Cognitive Processing and Self-Report of Lateral Preference

Our knowledge of the human brain has increased more during the past 40 years than at any other time in history. Of particular interest have been the findings of a correspondence between cognitive functions and individual structures of the brain. Similar from a gross anatomical point of view, the hemispheres of the brain have been shown to serve specialized cognitive functions. This work offers an overview of the cognitive aspects of cerebral lateralization as a context for considering this issue, followed by a review of specific self-report techniques in the appraisal of lateral preference.     

God and objects: Beginning with existence

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion -     

Predictive validity of the WISC-R with Mexican-American children

The reliability and predictive validity of the WISC-R was investigated with 46 Mexican-American children. Approximately a year and a half after the administration of the WISC-R, scores on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) were collected. Internal consistency estimates for WISC-R subtests and composites were found to be comparable to those reported in the WISC-R manual. Correlations between WISC-R subtests and those of the ITBS ranged from modest for verbal subtests to mild when performance subtests were used as predictors. The best single predictor proved to be that of Verbal IQ, which accounted for some 40% of the variance in future achievement when measured by the ITBS. It was concluded that the WISC-R meets minimum requirements of reliability and predictive validity with Mexican-American children.     

Assessment of the aftermath of rape: Changing patterns of fear

In order to test a social learning theory model which states that fear and anxiety responses are classically conditioned by a terror-inducing rape experience, 46 recent rape victims and 35 nonvictims matched for age, race, and neighborhood of residence were assessed with the 120-item Modified Fear Survey at four postrape intervals: (1) 6–10 days, (2) 1 month, (3) 3 months, and (4) 6 months. Victims were significantly more fearful than nonvictims, and victim fears declined somewhat over time but remained at high levels at the 6-month postrape period. Content analysis of highly feared situations revealed that most fears were rape related in that they were rape cues, rape-precipitated concerns, and/or cues signaling vulnerability to subsequent attack. Patterns of fear appeared to change such that attack vulnerability cues were most feared.This research was supported by NIMH Grant No. 1 RO1 MH29602 from the National Center for Prevention and Control of Rape.An earlier version of this article was presented at the Twelth Annual Convention of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Chicago, November 18, 1978.     

A note on temporal relations between language and gestures

The initiation of the spontaneous gestures of Wernicke's aphasics was analyzed in relation to shifts in semantic content between the syntactic boundaries of main clauses and embedded clauses. Gestures proved more likely to arise at the initial boundaries of embedded clauses when these were semantically discontinuous with the main clause than when these were semantically related to the main clause. Spontaneous gestures may signal underlying shifts in semantic intention, thereby reflecting the difficulties encountered by Wernicke's aphasics in maintaining a coherent stream of thought across syntactic boundaries.     

Reviews of current books

Pastoral Psychology -     

Managing anger for teamwork in Hong Kong: goal interdependence and open–mindedness

Anger is part of working in a team, as is dealing with its frustrations and conflicts. The cooperative–competitive approach to conflict suggests that how open–mindedly the anger incident is discussed impacts on its dynamics and outcomes. Results from critical incident interviews of organization members in Hong Kong clarify how team members can manage their anger. Structural equation and other analyses suggest that open–minded discussion of the anger–inducing incident promotes productivity and strengthens relationships; thereby developing commitment and a belief that team members are resourceful. These constructive dynamics and outcomes were found to occur when team members had co–operative but not competitive nor independent goals. Results were interpreted as suggesting that even in a society where collectivist and conflict–negative values are influential, anger can be managed constructively through an open–minded discussion of the incident.     

Psychopathology Following Interpersonal Violence: A Comparison of Risk Factors in Older and Younger Adults

A randomly selected sample of 549 women age 55 years and older and 2,669 women age 18–34 years was interviewed via telephone to determine prevalences of physical and sexual assault, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology, and depression. Prevalences of sexual and physical assaults were lower in older compared to younger women. In addition, given a trauma, prevalences and proportionate risk of posttraumatic psychopathology and depression were also lower for older, relative to younger women. Specifically, multivariate analyses revealed that sexual assault predicted only PTSD avoidance in older adults, but all forms of PTSD symptomatology and depression in younger adult women. Similarly, physical assault predicted only PTSD re-experiencing symptoms in older women, but all forms of PTSD symptoms and depression in younger women. Self-reported health status was not associated with any increased risk of psychopathology, and low income predicted increased avoidance and depression only in younger women.     

Cross‐culturally recurrent personality factors: analyses of three factors

This study proceeds from an earlier one that examined the ‘Big Five’ factors (Peabody & De Raad, 2002 ). That study considered the substantive nature of five factors from six European psycholexical studies. The results supported Big Five Factor III (Conscientiousness), but Factors I (Extraversion) and II (Agreeableness) often split into two factors. Big Five Factors IV (Emotional Stability) and V (Intellect) often failed to appear in coherent form. The failures might cause the splits, with five factors required. For three factors, the splits might not occur, and the three large (‘Big Three’) factors could appear. The present study pursues this implication, using three factors from the same six studies. The factors that split are now generally unified. This supports the Big Three and not the Big Five. This result is generally confirmed for several additional studies. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.