatory strategies. Differences in internal consistency between adult and adolescent samples are discussed. Interviewing adolescents early in treatment about readiness may assist clinicians in forming an alliance with this difficult-to-engage population, while also providing valuable information for treatment planning.     

Effects of object asymmetry on visual attention

Unilateral neglect has been demonstrated relative to the intrinsic left side of objects, even when presented in the preserved hemispace. These results have been interpreted as evidence of an object-centered reference frame. In the present study, neurologically normal individuals were presented with letter stimuli having distinguishing features to the right (R) or left (J) of their intrinsic midline, shown in normal and mirror parity, and in six angle rotations. RTs confirmed that participants rotated the letters to the upright to decide parity: such rotation would align the object-centered and viewer-centered frames of reference, suggesting that not controlling for mental rotation would confound this effect. In addition, a dot, presented lateral to the main letter stimulus, resulted in quicker parity decisions when on the maximally-informative side of the letter. Together, the results suggest that apparent object-centered neglect may arise from the combined effects of mental rotation and within-object information asymmetries.