Empowering and legitimizing the fundamental attribution error: Power and legitimization exacerbate the translation of role‐constrained behaviors into ability differences

Our daily interactions are influenced by the social roles we endorse. People however underestimate these role constraints in their everyday explanation relying on individual dispositions to make sense of behaviors. Two studies investigated whether this bias is exacerbated when role structure is legitimated and when power matches the advantages conferred by the social roles of a quiz game. Legitimacy as well as power increased the tendency for both advantaged (questioner) and disadvantaged (answerer) actors (Study 1) as well as naïve observers of the quiz game (Study 2) to attribute to ability the behaviors elicited by social roles. These results extend previous findings. People are more prone to explain constrained behaviors by differences in ability when role structure is legitimated and when power asymmetry matches role structure. Legitimacy and power may then play an important role in the translation of role constraints into inferences about ability.     

Differences in child rearing attitudes between immigrant Chinese mothers and Anglo-American mothers

In order to explore cultural differences in child rearing attitudes, we studied 30 Anglo-American mothers and 30 immigrant Chinese mothers in the US, together with their preschool children and the children's teachers. Mothers completed a measure of child rearing attitudes, children were assessed for perceived competence, and teachers rated children's competence. Results showed that immigrant Chinese mothers were more authoritarian overall, as expected from previous research, but that they also were more likely to encourage independence and demand maturity from their children. Chinese-American children scored higher than Anglo-American children on cognitive competence, and their cognitive competence was related to authoritarian child rearing. The results are discussed in the context of Confucian and American cultural values. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A transgenerational conceptualization of psychosomatic distress during pregnancy: Implications for infant mental health

A conceptualization of psychosomatic distress during pregnancy is suggested, stemming from a developmental psychopathology framework and based on contributions from the psychosomatic and attachment literature. A link is suggested between psychosomatic distress during pregnancy, patterns of representational activity, and transgenerational risks of relationship disturbances. Developmental transformations during pregnancy are reviewed, with an emphasis on the vicissitudes of integrating internalized relationships with a person's family of origin. Psychosomatic theory is used to generate hypotheses about the representational activity of mothers who experience psychosomatic distress during pregnancy. Attachment theory is used to discuss the link between maternal representational activity and the transgenerational transmission of relationship patterns. As an example of psychosomatic distress during pregnancy, relevant literature on severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy is reviewed, and clinical vignettes are presented to illustrate how this condition may sometimes be a forerunner of mother-infant difficulties.     

Patient-Informed Treatment Development of Behavioral Smoking Cessation for People With Schizophrenia

The objective of this study was to use qualitative methodology to tailor and refine an existing smoking cessation intervention for the population of people who use cigarettes and are diagnosed with schizophrenia, schizoaffective, or psychotic disorder. Successive cohort design methodology was used to iteratively modify the treatment in response to qualitative participant, therapist, and consultant feedback on the intervention. Qualitative methodology for participant feedback included analysis of semistructured interviews with participants, visualization of app utilization data, and stakeholder feedback from study therapists and consultants. Using the successive cohort design, a tailored multicomponent mobile health smoking cessation intervention was developed. The intervention included mobile contingency management (i.e., financial compensation for confirmed abstinence from smoking), pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation, cognitive-behavioral counseling sessions, and the Stay Quit app for relapse prevention. Two cohorts (N = 13) were completed in the study; after each cohort, the treatment protocol was revised. The intervention is described, as well as the qualitative findings from each cohort and subsequent changes made to the intervention based upon patient and provider feedback. Metrics of patient engagement included treatment adherence (40% in Cohort 1 and 63% in Cohort 2). Both participants and therapists reported that the intervention was helpful. Over one third of participants self-reported abstinence at posttreatment. Since qualitative methodology is often underutilized in mental health treatment development, this study demonstrates the utility of the successive cohort design for treatment development of behavior change interventions for at-risk, vulnerable populations.     

The test taker's fallacy: How students guess answers on multiple‐choice tests

Many students and applicants take multiple‐choice tests to demonstrate their competence and achievement. When they are unsure, they guess the most likely answer to maximize their score. Despite the impact of guessing on test reliability and individual performance, studies have not examined how patterns of answer sequences in multiple‐choice tests affect guessing. This research presents the test taker's fallacy, which refers to an individual's tendency to expect a different answer to appear for the next question given a run of the same answer choices. The test taker's fallacy exhibits negative recency, similar to the gambler's fallacy. However, extending the sequential judgment literature, the test taker's fallacy shows that negative recency arises even when sequences may or may not be randomly generated. In three studies, including a survey and experiments, the test taker's fallacy is robustly observed. The test taker's fallacy is consistent with the operation of the representativeness heuristic. This research explains what and how test takers guess given a streak of answers and extends judgment under uncertainty to the test‐taking context.     

Religious coping,general coping strategies,perceived social support,PTSD symptoms,resilience, and posttraumatic growth among survivors of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti

This study examines the relationships between coping strategies, perceived social support, resilience, PTSD symptoms, and posttraumatic growth (PTG) in a sample of 256 survivors of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The results of the bivariate analysis suggested a significant positive correlation between PTG and resilience, PTSD symptoms, perceived social support, positive religious coping, and active coping. There was a significant positive relationship between perceived social support and resilience and between resilience and active coping. PTSD symptoms were positively correlated with both positive and negative religious coping. Results of the multiple regression analysis indicated that positive religious coping, active coping, perceived social support, resilience, and PTSD symptoms accounted for 34% of the variance in the participants’ PTG. The strongest predictor of PTG was positive religious coping, followed by active coping, perceived social support, resilience, PTSD symptoms, and negative religious coping. Implications and recommendations for future research were discussed.