The Cognitive Interview and Lie Detection: a New Magnifying Glass for Sherlock Holmes?

The observation of serious deficiencies in the traditional police interview led Geiselman and colleagues to develop an alternative method of questioning. This method is known as the cognitive interview. The CI starts from the premise that the witness, victim or suspect wishes to cooperate. But, what happens if this is not the case? More seriously, what happens if he/she lies? The main aim of this study is to examine the differences between true and false statements, as a function of the interview technique employed (CI/STI). Participants were 73 students of the University of La Laguna. A 2×2 factorial design with the following variables was used: type of interview [traditional interview used in Spain by the Police (STI) and cognitive (CI)] and type of statement (true and false). The hypothesis was that the true and false accounts of witnesses would be qualitatively and quantitatively different independent of the type of interview used (STI/CI). Results confirmed the hypothesis. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The dark side of technologies: Technostress among users of information and communication technologies

This paper tests the structure and the predictors of two psychological experiences of technostress associated with the use of information and communication technologies (ICT), i.e., technostrain (users report feelings of anxiety, fatigue, scepticism and inefficacy beliefs related to the use of technologies) and technoaddiction (users feel bad due to an excessive and compulsive use of these technologies). The study included a sample of 1072 ICT users (N = 675 nonintensive ICT users and N = 397 intensive ICT users). Results from multigroup confirmatory factor analyses among non‐intensive and intensive ICT users showed, as expected, the four‐factor structure of technostrain in both samples. Secondly, and also as expected, confirmatory factorial analyses revealed that technostress experiences are characterized not only by technostrain but also by an excessive and compulsive use of ICT. Moreover, multiple analyses of variance showed significant differences between non‐intensive and intensive ICT users (1) in the dimensions of technostress and (2) in specific job demands and job/personal resources. Finally, linear multiple regression analyses revealed that technostrain is positively predicted by work overload, role ambiguity, emotional overload, mobbing and obstacles hindering ICT use, as well as by lack of autonomy, transformational leadership, social support, ICT use facilitators and mental competences. Work overload, role ambiguity and mobbing, as well as the lack of emotional competences, positively predict technoaddiction. Theoretical and practical implications, in addition to future research, are discussed.     

Laboratory Simulated Gambling: Risk Varies Across Participant-Stake Procedure

ABSTRACT. This study investigated whether risk taking on a laboratory gambling task differed depending on whether participants gambled with earned or experimenter-provided game credits. Participants made repeated choices between two options, one to wager game credits on a game that produced probabilistic gains and losses, and one to gain game credits with certainty. Choice was investigated across stake and no-stake conditions and condition order was counterbalanced across conditions. Risk taking was higher under stake than no-stake conditions, but only when stake conditions were experienced first. There was no effect on risk taking of the amount of the certain gain. Results are consistent with previous research showing that participant-stake procedures promote greater risk taking than procedures that allow participants to gamble with their own earnings, and also show that experience gambling with earned credits has an enduring effect on risk taking.     

Faith and Mental Health in an Oncology Population

This study compares faith attitudes versus behaviors for their relationship to mental health in current cancer patients and survivors. This cross-sectional survey of ambulatory patients included Hodge’s intrinsic religious motivation scale, Benson & Spilka’s concept of God scale, frequency of prayer, and the mental health subscale of the MOS SF-36. One hundred and fifty-eighty patients, mostly women with breast cancer, completed questionnaires (92% return). Mental health was positively related to a concept of a loving God (P < .001) and negatively related to the concept of a stern God (P < .002). Mental health was unrelated to goal of treatment (cure vs. chemotherapy/palliation), frequency of prayer, intrinsic faith motivation, or physical pain. Viewing God as loving was strongly related to better mental health, even in the presence of a poor prognosis or pain.     

The Relation Between Emotional Dysregulation and Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms, Pain-Related Anxiety, and HIV-Symptom Distress Among Adults with HIV/AIDS

The current study investigated the relations between emotional dysregulation and anxiety and depressive symptoms, pain-related anxiety, and HIV-symptom distress among individuals living with HIV/AIDS. This research is important in its explanatory value regarding the unique effects of emotional dysregulation as it relates to psychological and disease-specific distress given high rates of distress specific to HIV infection (e.g. medicatin side-effects, stigma). Participants included 164 adults (17.1 % female, Mage = 48.40, SD?=?9.57) with HIV/AIDS. Results indicated that emotional dysregulation was significantly and positively related to anxiety and depressive symptoms, pain-related anxiety, and HIV-symptom distress. All emotional dyregulation effects were evidenced above and beyond the variance accounted for by demographic and HIV-specific characteristics, and the main effects of anxiety sensitivity and distress intolerance. Findings are discussed in terms of the importance of emotional dysregulation in negative affective experiences within the HIV/AIDS population.     

Juror Preference for Curative Alternative Verdicts for Veterans With PTSD

Two studies examined mock juror verdicts for veterans with PTSD in the criminal justice system. Mock jurors demonstrated a leniency toward treatment bias for veterans with PTSD who committed a violent crime, compared to a nonviolent crime. This leniency toward treatment bias occurred only when alternative verdict options, beyond guilty or not guilty, were available. In fact, a guilt bias was demonstrated by mock jurors when the only verdict options were guilty or not guilty, and a bias toward treatment was demonstrated when curative alternative verdicts were available. Implications for efforts to address the growing national problem of veterans with PTSD in the criminal justice system are discussed.     

Studying radical organizational innovation through grounded theory

The main aim of this article is to study the social processes occurring during the implementation of radical organizational innovation. Our aim is to understand the nature of the development of radical innovation by identifying the social processes, that are taking place. The perspective for the analysis stems from “grounded theory” as a generative and inductive analytical strategy (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). An in-depth case study was thoroughly analysed. A total of 14 indepth interviews were conducted with key informants selected according to “theoretical sampling” criteria. The systematic use of the “constant comparative method” allowed us to differentiate grounded theories leading to a “conceptual saturation” of the categories generated from the empirical data. Results show the emergence of two basic processes, “learning” and “adaptation”, during the development of radical innovation. A “grounded” theory concerning the development of radical innovation is proposed, emphasizing the organization's selfregulating capacity for learning and adapting. Our results describe innovation as an adaptable response that causes disorder in terms of “a creative tension in the system”. Finally, the methodological implications of grounded theory are discussed with regard to the study of radical innovation. The requisites and limitations observed in using grounded theory are outlined.     

Word list memory predicts everyday function and problem-solving in the elderly: results from the ACTIVE cognitive intervention trial

Data from the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE) trial (N = 2,802) were analyzed to examine whether word list learning predicts future everyday functioning. Using stepwise random effects modeling, measures from the modified administrations of the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (HVLT) and the Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) were independently predictive of everyday IADL functioning, problem-solving, and psychomotor speed. Associations between memory scores and everyday functioning outcomes remained significant across follow-up intervals spanning 5 years. HVLT total recall score was consistently the strongest predictor of each functional outcome. Results suggest that verbal memory measures are uniquely associated with both current and future functioning and that specific verbal memory tests like the HVLT and AVLT have important clinical utility in predicting future functional ability among older adults.