Differential diagnostic value of the Diagnostic Test for Cerebral Damage in clinical practice

The paper considers the effective inclusion in differential diagnosis of DCS in decisions involving groups of patients not yet primarily exposed to the process. 55 patients were involved in two samples taken within the group as a whole. One of the samples is characterised as being unambiguously diagnosed neurotic without there being any neurologic-psychiatric or other (internal medical) findings (no organic brain injury, no symptoms of seizure, no cerebro-vascular insufficiency CVI, etc.). The other sample comprehended patients with a clear CVI diagnosis, minor EEG findings, and with or without internal medical findings. By applying a specific "index of instability" resulted in an assured diagnostic distinction.     

Further development and restandardization of an approach to the diagnosis of aggressive social behavior in childhood

The present paper continues and concludes an investigation into the restandardization of a first attempt, checked in respect of content and method, at the diagnosis of aggressive social behavior initially concentrating on the 9-11 age group. The work has its origin in a paper by Petermann and Petermann (1980), which we consider could be of significance to gradual restandardization, both in methodological research and in practical clinical application. A previous article demonstrated under various aspects the fundamental suitability of the attempt to restandardization. Arising out of this and the present analysis, some fundamental consequences, both in content and in method, of a fuller development and the therapy oriented employment of the attempt are discussed.     

Impact of Ethnicity,Gender, and Previous Experience on Juror Judgments in Sexual Harassment Cases1

To examine the influence of gender, having been the target of sexual harassment, and ethnicity on jury decisions, 215 respondents reviewed 17 sexual harassment cases ranging on a continuum from relatively innocent to severe. Respondents indicated their perception of the offensiveness of the cases as well as whether they would vote for the plaintiff or for the defendant. Jurors voting for the plaintiff also indicated whether monetary damages should be awarded. Results of the study indicate that gender and prior experience with sexual harassment affect the outcomes in sexual harassment cases when behaviors can be classified as ambiguous. Results were mixed for the influence of gender and having been sexually harassed for relatively innocent and severe cases. No ethnicity effects were found. A discussion of the legal implications of these findings is included.     

Diagnosis of asocial, aggressive behavior--experiences with Petermann and Petermann's "EAS"

This article describes the testing and first application under standardized conditions of Petermann and Petermann's psychometric test for assessing aggressive social behaviour in specific situations among children aged 9 to 11 years in the GDR. Experience gained in using the test is reported, and orientational scores are given as a first step towards restandardization for this age span. The possibility of standardizing the test for application in the GDR is discussed, and proposals are made to broaden the test (especially by the development of an appropriate scoring scale). The connections between the scores and a few other important test variables are discussed, and the author shows clearly that the results of the test and the answers given depend on the "tendency to social desirability".     

Application of the Bower and Trabasso theory to four-category concept learning with probabilistic feedback

Four-category conjunctive concept problems were learned under nine different conditions with the number of irrelevant dimensions and the percentage of correct feedback as independent variables. Concept identification performance could be adequately predicted by assuming that the two relevant dimensions defining the conjunctive problems were learned concurrently and independently. A generalized version of the Bower-Trabasso theory of concept identification, encompassing a distinct response learning phase, was applied to the data. The theory adequately described performance under conditions with consistently correct feedback. Several alternative models for learning under misinformative feedback conditions were developed from the theory. Using parameter estimates from data under correct feedback conditions, these models were found to predict performance under misinformative feedback fairly well.     

Fear of evaluation unpacked: day-to-day correlates of fear of negative and positive evaluation

Background and objectives: Social interactions inevitably go along with repeated evaluations. Some individuals are particularly sensitive to social evaluations: Psychometric studies suggest stable and distinct individual differences on fear of negative evaluations (FNE) and fear of positive evaluation (FPE). However, little is known about day-to-day correlates of FNE and FPE, particularly their respective contribution to positive/negative affect level and affect reactivity to different stressor types.

Design: Two studies naturalistically assessed the level of negative/positive affect and its reactivity to different stressor types (from distant or close social network, work and daily hassles, assessed daily) as a function of FNE/FPE.

Method: Ecological Momentary Assessment employed five daily prompts during 12/10 days in convenience samples of 50/59 participants.

Results: FNE predicted lower positive affect level only in Study 2. Consistent across studies negative affect reactivity to stressors emanating from the distant social network was increased in individuals high in FNE or FPE.

Conclusions: Results document the relevance of both types of evaluation fears (FNE/FPE) for day-to-day affect and stress reactivity. They further specify whose evaluations are well tolerated (close network) or feared (distant network), thereby refining current psycho-evolutionary accounts of FNE/FPE.     

Effects of referential ambiguity,time constraints and addressee orientation on the production of morphologically complex words

In five experiments, participants were asked to describe unambiguously a target picture in a picture–picture paradigm. In the same-category condition, target (e.g., water bucket) and distractor picture (e.g., ice bucket) had identical names when their preferred, morphologically simple, name was used (e.g., bucket). The ensuing lexical ambiguity could be resolved by compound use (e.g., water bucket). Simple names sufficed as means of specification in other conditions, with distractors identical to the target, completely unrelated, or geometric figures. With standard timing parameters, participants produced mainly ambiguous answers in Experiment 1. An increase in available processing time hardly improved unambiguous responding (Experiment 2). A referential communication instruction (Experiment 3) increased the number of compound responses considerably, but morphologically simple answers still prevailed. Unambiguous responses outweighed ambiguous ones in Experiment 4, when timing parameters were further relaxed. Finally, the requirement to name both objects resulted in a nearly perfect ambiguity resolution (Experiment 5). Together, the results showed that speakers overcome lexical ambiguity only when time permits, when an addressee perspective is given and, most importantly, when their own speech overtly signals the ambiguity.     

Retrieval experience in prospective memory: strategic monitoring and spontaneous retrieval

According to the multi-process model of prospective memory (McDaniel & Einstein, 2000), performance in a prospective memory task may be due to spontaneous retrieval processes or due to strategic monitoring. Spontaneous retrieval is typically accompanied by a pop up experience and strategic monitoring by a search experience. In this study we report two experiments with young adults in which we systematically investigated whether retrieval experience differed across experimental conditions. In Experiment 1 some prospective memory targets were preceded by associated primes. We expected that presenting primes would enhance performance by an automatic activation of the intention and hence lead to an increase in pop up experiences. In Experiment 2 half of the participants received instructions containing information about the specific context in which the prospective memory task would occur, whereas the other half of the participants received no such information. We expected that specific context instructions would enhance performance by legitimate anticipation of the prospective memory task and hence would lead to an increase in search experiences. The results confirmed these expectations. They indicate that the assessment of retrieval experience can provide valuable insights into the processes underlying prospective memory performance. They also suggest that retrieval experience can vary systematically across experimental situations as predicted by the multi-process model.