A Life Domains Perspective on Acculturation and Psychological Adjustment: A Study of Refugees from the Former Soviet Union

The study articulates a contextual approach to research on acculturation of immigrants, suggesting that the relationship between acculturation and adjustment is dependent on the cultural demands of the life domains considered. Specifically, the study investigated the mediating effects of adjustment in occupational and social life domains on the relationship between acculturation and psychological adjustment for 391 refugees from the former Soviet Union. The study used bilinear measures of acculturation to the host (American) and heritage (Russian) cultures. Using Structural Equation Modeling, the study confirmed the hypothesized relationships, such that the positive effects of American acculturation on psychological adjustment were mediated by occupational adjustment, and the effects of Russian acculturation on psychological adjustment were mediated by satisfaction with co-ethnic social support. Psychological adjustment was measured in two ways, as psychological well-being, using a measure of life satisfaction, and as symptoms of depression and anxiety, using the Hopkins symptom checklist (HSCL). Life satisfaction served as a mediator between adjustment in occupational and social domains and HSCL, suggesting that it may be an intervening variable through which environmental stress associated with immigration contributes to the development of symptoms of mental disorder.     

记忆集对注意焦点转换及其返回抑制的影响

采用记忆更新任务,实验1要求被试分别更新3个和4个记忆项目,并设置不转换、控制转换和抑制转换条件,考察记忆集对注意焦点转换及其返回抑制的影响;实验2操纵两次更新同一记忆项目之间对其它记忆项目更新的次数（2次、3次及3次以上）,在实验1基础上,考察返回抑制中项目抑制状态的消退过程.结论：随记忆集增加,转换代价增大,而返回抑制效应消失;当注意焦点对其它记忆项目更新2次时,之前被抑制项目的抑制状态可完全消退.     

Visual attribute modulates the time course of iconic memory decay

Studies on iconic memory demonstrate that rich information from a visual scene quickly becomes unavailable with the passage of time. The decay rate of iconic memory refers to the dynamics of memory availability. The present study investigated the iconic memory decay of different stimulus attributes that comprised an object. Specifically, in Experiment 1, participants were presented with eight coloured numbers (e.g., red 4) and required to remember only one attribute, either colour or number, over different blocks of trials. The participants then reported the cued attribute in which the cue Stimulus Onset Asynchrony (SOA) from the memory array onset was varied (0, 100, 200, 300, 500, and 1000?ms). We found that numerical information became unavailable more quickly than colour information, despite the fact that the memory accuracies at 0 and 1000?ms SOAs were comparable between the two attributes. In Experiment 2, we replicated the finding that a numerical representation was lost more quickly than a colour representation when visual masks followed the target stimulus. These results suggest that the various visual attributes comprising an object are lost over time at different rates in iconic memory. We discuss this finding in relation to how perceptual representation is transferred to the capacity-limited visual working memory.     

Are Decisions Made by Group Representatives More Risk Averse? The Effect of Sense of Responsibility

We tested the hypothesis that a sense of responsibility drives group representatives' decisions to be more risk averse compared with decisions made by individuals. The hypothesis was supported when the monetary considerations (i.e., payoff inequality and the magnitude effect) were controlled for in the potential gain domain as well as in the potential loss domain. Evidence showed that this is because the group representatives were concerned about how they would view themselves (e.g., guilt and self‐blame) and also how they would be viewed by others (i.e., to avoid being blamed and looked down upon by others). This study provided new insights into understanding group representatives' decision making under risk. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Vocational Personality Traits in Counselor Education and School Psychology Students

We assessed the vocational personality of 104 graduate students in school counseling, mental health counseling, and school psychology programs using Holland's ( 1997 ) theory of personality and career choice. The correlational findings confirmed the importance of vocational personality traits in relation to the academic performance of graduate students. Among the Self‐Directed Search–Revised vocational personality types, the Investigative type emerged as a consistent predictor of performance on all sections of the Graduate Record Examination. The participants from 3 graduate programs predominantly identified Social as their primary vocational personality type, with variability in the secondary and tertiary code positions. The student group with the highest degree of congruence, defined as the degree of fit between one's personality and the environment, had the highest graduate grade point average, indicating the relationship between the degree of congruence and achievement. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Specificity Matters: Criterion-Related Validity of Contextualized and Facet Measures of Conscientiousness in Predicting College Student Performance

