Dispositional Affectivity and Work-Related Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis

This study meta-analytically reviews the influence of individuals' dispositional negative affectivity (NA) and positive affectivity (PA) on a broad range of work-related outcomes grouped into 3 categories: (a) work attitudes; (b) workplace experiences; and (c) work behavior. Across cumulative studies, it was found that NA and PA demonstrated significant effects on most of these outcomes. Moreover, we found some interesting differences in NA's and PA's relationships with work outcomes. Specifically, while NA had more influence on variables pertinent to work stressors (e.g., role problems), PA demonstrated a stronger effect on variables related to positive job and organizational context (e.g., job autonomy, procedural justice). Implications for theory advancement and future research in this area are discussed.     

Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Group CBT for Parents of ADHD Children

Improvements in parenting skills do not necessarily lead to improvements in child and parent outcomes for children with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Cognitive factors such as parental cognitions and parenting self-efficacy may influence such outcomes. Clinical research on the effects of cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) on parental cognitions, parenting self-efficacy and mental health in Chinese parents of children with ADHD is lacking. This quasi-experimental study intended to assess the effects of a culturally attuned group CBT treatment on the mental health and quality of life of Chinese parents aged 26–58 years, with children with ADHD in Hong Kong. Participants in the experimental group received group CBT and standard treatment and their counterparts in the control group received standard treatment. Primary outcome variables of mental health and quality of life and process variables including parenting stress, parenting efficacy and dysfunctional attitudes were measured at baseline, post-treatment and 3-month follow-up. Data were analysed using 2?×?3 ANCOVAs, Cohen’s d statistics and multiple mediation analyses. Group by time interactions were found for most outcome variables. Effect size statistics indicated that group CBT had small to moderate effects on most outcome variables at post-treatment and follow-up assessments. The effect of CBT on mental health was mediated by the reduction in parenting stress and the effect of CBT on quality of life was mediated by the reductions in parenting stress and dysfunctional attitudes. Given its potential benefit, it is worth considering incorporating this group CBT programme into interventions for Chinese parents with ADHD children.     

Growth curve models in retrospective memory and prospective memory: the relationship between prediction and performance with task experience

Older adults commonly experience declines in episodic memory that affect their daily lives. The aim was to examine whether the acquired metacognitive awareness that comes with task experience, indexed by meta-retrospective memory (meta-RM)/meta-prospective memory (meta-PM), influences how older adults predict performance on later trials. Participants were 178 community-dwelling older adults. RM performance and predictions were measured using a multi-trial word-list learning task. Predictions and performance for PM were measured using a PM paradigm. Change in RM/PM performance and predictions over the trials/blocks were modelled using latent growth curve analyses. For RM, both predictions and performance increased with task experience. However, for PM, neither performance nor predictions changed with task experience. Hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that metacognitive awareness acquired during the RM and PM tasks influenced how older adults’ modified their predictions of subsequent task performance. Findings are consistent with [Toglia and Kirk’s (2000). Understanding awareness deficits following brain injury. NeuroRehabilitation, 15(1), 57–70] hypothesis that individuals compare ongoing performance to expectations based on metacognitive knowledge, such that a discrepancy between actual and expected performance may influence emergent awareness.     

Effect of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation on mobility and self-esteem of persons after cardiac surgery

This study adopted an experimental design with using a nonequivalent, posttest only control group to study the rehabilitation outcomes of 152 persons who received cardiac surgery. 37 subjects in a rehabilitation group participated in a 2-mo. exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation programme, and another 115 subjects who did not attend the programme formed the control group. The subjects' self-esteem was measured on the Adult Source of Self-esteem Inventory by Elvoson and Fleming, and their mobility skill was measured by a simple mobility test based on New York Heart Association Classification. Analysis of covariance (with covariance analysis of the subjects' age, years of education, occupational skill, and mobility skill) indicated that the experimental group scored higher on positive self esteem and showed significantly better improvement in mobility skill. The exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation programme positively affected physical and psychological outcomes. Also, subjects' self-esteem was significantly correlated with their mobility skills (r=.21, p<.05) among those aged under 60 years (n=96) but not among those aged 60 or above (n=53).     

