Comparison of two creativity style measures

The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between two measures of creativity style for a sample of beginning teachers. 116 student teachers enrolled in an undergraduate teacher-education program in a medium-sized, metropolitan university completed the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory and Basadur Creative Problem Solving Profile measures. A preference for an Innovator style (higher scores on Kirton's inventory) was correlated with the Generator profile on the Basadur profile (r=.36, p<.01). The KAI Efficiency scores, suggesting a preference for broad, global ideas as opposed to narrow, specific ones, was correlated with the Basadur Conceptualizer scores (r=.26, p<.01). Implications are discussed for teachers who must adapt to newer instructional and assessment methods designed to foster students' higher-level thinking skills.     

Do humans ape? Or do apes human? Imitation and intention in humans (Homo sapiens) and other animals

A. Whiten, D. M. Custance, J.-C. Gomez, P. Teixidor, and K. A. Bard (1996) tested chimpanzees' (Pan troglodytes) and human children's (Homo sapiens) skills at imitation with a 2-action test on an "artificial fruit." Chimpanzees imitated to a restricted degree; children were more thoroughly imitative. Such results prompted some to assert that the difference in imitation indicates a difference in the subjects' understanding of the intentions of the demonstrator (M. Tomasello, 1996). In this experiment, 37 adult human subjects were tested with the artificial fruit. Far from being perfect imitators, the adults were less imitative than the children. These results cast doubt on the inference from imitative performance to an ability to understand others' intentions. The results also demonstrate how any test of imitation requires a control group and attention to the level of behavioral analysis.     

Examining the construct validity of the Eating Disorder Inventory

The construct validity of the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) was examined in 3 samples. An archival clinic sample (n = 318) of women completed the EDI, a structured interview, and the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II (MCMI-II). Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) indicated that neither null nor 1-factor models of the EDI fit item-level or item-parcel data. The proposed 8-factor model did not fit at the item level but did fit item-parcel data. Reliability estimates of the 8 scales ranged from .82 to .93, and low-to-moderate interscale correlations among the eating and weight-related scales provided partial support for convergent validity. EDI personality scales showed moderate interscale correlations and were associated with MCMI-II scales. A final CFA of the EDI scales supported a 2-factor model (Eating and Weight, Personality) of the 8 EDI scales. Strong associations between depression and several EDI scale scores were found in a treatment study sample (n = 50). The archival clinic sample scored significantly higher on the 8 EDI scales than the nonpatient college comparison sample (n = 487).     

Benchmark Memories in Adulthood: Central Domains and Predictors of Their Frequency

This study extended earlier research on the reminiscence bump phenomenon in autobiographical memory by examining the central domains and predictors of benchmark memories from a life history timeline and from three selected significant events. Memories elicited by these methods demonstrated the reminiscence bump as occurring in early adulthood. The central domains representing this era involved events with family and relationships followed by those related to education and work. Individual differences in socio-emotional variables associated with self and identity formations (i.e., family climate, defensive style, self-complexity, and adult attachment) were associated with the reminiscence bump. These findings support the self-narrative hypothesis that the reminiscence phenomenon is related to the process of identity formation in late adolescence and early adulthood.     

Effects of interactive physical-activity video-game training on physical and cognitive function in older adults

The purpose of the present study was to assess the potential of exergame training based on physically simulated sport play as a mode of physical activity that could have cognitive benefits for older adults. If exergame play has the cognitive benefits of conventional physical activity and also has the intrinsic attractiveness of video games, then it might be a very effective way to induce desirable lifestyle changes in older adults. To examine this issue, the authors developed an active video game training program using a pretest-training-posttest design comparing an experimental group (24 × 1 hr of training) with a control group without treatment. Participants completed a battery of neuropsychological tests, assessing executive control, visuospatial functions, and processing speed, to measure the cognitive impact of the program. They were also given a battery of functional fitness tests to measure the physical impact of the program. The trainees improved significantly in measures of game performance. They also improved significantly more than the control participants in measures of physical function and cognitive measures of executive control and processing speed, but not on visuospatial measures. It was encouraging to observe that, engagement in physically simulated sport games yielded benefits to cognitive and physical skills that are directly involved in functional abilities older adults need in everyday living (e.g., Hultsch, Hertzog, Small, & Dixon, 1999).     

