Spatial tapping interferes with the processing of linguistic spatial relations.

Simple spatial relations may be represented either in a propositional format that is dependent on verbal rehearsal or in a picture-like format that is maintained by visual-spatial rehearsal. In sentence-picture and picture-picture verification tasks, we examined the effect of an articulatory suppression and a spatial tapping dual task on the encoding of simple spatial relations (e.g., triangle left of circle). Articulatory suppression did not interfere, while spatial tapping lowered performance in both tasks. Apparently, both linguistic and perceptual inputs of simple spatial relations engaged the visual-spatial working memory. In the sentence-picture verification experiments, spatial tapping only hampered performance of participants who were classified on the basis of their RT patterns as having used a visual-spatial strategy, while it had no effect for those who were classified as having applied a verbal strategy. Therefore, this study provides converging evidence, using a dual-task methodology, that both separate verbal and visual-spatial strategies exist for the processing of simple spatial sentences.     

Ideological Orientation and Political Transition in Hong Kong: Confidence in the Future

In the two-component model of ideological orientation, a person's ideological position is jointly influenced by attitudinal and affective components. The present study adopted this conceptual model to predict confidence in the future of Hong Kong. Questionnaire responses were collected from 395 adults (56.8% men and 43.2% women) in Hong Kong in April 1995, some 2 years before its transfer from British to Chinese control. The results show that the level of confidence in Hong Kong was related to both attitudinal and affective identification with Hong Kong and China. These findings suggest that the transfer of government may have brought to the surface a collision of the divergent political cultures of Hong Kong and mainland China, resulting in two antagonistic political orientations that predicted confidence in the future of Hong Kong.     

Personality, values and belief in a just world

This study investigated the relationship between general belief in a just world (BJW) and different values (conformity, security, self-direction) as well as personality traits (Five-Factor-Model of personality) among 104 college students and 108 professionals. Previous findings have shown that BJW is positively related to the value domains conformity and security as well as to extraversion and negatively to neuroticism and openness. In this study, a negative correlation between BJW and openness to new experience was found. Furthermore BJW correlated positively with security and conformity. A cluster analysis on BJW and the value domains revealed three types: value-conscious (high in all values and low in BJW), dependent-just (high in BJW, security and conformity, low in self-direction) and self-directed (only high in self-direction). Value-conscious and dependent-just participants showed higher scores on conscientiousness, whereas self-directed participants scored higher in openness. Further research should take into account the individual function of BJW and values for personality functioning.     

Mental reinstatement of the misinformation context and the misinformation effect in children and adults

The present study investigated the effects of mental reinstatement of the context in which misleading information about an event was presented on later recognition memory for the event. Five‐year‐olds, 7‐year‐olds and adults were shown a short video depicting a children's adventure and were asked a set of misleading questions to introduce misinformation one week later. Before the recognition memory test was administered another week later, half of the participants were given instructions to mentally reinstate the context of the misleading interview. Memory was assessed with a set of forced‐choice recognition questions once in the misleading interview context and for the children a second time at home one week later. When participants were instructed to mentally reinstate the context of the misleading interview prior to the recognition test, false memory reports occurred more often for adults than for children and had a stronger impact on peripheral information than on central information for both 7‐year‐olds and adults. When 5‐ and 7‐year‐olds were tested at home, false memory reports decreased. Thus, reinstating the context of an interview introducing misinformation can reduce the accuracy of memory reports; the context dependence of both accurate and inaccurate memory reports in children and adults is discussed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reasons Why Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy Is Relatively Neglected in the Professional and Scientific Literature

Although rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) has been the pioneering cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) of the twentieth century, and although its main methods are very popular among practicing clinicians as well as members of the public, it has been relatively neglected in the professional and scientific literature. Reasons for this neglect are discussed and some steps are suggested to make REBT more effective and more scientifically accepted.     

A Voice Crying out from the Wound—with or without Words: On Trauma,Speech, and Silence1

Drawing on memory and trauma studies, psychotherapeutic research, and Holocaust testimonies (in particular those of Wiesel, Semprun, Kulka, and Appelfeld), this article explores the role of speech and silence in the process of working through severe trauma. That which seems “incommunicable” will be considered in regard to the limits of linguistic representation and the problems of communication caused by the interlocutors’ avoidance of the past. How can one ensure that recounting traumatic memories does not become an extra risk rather than a remedy?     

An Interrater Reliability Study of Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R–PAS) Raw and Complexity-Adjusted Scores

Recently, the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R–PAS; Meyer, Viglione, Mihura, Erard, &; Erdberg, 2011 Meyer, G. J., Viglione, D. J., Mihura, J. L., Erard, R. E., &; Erdberg, P. (2011). A manual for the Rorschach Performance Assessment System. Toledo, OH: R–PAS. [Google Scholar]) was introduced to overcome some possible limitations of the Comprehensive System (CS; Exner, 2003 Exner, J. E. (2003). The Rorschach: A comprehensive system. Vol. 1: Basic foundations and principles of interpretation (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. [Google Scholar]) while continuing its efforts to link Rorschach inferences to their evidence base. An important, technical modification to the scoring system is that R–PAS interpretations are based on both standard scores and complexity-adjusted scores. Two previous U.S. studies reported good to excellent interrater reliability (IRR) for the great majority of R–PAS variables; however, IRR of complexity-adjusted scores has never been investigated. Furthermore, no studies have yet investigated R–PAS IRR in Europe. To extend this literature, we examined R–PAS IRR of Page 1 and Page 2 raw and complexity-adjusted scores with 112 Italian Rorschach protocols. We collected a large sample of both clinical and nonclinical Rorschach protocols, each of which was coded separately by 2 independent raters. Results demonstrated a mean intraclass correlation of .78 (SD = .14) for raw scores and.74 (SD = .14) for complexity-adjusted scores. Overall, for both raw and complexity-adjusted values, most of the variables were characterized by good to excellent IRR.