Evaluating the Safety and Effectiveness of the Weighted Blanket With Adults During an Inpatient Mental Health Hospitalization

The weighted blanket (WB) is a modality used to self-comfort, rest, sleep, and decrease anxiety. This exploratory, pilot study investigates the safety and effectiveness of the standardized use of the 30-pound WB with 30 adults during an acute inpatient mental health hospitalization. Safety measures include blood pressure, pulse rate, and pulse oximetry monitoring, with and without the 30-pound WB. The State Trait Anxiety Inventory-10 (STAI-10), a self-rating 0–10 anxiety scale, and electrodermal activity (EDA) readings measure effectiveness for anxiety reduction. No statistical differences in vital signs indicate WB safety. The STAI-10 and self-ratings indicate 60% had a significant reduction in anxiety using the WB. EDA readings were inconclusive.     

Evaluation of the factor structure of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale in older adults

The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale is the most utilized measure of global self-esteem. Although psychometric studies have generally supported the uni-dimensionality of this 10-item scale, more recently, a stable, response-bias has been associated with the wording of the items (Marsh, Scalas, & Nagengast, 2010). The purpose of this report was to replicate Marsh et al.’s findings in a sample of older adults and to test for invariance across time, gender and levels of education. Our results indicated that indeed a response-bias does exist in esteem responses. Researchers should investigate ways to meaningfully examine and practically overcome the methodological challenges associated with the RSE scale.     

Self‐Stigma of Mental Illness and Help Seeking Among School Counselors

The authors reported the findings from a correlational investigation examining the relationship between school counselors' (N = 333) self‐stigma of mental illness, help‐seeking behaviors, burnout, stress, and life satisfaction. The authors used a path analysis to test a hypothesized causal framework that self‐stigma of mental illness contributed to help‐seeking behaviors, which contributed to stress and burnout. The findings showed that the data fit the hypothesized model. The authors discuss the implications of the findings.     

Learning by looking: Infants' social looking behavior across the transition from crawling to walking

This study investigated how infants gather information about their environment through looking and how that changes with increases in motor skills. In Experiment 1, 9.5- and 14-month-olds participated in a 10-min free play session with both a stranger and ambiguous toys present. There was a significant developmental progression from passive to active social engagement, as evidenced by younger infants watching others communicate more and older infants making more bids for social interaction. Experiment 2 examined longitudinally the impact of age and walking onset on this progression. The transition to independent walking marked significant changes in how often infants watched others communicate and made active bids for social interaction. Results suggest that infants transition from passive observers as crawlers to active participants in their social environment with the onset of walking.     

Finding the right case: the role of predictive features in memory for aviation accidents

Three experiments examined the role of story structure in memory for written aviation accident reports by both pilots and nonpilots. Accident reports follow a standard format providing setting, complication, decision and outcome information. Following the ‘predictive features’ model, it was hypothesized that expertise would facilitate recall, and that pilots would recall most effectively with the complication feature. Pilot and nonpilot participants read and recalled 4 (Experiment 1) or 8 (Experiment 2) accident reports. With four cases, pilots recalled more than nonpilots, but no difference was found with eight cases. A primacy effect for pattern of recall was found in Experiment 1 with the setting and complication features most effective in triggering case recall. When task difficulty was increased (Experiment 2), the complication feature alone was the most effective. In Experiment 3, we manipulated text structure and found that complication and decision features were better recognized than setting or outcome features by nonpilots. The finding across three studies that the complication feature was consistently the most effective for retrieving aviation accident reports supports the ‘predictive features’ model. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Children's classifications of nature and artifact pictures into female and male categories

Associations of the concepts of nature and artifact with the concepts of female and male were examined using a category inference picture-grouping game with 22 second-grade subjects. In a first session, subjects grouped pictures of objects, such as a tree and a cup, on the basis of a nature/artifact distinction. The purpose of this session was to teach the categorization procedure on an easy task and to highlight the nature/artifact distinction. In a second session, pictures of people, clothing, and accessories were grouped on the basis of a female/male distinction. A new set of pictures containing nature and artifact items was then categorized into the female and male groups. Natural items were assigned more often to the female category while artifact items were assigned more often to the male category. The role of such associations in the development of gender concepts is discussed.     

FOCLAB: A language for computer-controlled psychology research

The FOCLAB system, a dialect of FOCAL, provides complete real-time experiment control and data acquisition capabilities in the area of experimental psychology. The language provides digital and analog input/output, graphics (including alphanumerics) on a refresh CRT, and a powerful set of time measurement operations. With these facilities FOCAL may be used in cognitive and operant, as well as psychophysiological research. FOCLAB will operate with either PDP-8 or PDP-12 systems, and can control most of the currently existing lab interface options for these computers. The system will operate on 8K core-only machines, as well as under OS/8.