Validation of scales measuring attitudes and norms related to mammography screening in women veterans.

Validation of psychosocial measures for use in mammography screening research has been given inadequate attention in the literature. The authors report on the validation of 5 measures examining 4 attitudinal constructs (i.e., pros, cons, outcome expectations, and cancer worries) and 1 social influence construct (i.e., subjective norms) in a 22-item inventory. The study participants consisted of a national, randomly sampled population of women veterans (n = 2,910). After minor revision of scales, the authors found independent measures for 4 constructs: pros, cons, cancer worries, and subjective norms. The authors concluded that these scales have acceptable psychometric properties; support construct validity; and provide brief, reliable, and valid measures of attitudes toward and norms regarding mammography screening. These scales may be useful for intervention research.     

The Moderating Influence of Disorder on Coached Overreporting Using the MMPI-2-RF

Overreporting has always been a concern within psychological evaluations. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (Ben-Porath &; Tellegen, 2008/2011 Ben-Porath, Y. S., &; Tellegen, A. (2008/2011). MMPI-2-RF (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory—2 Restructured Form): Manual for administration, scoring, and interpretation. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. [Google Scholar]) contains validity scales designed for detecting noncredible responses. In this study, 270 undergraduates were instructed to feign either schizophrenia, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or generalized anxiety disorder (GAD); some participants were coached on symptoms and validity scales. Results at both the individual protocol and mean validity scale score levels suggest that each feigned disorder moderates the effectiveness of coaching on validity scale detection. One finding of this study suggests that schizophrenia is generally more difficult to successfully feign than PTSD or GAD. Another finding suggests that the majority of individuals able to avoid detection as symptom overreporters are able to successfully endorse at least some disorder-relevant symptoms. We suggest that future research focus on the systematic exploration of other factors influencing the effectiveness of validity scales as well as the development of validity scales designed to detect the overreporting of internalizing forms of psychopathology.     

On the autonomy of the divine

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion -     

Role of stimulus and response feature overlap in between-task logical recoding

Psychological Research - The reversal logical recoding rule (i.e., “respond opposite”) induced by an incompatible task (e.g., a task requiring to respond to red or green stimuli by...