Personality,Parental, and Media Influences on Aggressive Personality and Violent Crime in Young Adults

Debate remains regarding the interaction between predictor variables for aggression, including family environment, media violence, and personality. The current study examined the contributions of gender and personality, exposure to physical abuse and violence in the family, and exposure to media violence in both television and in video games on violent criminal activity. Data from young adults (n = 355) indicated that personality characteristics and direct physical abuse significantly predicted violent crime. Exposure to television and video game violence were not significant predictors of violent crime. These results elucidate the complex interplay between multiple factors related to the etiology of violent crime. These results also call into question the belief that media violence is involved in the etiology of violent crime.     

Love in cross-cultural perspective: Mozambique-France comparison

The study aimed to characterise the conceptualisation of love in Mozambique (a collectivist society) and France (an individualistic society) on three attributes: passion, intimacy, and commitment. The study sample comprised 310 Mozambican adults (females = 57%; age range = 18-64) and 220 French adults (females = 54%; age range = 18-64). They completed 27 information scenarios on passion, intimacy, and commitment. The data were analysed utilising mixed-method estimation of the variance accounted for by the three components of love. Results indicated that for the Mozambican participants passion was the most important factor (46%) in love expression, followed by commitment (37%), and intimacy (17%). For the French participants, passion was the most important factor (50%), followed by intimacy (28%), and commitment (22%). Across countries, the weight given to passion was reported to decline over age while the weight assigned to commitment was reported to increase with age.     

Psychometric quality supporting the Spanish adaptation of the Behavioral Regulation in Sport Questionnaire

The goal of this study is to present the Spanish adaptation of the Behavioral Regulation in Sport Questionnaire made up of 24 items that measure the 6 behavioral regulation factors expected by the self-determination theory developed by Deci and Ryan. Supporting evidence of conceptual equivalence and quality of the cultural and linguistic adaptation derive from the conciliation of different terms (experts and target population). Cognitive interviews and the fact that 94% of respondents provided complete answers and without aberrant response patterns support the feasibility of the questionnaire. A model of six correlated factors provided the best fit to the data in the confirmatory factor analysis, and 5 out of 6 subscales have acceptable internal consistency coefficients. The scores of the introjected, identified, and integrated regulation show more variability than the other ones. As expected, the 6 subscales show a graduation of direct correlation with the subjective vitality measure and an inverse correlation with competitive anxiety. The accumulation of evidence leads to the conclusion that the Spanish version is valid for use in sport psychology research.     

Toward an integrative approach of cognitive neuroscientific and evolutionary psychological studies of art

This paper examines explanations for human artistic behavior in two reductionist research programs, cognitive neuroscience and evolutionary psychology. Despite their different methodological outlooks, both approaches converge on an explanation of art production and appreciation as byproducts of normal perceptual and motivational cognitive skills that evolved in response to problems originally not related to art, such as the discrimination of salient visual stimuli and speech sounds. The explanatory power of this reductionist framework does not obviate the need for higher-level accounts of art from the humanities, such as aesthetics, art history or anthropology of art.     

Comparing in-the-moment skill coaching effects from tailored versus non-tailored acceptance and commitment therapy mobile apps in a non-clinical sample

Mobile apps are promising for teaching how to practice psychological skills in high-risk and in vivo momentary situations, but there has been minimal research on the immediate effects of app-based skill coaching on mental health in-the-moment. This study analyzed the mobile app data in a non-clinical sample of 39 adults participating in a larger randomized controlled trial, with participants randomized to an acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) mobile app that tailors skill coaching based on in-the-moment variables (n = 17) or an app that provides randomly selected skill coaching (n = 22). Data were collected before and after each ACT skill coaching session on proximal outcome (depression, anxiety, and engagement in meaningful activity) and ACT process variables. Multilevel models indicated significant immediate improvements on average following ACT skill coaching sessions on all proximal outcome and ACT process variables, although with relatively small effects ranging between 0.17 and 0.27 SD units change. Larger immediate pre-to-post effects from ACT coaching sessions were found for anxiety, experiential avoidance, and cognitive fusion in the tailored app versus random app condition. Overall, results suggest that an ACT app can have immediate, in-the-moment effects on psychological functioning, which may be enhanced by tailoring skills to current context.     

