Terror management and adults' attachment to their parents: the safe haven remains

Six studies examined the role of young adults' parental attachment in terror management. Studies 1-3 revealed that activating thoughts of one's parent in response to mortality salience (MS) reduced death-thought accessibility and worldview defense and increased feelings of self-worth. Studies 4-5 demonstrated that MS led to greater ease of recalling positive maternal interactions and greater difficulty recalling negative interactions, and increased attraction to a stranger who was described as being similar to one's parent. If reliance on parents for terror management purposes reflects the operation of attachment mechanisms, then such effects should vary on the basis of an individual's attachment style. Study 6 demonstrated that, after MS, insecure individuals were more likely to rely on relationships with their parents, whereas secure individuals were more likely to rely on relationships with romantic partners.     

Helping a child with multiple disabilities endure a demanding physical posture through self-managed access to preferred stimuli

This study assessed whether a child with multiple disabilities would endure a difficult (standing) position more easily if allowed to access preferred stimuli while in that position. The study included an ABAB sequence with 2- and 3-mo. postintervention checks. Data showed that self-managed access to preferred stimuli during the B phases of the study and the postintervention checks reduced the child's indices of unhappiness, frowning and crying, while increasing his object contact and smiles as indices of happiness.     

Monitoring eye movements to investigate the picture superiority effect in spatial memory

Spatial memory is usually better for iconic than for verbal material. Our aim was to assess whether such effect is related to the way iconic and verbal targets are viewed when people have to memorize their locations. Eye movements were recorded while participants memorized the locations of images or words. Images received fewer, but longer, gazes than words. Longer gazes on images might reflect greater attention devoted to images due to their higher sensorial distinctiveness and/or generation with images of an additional phonological code beyond the visual code immediately available. We found that words were scanned mainly from left to right while a more heterogeneous scanning strategy characterized encoding of images. This suggests that iconic configurations tend to be maintained as global integrated representations in which all the item/location pairs are simultaneously present whilst verbal configurations are maintained through more sequential processes.     

The role of drug use in a conceptual model of intimate partner violence in men and women arrested for domestic violence.

In a previous study, alcohol problems in perpetrators and their partners contributed directly and indirectly to intimate partner violence (IPV), even after including other correlates of violence in the model (G. L. Stuart et al., 2006). The present study extends these findings by examining the role of illicit drug use. We recruited 271 men and 135 women arrested for IPV and used structural equation modeling to examine the data. Results showed that drug use, as reported by the perpetrators, was a stronger predictor of IPV than were alcohol problems in perpetrators and their partners. Arrested males' marijuana use and stimulant use (i.e., cocaine and amphetamines) were associated with perpetration of IPV, and their report of their female partners' stimulant use was associated with her violence perpetration. In arrested women, specific substances used did not predict violence perpetration beyond other model variables; however, female perpetrators' report of male partners' stimulant use predicted male psychological and physical aggression, after controlling for other variables. These results provide further evidence that drug problems by both partners may be important in the evolution of aggression. Implications for batterer intervention programs are discussed.     

Keeping the collectivity in mind?

The key question in this three way debate is the role of the collectivity and of agency. Collins and Shrager debate whether cognitive psychology has, like the sociology of knowledge, always taken the mind to extend beyond the individual. They agree that irrespective of the history, socialization is key to understanding the mind and that this is compatible with Clark’s position; the novelty in Clark’s “extended mind” position appears to be the role of the material rather than the role of other minds. Collins and Clark debate the relationship between self, agency, and the human collectivity. Collins argues that the Clark’s extended mind fails to stress the asymmetry of the relationship between the self and its material “scaffolding.” Clark accepts that there is asymmetry but that an asymmetrical ensemble is sufficient to explain the self. Collins says that we know too little about the material world to pursue such a model to the exclusion of other approaches including that both the collectivity and language have agency. The collectivity must be kept in mind! (Though what follows is a robust exchange of views it is also a cooperative effort, authors communicating “backstage” with each other to try to make the disagreements as clear and to the point as possible.)

A further comparison of external control and problem‐solving interventions to teach social skills to adults with intellectual disabilities

We compared the effectiveness of a problem‐solving and an external control intervention to teach social skills to two adults with mild intellectual disabilities. Each participant received the problem‐solving intervention with one social skill and the external control intervention with another social skill. The comparative effectiveness of the social skill training protocols was evaluated using individual participant alternating treatment designs. Overall, there seemed to be little difference between the interventions in terms of acquisition, generalization, or maintenance of social skills with either participant. Limitations of the current study and issues for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Measuring Positive Affect,Negative Affect,and Physiological Hyperarousal among Italian Youth: Translations of the PANAS-C and PH-C

Italian-language versions of the Positive and Negative Affect Scale for Children (PANAS-C; Laurent et al. Psychological Assessment, 11, 326–338, 1999) and Physiological Hyperarousal Scale for Children (PH-C; Laurent et al. Psychological Assessment, 16, 373–380, 2004) were developed. Students (N = 1026; M age = 12.05 years, SD = 1.49) from central Italy completed these scales. Measures were evaluated based on criteria from previous studies resulting in an 11-item PANAS-C PA scale (α = .88), a 13-item PANAS-C NA scale (α = .87), and a 14-item PH-C (α = .85). Confirmatory factor analyses resulted in best-fit indices that favored a 3-factor model consistent with the tripartite model of anxiety and depression. Similar to results reported with the original English-language and other translations of these measures, scores on the PA scale were lower and scores on the NA and PH scales were higher for older girls than older boys and younger boys and girls. Findings suggested that the psychometric properties of the Italian-language versions of the PANAS-C and PH-C were similar to the English-language versions and other translated versions of the measures.     

Meta-analyses in sales research

Meta-analytic inquiries enable researchers to synthesize empirical findings obtained over the evolution of a topic area and identify boundary conditions affecting the associations of key variables. Sales researchers can employ meta-analytic techniques to amalgamate empirical work conducted in a given topic area, and several sales researchers have effectively used meta-analyses to advance our understanding of the field. This article provides an exposition of this research design by analyzing its application in sales research. The authors review the meta-analytic studies in sales research and advance key considerations in topical foci, article selection, data coding and evaluation, and analytic approaches. An empirical example is provided to illustrate the power of meta-analysis in substantiating or refuting findings that diverge from accumulated insight in sales research. Results provide support for a positive effort–job satisfaction association in contrast to findings evidencing a negative association between these variables. A second empirical example is used to evaluate the nomological and discriminant validity of two related constructs: job involvement and organizational commitment. Results suggest that these two constructs may be empirically redundant. The authors also provide guidance for the future in regard to new substantive research areas, construct assessment, and additional types of meta-analytic approaches.