Upward and Downward Counterfactual Thought After Loss: A Multiwave Controlled Longitudinal Study

Counterfactual thoughts, mental simulations about how a situation may have turned out differently (i.e., “if only …, then …”), can reduce mental health after stressful life-events. However, how specific counterfactual thought types relate to post-loss mental health problems is unclear. We hypothesized that self-referenced upward counterfactuals (i.e., “If only I had done …, then the current situation would be better”) may serve as cognitive avoidance, thereby perpetuating loss-related distress. Conversely, downward counterfactuals (i.e., “If … had happened, then the current situation could have been [even] worse”) may facilitate benefit finding, thereby reducing distress. In a longitudinal survey, self-referent, other-referent, and nonreferent upward counterfactuals, and nonreferent downward counterfactuals were assessed at baseline. Prolonged grief and depression symptoms were assessed at baseline, and 6- and 12-month follow-ups. Multiple regression analyses assessed associations between counterfactual thoughts and symptom levels in 65 recently bereaved people who generated counterfactual thoughts about the loss-event. Moderator analyses assessed the unicity of significant effects in the previous step, by comparing these effects in 59 people generating loss-related counterfactuals with those in 59 propensity-score matched participants generating counterfactuals about other negative life-events. Multivariate analyses showed that nonreferent upward counterfactuals were uniquely strongly positively associated with prolonged grief and depression symptoms concurrently. Self-referent upward counterfactuals were uniquely positively associated with prolonged grief and depression symptoms longitudinally. Moderator analyses confirmed that thinking about how one’s (in)actions could prevent a death uniquely exacerbated prolonged grief and depression severity. Prolonged grief treatment may be improved by targeting self-blame and guilt.     

The implicit power motive predicts decisions in line with perceived instrumentality

Past research suggests that the implicit power motive (i.e., an unconsciously held motivational disposition to derive pleasure from having impact on others) predicts a preference to interact with individuals having submissive-looking faces. The present research extends this finding by testing whether the relation between the implicit power motive and approaching submissiveness depends on instrumentality. In two experiments, participants were assigned to a group that would ostensibly compete with another group. Within this intergroup context, they were asked to select persons as leaders or members for the in-group or the out-group. Potential leaders and members were displayed as submissive-looking or dominant-looking. Results showed that the implicit power motive predicted decisions favoring dominant-looking persons as in-group leaders, and submissive-looking persons as out-group leaders (Study 1) or in-group members (Study 2). These findings indicate that the tendency for people high in the implicit power motive to approach submissive-looking persons depends on the perceived instrumentality for gaining influence over others.     

The Relationships between Individualism,Nationalism, Ethnocentrism,and Authoritarianism in Flanders: A Continuous Time-Structural Equation Modeling Approach

This article analyzes the relationships among nationalism (N), individualism (I), ethnocentrism (E), and authoritarianism (A) in continuous time (CT), estimated as a structural equation model. The analysis is based on the General Election Study for Flanders, Belgium, for 1991, 1995, and 1999. We find reciprocal effects between A and E and between E and I as well as a unidirectional effect from A on I. We furthermore find relatively small, but significant, effects from both I and E on N but no effect from A on N or from N on any of the other variables. Because of its central role in the N-I-E-A complex, mitigation of authoritarianism has the largest potential to reduce the spread of nationalism, ethnocentrism, and racism in Flanders.     

Knowledge restructuring in expertise development: Evidence from pathophysiological representations of clinical cases by students and physicians

The present study was conducted to investigate qualitative changes that occur in the structure of knowledge in acquiring medical expertise. Therefore, the representation of pathophysiological knowledge was compared in subjects at four different levels of expertise. Subjects studied four clinical cases under three different time constraints, and provided a diagnosis and a pathophysiological explanation for the signs and symptoms in each case. Both diagnostic accuracy and quality of explanations increased with level of expertise. The explanations of experts, however, were less elaborate and less detailed than those of students. Constraining processing time affected the quality of explanations of advanced students, but not that of experts; conversely, the elaborateness and level of detail of explanations was affected in experts but not in students. The findings are explained by a network model integrating the two-world hypothesis in which biomedical and clinical knowledge are organised as two worlds apart (Patel, Evans, & Groen, 1989a, b) and the hypothesis of knowledge encapsulation in which biomedical knowledge becomes encapsulated into clinical knowledge (Schmidt & Boshuizen, 1992).     

