Social connectedness, discrimination, and social status as mediators of acculturation/enculturation and well-being

The present study proposed and tested a conceptual model of acculturation/enculturation and subjective well-being (SWB) by including social connectedness in mainstream society, social connectedness in the ethnic community, perceived discrimination, and expected social status as mediators. Survey data from 273 Asian American college students in the midwest were analyzed by using structural equation modeling. Results indicated that the effect of acculturation on SWB was mediated by social connectedness in mainstream and ethnic communities and expected social status, whereas the effect of enculturation on SWB was mediated by social connectedness in the ethnic community and expected social status. Contrary to the authors' hypothesis, perceived discrimination did not mediate the relation of acculturation and SWB, but indirectly influenced SWB via a lowered sense of connectedness to mainstream society. Approximately 46% of the variance in SWB was accounted for by the variables included in this model. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.     

Association between Depressive Symptoms and Negative Dependent Life Events from Late Childhood to Adolescence

The association between stressful life events and depression has been consistently supported in the literature; however, studies of the developmental trajectories of these constructs and the nature of their association over time are limited. We examined trajectories of depressive symptoms and negative dependent life events and the associations between these constructs in a sample of 916 youth assessed annually from age 9 to 16, using latent growth curve modeling. Youth depressive symptoms, as rated by youth, parents, and teachers, decreased from late childhood into adolescence, whereas rates of youth-rated life events did not change significantly over time. Initial levels of depressive symptoms were positively associated with initial levels of life events. Furthermore, after controlling for the initial association between the two constructs, increases in depressive symptoms (as assessed by parents and youth) were positively associated with increases in life events over time. The study builds on prior research by focusing specifically on negative dependent life events, examining results across multiple informants, and employing latent growth curve modeling to evaluate associations between trajectories of life events and depressive symptoms in a longitudinal adolescent sample. Additional studies employing latent growth modeling to examine the changes in this association during adolescence are needed.     

Procrastination Automatic Thoughts as a Personality Construct: An Analysis of the Procrastinatory Cognitions Inventory

The present paper examines the nature of procrastination-related automatic thoughts by examining the correlates of the Procrastinatory Cognitions Inventory (PCI). The PCI was administered along with numerous other measures to three samples of students (two undergraduate samples and one graduate student sample). Analyses confirmed that the PCI is associated with elevated levels of neuroticism and low levels of conscientiousness but is a unique predictor of distress over and above the variance attributable to these broad personality traits. The PCI was associated significantly with negative automatic thoughts in general as well as automatic thoughts reflecting the need to be perfect. Tests of achievement goal orientation showed that students with high scores on the PCI are focused on performance avoidance goals. Elevated levels of procrastinatory cognitions among graduate students were associated with apprehension about writing, graduate student stress, low self-actualization, and feelings of being an impostor. Overall, the findings suggest that the experience of frequent procrastination-related thoughts contributes uniquely to increased levels of psychological distress and stress. Our findings point to the potential utility of incorporating an emphasis on procrastination cognitions when conducting assessments and when implementing cognitive-behavioral interventions focused on procrastination-related themes.     

Perfectionistic Automatic Thoughts and Psychological Distress in Adolescents: An Analysis of the Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory

The present paper examines a measure of perfectionistic automatic thoughts in terms of its psychometric properties and association with depression in adolescents. The Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory (PCI) was administered to two samples of adolescents. The first sample of adolescents (N?=?250) also completed measures of trait perfectionism and depression. The second sample of adolescents (N?=?105) completed these same measures as well as measures of negative automatic thoughts, positive automatic thoughts, self-criticism, and dependency. Psychometric analyses established that the PCI consists of one large factor with a high level of internal consistency. As expected, the PCI in adolescents was correlated significantly with trait measures of perfectionism, self-criticism, dependency, as well as general measures of automatic thoughts. Most importantly, a series of hierarchical regressions established that the PCI accounted for a significant degree of unique variance in depression, over and above the variance attributable to trait personality measures and negative automatic thoughts in general. Overall, the findings suggest perfectionistic automatic thoughts can be assessed in a reliable and valid manner in adolescents and that the experience of frequent, perfectionistic thoughts contributes uniquely to increased levels of psychological distress.     

Conceptual complexity,environment complexity,communication salience and attitude change

Hypotheses derived from the Harvey, Hunt and Schroder personality organization system were tested in an attitude change situation. Female subjects selected for extremeness of conceptual structure and negative attitude toward women's equality were subjected to a sensory deprivation, a normal control or an overstimulation environment in which a high salience (HS) or a low salience (LS) communication was presented. The main prediction of a three-way interaction among conceptual structure, communication salience and environmental complexity received some support. Concrete individuals who received the HS communication showed significantly more change than those who received the LS communication. The expected reversal of this effect for abstract individuals was not found. The HS communication produced significantly greater change than the LS communication, and this difference was significantly related to environmental complexity. These findings were discussed in terms of McGuire's and Berlyne's respective proposals concerning comprehension-yielding, and arousal reduction.     

