Psychopathy and COVID-19: Callousness,impulsivity, and motivational reasons for engaging in prevention behavior

Two direct replication studies were conducted to investigate the associations of psychopathic traits with engagement in COVID-19 prevention behavior and motivational reasons for engaging in such behavior. College undergraduate students completed two self-report measures of psychopathic traits based on the four-factor conceptualization of psychopathy (callous affect, manipulative tendency, erratic lifestyle, criminal tendency) and the triarchic conceptualization of psychopathy (meanness, disinhibition, boldness). Participants then reported the degree to which they engaged in COVID-19 prevention behavior currently and in the past, and reported their self-focused and other-focused motivational reasons for doing so. Results aggregated across both studies (N = 292) revealed that traits reflecting emotional callousness and impulsivity independently predicted lower levels of other-focused reasons for engaging in prevention behavior. Moreover, controlling for other-focused reasons appreciably reduced negative associations of emotional callousness and impulsivity with prevention behavior. The results provide insight into points of convergence in conceptualization and measurement of psychopathy from multiple theoretical perspectives and the importance of considering the impact of divisive personality traits on motivation to protect others during pandemics.     

Emotional Competence and Anxiety in Childhood and Adolescence: A Meta-Analytic Review

Anxiety is conceptualized as a state of negative emotional arousal that is accompanied by concern about future threat. The purpose of this meta-analytic review was to evaluate the evidence of associations between emotional competence and anxiety by examining how specific emotional competence domains (emotion recognition, emotion expression, emotion awareness, emotion understanding, acceptance of emotion, emotional self-efficacy, sympathetic/empathic responses to others’ emotions, recognition of how emotion communication and self-presentation affect relationships, and emotion regulatory processes) relate to anxiety in childhood and adolescence. A total of 185 studies were included in a series of meta-analyses (N’s ranged from 573 to 25,711). Results showed that anxious youth are less effective at expressing (r = ?0.15) and understanding emotions (r = ?0.20), less aware of (r = ?0.28) and less accepting of their own emotions (r = ?0.49), and report less emotional self-efficacy (r = ?0.36). More anxious children use more support-seeking coping strategies (r = 0.07) and are more likely to use less adaptive coping strategies including avoidant coping (r = 0.18), externalizing (r = 0.18), and maladaptive cognitive coping (r = 0.34). Emotion acceptance and awareness, emotional self-efficacy, and maladaptive cognitive coping yielded the largest effect sizes. Some effects varied with children’s age. The findings inform intervention and treatment programs of anxiety in youth and identify several areas for future research.     

Recollection is a continuous process: Evidence from plurality memory receiver operating characteristics

Is recollection a continuous/graded process or a threshold/all-or-none process? Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis can answer this question as the continuous model and the threshold model predict curved and linear recollection ROCs, respectively. As memory for plurality, an item's previous singular or plural form, is assumed to rely on recollection, the nature of recollection can be investigated by evaluating plurality memory ROCs. The present study consisted of four experiments. During encoding, words (singular or plural) or objects (single/singular or duplicate/plural) were presented. During retrieval, old items with the same plurality or different plurality were presented. For each item, participants made a confidence rating ranging from “very sure old”, which was correct for same plurality items, to “very sure new”, which was correct for different plurality items. Each plurality memory ROC was the proportion of same versus different plurality items classified as “old” (i.e., hits versus false alarms). Chi-squared analysis revealed that all of the plurality memory ROCs were adequately fit by the continuous unequal variance model, whereas none of the ROCs were adequately fit by the two-high threshold model. These plurality memory ROC results indicate recollection is a continuous process, which complements previous source memory and associative memory ROC findings.     

Hemispheric asymmetries for the temporal resolution of brief auditory stimuli

This study investigates a left-hemisphere (LH) advantage for the discrimination of fine temporal events within the auditory modality in 24 normal adults. Brief noise bursts were delivered monaurally to the left or right ears, half of which contained a gap lasting between 2 and 8 msec. Subjects were required to indicate whether or not the noise burst contained a gap. Research within this area has yielded conflicting results. It is possible that variations in gap position or the properties of the noise burst may have contributed to this conflict. The effect of gap position was investigated by systematically varying the position of the gap during half of the trials. White noise bursts were used to avoid the use of spectral cues. Reaction time, response bias, and response error measures revealed a right-ear (and hence LH) advantage for gap detection. Stable gap positions were recognized more accurately than variable gap positions. Gap position had no effect on the observed LH advantage. These results suggest that the auditory properties of noise burst, rather than gap position, play an important role in the discrepancies observed in this area.     

