Exploring the unique and interactive roles of distress tolerance and negative urgency in obsessions

Recent research has implicated relationships between emotion dysregulation and obsessions. Evidence suggests low distress tolerance and greater tendency to act impulsively in the face of negative affect (or negative urgency) are strongly related to obsessions. The current study sought to examine the unique and interactive roles of distress tolerance and negative urgency in the prediction of obsessions. A large non-clinical sample (N = 238) was administered a range of self-report measures. Results revealed that both poor distress tolerance and greater negative urgency were uniquely associated with obsessions but not other obsessive-compulsive symptoms, even when controlling for gender, depression, anxiety, and generalized anxiety disorder symptoms. Additionally, low distress tolerance and high negative urgency interacted with each other in the prediction of greater obsession symptoms. Overall, the findings help clarify the emerging literature linking emotion dysregulation to obsessions.     

Go naked: diapers affect infant walking

In light of cross‐cultural and experimental research highlighting effects of childrearing practices on infant motor skill, we asked whether wearing diapers, a seemingly innocuous childrearing practice, affects infant walking. Diapers introduce bulk between the legs, potentially exacerbating infants’ poor balance and wide stance. We show that walking is adversely affected by old‐fashioned cloth diapers, and that even modern disposable diapers – habitually worn by most infants in the sample – incur a cost relative to walking naked. Infants displayed less mature gait patterns and more missteps and falls while wearing diapers. Thus, infants’ own diapers constitute an ongoing biomechanical perturbation while learning to walk. Furthermore, shifts in diapering practices may have contributed to historical and cross‐cultural differences in infant walking.     

The Effect of Prosody on Distributional Learning in 12‐ to 13‐Month‐Old Infants

Distributional information is a potential cue for learning syntactic categories. Recent studies demonstrate a developmental trajectory in the level of abstraction of distributional learning in young infants. Here we investigate the effect of prosody on infants' learning of adjacent relations between words. Twelve‐ to thirteen‐month‐old infants were exposed to an artificial language comprised of 3‐word‐sentences of the form aXb and cYd, where X and Y words differed in the number of syllables. Training sentences contained a prosodic boundary between either the first and the second word or the second and the third word. Subsequently, infants were tested on novel test sentences that contained new X and Y words and also contained a flat prosody with no grouping cues. Infants successfully discriminated between novel grammatical and ungrammatical sentences, suggesting that the learned adjacent relations can be abstracted across words and prosodic conditions. Under the conditions tested, prosody may be only a weak constraint on syntactic categorization. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Supporting Students’ Constructions of the Splitting Operation

Previous research has demonstrated the effectiveness of particular instructional practices that support students’ constructions of the partitive unit fraction scheme and measurement concepts for fractions. Another body of research has demonstrated the power of a particular mental operation—the splitting operation—in supporting students’ development of advanced fractional knowledge and algebraic reasoning. Steffe (2010) has hypothesized that students construct splitting through the unification of partitioning and iterating operations contained within the partitive unit fraction scheme. We used written assessments of 49 students, across sixth and seventh grades, to test this hypothesis. Our results show that students who have constructed a partitive unit fraction scheme go on to construct splitting within a relatively short period of time. Conversely, students who have not constructed a partitive unit fraction scheme generally do not construct splitting. We discuss these results and their implications for designing instruction and curricula that support students’ development of algebraic reasoning.     

Applied Sport Psychology Supervision Experience: A Qualitative Analysis

We examined the supervision experience of graduate trainees in applied sport psychology. Semistructured interviews conducted with sport psychology trainees were analyzed through the use of consensual qualitative research methodology. Three domains emerged from the analysis: programmatic factors, supervision process, and supervision content. The results provide insights (e.g., desired supervisor qualities) into the aspects of supervision that trainees feel address their needs, as well as instances in which the supervision experience could be improved. The findings may have implications (e.g., areas of potential growth for sport psychology supervision) for future research directions on supervision in applied sport psychology and could offer potential areas of consideration for current supervisors.     

