Attention AND mentalizing? Reframing a debate on social orienting of attention

ABSTRACT

People spontaneously attend where others are looking. Recently, it has been debated whether such orienting behaviour is supported by domain-general attentional processes, that involve reading the cues’ directional properties, or by processes that involve attributing mental states to agents. In this Opinion, we summarize key evidence for each position and argue that instead of favouring one or the other view, the available data point to an integrated framework in which the attribution of mental states and the operation of domain-general attentional processes both contribute to social orienting. In addition to providing a novel perspective, this view opens several fruitful future research avenues aimed at understanding how the two processes act together to influence cognitions and behaviour.     

Incrementality and Prediction in Human Sentence Processing

We identify a number of principles with respect to prediction that, we argue, underpin adult language comprehension: (a) comprehension consists in realizing a mapping between the unfolding sentence and the event representation corresponding to the real-world event being described; (b) the realization of this mapping manifests as the ability to predict both how the language will unfold, and how the real-world event would unfold if it were being experienced directly; (c) concurrent linguistic and nonlinguistic inputs, and the prior internal states of the system, each drive the predictive process; (d) the representation of prior internal states across a representational substrate common to the linguistic and nonlinguistic domains enables the predictive process to operate over variable time frames and variable levels of representational abstraction. We review empirical data exemplifying the operation of these principles and discuss the relationship between prediction, event structure, thematic role assignment, and incrementality.     

Mental Disorders in Children and Parents in Family Law Proceedings: Cases on Child Protection Matters Versus Child Custody and Visitation Issues

Psychologists can contribute considerably to decision making in family law proceedings. The mental health of the parents and the children forms an important factor in psychological evaluation. It is the overall aim of this study to specifically examine the occurrence of mental disorders in evaluated family members in cases of termination of parental rights as opposed to cases of child custody and visitation rights. This data are based on 297 psychological evaluations completed between 2008 and 2012 at an evaluator association in Bremen, Germany. In this retrospective content analysis, evaluation reports were examined for indications of mental disorders in children, mothers and fathers. The data were assessed in bivariate analyses and logistic regression models. A total rate above 39 % indicates a comparatively high exposure to mental disorders of children and adolescents in this sample. A mental disorder of the mother and a mental disorder of the father occur significantly more often in cases of termination of parental rights than in cases of child custody/visitation rights. Children and adolescents who showed aggressive-dissocial behavior and aggressive-oppositional behavior were significantly more likely to be evaluated in legal issues of termination of parental rights as opposed to child custody/visitation rights. Restrictions in parental mental health and parenting capacity should be carefully weighed against restrictions in the mental health of the children and their developmental needs when conducting psychological evaluation.     

The impact of “non-targeted traits” on personality test faking,hiring, and workplace deviance

Evidence suggests that job applicants often “fake” on pre-employment personality tests by attempting to portray an exceedingly desirable impression in order to improve the likelihood of being selected. In the current research we shed light on the personality characteristics of those individuals who seem most likely to engage in faking. We refer to these personality variables as non-targeted traits when they are not directly targeted by the organization’s pre-employment personality test. These traits, however, may have an influence on targeted scores used for employment decision making through their effect on faking. Findings suggest that individuals will be more likely to be hired if they are low on non-targeted traits including Honesty–Humility, Integrity, and Morality, and high on Risk Taking. Such individuals also reported higher levels of workplace deviance in their current jobs. Thus, it seems that individuals low on Honesty–Humility, Integrity, and Morality, and individuals high on Risk Taking, may be most likely to engage in personality test faking, be hired, and participate in workplace deviant behaviors if these traits are not directly targeted in selection.     

Developmental cascades: linking academic achievement and externalizing and internalizing symptoms over 20 years

A developmental cascade model linking competence and symptoms was tested in a study of a normative, urban school sample of 205 children (initially 8 to 12 years old). Internalizing and externalizing symptoms and academic competence were assessed by multiple methods at the study outset and after 7, 10, and 20 years. A series of nested cascade models was tested through structural equation modeling. The final model indicated 2 hypothesized cascade effects: Externalizing problems evident in childhood appeared to undermine academic competence by adolescence, which subsequently showed a negative effect on internalizing problems in young adulthood. A significant exploratory effect was consistent with internalizing symptoms containing or lowering the net risk for externalizing problems under some conditions. These 3 cascade effects did not differ by gender and were not attributable to effects of IQ, parenting quality, or socioeconomic differences. Implications are discussed for developmental models of cascades, progressions, and preventive interventions.