Does perceptual analysis continue during selection and production of a speeded response?

This study asked whether perceptual analysis of a stimulus can continue while a response to this stimulus is being generated. In Experiment 1, subjects rapidly named a word that was visually degraded with superimposed pixels. Near the time of response, degradation was removed for a short time and then followed by a mask. Subjects then made a second, unspeeded judgment about the identity of the word. Unspeeded judgments were more accurate, showing that the degradation-free stimulus exposure was processed. In Experiment 2, the task was the same, but the degradation was gradually faded out for an individually adjusted duration. Comparison of unspeeded-response accuracy on trials with and without a speeded response showed that stimulus analysis continued at full efficiency during speeded-response generation. The results support conclusions of Rabbitt and Vyas (1981) that perceptual analysis continues during response stages. This form of continuous processing does not necessarily contradict discrete stage models of human information processing, however.     

The Effects of Source Credibility and Performance Rating Discrepancy on Reactions to Multiple Raters1

Using multiple feedback sources, the present study investigated the effects of source credibility and performance rating discrepancy on recipients' reactions. Individuals performed an ambiguous group task, rated their own performance on the task, and were later provided bogus feedback ostensibly from their peers and an expert rater. Individuals reacted toward the feedback and the source of the feedback as a function of the rating discrepancy and credibility of the feedback source. Generally, more credible sources and their feedback were evaluated more favorably. However, as predicted, this effect was overcome by performance rating discrepancy in the predicted conditions. The results show the importance of studying the interactive effects of message and source characteristics on individuals' reactions.     

A multisystems analysis of adolescent suicide attempters

The present study tested an ecologically based model, which predicted that hopelessness (individual level) mediates the effects of family dysfunction (interpersonal level) and socioeconomic status (sociocultural level) on both suicidal intent and suicidal ideation, within a sample of attempters. Subjects included adolescent males and females presenting at a general hospital emergency room following suicide attempts. Baron and Kenny's (1986) criteria for testing mediation models through multiple-regression analyses were employed. Little evidence of mediation was found. Hopelessness proved to be the best predictor of suicidal intent and ideation within a sample of attempters.     

Detection of gender-related categories by 10-month-old infants

Thirty-two 10-month-olds completed an habituation procedure where a male or female face was paired with a specific object. Results reveal 10-month-olds can form categories based on correlations among attributes of social information. Basic processes involved in gender role formation are present in 10-month-olds.     

Implementation and Preliminary Feasibility of an Individualized,Supportive Approach to Behavioral Care for Parents of Young Children Newly Diagnosed With Type 1 Diabetes

There are significant stressors related to parenting a young child with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes (T1D). Despite these challenges, there are not yet clearly defined interventions to help promote psychological health and adherence for families with young children with T1D. First STEPS is a tailored stepped care design intervention to positively impact parents’ emotional functioning and children’s glycemic control in young children newly diagnosed with T1D. The First STEPS intervention is derived from a combination of Cognitive Behavioral Theory and Social Cognitive Theory to support family adjustment to T1D, promote parental mastery over T1D tasks, increase coping skills to manage stressors associated with T1D, and build on the strengths of families newly diagnosed with T1D to help them achieve positive health and wellbeing outcomes. We present details about the intervention and describe two pilot participants as case studies. Results indicated that the treatment and delivery model were acceptable to the pilot participants, as evidenced by treatment completion and satisfaction ratings. Future directions for this work include testing the efficacy of this new treatment in a randomized controlled trial.     

Multicultural Education in the Zionist State – The Mizrahi Challenge

In this paper, we explore a specific variant of multicultural education inIsrael that developed within the dominant Jewish cultural identity, that isthe claim of Jews from Islamic countries (Mizrahi Jews) for educational autonomy. This demand arose against the backdrop of an aggressive nationalist ideology – Zionism – that claimed torepresent all Jews, and yet was too ambivalent toward its non-European Jewish subjects. The Mizrahi Jews' dual identity, as Jews and as products of the Arab culture, conflated with the state's problematic self-conception as both Jewish and democratic. This phenomenon, apparently, is evidenced by the two types of multicultural responses that developed within the Mizrahi sector: a critical multiculturalism with a social-democratic character on the one hand, and an autonomist multiculturalism with fundamentalist featureson the other.     

The intergenerational effects of trauma from terror: A real possibility

The goals of this article are to discuss the potential risk of children whose parents were traumatized by terror, to present literature on parenting in the context of terror, and to consider factors that may mediate the transmission of trauma‐effects from parents to children. Mediators considered are parents' traumatic distress, disturbed parent–child interactions, trauma‐related disturbances in parents' thinking, and effects of stress on children's neural functioning. Also discussed are genetic and environmental factors that may moderate the transmission of intergenerational effects and promote children's risk and resilience. Points raised during the discussion are illustrated with segments from interviews of women who were pregnant or gave birth some time after direct exposure to a terror attack. The authors conclude that empirical studies are needed to learn more about the intergenerational transmission of trauma‐effects and processes that underlie it. The authors join others in the call to improve evaluation, treatment, and support of trauma victims and their children to stymie the transmission of problems from one generation to the next.     

Tests of Simple Slopes in Multiple Regression Models with an Interaction: Comparison of Four Approaches

In multiple regression researchers often follow up significant tests of the interaction between continuous predictors X and Z with tests of the simple slope of Y on X at different sample-estimated values of the moderator Z (e.g., ±1 SD from the mean of Z). We show analytically that when X and Z are randomly sampled from the population, the variance expression of the simple slope at sample-estimated values of Z differs from the traditional variance expression obtained when the values of X and Z are fixed. A simulation study using randomly sampled predictors compared four approaches: (a) the Aiken and West (1991 Aiken, L. S., &; West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) test of simple slopes at fixed population values of Z, (b) the Aiken and West test at sample-estimated values of Z, (c) a 95% percentile bootstrap confidence interval approach, and (d) a fully Bayesian approach with diffuse priors. The results showed that approach (b) led to inflated Type 1 error rates and 95% confidence intervals with inadequate coverage rates, whereas other approaches maintained acceptable Type 1 error rates and adequate coverage of confidence intervals. Approach (c) had asymmetric rejection rates at small sample sizes. We used an empirical data set to illustrate these approaches.