An Analysis of the Dimensionality and Reliability of the Lennox and Wolfe Revised Self-Monitoring Scale

The Lennox and Wolfe (1984) Revised Self-Monitoring Scale (RSMS) was analyzed, using confirmatory factor analysis procedures, to investigate the scale's dimensionality and reliability. The results revealed that the predicted two-factor correlated structure was the best representation of the four models examined. Coefficient alpha estimates of internal consistency and construct reliability estimates also revealed a reasonable pattern of reliability. However, a number of the factor loadings were low, which may account for the low shared variance estimates for the two factors. Additional correlational tests revealed only minimal overlap between the RSMS and the 25-item original (Snyder, 1974) and 18-item revised version of Snyder and Gangestad's (1986) Self-Monitoring Scale (SMS).     

An Examination of Aggressive Beliefs and Attitudes in Relation to Political Affiliation and Candidate Endorsement in the United States

Abstract

Social cognition provides insight into why Americans are largely divided with strong partisan rifts. The purpose of this set of studies was to examine social cognitive forms of aggression in relation to political party affiliation and political candidate endorsement. In Study 1 (N?=?1,657), all forms of aggressive social cognitions (hostile attribution, potency, retribution, victimization by powerful others, derogation of target, and social discounting) were significantly associated with one or more political parties in some respect (Democrat, Republican, Independent). In Study 2 (N?=?579), participants who endorsed Bernie Sanders reported higher scores on victimization, while participants who endorsed Donald Trump reported scores high on potency (social cognitive forms of aggression were unrelated to support for Hillary Clinton or Ted Cruz beyond political ideology). Results suggest that current political division goes beyond mere differences in political ideology as fundamental aggression-related individual differences appear to covary with how partisans see political parties and primary candidates. Implications include the potential application of our findings to better managing political interpersonal dynamics. For example, knowing that divergent political beliefs and behaviors are associated with fundamental differences in how people perceive the same stimuli may ease partisan hostility, facilitate dialog, and increase willingness to compromise.     

The effect of subliminal priming on sleep duration

Two experiments primed college students with either sleep‐related or neutral words and then assessed sleep during a 25 minute nap period. Both experiments showed that participants primed with sleep‐related words reported having slept longer than did those primed with neutral words. Furthermore, both experiments showed that sleep‐primed participants exhibited lower heart rate. Experiment 2 also revealed that the effect of the priming manipulation was especially strong among participants who had trouble sleeping. This suggests that priming might be a cost‐effective treatment for inducing sleep among people with sleep problems.     

An Abbreviated Screening Instrument for Autism Spectrum Disorders

The reliability and validity of the Parent's Observations of Social Interactions (POSI), a new, seven‐item screening instrument for autism spectrum disorders (ASD), is examined in two substudies. In Study 1, parents of 217 children (18–48 months) evaluated at a developmental clinic completed intake questionnaires that included the POSI and the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M‐CHAT) checklist. POSI and M‐CHAT scores were compared to clinical evaluation results to assess reliability and validity. In Study 2, parents of 232 children (16–36 months) from both primary care and subspecialty settings completed the POSI, the M‐CHAT, and a report of their child's diagnoses. POSI and M‐CHAT scores were compared to reported diagnoses to assess reliability and validity. In both studies, the POSI demonstrated adequate internal reliability (Cronbach α = 0.83 and 0.86, respectively). In Study 1, POSI sensitivity (89%) was higher than that for the M‐CHAT (71%; p < .05); specificities were not significantly different (POSI: 54%, M‐CHAT: 62%). In Study 2, sensitivity (83%) compared favorably to that for the M‐CHAT (50%), although specificity was lower (75 vs. 84%). Despite its brevity, the POSI demonstrated good internal reliability and comparable sensitivity/specificity to the M‐CHAT checklist in two independent populations. If results are reproduced in larger, more diverse samples, the POSI may provide an efficient method for ASD screening in young children.