The influence of prior knowledge and repeated questioning on children's long-term retention of the details of a pediatric examination

Children's recall of the details of pediatric examinations was examined over the course of a 6-month interval. Although the 83 4- to 7-year-old participants reported a substantial amount of information at each assessment, performance declined over time, dropping sharply over the course of 3 months but then remaining constant out to the final interview at 6 months. As expected, older children provided more total information than younger children did and reported a greater proportion of the event components in response to general rather than specific questions. However, comparable patterns of remembering and forgetting over time were observed at each age level. In addition, no effects of repeated questioning--in the form of an interview at 3 months for half of the children--were observed on performance at the 6-month assessment. Moreover, children's prior knowledge about routine doctor visits was assessed before the checkup for half of the participants at each age and was associated with initial but not delayed recall. Although knowledge increased with age as expected, it nonetheless affected recall over and above the influence of age.     

How do we evaluate learning from the curriculum? Thirty phone interviews with Institutes of the American Psychoanalytic Association

A telephone survey of curriculum directors of the thirty institutes of the American Psychoanalytic Association revealed that 75 percent of institutes highly value the importance of evaluating what candidates learn from the curriculum. Paradoxically, however, most institutes do not do evaluations in this area. Typically, institutes evaluate candidates' satisfaction with courses, or their attendance and conduct in classes, rather than learning per se. Some institutes have more rigorous evaluation methods, including oral exams. Objections to evaluating what candidates learn included (1) evaluations involve too much work; (2) evaluations of learning are considered inappropriate or invalid; (3) evaluations would hurt candidates, faculty, the learning process, and the institute. Some curriculum directors dismissed these objections, contending that it is the responsibility of psychoanalytic educators to set teaching goals and evaluate learning.     

Researcher and clinician: Role conflict and resolution

Group therapy investigations are often conducted by researchers rather than by experienced clinicians who also possess research expertise. Given the fact that doctorally prepared clinicians must demonstrate research competence in their education programs, it is surprising that there is not more research on group therapy. The literature indicates that research and group psychotherapy practice are considered quite separate entities. However, there is much that both processes have in common. The principal investigator's experience during a group psychotherapy research project suggested that the conflict between the roles of researcher and clinician may not be due to differences in the external processes but rather to difficulties in trying to combine them within one person. The value of the researcher-clinician is elaborated, and recommendations are offered.This paper was supported by a grant from the Group Psychotherapy Foundation.     

Development of Indirect Measures of Conscientiousness: Combining a Facets Approach and Network Analysis

Because indirect measures of personality self‐concepts such as the Implicit Association Test (IAT) allow tapping into automatic processes, they can offer advantages over self‐report measures. However, prior investigations have led to mixed results regarding the validity of indirect measures of conscientiousness. We suggest that these results might be due to a failure to consider the different facets of conscientiousness. These facets are of crucial importance because they are associated differentially with other psychobiological constructs and they are also characterized by different mechanisms. Therefore, focusing on facets while developing indirect measures of conscientiousness may improve the validity of such measures. In Study 1, we conducted a psycholexical investigation to develop one IAT for each conscientiousness facet. In Study 2, we examined the convergent and discriminant validities of each facet IAT in relation to self‐report measures, peer‐report measures and self‐report behavioural indicators, and we investigated differential associations of the conscientiousness facets with working memory capacity and self‐control. We employed network analysis as a novel approach to elucidate differential relationships involving personality facets. The results corroborated the convergent and discriminant validity of the conscientiousness facet IATs with self‐reports and showed that the conscientiousness facets were differentially associated with working memory capacity and with self‐control. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology     

A Video Recall Study of In‐session Changes in Sentiment Override

This study examines in‐session changes in sentiment override over the first three sessions of couple therapy. Couples viewed a video recording of therapy sessions immediately after each of the first three sessions and continuously rated their level of sentiment override. Ninety‐eight changes were randomly chosen for analysis. Three talk turns prior to each change was coded using the Family Relational Communication Control Coding System. Results show that changes in sentiment override occur frequently. Repeated incidents of communication control were related to negative change in sentiment override for females. Repeated incidents of being left out of the conversation were related to negative changes in sentiment override for females and positive changes for males.     

Neurocognitive predictors of performance‐based functional capacity in bipolar disorder

Neurocognitive impairment can predict functional capacity in individuals with bipolar disorder, though little research has examined whether different neurocognitive domains impact specific types of tasks. This study examined the relationship between several neurocognitive variables and the UCSD Performance‐Based Skills Assessment (UPSA; Patterson et al., 2011) to identify the domains and tests that best predict the performance across the subscales. Forty‐seven euthymic participants who were diagnosed with either Bipolar I or Bipolar II were recruited and assessed on a battery of neuropsychological measures and the UPSA. Correlational and regression analyses were run to identify neurocognitive predictors of UPSA subscales. Per the literature, verbal learning and memory and executive function composites were first examined. Verbal learning and memory predicted the Communication subscale and Total score variables above and beyond the estimated FSIQ and symptom rating scales. In a secondary exploratory analysis, the Benton Judgment of Line Orientation subtest predicted the Finance subscale while the California Verbal Learning Test predicted the UPSA total score. Verbal learning and memory emerged as the strongest predictor of functional capacity, suggesting that this domain should be investigated in future mediational and longitudinal studies with the UPSA.     

Bidirectional relations between different forms of prosocial behaviors and substance use among female college student athletes

Bidirectional, longitudinal relations between alcohol and marijuana use and prosocial behaviors in women college student athletes were examined. Participants were 187 female college students (M_age = 19.87 years; 91% White) who completed questionnaires on their use of marijuana and alcohol, and six forms of prosocial behaviors across 6 years (2004–2010). The findings yield overall evidence that earlier marijuana use predicted lower levels of most specific forms of prosocial behaviors for women athletes in later young adulthood. Early expressions of altruistic behaviors predicted less marijuana use in later young adulthood. Expression of public prosocial behaviors early in young adulthood predicted higher levels of hazardous drinking in late young adulthood. These novel findings have important implications for links between prosocial development and substance use in women college athletes.     

Testing the Situationism Scale in Europe: Scale validation,self‐regulation and regional differences

The term situationism refers to an individual's belief about the importance of a behaviour's context. This study tested whether the degree of situationism expressed by individuals in various regions of Europe was consistent with self‐regulation and cross‐cultural theories. The English version of a Situationism Scale (measuring beliefs about the relation between the environment and one's own behaviour) was translated into five additional languages: Dutch, German, Hungarian, Italian and Slovenian. Young adults (N = 1106, M_Age = 22.9 years, 79% female) across Europe responded to one of the six language versions of the scale as part of a larger survey. Results indicated that: new language versions were psychometrically valid; there was a positive relation between situationism and the use of situation‐control strategies; and situationism was higher for individuals from regions that are Eastern European and relatively more interdependent, compared with individuals from regions that are Western European and relatively less interdependent. As the first evaluation of the Situationism Scale outside America, this study supports the Scale's validity and suggests not only may some effects of situationism be universal, but between‐ and within‐culture differences in situationism exist. Overall, when making judgments and decisions about the self, cultural background and individual differences in situationism may come into play.