Coherence of Personal Narratives across the Lifespan: A Multidimensional Model and Coding Method

Personal narratives are integral to autobiographical memory and to identity, with coherent personal narratives being linked to positive developmental outcomes across the lifespan. In this article, we review the theoretical and empirical literature that sets the stage for a new lifespan model of personal narrative coherence. This new model integrates context, chronology, and theme as essential dimensions of personal narrative coherence, each of which relies upon different developmental achievements and has a different developmental trajectory across the lifespan. A multidimensional method of coding narrative coherence (the Narrative Coherence Coding Scheme or NaCCS) was derived from the model and is described here. The utility of this approach is demonstrated by its application to 498 narratives that were collected in six laboratories from participants ranging in age from 3 years to adulthood. The value of the model is illustrated further by a discussion of its potential to guide future research on the developmental foundations of narrative coherence and on the benefits of personal narrative coherence for different aspects of psychological functioning.     

I'm feeling lucky: the relationship between affect and risk-seeking in the framing effect

Engagement in risky behavior has traditionally been attributed to an underestimation of the associated risks, but recent perspectives suggest that affective reactions toward a risky option may better explain risk-seeking than risk perception. However, the precise relationship between emotion and risk-seeking remains unclear. The current set of studies elucidates the relationship between emotion and risk-seeking in risky choice framing, using a gambling task. In Study 1, reliance on emotion was related to risk-seeking, but goals to regulate emotion mitigated these effects. In Study 2, positive affect was associated with risk-seeking in loss frames, but unrelated to risk aversion in gain frames. Collectively, these findings indicate a general role for emotion reliance on risk-seeking and a specific role of positive affect on risk-seeking in the loss trials of the framing effect.     

Scientists Negotiate Boundaries Between Religion and Science

Analysis of interviews with 275 natural and social scientists at 21 elite U.S. research universities suggests that only a minority of scientists see religion and science as always in conflict. Scientists selectively employ different cultural strategies with regards to the religion‐science relationship: redefining categories (the use of institutional resources from religion and from science), integration models (scientists strategically employ the views of major scientific actors to legitimate a more symbiotic relationship between science and religion), and intentional talk (scientists actively engage in discussions about the boundaries between science and religion). Such results challenge narrow conceptions of secularization theory and the sociology of science literature by describing ways science intersects with other knowledge categories. Most broadly the ways that institutions and ideologies shape one another through the agency of individual actors within those institutions is explored.     

Children's memory for the times of events from the past years

This study tested 8–12‐year‐olds' ability to localize in time parent‐reported events from four time intervals ranging from 6 months to 4 years ago. Memory for content was very accurate, and children's time estimates showed substantial agreement with the times provided by their parents. Accuracy of year judgments declined with retention interval, with the greatest change occurring between the 1–2‐year and 2–3‐year intervals. Season, month and time of day accuracy were much more stable over time. There were significant improvements with age in performance on measures of conventional time knowledge, and this performance was correlated with the accuracy of time estimates on the long time scales, controlling for age and general cognitive ability. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

What a Difference Family-Driven Makes: Stories of Success and Lessons Learned

Community Psychology’s emphasis on citizen participation aligns with the nationwide children’s mental health family movement and is clearly evident in communities that have made sustainable system changes. The national family movement has long advocated for the meaningful engagement of families and youth who are the focus population of the federal Children’s Mental Health Initiative. Little rigorous research about the experience of families in leadership positions or of their impact on systems of care has been done. In the absence of scientifically acquired evidence, this article offers the reader a glimpse into the authority, influence and credibility earned by four family leaders as well as their impact on local system of care communities. Their stories occur in four distinct macro level arenas: governance, evaluation, legislative advocacy, and workforce development. In the end, common attributes emerge from their stories, providing anecdotal information useful to identifying the qualities of successful family leadership and their impact on sustainable macro level changes.     

