Automatic measurement of propositional idea density from part-of-speech tagging

The Computerized Propositional Idea Density Rater (CPIDR, pronounced "spider") is a computer program that determines the propositional idea density (P-density) of an English text automatically on the basis of part-of-speech tags. The key idea is that propositions correspond roughly to verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions. After tagging the parts of speech using MontyLingua (Liu, 2004), CPIDR applies numerous rules to adjust the count, such as combining auxiliary verbs with the main verb. A "speech mode" is provided in which CPIDR rejects repetitions and a wider range of fillers. CPIDR is a user-friendly Windows .NET application distributed as open-source freeware under GPL. Tested against human raters, it agrees with the consensus of two human raters better than the team of five raters agree with each other [r(80) = .97 vs. r(10) = .82, respectively].     

Antecedents of bridge employment: a longitudinal investigation

Bridge employment is the labor force participation pattern increasingly observed in older workers between their career jobs and their complete labor force withdrawal. It serves as a transition process from career employment to full retirement. Typical bridge employment decisions include full retirement, career bridge employment, and bridge employment in a different field. In the current study, 3 dominant theories (i.e., role theory, continuity theory, and life course perspective) on retirement processes were reviewed. On the basis of these theories, the authors proposed 4 categories of antecedents (i.e., individual attributes, job-related psychological variables, family-related variables, and a retirement-planning-related variable) of different types of bridge employment decisions. The authors used longitudinal data of a large, nationally representative sample from the Health and Retirement Study (F. Juster & R. Suzman, 1995) to test the current hypotheses. These data were analyzed with multinomial logistic regression, and most of the hypotheses were supported by the results. The implications of this study are discussed at both theoretical and practical levels.     

Involuntary autobiographical memories in and outside the laboratory: How different are they from voluntary autobiographical memories?

In two studies, we compared the characteristics and retrieval times of involuntary and voluntary autobiographical memory under controlled laboratory conditions. A new laboratory task of involuntary autobiographical memories involved detecting vertical lines in a stream of stimuli with horizontal lines (an undemanding vigilance task) and recording any involuntary memories during the session. The majority of these memories were reported as being triggered by irrelevant cue phrases presented on the screen. Voluntary autobiographical memories were sampled via a standard word-cue method in Session 2. The results showed that involuntary memories were more specific and were retrieved significantly faster than voluntary memories. They were also more likely to be triggered by negative cues, whereas cue valence did not have any effect on the number of voluntary memories. Furthermore, laboratory involuntary memories did not differ from naturalistic involuntary memories recorded in a diary by the same participants (Study 2). Taken together, these results have important implications for current theories of autobiographical memory, and they open up interesting avenues for future research.     

Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models

Hypotheses involving mediation are common in the behavioral sciences. Mediation exists when a predictor affects a dependent variable indirectly through at least one intervening variable, or mediator. Methods to assess mediation involving multiple simultaneous mediators have received little attention in the methodological literature despite a clear need. We provide an overview of simple and multiple mediation and explore three approaches that can be used to investigate indirect processes, as well as methods for contrasting two or more mediators within a single model. We present an illustrative example, assessing and contrasting potential mediators of the relationship between the helpfulness of socialization agents and job satisfaction. We also provide SAS and SPSS macros, as well as Mplus and LISREL syntax, to facilitate the use of these methods in applications.     

留守青少年的社会支持网络与其自尊、交往主动性之间的关系——基于变量中心和个体中心的视角

以来自河南省农村的400名双亲外出、单亲外出和非留守青少年为被试,采用变量中心和个体中心的分析策略.探讨了个体的社会支持网络与其自尊、交往主动性的关系.变量中心的分析发现,不同来源社会支持对于青少年自尊的重要性因留守状况的不同而不同:母亲支持是双亲外出青少年自尊的最佳预测变量,老师支持是非留守青少年自尊的最佳预测变量,父亲支持和老师支持则能够显著地预测单亲外出青少年的自尊;对于三类青少年的交往主动性,老师支持最为重要.个体中心的分析发现,处于高母亲倩父亲倩同学倩老师支持网络中青少年的自尊和交往主动性水平最高.     

