Associations between components of rumination and autobiographical memory specificity as measured by a Minimal Instructions Autobiographical Memory Test

Clinical studies have shown that rumination functions as a mediator between overgeneral memory—the tendency to retrieve autobiographical memories in a non-specific format—and depression. Recently, rumination has been dismantled into two distinct subcomponents: reflection, which is more adaptive, and brooding, which is more maladaptive. In the present study we examined the differential relationships of these two rumination subcomponents with autobiographical memory specificity and their mediational role for the relationship between reduced memory specificity and depression in a non-clinical sample. In addition, we investigated the usefulness of a “minimal instructions” version of the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) to measure memory specificity in non-clinical populations. Results indicated that the use of minimal instructions can increase the AMT's sensitivity to detect reduced autobiographical memory specificity in non-clinical individuals. Further it was found that brooding, and not reflection, is significantly associated with reduced autobiographical memory specificity and functions as a mediator between reduced memory specificity and depression.     

Assessing visual search performance differences between Transportation Security Administration Officers and nonprofessional visual searchers

Some visual searches depend upon accuracy (e.g., radiology, airport security screening), and it is important for both theoretical and applied reasons to understand what factors best predict performance. The current study administered a visual search task to both professional (Transportation Security Administration Officers) and nonprofessional (members of Duke University) searchers to examine group differences in which factors predict accuracy. Search speed—time taken to terminate search—was the primary predictor for nonprofessional searchers (accounting for 59% of their accuracy variability) and for the least experienced professional searchers (37% of variability). In contrast, consistency—how similarly (in terms of search speed) an individual spent searching from trial to trial—was the primary predictor for the most experienced professional visual searchers (39% of variability). These results inform cognitive theory by illuminating factors that differentially affect search performance between participants, and real-world issues by identifying search behaviours (consistency in particular) important to experienced professional searchers.     

Unlawful Entry: Male Fears of Psychic Penetration

In this paper, it is argued that males as well as females have an early experience in relation to the nursing mother of being receptive to bodily and psychic penetration. Males tend to lose access to this experience and may come to fear penetration as a threat such that a masculine sense of self is felt to be dependent on an impermeable psychic boundary that is not to be penetrated. Instead, phallicism as a fortress of emotional self-sufficiency—which the author labels the citadel complex—becomes the matrix of a subjective sense of masculinity. The multiple and combined forces of bodily development, the establishment of gender identity, and the process of separation-individuation are examined for their role in this process.

A critique of the Lacanian concept of paternal law suggests that the “law of the father” can be interpreted as a law regulating penetration. Paternal law can be viewed as a code for the establishment of an impenetrable masculinity whereby entry into an adult male psyche becomes unthinkable, “unlawful.” An impermeable bodily and psychic boundary—the ability to penetrate without the ability to be penetrated—collapses a necessary dialectical tension that may affect men's experience of sex and of love and that may shape and limit their desire.     

Teacher–child relationships and academic achievement: A multilevel propensity score model approach

A robust body of research finds positive cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between teacher–child relationships and children's academic achievement in elementary school. Estimating the causal effect of teacher–child relationships on children's academic achievement, however, is challenged by selection bias at the individual and school level. To address these issues, we used two multilevel propensity score matching approaches to estimate the effect of high-quality teacher–child relationships in kindergarten on math and reading achievement during children's transition to first grade. Multi-informant data were collected on 324 low-income, Black and Hispanic students, and 112 kindergarten and first-grade teachers. Results revealed significant effects of high-quality teacher–child relationships in kindergarten on math achievement in first grade. No significant effects of teacher–child relationships were detected for reading achievement. Implications for intervention development and public policy are discussed.     

Using Storytelling to Heal Trauma and Bridge the Cultural Divide Between Veterans and Civilians

There is a growing disconnect between the Veteran and civilian communities related to their understanding of war-related trauma, postdeployment reintegration difficulty, and the experience of Memorial Day. A therapeutic way to bridge this divide is through community storytelling. This paper describes a program development project at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center that was created to increase the connection between these communities. Using storytelling, six Veterans shared their personal experiences with a civilian audience in honor of Memorial Day. Qualitative data on the impact of the program is reported, and suggestions for future application and research are discussed.     