Construct validity of the relationship profile test: impact of gender, gender role, and gender role stereotype

Research supports the construct validity of the Relationship Profile Test (RPT; Bornstein & Languirand, 2003), a 30-item, self-report measure of destructive overdependence (DO), dysfunctional detachment (DD), and healthy dependency. In this investigation, we assessed the relationships of gender, gender role, and gender role stereotype ratings to RPT subscale scores. In Study 1, we replicated earlier patterns of gender differences in RPT scores, assessed cross-sample consistency in gender difference effect sizes, and provided preliminary nonclinical norms for the RPT subscales. Study 2 showed that--as expected--DO items are perceived as stereotypically feminine, whereas DD items are perceived as stereotypically masculine. In Study 3, we examined the relationships of RPT subscale scores to masculinity, femininity, and androgyny scores. We discuss the theoretical, empirical, and clinical implications of these findings.     

Inhibition of short-term memory formation in the chick by blockade of extracellular glutamate uptake

Injection of monosodium glutamate (40nmol/hemisphere) into the intermediate hyperstriatum ventrale of the day-old chick inhibits the formation of short-term memory for a single trial learning that discriminates between colours of beads. These experiments showed that an excess of glutamate close to learning could be damaging to memory. In the present experiments we have blocked the normal reuptake of glutamate and suggest that glutamate release plays a role in normal learning. Removal of glutamate, released from presynaptic neurones during learning, is achieved by various neuronal and astrocytic glutamate transporters. By blocking the primarily astrocytic removal of glutamate by the injection of L-aspartic acid beta-hydroxamate, we effectively increased extrasynaptic levels of glutamate and inhibited short-term memory in a similar manner to central injection of 40nmol glutamate per hemisphere. These experiments suggest that glutamate release within 2.5min of the learning experience is an important feature of short-term memory formation.     

On the (non)categorical perception of lexical tones

Identification and discrimination of lexical tones in Cantonese were compared in the context of a traditional categorical perception paradigm. Three lexical tone continua were used: one ranging from low level to high level, one from high rising to high level, and one from low falling to high rising. Identification data showed steep slopes at category boundaries, suggesting that lexical tones are perceived categorically. In contrast, discrimination curves generally showed much weaker evidence for categorical perception. Subsequent investigation showed that the presence of a tonal context played a strong role in the identification of target tones and less of a role in discrimination. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that tonal category boundaries are determined by a combination of regions of natural auditory sensitivity and the influence of linguistic experience.     

In search of the good life: a cultural odyssey in the East and West

In the first part of this article, the authors argue that any conception of well-being is culturally embedded and depends on how the notions of "well" and "being" are defined and practiced in different cultural communities. To support this argument, they conduct a comprehensive review of the empirical literature, which shows that members of individualistic and collectivistic cultures differ in their emotional experience of well-being. This difference has been traced to the indigenous psychology of selfhood in those cultures. In the second part of the article, the authors debunk the myth of infinite cultural variability, while retaining the basic insight concerning the cultural constitution of well-being. They develop a theoretical model of well-being, in which agency and communion are universal dimensions of well-being, and people in different cultures require different combinations of agency and communion to experience well-being. Following this theoretical development, the authors examine cultural impediments to the good life in individualistic and collectivistic cultures. The mutual incompatibility of agency and communion is ruled out as a possible cause of why it is so difficult to live the good life. Instead, the authors propose a dialectical synthesis of agency and communion as a way of dealing with this challenge of living the good life.     

Functional Equations in Binocular Space Perception

A general theory of the relationship of binocular visual space to physical space is formulated within a conjoint measurement framework. Psychophysically motivated invariance relations induce various functional equations. Another class of functional equations arises if we additionally assume the validity of a different psychophysical theory that is based on a formula suggested by A. A. Blank. We solve and interpret most of these equations and point out an unsolved problem. The obtained results lead to a measurement-theoretic foundation of the psychophysical assumptions underlying the Luneburg theory of binocular vision. They also contribute to clarifying the relationship between the presented general theory and Blank's approach. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.