元认知监控活动对认知负荷和多媒体学习的影响

在多媒体学习的不同时段呈现元认知监控提示,考察其对认知负荷和学习成绩的影响.结果表明,有意识的监控活动增加了被试总的认知负荷,对学习的迁移有积极影响.元认知监控活动提高了迁移测试成绩,但对记忆成绩没有显著影响.在内在、外在元认知负荷较低情况下,增加元认知监控活动有更好的学习迁移效果.     

在读护生的职业认同研究

目的研制在读护生的护士职业认同评价工具,并检测其信度和效度.方法运用访谈法、专家咨询法和文献法设计原始问卷,并运用调查法对145名护生进行试测,系统分析问卷的信效度.结果在读护生的护士职业认同问卷自我认知纬度包古五个因子,累计贡献率64.072%,共18项题目;自我体验纬度包吉五个因子,累计贡献率66.419%,共22项题目;自我控制纬度包含两因子累计贡献率53.766%,共11项题目,该问卷有较好的信效度.结论在读护生的护士职业认同问卷可以作为护理教育者对在读护生进行职业心理素质教育的评价依据.     

When Interpretation Derails the Patient: The Negative Impact of Certain Misuses of the Concept of the Unconscious

Alternatives to classical psychoanalytic theory and technique have existed in the form of various "deviant" schools, all of which have found that contemporary conflict theory fails to achieve good results with the patients they treat. While the principles of interpersonal, self-psychological, intersubjective and relational schools are reasonably well known through the psychoanalytic literature, the opportunity to examine detailed analytic accounts by classical analysts has only recently become possible. The publication of full case reports has recently become a feature of the traditionally based psychoanalytic journals. This paper makes use of a recent volume of the Psychoanalytic Quarterly to examine the interpretations made during a lengthy analysis of a male patient struggling with his ambivalence about marrying his fiancée. The analyst repeatedly attributes his patient's reluctance to marry and negative feelings about his fiancée as determined by his unconscious conflation of his mother and his fiancée. The author attempts to demonstrate the derailment of the patient by these interpretations. They prevent him from solidifying his own judgment and, in so doing, prevent him from taking suitable action. An alternative approach to the material of the case is presented, including very different interpretations that would, in the author's opinion, liberate the patient rather than derail him from achieving his life goals.     

The Development of Hyperactive–Impulsive Behaviors During the Preschool Years: The Predictive Validity of Parental Assessments

The objectives of this study were to establish the different developmental trajectories of hyperactive-impulsive behaviors on the basis of both mother and father ratings at 19, 32, 50, and 63 months, and to examine the predictive validity of these trajectories with respect to later hyperactive-impulsive behaviors, as rated by teachers in the first 2 years of school. Hyperactive-impulsive behaviors were assessed in a population-based sample of 1,112 twins (565 boys and 547 girls) at 19, 32, 50, and 63 months of age. The results revealed a differentiated and consistent view of developmental trajectories of hyperactive-impulsive behaviors derived from these repeated assessments, with 7.1% of children seen by mothers (7% for fathers) as displaying high and stable hyperactive-impulsive behaviors. According to mother ratings, children on a high-chronic trajectory were more likely than other children to display hyperactive-impulsive behaviors at 72 and 84 months according to their teachers. Repeated measures over time and father-based trajectories significantly added to the prediction teacher later ratings of hyperactive-impulsive behaviors. These results support the predictive validity of parental assessment of hyperactive-impulsive behaviors during the preschool years and their use to identify children at risk for further evaluation and possible intervention.     

Indirect assessment of visual working memory for simple and complex objects

Previous research has shown that visual search performance is modulated by the current contents in visual working memory (VWM), even when the contents of VWM are irrelevant to the search task. For example, visual search is faster when the target--rather than a distractor--is surrounded by a shape currently held in VWM. This study uses the modulation of visual search by VWM to investigate properties of VWM. Participants wereasked to remember the color or the shape of novel polygons whose "goodness" of figure varied according to Garner's (1962) rotation and reflection transformation principle. During the memory retention interval, participants searched for a tilted line among vertical lines embedded inside colored polygons. Search was faster when the target--rather than a distractor--was enclosed by the remembered polygons. The congruity effect diminished with increasing memory load and decreasing figure goodness. We conclude that congruity effects in visual search can indirectly assess VWM representation strength.