Environmental Attention,Affect, and Altruism1

Three experiments were conducted concerning the effect of attention to positive or negative images of the physical environment on altruistic behavior: I. Some subjects listed and described aspects of their residential environments that were particularly pleasant while others described particularly unpleasant aspects. II. Subjects were exposed to slides of either attractive or unattractive outdoor environments. III. Subjects viewed slides of either attractive or unattractive environments while adopting an attentional set that focused only on positive or negative aspects of the slides. After these manipulations, subjects in each experiment encountered an ostensibly unrelated confederate who sought their assistance as a favor. Experiment I subjects who had thought about pleasant environments spent significantly more time helping than those who thought about unpleasant enviornments. Experiment II subjects who saw slides of attractive environments offered significantly more aid for a longer time period than subjects who saw slides of unattractive environments. Experiment III subjects who focused on positive aspects of attractive enviornments gave more help than subjects who focused on negative aspects of attractive environments, though overall differences were not significant. Attentional set produced no differential helping effects in subjects who had viewed unattractive environments. In all three experiments mood or affect was discussed as mediating the impact of environments on behavior.     

THE USE OF IMPOSED AND SELF-SELECTED TRAINING PACKAGES TO ESTABLISH CLASSROOM TEACHING SKILLS1

Although much is known about techniques for teaching elementary pupils in the classroom, no procedures have been consistently effective in training teachers to use these techniques. In the present study, six teacher trainees were observed individually and trained sequentially to use a variety of teaching skills: praise for academic responses, praise for appropriate classroom behavior, correction procedures for incorrect academic responses, and token fines. These skills were examined under four conditions: (1) baseline sessions were taught by the trainees before any instructions on the use of the teaching skills. (2) Instruction sessions were taught by the trainees after they were given instructions describing the use of several teaching skills. (3) During each Imposed-Package session, the trainees received modelling, verbal feedback, graphic feedback, and grade and quiz contingencies on their use of a particular teaching skill. (4) During each Self-Selected Package session, a grade contingency was in effect with the trainees choosing the components (modelling, verbal feedback, graphic feedback, quiz contingency) they wanted included in their training package for a particular skill. The effects of instructions were quite varied. Large increases on three of the four skills occurred with one trainee; almost no changes occurred with another trainee; and changes with the remaining four trainees fell within these extremes. The Imposed and Self-Selected Packages reliably increased the use of teaching skills, including those skills for which instructions had not been effective. The Self-Selected Package was considered to be as effective as the Imposed Package, since the time required for training a teaching skill varied from two to nine sessions with both packages. Under the Self-Selected Package, the trainees chose from modelling, verbal feedback, and graphic feedback, but none chose the quiz contingency. Questionnaire data collected after training showed that all six trainees preferred the Self-Selected Package to the Imposed Package. The effectiveness of the Self-Selected Package, together with the trainees' preference for it, suggests that it may be desirable for teacher training programs to specify the teaching skills, arrange a contingency for performance, and allow trainees to choose which additional components are to be used in each training session.     

Effect of display movement on tactile pattern perception

The effect of display movement on the ability of subjects to recognize alphabetic shapes tactually was investigated. The display consisted of a computer-controlled 8-by-6 array of small airjet stimulators that could be physically translated in a small circle by means of a mechanical linkage. The experimental parameters were the stimulus duration, the angular velocity of the display, and the amplitude of the rotation. Recognition accuracy increased with stimulus duration between 100 and 400 msec. For a rotation amplitude of 0.8 cm, a maximum in recognition accuracy occurred at a rotation velocity of 400 rpm, or 150 msec. per revolution. The optimum angular velocity appeared to decrease as the amplitude of rotation increased. From these results and certain related neurophysiological evidence, a hypothetical model is suggested which qualitatively can account for the data.     

Retrograde Enhancement of Human Kinesthetic Memory by Alcohol: Consolidation or Protection against Interference?

Alcohol intake is known to impair memory in animals and humans. However, five studies reported that “medium” (0.05 ml/kg body weight) to “high” (1.0 ml/kg body weight) doses of alcohol improved memory when drunk immediately after initial learning of verbal or visual material. It was proposed that alcohol brought about this retroactive facilitation either through enhanced consolidation of memory traces or by protecting against retroactive interference. The present double blind study compared the performances of an alcohol and a placebo group on a kinesthetic memory task before alcohol or placebo intake and at retest 1 h after consumption. A second experiment was identical to the first except that all subjects carried out two trials on a T maze in the hour between testing and retesting. The alcohol group in the first experiment performed significantly better than the placebo group at retest (p< .05) but this was not the case in the second experiment. Alcohol therefore enhanced performance on the kinesthetic memory task in the first experiment but may not have protected against the moderate interference from the T maze in the second. The low levels of alcohol could have had a stimulant effect on trace consolidation, perhaps via raised blood glucose levels.     

Dimensions of perfectionism and constructive thinking as a coping response

The present study examined perfectionism and general coping ability as assessed by a new measure of constructive thinking. A sample of 77 students completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS) and the Constructive Thinking Inventory (CTI). The MPS provides measures of selforiented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism, while the CTI provides various measures, including summary scores of global constructive thinking, emotional coping, behavioral coping, categorical thinking, personal superstitious thinking, naive optimism, and esoteric thinking. Subjects also completed a measure of depressive symptoms so that we could examine perfectionism and coping independent of current levels of adjustment. The main finding was that socially prescribed perfectionism was associated with less constructive thinking and more negative coping across most of the CTI subscales, and these associations remained significant after removing variance due to levels of depression symptoms. Self-oriented perfectionism was adaptive in that it was associated with active forms of behavioral coping, but it was maladaptive in that it was associated with a form of emotional coping involving reduced self-acceptance. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the cognitive treatment of perfectionists. Queen's University This research was supported by grant #410-91-0856 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada awarded to the authors