European Portuguese Validation of the Thought Control Questionnaire Insomnia-Revised (TCQI-R)

Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy - Individuals with insomnia complaints often report intrusive thoughts. In this sense, strategies to cope with cognitive arousal are a...     

Psychometric Parameters of the Cyberbullying Attitude Scale in Brazil

This study aimed to determine the psychometric properties of the Cyberbullying Attitude Scale (CBAS) in the Brazilian context. Three empirical studies were conducted for this purpose. Study 1 (N = 202) sought to ascertain the psychometric properties of the CBAS using exploratory factor analysis. Study 2 (N = 211) sought to gather additional evidence regarding the validity and reliability of the CBAS using confirmatory factor analysis. Study 3 (N = 279) aimed to verify the CBAS’s convergent validity. The results revealed that the two-factor structure was the most pertinent. In addition, the CBAS demonstrated convergent validity with other cyberbullying measures, good internal consistency for the Negative Cyberbullying Attitudes factor, and reasonable internal consistency for the General Cyberbullying Characteristics factor. In general, the CBAS appears to be a valid and reliable measure for evaluating attitudes toward cyberbullying.

     

Equivalence relations and the contextual control of multiple derived stimulus functions

Contextual control is a key aspect in equivalence research to support the claim that stimuli may have multiple functions or symbols may have multiple meanings. The present study investigated the contextual control of multiple derived stimulus functions in two experiments. In Experiment 1, equivalence classes were formed and one stimulus set from each class was used to establish two different functions: one via positive reinforcement (key-pressing) and another via negative reinforcement (button clicking), both under contextual control of two different background colors. Later, other stimuli from the equivalence class were presented on those background colors and contextual control of multiple derived stimulus functions was assessed. Experiment 2 added a third background in which no programmed response was reinforced, that is, responses were extinguished. Transfer-of-function tests revealed contextual control of three different functions, including derived extinction. Implications for equivalence relations as a behavior-analytical model of symbolic functioning are discussed.     

Tactics of manipulation

Manipulation is one means by which environments are altered to correspond to characteristics of individuals. We conducted two studies to identify the manipulation tactics that people use to elicit and terminate the actions of others. Factor analyses of four instruments revealed six types of tactics: charm, silent treatment, coercion, reason, regression, and debasement. Tactics of manipulation showed strong individual difference consistency across contexts. The charm tactic, however, was used more frequently for behavioral elicitation, whereas the coercion and silent treatment tactics were used more frequently for behavioral termination. Manipulation tactics covaried significantly across self-based and observer-based data sources with personality scales of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Ambitious-Lazy, Arrogant-Unassuming, Quarrelsome-Agreeable, and Calculating and with characteristics of subjects' social environments. We draw implications for an interactionist framework of person-environment correspondence, for an expansion of the taxonomic task that faces personality psychology, and for identifying links between personality and other scientific disciplines.     

How do reinforcers affect choice? Preference pulses after responses and reinforcers

In concurrent schedules, reinforcers are often followed by a brief period of heightened preference for the just‐productive alternative. Such ‘preference pulses’ may reflect local effects of reinforcers on choice. However, similar pulses may occur after nonreinforced responses, suggesting that pulses after reinforcers are partly unrelated to reinforcer effects. McLean, Grace, Pitts, and Hughes (2014) recommended subtracting preference pulses after responses from preference pulses after reinforcers, to construct residual pulses that represent only reinforcer effects. Thus, a reanalysis of existing choice data is necessary to determine whether changes in choice after reinforcers in previous experiments were actually related to reinforcers. In the present paper, we reanalyzed data from choice experiments in which reinforcers served different functions. We compared local choice, mean visit length, and visit‐length distributions after reinforcers and after nonreinforced responses. Our reanalysis demonstrated the utility of McLean et al.'s preference‐pulse correction for determining the effects of reinforcers on choice. However, visit analyses revealed that residual pulses may not accurately represent reinforcer effects, and reinforcer effects were clearer in visit analyses than in local‐choice analyses. The best way to determine the effects of reinforcers on choice may be to conduct visit analyses in addition to local‐choice analyses.     

Technical variation in a sample of high level judo players

Technical actions performed by two groups of judokas who won medals at World Championships and Olympic Games during the period 1995-2001 were analyzed. In the Super Elite group (n = 17) were the best athletes in each weight category. The Elite group (n = 16) were medal winners who were not champions and did not win more than three medals. Super Elite judokas used a greater number of throwing techniques which resulted in scores, even when expressed relative to the total number of matches performed, and these techniques were applied in more directions than those of Elite judokas. Further, the number of different throwing techniques and the variability of directions in which techniques were applied were significantly correlated with number of wins and the number of points and ippon scored. Thus, a greater number of throwing techniques and use of directions for attack seem to be important in increasing unpredictability during judo matches.     

