Religious Experience,Development, and Diversity

Pastoral Psychology - Religious experience is a complex construct susceptible to various forms of influence. As religious experience is a very broad construct, this paper focuses primarily on one...     

Alternate Approaches to Understanding the Psychometric Properties of Assessment Centers: An analysis of the structure and equivalence of exercise ratings

The present study uses an alternate analytical framework to examine the degree to which performance is differentiated by dimensions in assessment center (AC) exercises and whether these performance dimensions are rated on the same scale across exercises. Confirmatory factor analysis likelihood ratio tests supported the presence of three broad latent performance dimensions in each of three AC exercises. Additional tests revealed that five of six manifest performance dimensions were rated on the same psychological scale across exercises. Taken together, our results support a multidimensional interpretation of AC exercises and provide empirical support to the notion that differences in AC performance across exercises reflect true performance, rather than a measurement artifact.     

Gadd45b knockout mice exhibit selective deficits in hippocampus-dependent long-term memory

Growth arrest and DNA damage-inducible β (Gadd45b) has been shown to be involved in DNA demethylation and may be important for cognitive processes. Gadd45b is abnormally expressed in subjects with autism and psychosis, two disorders associated with cognitive deficits. Furthermore, several high-throughput screens have identified Gadd45b as a candidate plasticity-related gene. However, a direct demonstration of a link between Gadd45b and memory has not been established. The current studies first determined whether expression of the Gadd45 family of genes was affected by contextual fear conditioning. Gadd45b, and to a lesser extent Gadd45g, were up-regulated in the hippocampus following contextual fear conditioning, whereas Gadd45a was not. Next, Gadd45b knockout mice were tested for contextual and cued fear conditioning. Gadd45b knockout mice exhibited a significant deficit in long-term contextual fear conditioning; however, they displayed normal levels of short-term contextual fear conditioning. No differences between Gadd45b knockout and wild-type mice were observed in cued fear conditioning. Because cued fear conditioning is hippocampus independent, while contextual fear conditioning is hippocampus dependent, the current studies suggest that Gadd45b may be important for long-term hippocampus-dependent memory storage. Therefore, Gadd45b may be a novel therapeutic target for the cognitive deficits associated with many neurodevelopmental, neurological, and psychiatric disorders.     

Standard Dominance Versus Creation of Interludes of Equalization of Power in the Psychoanalytic Situation: Discussion of Case Presentation by Joseph Newirth

Joseph Newirth tells us that it is his aim in the analytic work to facilitate a “symmetrical dialogue [that] involves an equalization of power, [and] a radical view of mutuality and of self-disclosure in the analytic relationship.” My thesis here is that the process falls short of that objective. Instead, it is characterized by an enactment in which the analyst is always dominant. Several examples of “power plays” are presented in which the analyst, in a manner partially institutionalized as standard psychoanalytic practice, repeatedly gains the upper hand in the analytic relationship. One important aspect of this enactment entails a systematic bias in favor of interpretations that attribute neurotic, primitive, or regressive motives to the patient at the expense of hearing and taking seriously the patient's more mature perceptions and judgments, including those focused on the analyst himself.     

Reconsidering the Equivalence of Multisource Performance Ratings: Evidence for the Importance and Meaning of Rater Factors

Purpose

The study specified an alternate model to examine the measurement invariance of multisource performance ratings (MSPRs) to systematically investigate the theoretical meaning of common method variance in the form of rater effects. As opposed to testing invariance based on a multigroup design with raters aggregated within sources, this study specified both performance dimension and idiosyncratic rater factors.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data was obtained from 5,278 managers from a wide range of organizations and hierarchical levels, who were rated on the BENCHMARKS^® MSPR instrument.

Findings

Our results diverged from prior research such that MSPRs were found to lack invariance for raters from different levels. However, same level raters provided equivalent ratings in terms of both the performance dimension loadings and rater factor loadings.

Implications

The results illustrate the importance of modeling rater factors when investigating invariance and suggest that rater factors reflect substantively meaningful variance, not bias.

Originality/Value

The current study applies an alternative model to examine invariance of MSPRs that allowed us to answer three questions that would not be possible with more traditional multigroup designs. First, the model allowed us to examine the impact of paramaterizing idiosyncratic rater factors on inferences of cross-rater invariance. Next, including multiple raters from each organizational level in the MSPR model allowed us to tease apart the degree of invariance in raters from the same source, relative to raters from different sources. Finally, our study allowed for inferences with respect to the invariance of idiosyncratic rater factors.     

