A factor analysis of verbal ability

The Psychological Record -     

Loneliness and social monitoring: A conceptual replication of Knowles et al.

Contrary to the claim that loneliness routinely impairs the decoding of social cues such as emotion displays, Knowles, Lucas, Baumeister, and Gardner (2015) proposed that lonely adults “choke under pressure,” experiencing impairments only when social monitoring is framed as diagnostic of general social skill. In four experiments, Knowles et al. showed that lonely individuals performed worse than nonlonely individuals at decoding social cues when the decoding task was framed as a test of social aptitude, but not when it was framed as a test of academic aptitude. The studies were small (N's ranging from 78 to 203), and all employed a convenience sample of mostly female undergraduate students, impairing both statistical power and external validity. In addition, the lack of a true control group precluded the studies from establishing whether loneliness inhibits social monitoring ability if no frame is offered. This study conceptually replicates the central hypothesis of Knowles et al. using a sample of adults that is substantially larger and more diverse demographically and geographically, and using a true control group in addition to the comparison group. Results revealed a significant main effect of loneliness on social monitoring ability but did not replicate the choking under pressure phenomenon.     

Social anxiety disorder in childhood and adolescence: descriptive psychopathology

Although the presentation of social anxiety disorder (SAD) in adults is well documented, less is known about its clinical manifestation in children and adolescents. To date, most studies have included combined samples of children and adolescents despite the fact that this age range represents an extensive period of growth and development. This study compares and contrasts the clinical presentation of SAD among children (ages 7-12) and adolescents (ages 13-17). One hundred and fifty children (n=74) and adolescents (n=76) with a primary diagnosis of SAD participated in the study. The assessment battery included clinical ratings and behavioral observation as well as parental and self-report. The results indicate that, although the symptom presentation of children and adolescents with primary SAD shares many features, children tend to present with a broader pattern of general psychopathology, while adolescents have a more pervasive pattern of social dysfunction and may be more functionally impaired as a result of their disorder. These findings suggest that interventions for SAD need to carefully consider clinical presentation of the disorder as it manifests in childhood and adolescence.     

‘The Good Mother and Her Clinging Child’: Patterns of Anchoring in Social Representations of Dementia Caregiving

This paper discusses the findings of a study that examined the processes of anchoring in the understanding of dementia caregiving using 29 interviews conducted in Germany with wives and daughters caring for a relative with dementia and 43 newspaper articles pertinent to the research objective. The concept of anchoring from Social Representations Theory was complemented by elements from cognitive linguistics to analyse the social representations (SRs) that served as source domains to determine what the target domain of dementia caregiving means, entails and requires. The analysis revealed three prevalent patterns of anchoring dementia care in SRs of child care and the good mother. The first pattern ascribed the role of the helpless clinging child needing his mother to the dementia patient, the second emphasised that the dementia caregivers' responsibility for caring, just like motherhood, should take precedence over all other interests and the third consisted of dementia caregivers deriving the perception of being the most suitable caregiver from the mother's natural aptitude for caring. The conclusions reached by the different patterns are argued to contribute to dementia caregivers overexerting themselves and not using support services. The clinical implications for targeting such adverse effects of the anchoring will be discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Representations of Poverty in British Newspapers: A Case of ‘Othering’ the Threat?

The meanings of social problems like poverty develop within the public sphere. This paper uses the theory of social representations to examine how poverty is represented in British newspapers. Poverty has been discussed and interpreted in numerous ways, and newspapers not only provide a platform for these elaborations but also contribute to shaping public understanding on the issue. The study sampled news coverage on poverty in four British newspapers during two randomly chosen one‐month periods in the years 2001 and 2011. The data set of news reports (n = 274) was thematically analysed to examine representations of poverty. The study found that in the domestic context, media represents poverty as a problem limited to vulnerable groups such as children and the elderly. With a lack of discussion on the wider socio‐economic causes and contributing factors, poverty within the UK appears as an ‘orphan phenomenon’ with an unknown genesis. In contrast, the representations of poverty outside the UK are vivid and elaborate, and the news reports hold the socio‐political inefficiency of countries responsible for poverty. The study also found that the media uses poverty to make sense of catastrophic events in society: the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States and the London riots of 2011 were both anchored using poverty. This paper discusses the representational dynamics of these findings and argues that the media representations distance general society from poverty, representing it as a problem of the other. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Precipitating Circumstances of Suicide among Active Duty U.S. Army Personnel Versus U.S. Civilians, 2005–2010