To enhance the predictive validity of self-report personality measures, 2 distinct ways of increasing specificity of personality measures have been proposed in the literature—contextual specificity (i.e., providing a contextual referent) and content specificity (i.e., focusing on more specific constructs such as the Big Five facets). This study extends this line of research by examining whether there is an optimal way to configure, align, or integrate contextual and content specificity using measures of conscientiousness to predict college student success. A sample of 478 undergraduate students completed 4 measures of conscientiousness that varied in the level of content and contextual specificity. These forms of specificity were crossed to yield 4 distinct measures of conscientiousness. We then evaluated and compared the relative importance and the incremental importance of these different measures in the prediction of academic success. Superior predictive validity was found for both contextualized and facet measures of conscientiousness compared to a measure of global conscientiousness in predicting grade-point average and a broader behavioral criterion of student performance. When contextual and content specificity approaches were compared and combined, we observed the strongest predictive validity when the level of specificity is appropriately matched between predictor and criterion.     

International Doctoral Students in Counselor Education: Coping Strategies in Supervision Training

This study explores 8 international doctoral students' perceptions of coping strategies used in supervision training in counselor education programs. Using human agency as a conceptual framework, the authors found 3 categories: (a) personal and professional self‐directed strategies as personal agency, (b) support and care from mentors as proxy agency, and (c) networking among international doctoral students and/or graduates as collective agency. Implications for counselor educators are discussed. Este estudio explora las percepciones de 8 estudiantes internacionales de doctorado sobre las estrategias de afrontamiento usadas en la capacitación de supervisión en programas de educación para consejeros. Usando la agencia humana como marco conceptual, se hallaron 3 categorías: (a) estrategias autodirigidas personales y profesionales como agencia personal, (b) apoyo y cuidados recibidos de mentores como agencia delegada y (c) creación de redes de contactos entre estudiantes internacionales de doctorado y/o doctores como agencia colectiva. Se discuten las implicaciones para educadores de consejeros.     

Electrophysiological difference between the representations of causal judgment and associative judgment in semantic memory

Causally related concepts like “virus” and “epidemic” and general associatively related concepts like “ring” and “emerald” are represented and accessed separately. The Evoked Response Potential (ERP) procedure was used to examine the representations of causal judgment and associative judgment in semantic memory. Participants were required to remember a task cue (causal or associative) presented at the beginning of each trial, and assess whether the relationship between subsequently presented words matched the initial task cue. The ERP data showed that an N400 effect (250–450 ms) was more negative for unrelated words than for all related words. Furthermore, the N400 effect elicited by causal relations was more positive than for associative relations in causal cue condition, whereas no significant difference was found in the associative cue condition. The centrally distributed late ERP component (650–750 ms) elicited by the causal cue condition was more positive than for the associative cue condition. These results suggested that the processing of causal judgment and associative judgment in semantic memory recruited different degrees of attentional and executive resources.     

Relations between virtues and positive mental health in a Korean population: A Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes (MIMIC) model approach

A Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes (MIMIC) approach was applied to investigate the relationship between virtues and positive mental health as determined using the Character Strength Test and the Mental Health Continuum‐Short Form. The study participants were 876 college students (54% women; overall mean age [SD] 21.50 years [2.35]) recruited from introductory psychology courses at two universities in Seoul. Findings revealed that the intellectual virtues of college students predicted subjective well‐being according to all emotional, social and psychological measures. Results are discussed in the context of previous work using the Values in Action classification of virtues and character strengths. In addition, implications regarding understanding the nature and possible origins of positive mental health are outlined.