Power stress in primary school children

Motivation and Emotion - In this paper, we demonstrate that, in accordance with research on adults, children with high implicit power motive show power stress when their need for influence cannot...     

Seeing failure in your life: Imagery perspective determines whether self-esteem shapes reactions to recalled and imagined failure

The present research reveals that when it comes to recalling and imagining failure in one's life, changing how one looks at the event can change its impact on well-being; however, the nature of the effect depends on an aspect of one's self-concept, namely, self-esteem. Five studies measured or manipulated the visual perspective (internal first-person vs. external third-person) individuals used to mentally image recalled or imagined personal failures. It has been proposed that imagery perspective determines whether people's reactions to an event are shaped bottom-up by concrete features of the event (first-person) or top-down by their self-concept (third-person; L. K. Libby & R. P. Eibach, 2011b). Evidence suggests that differences in the self-concepts of individuals with low and high self-esteem (LSEs and HSEs) are responsible for self-esteem differences in reaction to failure, leading LSEs to have more negative thoughts and feelings about themselves (e.g., M. H. Kernis, J. Brockner, & B. S. Frankel, 1989). Thus, the authors predicted, and found, that low self-esteem was associated with greater overgeneralization--operationalized as negativity in accessible self-knowledge and feelings of shame--only when participants had pictured failure from the third-person perspective and not from the first-person. Further, picturing failure from the third-person, rather than first-person, perspective, increased shame and the negativity of accessible knowledge among LSEs, whereas it decreased shame among HSEs. Results help to distinguish between different theoretical accounts of how imagery perspective functions and have implications for the study of top-down and bottom-up influences on self-judgment and emotion, as well as for the role of perspective and abstraction in coping.     

The missing piece: a sociological autopsy of firearm suicide in the United States

Social, economic, violence, political, and gun access predictors of suicide and gun suicide were examined via sociological autopsy. The model predicting suicide rates overall had the best results, χ(2) (9, N=50)=5.279 (CMIN, the goodness of fit statistic that represents the minimum discrepancy between the unrestricted sample covariance matrix and the restricted covariance matrix) p=.809, [the goodness of fit statistic that represents the minimum discrepancy between the unrestricted sample covariance matrix and the restricted covariance matrix] indicating an excellent fit of the data and theoretical model. The model explained 76% of the variance in state suicide rates and was a significantly better predictor than one could expect by chance, F(6,43)=22.889, p<.001). All path coefficients were significant predictors of suicide with the exception of violence climate, which was not included. This study contributes to the theoretical knowledge by adding a comprehensive framework of analysis and model useful for prevention.     

Academic Achievement Over 8 Years Among Children Who Met Modified Criteria for Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder at 4–6 Years of Age

The predictive validity of symptom criteria for different subtypes of ADHD among children who were impaired in at least one setting in early childhood was examined. Academic achievement was assessed seven times over 8 years in 125 children who met symptom criteria for ADHD at 4–6 years of age and in 130 demographically-matched non-referred comparison children. When intelligence and other confounds were controlled, children who met modified criteria for the predominantly inattentive subtype of ADHD in wave 1 had lower reading, spelling, and mathematics scores over time than both comparison children and children who met modified criteria for the other subtypes of ADHD. In some analyses, children who met modified criteria for the combined type had somewhat lower mathematics scores than comparison children. The robust academic deficits relative to intelligence in the inattentive group in this age range suggest either that inattention results in academic underachievement or that some children in the inattentive group have learning disabilities that cause secondary symptoms of inattention. Unexpectedly, wave 1 internalizing (anxiety and depression) symptoms independently predicted deficits in academic achievement controlling ADHD, intelligence, and other predictors.     

Autonomic reactivity during viewing of an unpleasant film.

