Differential diagnostic value of the Diagnostic Test for Cerebral Damage in clinical practice

The paper considers the effective inclusion in differential diagnosis of DCS in decisions involving groups of patients not yet primarily exposed to the process. 55 patients were involved in two samples taken within the group as a whole. One of the samples is characterised as being unambiguously diagnosed neurotic without there being any neurologic-psychiatric or other (internal medical) findings (no organic brain injury, no symptoms of seizure, no cerebro-vascular insufficiency CVI, etc.). The other sample comprehended patients with a clear CVI diagnosis, minor EEG findings, and with or without internal medical findings. By applying a specific "index of instability" resulted in an assured diagnostic distinction.     

Further development and restandardization of an approach to the diagnosis of aggressive social behavior in childhood

The present paper continues and concludes an investigation into the restandardization of a first attempt, checked in respect of content and method, at the diagnosis of aggressive social behavior initially concentrating on the 9-11 age group. The work has its origin in a paper by Petermann and Petermann (1980), which we consider could be of significance to gradual restandardization, both in methodological research and in practical clinical application. A previous article demonstrated under various aspects the fundamental suitability of the attempt to restandardization. Arising out of this and the present analysis, some fundamental consequences, both in content and in method, of a fuller development and the therapy oriented employment of the attempt are discussed.     

Impact of Ethnicity,Gender, and Previous Experience on Juror Judgments in Sexual Harassment Cases1

To examine the influence of gender, having been the target of sexual harassment, and ethnicity on jury decisions, 215 respondents reviewed 17 sexual harassment cases ranging on a continuum from relatively innocent to severe. Respondents indicated their perception of the offensiveness of the cases as well as whether they would vote for the plaintiff or for the defendant. Jurors voting for the plaintiff also indicated whether monetary damages should be awarded. Results of the study indicate that gender and prior experience with sexual harassment affect the outcomes in sexual harassment cases when behaviors can be classified as ambiguous. Results were mixed for the influence of gender and having been sexually harassed for relatively innocent and severe cases. No ethnicity effects were found. A discussion of the legal implications of these findings is included.     

Diagnosis of asocial, aggressive behavior--experiences with Petermann and Petermann's "EAS"

This article describes the testing and first application under standardized conditions of Petermann and Petermann's psychometric test for assessing aggressive social behaviour in specific situations among children aged 9 to 11 years in the GDR. Experience gained in using the test is reported, and orientational scores are given as a first step towards restandardization for this age span. The possibility of standardizing the test for application in the GDR is discussed, and proposals are made to broaden the test (especially by the development of an appropriate scoring scale). The connections between the scores and a few other important test variables are discussed, and the author shows clearly that the results of the test and the answers given depend on the "tendency to social desirability".     

Retrieval experience in prospective memory: strategic monitoring and spontaneous retrieval

According to the multi-process model of prospective memory (McDaniel & Einstein, 2000), performance in a prospective memory task may be due to spontaneous retrieval processes or due to strategic monitoring. Spontaneous retrieval is typically accompanied by a pop up experience and strategic monitoring by a search experience. In this study we report two experiments with young adults in which we systematically investigated whether retrieval experience differed across experimental conditions. In Experiment 1 some prospective memory targets were preceded by associated primes. We expected that presenting primes would enhance performance by an automatic activation of the intention and hence lead to an increase in pop up experiences. In Experiment 2 half of the participants received instructions containing information about the specific context in which the prospective memory task would occur, whereas the other half of the participants received no such information. We expected that specific context instructions would enhance performance by legitimate anticipation of the prospective memory task and hence would lead to an increase in search experiences. The results confirmed these expectations. They indicate that the assessment of retrieval experience can provide valuable insights into the processes underlying prospective memory performance. They also suggest that retrieval experience can vary systematically across experimental situations as predicted by the multi-process model.     

Exploring "fringe" consciousness: the subjective experience of perceptual fluency and its objective bases

Perceptual fluency is the subjective experience of ease with which an incoming stimulus is processed. Although perceptual fluency is assessed by speed of processing, it remains unclear how objective speed is related to subjective experiences of fluency. We present evidence that speed at different stages of the perceptual process contributes to perceptual fluency. In an experiment, figure-ground contrast influenced detection of briefly presented words, but not their identification at longer exposure durations. Conversely, font in which the word was written influenced identification, but not detection. Both contrast and font influenced subjective fluency. These findings suggest that speed of processing at different stages condensed into a unified subjective experience of perceptual fluency.     

Parenting typologies in Georgian and Belgian adolescents: Associations with self-esteem

The parenting context is of fundamental importance for the optimal development of adolescents. Making use of a person-centered approach, we derived parenting typologies from the perspective of Georgian and Belgian adolescents based on four dimensions of perceived parenting (responsiveness, structure, psychological control, and autonomy support). Further, we examined how perceived parenting typologies were associated with adolescents' self-esteem. The study sample included 511 Georgian and 830 Belgian adolescents (N = 1341; 48% female). A cluster-analytic procedure on the full sample was conducted separately for mothers and fathers. The analysis yielded five parenting typologies: Supportive—Highly structuring (high responsiveness and structure), Highly structuring—Moderately controlling (high structure and psychological control, moderate—responsiveness), Supportive—Low structuring/controlling (high responsiveness and autonomy support, low structure and psychological control), Highly controlling (very high psychological control, low responsiveness and autonomy support) and Uninvolved (low on all dimensions). Results indicated that the Highly structuring—Moderately controlling paternal cluster was more prevalent in the Belgian sample. A country-moderating effect was found with the paternal Uninvolved profile associated with low levels of self-esteem in Belgian adolescents, but with moderate levels of self-esteem in Georgian adolescents.