The style of processing scale: normative and reliability data.

Three student samples (ns=624, 653, and 566) yielded normative data for the Style of Processing scale. Analysis of subsamples found acceptable internal reliability (overall r=.78) and good test-retest reliability (overall r=.81, 6-mo. interval). The scale appears to have satisfactory reliability for assessing verbal-visual cognitive style, but further work is needed to test the scale's validity.     

Comparing the CASI-4R and the PGBI-10 M for Differentiating Bipolar Spectrum Disorders from Other Outpatient Diagnoses in Youth

We compared 2 rating scales with different manic symptom items on diagnostic accuracy for detecting pediatric bipolar spectrum disorder (BPSDs) in outpatient mental health clinics. Participants were 681 parents/guardians of eligible children (465 male, mean age = 9.34) who completed the Parent General Behavior Inventory-10-item Mania (PGBI-10 M) and mania subscale of the Child and Adolescent Symptom Inventory-Revised (CASI-4R). Diagnoses were based on KSADS interviews with parent and youth. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses and diagnostic likelihood ratios (DLRs) determined discriminative validity and provided clinical utility, respectively. Logistic regressions tested for incremental validity in the CASI-4R mania subscale and PGBI-10 M in predicting youth BPSD status above and beyond demographic and common diagnostic comorbidities. Both CASI-4R and PGBI-10 M scales significantly distinguished BPSD (N = 160) from other disorders (CASI-4R: Area under curve (AUC) = .80, p < 0.0005; PGBI-10 M: AUC = 0.79, p < 0.0005) even though scale items differed. Both scales performed equally well in differentiating BPSDs (Venkatraman test p > 0.05). Diagnostic likelihood ratios indicated low scores on either scale (CASI: 0–5; PGBI-10 M: 0–6) cut BPSD odds to 1/5 of those with high scores (CASI DLR- = 0.17; PGBI-10 M DLR- = 0.18). High scores on either scale (CASI: 14+; PGBI-10 M: 20+) increased BPSD odds about fourfold (CASI DLR+ = 4.53; PGBI-10 M DLR+ = 3.97). Logistic regressions indicated the CASI-4R mania subscale and PGBI-10 M each provided incremental validity in predicting youth BPSD status. The CASI-4R is at least as valid as the PGBI-10 M to help identify BPSDs, and can be considered as part of an assessment battery to screen for pediatric BPSDs.     

Personal goals and depression among Vietnamese American and European American young adults: a mediational analysis

The authors report preliminary findings supporting the utility of the self-concordance model (K. M. Sheldon & A. J. Elliot, 1999) as an alternative approach to studying depression among Vietnamese American (N = 121) and European American (N = 155) college students. The participants completed measures of personal goals, goal self-concordance, and depression. Compared with the European American participants, the Vietnamese American participants reported higher levels of depression and lower levels of goal self-concordance. According to mediational analyses, ethnicity no longer accounted for significant variance in depression after the authors statistically controlled for goal self-concordance.     

Perceived Change in Life Satisfaction and Daily Negative Affect: The Moderating Role of Purpose in Life

Perceiving changes in life satisfaction has been linked to diminished health and well-being. Purpose in life is theorized to promote well-being by providing a sense of personal consistency, which may buffer the negative consequences of perceived change. Using data from the Midlife in the United States study, a cluster analysis was performed to explore profiles of adults’ (N = 1,746) ratings of life satisfaction for their past, present, and future. The analysis yielded three distinct profiles: continuous high, incremental, and decremental. Relative to the other profiles, decremental adults reported greater levels and variability of negative affect in everyday life. However, purpose moderated these effects such that no between-profile differences in negative affect level or variability were detected for adults reporting greater levels of purpose. Purpose is discussed as an asset for promoting positive adjustment in adulthood.     

Using equivalence‐based instruction to teach college students to identify logical fallacies

Although there is no consensus as to the specific skills that constitute critical thinking, there is general agreement that identifying logical fallacies is an important component skill. Clearly defined logical fallacies are suited to teaching arrangements that focus on establishing conditional discriminations, as is the case with equivalence‐based instruction (EBI) methods. EBI methods have been successfully delivered using web‐based course management software and have rapidly produced socially significant learning outcomes. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of a web‐based EBI program for teaching students to recognize and identify logical fallacies by comparing the outcomes of EBI to a self‐instruction and a no‐instruction control group. EBI was more effective and more efficient when compared to both self‐instruction and no‐instruction controls. Additionally, untrained relations were evident only after EBI.     

Problem-Solving Ability and Stress Mediate the Relationship Between Creativity and Happiness

Many studies have found that creativity tends to promote happiness, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. This study proposed and tested a serial mediation model to investigate the relationships among creativity, problem solving, stress, and happiness on emerging adults and adolescents (N = 1,146). It is hypothesized that creativity is conducive to happiness indirectly through (a) problem-solving ability, (b) stress, and (c) problem-solving ability and then stress (i.e., serial mediating effect). Undergraduate students and secondary school students self-reported their creativity, social problem-solving ability, stress, happiness, and life satisfaction. The mediating role of problem-solving ability and the serial mediating effect were found statistically significant while controlling the effect of life satisfaction. The mediating role of stress, however, was not supported. The findings not only lend further support to the beneficial effect of self-perceived creativity on happiness, but also extend our understanding on the relationship by revealing the underlying process.     

Learned irrelevance: A contemporary overview

This article reviews the recent literature on the topic of learned irrelevance. It asks whether the retardation of subsequent conditioning produced by uncorrelated preexposure is indeed the result of the animal learning that a conditioned stimulus (CS) and unconditioned stimulus (US) are unrelated, or whether it is better explained either as a result of the context specificity of latent inhibition, or as some other artefact of the uncorrelated schedule employed. The conclusion is that there is as yet no good evidence to support the existence of a “genuine” learned irrelevance effect.     

Analysis of the learned irrelevance effect in appetitive Pavlovian conditioning

In Experiments 1 and 2 rats received uncorrelated presentations of a light conditioned stimulus (CS) and a food unconditioned stimulus (US) on each day of a preexposure phase. Control subjects received the same number of USs during the first half of preexposure and the same number of CSs during the second. Uncorrelated preexposure retarded inhibitory conditioning. Experiment 3 showed, however, that the different patterns of US preexposure experienced by the two groups could in itself influence the course of subsequent inhibitory conditioning. When this factor was equated by restricting the uncorrelated treatment to the first half of the pre-exposure phase (Experiment 2) or by extending the control treatment throughout the phase (Experiment 4) it was found that uncorrelated preexposure retarded excitatory conditioning, but facilitated inhibitory conditioning. This outcome challenges an interpretation in terms of the concept of learned irrelevance, which predicts that uncorrelated preexposure should retard both forms of conditioning.