INTERNATIONAL VALIDITY GENERALIZATION OF GMA AND COGNITIVE ABILITIES: A EUROPEAN COMMUNITY META-ANALYSIS

This article reports on a series of meta-analyses into the criterion validity of general menatl ability (GMA) and specific cognitive ability tests for predicting job performance ratings and training success in the European Community (EC). Meta-analyses were computed on a large EC database examining the operational validity of GMA and other specific cognitive abilities, including verbal, numerical, spatial-mechanical, perceptual and memory ( N ranged from 946 to 16,065) across 10 EC member countries. The results showed that tests of GMA and specific cognitive ability are very good predictors of job performance and training success across the EC. Evidence for the international validity generalization of GMA and specific cognitive abilities was presented. The results for the EC meta-analyses showed a larger operational validity than previous meta-analyses in the U.S. for predicting job performance. For training success, the European and American results are very similar. Implications for the international generalizability of GMA test validities, practical use of cognitive ability tests for personnel selection, and directions for future research are discussed.     

The Danger of Unrealistic Optimism: Linking Caregivers' Perceived Ability to Help Victims of Terror With Their Own Secondary Traumatic Stress

This study examined how caregivers' biased perceptions of ability to help traumatized patients relates to the caregivers' secondary traumatic stress (STS). There is reason to believe that caregivers overestimate their ability to help and underestimate their vulnerability to develop STS, but it is unclear how such unrealistic optimism relates to STS. The results show that Israeli caregivers working with terror victims believed that their ability to help traumatic patients is superior to their peers' while their likelihood to be negatively affected by such treatment is lower. Beyond the impact of the number of patients treated and caregivers' experience, unrealistic optimism was positively correlated to caregivers' STS. Theoretical and practical implications for those working with traumatized patients are discussed.     

Sensory empathy and enactment1

The authors propose the concept of sensory empathy which emerges through contact between analyst and patient as they get in touch with an area concerning the primary bond. This area is not so much based on thoughts and fantasies as it is on physical sensations. Sensory empathy has to do with that instrument described by Freud as pertaining to the unconscious of any human, which enables one person to interpret unconscious communications of another person. The authors link this concept to that of enactment precisely because the latter concerns unconscious, early elements that fi nd in the act a fi rst meaningful expression. It involves both analyst and patient. In other words, the authors wish to emphasize the importance of the analytical process maintaining contact with that immense fi eld of human interaction that can be defi ned as primary sensory area and which becomes intertwined with the evolution of affects. Clinical examples are provided to clarify these hypotheses.     

Evaluations by staff, residents, and community seniors of patronizing speech in the nursing home: impact of passive, assertive, or humorous responses

Two studies tested the impact of alternative communication in accommodation strategies. Nursing home staff and residents (and community-residing seniors in Study 2) rated nurse-resident conversational scenarios in which a resident responded passively, directly assertively, or humorously (indirectly assertively) to a patronizing nurse. The nurse then either maintained a patronizing manner or accommodated with a more respectful speech style. Even though all groups devalued the nurse who maintained a patronizing speech style, nursing home residents predictably showed the most acceptance. The directly assertive response by the resident elicited more devaluation of the nonaccommodating nurse than did either passive or humorous responses, but also the least favorable ratings of the resident. Ratings of the humorous response in Study 2 suggested that humor could be a good compromise response style for allowing the receiver of patronizing speech to express opposition to a request, yet still maintain an appearance of competence and politeness.     

小学低年级汉语儿童语言能力的发展轨迹:认知能力的预测作用

对177名小学一年级学生进行了长达一年的三次追踪,通过多层线性模型探索了儿童汉字识别、口语词汇和限时阅读理解能力的发展轨迹及复合语素意识、正字法意识和快速命名能力对三者的预测作用,结果发现：（1）三种语言能力均随时间呈现显著的线性增长趋势,汉字识别的个体差异逐渐缩小,口语词汇的个体差异相对稳定,而限时阅读理解成绩的差异逐渐扩大;（2）三种认知能力对汉字识别和限时阅读理解的初始成绩均有显著的正向预测作用,复合语素意识不仅能预测口语词汇的初始成绩,还能正向预测限时阅读理解的发展速度。