A Multi-informant Multi-Measure Approach to the Two Factor Model of Emotion with Youth

The two-factor model of emotion clarifies the complexities of the relationship between anxiety and depression through their varying associations with positive and negative affect. Although this model’s structure has been studied in children, the lack of parent report measures on model-specific constructs has thus far prevented a multi-informant perspective on the model. Capitalizing on recent advancements in parent report assessment instruments, the present investigation aimed to confirm the two-factor model of emotion per child self-report; expand the model’s applicability to include parent report; and create a combined-informant model with a large number of parent-child dyad pairs (N?=?610). Structural equation modeling demonstrated good fit within parent and child informant models, but diminished fit for the multi-informant model. These results suggest a high degree of robustness with respect to informant type. Implications for the integration of multi-informant assessment information are discussed.     

Should Social Aggression be Considered “Antisocial”?

There is converging evidence that physical aggression and non-aggressive rule-breaking constitute meaningfully distinct, if somewhat overlapping, dimensions of antisocial behavior, with different developmental trajectories, demographic correlates, and etiologies. Social aggression can also be factor-analytically and demographically distinguished from physically aggressive and rule-breaking antisocial behavior. However, there is ongoing debate as to whether social aggression should also be considered “antisocial” in the way the term is commonly understood, given that socially aggressive behaviors are generally legal and nearly normative during adolescence. The current study sought to empirically evaluate the notion that social aggression constitutes a form of antisocial behavior that is separable from other forms of antisocial behavior. We thus conducted a preliminary study to examine whether social aggression was associated with other forms of antisocial behavior and a variety of correlates of antisocial behavior in a sample of 497 undergraduates. Analyses revealed that social aggression was independently associated with other measures of antisocial behavior, substance use and unethical behaviors, as well as the personality traits known to predict current and future antisocial behavior. These associations were particularly pronounced in women. Such findings are consistent with our hypothesis that social aggression constitutes a distinct form of antisocial behavior.     

Power in Numbers: The Effect of Target Set Size on Prospective Person Memory in an Analog Missing Child Scenario

Efforts to find missing or wanted individuals have been characterized as an example of event‐based prospective memory called prospective person memory. We examined prospective person memory in the context of missing children. Participants studied 4 or 12 mock missing child posters. In Experiment 1, we equated total time per poster and found no difference between conditions in prospective person memory accuracy. In Experiment 2, we equated total time for all posters and found evidence of a decrease in prospective person memory accuracy in the 12‐poster condition. In Experiment 3, we allowed free study and also found a decrease in prospective person memory accuracy. Across all three experiments, we also found evidence of a more liberal response bias in the 12‐poster condition. Results are discussed in terms of both practical and theoretical implications. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development of a measure of the experience of being bullied in youth

The Personal Experiences Checklist (PECK) was developed to provide a multidimensional assessment of a young person's personal experience of being bullied that covered the full range of bullying behaviors, including covert relational forms of bullying and cyber bullying. A sample of 647 school children were used to develop the scale, and a 2nd sample of 218 children completed the PECK and a battery of measures of bullying (including peer nomination), anxiety, depression, and self-esteem, to provide validity evidence. Test-retest reliability was assessed in a further sample of 78 students. Four factors emerged from a principal axis factoring consistent with the domains of relational-verbal bullying, cyber bullying, physical bullying, and bullying based on culture and were confirmed with confirmatory factor analysis. The data also supported a higher order bullying factor with direct effects on these 4 factors. All PECK scales showed good to excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's α range = .78-.91) and adequate test-retest reliability (range r = .61-.86). Most, but not all, expected relations were found with alternative methods of assessing bullying and measures of psychopathology. Taken together, the PECK provides a promising comprehensive and behaviorally focused dimensional measure of bullying.     

Development of a short form Social Interaction Anxiety (SIAS) and Social Phobia Scale (SPS) using nonparametric item response theory: the SIAS-6 and the SPS-6

Shortened forms of the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) and the Social Phobia Scale (SPS) were developed using nonparametric item response theory methods. Using data from socially phobic participants enrolled in 5 treatment trials (N = 456), 2 six-item scales (the SIAS-6 and the SPS-6) were developed. The validity of the scores on the SIAS-6 and the SPS-6 was then tested using traditional methods for their convergent validity in an independent clinical sample and a student sample, as well as for their sensitivity to change and diagnostic sensitivity in the clinical sample. The scores on the SIAS-6 and the SPS-6 correlated as well as the scores on the original SIAS and SPS, with scores on measures of related constructs, discriminated well between those with and without a diagnosis of social phobia, providing cutoffs for diagnosis and were as sensitive to measuring change associated with treatment as were the SIAS and SPS. Together, the SIAS-6 and the SPS-6 appear to be an efficient method of measuring symptoms of social phobia and provide a brief screening tool.