Diverse Perceptions of the Informed Consent Process: Implications for the Recruitment and Participation of Diverse Communities in the National Children’s Study

We examined the experiences, perceptions, and values that are brought to bear when individuals from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds consider participating in health research. Fifty-three women from Latino, Asian American, Middle Eastern, or Non-Latino, White backgrounds participated in seven English or Spanish focus groups facilitated by trained investigators using a standard protocol. Investigators described the National Children’s Study (NCS) and then asked questions to elicit potential concerns, expectations, and informational needs. Group sessions were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using qualitative thematic methods. A major theme that emerged during focus groups was participant self-identification as a member of a cultural group or community when raising issues that would influence their decision to participate in research. A related theme was the belief by some that communities may differ in the ease of participation in the NCS. Identified themes related to the informed consent process included perceived risks, anticipated burden, perceived benefits, informational needs, and decision-making strategies. Although themes were shared across groups, there were cultural differences within themes. Findings indicated that individuals from diverse backgrounds may have different perspectives on and expectations for the research process. To effectively recruit representative samples, it will be important to address a range of issues relevant for informed consent and to consider the impact of participation on both individuals and communities.     

Accumulation of Risk and Promotive Factors Among Young Children in US Military Families

In the families of the new cohort of war veterans now entering the civilian population in the United States are over two million young children (Cozza, Haskins & Lerner, 2013; Institute of Medicine, 2013). Several noteworthy studies have shown that children exposed to separation from a parent due to combat‐related deployment are at elevated risk for a variety of negative consequences (Lester & Flake, 2013). Cozza et al. (2013) argue that existing studies of military children focus too much on the stresses or deficits they experience, failing to give sufficient attention to their strengths, the strengths of their families, or the supports around them. In the current study we focus on risk and promotive factors in the lives of children aged 0–10 in military families. We examine the likelihood of negative outcomes as functions of additive, cumulative, and interactive relationships between risk and promotive factors and children's outcomes. Risk factors, particularly parental depression, community poverty, and cumulative risk, were more strongly associated with children's outcomes than promotive factors. There was, however, a significant risk‐protective relationship between accumulations of risk and promotive factors, consistent with promotive conditions operating in a protective fashion under conditions of elevated risk.     

“Decoding MH”—A de-stigmatization campaign in the Hong Kong Police Force

Police officers are under high level of stress given the intense and emergent work nature. If left untreated, their mental wellbeing would be at risk and work performance compromised. However, mental health stigma is common among police officers and is perpetuated by factors like police cultures emphasizing toughness and self-reliance. In view of this, since 2016, the Hong Kong Police Force had launched a holistic campaign for Force members which was the first among law enforcement organizations in Hong Kong, aiming to reduce stigma, by enhancing mental health knowledge and decreasing negative attitudes and behaviors towards mental health issues. The programme incorporated standardised trainings of the Mental Health First Aid course with examples modified to the local police context, and psychoeducation via the use of digital medium and sharing by public figures. Positive feedback was received. It was foreseen that the campaign effects would increase Force members' awareness of their mental health, encourage help-seeking and facilitate officers' decision making when encountering crises in the community.     

Interference and negative priming from ignored distractors: The role of selection difficulty

The relation between distractor interference and negative priming from identical distractors was examined in two experiments. Subjects responded to a target letter, which was indicated by an adjacent bar marker, and attempted to ignore a distracting letter. Onprime trials, distracting letters were either compatible or incompatible with the target, allowing for a measure of interference. On subsequentprobe trials, previously ignored distractors were sometimes presented as targets, allowing for a measure of negative priming. Reducing the spatial separation between targets and distractors on the prime trial increased the magnitude of interferenceand negative priming, but these effects appeared to be independent of each other (Experiment 1). In Experiment 2, the prime target location was precued on some trials, but not on others. Precuing attenuated the magnitude of interference, but not that of negative priming effects. This pattern indicates that measures of negative priming and measures of distractor interference on the immediately preceding trial are independent. The results are discussed in terms of a selective inhibition model of selective attention.     

License to Ill: The Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility and CEO Moral Identity on Corporate Social Irresponsibility

Although managers and researchers have invested considerable effort into understanding corporate social responsibility (CSR), less is known about corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR). Drawing on strategic leadership and moral licensing research, we address this gap by considering the relationship between CSR and CSiR. We predict that prior CSR is positively associated with subsequent CSiR because the moral credits achieved through CSR enable leaders to engage in less ethical stakeholder treatment. Further, we hypothesize that leaders’ moral identity symbolization, or the degree to which being moral is expressed outwardly to the public through actions and behavior, will moderate the CSR–CSiR relationship, such that the relationship will be stronger when CEOs are high on moral identity symbolization rather than low on moral identity symbolization. Through an archival study of 49 Fortune 500 firms, we find support for our hypotheses.