MMPI-2 fake-bad scales: an attempted cross-validation of proposed cutting scores for outpatients

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) results were compared in 118 psychiatric outpatients given standard instructions, instructions to exaggerate their problems, instructions to feign a disorder they did not have, or instructions to feign global psychological disturbance. The groups were comparable on demographic, occupational and diagnostic characteristics as well as intake MMPI-2 results. Experimental MMPI-2 results showed that clinical scales were generally elevated in the feigning groups, with only modest differences across dissimulating instruction sets. The feigning groups had reliably higher scores than controls on all overreporting indexes examined, although no significant differences between feigning groups were present for overreporting indexes. Classification rates using previously proposed cutting scores for outpatients on individual feigning indexes showed near perfect specificity, but low to at best moderate sensitivity. Multiple regression analyses indicated that Gough's (1954) Dissimulation Scale (Ds2) was most strongly related to feigning status, and no other feigning scale contributed a significant increment in predictive power once Ds2 was entered.     

Cultural and ethical issues concerning research on American Indian youth

A study of American Indian youths illustrates competing pressures between research and ethics. A stakeholder-researcher team developed three plans to protect participants. The first allowed participants to skip potentially upsetting interview sections. The second called for participants to skip potentially upsetting interview sections. The second called for participants flagged for abuse or suicidality to receive referrals, emergency 24-hr clinical backup, or both. The third, based on the community's desire to promote service access, included giving participants a list of service resources. Interviewers gave referrals to participants flagged as having mild problems, and reported participants with serious problems to supervisors for clinical backup. Participants seldom chose to skip sections, so data integrity was not compromised. However, participants did have more problems than expected (e.g., 1 in 3 had thought about suicide, 1 in 5 had attempted suicide, and 1 in 4 reported abuse), so service agencies were not equipped to respond. Researchers must accept the competing pressures and find ethically appropriate compromises that will not undermine research integrity.     

Neural signals for the detection of unintentional race bias

We examined the hypothesis that unintentional race-biased responses may occur despite the activation of neural systems that detect the need for control. Participants completed a sequential priming task that induced race-biased responses on certain trials while electroencephalography was recorded. The error-related negativity (ERN) wave, a component of the event-related potential with an anterior cingulate generator, was assessed to index neural signals detecting the need for control. Responses attributed to race bias produced larger ERNs than responses not attributed to race bias. Although race-biased responses were prevalent across participants, those with larger ERNs to race-biased responses showed higher levels of control throughout the task (e.g., greater accuracy and slowed responding following errors). The results indicate that race-biased responses may be made despite the activation of neural systems designed to detect bias and to recruit controlled processing.     

Comparison of muscle functions during three contrasting abdominal exercises

That different amplitudes of muscle activities during various abdominal exercises not only reflect the inherent differences in motor control but movement speed as well was hypothesized. 20 healthy adults (M age = 23 yr.) performed three exercises that involved varying amounts of trunk control: the partial sit-up, full sit-up, and AbSlide roll. Covariate analyses indicated that the amplitude of muscle activities could be partitioned into three categories: motor control and scaling (speed and amplitude), scaling only, and motor control only. Overall, the AbSlide exercise activated the most amount of muscular activity, followed by the full and partial sit-up exercises. Results are discussed in terms of how the various muscles contribute to motor control and velocity scaling.     

The regulation of explicit and implicit race bias: the role of motivations to respond without prejudice

Three studies examined the moderating role of motivations to respond without prejudice (e.g., internal and external) in expressions of explicit and implicit race bias. In all studies, participants reported their explicit attitudes toward Blacks. Implicit measures consisted of a sequential priming task (Study 1) and the Implicit Association Test (Studies 2 and 3). Study 3 used a cognitive busyness manipulation to preclude effects of controlled processing on implicit responses. In each study, explicit race bias was moderated by internal motivation to respond without prejudice, whereas implicit race bias was moderated by the interaction of internal and external motivation to respond without prejudice. Specifically, high internal, low external participants exhibited lower levels of implicit race bias than did all other participants. Implications for the development of effective self-regulation of race bias are discussed.     

Multinational data show that conspiracy beliefs are associated with the perception (and reality) of poor national economic performance

While a great deal is known about the individual difference factors associated with conspiracy beliefs, much less is known about the country-level factors that shape people's willingness to believe conspiracy theories. In the current article we discuss the possibility that willingness to believe conspiracy theories might be shaped by the perception (and reality) of poor economic performance at the national level. To test this notion, we surveyed 6723 participants from 36 countries. In line with predictions, propensity to believe conspiracy theories was negatively associated with perceptions of current and future national economic vitality. Furthermore, countries with higher GDP per capita tended to have lower belief in conspiracy theories. The data suggest that conspiracy beliefs are not just caused by intrapsychic factors but are also shaped by difficult economic circumstances for which distrust might have a rational basis.     

Memory for information about nuclear power: A test of the selective recall hypothesis

To test the selective recall hypothesis, nearly 60 subjects read a report of approximately 500 words presenting both pro- and anti-attitudes to nuclear technology. Two hours prior to this they completed the Nuclear Attitudes Questionnaire. Subjects were given free and cued recall tests approximately five minutes after reading the report. The results partially supported the selective recall hypothesis, paticularly with respect to the free recall of anti-nuclear information. Results are discussed in terms of the recent work on selective memory effects.     

Protestant Spirituality and Well-Being of People in Hong Kong: The Mediating Role of Sense of Community

While literature demonstrates that the relationship between religion and well-being is generally positive, information about the mechanisms is still far from clear. Two hundred and sixty-eight Chinese were recruited to examine how Protestant spirituality is related to well-being in Hong Kong. Path analysis demonstrated the complex relationship between various spirituality dimensions (religious belief, experience, and practice) and well-being variables, manifested in life satisfaction, social trust and sense of community. While spirituality may directly predict life satisfaction, the relationship between spirituality and social trust are fully mediated through sense of community. Furthermore, the well-being at the community level (feeling sense of community and social trust) appears to affect the well-being on the personal level (life satisfaction). These findings not only show that the influence of religion on people’s well-being can be richly diverse, but also match with the emerging literature on the positive effects of social capital on health and well-being.     

The “ventriloquist effect”: Visual dominance or response bias?

The interaction between vision and audition was investigated using a signal detection method. A light and tone were presented either in the same location or in different locations along the horizontal plane, and the subjects responded with same-different judgments of stimulus location. Three modes of stimulus presentation were used: simultaneous presentation of the light and tone, tone first, and light first. For the latter two conditions, the interstimulus interval was either 0.7 or 2.0 sec. A statistical decision model was developed which distinguished between the perceptual and decision processes. The results analyzed within the framework of this model suggested that the apparent interaction between vision and audition is due to shifts in decision criteria rather than perceptual change.