Meta‐Analyses of the Relationship of Creative Achievement to Both IQ and Divergent Thinking Test Scores

There is disagreement among researchers about whether IQ tests or divergent thinking (DT) tests are better predictors of creative achievement. Resolving this dispute is complicated by the fact that some research has shown a relationship between IQ and DT test scores (e.g., Runco & Albert, 1986; Wallach, 1970). The present study conducted meta‐analyses of the relationships between creative achievement and both IQ and DT test scores. The analyses included 17 studies (with 5,544 participants) that established the correlation coefficients between IQ and creative achievement and 27 studies (with 47,197 participants) that established the correlation coefficients between DT test scores and creative achievement. Marginal, but statistically significant, Fisher's Z‐transformed correlation coefficients were revealed. The analysis found a significantly higher relationship between DT test scores and creative achievement (r = .216) than between IQ test scores and creative achievement (r = .167). The differences in the correlation coefficients were explained by differences in DT tests, creative achievement types, predicted time periods, and creativity subscales. The significant independent moderator effect for different DT tests indicates that the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) predict creative achievement better than any other DT test included in this study. Among the creative achievement types, music is predicted the best by IQ and all others are predicted best by DT tests. Among the time periods evaluated, the relationship between DT test scores and creative achievement had the highest correlation at the period of 11–15 years.     

HEALTHY, WEALTHY, OR WISE: PREDICTING ACTUAL ACCEPTANCES OF EARLY RETIREMENT INCENTIVES AT THREE POINTS IN TIME

Using a sample of several thousand faculty members and multiple measures of health, wealth, and productivity, this study examines the predictors of actual acceptance of 3 successive early retirement incentive offers. Consistent with previous research, the results here suggest that poorer health, lower salary, and higher pension benefits were significantly related to early retirement decisions. In addition, the results suggest that faculty members who planned on working part time after retirement and who expected there would be no future incentive programs were more likely to accept early retirement offers, while those with higher productivity and with spouses still in the workforce were less likely to do so. Implications for future research on early retirement and for the design of early retirement programs are discussed as well.     

Information processing bias against emotional facial expressions in social anxiety

The present study examined whether information processing bias against emotional facial expressions is present among individuals with social anxiety. College students with high (high social anxiety group; n  = 26) and low social anxiety (low social anxiety group; n  = 26) performed three different types of working memory tasks: (a) ordering positive and negative facial expressions according to the intensity of emotion; (b) ordering pictures of faces according to age; and (c) ordering geometric shapes according to size. The high social anxiety group performed significantly more poorly than the low social anxiety group on the facial expression task, but not on the other two tasks with the nonemotional stimuli. These results suggest that high social anxiety interferes with processing of emotionally charged facial expressions.     

CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATION AND ATTITUDE CHANGE: A MULTIDIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS1

The processes by which political attitude changes occur have been examined extensively from a variety of methodological and theoretical perspectives. In this study, the authors attempt to extend the traditional balance formulation to a continuously-scaled least-squares paradigm in which change occurs as a function of accumulated information. A longitudinal tracking of the changes in attitude toward parties, candidates, and issues is used to make predictions about subsequent attitudes and consequent voting behavior. Possible communicative influences from a political campaign are explored with regard to their impact on changes in concept relations. Analysis of political changes hypotheses and a critical examination of the methodology are used as the basis for suggesting improvements in campaign communication research.     

Role of stiffness in weight perception

Abstract:  Here, we focused on a load-on task to clarify the judgment mechanism for weight perception. We measured hand trajectory and surface electromyography to estimate time-varying stiffness and torque patterns in joints. Our results showed that the goal of learning motor skills under load-on tasks is to maintain the hand position, and that humans produce force with cocontraction and increasing stiffness levels according to the weight of an object. Finally, we examined whether stiffness is an effective parameter as an efferent signal for weight perception and found that stiffness plays an important role in weight perception.     

Gender,attachment, and relationship duration on cardiovascular reactivity to stress in a laboratory study of dating couples

Stress related to relationship events has been a strong predictor of cardiovascular reactivity. This four‐phase laboratory study used a multiple‐nested design to examine variations in diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and rate‐pressure product (RPP: pulse rate [PR] × systolic blood pressure [SBP]) as a function of stress appraisal using 33 college‐aged dating couples. Individual participants filled out questionnaires designed to assess the length of their relationships (couple‐level factor), gender and attachment styles (individual‐level factors); watched a film clip depicting relationship distress; discussed relationship problems; then received instruction for relaxation. Individuals’ self‐reported stress and negative affect levels (experimental phase‐level factors), DBP, SBP, and PR were also measured at each study phase. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses revealed that relationships with longer duration were associated with higher levels of DBP and RPP as perceived stress levels increased. Also, as perceived stress levels increased, men or individuals high in the anxiety dimension of attachment showed higher DBP and RPP reactivity, whereas individuals high in the avoidance dimension of attachment showed lower RPP reactivity. As the negative affect level increased, individuals high in the avoidance dimension of attachment showed lower RPP reactivity. Findings imply that under relationship stress, individuals high in avoidance or anxiety dimensions of attachment may be vulnerable to a range of physical symptoms, such as cardiovascular disease or hypertension.     

WHAT KIND OF PHILOSOPHER WAS LOCKE ON MIND AND BODY?

The wide range of conflicting interpretations that exist in regard to Locke's philosophy of mind and body (i.e. dualistic, materialist, idealistic) can be explained by the general failure of commentators to appreciate the full extent of his nominalism. Although his nominalism that focuses on specific natural kinds has been much discussed, his mind‐body nominalism remains largely neglected. This neglect, I shall argue, has given rise to the current diversity of interpretations. This paper offers a solution to this interpretative puzzle, and it attributes a view to Locke that I shall describe as nominal symmetry.