Civilian Response Corps Force Review: The Application of Multi‐Criteria Decision Analysis to Prioritize Skills Required for Future Diplomatic Missions

Created by the State Department's Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization, the Civilian Response Corps (CRC) contains a diverse pool of qualified and ready‐to‐deploy civilian professionals that support conflict prevention and response efforts in countries or regions that are at risk of, are currently in, or are transitioning from conflict or civil strife. As such, it is vital to optimize the CRC's skill groupings to maximize adaptability and responsiveness to highly uncertain and trying political conditions and crises across the globe. The nature of the CRC value proposition is such that determining which skill set compositions deliver the greatest benefit requires a multi‐faceted perspective that looks at a number of attributes and factors, both tangible and intangible. To meet these needs, an organizational decision‐making approach utilizing multi‐criteria decision analysis (MCDA) was applied to ensure that skill‐grouping allocations were determined in a logical and robust manner. The MCDA analysis allowed for a wide range of worldviews and perspectives, drawn from select members of academia and partner agencies of the CRC who provided their expert opinions on the expected demand for skill groupings commonly identified as most necessary in a civilian ‘surge’ capacity. These skills were assessed with reference to a values hierarchy of representative country scenarios, missions and sub‐missions identified by the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization. Of particular interest was the use of the MCDA method to prioritize CRC skill groupings and to help inform the Department of State's understanding of the ‘ideal’ proportion and types of civilian skills for inclusion in the CRC. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The detection of feigned disabilities: the effectiveness of the Personality Assessment Inventory in a traumatized inpatient sample

Research on feigned mental disorders indicates that severe psychopathology coupled with significant trauma histories often complicate feigning determinations, resulting in inaccuracies on otherwise effective measures. As part of malingering assessments, the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) is often used because of its excellent validation and the availability of three feigning indicators (Negative Impression, Malingering Index, and Rogers Discriminant Function), which have evidenced large effect sizes and clinically useful cut scores. The current study examined the effectiveness of the PAI in a traumatized inpatient sample using a between-subjects simulation design. Although Negative Impression appeared affected by trauma--especially in conjunction with dissociative symptoms--very positive results were found for Malingering Index and Rogers Discriminant Function. They remained relatively unelevated under honest conditions, despite posttraumatic stress disorder and extensive comorbidity. Using single-point cut scores provided moderately good classification of feigned and genuine PAI profiles. For purposes of classification, the authors operationally defined small indeterminate groups that were considered too close to classify (i.e., ±5T of the cut scores). With indeterminate cases removed, the overall classification rates improved modestly. However, the more important finding involved the error rates for the indeterminate group, which exceeded 50%. Directions for further research are discussed.     

Videoconferencing psychotherapy: a systematic review

Individuals with mental health problems may face barriers to accessing effective psychotherapies. Videoconferencing technology, which allows audio and video information to be shared concurrently across geographical distances, offers an alternative that may improve access. We conducted a systematic literature review of the use of videoconferencing psychotherapy (VCP), designed to address 10 specific questions, including therapeutic types/formats that have been implemented, the populations with which VCP is being used, the number and types of publications related to VCP, and available satisfaction, feasibility, and outcome data related to VCP. After electronic searches and reviews of reference lists, 821 potential articles were identified, and 65 were selected for inclusion. The results indicate that VCP is feasible, has been used in a variety of therapeutic formats and with diverse populations, is generally associated with good user satisfaction, and is found to have similar clinical outcomes to traditional face-to-face psychotherapy. Although the number of articles being published on VCP has increased in recent years, there remains a need for additional large-scale clinical trials to further assess the efficacy and effectiveness of VCP.     

Latent class analysis of eating disorders: relationship to mortality

The current diagnostic nomenclature for eating disorders has shortcomings. Empirical attempts to identify a new nomenclature have found numerous latent structures, but validation of this work has been largely cross-sectional, and nothing is known yet about the relationship of derived latent classes to mortality. This study examined latent diagnostic structure in 1,885 participants seeking outpatient eating disorder treatment over an 18-year period. Eating disorder symptoms were used as indicators, and the main validator was mortality as assessed using computerized linkage to the National Death Index. Six latent classes were derived; three of the six had significantly elevated standardized mortality ratios. It appeared that the latent class structure yielded better delineation of mortality risk than the existing classifications in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. These results provide support for an alternative, empirically derived diagnostic structure.     

The benefits of emotional expression for math performance

This study investigated the effects of emotional expression on actual and perceived math performance. Female participants were either asked to express their emotions or given no special instructions before taking a math test under stereotype threat or no stereotype threat conditions. Participants in the emotional expression condition performed better on the math test than participants in the control condition. Under stereotype threat, participants in the emotional expression condition believed they performed better on the math test. Emotional expression appears not only to have health benefits (e.g., Pennebaker, 1997), but academic benefits as well, including for stereotyped threatened individuals.     

