Situational influences on the desirability of different objects of affiliation

The desire to affilitate was examined as a function of two variables: situational context and the type of potential companion. Data were collected via four questionnaires composed of 48 identical items. Each item described a specific situation related to one of four situational clusters previously extracted by factor analytic method (Fox, 1980) and reconfirmed in this study. Each questionnaire examined the desirability of a particular type of companion in various situations (being alone, or with intimates, acquaintances, or strangers). The subjects consisted of 900 male Israeli high school students, 17-19 years of age, each of whom responded to two out of the four questionnaires. The situational factor had the decisive effect on the affiliative preferences. There was a general desire for companionship in pleasant as well as threatening situations, whereas solitude was preferred when concentration was necessary or in periods of unpleasant moods. Across situational categories, there was a relatively less marked preference for the company of intimates over that of acquaintances and strangers, who appear to be equally desirable objects of affiliation. The interaction between situational and companion factors was minimal, in contrast to hypothesis. The results are illuminated in the context of utility affiliation theory. Ths research was supported in part by a grant from the Research Authority, Bar-Ilan University.     

Unexceptional spatial memory in an exceptional memorist.

Rajan Mahadevan evidences an exceptional memory for arrays of digits. We tested whether Rajan's spatial memory was likewise exceptional. Eight control Ss and Rajan were instructed to remember the position and orientation of 48 images of common objects shown either to the left or the right of fixation and facing either left or right. Rajan's accuracy for judging whether the position and orientation of these pictures had changed when they were shown in a different sequence was lower than that of control Ss for both judgments. Rajan's exceptional memory capacity apparently does not extend to spatial relations.     

Imperatives: a Judgemental Analysis

This paper proposes a framework for formalising intuitions about the behaviour of imperative commands. It seeks to capture notions of satisfaction and coherence. Rules are proposed to express key aspects of the general logical behaviour of imperative constructions. A key objective is for the framework to allow patterns of behaviour to be described while avoiding making any commitments about how commands, and their satisfaction criteria, are to be interpreted. We consider the status of some conundrums of imperative logic in the context of this proposal.     

Maternal Over-Control Moderates the Association Between Early Childhood Behavioral Inhibition and Adolescent Social Anxiety Symptoms

Behavioral inhibition (BI) and maternal over-control are early risk factors for later childhood internalizing problems, particularly social anxiety disorder (SAD). Consistently high BI across childhood appears to confer risk for the onset of SAD by adolescence. However, no prior studies have prospectively examined observed maternal over-control as a risk factor for adolescent social anxiety (SA) among children initially selected for BI. The present prospective longitudinal study examines the direct and indirect relations between these early risk factors and adolescent SA symptoms and SAD, using a multi-method approach. The sample consisted of 176 participants initially recruited as infants and assessed for temperamental reactivity to novel stimuli at age 4?months. BI was measured via observations and parent-report across multiple assessments between the ages of 14?months and 7?years. Maternal over-control was assessed observationally during parent–child interaction tasks at 7?years. Adolescents (ages 14–17?years) and parents provided independent reports of adolescent SA symptoms. Results indicated that higher maternal over-control at 7?years predicted higher SA symptoms and lifetime rates of SAD during adolescence. Additionally, there was a significant interaction between consistently high BI and maternal over-control, such that patterns of consistently high BI predicted higher adolescent SA symptoms in the presence of high maternal over-control. High BI across childhood was not significantly associated with adolescent SA symptoms when children experienced low maternal over-control. These findings have the potential to inform prevention and early intervention programs by indentifying particularly at-risk youth and specific targets of treatment.     

