Sex typing: Construct and measurement issues

This study examined the relationships among commonly used measures of sex typing. A sample of 101 children, three to five years of age, were each seen on three occasions and administered six different measures of sex typing. The results showed that relations among the various measures of sex typing were quite modest for girls and only moderate for boys. Gender constancy scores did not mediate the relationships among measures for either girls or boys. The results are interpreted as supporting a multidimensional view of children's sex typing and as urging caution in generalizing results based on single measures of sex typing.     

Voting in Ignorance: The Politics of Smooth-Sounding Names

The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether the attractiveness of political candidates' names would influence voter preferences, both when only the names were known and when politically relevant information was provided. The names and platforms of candidates in an actual election in which victory was attributed to a name effect were used in a straw poll of undergraduate subjects. Results showed a clear name effect when only names were presented. However, abstention was also quite common in this condition. When candidates' issue positions were also described, the name effect faded to nonsignificance. The results highlight the efficacy of relevant information in overcoming spurious influences on decisions.     

Innovative uses of existing software in the teaching of psychodiagnostics

Too frequently, current, adaptable software programs are not used to their full potential for educational and clinical applications. Graduate psychology students often become familiar with computers and various programs for word processing and research applications, and now these students, using the same systems, can utilize and adapt database software to assist in psychodiagnostic decision-making. This paper discusses the development of one such system.     

Zombie multiculturalism meets liberative difference: searching for a new discourse of diversity

This paper grapples with an unresolved tension – twenty-first century Britain is indelibly multicultural and yet diversity is increasingly depicted as a threat to social cohesion. A society characterised by superdiverse cities where some suggest that ‘multiculturalism has failed’. On the basis of an analysis of three dominant theoretical and ideological discourses – community cohesion, multiculturalism and interculturalism – it will be argued that there is an urgent need to forge a new understanding of diversity that can counter the zombie discourse that characterises current debates about diversity in Britain. Difference will be framed as a potential source of mutual liberation, not a problem seeking a solution. It will be argued that a critical engagement with political theology can help us to fashion a new discourse of diversity that is characterised by a hermeneutics of liberative difference, which can help to defeat the zombies sucking the life out of diverse Britain.     

Visual re-identification of individual objects: a core problem for organisms and AI

Two open questions about the visual re-identification of individual objects over extended time periods are briefly reviewed: (1) How much a priori information about the nature of objects, identity and time is required to support robust individual object re-identification abilities? and (2) how do epistemic feelings, such as the feeling of familiarity, contribute both to object re-identification and to the perception of opportunities and risks associated with individual objects and their affordances? The ongoing interplay between experiments that can be carried out with human subjects and experiments made possible with robotic systems is examined. It is suggested that developmental robotics, including virtual-reality simulations of robot–environment interactions, may provide the best route to understanding both the implementation of epistemic feelings in humans and their functional contribution to the identification of persistent individual objects.     

The role of procedural memory in grammar and numeracy skills

The objective of this study was to examine the contribution of procedural memory to grammar and numeracy skills, which both involve the manipulation of abstract patterns. Seventy-six typically developing children between 5 and 7 years of age were assessed on grammar with a past tense production task and a sentence comprehension task, on numeracy with a counting task and a calculation task, and on procedural memory with a serial reaction time task. Moderate correlations were found between the measures of grammar and numeracy. Moreover, 4 hierarchical linear regressions indicated that procedural memory was associated with calculation but not with counting or grammar skills when age and working memory were taken into account. These novel findings suggest that procedural memory may have a role to play in the development of some numeracy skills. Several possible explanations for the absence of contribution to grammar are considered.     

Characteristics of Children in Foster Care,Family-Style Group Care,and Residential Care: A Scoping Review

When risky child and family circumstances cannot be resolved at home, (temporary) 24-h out-of-home placement of the child may be an alternative strategy. To identify specific placement risks and needs, care professionals must have information about the child and his or her family, care history, and social-cultural characteristics at admission to out-of-home care. However, to date information on case characteristics and particular their similarities and differences across the three main types of out-of-home settings (namely foster care, family-style group care, and residential care) is largely lacking. This review compiles and compares characteristics of school-aged children of average intelligence and their families at the time of each child’s admission to one of the three care modalities. A scoping review technique that provides a broad search strategy and ensures sufficient coverage of the available literature is used. Based on the 36 studies included, there is consensus that the majority of normally intelligent children in care demonstrate severe developmental and behavioral problems. However, the severeness as well as the kinds of defining characteristics present differ among the children in foster care, family-style group care, and residential care. The review also identifies several existing knowledge gaps regarding relevant risk factors. Future research is recommended to fill these gaps and determine the developmental pathway in relation to children’s risks and needs at admission. This will contribute to the development of an evidence-based risks and needs assessment tool that will enable care professionals to make informed referrals to a specific type of out-of-home care when such a placement is required.     

The Mediating Role of Romantic Desolation and Dating Anxiety in the Association Between Interpersonal Competence and Life Satisfaction Among Polish Young Adults

This study investigates the role of romantic desolation on life satisfaction in young adulthood. Using data from a Polish sample of 330 (205 females and 125 males) young adults aged 20–30, who completed Polish versions of the Satisfaction With Life Scale, Dating Anxiety Scale, Interpersonal Competence Questionnaire-Revised, and Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults-Short Form, romantic desolation (romantic loneliness and lack of a romantic partner) and dating anxiety were tested as mediators of the association between interpersonal competence and life satisfaction. Results revealed that single individuals reported lower life satisfaction and higher romantic loneliness than did partnered individuals. At the same time, no differences emerged between single and partnered individuals in dating anxiety or interpersonal competence. Structural equation modeling results showed that low interpersonal competence has an indirect effect on romantic desolation through higher levels of dating anxiety. Also, dating anxiety had an indirect effect on lower life satisfaction through increased romantic desolation. These results highlight the important role of dating anxiety and romantic desolation for explaining why low interpersonal competence is associated with diminished life satisfaction in young adults.