Identity status measurement across contexts: variations in measurement structure and mean levels among White American, Hispanic American, and Swedish emerging adults

We conducted this study to examine measurement equivalence and mean differences in identity status across 3 ethnic/cultural contexts: White American, Hispanic American, and Swedish. We used the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status II (EOM-EIS-II; Bennion & Adams, 1986), a commonly used instrument in the identity status literature. We conducted analyses to ascertain the extent to which the EOM-EIS-II functioned equivalently in 3 ethnically/culturally different samples. The internal structure of the measure was consistent across contexts. When we statistically controlled effects of age and gender, mean differences tended to be largely cross-cultural at the observed level of analysis but to be both cross-ethnic and cross-cultural at the latent level of analysis. This divergence in findings was found despite the limited age range represented in each of the samples. We therefore concluded that measurement error may have played a role in these differences and that data gathered using the EOM-EIS-II should be analyzed using latent variable methods. We discuss results in terms of using the EOM-EIS-II with diverse populations.     

Return of fear in a human differential conditioning paradigm caused by a stimulus change after extinction

In a human fear conditioning experiment, 32 participants were trained in a differential conditioning procedure with geometrical shapes as CS+ and CS- (four presentations each), and an electric shock as US. Measures of conditioned responding were skin conductance response (SCR) and retrospective US-expectancy ratings. For half of the participants (Generalization Group, GG), the subsequent extinction phase consisted of four nonreinforced presentations of generalization stimuli (GS+ and GS-). Participants from the Extinction control Group received an equal amount of nonreinforced presentations of the CSs. Finally, all participants were tested with the original CSs. The results from both measures clearly show an increase in the size of the discrimination upon the stimulus change after extinction in the GG. Because this pattern is not observed in the Extinction control Group, extinction performance appears to be somehow restricted to the perceptual characteristics of the extinction stimulus. Interestingly, the size of the conditioned SCR discrimination in the GG is not influenced by the stimulus change after acquisition. This observation points to a differential impact of stimulus change after acquisition vs. extinction treatment. The findings are discussed from the theoretical perspective of renewal and the clinical perspective of Return of Fear.     

Psychophysiological assessment during exposure in driving phobic patients

A comprehensive assessment of fear or anxiety requires measurement of both self-report and physiological responses. Respiratory abnormalities have been rarely examined during real-life exposure, although they are an integral part of fear. Twenty-one women with a specific driving phobia and 17 nonphobic women were psychophysiologically monitored during 2 highway-driving sessions; phobic women completed an additional session. Respiratory movements, end-tidal partial pressure of carbon dioxide, an electrocardiogram, skin conductance, and skin temperature were recorded. Phobic patients differed from control participants both physiologically and experientially before, during, and after exposure. Effect size during exposure was large for the authors' measure of hyperventilation. Discriminant analysis indicated that multiple physiological measures contributed nonredundant information and correctly classified 95% of phobic and control participants. Thus, selected respiratory and autonomic measures are valid diagnostic and therapeutic outcome criteria for this situational phobia.     

Life satisfaction set point: stability and change

Using data from 17 years of a large and nationally representative panel study from Germany, the authors examined whether there is a set point for life satisfaction (LS)--stability across time, even though it can be perturbed for short periods by life events. The authors found that 24% of respondents changed significantly in LS from the first 5 years to the last 5 years and that stability declined as the period between measurements increased. Average LS in the first 5 years correlated .51 with the 5-year average of LS during the last 5 years. Height, weight, body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and personality traits were all more stable than LS, whereas income was about as stable as LS. Almost 9% of the sample changed an average of 3 or more points on a 10-point scale from the first 5 to last 5 years of the study.     

Reweighting sequential effects across different distributions of foreperiods: segregating elementary contributions to nonspecific preparation

In the study of nonspecific preparation, the response time (RT) to an imperative stimulus is analyzed as a function of the foreperiod (FP), the interval between a warning stimulus and the imperative stimulus. When FP is varied within blocks of trials, a downward sloping FP-RT function is usually observed. The slope of this function depends on the distribution of FPs (the more negative the skewness, the steeper the slope) and on intertrial sequences of FP (the longer the FP on the preceding trial, the steeper the slope). Because these determinants are confounded, we examined whether FP-RT functions, observed under three different FP distributions (i.e., uniform, exponential, and peaked) can be predicted, one from the other, by reweighting sequential effects. It turned out that reweighting explained very little variance of the difference between the FP-RT functions, suggesting a dominant role of temporal orienting strategies.     