Behavior problems in young children from low‐income families: The development of a new screening tool

The purpose of this study was to construct a screening tool, the Early Childhood Behavior Screen (ECBS), to identify behavior problems and prosocial behaviors in very young children (1–5 years old) from low‐income backgrounds. Field testing of the initial screening tool was conducted with a representative, diverse sample of 439 parents from a low‐income, urban community. The final 20‐item scale was written at a 3.9 grade reading level. Psychometric properties of the ECBS revealed that the items loaded on two factors, the Challenging Behavior factor and the Prosocial Behavior factor. Each factor demonstrated high levels of internal consistency (.87 and .92, respectively). The Challenging Behavior factor demonstrated adequate levels of concurrent validity (r = .75), sensitivity (r = .82), and specificity (r = .80) based on its relationship with the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (S.M. Eyberg & D. Pincus, 1999). The Prosocial Behavior factor is a clinically useful aspect of the ECBS, as it allows researchers and practitioners to identify the child's positive behaviors as part of a strength‐based approach to treatment. The results suggested that the ECBS has potential as a brief screening tool that is useful in pediatric, psychological, and educational settings that serve low‐income populations to aid in the identification of young children with challenging behaviors that may require intervention services     

Hedges enhance memory but inhibit retelling

We examined the effects of hedges and the discourse marker like on how people recalled specific details about precise quantities in spontaneous speech. We found that listeners treated hedged information differently from like-marked information, although both are thought to be indicators of uncertainty or vagueness. In addition, hedges had different effects depending on whether speakers were (1) retelling conversations to another person or (2) answering questions about material they had heard. When retelling to another person, listeners were more likely to report information that was either unmarked or marked with a like than hedged information (Experiment 1). Yet when answering questions by themselves, hedges enhanced memory for details, in comparison with likes (Experiment 2). Hedges appear to provide pragmatic cues about what information is reliable enough to repeat in a conversational context. But although hedged information may be left out, it is not forgotten.     

Use of cognitive question testing methodologies in participant action research: implementing the Three-Step Test-Interview Method in Indian county

This study describes the use of cognitive question testing methods to pretest a Web-based questionnaire designed to gather information from American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) youth between the ages of 18 and 25. The questionnaire included items related to risk and resiliency factors as well as potentially sensitive topics of victimization and delinquency. Question testing was completed with a sample of 15 youth living in three different regions of the United States. The Three Step Test Interview Method was modified to collect information related to interface usability, cognitive response, and cultural interpretation of survey items. Data collected from the question testing process resulted in questionnaire changes that included query wording, the inclusion and exclusion of survey items based on cultural input, the reordering and rendering of survey items, and improvements in interface usability. Implications for survey research with the AI/AN youth population are discussed.     

Event-related potential practice effects on the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT)

Practice can change the nature and quality of a stimulus-response relationship. The current study observed the effects of repeated administration of the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) in 12 healthy individuals, in an effort to establish distinct profiles associated with novel and practiced processing. Over four training sessions the mean number of correct responses on this demanding test of attention significantly improved and was approaching ceiling for most task conditions. Behavioural improvements were associated with significantly reduced amplitude of late Processing Negativity, a frontally distributed component of the event-related potential waveform associated with voluntary, limited-capacity activity within higher-order attentional systems. These results suggest that PASAT performance became more efficient as practice seemingly eased the strategic planning and coordination requirements the task places on frontally-mediated executive attention resources. The findings of the current study extend our understanding of the functional and behavioural mechanisms underlying the effects of practice.     

Compensatory and non‐compensatory multidimensional randomized item response models

Randomized response (RR) models are often used for analysing univariate randomized response data and measuring population prevalence of sensitive behaviours. There is much empirical support for the belief that RR methods improve the cooperation of the respondents. Recently, RR models have been extended to measure individual unidimensional behaviour. An extension of this modelling framework is proposed to measure compensatory or non‐compensatory multiple sensitive factors underlying the randomized item response process. A confirmatory multidimensional randomized item response theory model (MRIRT) is proposed for the analysis of multivariate RR data by modelling the response process and specifying structural relationships between sensitive behaviours and background information. A Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm is developed to estimate simultaneously the parameters of the MRIRT model. The model extension enables the computation of individual true item response probabilities, estimates of individuals’ sensitive behaviour on different domains, and their relationships with background variables. An MRIRT analysis is presented of data from a college alcohol problem scale, measuring alcohol‐related socio‐emotional and community problems, and alcohol expectancy questionnaire, measuring alcohol‐related sexual enhancement expectancies. Students were interviewed via direct or RR questioning. Scores of alcohol‐related problems and expectancies are significantly higher for the group of students questioned using the RR technique. Alcohol‐related problems and sexual enhancement expectancies are positively moderately correlated and vary differently across gender and universities.