Prospective memory, emotional valence and ageing

Emotional factors have been found to be an important influence on memory. The current study investigated the influence of emotional salience and age on a laboratory measure of prospective memory (PM); Virtual Week. Thirty young and 30 old adults completed Virtual Week, in which the emotional salience of the tasks at encoding was manipulated to be positive, negative or neutral in content. For event-based, but not time-based tasks, positivity enhancement in both age groups was seen, with a greater number of positive PM tasks being performed relative to neutral tasks. There was no negativity enhancement effect. Older adults showed generally poorer levels of PM, but they also demonstrated greater beneficial effects of positive valence compared to young. These effects of emotion on PM accuracy do not appear to reflect the retrospective component of the task as a different pattern of emotion effects was seen on the recall of PM content. Results indicate that older adults' difficulties in prospective remembering can be reduced where the tasks to be remembered are positive.     

Re-Visioning Medicine

Studies suggest that medical students and physicians have higher rates of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation than their peers in the general population. Some authors have suggested that medical culture perpetuates these problems by erecting “barriers to treatment,” preventing students and physicians from getting the help they need. Here, the author begins a broader examination of the potential role of culture by examining the myths and symbols that form the basis for medical culture and the medical self-image. The author argues that a medical self-image based on a de-contextualized medical mythology, the Asclepius myth, results in a sense of professional identity that is unbalanced, dehumanized, and characterized by unattainable expectations. The outward expression of this medical self-image, the medical culture, is often a-relational, unhealthy, stressed, or even toxic. The author suggests some ways of re-modeling medical culture, including its rituals and symbols, and medical education in ways that incorporate what is currently kept in its shadow.     

Psychometric Properties of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire-Preschool Revision (APQ-Pr) in 3 Year-Old Spanish Preschoolers

Parenting practices should be assessed and taken into account at an early age, since it is well documented that they are strongly related to children’s development. This study provides data on the psychometric properties of a Spanish version of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire for Preschool children (APQ-Pr). A community sample of 622 (310 boys and 312 girls) 3 year-old children and their parents, participated in the study. Data were obtained from parents’ reports and correspond to a semi-structured diagnostic interview and self-report questionnaires evaluating parenting and children’s psychological states. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a three-factor solution: positive parenting, inconsistent parenting and punitive parenting. These scales scores showed moderate to good internal consistence (omega values ranged from .54 to .86). Inconsistent parenting scores achieved the strongest associations with external measures of psychopathology, especially for externalizing and conduct problems, as well as for functional impairment, the poorest associations being for the positive parenting scores. Results support the validity of the Spanish APQ-Pr, which is potentially a useful measure for the study of parenting practices regarding preschool children and their relation to conduct problems.     

Between Black and White: Examining Grey Literature in Meta-analyses of Psychological Research

The inclusion of grey literature in meta-analyses and reviews is controversial. We examine both the advantages and challenges of including grey literature in meta-analyses. An exemplar meta-analysis of behavioral parenting interventions on parent behavior, child behavior, and parent adjustment outcomes is used to demonstrate these issues. It also explores the influence of the inclusion of grey literature on outcomes, including whether effect sizes are affected by the inclusion of grey literature and describes the challenges of searching for grey literature using traditional search engines such as Google and Yahoo. Homogeneity and publication bias are also examined. Based on these results, recommendations are presented for meta-analysts and researchers.     

Perceived Control’s Influence on Wellbeing in Residential Care Versus Community Dwelling Older Adults

As people age and their control capacity presumably declines, it is argued that the influence of acceptance (or secondary perceived control) increases to help maintain normative levels of wellbeing. While previous studies have typically investigated the relationship between perceived control and global estimates of life satisfaction in community samples, the present study compared the link between perceived control and eight key domains of satisfaction in 101 older adults (65+ years) living in the community and 101 older adults (65+ years) living in residential aged-care. The findings supported the theory that stability in satisfaction and primary perceived control may, in part, be facilitated by a growing acceptance of what cannot be changed. Despite assumptions that old age is associated with lower primary control, particularly when living in an aged-care facility, the data did not indicate that primary perceived control was suppressed as a result of living in residential age-care. The results did indicate, however, that primary and secondary perceived control may predict satisfaction with comparable strength under low-control conditions, and that acceptance takes more of a prime position in low control situations in later life.     

The empathetic mind: the essence of human spirituality

The discovery of mirror neurons has led to some exciting research into the role of the brain and human empathy. Empathy is a significant element in human relationality and, therefore, human spirituality. This article will focus on the links between mirror neurons and human empathy and education. It will then examine how technology may be a factor in causing the erosion of empathy in today’s world, leading to school violence and bullying. It will conclude by offering some guidelines for educational programmes which may lead to the nurturing of children’s empathy.     

Longitudinal Associations Between Trauma Exposure and Executive Functions in Children: Findings from a Dutch Birth Cohort Study

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - This study is the first to distinguish two possible predictive directions between trauma exposure and executive functioning in children in a...     

Emotion Recognition and Traumatic Brain Injury: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Neuropsychology Review - Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can lead to impairments in emotion recognition that can present considerable challenges to social communication and the maintenance of...     

Conditional Parochial Vicarious Ostracism: Gender Collective Narcissism Predicts Distress at the Exclusion of the Gender Ingroup in Women and Men

Sex Roles - Three experiments (two pre-registered) tested whether gender collective narcissism (i.e., a belief that one’s gender ingroup’s exceptionality is not sufficiently recognized...     

The Efficient Assessment of Self-Esteem: Proposing the Brief Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale

Self-esteem is defined as sense of self-worth and self-respect, being crucial for understanding people’s well-being and success. It is one of the most studied constructs in the social sciences, with the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) being the most used measure. Across four studies (N = 1450), we tested the psychometric parameters of an abbreviated version of the RSES. Through Item Response Theory, the five best items were selected to form the unidimensional Brief Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (B-RSES), a reliable and valid measure of self-esteem, which is invariant across age groups and gender. In addition, both RSES and B-RSES correlated very similarly with the Big Five Personality Factors. Also, the B-RSES was strongly correlated with three other short measures of self-esteem, besides being more strongly associated with a range of variables such as conscientiousness and self-competence in comparison to the other three short scales. Together, the B-RSES is especially useful in research that requires rapid evaluation and the use of multiple variables.