Age-related equivalence and deficit in knowledge updating of cue effectiveness

Knowledge updating involves learning about cue effectiveness based on task experience. Priorresearch has yielded inconsistent conclusions regarding age and knowledge updating. To resolve this inconsistency, the authors analyzed the effects of aging within a single paradigm. Participants studied cue-target associates during 2 study-test trials. Cues included rhyme cues and highly effective category cues. On each study-test trial, different items were presented, and participants predicted recall performance, received a cued recall test, and postdicted performance. Knowledge updating was operationalized as an improvement in the accuracy of predictive judgments across trials. An age deficit was evident in improvements in absolute accuracy, whereas age equivalence was evident in relative accuracy. Evidence suggested that deficient inferential processes contributed to the age deficit in knowledge updating.     

Envisioning a kinder,gentler world: On recognition and remuneration for care workers

In this paper, I argue that thestatus of those who take care of persons withdisabilities, and persons with disabilities,are inextricably linked. That is, devaluingthe status of one necessarily devalues that ofthe other. Persons with disabilities and thosewho help care for them must form an alliance toadvance their common interests. This alliancecan gain insight and inspiration from feministthought insofar as caretaking is literallylinked to problems of the representation ofcaretaking as ``women's work,' and morephilosophically, by borrowing from the toolboxof feminist social, political, and economicanalyses. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Impact of psychoeducational content delivered online to a positive psychology aware community

Happiness-increasing interventions demonstrate significant variation in outcomes, suggesting that the people who use them might be as important as the interventions themselves to determine efficacy. In light of this, instructive interventions might not be necessary to increase happiness given a population with knowledge of happiness-increasing strategies. We recruited 270 participants with knowledge of positive psychology to receive six weeks of online psychoeducation. We explored participants’ use of the website, reported use of happiness strategies, and changes in well-being. Those who spent more time on the website reported smaller changes in well-being than those who spent less time on the website. Conversely, those who reported employing more happiness strategies reported greater increases in well-being than those who used fewer strategies. This shows that for those already familiar with positive psychology, information, rather than instruction, might increase well-being. This has implications for studies evaluating the efficacy of happiness-increasing interventions more broadly.     

Acceptance of Uncommon Information into Group Discussion When That Information Is or Is Not Demonstrable

Research on group problem solving and on social cognition suggests that, during group discussion of a decision-making task, member acceptance of an unknown fact will be affected by the demonstrability of a fact's existence and the familiarity of the decision topic. Four-person groups read and discussed facts about a familiar or unfamiliar issue. Some groups could obtain written fact summaries during discussion, while the others could not. We predicted and found a three-way interaction between demonstrability, familiarity, and number of advocates. Verifiable single-advocate facts were accepted into discussion, but unverifiable facts required two advocates. These effects were more pronounced when the topic was familiar. Regression analysis of the influence of individual items on group choice revealed that, for the unfamiliar topic, the number of advocates of an item was directly related to that item's degree of influence only when the item could not be verified. Verifiable single-advocate facts were as influential as any other verifiable fact.     

Moving beyond pure signal-detection models: comment on Wixted (2007)

The dual-process signal-detection (DPSD) model assumes that recognition memory is based on recollection of qualitative information or on a signal-detection-based familiarity process. The model has proven useful for understanding results from a wide range of memory research, including behavioral, neuropsychological, electrophysiological, and neuroimaging studies. However, a number of concerns have been raised about the model over the years, and it has been suggested that an unequal-variance signal-detection (UVSD) model that incorporates separate recollection and familiarity processes (J. T. Wixted, 2007) may provide an equally good, or even better, account of the data. In this article, the authors show that the results of studies that differentiate these models support the predictions of the DPSD model and indicate that recognition does not reflect the summing of 2 signal-detection processes, as the new UVSD model assumes. In addition, the assumptions of the DPSD model are clarified in order to address some of the common misconceptions about the model. Although important challenges remain, hybrid models such as this provide a more useful framework within which to understand human memory than do pure signal-detection models.     

The benefits of empathy: When empathy may sustain cooperation in social dilemmas

Cooperation in social dilemmas is often challenged by negative noise, or unintended errors, such that the actual behavior is less cooperative than intended—for example, arriving later than intended for a meeting due to an unusual traffic jam. The present research was inspired by the notion that doing a little more for one's interaction partner, which may be movitvated by empathetic feelings, can effectively reduce the detrimental effects of “negative noise,” or unintended incidents of noncooperation. Consistent with hypotheses, negative noise exhibited detrimental effects on cooperation, but such effects were absent when empathy‐motivated cooperation was present. We conclude that empathy has broad benefits for social interaction, in that it can be an effective tool for coping with misinterpreted behaviors, thereby maintaining or enhancing cooperation. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Classwide Teacher Implementation of Self-Regulated Strategy Development for Writing with Students with E/BD in a Residential Facility

One promising intervention to support the writing skills of students with and at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders is self-regulated strategy development (SRSD). The purpose of this study was to extend this line of inquiry to a residential setting with teachers serving as interventionists and determine the effects of the SRSD using the STOP and DARE mnemonic for persuasive writing on the writing performance (Correct Word Sequences, Essay Elements, and Essay Quality), and academic engagement of secondary students. In addition, this study extended this line of inquiry by looking at implementation of the intervention only 2 days per week, a lower treatment intensity than previous research has used to find statistically significant gains in writing. Results of a piecewise hierarchical linear model suggest statistically significant gains were made over the course of the intervention in writing and academic engagement when compared to baseline. In addition, student variables such as writing achievement, externalizing/internalizing behavior patterns, age, and attendance predicted writing and engagement. Results of generalization, fidelity, and social validity also are reported.     

Identifying Perceived Neighborhood Stressors Across Diverse Communities in New York City

There is growing interest in the role of psychosocial stress in health disparities. Identifying which social stressors are most important to community residents is critical for accurately incorporating stressor exposures into health research. Using a community‐academic partnered approach, we designed a multi‐community study across the five boroughs of New York City to characterize resident perceptions of key neighborhood stressors. We conducted 14 community focus groups; two to three in each borough, with one adolescent group and one Spanish‐speaking group per borough. We then used systematic content analysis and participant ranking data to describe prominent neighborhood stressors and identify dominant themes. Three inter‐related themes regarding the social and structural sources of stressful experiences were most commonly identified across neighborhoods: (1) physical disorder and perceived neglect, (2) harassment by police and perceived safety and (3) gentrification and racial discrimination. Our findings suggest that multiple sources of distress, including social, political, physical and economic factors, should be considered when investigating health effects of community stressor exposures and psychological distress. Community expertise is essential for comprehensively characterizing the range of neighborhood stressors that may be implicated in psychosocial exposure pathways.     

Charter School Enrollment Effects: A Review of Results from Recent Large-Scale Studies

Responding to calls for increased accountability regarding performance of students in public schools and concerns over the capacity of public schools to improve outcomes, school choice has become a mainstream and often controversial issue in public education; it is also a priority of the current federal government administration. Given the mixed evidence of effects on academic performance of charter school enrollment, along with the common perception that charter schools fail to meet the needs of special populations of students—including students with disabilities and English language learners (ELLs)—this study examined the performance of these subgroups across traditional public schools and charter schools. Specifically, we reviewed five recent large-scale studies that assess the impact of charter schools on academic performance paying particular attention to how students with disabilities and students identified as ELLs fare in charter schools relative to their peers served in traditional district schools.