Angular subtense effects on perception of polar and parallel projections of cubes

Many authors contend that the perception of 2-D drawings of a 3-D object is governed by polar projective geometry. A problem for this position is that observers accept parallel projections, which are not produced with polar projective geometry, as accurate representations of 3-D objects. In Experiments 1 and 2, we used two different standards of comparison to study the perceptions of three line drawings of cubes—correct polar projections of cubes with subtenses of 15° and 35°, and a parallel projection—at five different angular subtenses. In Experiment 1, 14 observers judged each drawing when it subtended about 35°, 15°, 5°, 4°, and 2° in width. Subjects used an 8-point rating scale to compare each drawing with a correct polar projection of a cube subtending 35°, viewed with the drawing subtending 15°. As predicted, both polar projections had their highest ratings at their correct vantage points. Ratings for the parallel projection were highest at small angular subtenses and decreased when it subtended 35°. These findings were supported by a second experiment in which the 15° polar projection was set at a 5° viewing angle as a standard. In Experiment 3, 15 observers compared the three drawings, viewed at a second set of angular subtenses (30°, 35°, 40°, 45°, and 50°), with a standard, the 35° polar set at 45°. Ratings fell with increases in viewing angle, and the parallel projection was rated lowest. The results indicate that parallel projections are assessed as polar projections that are correct for objects at a small angular subtense. Furthermore, projections at a small angular subtense are robust; that is, they are acceptable over a wide range of angular subtenses. We suggest that robustness can be explained by the modest variability in the proportions of pictures of cubes subtending small angles.     

Foreshortening and the perception of parallel projections

Does picture perception follow polar projective geometry? Parallel projection drawings, which are not produced by using rules of polar projection, are widely regarded as visually acceptable representations of three-dimensional (3-D) objects in free viewing. One explanation is that they are perceived by means of a system in which there is no foreshortening. If so, edges of a 3-D block in 1∶1 proportions should be denoted by lines in 1∶1 proportions on the picture surface. However, three experiments suggest that the perception of parallel projections of a block involves foreshortening. In Experiment 1, 90 subjects were shown a set of parallel projections of a cube, in which each drawing depicted three sides of the cube, drawn as a square with obliques—a frontal square with receding edges shown by parallel obliques of various lengths. The subjects preferred a drawing with a receding side length that was considerably foreshortened in relation to the front side. In Experiments 2 and 3, subjects viewed drawings of three blocks that differed in the ratios of the lengths of their receding edges to their frontal edges (1∶1, 1∶2, and 1∶0.65). In Experiment 2, the subjects were shown square-with-obliques drawings of the three blocks with receding edges shown by parallel obliques of various lengths. Again, the subjects preferred drawings with a receding side that was foreshortened. In Experiment 3, the drawings showed two sides of a block. The receding dimension was drawn with parallel or converging lines. The preferred foreshortening was not a fixed ratio of the dimensions of the 3-D blocks. We suggest that square-with-obliques parallel projections showing cubes are taken by vision to be approximations to projections using foreshortening. We suggest also that as the line showing the receding edge elongates, foreshortening becomes less of a factor.     

Unified Protocol for the Transdiagnostic Prevention of Emotional Disorders: Evaluation of a Brief,Online Course for College Freshmen

The transition to college represents a period of increased risk for developing a range of mental health conditions, highlighting the need for effective preventive interventions delivered in this setting. The purpose of the present study was to explore the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of a preventive version of the unified protocol for college students; this intervention, called emotions 101 was provided in a very brief, online course format. Unselected students (N = 243) were randomized to either the course (n = 120) or wait-list (n = 123) condition, and all participants were asked to complete self-report measures of stress, negative affectivity, and quality of life at baseline, 1-month, 6-month, and 8-month follow-up time points. Despite recruitment challenges, once participants enrolled in the course, they were likely to complete it and provide favorable satisfaction ratings and qualitative feedback. With regard to efficacy, there were no significant differences on our primary (emotional) outcomes (i.e., stress, negative affectivity, quality of life) as a function of condition, though individuals randomized to receive the course demonstrated significantly higher grade point averages at the end of their first college semester than those in the wait-list condition. Taken together, the findings from the present study suggest that a very brief, online prevention program for emotional disorders administered in a healthy sample does not significantly impact mental health variables.     

Examining changes in procedural justice and their influence on problem‐solving court outcomes

The number of problem‐solving courts has grown substantially since the mid‐1990s. Research consistently indicates that participation in these courts lowers recidivism, which is often attributed to defendants’ increased perceptions of procedural justice in these programs. Yet, prior studies are limited in their focus, often examining interactions with the judge in a single court or examining defendant perceptions and outcomes at a single time point. In the present study, we investigate defendant perceptions of procedural justice with judges and case managers across multiple problem‐solving courts over time. Findings indicate that procedural justice varies across court actors and over time. Procedural justice is lower among judges than among case managers; however, changes in perceptions of procedural justice with the judge are associated with improved court outcomes. We suggest that defendant perceptions are variable and complex but important in explaining variations in outcomes.