Development of Prospective Memory: Tasks Based on the Prefrontal-Lobe Model

This study investigated the development of prospective memory using tasks based on the prefrontal-lobe model. Three groups each of 30 children, adolescents, and young adults were compared on prospective-memory performance using ongoing tasks with two levels of cognitive demand (low and high), and two levels of importance (unstressed and stressed) of remembering prospective cues. The Self-Ordered Pointing Task (SOPT), Stroop Color Word Interference Test, and Tower of London were also used to assess relationships between prospective memory and prefrontal-lobe functions. The children remembered fewer prospective cues than either the adolescents or adults, but the adolescents and adults remembered equally well. This trend increased significantly as the cognitive demand of the ongoing tasks increased. However, stressing or not stressing the importance of remembering made no difference to prospective-memory performance. Performance on the SOPT and Stroop Colour Word Interference predicted performance on the high- but not on the low-demand condition. These findings implicate the maturation of the brain's prefrontal region in the development of prospective memory.     

Women Experiencing Psychological Abuse: Are They a Homogenous Group?

Dichotomizing women as “abused” versus “not abused” assumes that any psychological maltreatment results in similar outcomes. A national sample of women in conflictual relationships completed an online survey. Women with no incidence (N = 33), the lowest quartile (N = 86), and the top quartile (N = 81) of psychological maltreatment demonstrated significant differences in reactions to the maltreatment, mental health indicators, personality variables, perceived harm, problematic relationship schemas, and response styles. Women with no psychological abuse and women in the lowest quartile produced similar scores that were typically distinct from the top-quartile women. Effective treatment of women with lower amounts of psychological abuse might not require a unique intervention likely necessary for women experiencing much psychological abuse.     

Spiritual Integration Predicts Self-Reported Mental and Physical Health

Data from 167 participants were used to establish the psychometric properties of the Reidhead spiritual integration scale, 31-item version (SI-31). Structural equation modeling was used to empirically evaluate influences on perceived health functioning, while accounting for possible confounds. The analyses showed that SI-31 predicted perceived mental and physical health while controlling for life satisfaction, religious variables, mood patterns, depression symptoms, and demographics. The importance of SI as a predictor of health-related outcomes is supported, as is the usefulness of the SI-31 in predicting these outcomes.     

Children's reasoning about responses to peer aggression: Victim's and witness's expected and prescribed behaviors

This research examined children's reasoning about expected (i.e., what a peer would do) and prescribed (i.e., what a peer should do) responses to unprovoked, intentional aggressive actions in two contexts: as a victim of such a transgression and as a witness to the incident. Physical harm and property damage items were used in a structured interview format. There were 90 subjects drawn from three elementary school grades (2nd, 4th, and 6th). Children differentiated between the expected and prescribed responses of peers and significant developmental differences in children's evaluations were found. Although the majority of the subjects in all grades denounced retaliation on the basis of concerns about others' welfare, older children stated that peers were likely to retaliate against the perpetrator nonetheless. Across different contexts, older children's responses appeared to reveal a greater independence from authority in negotiating peer interactions. In evaluating the witness's responses to aggressive acts, younger children's expected and prescribed responses were less disparate than that of the older children. The utility of including different vantage points of the child in examining children's social reasoning about aggression and the application of the present findings to social information-processing models are discussed. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Predictors of effective formal mentoring: Is the mentor’s commitment all that matters?

The present research explores how the intersection of motivation and ability contributes to mentoring success. Extending the motivation-aptitude model of performance to mentoring effectiveness and building on socioanalytic theory, we examined whether mentor commitment and other mentor attributes impacted supervisors’ evaluation of mentors’ effectiveness. Using self-report and third-party rating data from a sample of 102 mentors and 14 supervisors from a multinational organization, support was found for our hypotheses. Consistent with our theorizing about the importance of supplementing mentor commitment with important aptitudes, the results of the multilevel analyses showed that mentor commitment did not translate to mentoring effectiveness as rated by one’s supervisor when mentors lacked getting along (i.e., self-monitoring and political skill) or getting ahead (learning goal orientation and strategic outlook) attributes.     

The Bidimensional Impression Management Index (BIMI): Measuring Agentic and Communal Forms of Impression Management

Measures of impression management have yet to incorporate two-factor models of person perception. The 2 primary factors are often labeled agency and communion. In Study 1, we assembled a new measure of impression management—the Bidimensional Impression Management Index (BIMI): It comprises 2 subscales designed specifically to tap agentic and communal content. Both subscales showed adequate alpha reliabilities under both honest and faking conditions. In Study 2, the BIMI was cross-validated in a new sample: The subscales remained relatively independent, and their reliabilities remained solid. A coherent pattern of personality correlates also supported the validities of both subscales. In Study 3, the differential sensitivity of the 2 subscales was demonstrated by manipulating the job type in simulated job applications. Implications and applications of the BIMI are discussed.     

Improving Decision Making by Means of Dissent1

Antidotes to problems associated with uniformity of viewpoints have generally involved dissent in one form or another (Katzenstein, 1996), one being “devil's advocate.” Research on authentic dissent has documented additional advantages in that it stimulates divergent and original thought (Nemeth, 1995). In this study, authentic disscnt was compared with devil's advocate and with no dissent. Findings indicate that authentic dissent was superior in (a) stimulating a greater proportion of original thoughts, (b) considering the opposite position, and (c) direct attitude change. Devil's advocate was found to stimulate cognitive boistcring of the initial position, thus raising concerns about the unintended consequences of techniques such as devil's advocate and the subtle task facing attempts to foster original thought and yet maintain cohesion.     

Confidence intervals and replication: where will the next mean fall?

Confidence intervals (CIs) give information about replication, but many researchers have misconceptions about this information. One problem is that the percentage of future replication means captured by a particular CI varies markedly, depending on where in relation to the population mean that CI falls. The authors investigated the distribution of this percentage for varsigma known and unknown, for various sample sizes, and for robust CIs. The distribution has strong negative skew: Most 95% CIs will capture around 90% or more of replication means, but some will capture a much lower proportion. On average, a 95% CI will include just 83.4% of future replication means. The authors present figures designed to assist understanding of what CIs say about replication, and they also extend the discussion to explain how p values give information about replication.     

Being skeptical about the medical humanities

In this paper the author challenges the prevailing view that contemporary writing in the medical humanities is serving the needs of the various health care disciplines. The current medical humanities literature assumes that physicians are the appropriate target group. This is most notably the case within health care ethics literature. There appears to be an unexamined assumption that physician-centric approaches to clinical ethical decision-making are the standard by which appropriate ethical practice is judged. The author challenges this assumption and addresses the problems that this approach engenders. The medical humanities literature appears to reinforce hierarchical, patriarchal arrangements which are themselves not morally neutral.     

Ethical dilemmas in forensic evaluations

Ethical issues emerging from forensic assessments are addressed from clinical and research perspectives. The relevance of agency, forensic identification, and attitudes toward defendants are explored within the framework of ethical practice. Finally, the ethical role of mental health professionals in the courtroom, the scope and basis of their testimony, and the rendering of conclusory opinions are discussed within a psycholegal context.