A psychological predictor of elders' driving performance: social‐comparisons on the road

Older individuals often believe they can drive better than their contemporaries. This belief is an example of downward social‐comparisons; they can be self‐enhancing tools that lead to beneficial outcomes. As predicted, we found that drivers who engaged in downward social‐comparisons were significantly less likely to have adverse driving events over time, after controlling for relevant factors (p = .02). This effect was particularly strong among women, who tend to experience more negative driving stereotypes (p = .01). The study was based on 897 interviews of 117 elder drivers, aged 70–89 years, over 2 years. Our findings suggest that interventions to reduce adverse driving events among elders could benefit from including a psychological component.     

Differential relations of narcissism and self‐esteem to romantic relationships: The mediating role of perception discrepancy

Recent research has suggested that narcissism and self‐esteem, though correlated, are qualitatively different. Little research, however, has examined narcissism and self‐esteem simultaneously to test their unique contributions. The aims of this study are twofold: to examine the unique contributions of narcissism and self‐esteem to romantic relationships, and to test the mediating role of perception discrepancy (PD) in these relationships. One hundred and three pairs of dating couples in Hong Kong were recruited to complete measures of narcissism, self‐esteem, relationship satisfaction and PD. Results from actor–partner interdependence modeling (APIM) indicate that narcissism had significant negative associations with both self‐ and partner‐reported relationship satisfaction, whereas the effects of self‐esteem were generally positive. In subsequent actor–partner interdependence mediation modeling (APIMeM), in which PD was used as the mediator, narcissism and self‐esteem continued to show differential relations to both the outcomes and the mediators. In particular, narcissism had positive actor effects on PD, which further negatively predicted both self‐ and partner‐reported relationship satisfaction. In contrast, the predictive effects of self‐esteem were reversed and weaker. Implications of the findings for research and practice are discussed.     

Mother–Child Book‐Sharing and Children's Storytelling Skills in Ethnically Diverse,Low‐Income Families

The present study examined book‐sharing interactions between mothers and their 4‐year‐old children from African American (n = 62), Dominican (n = 67), Mexican (n = 59) and Chinese (n = 82) low‐income U.S. families, and children's independent storytelling skills one year later. Mothers' book‐sharing style was analysed in terms of how much storyline information they provided (story components), the extent to which they asked children about the story (dialogic emphasis) and which features of the story they highlighted (story content). African American mothers referred to more story components than did Dominican mothers, and Mexican mothers surpassed Dominican and Chinese mothers. Mothers of all groups were low in dialogic emphasis; they predominantly narrated rather than asked about the story, although Mexican mothers asked relatively more questions than did African American and Dominican mothers. In terms of content, compared with other groups, African American mothers were most likely to emphasize ‘individual goals’, and Chinese mothers were most likely to emphasize ‘negative consequences’. Latino mothers were more likely to emphasize ‘emotions’ than were Chinese mothers. Children's storytelling styles partially mirrored those seen in their mothers. Mothers' dialogic emphasis related to children's contributions to book‐sharing, which in turn predicted children's later independent storytelling skills. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Grouping in short-term verbal memory: Is position coded temporally?

The nature of the mechanisms that code item position in serial short-term verbal recall was investigated with reference to temporal grouping phenomena--effects that arise when additional pauses are inserted in a presented list to form groups of items. Several recent models attempt to explain these phenomena by assuming that positional information is retained by associating items with contextual information. According to two of the models--the Phonological Loop model (Hitch, Burgess, Towse, & Culpin, 1996) and the OSCAR model (Brown, Preece, & Hulme, 2000)--contextual information depends critically on the timing of item presentation with reference to group onset. By contrast, according to the Start-End model (Henson, 1998) and a development from it, which we label the Oscillator-Revised Start-End model (Henson & Burgess, 1997), contextual information is independent of time from group onset. Three experiments examined whether coding of position is time dependent. The critical manipulation was to vary stimulus-onset asynchrony from one group to the next in the same list. Lists of consonants were presented visually, but with vocalization in Experiment 1, auditorily in Experiment 2, and auditorily with articulatory suppression in Experiment 3. The pattern of order errors consistently favoured the predictions of the time-independent models over those of the time-dependent models in that across-group transpositions reflected within-group serial position rather than time from group onset. Errors involving intrusions from previous lists also reflected within-group serial position, thereby extending support for the time-independent models.     

