USING CALIBRATION AND INTEROBSERVER AGREEMENT ALGORITHMS TO ASSESS THE ACCURACY AND PRECISION OF DATA FROM ELECTRONIC AND PEN‐AND‐PAPER CONTINUOUS RECORDING METHODS

Often it is assumed that electronic recording by observers necessarily provides better quality data than pen‐and‐paper methods. Fifteen novice observers recorded rates of responding from 10 role‐played video samples using one of three continuous recording input formats: keyboard (laptop), touchscreen (personal digital assistants), or pen‐and‐paper. We evaluated the quality of the observers' data compared with criterion records using calibration and interobserver agreement algorithms. Results of the calibration analysis revealed that observers in the touchscreen group produced the most consistently accurate and precise data, the keyboard group observers showed wide variation in precision and accuracy, and the pen‐and‐paper group observers were significantly less precise than the touchscreen group. We conclude that although electronic recording has the potential to be as accurate as, and more precise than, pen‐and‐paper methods, this is far from guaranteed. Analyses of observers' errors advise recommendations for improving data accuracy and precision when using each method. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new dialectical theory of explanation

This paper offers a dialogue theory of explanation. A successful explanation is defined as a transfer of understanding in a dialogue system in which a questioner and a respondent take part. The questioner asks a special sort of why-question that asks for understanding of something and the respondent provides a reply that transfers understanding to the questioner. The theory is drawn from recent work on explanation in artificial intelligence (AI), especially in expert systems, but applies to scientific, legal and everyday conversational explanations.     

Temporal dynamics of information use in learning and retention of predator-related information in tadpoles

Due to the high variability in predation risk through space and time, prey have to continuously update information about the risk level posed by predators. Despite numerous studies focusing on temporal risk assessment, we know very little about how individuals deal with information regarding changes in risk level of a given predator through time. In this study, we conditioned tadpoles to recognize a predator as a high or low risk twice 2 weeks apart, in a 2 × 2 design. We tested the responses of the tadpoles 1 and 11 days after each conditioning event. Prey showed responses to the predator 1 day after the first conditioning, but the low-risk group failed to respond to the predator after 11 days. However, we found that information learned during the first conditioning affected the response to the predator after the second conditioning, indicating that prey do not ‘forget’ old information, but simply ignore it. Moreover, tadpoles were able to assess their change in vulnerability over the 2-week period and further extrapolate the risk level of the predator through time to display adaptive threat-sensitive antipredator responses. Our study highlights the complex decision-making that prey use to assess temporal fluctuation in predation risk.     

Family Functioning in Pediatric Trichotillomania

Little is known about how pediatric trichotillomania (TTM), a clinically significant and functionally impairing disorder, is impacted by, and impacts, family functioning. We explored dimensions of family functioning and parental attitudes in a sample of children and adolescents who participated in an Internet-based survey and satisfied conservative diagnostic criteria for TTM (ages 10–17, n = 133). Analyses reveal trends toward higher levels of dysfunction in families of TTM youth relative to normative samples, although no differences achieved statistical significance. However, scores on the Family Assessment Measure and the Attitudes Toward My Child scales were similar to those in clinical samples of youth with cystic fibrosis, an eating disorder, or an anxiety disorder. While these results indicate that family functioning and parental attitudes in TTM were not generally or extremely problematic, family issues may nevertheless warrant particular clinical evaluation and attention in more severe TTM cases.     

