Estimating the Prevalence of Gender-Biased Language in Undergraduates’ Everyday Speech

Sex Roles - Research has shown that language can be gender-biased; however, little research has investigated the prevalence of this bias in everyday speech. Using recordings sampled from...     

Antenatal caregiving representations and perinatal behavior in mothers with severe lifetime psychopathology

Psychopathology poses a risk for optimal parenting. The current study explored antenatal caregiving representations as markers for later risk of nonoptimal maternal behavior among mothers with severe mental illness. Sixty-five mothers diagnosed with psychosis, bipolar disorder, depression (psychopathology group), and nonclinical controls participated in a longitudinal study from pregnancy to 16 weeks after birth. Mental health diagnoses and caregiving representations were assessed during pregnancy. Maternal behavior was assessed during the 5-min recovery phase of the still-face paradigm at 16 weeks. Mothers with psychopathology reported significantly higher levels of “heightened” caregiving representations (i.e., separation anxiety from the child) than did controls. The only significant diagnostic group difference in perinatal maternal behavior was that mothers diagnosed with depression exhibited more overriding-intrusive behavior than did nonclinical control mothers. Regression modeling results showed that antenatal caregiving representations of “role reversal” predicted significantly lower levels of sensitivity and higher levels of overriding-intrusive behavior independent of the effect of psychopathology. The findings can be interpreted in the context of representational transformation to motherhood during pregnancy. The results provide preliminary evidence for the potential of a new questionnaire measure of caregiving representations as a screening instrument for antenatal representational risk.     

A Preliminary Longitudinal Study of Multicultural Competence in Counselor Education

The purpose of this study was to investigate longitudinal changes in master’s-level counselor trainees’ (N = 78) self-perceptions of their multicultural counseling competence over the course of their counseling program. Multilevel modeling results indicated an increase in scores across 3 time points. The authors discuss study limitations and how counselors and counselor educators can incorporate the study’s findings into their practice and into the education and supervision of counselor trainees.     

论内化于行动的观念

观念是在先于主客二分的实践(行动主义)视角下、内化于个体活动中的意识,它首先与个体活动相关,有别于仅仅在认识论视角(非时间性的上帝视角)下的意识。作为常识理性的观念、作为社会意识的观念、作为默会知识的观念、作为人的活动形式的“观念的东西”、作为赋予意义和价值评价的观念、作为“思想具体”的观念,是“观念”的六种常见用法。     

互联网企业玩兴氛围对创新行为的跨层次作用机制

互联网企业通过营造快乐愉悦的玩兴氛围, 推动员工持续创新, 以期组织目标的实现。然而, 现有玩兴氛围与员工创新行为关系的研究以理论分析为主, 缺乏实证研究, 进展相对缓慢。在回顾组织管理领域玩兴研究成果的基础上, 开展三个方面的研究：研究一基于组织氛围理论和玩兴活动特征, 开发中国情境下互联网企业的团队玩兴氛围量表。研究二立足于团队层次, 依据资源保存理论重点探讨了玩兴氛围对员工创新行为的跨层次作用机制。研究三从创造力成分模型出发, 引入个体思维方式和多重认同, 探讨激发员工创新行为的边界条件。研究结果发展了中国互联网企业团队玩兴氛围的概念, 促进了玩兴氛围理论的发展, 为互联网类企业营造玩兴氛围以激发创新行为提供理论支持和实践启示。     

Assessment of dysfunctional beliefs in borderline personality disorder

This study had two aims: to test the hypothesis that borderline personality disorder (BPD) patients hold numerous dysfunctional beliefs associated with a variety of Axis II disorders, and to construct a BPD belief scale which captures these beliefs. Beliefs were measured using the Personality Belief Questionnaire (PBQ) which is designed to assess beliefs associated with various personality disorders, although not specifically BPD. Eighty-four BPD patients and 204 patients with other personality disorders (OPD) were randomly split into two study samples. Fourteen PBQ items were found to discriminate BPD from OPD patients in both samples. These items came from the PBQ Dependent, Paranoid, Avoidant, and Histrionic scales and reflect themes of dependency, helplessness, distrust, fears of rejection/abandonment/losing emotional control, and extreme attention-seeking behavior. A BPD beliefs scale constructed from these items showed good internal consistency and diagnostic validity among the 288 study patients. The scale may be used to assist in diagnosis and cognitive therapy of BPD.     

Sex differences in communication with close friends: testing Tannen's claims

In 1990 Tannen reported that men have fewer close friends than women, men discuss less intimate topics with their friends than women, and men and women respond differently to close friends' problems. 168 students completed a three-page survey designed to examine Tannen's claims. Consistent with Tannen's observations, men discussed less intimate topics (politics and school or work) with their five closest friends and reportedly were less likely to comfort or listen to their friends' problems than women were. Inconsistent with Tannen's statements, these women and men did not differ in the number of close friends they reported having or in the likelihood of offering advice when presented with a friend's problem. Present self-reports corroborate other researchers who questioned Tannen's findings and concluded that sex differences in interpersonal communication are small.     

Magnitude comparisons distort mental representations of magnitude

Many cognitive processes rely on representations of magnitude, yet these representations are often malleable (H. Helson, 1964; J. Huttenlocher, L. V. Hedges, & J. L. Vevea, 2000; A. Parducci, 1965). It is likely that factors that affect these representations in turn affect the psychological processes that rely on them. The authors conducted 4 experiments to investigate whether language-expressible magnitude comparisons distort mental representations of compared magnitudes. Participants compared magnitudes and estimated those magnitudes in a variety of tasks. Experiments 1 through 3 demonstrated systematic comparison-induced distortions. Experiment 4 demonstrated that comparison-induced distortions might account for the asymmetric dominance effect discussed in the decision-making literature. Potential effects of comparison-induced distortions on other psychological processes (e.g., density effects, order effects, body-size estimation, pain estimation, and consumer decision making) are discussed.     

Action-based and vision-based selection of input: Two sources of control

In the first part of this paper we review evidence suggesting that there exists a mechanism that selects input on the basis of its similarity to the required action. This response-based input selection differs from the more established space- and object-based input selection in that it is not constrained by the structure of the input. Our evidence suggests that the two-choice Stroop effect is caused by this response-based selection mechanism. By contrast, it is known that the flanker effect is determined by the space- and object- based selection mechanisms. We explore whether the conflict resolution of the Stroop and flanker tasks is different as well by embedding these two tasks in a PRP (Psychological Refractory Period) paradigm. We show that the Stroop and the PRP effects are additive whereas the flanker and the PRP effects are underadditive, suggesting that the processes in charge of the conflict resolution in the Stroop and the flanker tasks are indeed different. We discuss possible reasons for this difference, and discuss possible ways in which the response-based mechanism can be implemented in information processing models.     

Global self-esteem across the life span

This study provides a comprehensive picture of age differences in self-esteem from age 9 to 90 years using cross-sectional data collected from 326,641 individuals over the Internet. Self-esteem levels were high in childhood, dropped during adolescence, rose gradually throughout adulthood, and declined sharply in old age. This trajectory generally held across gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and nationality (U.S. citizens vs. non-U.S. citizens). Overall, these findings support previous research, help clarify inconsistencies in the literature, and document new trends that require further investigation.