Relationships between Protestant Work Ethic and Work Effort in a Field Setting

Soixante-huit étudiants ont relevé leurs activatés quotidiennes pendant sept journées consécutives. Ils ont ensuite passé l'échclle de Mirels et Garrett, le Protestant Work Ethic datant de 1971 (P.W.E.). Les sujets qui présentent un score élevé au P.W.E. consacrent plus de temps a leurs etudes et moins à leurs loisirs (par comparaison avec ceux dont le résultat au P.W.E. est faible). Ces différences existent pour les jours ouvrés, mais pas pour le week-end.
Sixty-eight student subjects recorded their daily activities for seven consecutive days, and afterwards completed Mirels and Garrett's (1971) Protestant work ethic (PWE) scale. Compared to low PWE scorers, high PWE scorers worked longer hours on their study and spent less time on leisure. These differences occurred during weekdays but not at the weekend.     

Felt obligations to reciprocate to an employer,preferences for mobility across employers,and gender: Three-way interaction effects on subsequent voice behavior

Previous research suggests that employees engage in voice behavior to reciprocate for the positive treatment they receive from employers, but less is known about individual differences in employees' willingness to engage in voice behavior to that end. The present study proposes that felt obligations to the organization relate more strongly to voice behavior when employees also have stronger preferences for job stability (rather than job mobility). We also propose that this two-way interaction will be further moderated by gender; specifically, males who feel strong obligations to reciprocate and have strong preferences for job stability are especially likely to engage in voice behavior. Data collected from 209 employees over an 8-month period support both the proposed two-way and three-way interaction effects. Thus, while the norm of reciprocity is widely held, the effects of felt obligations to employers on voice behavior also depend upon both gender differences and individual differences in preferences for job stability.     

Reach out to one and you reach out to many: Social touch affects third‐party observers

Casual social touch influences emotional perceptions, attitudes, and behaviours of interaction partners. We asked whether these influences extend to third‐party observers. To this end, we developed the Social Touch Picture Set comprising line drawings of dyadic interactions, half of which entailed publicly acceptable casual touch and half of which served as no‐touch controls. In Experiment 1, participants provided basic image norms by rating how frequently they observed a displayed touch gesture in everyday life and how comfortable they were observing it. Results implied that some touch gestures were observed more frequently and with greater comfort than others (e.g., handshake vs. hug). All gestures, however, obtained rating scores suitable for inclusion in Experiments 2 and 3. In Experiment 2, participants rated perceived valence, arousal, and likeability of randomly presented touch and no‐touch images without being explicitly informed about touch. Image characters seemed more positive, aroused, and likeable when they touched as compared to when they did not touch. Image characters seemed more negative and aroused, but were equally likeable, when they received touch as compared to when there was no physical contact. In Experiment 3, participants passively viewed touch and no‐touch images while their eye movements were recorded. Differential gazing at touch as compared to no‐touch images emerged within the first 500 ms following image exposure and was largely restricted to the characters' upper body. Gazing at the touching body parts (e.g., hands) was minimal and largely unaffected by touch, suggesting that touch processing occurred outside the focus of visual attention. Together, these findings establish touch as an important visual cue and provide novel insights into how this cue modulates socio‐emotional processing in third‐party observers.     

Validation of the Curiosity and Exploration Inventory–II (CEI–II) Among Chinese University Students in Hong Kong

This study aimed at validating the Curiosity and Exploration Inventory–II (CEI–II; Kashdan et al., 2009 Silvia, P. J., & Kashdan, T. B. (2009). Interesting things and curious people: Exploration and engagement as transient states and enduring strengths. Social Psychology and Personality Compass, 3, 785–797.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) in a Chinese context. A total of 294 Chinese first-year undergraduate students in Hong Kong completed the CEI–II and measures of satisfaction with university life, the Big Five personality traits, and human values. The results of exploratory structural equation modeling, parallel analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis supported a 1-factor solution and did not replicate the original 2-factor structure. Time invariance of the 1-factor structure was obtained among 242 participants who completed the questionnaires again after 4 months. The latent means and correlation indicated that curiosity as measured by the CEI–II was quite stable over the period of investigation. The CEI–II was found to be positively correlated with satisfaction with university life, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and openness to change values, but negatively with neuroticism and conservation values. The results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that the CEI–II score had incremental validity above and beyond the Big Five personality traits in predicting human values and satisfaction with university life.