The Aggression Questionnaire: a validation study in student samples

The goal of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) in Spain. The AQ is a 29-item instrument designed to measure the different dimensions of the hostility/anger/aggression construct. It consists of 4 subscales that assess: (a) anger, (b) hostility, (c) verbal aggression, and (d) physical aggression. In Study 1, reliability, construct validity, and convergent validity were evaluated in a group of 384 male and female university students. Test-retest reliability was evaluated using a group of 154 male and female university students. The results of the factor analysis were similar to the scale structure claimed for this instrument. The subscales also showed internal consistency and stability over time. The AQ and its subscales were also compared with the scales and subscales of the Spielberger State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI), the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale (Ho), the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory (BDHI), and the Jenkins Activity Survey-Form H (JASE-H). The results show that the AQ evaluates some aspects of anger, such as Anger-Trait and Anger-Out, rather than other elements, such as Anger-In or Anger-State. In Study 2, two new male groups were used to evaluate the criterion validity of the AQ: 57 prison inmates and 93 university students, finding that this instrument discriminated between the scores obtained by common offenders and university students.     

Language Switching and Mexican Americans' Emotional Expression

This study examined the effects of counselor language switching and counselor ethnicity on bilingual Mexican American participants' emotional self‐disclosure. Counselor language (English only and Spanish with English) was crossed with counselor ethnicity (Mexican American and European American) to produce 4 treatment conditions. Judges' observations revealed that the European American counselor who language switched elicited the most emotional expression from participants. Este estudio examinó los efectos que un cambio de idioma por parte del consejero y la etnicidad del consejero tienen sobre la auto‐revelación emocional de los participantes México Americanos bilingües. El idioma del consejero (sólo inglés, y español con inglés) se combinó con su etnicidad (México Americano y Euro Americano) para generar 4 condiciones de tratamiento. Las observaciones de los jueces revelaron que el consejero Euro Americano que cambió de idioma obtuvo el mayor número de expresiones emocionales de los participantes.     

Compound cue processing within the fast and frugal heuristics approach in nonlinearly separable environments

Three experiments investigated whether participants used Take The Best (TTB) Configural, a fast and frugal heuristic that processes configurations of cues when making inferences concerning which of two alternatives has a higher criterion value. Participants were presented with a compound cue that was nonlinearly separable from its elements. The compound was highly valid in Experiments 1 and 2, but invalid in Experiment 3. Participants’ causal mental models were manipulated via instructions: participants were either told that cues acted through the same causal mechanism (configural causal model), through different causal mechanisms (elemental causal model), or the causal mechanisms were not specified (neutral causal model). A high percentage of participants used TTB-Configural when they had a configural causal model and a highly valid compound existed, suggesting that causal knowledge can be incorporated in otherwise very basic cognitive mechanisms to allow fine-grained adaptation to complex task structures.     

Psychometric properties of the Adolescent Sexism Detection (ASD) scale

In this article, it is assumed that gender violence, or violence against women, has mainly a sociocultural basis. A scale (Adolescent Sexism Detection; ASD) to detect sexism in adolescents was developed and its psychometric properties were analysed. 245 adolescents between 14 and 17 years of age participated in the study. As a result of the factor analyses carried out, the hostile and benevolent dimensions of sexism were clearly differentiated. Convergent validity of the scale was confirmed by its high correlations with the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI). Participants scored higher in benevolent than in hostile sexism, an effect even stronger in female participants. These findings suggest that the ASD scale is a valid instrument to measure sexism among adolescents. The main findings of this study are compared to those obtained in other studies using the ASI. The potential of this scale to appropriately detect sexism among adolescents is discussed.     

A Review of “Suicidal Intent” Within the Existing Suicide Literature

The results of a systematic literature review that investigated suicide intent are presented. Of the 44 relevant articles identified, 17 investigated the relationships between various suicide risk factors and suicide intent and 25 publications investigated the relationships between suicide intent and various suicide outcomes. Despite recent advancements in the definition and nomological validity of suicide intent, a high degree of variability in the empirical measurement and analysis of suicide intent was found. Such variability limits future research related to measuring suicidal risk and outcomes, reporting suicide intent, or the meaningful comparison of diagnostic approaches or treatments across multiple studies.     

Next Generation Sequencing is the Impetus for the Next Generation of Laboratory-Based Genetic Counselors

Next generation sequencing (NGS) is dramatically increasing the number of clinically available genetic tests and thus the number of patients in which such testing may be indicated. The complex nature and volume of the reported results requires professional interpretation of the testing in order to translate and synthesize the meaning and potential benefit to patients, and genetic counselors are uniquely suited to provide this service. The increased need for genetic counselors in this role, coupled with the time required and a limited number of trained and available counselors presents a challenge to current models for making genetic testing available to patients and their healthcare providers effectively and efficiently. The employment of genetic counselors at genetic/genomic laboratories is one model to expand the resources for providing this service. In this article, we briefly review the advent of NGS and its clinical applications, examine the core skills of genetic counselors and delineate the expanding roles and responsibilities of laboratory-based genetic counselors. We also propose changes to the genetic counseling training program curriculum to account for the increasing opportunities for genetic counselors to contribute and thrive within genetic testing laboratories.     

Prior Publication and Redundancy in Contemporary Science: Are Authors and Editors at the Crossroads?

We discuss prior publication and redundancy in contemporary science in the context of changing perceptions of originality in the communication of research results. These perceptions have been changing in the publication realm, particularly in the last 15 years. Presenting a brief overview of the literature, we address some of the conflicts that are likely to arise between authors and editors. We illustrate our approach with conference presentations that are later published as journal articles and focus on a recent retraction of an article that had been previously published as a conference proceedings. Although we do not make definitive pronouncements on the matter—as many concepts are evolving—we do argue that conference papers that contain sufficient details for others to attempt a replication and are indexed in scientific databases such as PubMed, challenge some currently held assumptions of prior publication and originality in the sciences. Our view is that these important issues are in need of further clarification and harmonization within the science publishing community. This need is more evident when we consider current notions of research integrity when it comes to communication to peers. Revisiting long-standing views about what constitutes prior publication and developing a clearer set of guidelines for authors and editors to follow should reduce conflicts in the research environment, which already exerts considerable pressure, especially on newcomers in academia. However, while clearer guidelines are timely, developing them is only part of the challenge. The present times seem to call for deeper changes in the research and publication systems.     

Why study cognition in the wild (and how to test it)?

An animal's behavior is affected by its cognitive abilities, which are, in turn, a consequence of the environment in which an animal has evolved and developed. Although behavioral ecologists have been studying animals in their natural environment for several decades, over much the same period animal cognition has been studied almost exclusively in the laboratory. Traditionally, the study of animal cognition has been based on well‐established paradigms used to investigate well‐defined cognitive processes. This allows identification of what animals can do, but may not, however, always reflect what animals actually do in the wild. As both ecologists and some psychologists increasingly try to explain behaviors observable only in wild animals, we review the different motivations and methodologies used to study cognition in the wild and identify some of the challenges that accompany the combination of a naturalistic approach together with typical psychological testing paradigms. We think that studying animal cognition in the wild is likely to be most productive when the questions addressed correspond to the species’ ecology and when laboratory cognitive tests are appropriately adapted for use in the field. Furthermore, recent methodological and technological advances will likely allow significant expansion of the species and questions that can be addressed in the wild.