A Critique of Howard's Argument for Innate Limits in Chess Performance or Why We Need an Account Based On Acquired Skill and Deliberate Practice

In this issue Howard reported that the effect of chess study is surprisingly small among elite chess players, who continue playing more games in international chess tournaments. In contrast, we show that individual differences in chess study are the likely causes of both higher chess ratings and more chess games played in international tournaments, which is often very costly and includes airfare, hotel, and tournament registration fees. The low correlation between his estimates of study time and chess rating is shown to be a consequence of his methodology of relying on a couple of questions in an internet survey rather than the standard methodology in expert performance research involving a 30‐minute interview tracing yearly engagement in many different practice activities. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Introducing a novel method to assess cumulative steroid concentrations: increased hair cortisol concentrations over 6 months in medicated patients with depression

Depression has been linked to increased cortisol concentrations using point measures taken from urine, blood, or saliva samples. However, with regard to hypercortisolism-induced consequences, long-term cumulative cortisol burden is of relevance. Our objective was to use hair analysis as a new method to assess cortisol exposure over 6 months in depressed patients and healthy controls. We examined 23 depressed patients (8 men and 15 women, mean age: 41.6 years (?±?standard deviation (SD), 13.1 years); mean duration of current depressive episode 9 months (?±?SD, 13 months)) and 64 healthy controls, matched for age and gender. Cortisol concentrations in two 3-cm hair segments from near to the scalp were analyzed, representing cortisol secretion during the 6 months prior to sampling. Compared with healthy individuals, depressed patients had higher hair cortisol concentrations in the first (mean?±?SD: 26.7?±?20.8 vs. 18.7?±?11.5?pg/mg, p?相似文献   

Evaluation context's role in driving positive word‐of‐mouth intentions

Relevant literature recognizes that transaction‐specific and cumulative evaluations are different, but few empirical studies test how these differences might affect the link between product evaluations and word of mouth (WOM). This study addresses this issue by assessing the simultaneous effects of perceived quality and satisfaction on the resulting positive WOM intentions for both types of evaluations. Results reveal that different factors drive positive WOM intentions depending on the context of the study. When the consumers' evaluations are related to a specific transaction, perceived quality is the dominating predictor of positive WOM intentions. When the evaluations are cumulative, satisfaction is the dominating predictor of positive WOM intentions. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A meta-analysis of gender differences in character strengths and age,nation, and measure as moderators

Abstract

The present meta-analysis investigates gender differences in the 24 VIA character strengths. Based on a literature search on quantitative studies that assessed character strengths, 65 samples consisting of both published and unpublished data were included (total N = 1,189,924). A random-effects model yielded significant gender differences for 17 of the 24 character strengths, although only four of these differences showed at least small effects: Females scored higher than males in appreciation of beauty and excellence, kindness, love, and gratitude. Thus, males and females were mostly similar in their character strengths. The size of the gender differences did not vary with nationality (i.e. the US, Switzerland, Germany, and Israel), while age and type of measure were significant moderators for 13-14 character strengths. The most pronounced differences emerged between children/adolescents and the VIA-Youth in comparison to adults and the VIA-IS as well as the short measures.