The impact of reader skill on phonological processing in visual word recognition

There has been much debate about the role of phonology in reading. This debate has been fuelled, in part, by mixed findings for phonological effects in lexical decision tasks. In the present research we investigated the impact of reader skill on three phonological effects (homophone, homograph, and regularity effects) in a lexical decision task and in a phonological lexical decision task. In both tasks, the more skilled readers showed different patterns of phonological effects from those of the less skilled readers; in particular, less skilled readers showed regularity effects in both tasks whereas more skilled readers did not. We concluded that more skilled readers activate phonology in these tasks but do so more efficiently, with less spurious phonological activation.     

Book reviews

Nisbett, R. and Ross, L. Human inference: Strategies and Shortcomings of Social fudgement. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice Hall. 1980. Pp. 334. £9.70. ISBN 0 13 445130 9.

Rouse, W. B. Systems Engineering Models of Human-machine Interaction. North-Halland: 1980. Pp152. £14.00

Solso, R. L. Cognitive Psychology. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979. Pp499. £10.75. ISBN 0 15 507870 4.

Martin, I Venables, P H. (Eds.). Techniques in Psychophysiology. New York: Wiley, 1980. Pp. 699. £19.50. ISBN 0 471 27637 5.

Massaro, D. W. Taylor, G. A. Venezky, R. L. Jastrzembski, J. E. and Lucas, P. A. Letter and Word Perception. North Holland. 1980. pp.278. $30.50. ISBN 0 444 85493 2

Stelmach, G. E. and Requin, J. (Eds.). Tutorials in Motor Behavior. Amsterdam: North Holland Publishing Co. 1980. Pp. xx+680 (typewritten). $61. ISBN 0444 854665.

Karmiloff-Smith, A. A Functional Approach to Child Language. London: Cambridge University Press. 1979. Pp. 258. £15

Cooper, W. E. and Walker, E. C. T. (Eds.). Sentence Processing: Psycholinguistic Studies Presented to merrill garrett. Hillsdale, New jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum. 1979. Pp. 447. £18.50. ISBN 0 470 26731 3     

Creativity,Acceptance, and the Pause: A Case Example of Mindfulness and Art in Therapy with an Adolescent

ABSTRACT

Mindfulness, defined as nonjudgmental awareness, has been integrated into a variety of therapeutic approaches. The benefits of mindfulness for adults have been demonstrated, and mindful interventions for youth are increasing. Creating a space for mindfulness to arise can be challenging within the hectic and technology-filled lives adolescents often lead. Art in therapy with adolescents can be a beneficial way of creating a pause, thereby helping clients to connect to a mindful state. The use of art in therapy to promote mindfulness can be especially useful for adolescents who can be reluctant to engage in traditional forms of talk therapy. In this article, we use a case example of therapy with a Mexican-American male youth to exemplify the clinical application of a combination of mindfulness and various art modalities.     

Persuasive communications to change actions: an analysis of behavioral and cognitive impact in HIV prevention.

This meta-analysis examined the validity of various theoretical assumptions about cognitive and behavioral change following a communication recommending condom use. The synthesis comprised 82 treatment and 29 control groups included in 46 longitudinal reports with measures of perceived severity and susceptibility, attitudes and expectancies, norms, perceptions of control, intentions, knowledge, behavioral skills, or condom use. Results indicated that across the sample of studies, communications taught recipients about facts related to HIV and also induced favorable attitudes and expectancies, greater control perceptions, and stronger intentions to use condoms in the future. Moreover, messages that presented attitudinal information and modeled behavioral skills led to increased condom use. Results are discussed in the context of theories of human behavior and change and in reference to HIV-prevention interventions.     

The Changing Nature of Adolescent Friendships Longitudinal Links With Early Adolescent Ego Development

Although success in managing evolving peer relationships is linked to critical adolescent outcomes, little is known about the specific factors that lead to success or failure in peer relationship development across adolescence. This longitudinal study examines the role of adolescents' level of ego development as a predictor of the future course of several facets of friendship development in early adolescence. Ego development was assessed in a community sample of adolescents at age 13. Several facets of adolescent friendship were also assessed at 13 and then reassessed 1 year later, including adolescent intimate behavior during a supportive interaction with their best friends, adolescent reports of psychological security in their friendships, and peer-rated popularity. As predicted, ego development not only explained concurrent levels of peer functioning but also predicted markers of change over time in each of the assessed domains of peer functioning. Implications for ego development in increasing our understanding of individual differences in adolescent friendship development are discussed.     

Truly Inclusive or Uniformly Liberal? An Analysis of the Politics of the Emerging Church

The emergent church movement has fashioned itself as an alternative for Christians who do not want to walk away from their faith, but feel uncomfortable with the dogmatic conservatism found in mainstream evangelicalism. The emerging church movement has portrayed itself as diverse and inclusive, which is a direct result of evading ingroup‐outgroup boundaries. However, despite the desire for a plurality of opinions, the movement's leaders have been known to take political positions that are largely left‐leaning. We use the first dataset known to gather this identity from a sample of Protestant clergy, and assess whether denominationally connected emergent church clergy do, in fact, present a distinctive political profile. Emergent clergy are what they say they are—diverse and inclusive—while they are, on average, more liberal than nonemergent clergy in the sample.