Drawing conclusions: The effect of instructions on children's confabulation and fantasy errors

Drawing is commonly used in forensic and clinical interviews with children. In these interviews, children are often allowed to draw without specific instructions about the purpose of the drawing materials. Here, we examined whether this practice influenced the accuracy of children's reports. Seventy-four 5- and 6-year-old children were interviewed one to two days after they took part in an interactive event. Some children were given drawing materials to use during the interview. Of these children, some were instructed to draw about the event, and some were given no additional instructions at all. Children who were instructed to draw about the event, or who were interviewed without drawing, made few errors. In contrast, children who drew without being given specific instructions reported more errors that were associated with both confabulation and fantasy. We conclude that, to maximise accuracy during interviews involving drawing, children should be directed to draw specifically about the interview topic.     

La relation entre les conflits conjugaux,la satisfaction conjugale des mères et la qualité de la communication mère‐adolescente

A sample comprising 41 couples and their adolescent daughters participated in a study on the association between marital conflicts and mother‐daughter communication. Observational measurements and questionnaires were used to evaluate the level of the quality of communication between the couple, the marital satisfaction of the parents and the quality of the communication between mother and adolescent daughters. The results show that: (a) conflicts observed between the parents are positively associated with the level of confrontation observed between the mother and the daughter and (b) the marital satisfaction of the mothers plays a mediatory role between the conflicts in the couple and the level of mother‐daughter confrontation. The marital satisfaction of the mothers would be the link in the process of propagation of the affects and the negative behaviour of the couple and the mother‐adolescent daughter relationship.     

Le Calcul de L'Ambiguite de Shannon en Code Binaire

Sans résumé     

The effect of mood on false memory for emotional DRM word lists

In the present study, we investigated the effect of participants’ mood on true and false memories of emotional word lists in the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigm. In Experiment 1, we constructed DRM word lists in which all the studied words and corresponding critical lures reflected a specified emotional valence. In Experiment 2, we used these lists to assess mood-congruent true and false memory. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three induced-mood conditions (positive, negative, or neutral) and were presented with word lists comprised of positive, negative, or neutral words. For both true and false memory, there was a mood-congruent effect in the negative mood condition; this effect was due to a decrease in true and false recognition of the positive and neutral words. These findings are consistent with both spreading-activation and fuzzy-trace theories of DRM performance and have practical implications for our understanding of the effect of mood on memory.     

Mothers’ Prementalizing Psychic Functioning and Reactive Attachment Disorder: Two Clinical Cases

This article explores the relationship between maternal reflective functioning (MRF) and Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) from both a theoretical and clinical perspective. A new scoring system that evaluates the predominance in the mother of prementalizing modes of psychic functioning (psychic equivalence and pretend mode) has been developed and applied to the Parent Development Interview-Revised. The theoretical foundations of this system are presented and its scoring criteria are briefly described. The protocols of two mothers whose children suffer from RAD are analyzed using the RF scoring system (Slade, Bernbach et al., 2005) and the new scoring system developed for this study (Leroux & Terradas, 2012) in order to demonstrate their complementary use. Some theoretical and clinical thoughts about the impact of MRF on the development of RAD are revealed. This being a small-scale exploratory study, further research is needed to establish the psychometric properties of this new coding system.     

Predictive Validity of Adult Attachment Measures in Relation to Emotion Regulation Behaviors in Marital Interactions

This study examined the predictive validity of 2 assessment approaches to adult attachment in relation to emotion regulation behaviors during marital conflict interactions. Both partners of 40 couples completed the Adult Attachment Style self-report (AAS; C. Hazan & P. Shaver, 1987), the Adult Attachment Questionnaire (AAQ; J. A. Simpson, 1990), the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; C. George, N. Kaplan, & M. Main, 1985), and a videotaped interaction during which the partners engaged in a problem-solving discussion. The discussions were coded by means of the Interactional Dimensions Coding System (IDCS; D. Julien, H. J. Markman, & K. M. Lindhal, 1989). Results showed that AAI classification predicted proactive emotion regulation behaviors, whereas the AAS and the AAQ did not. Issues concerning the predictive validity of current measures of adult attachment are discussed.     

Changes in suicide methods in Quebec between 1987 and 2000: the possible impact of bill C-17 requiring safe storage of firearms

This study presents the changes in the overall and firearm suicide rates for Québec (Canada) before and after Bill C-17, which was implemented to secure safe storage of firearms. It covers 20,009 suicide cases reported to the coroner's office. Interrupted time series analysis is used to compare suicide rates in the two periods. Firearm suicide rates have dropped among males and females, but the downward trends were not significant when compared to those prior to the law. Hanging suicide rates have risen considerably among men and women, but those upward trends did not increase significantly when compared with those preceding the law. The decline in suicide rates involving firearms has not resulted in a parallel decline in overall suicide rates. The analyses suggest that Bill C-17 neither improved the downward trend in firearm suicide, which had already begun before the enactment of the law, nor reduced the upward trend of the overall suicide rate. Correlation analyses between firearm suicide, hanging suicide, and the overall suicide rate suggest that firearm suicide is replaced by hanging suicide among males.     

It Is Time to Observe the Creative Process: How to Use a Creative Process Report Diary (CRD)

Although the first research on the creative process was based on interviews with the aim of identifying the main stages (macro‐process), in the last 50 years researchers have focused more on the analysis of micro‐processes, i.e., the mechanisms underlying the generation of ideas. This interest in the micro‐processes is partly a result of the tools available to researchers to carry out rigorous studies on the creative process. In this article, we present a useful and relevant analytical tool for macro‐processes to assess the creative process in a natural context and when it occurs. Here, the reader will find advice on establishing a research protocol for the creative process by using diaries. Examples of diaries and results are presented. The advantage of this tool is that it enables a direct, rich, and inexpensive assessment of the creative process. Thus, the ecological validity of the diary method is particularly high.