When logic fails: Implicit transitive inference in humans

Transitive inference (TI) in animals (e.g., choosing A over C on the basis of knowing that A is better than B and B is better than C) has been interpreted by some as reflecting a declarative logical inference process. We invert this anthropomorphic interpretation by providing evidence that humans can exhibit TI-like behavior on the basis of simpler associative mechanisms that underlie many theories of animal learning. In this study, human participants were trained on a five-pair TI problem (A+B-, B+C-, C+D-, D+E-, E+F-) and, unlike in previous human TI studies, were prevented from becoming explicitly aware of the logical hierarchy, so they could not employ logical reasoning. They were then tested with three problems: B versus D, B versus E, and C versus E. Participants only reliably chose B over E, whereas the other test conditions yielded chance performance. This result is inconsistent with the use of logical reasoning and is instead consistent with an account developed to explain earlier TI studies with rats that found the same pattern of results. In this account, choice performance is based on differential associative strengths across the stimulus items that develop over training, despite equal overt reinforcement.     

The developmental roots of the speed-accuracy trade-off

The speed of adult reaching movements is lawfully related to the distance of the reach and the size of the target. The authors had 7-, 9-, and 11-month-old infants reach for small and large targets to investigate a possible relation between the emergence of this speed-accuracy trade-off and the improvements in infants' ability to pick up tiny objects. By 7 months of age, infants slowed down their reaches for smaller objects. The authors concluded that it was not the ability to use a precision grip that facilitated the speed-accuracy trade-off but rather the other way around. The slowing down toward the end of the movement might set the conditions for the development of fine distal control of the hand.     

Tense and Agreement dissociations in German agrammatic speakers: underspecification vs. hierarchy

The aim of the present paper was to investigate whether German agrammatic production data are compatible with the Tree-Pruning-Hypothesis (TPH; Friedmann & Grodzinsky, 1997). The theory predicts unidirectional patterns of dissociation in agrammatic production data with respect to Tense and Agreement. However, there was evidence of a double dissociation between Tense and Agreement in our data. The presence of a bidirectional dissociation is incompatible with any theory which assumes a hierarchical order between these categories such as the TPH or other versions thereof (such as Lee's, 2003 top--down hypothesis). It will be argued that the data can better be accounted for by relying on newer linguistic theories such as the Minimalist Program (MP,), which does not assume a hierarchical order between independent syntactic Tense and Agreement nodes but treats them as different features (semantically interpretable vs. uninterpretable) under a single node.     

Attitudinal ambivalence, rumination, and forgiveness of partner transgressions in marriage

Although positive and negative attitudes toward a transgressor are related to increased and decreased forgiveness, respectively, prior research has failed to investigate forgiveness among those who feel both positively and negatively toward a transgressor. Therefore, the authors examined such ambivalence and its relationship to forgiveness. It was hypothesized that spouses with ambivalent attitudes toward their partner will be less forgiving of a partner transgression because such an event is likely to prime the negative component of their ambivalence. Because ruminating about a transgression also has the potential to prime the negative component of one's ambivalence, an interaction between rumination and ambivalence was predicted. Data from 87 married couples showed that greater attitudinal ambivalence toward the partner was associated with decreased forgiveness only when husbands and wives thought about the transgression frequently; ambivalence was not related to forgiveness in the absence of rumination. The implications of these findings for understanding forgiveness in marriage and for increasing forgiveness among married couples are discussed.     

Avoidance behavior can function as a negative occasion setter

The authors put forward the hypothesis that avoidance learning can result from the fact that participants learn (a) that a stimulus is followed by an unconditioned stimulus (US) when the avoidance behavior is not emitted and (b) that the stimulus is not followed by the US when the avoidance behavior is emitted. As such, avoidance behavior is assumed to function as a negative occasion setter. The results of a contingency judgment experiment involving 65 students showed that avoidance behavior indeed has the unique functional properties of a negative occasion setter (resistance to counterconditioning and selective transfer of modulation).