To help understand suicide among soldiers, we compared suicide events between active duty U.S. Army versus civilian decedents to identify differences and inform military prevention efforts. We linked 141 Army suicide records from 2005 to 2010 to National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) data. We described the decedents’ military background and compared their precipitators of death captured in NVDRS to those of demographically matched civilian suicide decedents. Both groups commonly had mental health and intimate partner precipitating circumstances, but soldier decedents less commonly disclosed suicide intent.     

A Systematic Review and Psychometric Evaluation of Adaptive Behavior Scales and Recommendations for Practice

Adaptive behavior scales are vital in assessing children and adolescents who experience a range of disabling conditions in school settings. This article presents the results of an evaluation of the design characteristics, norming, scale characteristics, reliability and validity evidence, and bias identification studies supporting 14 norm-referenced, informant-based interviews and rating scales designed to measure adaptive behaviors. To derive these results, the manuals for each of these scales were reviewed using a standardized coding procedure, and information about each scale was double-coded by reviewers. Findings reveal that several evidence-based adaptive behavior scales are available to school psychologists. Concluding recommendations address selection and use of adaptive behavior scales as part of a comprehensive assessment, using the optimal methods of administration of adaptive behavior scales, and interpreting resultant scores that have demonstrated the highest levels of reliability and the largest body of validity evidence.     

Mind,State, and Metaphor

This article examines the post‐Ryle developments in philosophy of mind and psychology, in particular tracing the emergence of the concept of a mental state. The climate immediately following the large‐scale rejection of Descartes seems rather hostile to the idea of mental properties as internal states that cause behaviour. In this context, the emergence of the reificatory view of mental states is quite surprising, and it appears to stem from Putnam's adoption of the Turing machine (including the Turing state) as a model for human psychology. I conclude that the success of the “mental state” is down to the fact that it neatly conforms to the picture painted by the metaphorical expressions we use when talking about minds and mental things, and that its success is more accidental than inevitable.     

Greater number of group identifications is associated with healthier behaviour in adolescents

We investigated the relationship between group identification (with the family, school, and friendship groups) and adolescent health behaviour (smoking, binge drinking, and cannabis use). 1,111 students from 4 Scottish secondary (high) schools completed a questionnaire which included measures of group identification, group contact, health behaviours, and demographic variables. We found that identification with the family and school groups predicted reduced odds of substance use, whereas identification with the friend group predicted increased odds of substance use. Furthermore, the greater the number of social groups with which the participant strongly identified, the lower the odds that he/she participated in negative health behaviours. In contrast, merely having contact (rather than identifying strongly) with these groups increased the odds of participation in these behaviours. We suggest that group identification influences behaviour to the extent that it encourages adherence to group norms.     

The role of gaze and road edge information during high-speed locomotion

Robust control of skilled actions requires the flexible combination of multiple sources of information. Here we examined the role of gaze during high-speed locomotor steering and in particular the role of feedback from the visible road edges. Participants were required to maintain one of three lateral positions on the road when one or both edges were degraded (either by fading or removing them). Steering became increasingly impaired as road edge information was degraded, with gaze being predominantly directed toward the required road position. When either of the road edges were removed, we observed systematic shifts in steering and gaze direction dependent upon both the required road position and the visible edge. A second experiment required fixation on the road center or beyond the road edges. The results showed that the direction of gaze led to predictable steering biases, which increased as road edge information became degraded. A new steering model demonstrates that the direction of gaze and both road edges influence steering in a manner consistent with the flexible weighted combination of near road feedback information and prospective gaze information.