The relative importance of math‐ and music‐related cognitive and affective factors in predicting undergraduate music theory achievement

Based on research identifying relations between math and music, we aimed to identify the group of cognitive and affective factors related to math and music theory that best explained undergraduate music theory achievement. Using dominance analysis, we predicted the music theory course grades of 230 undergraduate music majors. Potential predictors were narrowed from measures of knowledge, aptitude, experience, confidence, and anxiety in both music theory and math as well as spatial skills and reading test scores. Results suggested that ACT math scores and music theory confidence were important predictors for Music Theories I and II grades. Music Theory I was also predicted by aptitude‐based music theory skills, and Music Theory II was also predicted by math course experience. These findings provide evidence for a relation between math and music theory and support the use of several readily available measures for college‐level music instructors to identify students who may struggle in music theory.     

Targeting self-regulation and academic functioning among preschoolers with behavior problems: Are there incremental benefits to including cognitive training as part of a classroom curriculum?

The purpose of this study was to examine the additional benefit of an adaptive Cogmed working memory training (CWMT) to a social-emotional/self-regulation classroom curriculum for preschoolers with externalizing behavior problems (EBP). Participants for this study included 49 children (71% boys, M_age = 4.52) with at-risk or clinically elevated levels of EBP. Children participated in an 8-week summer treatment program for Pre-Kindergarteners (STP-PreK), where they were randomly assigned to either adaptive CWMT (n = 24), or nonadaptive CWMT (n = 25). Multiple repeated measures analyses were conducted to examine the impact of adaptive versus nonadaptive CWMT on pre and posttreatment parent-/teacher-reported behavioral functioning, parent-/teacher reported and child task performance of executive functioning, and standardized academic achievement measures. Repeated measures analyses found that children in both groups improved on all measures (d’s = .23-.86). However, there were no significant time X condition effects for parent or teacher-reported behavior, reported or observed executive functioning, or standardized academic measures. These findings suggest that CWMT does not appear to provide any incremental benefits to children’s executive functioning, behavior, or academics when implemented within a comprehensive behavioral modification intervention.     

Stability of choices in a risky decision‐making task: a 3‐year longitudinal study with children and adults

In a 3‐year follow‐up to Levin and Hart's ( 2003 ) study, we observed the same children, now 9–11 years old, and their parents in the same risky decision‐making task. At the aggregate level the same pattern of means was observed across time periods. At the individual level the key variables were significantly correlated across time periods for both children and adults. Taken together with the results from the original study and earlier studies, these results solidify the following conclusions: children utilize both probability and outcome information in risky decision‐making; the tendency to make more risky choices to avoid a loss than to achieve a gain of equal magnitude, which is a major tenet of the leading theories of risky decision‐making, occurs for children as well as adults; children make more risky choices than adults; temperamental predictors of risky choice are valid for children as well as for adults. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reduction in disability in a randomized controlled trial of telephone-administered cognitive-behavioral therapy.

OBJECTIVE: The authors examined the efficacy of telephone-administered cognitive-behavioral therapy (T-CBT) and telephone-administered supportive emotion-focused therapy (T-SEFT) in reducing disability among disabled patients with multiple sclerosis and depression. Telephone administration of therapy allowed care to be delivered to a more disabled population. This is a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial; the primary outcome results for depression are reported in D. C. Mohr, S. L. Hart, L. Julian, C. Catledge, L. Honos-Webb, L. Vella, et al. (2005). DESIGN: A randomized controlled trial, comparing 16 weeks of T-CBT with T-SEFT. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Disability was measured using Guy's Neurological Disability Scale; fatigue was measured using the Fatigue Impact Scale; depression was measured using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory-II. RESULTS: Patients in both treatments showed significant improvements in disability and fatigue. These improvements were related to reductions in depression. T-CBT produced significantly greater decreases in disability and fatigue, compared with T-SEFT, even after controlling for depression. The greater benefit of T-CBT on disability was mediated by physical fatigue. CONCLUSION: These findings support the hypothesis that significant reductions in disability can be achieved by reducing depression in patients with multiple sclerosis. There was also evidence that further reductions could be achieved through CBT-specific interventions that include a focus on symptoms such as fatigue management.     

