Assessment of Social Information Processing in Early Childhood: Development and Initial Validation of the Schultz Test of Emotion Processing—Preliminary Version

Crick and Dodge’s (Psychological Bulletin 115:74–101, 1994) social information processing model has proven very useful in guiding research focused on aggressive and peer-rejected children’s social-cognitive functioning. Its application to early childhood, however, has been much more limited. The present study responds to this gap by developing and validating a video-based assessment tool appropriate for early childhood, the Schultz Test of Emotion Processing—Preliminary Version (STEP-P). One hundred twenty-five Head Start preschool children participated in the study. More socially competent children more frequently attributed sadness to the victims of provocation and labeled aggressive behaviors as both morally unacceptable and less likely to lead to positive outcomes. More socially competent girls labeled others’ emotions more accurately. More disruptive children more frequently produced physically aggressive solutions to social provocations, and more disruptive boys less frequently interpreted social provocations as accidental. The STEP-P holds promise as an assessment tool that assesses knowledge structures related to the SIP model in early childhood.     

Retrieval practice benefits memory precision

ABSTRACT

Although previous research on retrieval practice (RP) has predominantly featured stimuli with discrete right-or-wrong answers, continuous measures offer potentially greater sensitivity in assessing the effects of RP on memory precision. The present study used a colour gradient (125 points ranging from magenta to yellow) as a continuous response variable. The colours of different images were learned through either RP or restudy and either one or three cycles of practice after initial study. On a delayed final test, participants’ memory was assessed for each item’s colour. Participants also created per-item intervals representing the region where they believed the correct colour most likely to have been. We found that repeated rounds of RP enhanced the correspondence between responses and the correct colour. In addition, RP led to participants creating more accurate (correct answers were more likely to be within the participant-specified intervals) and more precise (narrower) intervals relative to restudy, suggesting that RP enhances the precision of memories.     

Perceiving External Things and the Time‐Lag Argument

Abstract: We seem to directly perceive external things. But can we? According to the time‐lag argument, we cannot. What we directly perceive happens now. There is a time‐lag between our perceptions and the external things we seem to directly perceive; these external things happen in the past; thus, what we directly perceive must be something else, for example, sense‐data, and we can only at best indirectly perceive other things. This paper examines the time‐lag argument given contemporary metaphysics. I argue that this argument is not as compelling as it may initially seem. First, it denies that what we directly perceive can ever be what it seems to be; second, it conflicts with the current physical conception of time, relativity theory. This latter point leads to a more general one: the argument's force depends on a particular metaphysical conception on time, presentism, which is controversial in contemporary metaphysics of time. Given the alternative conception, eternalism, the argument is much less compelling. The overall argument of this paper, then, is that, if one wishes to hold that we directly perceive external things, we should subscribe to the latter view of time, i.e., eternalism.     

The Relationship Between Implicit Beliefs,Anxiety, and Attributional Style in High-Level Soccer Players

We assessed the role of parental behaviors on sport performance anxiety. Measures of trait anxiety, parental pressure, and parent-initiated motivational climate were administered to youth swimmers throughout the season. High parental pressure within either a low mastery or a high ego motivational climate was associated with the highest levels of anxiety at all time points. An early-season, high-pressure/low-mastery combination was also associated with relative increases in anxiety over the season, whereas high pressure within a high mastery climate was associated with relative decreases. Results indicate that parental pressure can have differential effects depending upon motivational climate.     

Speech style and occupational status affect assessments of eyewitness testimony

This study examined how speech style and occupational status affect mock jurors' assessments of eyewitness testimony. Mock jurors (n = 120) watched a video of a man testifying about witnessing an attempted robbery. The eyewitness exhibited either a powerless or powerful speech style and reported either a high or low (or no) status occupation during his testimony. Results indicated that high occupation status and powerful speech style led to more favorable evaluations of the eyewitness's testimony and of the case against the defendant than powerless speech style and low/no occupation status. Implications of these results on considerations of eyewitness testimony and future research are discussed.     

Evaluation of the factor structure of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale in older adults

The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale is the most utilized measure of global self-esteem. Although psychometric studies have generally supported the uni-dimensionality of this 10-item scale, more recently, a stable, response-bias has been associated with the wording of the items (Marsh, Scalas, & Nagengast, 2010). The purpose of this report was to replicate Marsh et al.’s findings in a sample of older adults and to test for invariance across time, gender and levels of education. Our results indicated that indeed a response-bias does exist in esteem responses. Researchers should investigate ways to meaningfully examine and practically overcome the methodological challenges associated with the RSE scale.     

An Empirical Evaluation of the Diagnostic Criteria for Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder: Problems with Sex Specificity and Validity

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder is a psychiatric disorder that reportedly affects between 3 to 8% of women. Although not an official diagnosis in the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, premenstrual dysphoric disorder has received increasing attention in the clinical literature, and considerable debate exists regarding the validity of this proposed condition. This study examined the prevalence of premenstrual dysphoric disorder in a sample of women and men and assessed the construct validity of the disorder. Twenty percent of women met the criteria for provisional diagnosis of premenstrual dysphoric disorder using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual criteria. In addition, 4% of men met these criteria when given sex-neutral assessment forms. Self-reported psychological distress and impaired interpersonal functioning did not predict women's likelihood of meeting the criteria for premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Results cast doubt on the sex-specificity of the diagnostic criteria of premenstrual dysphoric disorder and the construct validity of the disorder. Limitations of this study are discussed.     

The Process of Personal Change Through Reading Fictional Narratives: Implications for Psychotherapy Practice and Theory

This qualitative study provides an understanding of how and when individuals experience transformational change as a consequence of reading narratives. Six participants who attributed significant personal changes to reading were recruited and interviewed. The investigators used grounded theory method to analyze these interviews and identify processes through which change unfolded. The core category of the analysis was identification with characters' experiences created a safe venue to consider threat and experiment with new possibilities and perspectives. Empathizing with protagonists enabled readers to integrate new modes of responding to personally difficult situations. Implications for bibliotherapy and narrative therapy are discussed.     

A Meta-Analysis of the Relationship Between Rater Liking and Performance Ratings

This meta-analysis reviewed the magnitude and moderators of the relationship between rater liking and performance ratings. The results revealed substantial overlap between rater liking and performance ratings (ρ = .77). Although this relationship is often interpreted as indicative of bias, we review studies that indicate that to some extent the relationship between liking and performance ratings potentially reflects “true” differences in ratee performance. Moderator analyses indicated that the relationship between liking and performance ratings was weaker for ratings of organizational citizenship behaviors, ratings made by peer raters, ratings in nonsales jobs, and ratings made for development; however, the relationship was strong across moderator levels, underscoring the robustness of this relationship. Implications for the interpretation of performance ratings are discussed.