Construct Measurement Quality Improves Predictive Accuracy in Violence Risk Assessment: an Illustration Using the Personality Assessment Inventory

Much of the risk assessment literature has focused on the predictive validity of risk assessment tools. However, these tools often comprise a list of risk factors that are themselves complex constructs, and focusing on the quality of measurement of individual risk factors may improve the predictive validity of the tools. The present study illustrates this concern using the Antisocial Features and Aggression scales of the Personality Assessment Inventory (Morey, 1991). In a sample of 1,545 prison inmates and offenders undergoing treatment for substance abuse (85% male), we evaluated (a) the factorial validity of the ANT and AGG scales, (b) the utility of original ANT and AGG scales and newly derived ANT and AGG scales for predicting antisocial outcomes (recidivism and institutional infractions), and (c) whether items with a stronger relationship to the underlying constructs (higher factor loadings) were in turn more strongly related to antisocial outcomes. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) indicated that ANT and AGG items were not structured optimally in these data in terms of correspondence to the subscale structure identified in the PAI manual. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted on a random split‐half of the sample to derive optimized alternative factor structures, and cross‐validated in the second split‐half using CFA. Four‐factor models emerged for both the ANT and AGG scales, and, as predicted, the size of item factor loadings was associated with the strength with which items were associated with institutional infractions and community recidivism. This suggests that the quality by which a construct is measured is associated with its predictive strength. Implications for risk assessment are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mindfulness‐Based Interventions in Counseling

Mindfulness is a relatively new construct in counseling that is rapidly gaining interest as it is applied to people struggling with a myriad of problems. Research has consistently demonstrated that counseling interventions using mindfulness improve well‐being and reduce psychopathology. This article provides a detailed definition of mindfulness, including a discussion of the mechanisms underlying mindfulness practice; explores the implementation of mindfulness as a counseling intervention; and examines literature supporting its effectiveness.     

Nonwork orientations relative to career: A multidimensional measure

Although scholars typically assess an individual's nonwork role orientation relative to career as a unitary construct, we argue that a person's orientation toward nonwork roles is multi-dimensional. Drawing on a literature review demonstrating the need for improved constructs capturing changing relationships between career and multi-faceted nonwork orientations, and empirical data from three studies with samples at different career stages (early and mid-career), we use factor analysis and data from qualitative and longitudinal studies to develop three unique scales to assess a person's nonwork priorities relative to career orientations: family, personal life, and community service. There were generally positive relationships between the protean career scales and the new nonwork role orientation measures. Future research should move beyond a binary work–life or work–family models and include multi-dimensional measures of nonwork orientations relative to career.     

Neuropsychological impairment as a consequence of football (soccer) play and football heading: A preliminary analysis and report on school students (13–16 years)

Footballers run the risk of incurring mild head injury from a variety of sources, including the intentional use of the head to play the ball, known as heading. This paper presents a preliminary exploratory analysis of data collected to examine whether cumulative incidence of mild head injury, or cumulative heading frequency, are related to neuropsychological functioning in male adolescent footballers. In a quasi-experimental cross-sectional design, neuropsychological test scores of school team footballers were compared with those of similarly aged rugby players and noncontact sport players. Cumulative mild head injury incidence was estimated using self-reports, and cumulative heading was estimated using a combination of observation and self-reports. No participants had sustained a head injury within 3 months of testing. There was no relationship between head injury and neuropsychological performance, and there were no decrements in either the footballers or the rugby players in comparison with the noncontact sport players. Within the footballers, cumulative heading did not predict any of the neuropsychological test scores. These findings indicate the absence of neuropsychological impairment arising due to cumulative mild head injury incidence, or cumulative heading. Although these null findings may be reassuring to players, parents, and football organizers, we stress that they are preliminary. Further data is being collected from the same populations to provide more reliable effect estimates.     

Improving the Ability of Elementary School-Age Children to Identify Emotion in Facial Expression

The authors evaluated an intervention program developed to remediate children's deficits in reading emotions in facial expressions. Thirty children from 2 elementary schools in suburban Atlanta participated in 6 30-min sessions over 4 weeks in which they were taught to discriminate, identify, express, and apply facial expression cues. The ability to read emotion in facial expressions significantly improved for the intervention group compared with the control group. Improvement on identifying facial expressions was associated with increased feelings of lower social anxiety and higher self-worth for girls. Boys' self-concept was negatively related to improvement. On the basis of the results, the authors suggested that structured interventions like the present one could be used to improve students' nonverbal processing abilities within public school settings, but with some cautions regarding the impact of new learning for boys.