A threat in the computer: the race implicit association test as a stereotype threat experience

Three experiments test whether the threat of appearing racist leads White participants to perform worse on the race Implicit Association Test (IAT) and whether self-affirmation can protect from this threat. Experiments 1 and 2 suggest that White participants show a stereotype threat effect when completing the race IAT, leading to stronger pro-White scores when the test is believed to be diagnostic of racism. This effect increases for domain-identified (highly motivated to control prejudice) participants (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, self-affirmation inoculates participants against stereotype threat while taking the race IAT. These findings have methodological implications for use of the race IAT and theoretical implications concerning the malleability of automatic prejudice and the potential interpersonal effects of the fear of appearing racist.     

Youth bulges in communities: the effects of age structure on adolescent civic knowledge and civic participation

Youth bulges, cohorts of 16- to 25-year-olds disproportionately large relative to the adult population, are linked with social upheaval in historical research. Limited civic knowledge and heightened civic participation in adolescence, resulting from socialization in communities with large populations of children, are hypothesized to be developmental precursors to the political activism characteristic of youth constituting bulges. In two studies with nationally representative samples, adolescents in communities with disproportionately large populations of children were found to have less civic knowledge than equivalent adolescents in communities without large populations of children. In both studies, civic participation was predicted by the interaction of a community's proportion of children and its poverty level. Similar patterns were identified in a third study using country-level data. Together, the findings demonstrate that the youthfulness of communities and countries influences civic development.     

Cross-national differences in the assessment of psychopathy: do they reflect variations in raters' perceptions of symptoms?

Cross-national differences in the prevalence of psychopathy have been reported. This study examined whether rater effects could account for these differences. Psychopathy was assessed with the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; R. D. Hare, 1991). Videotapes of 6 Scottish prisoners and 6 Canadian prisoners were rated by 10 Scottish and 10 Canadian raters. No significant main or interaction effects involving the nationality of raters were detected at the level of full scores or factor scores. Using a generalizability theory approach, it was demonstrated that the interrater reliability of total scores was good, that is, the proportion of variance in test scores attributable to raters was small. The interrater reliability of factor scores was lower, typically falling in the fair range. Overall, the results suggest that the reported cross-national differences are more likely to be in the expression of the disorder rather than in the eye of the beholder.     

Different selves have different effects: self-activation and defensive social comparison

Three studies show that different forms of self-activation have differential influences on the processing of social comparison information. Activating neutral self-conceptions results in defensive processing of threatening social comparison information (Study 1). Participants maintain favorable self-evaluations in the face of upward comparison and rate the upward target of comparison negatively. Activating positive self-conceptions results in non-defensive processing of threatening social comparison information (Study 2). Participants endorse negative self-evaluations following upward comparison and rate the upward target of comparison positively. Activating negative self-conceptions maximizes defensive processing of threatening social comparison information (Study 3). Participants maintain favorable self-evaluations in the face of upward comparison and rate both upward and downward targets of comparison negatively. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for strategies to maintain self-esteem in the face of threatening comparisons.     

Rise in landing-related skydiving fatalities

The purpose was to assess whether adoption of potentially dangerous skydiving gear and skydiving practices has led to an increase in fatalities. Beginning in the early 1990s, civilian skydivers began to utilize high performance parachutes that fly much faster and are much more responsive than older style parachutes. Also, skydivers began to fly these parachutes in a more aggressive manner. An analysis of data from the 507 skydiving fatalities in the USA between 1986 and 2001 indicated that this shift toward high performance parachutes and aggressive flying techniques was temporally associated with an increase in parachute-landing deaths. During the same time period, the total number of fatalities remained fairly stable.