Early representations of ownership

To navigate a world filled with private property, children must be able to assign ownership information to objects and update that information when appropriate. In this chapter, the authors propose that children include ownership as an attribute of their object representations. Children can learn about ownership attributes either by witnessing owners acting on their property, a visual source, or by receiving information from the testimony of others, a verbal source. The authors consider the differences between these two forms of information and how they might conflict at the representational level, leading to difficulties in learning about ownership.     

Transdiagnostic internet treatment for anxiety and depression: a randomised controlled trial

Disorder-specific cognitive behavioural therapy programs delivered over the internet (iCBT) with clinician guidance are effective at treating specific anxiety disorders and depression. The present study examined the efficacy of a transdiagnostic iCBT protocol to treat three anxiety disorders and/or depression within the same program (the Wellbeing Program). Seventy-seven individuals with a principal diagnosis of major depression, generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and/or social phobia were randomly assigned to a Treatment or Waitlist Control group. Treatment consisted of CBT-based online educational lessons and homework assignments, weekly email or telephone contact from a clinical psychologist, access to a moderated online discussion forum, and automated emails. Eighty one percent of Treatment group participants completed all 8 lessons within the 10 week program. Post-treatment data were collected from 34/37 Treatment group and 35/37 Control group participants, and 3-month follow-up data were collected from 32/37 Treatment group participants. Relative to Controls, Treatment group participants reported significantly reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression as measured by the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales-21 item, Patient Health Questionnaire-9 item, and Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 item scales, with corresponding between-groups effect sizes (Cohen’s d) at post treatment of.56,.58, and.52, respectively. The clinician spent a mean time of 84.76 min (SD = 50.37) per person over the program. Participants rated the procedure as highly acceptable, and gains were sustained at follow-up. These results provide preliminary support for the efficacy of transdiagnostic iCBT in the treatment of anxiety and depressive disorders.     

Choosing job-related personality traits: Developing valid personality-oriented job analysis

Although personality assessment has proven utility in pre-employment testing, little is known about how one should choose the personality traits that are most job-related. We developed a Personality-oriented Job Analysis (POJA) process for choosing job-related personality traits. We evaluated this process using 15 expert raters and approximately 330 medical students who each completed six different “jobs” in which their performance was evaluated. There was consistency across experts in POJA ratings of the job-relevance of personality traits. Also, POJA ratings of the personality traits correlated with the actual criterion-validity of the traits. Traits that received the highest POJA ratings tended to predict job performance. To our knowledge, this is the first published work to present evidence of the criterion-validity of POJA.     

To Know and Be Known: An Intimacy‐Based Explanation for the Gender Gap in Biblical Literalism

We assess the gender gap in U.S. Christianity by examining in a national sample (Baylor Religion Survey 2010) a particularly robust measure of religiosity: biblical literalism. Women are more likely to report biblical literalism than men in bivariate comparisons, but we argue that intimate attachment to God is a related intervening mechanism. The results of this study indicate: (1) intimate attachment to God is associated with more literal views of the Bible, (2) after accounting for attachment to God women are no longer associated with increased literalism, (3) divine proximity‐seeking behaviors are associated with more literal views of the Bible, (4) proximity‐seeking moderates the relationship between attachment to God and Bible views, and (5) gender moderates the relationship between both attachment to God and proximity‐seeking behaviors and Bible views. The evidence presented here provides a plausible mechanism by which gender differences in biblical literalism may be accounted for.     

Predicting the paths of peripherals: the interaction of identification and future possibilities

Two studies investigated how both degree of identification and the individual's position within the group influence aspects of group loyalty. The authors considered ingroup position in terms of both the individual's current position within a group and expectations concerning the likelihood that one's position might change in the future. Peripheral group members learned that their acceptance by other group members would improve in the future or that they could expect rejection by other group members. Various indices of group loyalty (ingroup homogeneity, motivation to work for the group, and evaluation of a motivated group member) showed that when group members anticipated future rejection, the lower the identification the less loyal they were. In contrast, those who expected future acceptance were more loyal (more motivated to work for the group) the lower their identification. Current group behavior depends on both intragroup future expectations and level of identification.     

Gender-related processes and drug use: self-expression with parents, peer group selection, and achievement motivation

This investigation examined gender differences in communication with parents, peer group selection, and academic motivation as related to drug use among adolescents (290 girls, 237 boys; age range = 12-19 years). For girls, increased self-expression with parents was associated with greater academic motivation, more academically motivated friends, fewer drug-using friends, and less overall drug use. For boys, self-expression was positively related to academic motivation. For both boys and girls, having drug-using friends predicted increased drug use, while having academically motivated friends predicted decreased drug use. For girls only, age and academic motivation predicted drug use as well. These findings indicate that peer group selection and academic motivation may mediate the relationship between drug use and parent-adolescent communication for girls only.     

Functional analysis and treatment of the bizarre speech of dually diagnosed adults

Nine behavior-analytic studies, each reporting data for a single participant, have shown that bizarre speech can be maintained by social reinforcement. In the current study, we controlled for a possible referral bias in this literature by including nonreferred participants with dual diagnoses. Functional analyses identified attention functions for 2 participants and nonsocial functions for the others. Noncontingent reinforcement decreased the bizarre speech of both participants who displayed attention-maintained bizarre speech.     

Interpersonal psychotherapy: A review and multicultural critique

Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) is a therapeutic approach focusing on the role of interpersonal dynamics in creating psychological difficulties that may be particularly relevant to the field of counselling psychology. IPT’s development within randomized controlled trials in the 1970s resulted in a strong empirical foundation without a cohesive theory. Regardless, theorists have since created a theoretical framework for IPT, which has received empirical support. Counselling psychologists have contributed to this research base and may have unique expertise to enhance IPT. Specifically, counselling psychologists can help integrate multicultural and diversity perspectives into IPT with the goal of creating a more culturally competent approach. For example, several aspects of IPT can be expanded to reflect these perspectives, such as integrating cultural sensitivity, cultural knowledge, cultural empathy, and cultural guidance. The authors conclude that IPT is a well-researched and effective treatment approach that holds potential for continued development within counselling psychology.     

Eliciting positive,negative and mixed emotional states: A film library for affective scientists

We describe the creation of a film library designed for researchers interested in positive (amusing), negative (repulsive), mixed (amusing and repulsive) and neutral emotional states. Three hundred 20- to 33-second film clips videotaped by amateurs were selected from video-hosting websites and screened in laboratory studies by 75 female participants on self-reported amusement and repulsion (Experiments 1 and 2). On the basis of pre-defined cut-off values, 51 positive, 39 negative, 59 mixed and 50 neutral film clips were selected. These film clips were then presented to 411 male and female participants in a large online study to identify film clips that reliably induced the target emotions (Experiment 3). Depending on the goal of the study, researchers may choose positive, negative, mixed or neutral emotional film clips on the basis of Experiments 1 and 2 or Experiment 3 ratings.