Not Much More Than g? An Examination of the Impact of Intelligence on NFL Performance

The purpose of this study was to determine the efficiency and equity of general mental ability (GMA) in a nontraditional employment setting—professional football. The National Football League (NFL) uses a measure of GMA, the Wonderlic Personnel Test, to evaluate potential draftees in an assessment-style environment. A total of 762 NFL players, represented from three draft classes, were included in our sample. In terms of efficiency, results indicated that GMA was unrelated to (a) future NFL performance, (b) selection decisions during the NFL Draft, and (c) the number of games started in the NFL. In regards to equity, differential prediction analyses by race suggested only the existence of intercept bias. The implications of these findings to the NFL and the selection literature are further discussed.     

Just Think About It: Mindfulness, Sexism, and Prejudice Toward Feminists

This study examined the relation between mindfulness, sexist motivations and beliefs, and prejudice toward women who violate traditional gender roles—namely feminists. In a preliminary study, 672 (251 men, 421 women) undergraduates from a United States Midwestern university completed a measure of mindfulness and warmth toward feminists and consistent with hypotheses, more mindfulness was associated with more warmth toward feminists. Extending this initial finding to the main study, 653 (273 men, 380 women) undergraduates from a U.S. Midwestern university completed measures of mindfulness, motivation to respond without sexism, ambivalent sexism, and warmth toward feminists. Consistent with hypotheses, compared to women participants, men participants were lower on internal motivation to respond without sexism, higher on hostile and benevolent sexism and less warm toward feminists. Also consistent with hypotheses, for men participants, more mindfulness was associated with higher internal motivation to respond without sexism, less benevolent sexism, and more warmth toward feminists. In contrast, for women participants, more mindfulness was only associated with less hostile sexism. Finally, a path analysis revealed that the positive relation between mindfulness and warmth toward feminists for men participants was partially mediated by more internal motivation to respond without sexism (i.e., a significant indirect effect), but not by less sexist beliefs. Implications for mindfulness, sexism, and prejudice more generally are discussed.     

Parent–child interaction therapy (PCIT) in young children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

Parent–child interaction therapy (PCIT) is an evidence-based treatment for typically developing children with disruptive behavior. We conducted a randomized-controlled trial of PCIT versus wait-list control (WLC) with 23 children with ASD (3–7?years) and disruptive behavior. Over 16 treatment sessions, PCIT significantly predicted reductions in disruptive behavior over WLC and explained a significant variation in scores on the ECBI Intensity subscale. Additionally, parent skills improved significantly compared to WLC. However, no statistically significant group differences were found on child compliance rates, autism severity, or parental stress. Results support PCIT as an evidence-based treatment for disruptive behavior in ASD.

• Highlights

• Parent skills were significantly improved for those receiving PCIT

• Intensity of disruptive behaviors decreased significantly for those receiving PCIT

• Parental stress and autism severity did not significantly decrease with PCIT

     

The role of eye fixations in concentration and amplification effects during multiple object tracking

When tracking spatially extended objects in a multiple object tracking task, attention is preferentially directed to the centres of those objects (attentional concentration), and this effect becomes more pronounced as object length increases (attentional amplification). However, it is unclear whether these effects depend on differences in attentional allocation or differences in eye fixations. We addressed this question by measuring eye fixations in a dual-task paradigm that required participants to track spatially extended objects, while simultaneously detecting probes that appeared at the centres or near the endpoints of objects. Consistent with previous research, we observed concentration and amplification effects: Probes at the centres of objects were detected more readily than those near their endpoints, and this difference increased with object length. Critically, attentional concentration was observed when probes were equated for distance from fixation during free viewing, and concentration and amplification were observed without eye movements during strict fixation. We conclude that these effects reflect the prioritization of covert attention to particular spatial regions within extended objects, and we discuss the role of eye fixations during multiple object tracking.     

Multilevel Models for Examining Individual Differences in Within-Person Variation and Covariation Over Time

Heterogeneity of variance may be more than a statistical nuisance—it may be of direct interest as a result of individual differences. In studies of short-term fluctuation, individual differences may relate to the magnitude of within-person variation as well as to level of an outcome or its covariation with other processes. Although models for heterogeneous variances have been utilized in group contexts (i.e., dispersion models), they are not usually applied in examinations of intraindividual variation. This work illustrates how an extension of the multilevel model for heterogeneous variances can be used to examine individual differences in level, between- and within-person covariation, and magnitude of within-person variation of daily positive and negative mood in persons with dementia.