Presentism: Foreigner-Friendly or Xenophobic?

I argue that, for all we know, there are perfectly ordinary actual entities that are temporal in the usual sense and yet never present, past, or future. This epistemic fact requires us to modify the theses of presentism and eternalism. More importantly, it generates three new and quite serious objections to presentism, which I formulate and partially evaluate in this paper.     

The stressors of being young and Black: Cardiovascular health and Black young adults

Objective: To examine the impact of stressors relevant to the lives of Black young adults including racial, financial, occupational, and general stress and psychological distress on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Specifically, this study examined the relationship between multiple psychosocial stressors and two CVD risk indicators (i.e. obesity and blood pressure).

Design: This study used a quantitative design which included surveys, the collection of anthropometric and blood pressure (BP) measures. Participants were 124 Black college students aged 18 to 27 years old. Main Outcome Measures: Participants completed measures to assess psychological distress, general, occupational, financial and racial stress. Measures of body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and BP were collected to assess CVD risk.

Results: Findings indicated a significant effect of internalised racism on BMI and a significant effect of individual racial stress on diastolic BP. Also, depression was significantly associated with systolic BP. There were no significant results for WHR.

Conclusion: Findings suggested that the relationship among racial stress, psychological distress and CVD be further explored.     

‘Something That Unites Us All’: Understandings of St. Patrick's Day Parades as Representing the Irish National Group

The present study investigates how attendees at national celebratory crowd events—specifically St. Patrick's Day parades—understand the role of such events in representing and uniting the national community. We conducted semi‐structured interviews with people who attended St. Patrick's Day parades in either Dublin or Belfast. In year 1, full‐length interviews were conducted before and after the events (N = 17), and in years 1 and 2, shorter interviews were conducted during the events (year 1 N = 170; year 2 N = 142). Interview data were analysed using thematic analysis, allowing the identification of three broad themes. Participants reported that (i) the events extend the boundary of the national group, using participation to define who counts as Irish; (ii) the events strategically represent the nature of the national group, maximising positive images and managing stereotypical representations; and (iii) symbolism serves to unify the group but can also disrupt already fragile unity and so must be managed. Overall, this points to a strategic identity dimension to these crowd events. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research in terms of the role of large‐scale celebratory events in the strategic representation of everyday social identities. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Using the MMPI–2–RF to Discriminate Psychometrically Identified Schizotypic College Students From a Matched Comparison Sample

This study investigates the extent to which the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 Restructured Form (MMPI–2–RF) profiles of 52 individuals making up a psychometrically identified schizotypes (SZT) sample could be successfully discriminated from the protocols of 52 individuals in a matched comparison (MC) sample. Replication analyses were performed with an additional 53 pairs of SZT and MC participants. Results showed significant differences in mean T-score values between these 2 groups across a variety of MMPI–2–RF scales. Results from discriminant function analyses indicate that schizotypy can be predicted effectively using 4 MMPI–2–RF scales and that this method of classification held up on replication. Additional results demonstrated that these MMPI–2–RF scales nominally outperformed MMPI–2 scales suggested by previous research as being indicative of schizophrenia liability. Directions for future research with the MMPI–2–RF are suggested.     

Can SMART Training Really Increase Intelligence? A Replication Study

A burgeoning research stream supports the efficacy of a novel behavior-analytic intervention, known as SMART training, in raising general intelligence by training a set of crucial cognitive skills, referred to as relational skills. A sample of Irish secondary school students (n?=?26) was divided into two IQ matched groups, with the experimental group receiving 12 weeks of SMART training delivered in bi-weekly 45-min sessions. WASI IQ assessments were administered at baseline and follow-up to all participants by blind testers. For each of the three WASI IQ indices and the four IQ subtests, significant follow-up rises were found for the experimental group only. Analyses of variance indicated a significant effect of training on Verbal IQ, Matrix Reasoning and Vocabulary scores. Results lend further support for the efficacy of the SMART training program in enhancing intellectual skills.     

Development and validation of discriminant functions for the Strong Interest Inventory

This study compared the relative accuracy of (a) single Occupational Scale (OS) scores on the Strong Interest Inventory (SII) and (b) multiple-predictor scoring functions for discriminating members of nine occupations from people-in-general. The functions were constructed using discriminant function analysis with 4797 adults drawn from criterion samples for the 1985 SII. The analyses included Basic Interest Scale (BIS) scores only or combinations of OSs and BISs. Two subsequent analyses, one of which was cross-validation using 1302 young adults with little work experience, also were conducted. Results indicated that BIS-only functions yielded hit rates comparable to single OSs, and functions that combined OSs and BISs generally produced slight improvements in accuracy. These findings are potentially relevant for future SII scale development decisions.     

Criterion‐Related Validity of Statistical Operationalizations of Group General Cognitive Ability as a Function of Task Type: Comparing the Mean,Maximum, and Minimum1

The objective of the present study was to investigate the comparative criterion‐related validity of different statistical operationalizations of group general cognitive ability (i.e., mean, maximum, and minimum) as a function of task type based on Steiner's (1966, 1972) task typology. In contrast to recent investigations, we hypothesized that, regardless of task type, the mean of group members’ general cognitive ability would predict group performance as well as or better than other statistical operationalizations of group general cognitive ability. We conducted a laboratory study where 157 four‐person groups worked on 4 tasks that conformed to Steiner's typology (additive, compensatory, conjunctive, and disjunctive). The results indicate that the mean was the strongest predictor of group performance across all 4 task types and, in particular, was significantly stronger than the maximum and minimum on both the disjunctive and conjunctive tasks.     

Computing aspects of power for multiple regression.

Rules of thumb for power in multiple regression research abound. Most such rules dictate the necessary sample size, but they are based only upon the number of predictor variables, usually ignoring other critical factors necessary to compute power accurately. Other guides to power in multiple regression typically use approximate rather than precise equations for the underlying distribution; entail complex preparatory computations; require interpolation with tabular presentation formats; run only under software such as Mathmatica or SAS that may not be immediately available to the user; or are sold to the user as parts of power computation packages. In contrast, the program we offer herein is immediately downloadable at no charge, runs under Windows, is interactive, self-explanatory, flexible to fit the user's own regression problems, and is as accurate as single precision computation ordinarily permits.