Self-reported parental abuse relates to autobiographical memory style in patients with eating disorders

Previous research has shown a relationship between levels of self-reported childhood abuse and overgeneral memory style. This relationship was further clarified in patients with an eating disorder (ED). Patients and healthy controls completed a task in which they had to generate specific autobiographical memories to emotional cue words. The results showed that first, the ED group, relative to the controls, produced more first memories that were "overgeneral" and fewer first memories that were specific. Second, in the ED group, the level of self-reported parental abuse was positively correlated with the tendency to produce overgeneral memories to negative cues. This effect remained significant even after levels of depressed mood were controlled for.     

Assessing anti-White attitudes and predicting perceived racism: the Johnson-Lecci scale

Five studies are herein reported to describe the development and preliminary validation of the Johnson-Lecci Scale (JLS), a multicomponent self-report measure of anti-White attitudes held among Blacks. Items were generated from the everyday experiences of Black respondents using an act-frequency approach, and the scale configuration was derived using factor analysis. The factor structure was shown to be robust because it was cross-validated in an independent sample. The resulting JLS factors (subscales) were ingroup-directed stigmatization and discriminatory expectations, outgroup-directed negative beliefs, negative views toward ingroup-outgroup relations, and negative verbal expression toward the outgroup. These subscales were shown to predict the interpretations of ambiguously racist scenarios (i.e., perceived racism) and converged with peer evaluations of the target's anti-White attitudes. The subscales also demonstrate both convergent and discriminant validity with other self-report assessments of bias relating to age, gender, education, socioeconomic status, and race.     

The components of latency of response in two models for auditory detection with deadlines

Two models are described for the case of auditory detection with response time deadlines. These are the “timing” model, modified from Luce and Green (1972), and the “interval of uncertainty” (IU) model, modified from the “counting” model of McGill (1967). The two models are expressed in the form of additive component latencies, including a component which varies inversely with probability of response and a component for a longer response on the “nondeadline” response condition. An experiment is described, incorporating deadlines on both s and n trials separately, and the additive component latencies of the models are calculated. The “interval of uncertainty” model is seen to represent the data better than the “timing” model, even though different versions of the latter model are considered. Parameters are then fitted to give a representation of the IU model. The data from one subject of another study not employing deadlines can also be fitted to the model, and an interesting problem then arises concerning the exact locus of the speed-accuracy tradeoff. It is concluded that the IU model needs extending if it is to describe the data without the use of a component of latency which varies inversely with response probability.     

Statistical inference in personality research

Statistical significance, by itself, is not a sufficient condition for claiming that a hypothesis has been supported. Constructive replications are considerably more important. Unfortunately, classical (Fisherian) statistics are not easily adapted to sequential research strategies; their focus is the single experiment. For this reason, statistically significant results may be meaningless while a particular sequence of nonsignificant results may be quite important. Advice on how to overcome some limitations of classical statistical procedures is given, along with a compendium of “do's and don't's.”     

Encounter group counsellor training with pre-service industrial psychologists: A pilot study

This study explored the efficacy of an encounter group counsellor training protocol to prepare pre-service industrial-organisational (I-O) psychologists as workplace counsellors. The participants included 48 master’s degree students enrolled for I-O professional education at a South African university over the span of two years (female = 59%, aged 23 to 30 years, white = 79% and Afrikaans speaking = 70%). They were engaged in an encounter group training process as part of their professional preparation. Qualitative impressions on the students’ experiences impacting on their intra-and interpersonal awareness were gathered after the training using a structured observation design. The data were thematically analysed and the findings indicated the participants portrayed a higher sense of inter-and intrapersonal awareness following the encounter group training. Encounter group experiences might be of added value in the training of future I-O psychologists for interpersonal awareness.     

Reduced specificity of autobiographical memory and depression: the role of executive control

It has been widely established that depressed mood states and clinical depression, as well as a range of other psychiatric disorders, are associated with a relative difficulty in accessing specific autobiographical information in response to emotion-related cue words on an Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT; J. M. G. Williams & K. Broadbent, 1986). In 8 studies the authors examined the extent to which this relationship is a function of impaired executive control associated with these mood states and clinical disorders. Studies 1-4 demonstrated that performance on the AMT is associated with performance on measures of executive control, independent of depressed mood. Furthermore, Study 1 showed that executive control (as measured by verbal fluency) mediated the relationship between both depressed mood and a clinical diagnosis of eating disorder and AMT performance. Using a stratified sample in Study 5, the authors confirmed the positive association between depressed mood and impaired performance on the AMT. Studies 6-8 involved experimental manipulations of the parameters of the AMT designed to further indicate that reduced executive control is to a significant extent driving the relationship between depressed mood and AMT performance. The potential role of executive control in accounting for other aspects of the AMT literature is discussed.     

The Trauma Memory Quality Questionnaire: preliminary development and validation of a measure of trauma memory characteristics for children and adolescents

It has been suggested that post-traumatic stress is related to the nature of an individual's trauma memories. While this hypothesis has received support in adults, few studies have examined this in children and adolescents. This article describes the development and validation of a measure of the nature of children's trauma memories, the Trauma Memory Quality Questionnaire (TMQQ), that might test this hypothesis and be of clinical use. The measure was standardised in two samples, a cross-sectional sample of non-clinic referred secondary school pupils (n=254), and a sample participating in a prospective study of children and adolescents who had attended a hospital Accident and Emergency department following an assault or a road traffic accident (n=106). The TMQQ was found to possess good internal consistency, criterion validity, and construct validity, but test-retest reliability has yet to be established.     

The accuracy of self-monitoring and its relationship to self-focused attention in dysphoria and clinical depression

The accuracy with which dysphoric (Study 1) and clinically depressed (Study 2) individuals make self-regulatory judgments about their own performance in the absence of external feedback and the extent to which this relates to trait self-focused attention (SFA) were examined. Relative to objective criteria, both dysphoric and depressed participants showed a positive judgment bias, overestimating the number of trials they had performed correctly. Relative to control participants, the dysphoric and depressed groups showed a reduction in the extent of this positive bias in that they judged error trials more accurately and correct trials less accurately. Although the dysphoric and depressed groups both reported elevated trait SFA, this did not correlate significantly with accuracy of self-judgment on the performance-monitoring task. Implications for self-regulation models of depression are discussed.     

Diagnostic, demographic, memory quality, and cognitive variables associated with acute stress disorder in children and adolescents

To date, no studies have investigated factors associated with acute stress disorder (ASD) in children and adolescents. Relationships between ASD and a number of demographic, trauma, cognitive, and trauma memory variables were therefore investigated in a sample (N=93) of children and adolescents involved in assaults and motor vehicle accidents. Several cognitive variables and the quality of trauma memories, but not demographic or trauma variables, were correlated with ASD and also mediated the relationship between peritraumatic threat and ASD. Finally, nosological analyses comparing ASD with indexes of posttraumatic stress disorder in the month posttrauma revealed little support for the dissociation mandate that uniquely characterizes ASD. The results are discussed with respect to assessment and treatment for the acute traumatic stress responses of children and young people.