The effect of an aversive, high-arousing film on heart rate, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and electrogastrographic activity (EGG) was investigated. Previous studies have indicated a larger heart-rate deceleration for visual stimuli depicting surgery or blood compared to neutral content, and this phenomenon is similar to the bradycardia observed in animals in response to fear. The heart-rate deceleration is clearly parasympathetically driven, and it is considered a general index of attention. An accurate index of cardiac vagal tone can be obtained by means of quantification of the amplitude of respiratory sinus arrhythmia. The relationship between cardiac vagal tone and EGG is complex, but animal research has shown that suppressing vagal activity dampens gastric motility. We have investigated whether a movie depicting surgery is associated with greater heart-rate deceleration, larger increase in respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and greater increase in EGG activity compared to a neutral movie. In addition, if both respiratory sinus arrhythmia and EGG are indices of vagal tone, a positive correlation between these physiological responses was expected. Analysis indicated an effect of the surgery movie on heart rate and respiratory sinus arrhythmia, but not on EGG activity. Moreover, the expected correlation was not found. Implications for future studies are discussed.     

The impact of perceived effort–reward imbalance on workplace bullying: also a matter of organizational identification

Work environments characterized by inadequate work conditions have been widely recognized as being particularly prone to the occurrence and exacerbation of bullying behavior. Accordingly, this longitudinal study aimed to explore whether the impact of effort–reward imbalance (ERI) on workplace bullying was mediated by a lower perception of organizational justice, and whether the association between ERI and perceptions of justice was moderated by organizational identification. In the current study, a sample of N = 195 Spanish employees from different occupational sectors filled in an online questionnaire at two different times with a time lag of 8 months. In line with the hypothesized moderated mediation model, results showed that organizational justice mediated the impact of ERI on workplace bullying. Moreover, the effect of perceived ERI on organizational justice was stronger for employees with low organizational identification. Overall, this study can contribute to better understanding how and when ERI boosts the risk of workplace bullying. Accordingly, early intervention designed to buffer the negative effects of ERI should focus on increasing individual levels of organizational identification.     

Syllables in the processing of spoken Italian

Five experiments explored the role of the syllable in the processing of spoken Italian. According to the syllabic hypothesis, the sublexical unit used by speakers of Romance languages to segment speech and access the lexicon is the syllable. However, languages with different degrees of acoustic-phonetic transparency give rise to syllabic effects that vary in robustness. It follows from this account that speakers of phonologically similar languages should behave in a similar way. By exploiting the similarities between Spanish and Italian, the authors tested this prediction in Experiments 1-4. Indeed, Italian listeners were found to produce syllabic effects similar to those observed in Spanish listeners. In Experiment 5, the predictions of the syllabic hypothesis with respect to lexical access were tested. The results corroborated these predictions. The findings are discussed in relation to current models of speech processing.     

Probability matching in choice under uncertainty: Intuition versus deliberation

Gaissmaier and Schooler (2008) [Gaissmaier, W., & Schooler, L. J. (2008). The smart potential behind probability matching. Cognition, 109, 416-422] argue that probability matching, which has traditionally been viewed as a decision making error, may instead reflect an adaptive response to environments in which outcomes potentially follow predictable patterns. In choices involving monetary stakes, we find that probability matching persists even when it is not possible to identify or exploit outcome patterns and that many “probability matchers” rate an alternative strategy (maximizing) as superior when it is described to them. Probability matching appears to reflect a mistaken intuition that can be, but often is not, overridden by deliberate consideration of alternative choice strategies.     

Mobilizing Communities and Building Capacity for Youth Violence Prevention: The National Academic Centers of Excellence for Youth Violence Prevention

Violence, including its occurrence among youth, results in considerable physical, emotional, social, and economic consequences in the US. Youth violence prevention work at the Division of Violence Prevention (DVP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) emphasizes preventing youth violence-related behaviors, injuries, and deaths by collaborating with academic and community partners and stakeholders. In 2000 and 2005, DVP funded the National Academic Centers of Excellence (ACE) for Youth Violence Prevention. Most ACE Centers focus on building community capacity and competence so that evidence-based programs for youth violence prevention can be successfully implemented through effective and supportive research-community partnerships. This commentary provides historical information about the ACE Program, including the development, goals, accomplishments of the Centers, and the utilization of a community-based participatory research approach to prevent youth violence.