Humble trust

I challenge the common view that trust is characteristically risky compared to distrust by drawing attention to the moral and epistemic risks of distrust. Distrust that is based in real fear yet fails to target ill will, lack of integrity, or incompetence, serves to marginalize and exclude individuals who have done nothing that would justify their marginalization or exclusion. I begin with a characterization of the suite of behaviors characteristic of trust and distrust. I then survey the epistemic and moral hazards of distrust, in particular, distrust’s propensity to bias interpretation, to perpetuate itself, to confirm itself, to dishonor, and to insult. Taking seriously these moral and epistemic hazards requires taking affirmative measures to respond to them. I elaborate one such response: “humble trust”. The practice of humble trust issues from skepticism about the warrant of one’s own felt attitudes of trust and distrust, curiosity about who might be unexpectedly responsive to trust and in which contexts, and commitment to abjure and to avoid distrust of the trustworthy. Humble trust enables individuals to trust that they will be trusted.

     

Motivational climate and coaches' communication style predict young soccer players' commitment

The purpose of this research was to study the role of coaches' communication style and coach-created motivational climate in young soccer players' enjoyment and commitment. Four hundred and fifteen young soccer players of high competitive level in the age range from 14 to 16 completed the following questionnaires: a) coach-induced perceived motivational climate (PMCSQ-2), b) coaches' behaviour perception (CBAS-PBS), and c) sport commitment (SCQ). Results showed that coach-created motivational climate correlated highly with the perception of coaches' communication style. Moreover, coach-created motivational climate and communication style significantly determines players' sport commitment and enjoyment. Discussion focuses on the importance of seeking and training credible coaches that favours athletes' commitment.     

Body dissatisfaction in Latin and Spanish adolescents

The present paper has two aims: firstly to analyse and compare body dissatisfaction of Spanish and Latin adolescents, and secondly to determine the impact of sociocultural factors and Body Mass Index (BMI) on dissatisfaction. The sample is made up of 403 adolescents, 191 Spaniards and 212 Latin-Americans, all of them students in Basque Country high schools. They were assessed by the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ), the CIMEC-26 (a questionnaire designed to assess the influence of the aesthetic body model), and the BMI. The results show that the Latin adolescents have a higher level of body dissatisfaction than the Spanish. This is due to the greater influence in the Latin adolescents of sociocultural factors.     

Police officers' credibility judgments: Accuracy and estimated ability

A study was conducted to examine Spanish police officers' and nonofficers' lie‐ and truth‐detection accuracy, as well as their estimated detection ability. The participants were 121 police officers and 146 undergraduates who watched videotaped truthful and deceptive statements. They had to indicate: (1) whether each statement was truthful or deceptive, and (2) how good police officers were, in comparison with the general population, at detecting the truthfulness or deceptiveness of a statement. Results indicate that police officers' accuracy was not higher than that of nonofficers, rather, while the officers reached an accuracy rate close to chance probability, the undergraduates surpassed that probability. Officers had a very strong tendency to judge the statements as deceptive; this made them less accurate than the students in judging the truthful accounts, while both groups reached a similar accuracy when judging the deceptive ones. Both occupational samples considered that the police are more capable of identifying truths and lies than the general population. However, this belief was stronger among the officers themselves than among the nonofficers. No significant correlation between estimated ability and accuracy was found for either sample. The results are explained in terms of the participants' wrong beliefs about the cues to deceit and the socialization process that police officers undergo, which would increase their confidence and perceived ability while hindering their learning of the actual indicators of deceit. The need for officers to receive training is emphasized, and some directions are given on how this training should be carried out.