SAT predicts GPA better for high ability subjects: Implications for Spearman's Law of Diminishing Returns

This research examined the predictive validity of the SAT (formerly, the Scholastic Aptitude Test) for high and low ability groups. SAT scores and college GPAs were obtained from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Subjects were classified as high or low ability by g factor scores from the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. SAT correlations with GPA were higher for high than low ability subjects. SAT g loadings (i.e., SAT correlations with g) were equivalent for both groups. This is the first study to show that the predictive validity of the SAT varies for ability groups that differ in g. The results contradict a presumption, based on Spearman's Law of Diminishing Returns, that a test's predictive validity should be lower for high ability subjects. Further research is needed to identify factors that contribute to the predictive validity of the SAT for groups that differ in g.     

Does Freedom of Speech Include Hate Speech?

I take it that liberal justice recognises special protections against the restriction of speech and expression; this is what I call the Free Speech Principle. I ask if this Principle includes speech acts which might broadly be termed ‘hate speech’, where ‘includes’ is sensitive to the distinction between coverage and protection, and between speech that is regulable and speech that should be regulated. I suggest that ‘hate speech’ is too broad a designation to be usefully analysed as a single category, since it includes many different kinds of speech acts, each of which involves very different kinds of free speech interests, and may cause very different kinds of harm. I therefore propose to disaggregate hate speech into various categories which are analysed in turn. I distinguish four main categories of hate speech, namely (1) targeted vilification, (2) diffuse vilification, (3) organised political advocacy for exclusionary and/or eliminationist policies, and (4) other assertions of fact or value which constitute an adverse judgment on an identifiable racial or religious group. Reviewing these categories in the light of the justifications for the Free Speech Principle, I will argue that category (1) is uncovered by the Principle, categories (2) and (3) are covered but unprotected, and that category (4) is protected speech.     

Application of a CBPR Framework to Inform a Multi-level Tobacco Cessation Intervention in Public Housing Neighborhoods

African American women in urban, high poverty neighborhoods have high rates of smoking, difficulties with quitting, and disproportionate tobacco-related health disparities. Prior research utilizing conventional "outsider driven" interventions targeted to individuals has failed to show effective cessation outcomes. This paper describes the application of a community-based participatory research (CBPR) framework to inform a culturally situated, ecological based, multi-level tobacco cessation intervention in public housing neighborhoods. The CBPR framework encompasses problem identification, planning and feasibility/pilot testing, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination. There have been multiple partners in this process including public housing residents, housing authority administrators, community health workers, tenant associations, and academic investigators. The advisory process has evolved from an initial small steering group to our current institutional community advisory boards. Our decade-long CBPR journey produced design innovations, promising preliminary outcomes, and a full-scaled implementation study in two states. Challenges include sustaining engagement with evolving study partners, maintaining equity and power in the partnerships, and long-term sustainability of the intervention. Implications include applicability of the framework with other CBPR partnerships, especially scaling up evolutionary grassroots involvement to multi-regional partnerships.     

Gender Differences in Contextual Predictors of Urban,Early Adolescents' Subjective Well‐Being

Gender differences in predicting subjective well‐being (SWB) were examined in 168 urban adolescents. School satisfaction predicted life satisfaction for boys; for girls, family satisfaction predicted life satisfaction and neighborhood satisfaction predicted negative affect. Self‐esteem predicted positive affect for both genders, but friends satisfaction and ethnic identity failed to predict SWB. Se examinaron las diferencias de género al predecir el bienestar subjetivo (SWB, por sus siglas en inglés) de 168 adolescentes urbanos. La satisfacción escolar predijo la satisfacción vital en los chicos; en las chicas, la satisfacción familiar predijo la satisfacción vital, y la satisfacción en el vecindario predijo los sentimientos negativos. La autoestima predijo sentimientos positivos en ambos géneros, pero la satisfacción con los amigos y la identidad étnica no fueron predictores del SWB.     

Recall bias for stimulus and response anxiety words in spider phobics

Abstract

Experiments on memory bias in patients with anxiety disorders have produced inconsistent results. It is suggested that results may depend on whether the words studied relate to anxiety-inducing stimulus features or to the anxiety response. It was predicted, following previous results, that phobic subjects would show diminished recall of stimulus words, but that recall of response words might be enhanced. In fact, for both stimulus and response words, phobics showed better recall of phobia-related words than of control words. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that phobic anxiety is associated with a bias towards recall of phobia-related words. However, it seems likely that phobic anxiety has several potentially conflicting effects on recall, and that this accounts for the inconsistent results in literature.     

“They never listen”: towards a grounded theory of the role played by trusted adults in the spiritual lives of children

This qualitative study addresses the lack of research into the role of trusted adults in the spiritual lives of children. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine children from a British primary school and the data analysed using a grounded theory approach. Six categories were identified outlining the reciprocal relationship of unavailability and withholding between children and their trusted adults and how children made sense of spirituality in the absence of explicit guidance. It was found that the children had little opportunity for negotiating a shared understanding or experience of spirituality with adults and, as a result, either preserved an isolated and secret sense of spirituality or accepted what they observed to be their trusted adults' stance. The practical and theoretical implications of the children's responses in the absence of trusted adults are discussed and recommendations are made for practice and future research.     

Coping strategies for auditory hallucinations: A review

This article reviews the literature on the strategies which psychiatric patients spontaneously use in order to cope with their auditory hallucinations. The common strategies found between studies are described and these are grouped according to four categories: (i) social contact; (ii) sensory stimulation; (iii) physiological arousal; and (iv) cognitive strategies. An attempt is made to relate these strategies to the theoretical and experimental literature on auditory hallucinations and, finally, the role of the counselling psychologist in fostering the development of effective coping strategies is outlined.     

Instructing Children to Use Memory Strategies: Evidence of Utilization Deficiencies in Memory Training Studies

Utilization deficiencies occur when children experience little or no benefit in task performance from the use of a strategy. Miller and Seier (1994) found evidence for utilization deficiencies in over 90% of memory studies that evaluated spontaneous strategy use in children. In this article, we extend the concept of utilization deficiency to training studies and review nearly 30 years of memory-training research. We identified three different types of utilization deficiencies and evaluated 39 different studies with 76 separate conditions for evidence of utilization deficiencies (increases in strategy use with little or no corresponding increase in memory), production deficiencies (increases inbothstrategy use and memory performance), and unsuccessful training (increases inneitherstrategy use nor memory performance). Over half of all training conditions showed evidence of at least one type of utilization deficiency. Utilization deficiencies were more common for younger than older children and were more likely to be found when training involved multiple procedures (e.g., verbal instruction, rationale) rather than a single procedure (instruction only). The findings are discussed in terms of the need to broaden the concept of utilization deficiency and to reevaluate the process of strategy development.