Additional exposures to a compound of two preexposed stimuli deepen latent inhibition

The present experiments studied the role of error correction mechanisms in the latent inhibition of conditioned fear responses by conditioned stimulus (CS) preexposure. They demonstrated that a preexposed CS subjected to additional exposures in compound with either another preexposed stimulus or a novel stimulus was more latently inhibited than a preexposed CS which received additional exposures in isolation. They also showed that a preexposed CS subjected to additional exposures in compound with another preexposed stimulus was more latently inhibited than a preexposed CS given additional exposures in compound with a novel stimulus. These results were discussed in terms of the Hall-Rodriguez (2010) model of latent inhibition.     

Maternal attributions and young children's conduct problems: a longitudinal study

The association between negative maternal attributions and child conduct problems is well established in correlational studies. However, little is known about how these variables influence each other over time. The present study examined patterns of prediction over time between maternal attributions and pre‐school conduct problems. Sixty mothers and their 3‐year‐old children with a range of levels of conduct problems were interviewed when the child was just 3, and then again when the child was just 4. Childhood conduct problems were assessed using the parental account of childhood symptoms and parental attributions were assessed using a modification of Walker's Parental Attribution Questionnaire. Results indicate that even as young as age 3, child conduct problems are associated with negative maternal attributions. In longitudinal analyses, children's conduct problems at age 3 predicted mothers' attributions at age 4, but mothers' attributions did not predict children's conduct problems over the same time period. The data are consistent with the notion that negative attributions may be a result, rather than a cause, of having a difficult‐to‐manage child. This has implications for current proposed mechanisms that link maternal attributions and child conduct problems, and thus for interventions for these problems. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Impacts of Personality Traits,Use Intensity and Features Use of LinkedIn on Bridging Social Capital

Applied Research in Quality of Life - This exploratory study examines the effects of LinkedIn users’ personality traits, use intensity, and LinkedIn feature usage patterns on their perceived...     

Regional variation in the inversion effect for faces: differential effects for feature shape, feature configuration, and external contour

Faces are perceived via an orientation-dependent expert mechanism. We previously showed that inversion impaired perception of the spatial relations of features more in the lower face than in the (more salient) upper face, suggests a failure to rapidly process this type of structural data from the entire face. In this study we wished to determine if this interaction between inversion and regional salience, which we consider a marker for efficient whole-face processing, was specific to second-order (coordinate) spatial relations or also affected other types of structural information in faces. We used an oddity paradigm to test the ability of seventeen subjects to discriminate changes in feature size, feature spatial relations, and external contour in both the upper and lower face. We also tested fourteen subjects on perception of two different types of spatial relations: second-order changes that create plausible alternative faces, and illegal spatial changes that transgress normal rules of facial geometry. In both experiments we examined for asymmetries between upper-face and lower-face perceptual accuracy with brief stimulus presentations. While all structural changes were less easily discerned in inverted faces, only changes to spatial relations showed a marked asymmetry between the upper and lower face, with far worse performance in the mouth region. Furthermore, this asymmetry was found only for second-order spatial relations and not illegal spatial changes. These results suggest that the orientation-dependent face mechanism has a rapid whole-face processing capacity specific to the internal second-order (coordinate) spatial relations of facial features.     

Measures of child and adolescent psychopathology in Asia

This article reviews measures of child and adolescent psychopathology used in Asian cultures. Sixteen imported measures from the West are identified and their psychometric equivalence across cultures is reviewed; 2 new measures are briefly introduced. Although initial evidence is generally promising, more studies are needed to support their use in Asia. One recently developed Singapore measure cannot be considered genuinely indigenous. Culture-specific items proposed for imported measures could be grouped into existing diagnostic constructs. There is, as yet, no strong theoretical support for culture-bound diagnostic constructs in Asian cultures.     

Adolescent coping in different Chinese family environments

This study explored the relationship between family environment and adolescent coping in a Chinese sample. Four family types were identified with cluster analysis: (a) conflict-control, (b) structured, cohesive, expressive, and recreation-oriented, (c) structured, cohesive, and low conflict, and (d) unstructured and low control. Families with high cohesion, expressiveness, organization, low conflict, and low to medium level of control were associated with a more constructive coping style. Chinese adolescents tended to (a) mobilize personal resources, (b) seek help from social resources, and (c) adopt a philosophy of doing nothing as their major coping style when they had a positive perception of their family environment. This coping style was termed "fatalistic voluntarism." Finally, boys' coping behaviors were somewhat different from girls'. Girls tended to rely more on social support, whereas boys tended to avoid the problem or engage in blaming.     

Validity and reliability of a Cantonese-translated rating of perceived exertion scale among Hong Kong adults

This study assessed the validity and reliability of the Cantonese-translated version of the Borg 6-20 Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale during continuous incremental cycle ergometry by Hong Kong adults. A total of 54 participants (25 males and 29 females), ages 22.2 +/- 4.7 yr., volunteered to participate. They performed two trials of identical continuous incremental cycling exercise 1 wk. apart for the reliability test. The objective measures of exercise intensity (heart rate, power output, and oxygen consumption) and the subjective measure of effort (RPE) were obtained during the incremental exercise. Significant (p < .01) Pearson correlations were found when RPE values were correlated with heart rate (rs > or = .73), power output (rs > or = .69), and oxygen consumption (rs > or = .68). The overall test-retest intraclass correlation (R = .92) indicated that the scale was reliable. In conclusion, this Cantonese scale for rating of perceived exertion appears to be a valid and reliable psychophysiological tool to measure perceptions of exertion during controlled cycle ergometer exercise by Hong Kong adults.     

Validation of the Perceived Chinese Overparenting Scale in Emerging Adults in Hong Kong

Overparenting is an emergent parenting style where parents are highly involved in their children’s routines and they remove the perceived obstacles that may happen in their children’s lives. However, validated measures that objectively assess overparenting are severely lacking in the Chinese communities. Based on a sample of 642 undergraduate students from Hong Kong, psychometric properties of the perceived Chinese Paternal Overparenting Scale (CPOS) and Chinese Maternal Overparenting Scale (CMOS) were examined in terms of internal consistency, test-retest reliability, convergent validity and factorial validity. Results indicated that both CPOS and CMOS showed good internal consistency and test–retest reliability. As predicted, the findings gave support for the convergent validity of the scales: CPOS and CMOS were significantly related to measures of paternal and maternal behavioral control, psychological control, and support; they were also negatively associated with self-efficacy but positively related to narcissistic behavior of emerging adults. Moreover, factor analyses showed that eight factors corresponding to the proposed conceptual model were abstracted from the CPOS and CMOS, respectively. The present study suggests that both CPOS and CMOS are reliable and valid assessment tools that can be used to measure parental overparenting in the Chinese context.