Scholastic Attainment Following Severe Early Institutional Deprivation: A Study of Children Adopted from Romania

The relationship between severe early institutional deprivation and scholastic attainment at age 11 in 127 children (68 girls and 59 boys) adopted from institutions in Romania was compared to the attainment of 49 children (17 girls and 32 boys) adopted within the UK from a non-institutional background. Overall, children adopted from Romania had significantly lower attainment scores than those adopted within the UK; the children within the Romanian sample who had spent 6 months or more in an institution had significantly lower attainment scores than those who had spent less than 6 months in an institution, but there was no additional risk of low attainment associated with longer institutional care after 6 months. The lower scholastic attainment in the children adopted from Romanian institutions, as compared with domestic adoptees, was mediated by IQ, and to a lesser degree, inattention/overactivity. When these factors were taken into account, only small between-group differences in attainment remained.     

Friendship Interactions in Children with and without Depressive Symptoms: Observation of Emotion during Game-Playing Interactions and Post-Game Evaluations

This observational study supplements the strong and consistent link found between childhood depression and deficits in interpersonal functioning by examining the relationship between a high versus low score on the Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) and children’s emotions when interacting with their best friends. High-CDI and low-CDI target children (n=86) were paired for videotaped game-playing with self-reported best friends. Researchers found that although high-CDI target children were not distinguishable from low-CDI peers in their displays of positive and negative emotion. However, the partners of high-CDI target children displayed significantly more negative emotion during the competitive task and significantly less positive emotion during the cooperative task than did partners of low-CDI target children. In addition, high-CDI target children and their partners reported less enjoyment of their interactions than low-CDI target children and their partners. This combination of findings suggests that depressive symptoms were associated with a relative lack of success achieving an optimal friendship interaction even under highly favorable conditions.     

The relationship between reduplicated babble onset and laterality biases in infant rhythmic arm movements

This study examined changes in rhythmic arm shaking and laterality biases in infants observed longitudinally at three points: just prior to, at, and just following reduplicated babble onset. Infants (ranging in age from 4 to 9 months at babble onset) were videotaped at home as they played with two visually identical audible and silent rattles presented at midline for 1.5 min each. Rate of rattle shaking increased sharply from the pre-babble to the babble onset session; but there was no indication that this increase was specific to the right arm. This finding suggests that the link between babble onset and increased rhythmic arm activity may not be the product of language-specific mechanisms, but is rather part of a broader developmental process that is also perceptual and motor.     

Parallel processing of stimulus features during RSVP: evidence from the second response

When observers are asked to report a feature of a single target displayed in rapid serial visual presentation, they frequently make errors. Most frequently, a feature from the to-be-reported dimension pertaining to a stimulus presented near the target is reported. These migrations are so-called illusory conjunctions in the time domain. From parallel models, it is proposed that during the presentation of the series, the response features of the stimuli are extracted. If a high rate of presentation does not enable proper binding processes, the system could base its response on sophisticated guessing on the basis of the relative levels of activation of the available response features. However, the multiple extractions assumption has not received direct empirical support. We report two experiments in which the observers had to report their first and second response candidates. This double response paradigm makes it possible to test the assumption that more than one response feature is available for making a response. Furthermore, the application of the constant ratio rule (following Botella, Barriopedro, & Suero's, 2001, model) to the first responses allows predictions for the ratios between choices of the items for the second responses. The correlations between the observed and the predicted response proportions were .887 and .956 in the two experiments. This high predictive capacity indicates, first, that the observers have more than one response available, among which to choose, and second, that the choice among responses is determined largely in the same way for both, first and second responses. Nevertheless, the small errors in prediction are further reduced if a proportion of pure guesses is assumed in the second responses. These are probably due to memory losses, misidentifications of the features, and other factors impairing performance in second responses in comparison with first responses.     

Between-group differences and taxometrics

In psychological research it can be of interest to differentiate between the categorical (taxonic) vs dimensional (nontaxonic) nature of phenomena, for example in the field of psychopathology. For categorical (taxonic) structures a further differentiation is possible: between categorical structures with dimensional equivalence and a substantial main effect, and structures without dimensional equivalence (independent of the main effect). Previous taxometric studies have not concentrated in an explicit way on the case of nonequivalence. It is shown here that under favorable circumstances both types of categorical structures can be detected using the taxometric procedure L-Mode, but that they cannot be differentiated from one another.     

Language Switching and Mexican Americans' Emotional Expression

This study examined the effects of counselor language switching and counselor ethnicity on bilingual Mexican American participants' emotional self‐disclosure. Counselor language (English only and Spanish with English) was crossed with counselor ethnicity (Mexican American and European American) to produce 4 treatment conditions. Judges' observations revealed that the European American counselor who language switched elicited the most emotional expression from participants. Este estudio examinó los efectos que un cambio de idioma por parte del consejero y la etnicidad del consejero tienen sobre la auto‐revelación emocional de los participantes México Americanos bilingües. El idioma del consejero (sólo inglés, y español con inglés) se combinó con su etnicidad (México Americano y Euro Americano) para generar 4 condiciones de tratamiento. Las observaciones de los jueces revelaron que el consejero Euro Americano que cambió de idioma obtuvo el mayor número de expresiones emocionales de los participantes.     

The WebQuest: An Illustration of Instructional Technology Implementation in MFT Training

This teaching case illustrates the innovative application of an instructional technology modality, the WebQuest, in family therapy training. It describes what a WebQuest involves, and how it can be used as a tool for developing critical thinking and application of contemporary marriage and family therapy (MFT) theory to social and global issues. The authors discuss the results of the survey and focus groups conducted to assess the value of this assignment from the students’ perspectives. Results indicate that its application in a family therapy theories course fostered students’ awareness of global issues impacting family life, integration of family therapy theories to serve children and families, creativity in developing their own intervention models, and ability to discuss and integrate knowledge from different knowledge bases and perspectives.     

信息显示板（IDB）实验在消费行为研究中的应用

信息显示板（Information Display Board, IDB）实验是一种过程跟踪技术,以m×n矩阵方式呈现信息阵列,通过观测被试信息检索和浏览的一系列行为,来研究被试问题解决和决策中的信息获得（information acquisition）过程。Mouselab是常用的IDB计算机化程序。消费者是有限理性的问题解决者,因此IDB实验被用于消费行为领域的研究。应用不同的IDB实验设置,研究者探索了消费决策中消费者信息获得的模式和影响因素。     

道家管理心理思想概要

在对道家著作中关于治国论述的梳理基础上,提出道家管理心理思想的6个主要方面：“无为”的管理原则,辩证的管理谋略,清虚自守的领导品质,注重知人的人力资源论,善用众智的决策思想,把握时机的时间管理意识。