Albert H. Hastorf III (1921-2011)

Presents an obituary for Albert H. Hastorf III. Albert H. Hastorf III, a pioneer in the study of social percep- tion and interaction and a celebrated member of the Stanford University administration, died September 26, 2011, in Palo Alto, California. Al was known early in his career as the coauthor of one of social psychology's most famous studies-a study that vividly illustrated the constructive and potentially biased nature of perception-and his contributions to psychology and American academia were wide-ranging. Hastorf joined Stanford's faculty in 1961, serving as executive head of the Psychology Department from 1961 to 1970. He was also a founder of the university's Interdisciplinary Human Biology Program, soon one of Stanford's most popular majors and an attractive gateway for students interested in medicine. Al's unique gifts as an administrator were apparent to all who knew him. His sound judgment, personal graciousness, good humor, and unquestioned integrity made him a popular choice as dean of the School of Humanities & Sciences from 1970 to 1974 and as provost from 1980 to 1984. The esteem in which Al was held by the Stanford community was recognized with a succession of awards, including the Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award for Outstanding Service to Undergraduate Education and the Richard W. Lyman Award for unique and dedicated service to the university. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Situational changes in self-awareness influence 3- and 4-year-olds’ self-regulation

In adults, heightened self-awareness leads to adherence to socially valued norms, whereas lowered self-awareness is associated with antinormative behavior. Levels of self-awareness are influenced by environmental cues such as mirrors. Do situational changes in self-awareness also have an impact on preschoolers’ self-regulation? Adherence to a socially valued standard was observed under different conditions of self-focus. In Experiment 1 the standard was prescribed (“don’t look in the box”), and in Experiment 2 children had the opportunity to be altruistic. Heightened self-focus was induced using a large mirror. In a neutral condition, the nonreflective side of the mirror was shown. To lower self-focus, children wore a disguise. Preschoolers peeked less and showed more altruism when the mirror image was present. As found for adults, it appears that self-awareness leads 3- and 4-year-olds to adhere to salient social standards. These results suggest that self-focus has a socially adaptive regulatory function from an early age.     

Cultural differences in process and person focus: Congratulations on your hard work versus celebrating your exceptional brain

Cultural differences in process-focused versus person-focused themes were examined using both cultural artifacts (Study 1) and self-reports (Study 2). In Study 1, the contents of Chinese and American graduation and encouragement cards were analyzed for their relative emphasis on person- versus process-focused themes. Person-focused themes center on recipients' stable traits and abilities, and their emotional well-being. In contrast, process-focused themes dwell on the recipients' hard work and effort, and emphasize the importance of continued self-improvement and growth. Messages on Chinese cards were significantly more process than person focused. The reverse was true of American cards. Chinese cards also contained more process-focused (e.g., winding roads) than person-focused images (e.g., student standing on a pedestal). American cards contained more person-focused than process-focused images, although this difference was significant only among encouragement cards. In Study 2, we presented Chinese and American participants with graduation card messages differing in focus. Chinese parents indicated that they would be more likely to select and Chinese students indicated that they would be more likely to receive process- than person-themed graduation card messages. American parents and students showed no effects of message focus. The findings illustrate how cultural beliefs are reflected in cultural artifacts and personal preferences.     

Classification versus inference learning contrasted with real-world categories

Categories are learned and used in a variety of ways, but the research focus has been on classification learning. Recent work contrasting classification with inference learning of categories found important later differences in category performance. However, theoretical accounts differ on whether this is due to an inherent difference between the tasks or to the implementation decisions. The inherent-difference explanation argues that inference learners focus on the internal structure of the categories—what each category is like—while classification learners focus on diagnostic information to predict category membership. In two experiments, using real-world categories and controlling for earlier methodological differences, inference learners learned more about what each category was like than did classification learners, as evidenced by higher performance on a novel classification test. These results suggest that there is an inherent difference between learning new categories by classifying an item versus inferring a feature.     

Stuttering severity and educational attainment

Purpose

This study investigated the relationship between self-reported stuttering severity ratings and educational attainment.

Method

Participants were 147 adults seeking treatment for stuttering. At pretreatment assessment, each participant reported the highest educational level they had attained and rated their typical and worst stuttering severity on a 9-point scale for a range of speaking situations. These included: (1) talking with a family member, (2) talking with a familiar person, not a family member, (3) talking in a group of people, (4) talking with a stranger, (5) talking with an authority figure such as a work manager or teacher, (6) talking on the telephone, (7) ordering food or drink, and (8) giving their name and address.

Results

There was a significant negative relationship between highest educational achievement and mean self-reported stuttering severity rating for the eight situations.

Conclusions

Future research is needed to investigate how this result should be addressed in educational institutions.Educational objectives: The reader will be able to: (1) describe the negative effects of stuttering through childhood to adulthood; (2) identify some of the negative consequences associated with stuttering on peer and teacher relationships, and academic performance at school; and (3) summarise the relationship between stuttering severity and educational attainment.