Taking Stock at Mid‐Career: Challenges and Opportunities for Faculty

Abstract. Beginning with a series of questions designed to peak reader curiosity and expose key challenges for mid‐career faculty, the authors uncover several issues in post‐tenure faculty life and work, and they reflect on images for understanding and responding to these challenges. Topics identified include mid‐career as an opportunity for deeper investment in one's teaching, challenges associated with competing claims for time, shifts in research that can accompany the transition to mid‐career, challenges in dealing with an increasing generational gap between oneself and one's students, responsibilities associated with being a longer‐term member of a faculty, and feelings of fatigue and occasional alienation from one's educational institution and/or church.     

Ethnicity, Acculturation, and Religiosity as Predictors of Female College Students' Role Expectations

The present study was designed to examine ethnicity, acculturation, and religiosity as predictors of European American and Korean American evangelical female college students' role expectations. Fifty-seven European American and 37 Korean American single women, who ranged in age from 17 to 24 years, completed a demographic questionnaire, a role expectation measure, three religiosity measures, and an acculturation measure. The results indicated a significant negative correlation between fundamentalism and role-sharing expectations for European American women and a significant positive correlation between level of acculturation and role-sharing expectations for Korean American women. The results suggest that fundamentalism is a stronger predictor of role expectations than religious commitment in European American women and that acculturation is a more accurate predictor of role expectations than generation in the United States among Korean American women.     

WISC-R Subtest But No Overall VIQ–PIQ Difference in Dutch Children with PDD-NOS

VIQ–PIQ differences have been studied in children with autism and Asperger syndrome but have not been studied in a separate group of children with PDD-NO, although, PDD-NOS has a much higher prevalence rate than autism and deficits in communication and social interaction are severe. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) was administered to 100 children, aged 6–12 years, with PDD-NOS (n = 76), autism (n = 13), and Asperger syndrome (n = 11). PDD-NOS was diagnosed using explicit research criteria. No overall differences between VIQ and PIQ were found in PDD-NOS and autism. Peaks in the subtest scores on Information, Similarities, Picture Arrangement, and Mazes, and troughs in the subtest scores on Comprehension, Digit Span, and Coding were demonstrated in children with PDD-NOS. Their score on the Freedom from Distractibility factor was lower than the scores on the Verbal Comprehension factor and the Perceptual Organization factor. Children with PDD-NOS seemed to have a similar VIQ–PIQ profile as children with autism, and on the subtest level children with PDD-NOS showed some similarities to children with Asperger syndrome or autism. It was not possible to distinguish PDD-NOS from autism or Asperger syndrome by using IQ scores.     

Minding the Dreamer Within: An Experimental Study on the Effects of Enhanced Dream Recall on Creative Thinking

Several studies have found an association between frequency of dream recall and creativity. We tested the hypothesis that training individuals to increase dream recall by means of a daily dream log would increase scores on the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT). One hundred twenty‐five participants completed a baseline measure of creativity (TTCT, figural version) as well as of dream recall, dissociation, thinness of psychological boundaries, mindful‐attention awareness, and well‐being. Participants were randomly allocated to two groups: the experimental group (n = 55) received a daily dream log; while the control group (n = 32) received a similarly phrased log registering memories of a vivid episode from the previous day. After 27 days, all participants completed follow‐up measurements identical to those at baseline. A non‐randomized non‐intervention group (n = 35) was used to test for practice effects on the TTCT. There was significant selective increase for the “creative strengths” component, which was only observed in the experimental group. There were significant correlations between creativity and dissociation as well as between creativity and thinness of psychological boundaries. Enhanced dream recall through daily dream logging fosters aspects of creativity. Associations between creativity, dissociation, and thinness of boundaries, suggest that increased awareness to dreams increases creativity through a “loosening” of stereotyped thinking pattern.     

Psychometric properties of the cyberbullying triangulation questionnaire: A prevalence analysis through seven roles

This study explores the psychometric properties of the Cyberbullying Triangulation Questionnaire (CTQ), which measures and triangulates the roles of cybervictimization, cyberaggression, and cyberbystanding. The study sample was composed of 5,036 Spanish students with a mean age of 14.19 years (SD = ±1.7; range = 10–23 years). Confirmatory factor analysis of the three correlated‐factor model yielded a high goodness of fit. Reliability as measured by Omega coefficients was adequate (>0.94). The measurement model was invariant for the two age groups (10–14 years and 15–23 years). Cybervictimization and cyberaggression correlated with offline victimization and aggression (r = 0.49; p < 0.001; r = 0.57; p < 0.001, respectively). The results show that the most prevalent cyberbystanding subrole was that of the Defender of the Victim (54.6%), and that cyberaggression and cyberbystanding were more prevalent among male adolescents (p < 0.001). The lack of parental control over children's use of the mobile phone was associated with cyberaggression (p < 0.001).     

