The Mozart Effect: An Artifact of Preference

The "Mozart effect" reported by Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky (1993, 1995) indicates that spatial-temporal abilities are enhanced after listening to music composed by Mozart. We replicated and extended the effect in Experiment 1: Performance on a spatial-temporal task was better after participants listened to a piece composed by Mozart or by Schubert than after they sat in silence. In Experiment 2, the advantage for the music condition disappeared when the control condition consisted of a narrated story instead of silence. Rather, performance was a function of listeners' preference (music or story), with better performance following the preferred condition.     

“Why My Child?”: Parental Attributions for Children's Special Needs1

Although research exists on how attributions for traumatic life events are related to adjustment, little has focused on parents’ attributions for their children's special needs. Parents were interviewed twice over 1 year about their attributions for their children's special needs. We used parents’ open-ended responses during the initial interview to construct a ratings survey for the second interview. Parents of children with Down's syndrome made attributions to genetic fluke, age, and fate/God's will; parents of autistic children made attributions to heredity and environment; parents of developmentally delayed children made attributions to medical problems and stress during pregnancy. Self-blame attributions and attributions to the environment were related to worse adjustment, whereas attributions to fate/God's will were related to better adjustment. Implications for family interventions and physicians are discussed.     

Investigating the Components of Psychopathic Traits in Youth Offenders

Despite widespread acceptance of the importance of psychopathic traits in youth, the relative importance of different components of psychopathy remains controversial. This study was conducted to examine whether the interpersonal and lifestyle facets of psychopathy as measured with a valid clinical measure of psychopathic traits contribute to predicting relevant external criteria on top of the contributions of the affective facet. To address this issue, we conducted multiple regressions predicting antisocial behavior, exposure to violence, and psychopathology in a sample of 225 incarcerated adolescents. Results indicated that ratings on the affective component of psychopathy were important in helping to explain variance in many of the external criterion variables but that ratings on the interpersonal and lifestyle facets also helped to explain unique variance in a range of criteria including violent and non-violent crime, exposure to violence, impulsivity, and anger expression. These studies suggest that multiple components of psychopathy are likely to be important both in predicting real world outcomes and in understanding mechanisms involved in the development and manifestation of these traits.     

Too Many Boxes,or Not Enough? Preferences for How We Ask About Gender in Cisgender,LGB, and Gender-Diverse Samples

As U.S. society has become more aware of gender identity issues, there has been a push for more inclusive demographic categories that go beyond the traditional gender binary of male/female. In three studies, we assessed the attitudes of U.S. cisgender men and women across sexual orientations (Study 1), heterosexual cisgender men and women (Study 2), cisgender LGB men and women (Study 3), and transgender and gender non-binary individuals across sexual orientations (Study 3) regarding different formats of gender questionnaires. Studies 2 and 3 showed a strong overall preference for the non-binary formats. Across all three studies, preferences for the binary format and objections to the non-binary formats were related to gender-binary beliefs, distinctiveness threat, cisgender and mostly heterosexual male participants, conservative political orientation, and religiosity. These findings suggest that general opposition to utilizing non-binary formats may be influenced by institutionalized binary gender norms and heteronormativity. Across both cisgender and gender-diverse samples, most participants preferred a non-binary gender question format, and gender-diverse individuals overwhelmingly preferred the expanded format. We suggest that those who collect gender data use the expanded format in order to be more inclusive and allow gender-diverse individuals to identify themselves if they choose to do so.     

Non‐standard work schedules and retention in the entry‐level hourly workforce

Non‐standard work schedules involve work outside the Monday–Friday daytime hours. Although research has heavily studied the health and family effects of such schedules, few studies have investigated their relationship to retention. We draw from Maertz and Campion's discussion of motivational forces that influence turnover to propose that employees on non‐standard schedules are more likely to quit their employer because of general job dissatisfaction and because of normative pressures from family and/or friends. Specifically, we hypothesized that employees on day shifts or weekday only schedules would remain with their employer longer than those who work on nonday shifts or on the weekends. We also hypothesized that perceived employment mobility would moderate the effects of non‐standard schedules on retention length. Hypotheses were tested among 3,178 retail employees who worked five different distinct shift arrangements and different weekday/weekend schedules. Cox regression analyses indicated that, as hypothesized, employees working nonday shifts or schedules including weekends remained with their employer for a shorter duration of time than employees not on such schedules. Perceived mobility moderated the schedule–turnover relationship, though not in the hypothesized manner. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings for work schedule assignment and retention strategies.     

Adapted group-based dialectical behaviour therapy for binge eating in a practicing clinic: clinical outcomes and attrition

Research evidence has been accumulating for the efficacy of dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) for binge eating. However, support for its effectiveness and transportability beyond efficacy trials is lacking. The current study evaluated the feasibility of group-based DBT for binge eating within the context of an operating community clinic. Women ages 24-49 (M?=?39.60, SD?=?9.53) with either subthreshold and full-threshold binge eating disorder or bulimia nervosa formed the group and comprised the sample (n?=?5 treatment completers). Positive outcomes included significant improvement in both binge eating and secondary outcomes with the Eating Disorder Inventory subscales of Bulimia, Ineffectiveness, Perfectionism and Interpersonal Distrust. Attrition was elevated compared with previous efficacy trials, suggesting the need for increased attention to how to improve retention within routine practice settings. Given our limited sample size, these findings are viewed as promising but preliminary.     

Introducing LexTALE: A quick and valid Lexical Test for Advanced Learners of English

The increasing number of experimental studies on second language (L2) processing, frequently with English as the L2, calls for a practical and valid measure of English vocabulary knowledge and proficiency. In a large-scale study with Dutch and Korean speakers of L2 English, we tested whether LexTALE, a 5-min vocabulary test, is a valid predictor of English vocabulary knowledge and, possibly, even of general English proficiency. Furthermore, the validity of LexTALE was compared with that of self-ratings of proficiency, a measure frequently used by L2 researchers. The results showed the following in both speaker groups: (1) LexTALE was a good predictor of English vocabulary knowledge; 2) it also correlated substantially with a measure of general English proficiency; and 3) LexTALE was generally superior to self-ratings in its predictions. LexTALE, but not self-ratings, also correlated highly with previous experimental data on two word recognition paradigms. The test can be carried out on or downloaded from www.lextale.com .     

Children show heightened memory for threatening social actions

Three experiments investigated whether a negativity bias in social perception extends to preschool-aged children's memory for the details of others' social actions and experiences. After learning about individuals who committed nice or mean social actions, children in Experiment 1 were more accurate at remembering who was mean compared with who was nice. In Experiment 2, children showed a memory advantage for the specific details of actions committed by mean individuals compared with nice individuals. In Experiment 3, children exhibited better memory for the details of mean actions compared with nice actions when the vignettes were presented from the perspective of the recipients instead of the perpetrators of these actions. Taken together, these findings suggest that children show heightened memory for the details of negative social actions over positive social actions. Such a memory bias may be advantageous in helping children to predict potentially threatening situations in the future.