Assortative marriage and the familiality of cognitive abilities in families of extremely gifted students

The top 1% of the extremely bright students identified by the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (Benbow & Stanley, 1980b) were tested along with their parents, using a battery of specifically designed cognitive tests. These students represented the top 0.03% of their age group in intellectual ability. The results showed that the parents were extremely able and resembled one another significantly more than parents in the general population. In addition, the intellectually precocious children resembled their parents to a lesser extent than children of average ability resemble their parents. These results suggest that considerable assortative mating has occurred among the parents of these extremely gifted youth, but that extreme giftedness cannot be predicted reliably solely as a result of the mating of bright parents.     

Perceived Causes and Consequences of Property Rights to Jobs

We report two studies of property rights to jobs. Perceptions of having or not having a property right were manipulated in a vignette in the first study. Having a property right was viewed as being associated with increased commitment, organizational citizenship behaviors, willingness to sue for wrongful dismissal and decreased absenteeism and turnover in a sample of 202 undergraduates. In a second, self-report study property rights were associated with increased organizational commitment, increased perceptions of control at work, and organizational tenure in a sample of 95 clerical employees.     

Geometrical illusions in solid objects under ordinary viewing conditions

The Müller-Lyer and Ponzo illusions were obtained under free binocular viewing of three-dimensional objects, and the function relating magnitude of illusion to fin angle, characteristic of converging-line versions of the Müller-Lyer pattern, was closely paralleled by volumetric (three-cone), line-free objects (but not with an erect, planar “walk-through” construction and moving observers). Illusions cannot be dismissed as artifacts of static, impoverished viewing, therefore, but must be explained within any general theory of perception. Perspective explanations have difficulties with such three-dimensional manifestations, and seem completely inapplicable to our further finding that approximately the same amount of illusion occurred in objects and patterns with no oblique lines or edges. Confusion or averaging theories, not themselves tested here, remain unthreatened by these data.     

Measuring post-traumatic stress: A psychometric evaluation of symptom- and coping questionnaires based on a Norwegian sample

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric characteristics of the Norweigian versions of the Impact of Event Scale, the Post Traumatic Stress Scale-10 item version and General Coping Questionnaire-30 item version. A group of 40 male and 56 female medical students was tested one week and four months after having started dissection of cadavers for the first time. The results showed that all scales had good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The student sample scored lower on the IES and PTSS-10 than comparable groups of traumatized subjects. A gender difference emerged, with female subjects scoring higher than male subjects. The factor analysis of the instruments indicated good construct validity for the symptom scales. The analysis of content validity related to DSM IV criteria indicated that the IES and PTSS-10 may have some limitations in their predictive validity of PTSD. Taken together, the three scales have shown good psychometric properties and could be used in future research and clinical work.     

Analysis of unreplicated three-way classifications,with applications to rater bias and trait independence

The seven analysis-of-variance mean squares for an unreplicated three-way classification may be written as linear combinations of a mean variance and three mean covariances. Formulas are presented for computing the mean variances and mean covariances from linear combinations of mean squares. The relevance of these formulas for assessing rater biases and trait independence is discussed, a numerical example is provided, and proposed extensions are briefly noted.The research reported herein was performed pursuant to a contract with the United States Office of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The assistance of Sister M. Jacinta Mann, S. C., at one stage of this investigation is gratefully acknowledged.     

John Macmurray,Spirituality, Community and Real Schools

This paper suggests that the work of the Scottish philosopher John Macmurray provides a valuable contribution to debates on spirituality, education, and schools as communities. In particular by recognizing the nature of the spiritual in everyday activities of people in communities, by focusing on the overall aims of schooling, and by rejecting dualism, idealism and materialism, Macmurray was able to describe how schools might properly be organized. The paper aims to investigate some of Macmurray's insights, to see how they might help transform one's vision of schooling.     

Hippocampus function predicts severity of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is often accompanied by memory problems and abnormal brain structure, particularly within the hippocampus. We implemented a cross-species, hippocampal-dependent task--the virtual Morris Water task--to assess hippocampal function in people with PTSD and age-matched controls during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Performance on the task was equivalent between the groups. However, when correlating fMRI-derived hippocampal activity during this task with PTSD severity, we observe a -0.84 correlation, indicating that those with reduced hippocampal activity show more severe PTSD symptoms. This correlation is not explained by differences in task performance, IQ, duration since trauma, nor time with PTSD. Hence, PTSD severity is predicted by functionally assessing the hippocampus using the virtual Morris water task, suggesting that this task may be used to identify those at risk for developing PTSD following a trauma.     

The relationship of maternal mentalization and executive functioning to maternal recognition of infant cues and bonding

The study examined associations between maternal mentalization ability, executive functioning, recognition of infant cues, and bonding in a non‐clinical sample of mothers. It employed a correlational design. Sixty‐four mothers of young infants completed assessments of mentalization ability, executive functioning, and bonding. Photographs of infant facial expressions were utilized to assess ability to recognize infant cues of emotion, but this was not found to correlate with either maternal mentalization or executive functioning ability. Whilst a trend towards a significant positive relationship between mothers' cued ability to attribute mental states and their ability to recognize infant facial expressions was observed, no significant relationships were found between bonding scores and performance on the executive functioning and mentalization measures. The present study contributes to our current understanding of the influence of maternal cognitive factors, specifically mentalization and executive functioning, on the development of the mother–infant relationship. Future research, methodological issues, and clinical and theoretical implications are discussed.