Dispositional optimism and recovery from coronary artery bypass surgery: the beneficial effects on physical and psychological well-being

The effect of dispositional optimism on recovery from coronary artery bypass surgery was examined in a group of 51 middle-aged men. Patients provided information at three points in time--(a) on the day before surgery, (b) 6-8 days postoperatively, and (c) 6 months postoperatively. Information was obtained relating to the patient's rate of physical recovery, mood, and postsurgical quality of life. Information was also gathered regarding the manner in which the patients attempted to cope with the stress of the surgery and its aftermath. As expected, dispositional optimism proved to be an important predictor of coping efforts and of surgical outcomes. More specifically, dispositional optimism (as assessed prior to surgery) correlated positively with manifestations of problem-focused coping and negatively with the use of denial. Dispositional optimism was also associated with a faster rate of physical recovery during the period of hospitalization and with a faster rate of return to normal life activities subsequent to discharge. Finally, there was a strong positive association between level of optimism and postsurgical quality of life at 6 months.     

Work Craving: A Conceptualization and Measurement

Obsessive-compulsive models of workaholism do not allow diagnosing it as an addiction. We introduce an empirical evidence for conceptualization and measurement of work addiction as work craving. The Work Craving Scale (WCS) comprises: (a) obsessive-compulsive desire for work, (b) anticipation of self-worth compensation, (c) anticipation of reduction of negative affect or withdrawal symptoms resulting from working, and (d) neurotic perfectionism. Results (N = 1,459) confirmed the four-factorial structure of the WCS and indicated its good validity and reliability. The conceptualization of work craving significantly contributes to understanding of workaholism as an addiction, and should stimulate future research on work craving.     

Perfectionism and eating disturbances in Korean immigrants: Moderating effects of acculturation and ethnic identity

Korean society highly values personal appearance. Given the established links between perfectionism and eating disorders in Western countries, the present project investigated such links and the extent to which these were moderated by the acculturation patterns of the participants. Korean immigrants to New Zealand (N = 123) completed measures of perfectionism, ethnic identity, eating disorders, and social desirability. Positive and negative perfectionism were associated with eating‐disorder symptoms. For males, but not females, negative perfectionism was more strongly associated with increased body satisfaction only among those who identified strongly as Korean.     

Are boundary extension and representational momentum related?

Boundary extension (BE) is misremembering more of a particular scene than actually presented. Representational momentum (RM) is misremembering the final position of a moving object as further along its implied trajectory. There is a sense in which both BE and RM are predictions, and the current experiments explore the possibility that these are related phenomena. We showed participants single photographs to measure baseline BE, and then approach sequences and measured BE and RM. We found significant BE and RM, and a significant interaction between baseline BE and BE following an approach sequence, but no interaction with RM. The initial evidence suggests that BE and RM are separate processes, and that BE (the establishing of spatial layout) occurs before RM (the continuation of movement) within a scene.     

Examining the Interface of Family and Personal Traits,Media, and Academic Imperatives Using the Learning Habit Study

Using the Learning Habit Study dataset of 21,145¹46,125 viewers took part in the Learning Habit Study. The analysis of this article was limited to parents of children who were in kindergarten through twelfth grade and who answered all items. This figure was 21,145. parent respondents, this study examined the interactions of three core variables – parenting style, family time, and screen time – on various common concerns of families. (“Screen time” is time spent using an electronic device that has a screen, such as: a computer, television, game console, tablet, or cell phone.) Analysis of the data suggested that parents using empowerment parenting, closely aligned with authoritative techniques, had children with better academic performance, reduced sleep onset latency (SOL), and healthier social and emotional behaviors than children of parents who practiced traditional parenting, more closely aligned with authoritarian techniques. Further, increased family time was found to have benefits to children on par with those of empowerment parenting.     

Thee,uhh disfluency effect in preschoolers: A cue to discourse status

Speech disfluencies, such as filled pauses (ummm, uhhh), are increasingly recognized as an informative element of the speech stream. Here, we examined whether 2‐ and 3‐year‐olds expected that the presence of filled pause would signal reference to objects that are new to a discourse. Children viewed pairs of familiar objects on a screen and heard a speaker refer to one of the objects twice in succession. Next, children heard a critical utterance and were asked to look and point at either the discourse‐given (i.e., previously mentioned) or discourse‐new (i.e., previously unmentioned) object using a fluent (‘Look at the ball!’) or disfluent (‘Look at thee uh ball!’) expression. The results indicated that 3‐year‐old children, but not 2‐year‐old children, initially expected the speaker to continue to refer to given information in the critical utterance. Upon hearing a filled pause, however, both 2‐ and 3‐year‐old children's looking patterns reflected increased looks to discourse‐new objects, although the timing of the effect differed between the age groups. Together, these findings demonstrate that young children have an emerging understanding of the role of filled pauses in speech.     

Reply to David Kemmerer's "a critique of Mark D. Allen's 'the preservation of verb subcategory knowledge in a spoken language comprehension deficit'"

Allen [Allen, M. D. (2005). The preservation of verb subcategory knowledge in a spoken language comprehension deficit. Brain and Language, 95, 255-264] presents evidence from a single patient, WBN, to motivate a theory of lexical processing and representation in which syntactic information may be encoded and retrieved independently of semantic information. In his critique, Kemmerer argues that because Allen depended entirely on preposition-based verb subcategory violations to test WBN's knowledge of correct argument structure, his results, at best, address a "strawman" theory. This argument rests on the assumption that preposition subcategory options are superficial syntactic phenomena which are not represented by argument structure proper. We demonstrate that preposition subcategory is in fact treated as semantically determined argument structure in the theories that Allen evaluated, and thus far from irrelevant. In further discussion of grammatically relevant versus irrelevant semantic features, Kemmerer offers a review of his own studies. However, due to an important design shortcoming in these experiments, we remain unconvinced. Reemphasizing the fact the Allen (2005) never claimed to rule out all semantic contributions to syntax, we propose an improvement in Kemmerer's approach that might provide more satisfactory evidence on the distinction between the kinds of relevant versus irrelevant features his studies have addressed.     

Values disparity and academic achievement among Ugandan adolescents

A century ago, Christian missionaries founded Uganda’s earliest schools. Many of these schools continue to espouse values inculcation as a stated goal. In this study of 502 Ugandan children completing primary school (P7), students’ personal values and their perception of their school’s values were measured using adaptations of the Rokeach Values Survey (RVS). A disparity score was computed for each respondent to determine the degree of similarity between personal and school values. The relationship between the disparity score and performance on the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) was then computed. Results reveal a small but significant correlation between values disparity and academic achievement (r = .35, p < .001).