An Examination of the Actor-Observer Effect in Young Drivers' Attributions for Their Own and Their Friends' Risky Driving

The attributions of 70 young drivers for their own and their friends' risky driving were examined using open-ended questions to determine if there were self-other differences consistent with the actor-observer effect. Six response categories were created, 4 of which were rated as more dispositional than situational by a subsample of the participants and 2 of which were rated as more situational than dispositional. While the largely dispositional category "Showing off, acting cool" was used significantly more for friends than for self, and the largely situational "In a hurry, late" was used significantly more for self than for friends, there was only limited support for the actor-observer effect overall. The participants also rated their friends as taking more risks than themselves. The actor-observer differences are suggested to be influenced primarily by motivational factors and the context in which young people observe their friends' driving. New approaches to traffic safety interventions are suggested.     

Indigenous and Interdependent Perspectives of Healing: Implications for Counseling and Research

Because of the dramatic increases of culturally diverse individuals in the United States, indigenous perspectives of healing must be understood in the context of interdependent cultural selves. The authors present an extensive review of the literature with a focus on understanding the role of spirituality, balancing energies, close social networks, and interconnectedness in indigenous healing perspectives and philosophies. Examples of indigenous healing approaches are presented, and implications for counseling and research are discussed.     

Words

The words people use in their writing and speaking can serve as markers of personality. Computerized text analysis programs based on word counts represent a methodological strategy for obtaining linguistic information objectively and rapidly from diverse text samples. Several studies are summarized that point to particles or function words (e.g., pronouns, articles, and prepositions) as central determinants of linguistic styles. Particles exhibit solid psychometric properties and are related to measures of depression, social concerns, physical health, and, to a modest degree, traditional personality indices. Possible reasons for the psychological significance of particles are offered, and the challenges facing the linguistic approach to personality are considered.     

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) know what can be seen from where

Visual perspective taking research has established that chimpanzees recognize what others can or cannot see in the presence of occluding barriers. Less is known about chimpanzees’ appreciation of what they themselves can or cannot see in similar situations. Additionally, it is unclear whether chimpanzees must rely on others’ gaze cues to solve such tasks or whether they have a more general appreciation of what can be seen from where. Hence, we investigated chimpanzees’ ability to anticipate what they would or would not be able to see from different visual perspectives. Food was hidden among arrays of open containers, with different containers providing visual access from unique viewing perspectives. Chimpanzees immediately adopted the correct perspective for each container type. Follow-up experiments showed that they were not simply moving to align themselves with visible openings. Our study thus suggests that chimpanzees have good visual perspective taking abilities with regard to themselves as well as others, and that both likely reflect a more general knowledge, at least implicit, of what can be seen from where.

Concrete and abstract visualizations in history learning tasks

Background History learning requires that students understand historical phenomena, abstract concepts and the relations between them. Students have problems grasping, using and relating complex historical developments and structures. Aims A study was conducted to determine the effects of tasks with abstract and/or concrete visualizations on the learning of historical developments and structures. The hypothesis was that students receiving visualizations would learn and retain more historical knowledge and concepts than those not receiving visualizations. Sample First‐year pupils in vocational middle school (N = 104) worked in randomly assigned pairs. Methods After reading a text, the pairs were given a learning task in one of four conditions: Textual, Concrete visualized, Abstract visualized, and Combined. Results Post‐test and retention test results showed no significant differences. There were some significant differences on the evaluation questionnaire. Conclusions Combining text and different types of visualizations in learning tasks does not necessarily enhance history learning. Possible explanations given are the ecological setting, the semiotics of the domain of history – that are not defined clearly – and the difficulty of unequivocally visualizing historical concepts.     

Associations Between Breast Cancer Risk Factors and Religiousness in American Women in a National Health Survey

Breast cancer is a leading cause of death in American women. Data are lacking from representative samples of total populations on the association of risk factors for breast cancer and religiousness. The sixth cycle of the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG VI) included 3,766 women aged 30–44 years with complete data on self-reported religiousness, and selected breast cancer risk factors. Of women in the analysis, 1,008 reported having four or more breast cancer risk factors. Women who never attended services were over seven times more likely to report having four or more risk factors than those who attended more than weekly (P < 0.0001). After adjusting for age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, nativity, education and marital status by logistic regression, women who never attended services were still over six times more likely to report having four or more risk factors (P < 0.0001). The combination of frequent attendance at religious services, very high importance of religion in daily life, and self-identification as a Protestant evangelical was particularly protective. Multiple dimensions of religiousness are independently associated with multiple breast cancer risk factors.     

Attachment Theory and Religiosity: A Summary of Empirical Research With Implications for Counseling Christian Clients

The authors summarize the growing body of empirical research literature in the area of psychology of religion that has been guided by attachment theory and indicate implications for counseling, including practical suggestions for case conceptualization, possible spiritual interventions, and ethical guidelines for practice. Attachment theory provides a fertile framework whereby counselors may conceptualize the religious experiences of Christian clients whose spirituality involves the belief in and relationship with a personal God.     

Views from Above the Glass Ceiling: Does the Academic Environment Influence Women Professors’ Careers and Experiences?

Using data from 188 female full professors from all 14 Dutch universities this study examines whether skewed sex ratios in the environment and the absence of a women-friendly environment are related to their career path experiences and to their perception of the general ease of women’s obtaining a professorship. Results from multi-level analyses show a positive relationship between the perception of women-friendly environment and both the experience of their own career path, and the perceived ease with which other women could become a full professor. Moreover results show that the higher the percentage of women professors in the academic field the stronger the relationship between perception of women friendliness and the experienced ease with which they became a full professor.