Not wallowing in misery – retractions of negative misinformation are effective in depressive rumination

People often continue to rely on misinformation in their reasoning after they have acknowledged a retraction; this phenomenon is known as the continued-influence effect. Retractions can be particularly ineffective when the retracted misinformation is consistent with a pre-existing worldview. We investigated this effect in the context of depressive rumination. Given the prevalence of depressotypic worldviews in depressive rumination, we hypothesised that depressive rumination may affect the processing of retractions of valenced misinformation; specifically, we predicted that the retraction of negative misinformation might be less effective in depressive ruminators. In two experiments, we found evidence against this hypothesis: in depressive ruminators, retractions of negative misinformation were at least as effective as they were in control participants, and more effective than retractions of positive misinformation. Findings are interpreted in terms of an attentional bias that may enhance the salience of negative misinformation and may thus facilitate its updating in depressive rumination.     

Screening for developmental and behavioral problems

Early detection of developmental and behavioral/mental health problems is greatly facilitated when quality instruments are deployed. This article describes how to identify accurate measures and presents standards for screening tests. Included is a table delineating accurate tools for primary care: typically those relying on information from parents (e.g., PEDS, ASQ, PSC, etc.) as well as measures useful in settings where providers have more time and skill at eliciting behaviors from children (e.g., Brigance screens). Screening measures should be used in the context of developmental surveillance; the longitudinal process of incorporating professional observations into decision-making about children's developmental needs.     

Normative warrant in diagnostic criteria: the case of DSM-IV-TR personality disorders

This article focuses on the kinds of evaluative judgments made when applying DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria within the diagnostic interview between clinician and patient. The authors name these kinds of value judgments in diagnosis "normative warrant" because they involve one or more justifications (warrants) for standard-bearing (normative) elements involved in applying diagnostic criteria to actual patients. Seven types of normative warrant judgments are described (Type 1, Semantic-Phenomenal Matching; Type 2, Solicitation Choice; Type 3, Sociocultural Context; Type 4, Performance-Context Matching; Type 5, Deviance Threshold; Type 6, Threshold Characterization; Type 7, Disvalue characterization) and the typology is illustrated by applying it to various DSM-IV-TR personality disorder criteria. A research and clinical understanding of normative warrant may well contribute to the refinement of criteria sets as well as the refinement of the clinical use of criteria sets.     

Beyond politics: authoritarianism and the pursuit of leisure

Psychologists know a lot about the political and ideological correlates of people scoring high on authoritarianism. However, psychologists have less knowledge about such people's everyday pursuits. In the present study, the authors examined authoritarian interest in film, live events, music, and reading. A predictable pattern of correlates emerged. For example, authoritarians enjoyed activities in which physical conflict was prominent, whereas authoritarians tended not to like entertainment that offered introspection. In general, the present results were consistent across 2 samples (N = 120, N = 90). Although men and women had significantly different preferences on over 0.5 of the leisure pursuits (e.g., men enjoyed action films more than did women), there were no significant gender differences in the magnitudes of correlates with authoritarianism. In general, leisure interests appeared to be partly manifestations or expressions of authoritarian tendencies.     

Generativity and successful parenting: an analysis of young adult outcomes

Generativity scores were assessed in parents and correlated with offspring outcomes. The offspring were participants in a longitudinal study spanning their first and senior years of college. Generativity of parents was positively related to offspring agreeableness and conscientiousness. Parental generativity was also related to offspring scores on future time orientation and positive affect. In addition, generative parents seemed to model their political interests to offspring, and that modeling was related to children's higher scores on generativity and greater interest in politics. Parental generativity was also related to offspring religiosity. Most of these relationships remained significant after controlling for offspring scores on generativity. Generativity of parents appears to be related to successful offspring outcomes.     

Psychosocial, behavioral, and biometric characteristics of stages of exercise adoption

This study incorporates the Stages of Change model to examine the relationship between the stages of exercise adoption and indicators of health and fitness. Subjects were 198 United States Forest Service (USFS) workers recruited from 8 USFS ranger stations in the Pacific Northwest. Analysis indicated that those subjects in Action and Maintenance stages of exercise adoption differed significantly from those in Preparation and Precontemplation/Contemplation stages on a variety of indicators of both health and fitness. Also, interesting differences were noted among the physically inactive stages, e.g., Preparation stage subjects showed lower triglycerides, systolic blood pressure, and higher HDL cholesterol compared with subjects in the Precontemplation/Contemplation stage. Progressing to the Preparation stage, where the individual remains inactive but is aware of the problem and has begun to make small changes, is associated with a differing (more positive) health profile in this study compared to those in the Precontemplation/Contemplation stage. These results imply that simply advancing in stage can have a variety of health benefits.     

Exploring competitive orientation in a group of athletes participating in the 1996 paralympic trials

The purposes of this study were to test (1) whether athletes with congenital disabilities exhibited different competitive orientations than athletes with disabilities acquired during their lifespans and (2) whether male athletes with disabilities exhibited different competitive orientations than their female peers. 54 paraplegic, quadriplegic and amputee athletes competing in the 1996 Paralympic Track and Field Trials completed the Sport Orientation Questionnaire. No mean differences were found between men and women, athletes with different onsets of their disabilities across the lifespan, between adolescents and adults, and between athletes with different severity classifications on the Goal orientation, Competitiveness, and Desire to win scales. Larger studies are encouraged to examine competitive orientation, as well as scores on tests specifically constructed to be administered to athletes with disabilities.     

Authoritarianism of Parents and Offspring: Intergenerational Politics and Adjustment to College

The authoritarianism scores (RWA) of parents and their college-aged children were hypothesized to interact to affect the intergenerational transmission of political attitudes and offspring adjustment to college. Parent and offspring dyads who matched on RWA (both scored high or low) agreed about the importance of social events and on the mechanisms by which political attitudes were transmitted from parent to offspring. Disagreeing dyads (parent scored high on RWA and offspring scored low or parent scored low on RWA and offspring scored high) did not show this pattern. In addition, 2-year longitudinal data revealed that offspring who mismatched with their parents on authoritarianism had a more difficult time adjusting to college than did offspring who matched with their parents on authoritarianism. Discussion stresses the importance of examining the implications of home context on the authoritarianism of adolescent children.     

When Physical Disabilities Are Not Liabilities: The Role of Applicant and Interviewer Characteristics on Employment Interview Outcomes

An applied sample was randomly assigned to evaluate the credentials of a job candidate with or without a physical disability and whose interview responses varied in quality (positive vs. average vs. negative). In addition to making hiring decisions, participants completed a number of measures including the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (Crowne & Marlowe, 1964), the Interaction with Disabled Persons Scale (Gething, 1991), an interview comfort measure, and an EEOC knowledge quiz. Results consistently indicated that participants evaluated the job candidate with a disability more favorably than the job candidate without a disability. Data also indicated a relationship between participants' level of comfort when interacting with persons with disabilities and their interview evaluations of such individuals. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for diversity management.