Comprehension skill, inference-making ability, and their relation to knowledge

In this study we investigated the relation between young children's comprehension skill and inference-making ability using a procedure that controlled individual differences in general knowledge (Barnes & Dennis, 1998; Barnes, Dennis, & Haefele-Kalvaitis, 1996). A multiepisode story was read to the children, and their ability to make two types of inference was assessed: coherence inferences, which were essential for adequate comprehension of the text, and elaborative inferences, which enhanced the text representation but which were not crucial to understanding. There was a strong relation between comprehension skill and inference-making ability even when knowledge was equally available to all participants. Subsidiary analyses of the source of inference failures revealed different underlying sources of difficulty for good and poor comprehenders.     

On the heritability of inspection time and its covariance with IQ: a twin study

Using the classical twin design, this study investigates the influence of genetic factors on the large phenotypic variance in inspection time (IT), and whether the well established IT–IQ association can be explained by a common genetic factor. Three hundred ninety pairs of twins (184 monozygotic, MZ; 206 dizygotic, DZ) with a mean age of 16 years participated, and 49 pairs returned approximately 3 months later for retesting. As in many IT studies, the pi figure stimulus was used and IT was estimated from the cumulative normal ogive. IT ranged from 39.4 to 774.1 ms (159±110.1 ms) with faster ITs (by an average of 26.9 ms) found in the retest session from which a reliability of .69 was estimated. Full-scale IQ (FIQ) was assessed by the Multidimensional Aptitude Battery (MAB) and ranged from 79 to 145 (111±13). The phenotypic association between IT and FIQ was confirmed (−.35) and bivariate results showed that a common genetic factor accounted for 36% of the variance in IT and 32% of the variance in FIQ. The maximum likelihood estimate of the genetic correlation was −.63. When performance and verbal IQ (PIQ & VIQ) were analysed with IT, a stronger phenotypic and genetic relationship was found between PIQ and IT than with VIQ. A large part of the IT variance (64%) was accounted for by a unique environmental factor. Further genetic factors were needed to explain the remaining variance in IQ with a small component of unique environmental variance present. The separability of a shared genetic factor influencing IT and IQ from the total genetic variance in IQ suggests that IT affects a specific subcomponent of intelligence rather than a generalised efficiency.     

Sex differences in the nature,realism, and correlates of body image

The present study examined sex differences in the nature and realism of body-image satisfaction, and the extent to which sex and sex role ideology moderated the relationships of body image to other indices of self-esteem and well-being. Accordingly, scales assessing body cathexis, self-esteem, depression proneness, and sex role ideology, as well as a questionnaire assessing perceptions of weight and dieting activities, were completed by 135 college women and 129 college men. As expected, women indicated significantly greater dissatisfaction with their bodies than did men. Women were likely to perceive themselves as overweight or slightly overweight, regardless of their actual weight, and most wanted to lose weight. Men who were dissatisfied tended to perceive themselves as underweight and wanted to gain rather than to lose weight. For both sexes, less positive attitudes to ward one's body were related to lower levels of self-esteem, although the relationship was significantly stronger for women than for men. The relationship between body attitudes and self-esteem was of approximately equal magnitude among traditional vs feminist women. For both sexes, more negative attitudes towards one's body were related to greater proneness to depression. Implications for further research are discussed.     

A low-cost method for digitizing videotaped continuous movements on the Macintosh

We describe an inexpensive means of digitizing videotaped positions of moving points, such as the positions of the joints of a person who is performing an action. Single-frame video images and a Macintosh computer monitor are optically superimposed, using a half-silvered mirror, and the positions of reference points in the video image are manually clicked in by the operator, so that the screen coordinates of the reference points on each frame can be stored in a text file for later analysis. The digitizing program records comments and identifying information along with the position data.     

The impact of defibrillator discharges on psychological functioning of implantable cardioverter defibrillator recipients

A lag exists with respect to our understanding of the psychological demands and rehabilitation needs of individuals who have undergone implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) implantation. The ICD is designed to transmit an electric shock to the heart to treat a potentially life-threatening arrhythmia. This study specifically examined the impact of defibrillator discharges on the psychological functioning of ICD recipients. A questionnaire was self-administered to 33 individuals who have been living with the ICD for at least 6 months. Results revealed that levels of anger and depression were significantly higher in those subjects who reported a lower discharge rate, while sense of well-being was significantly higher in those subjects who reported a greater discharge rate. Possible explanations for our findings were proposed as well as implications for clinical intervention were discussed.     

Clients Helping Therapists Find Solutions to their Therapy

This paper is offered as a beginning toward including client perspectives on treatment and client participation in supervision. Rather than see therapists as technical experts who do things to people, many of us now see therapists as nonexperts who create conversations with people (Goolishian & Anderson, 1992). This new shift challenges the traditional training positions of supervisor and supervisee, respectively. Including clients' voices the supervisor participate from a nonexpert position.