The role of executive processes in prospective memory tasks

Prospective remembering refers to remembering and acting on behavioural intentions. Three experiments tested the hypothesis that prospective remembering requires the availability of executive processes. It was expected that this is more important when intentions are stated in categorical terms. Type of instruction (specific versus categorical), typicality of the cue in relation to the category specified, and executive load were manipulated. Results showed a general benefit of specific instructions. Furthermore, with categorical instructions, performance was better with typical cues. Although the data suggested that executive processes are responsible for the processing of cues, the load manipulation had no significant effect on the prospective memory measure. Thus, no evidence was found for the hypothesis that prospective remembering requires the availability of executive processes. It is argued that it is a matter of strategic choice whether executive processes are deployed: One does not need to monitor for cues but can choose to rely on bottom‐up processes. Monitoring may be sufficient, but not necessary for successful prospective remembering.     

Improvement in Detection of Differential Item Functioning Using a Mixture Item Response Theory Model

Usually, methods for detection of differential item functioning (DIF) compare the functioning of items across manifest groups. However, the manifest groups with respect to which the items function differentially may not necessarily coincide with the true source of the bias. It is expected that DIF detection under a model that includes a latent DIF variable is more sensitive to this source of bias. In a simulation study, it is shown that a mixture item response theory model, which includes a latent grouping variable, performs better in identifying DIF items than DIF detection methods using manifest variables only. The difference between manifest and latent DIF detection increases as the correlation between the manifest variable and the true source of the DIF becomes smaller. Different sample sizes, relative group sizes, and significance levels are studied. Finally, an empirical example demonstrates the detection of heterogeneity in a minority sample using a latent grouping variable. Manifest and latent DIF detection methods are applied to a Vocabulary test of the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB).     

Remembering the Street Names of One's Childhood Neighbourhood: A Study of Very Long-term Retention

Life-span retention of street names was studied in a sample of former students of a Dutch elementary school. Participants were requested to recall the street names of their childhood neighbourhood and indicate their position on a map. In addition, information was gathered concerning (a) the extensiveness of the original learning experience, (b) its elaborateness, and (c) the amount of interference from similar materials occurring between original learning experience and time of recall. Retention intervals varied from 0 to 71 years. Amount of exposure, elaborateness of learning, and retroactive interference all contributed to the memorability of names. In addition, the forgetting curve showed a permastore effect (Bahrick, 1984), suggesting that memory for non-schematic, incidentally learned material is subject to processes of forgetting similar to those that affect intentionally learned material, such as subject-matter acquired in school.     

The role of standing in the psychology of procedural justice: Towards theoretical integration

In the current chapter, the authors explore the relation between social standing and procedural justice. Standing is an important construct in procedural justice theories and tends to be broadly defined as the position that people have in social groups. It is argued that the standing construct suffers from conceptual ambiguity: In procedural justice literature two distinct interpretations of standing can be distinguished, one defining standing as intragroup status and one defining standing as the extent to which people are included in social groups. Furthermore, it is argued that research findings on the relation between standing and procedural justice are not conclusive. The authors review recent empirical findings that address these concerns, and conceptually integrate these findings. In closing, the authors outline avenues for future research that the procedural justice field may want to take, and discuss implications of the work reviewed here.     

Understanding dieting: A social cognitive analysis of hedonic processes in self-regulation

The present paper introduces a novel approach to understanding failures of self-regulation in chronic dieters. Traditional approaches to this problem have focused on consciously controlled processes of eating regulation, such as the realisation that one has overeaten, or the experience of food cravings. We argue, however, that dieters' problem might rather lie in their sensitivity to the hedonic aspects of food and the resulting inhibition of their dieting goal. We present a goal-conflict model that integrates recent findings on hedonic sensitivity in eating regulation with social cognition research on nonconscious goal pursuit. We show that the perception of attractive food triggers hedonic thoughts about food in chronic dieters and leads to the inhibition of their dieting goal. These processes make subsequent overeating more likely, while bypassing dieters' conscious awareness. We discuss how our model can accommodate earlier research findings in this area, and we consider its implications for dieting behaviour and for our attempts to resist temptations more generally.     

Webcam testing: Validation of an innovative open-ended multimedia test

A modern test that takes advantage of the opportunities provided by advancements in computer technology is the multimedia test. The purpose of this study was to investigate the criterion-related validity of a specific open-ended multimedia test, namely a webcam test, by means of a concurrent validity study. In a webcam test a number of work-related situations are presented and participants have to respond as if these were real work situations. The responses are recorded with a webcam. The aim of the webcam test which we investigated is to measure the effectiveness of social work behaviour. This first field study on a webcam test was conducted in an employment agency in The Netherlands. The sample consisted of 188 consultants who participated in a certification process. For the webcam test, good interrater reliabilities and internal consistencies were found. The results showed the webcam test to be significantly correlated with job placement success. The webcam test scores were also found to be related to job knowledge. Hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated that the webcam test has incremental validity up to and beyond job knowledge in predicting job placement success. The webcam test, therefore, seems a promising type of instrument for personnel selection.