Irritability and parenting practices as mediational variables between temperament and affective,anxiety, and oppositional defiant problems

Irritability and parenting are potential targets for transdiagnostic studies to identify the common and core dysfunctional characteristics underlying several diagnostic pictures with the goal of addressing these issues in treatment. Our objective was to investigate the different paths from temperament to child psychopathology (affective, anxiety, and oppositional problems) through irritability and parenting using a prospective design from ages 3 to 7. A sample of 614 3-year-old preschoolers was followed at ages 4, 6, and 7. Parents answered questionnaires about temperament (age 3), irritability (age 4), parenting practices (age 6), and psychopathology (age 7). Statistical analyses were carried out through structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the mediation effect of irritability and parenting practices from temperament (negative affectivity and effortful control) through to affective, anxious, and oppositional problems. The proposed model fit the data well. SEM showed (a) an indirect effect from temperament to affective problems, via irritability and positive parenting; (b) a direct effect from negative affectivity to anxiety, plus an indirect effect from both temperament dimensions, via irritability and autonomy parenting practices; and (c) an indirect effect from temperament to oppositional problems, via irritability and punitive parenting. Irritability and parenting are transdiagnostic mediational variables that should be focused on in intervention programs for affective, anxiety, and oppositional problems.     

Observers’ reactions to workplace incivility in the masculine domain: How does role congruency explain gender bias in future workers?

Based on Role Congruity Theory, we tested the hypothesis of gender bias by examining gender differences in observers’ evaluations of the awareness and acceptability of workplace incivility gender‐dyad interaction. Three hundred and ninety‐six Spanish high school students (55.3% female) read one scenario of overt incivility (publicly humiliates and openly doubts the employee's judgment) or covert (omits and pays little attention) from a leader (female vs. male) toward a subordinate (female vs. male) in engineering. Results indicated gender differences among observers. From the leader actor of incivility, males were more aware and accepted less the incivility when performed by a female leader in a male domain; whereas females were more aware and accepted less incivility than males in all cases. Regarding the subordinate target of incivility, only females were more aware and accepted less incivility, and both males and females were more aware and accepted less covert incivility. Our results reveal practical implications for interventions from a gender perspective.     

Development of inattention, impulsivity, and processing speed as measured by the d2 Test: results of a large cross-sectional study in children aged 7-13.

The development of three aspects of selective attention was studied in 451 Dutch schoolchildren attending second to sixth grade. Selective attention was measured with the d2 Test of attention. The largest age differences were found for processing speed that continued to improve until the sixth grade. Impulsivity, as measured by the percentage of errors of commission, decreased until the fourth grade. Inattention, measured by the percentage of errors of omission, was stable in all grades. Processing speed and impulsivity were correlated with the score on the Attention Problems subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist. These results imply that selective attention continues to develop, at least, until the end of elementary school. The findings are support for a step-wise model of cognitive development (P. Anderson, 2002).     

From Homeostatic to Hedonic Theories of Eating: Self-Regulatory Failure in Food-Rich Environments

Psychological theories of weight regulation are based on homeostatic feedback assumptions. They mostly attribute the cause of overweight and obesity to lowered sensitivity to internal hunger and satiety cues. Based on the assumption that human food consumption in food-rich environments is increasingly driven by pleasure rather than need for calories, a goal conflict theory of hedonic eating is presented. This theory is not only supported by the outcome of our own research programme but can also account for findings of the research conducted in the context of other psychological theories. Some implications for weight loss strategies are discussed.
Les théories psychologiques sur la régulation du poids sont basées sur des hypothèses d'une rétroaction homéostasique. Elles attribuent généralement la cause de la surcharge pondérale et de l'obésitéà une sensibilité interne amoindrie à la faim et aux indicateurs de satiété. Reposant sur l'hypothèse que la consommation alimentaire humaine dans des environnements riches en nourriture est de plus en plus guidée par le plaisir plutôt que par le besoin de calories, une théorie "goal conflict theory of hedonic eating" est présentée. Cette théorie qui ne s'appuie pas seulement sur les résultats de notre propre programme de recherches, peut aussi expliquer les résultats d'études réalisées dans le cadre d'autres théories psychologiques. Des implications concernant des stratégies de perte de poids sont discutées.     

A shift in task routines during the learning of a motor skill: group-averaged data may mask critical phases in the individuals' acquisition of skilled performance

The authors describe a transient phase during training on a movement sequence wherein, after an initial improvement in speed and decrease in variability, individual participants' performance showed a significant increase in variability without change in mean performance speed. Subsequent to this phase, as practice continued, variability again decreased, performance significantly exceeded the gains predicted by extrapolation of the initial learning curve, the type of errors committed changed, and performance became more coherent. The transient phase of increased variability may reflect a mixture of 2 (or more) performance routines before the more effective one is set and mastered, presumably the setting up of a sequence-specific representation. Both group and individual analyses indicated a departure from the single process (e.g., power-law) model of learning. However, although similar phases appeared in the mean group data, there was little correspondence to individual participants' time courses, and the individuals' gains in the second low-variability phase were masked.