The effect of acculturation on depressive moods: immigrant boys and girls during their transition from late adolescence to early adulthood

Using data (N = 773) from a longitudinal study of former Soviet Union immigrants to Israel, this study aimed to identify the psychosocial correlates of depressive mood among immigrant adolescents and differences by age and gender. OLS regression results suggest acculturative and social factors as useful variables in predicting depression. Adolescents with a high probability of assimilating (simultaneous strengthening of Israeli identity and weakening of Russian identity) proved more likely to report low levels of depression. Consistent with the literature, girls were more depressed than boys and age was positively related to depressive moods. As expected, different factors explain the psychological well-being of adolescents of different age groups and sex: in boys, depression was found mainly related to acculturation difficulties; in girls it was related more to their social support. As for age, more independent variables were statistically significant in accounting for depression in the older than in the younger group, which suggests that depression is age-related. The study results should be understood in connection with socialization processes to sex roles and the impact immigration has on this process.     

On the Pragmatic Explanation of Concessive Knowledge Attributions

On Lewis's reading, fallibilism is the contradictory view that it is possible that S knows that p, even though S cannot eliminate some remote scenarios in which not-p. The pragmatic strategy is to make the alleged contradiction a mere pragmatic implicature, which is explained by false conversational expectations. I argue that the pragmatic strategy fails.     

The Role of Parental Mediation and Peer Norms on the Likelihood of Cyberbullying

ABSTRACT

Cyberbullying is a disturbing behavior associated with the use of communication technologies among adolescents. Many studies have been devoted to the activities of cyber victims as risk factors, while others have considered parental mediation a protective factor. However, there is a paucity of studies investigating the joint contribution of parental mediation, peer norms and risky online activities to the likelihood of being bullied on the Internet. To fill this gap, we conducted a study among a representative sample of 495 sixth to eleventh grade adolescents. We measured risky behavior online with items indicating the frequency of posting personal details, sending an insulting message and meeting face-to-face with a stranger met online. Respondents reported their perceptions about their peers. attitudes toward these risky online behaviors. We also measured three types of parental mediation: active guidance, restrictive supervision and non-intervention. Binary logistic regression findings show that risky online behaviors and peer norms regarding these behaviors had a significant effect, suggesting that the likelihood of being bullied on the Internet is associated with both risky behavior online and the norms prevalent within the adolescents. peer group. Restrictive supervision had a significant effect, implying that parents who feel their children are being bullied online may increase their oversight. The results emphasize the critical role of peers and the declining influence of parents in adolescence.     

Modularity beyond perception: evidence from single task interference paradigms

We combine the Dimension-Action (DA) model with translational models to account for both the Stroop and the flanker effects. The basic assumption of the model is that there are distinct visual modules, each of which is endowed with both perception and response selection processes. We contrast this model with an alternative widespread view, the standard view, according to which the same response selection processes are shared by all tasks. The two views have different predictions concerning the flanker and Stroop tasks. Seven experiments test these predictions. The first five experiments show that there is a fundamental difference between the typical Stroop and flanker effects. Moreover, these experiments show that words denoting colors can affect print colors only when they are required for naming or when participants verbally mediate the print color task. Experiments 6 and 7 show that an analogous interaction between color and shape exists in the flanker task. These experiments as well as previous studies are consistent with the DA model and the modular view and pose serious difficulties for the standard view. Wider implications of a visual modular architecture are discussed as well.     

On the Asymmetry between Twin Earth and Inverted Earth

A crucial disanalogy between Twin Earth and Inverted Earth undermines qualia‐internalism. A recent transplant to Inverted Earth has been equipped with color‐inverting contact lenses, so that she is unable to see the colors of objects whereas a recent transplant to Twin Earth can see twater. It is implausible to think that time alone could rectify this perceptual shortcoming – that the passage of time could alter the contents of her visual perceptions or the meaning of her color terms. Thus, the thought experiment does not refute the close tie between phenomenology and representation in the case of color.     

Estimation in self-initiated working memory for spatial locations

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review - The short-term maintenance of precise location information is fundamental in many daily activities. Often, individuals memorize spatial information provided to...