Gait and risk of falls associated with frontal cognitive functions at different stages of Alzheimer's disease

ABSTRACT

The decline in frontal cognitive functions contributes to alterations of gait and increases the risk of falls in patients with dementia, a category which included Alzheimer's disease (AD). The objective of the present study was to compare the gait parameters and the risk of falls among patients at different stages of AD, and to relate these variables with cognitive functions. This is a cross-sectional study with 23 patients with mild and moderate AD. The Clinical Dementia Rating was used to classify the dementia severity. The kinematic parameters of gait (cadence, stride length, and stride speed) were analyzed under two conditions: (a) single task (free gait) and (b) dual task (walking and counting down). The risk of falls was evaluated using the Timed Up-and-Go test. The frontal cognitive functions were evaluated using the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), the Clock Drawing Test (CDT) and the Symbol Search Subtest. The patients who were at the moderate stage suffered reduced performance in their stride length and stride speed in the single task and had made more counting errors in the dual task and still had a higher fall risk. Both the mild and the moderate patients exhibited significant decreases in stride length, stride speed and cadence in the dual task. Was detected a significant correlation between CDT, FAB, and stride speed in the dual task condition. We also found a significant correlation between subtest Similarities, FAB and cadence in the dual task condition. The dual task produced changes in the kinematic parameters of gait for the mild and moderate AD patients and the gait alterations are related to frontal cognitive functions, particularly executive functions.     

Dual-memory processes in crack cocaine dependents: The effects of childhood neglect on recall

Exposure to adversities during sensitive periods of neurodevelopment is associated with the subsequent development of substance dependence and exerts harmful, long-lasting effects upon memory functioning. In this study, we investigated the relationship between childhood neglect (CN) and memory using a dual-process model that quantifies recollective and non-recollective retrieval processes in crack cocaine dependents. Eighty-four female crack cocaine–dependent inpatients who did (N = 32) or did not (N = 52) report a history of CN received multiple opportunities to study and recall a short list composed of familiar and concrete words and then received a delayed-recall test. Crack cocaine dependents with a history of CN showed worse performance on free-recall tests than did dependents without a history of CN; this finding was associated with declines in recollective retrieval (direct access) rather than non-recollective retrieval. In addition, we found no evidence of group differences in forgetting rates between immediate- and delayed-recall tests. The results support developmental models of traumatology and suggest that neglect of crack cocaine dependents in early life disrupts the adult memory processes that support the retrieval of detailed representations of events from the past.     

Surprise influences hindsight–foresight differences in temporal judgments of animated automobile accidents

The hindsight bias occurs when people view an outcome as more foreseeable than it actually was. The role of an outcome’s initial surprise in the hindsight bias was examined using animations of automobile accidents. Twenty-six participants rated the initial surprise of accidents’ occurring in eight animations. An additional 84 participants viewed these animations in one of two conditions: Half stopped the animations when they were certain an accident would occur (i.e., in foresight), and the other half watched the entire animations first and then stopped the animations when they thought that a naïve viewer would be certain that an accident would occur (i.e., in hindsight). When the accidents were low in initial surprise, there were no foresight–hindsight differences; when initial surprise was medium, there was a hindsight bias; and when initial surprise was high, there was a reversed hindsight bias. The results are consistent with a sense-making model of hindsight bias.     

Bouncing Back from Failure: Entrepreneurial Resilience and the Internationalisation of Subsequent Ventures Created by Serial Entrepreneurs

This paper examines the impact over international propensity of past negative entrepreneurial experience for those who re-enter into entrepreneurial activity; referred to as resilient serial entrepreneurs. We first hypothesise on the effects over entrepreneurial re-entry that such negative past experience may have and highlight the link between the past entrepreneurial experience of resilient entrepreneurs and their subsequent propensity towards international markets. Building on insights from the generative experiential learning process of entrepreneurial activity and from cognition theories, we propose that resilient entrepreneurs who re-enter business despite having faced negative entrepreneurial experiences in the past benefit from enriched cognitive schemas leading them to greater export propensity. The proposed hypotheses are tested on a unique sample drawn from a Spanish adult population survey. Results from the sequential deductive triangulation analysis reveal that practical experience is an essential prerequisite for entrepreneurial learning, and that the resilience of those with negative entrepreneurial experience induces the generative entrepreneurial learning especially suitable for subsequent internationally oriented ventures.