The Structure of Current Affect: Controversies and Emerging Consensus

For some years now, emotion researchers have debated a series of issues related to the structure of consciously experienced affective states. The present article reviews evidence that current affective experience can be summarized by a structure that is anchored by two bipolar but independent dimensions of experience, pleasure and activation. Four issues have presented themselves as central to the nature of this structure: the number of dimensions necessary to describe the space, the bipolarity of the dimensions, whether the structure displays a circumplex shape, and the definition of the activation dimension. Points of consensus and the remaining controversies regarding each issue are presented.     

Adolescent Self-Esteem and Cognitive Skills Training: A School-Based Intervention

We developed and evaluated a school-based psychosocial prevention program for adolescents, focusing on self-esteem, negative cognitive processes, and peer isolation. Fifty-one tenth-grade students between the ages of 13–16 were recruited and randomly allocated to one of three groups; Social Cognitive Training group (SCT), Attention Placebo Comparison Group (APC) and a Waitlist Control group (WL). A pre-post design using two types of measures: specific measures of the target skills (self-esteem, self-statements) and impact measures (quality of peer relationships, acceptability of intervention for adolescents and teachers) evaluated the effectiveness and social validity of the intervention. Multivariate Analyses of Variance showed significant improvements on measures of target skills for the SCT group in contrast to the comparison conditions on reported self-esteem, and self statements, however mixed results were found on the impact measures. While the SCT group was rated as highly acceptable and useful by both adolescents and teachers, student self report ratings of quality of peer relationships showed little change across the study period. We discussed our findings in terms of the effectiveness of group based cognitive interventions in developing adolescent self-esteem and social competence, and the ecological validity of implementing programs within naturalistic settings.     

Selection Tests for Firefighters: A Comprehensive Review and Meta-Analysis

This study reviewed and summarized the literature on the use of written tests in the selection of firefighters using a sample of 13,418 individuals drawn from 101 samples. For the prediction of job performance, cognitive tests showed substantial validity (.42), although mechanical comprehension tests showed even higher validity (.54). However, the best prediction was obtained by tests which were composites of cognitive and mechanical predictors (.56). Training criteria was best predicted by cognitive measures (.77), although mechanical comprehension predictors also showed substantial prediction value (.62). Tests which were composites of cognitive and mechanical measures showed validities equal to that of cognitive measures (.77).     

Event-related potentials and the semantic matching of pictures

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from one midline and three pairs of lateral electrodes while subjects determined whether pairs of sequentially presented pictures were semantically associated. The ERPs evoked by the second picture of each pair differed as a consequence of whether it was associated with its predecessor, such that ERPs to nonassociated pictures were more negative-going than those to associated items. These differences resulted from the modulation of two ERP components, one frontally distributed and centered on an N300 deflection, the other distributed more widely over the scalp and encompassing an N450 deflection. The modulation of N450 is interpreted as further evidence that the "N400" ERP component is sensitive to semantic relationships between nonverbal stimuli. The earlier N300 effects, which do not appear to occur when ERPs are evoked by semantically primed and unprimed words, could suggest that the semantic processing of pictorial stimuli involves neural systems different from those associated with the semantic processing of words.     

Event-related potentials and the phonological matching of picture names

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from one midline and three pairs of lateral electrodes while subjects determined whether a pair of sequentially presented pictures had rhyming or nonrhyming names. During the 1.56-sec interval between the two pictures, the slow ERP wave recorded over the left hemisphere was more negative-going than that over the right, especially at frontal electrodes. The ERPs evoked by the second picture differed as a function of whether its name rhymed with its predecessor. This difference, taking the form of increased negativity in ERPs to nonrhyming items, had an earlier onset and a greater magnitude at right than at left hemisphere electrodes. This pattern of ERP asymmetries is qualitatively similar to that found when words are rhyme-matched. It is therefore concluded that such asymmetries do not depend on the employment of orthographic material and may reflect some aspect(s) of the phonological processing of visually presented material.     

WINDSORT: A fully automated technique for collecting sort data for multidimensional scaling analysis

WINDSORT is a microcomputer program that uses an automated sorting procedure to collect the preprocess proximity data commonly analyzed using multidimensional scaling. The traditional manual sorting task is less tedious, more enjoyable, and far easier for subjects to perform than the tasks that are used in alternative data-collection techniques. However, complete automation of the sorting task has not previously been fully successful WINDSORT uses a form of the hierarchical sorting technique which is reputed to yield richer data than single-sort techniques A maximum of 45 stimuli can be scaled using WINDSORT. Resulting output includes dissimilarity matrices which are ready to analyze using MDS.     

An interview study exploring clients' experiences of receiving therapeutic support for family estrangement in the UK

Many people experience estrangement from a family member, which is broadly understood to refer to negative relationships that are characterised by little or no contact. However, little is known about how people cope with family estrangement. To address this gap, interviews were conducted with 46 participants who identified as being estranged from a parent/sibling and/or child and having sought therapeutic support for this experience. The participants were recruited from a UK-based charity that supports individuals experiencing family estrangement. The participants had a range of experiences of therapeutic support, with most (N = 31, 67%) having paid for private therapy. The data were analysed using thematic analysis, and three themes were generated: (1) finding the missing qualities in estranged family relationships: warmth, validation and safety; (2) speaking the unspoken: addressing the causes and consequences of estrangement; and (3) learning relational skills: improving the relationship with oneself and with others. When the causes of estrangement were addressed in the context of a safe therapeutic relationship, participants learned strategies to improve the relationships they had both with themselves and with others. When participants experienced a cold or unresponsive therapeutic relationship, and the causes and consequences of estrangement were not adequately addressed or understood, counselling was experienced as unhelpful. Individuals who seek therapeutic support for family estrangement have specific needs. Training around these needs and the causes and consequences of estrangement could be beneficial to helping professionals and the clients with whom they work.