The advantage of mentally rotating clockwise

The time taken to decide whether a character is shown in its mirror or normal version has been shown to increase approximately linearly with the angular departure from an up-right position. Additionally, in some studies, decisions took longer for clockwise tilted characters than for counterclockwise tilted ones. Other studies do not report the latter effect. We argue that inconsistencies across studies are caused by variance in participants' strategies. The task employed here was specifically designed to bring these strategies and thereby the direction of rotation under experimental control. From the EEG recorded during the rotation period, we extracted an event-related slow potential whose amplitude is sensitive to the amount of mental rotation. In both strategy conditions, the slow potential's amplitude was lower for clockwise than for counterclockwise rotations. We take this as evidence that mental rotation of alphanumeric characters is easier in a clockwise than in a counterclockwise direction.     

Valuations of compensation and benefit items by new entrants into the professional workforce: Do men and women differ?

Women make up nearly half of the workforce in America, and they continue to enter fields such as business and engineering in record numbers. Additionally, more women with children under 3 years of age are remaining in the workforce. Considering these changes, examining whether the compensation and benefit preferences of male and female entrants into the workforce are different now than they were 15 to 20 years ago is relevant. This study used a sample of 195 college seniors to examine this issue. Results suggested that compensation and benefit preferences of current new entrants are somewhat different from the preferences reported in earlier studies.     

Group Process and Therapeutic Protocol of Intensive Transdiagnostic Group Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety and Personality Disorders in a Day Clinic

This brief report presents group processes and the treatment protocol of intensive, transdiagnostic group cognitive-behavior therapy for anxiety with comorbid personality disorders in a day clinic. It describes the history of and rationale for the development of this 3-month, 15-hour a week group treatment and the utilization of group processes during this therapy. The authors argue that the group format presented here allows the treatment of personality disorders that are frequently comorbid with anxiety disorders.     

A Creation Narrative for the Psychometric Society and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Psychometrika</Emphasis>: In the Beginning There Was Paul Horst

A review is provided for the creation of the Psychometric Society in 1935, and the establishment of its journal, Psychometrika, in 1936. This document is part of the 80th anniversary celebration for Psychometrika’s founding, held during the annual meeting of the Psychometric Society in July of 2016 in Asheville, NC.     

Heterophenomenology: Heavy-handed sleight-of-hand

We argue that heterophenomenology both over- and under-populates the intentional realm. For example, when one is involved in coping, one’s mind does not contain beliefs. Since the heterophenomenologist interprets all intentional commitment as belief, he necessarily overgenerates the belief contents of the mind. Since beliefs cannot capture the normative aspect of coping and perceiving, any method, such as heterophenomenology, that allows for only beliefs is guaranteed not only to overgenerate beliefs but also to undergenerate other kinds of intentional phenomena.