Students’ self-regulation and achievement in basic reading and math skills: the role of student–teacher relationships in middle childhood

In this study, we explored both direct and indirect contributions of students’ perceptions of the student–teacher relationship quality (i.e., closeness and conflict) to domains of self-regulation (i.e., task-orientation and metacognition) and basic reading and math skills (i.e., timed word reading and math performance) in middle childhood. Participants were 370 third-to-fifth graders from different regular elementary classrooms across the Netherlands. Using structural equation modelling, evidence was found for positive direct associations between student-perceived closeness and both domains of self-regulation, and a negative direct association between student-perceived conflict and task-orientation. However, indirect associations of closeness and conflict with students’ achievement in basic math and reading skills, through task-orientation and metacognition, could not be established. These results suggest that students’ perceptions of the relationship quality, and closeness in particular, may be especially important for their ability to regulate motivational and cognitive aspects of their own learning.     

The Observation of Child Behavior During Parent-Child Interaction: The Psychometric Properties of the Crowell Procedure

The observation of child behavior has to be made in ecologically valid contexts. Parent-child interaction was thought to be the most suitable context, since empirical evidence displayed strong associations with children’s behavioral outcomes, psychopathology, social relationships and well-being. Using clinical data from 137 caregiver-child dyads, the main goal of the current study was to test the psychometric properties of an adapted version of the Crowell Procedure among preschoolers. Despite the interest that the Crowell Procedure has aroused, its psychometric properties remain relatively under-documented. This research aimed to study (1) the association between parental and child behavior, (2) the discriminant properties of the Crowell Procedure between preschoolers with a clinical level of externalizing behavior and non-clinical children and (3) the correlation between the Crowell Procedure and a behavioral checklist. The results support the consistency of both tasks and scales, the discriminant properties, external validity and fidelity of the coding system. The Crowell Procedure can therefore be used as an observational paradigm to assess both child and parent behavior in clinical and research contexts. The discriminant analyses revealed that the procedure was effective at differentiating children displaying a clinical level of externalizing behavior from normally developing ones.     

Stress and happiness among adolescents with varying frequency of physical activity

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate associations between physical activity, stress, and happiness, as well as possible sex and age differences on these variables in a survey of 1,508 adolescent pupils (13 to 18 yr.) in middle Norway. Adolescents who reported they participated in physical activity 2 to 3 times per week or more scored significantly lower on stress and higher on happiness than those who participated in physical activity 1 day per week or less. There was no significant difference on stress and happiness between those being physically active 2 or 3 times a week and those being active almost every day. There was no sex difference in physical activity frequency. Girls had higher mean scores on stress, and boys scored higher on happiness. Adolescents 15 to 16 years old showed higher stress scores than those 17 to 18 years old, but there were no significant differences between the different age groups when looking at happiness and physical activity. A statistically significant two-way interaction of sex by age was found on both stress and happiness.     

Reopening the study of extreme social behaviors: Obedience to authority within an immersive video environment

In this study, we used a paradigm similar to the one used by Milgram in his classic obedience study, using an immersive video environment. We manipulated the victim's degree of visibility and his ethnicity. When the victim was hidden, the level of obedience we obtained was similar to Milgram's. Replicating previous findings observed in real environments, participants were more obedient when the victim was hidden than when he was visible, and the more obedient participants negated their own responsibility by projecting responsibility on both the victim and the experimenter. State‐anger and right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA) emerged as two significant predictors of the level of obedience. Illustrating an underlying process of racial‐dehumanization, participants reported less anxiety and distress when the victim was a North African than when the victim was of the same racial origin as the participant. These results underscore the usefulness of using immersive environments when studying extreme social behaviors. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.