The nature of intrusive memories after trauma: the warning signal hypothesis

Individuals who had experienced a range of different traumas were asked to describe the quality and content of their intrusive memories. Visual intrusions were the most common, and thoughts were uncommon. Intrusion quality varied little with type of trauma. Intrusive memories commonly consisted of stimuli that were present immediately before the traumatic event happened or shortly before the moments that had the largest emotional impact (i.e., when the meaning of the event became more traumatic). It is suggested that intrusive memories are about stimuli that through temporal association with the trauma acquired the status of warning signals, i.e., stimuli that if encountered again would indicate impending danger. This explains why intrusive memories are accompanied by a sense of serious current threat. The warning signal hypothesis may be useful in guiding therapists in identifying the moments with the largest emotional impact that will need reprocessing in treatment, and in educating patients about the nature of reexperiencing symptoms.     

Goal specificity and learning with a hypermedia program

Problem solving research has found that a nonspecific goal (NSG) leads to better learning than a specific goal (SG). This effect can be understood in terms of dual-space search theories of problem solving. To apply the theory, we studied goal specificity effects with a hypermedia program in which participants had to learn about the outbreak of World War 1, either with the goal to find twenty dates (i.e., SG) or with the goal to explain the reasons for the war (i.e., NSG). As expected, compared to the SG-group, the NSG-group correctly answered more factual questions about the text during the task, spent more time on average per page, and more often looked for extra information. In a final questionnaire with factual and inferential questions, the NSG-group still performed better than the SG-group. The NSG-group may also show better transfer of what they had learnt to a new situation.     

Gender subgroups and intergroup perception: adolescents' views of own-gender and other-gender groups

The authors examined intergroup bias and perceived group variability regarding gender subgroups relevant to the adolescent culture. Participants were 126 high school students, between 16 years and 19 years of age, who listed male and female subgroups, performed a series of group perception tasks, and, for each subgroup, indicated whether they themselves belonged to the group. Results showed that adolescents' perceptions of gender subgroups were subject to in-group favoritism and out-group derogation, as well as to group homogeneity effects. In line with predictions derived from Optimal Distinctiveness Theory, male and female participants favored in-groups over own-gender and other-gender out-groups and favored other-gender out-groups over own-gender outgroups. Ambivalence was particularly high with other-gender out-groups. The authors discussed implications for future research on the development of gender prejudice and for interventions to reduce prejudice.     

Hemispheric asymmetries for selective attention apparent only with increased task demands in healthy participants

This study examined the possibility that lack of behavioral evidence indicating hemispheric specialization for selective attention in healthy individuals is due to the use of tasks that are not sufficiently demanding to require selective attention. In a group of 43 participants (ages 17-23), we compared selective attention on a cued-response time task when the target was presented alone and when a distractor was simultaneously presented. The costs of invalid cueing were minimal when the right hemisphere (RH) processed the target relative to when the left hemisphere (LH) processed the target, but only for the high load condition. These results are interpreted as RH specialization in light of evidence suggesting that the RH can direct attention to a larger portion of the visual field.     

The Double-Edged Sword of Providing Information About the Prevalence of Safer Sex1

A group of 267 college students participated in an experiment to determine the effect of communicating different percentages (i.e., 12%, 36%, 64%, 88%) of the prevalence of safer sex in the student population on condom-use intention. A positive linear effect of prevalence information on condom-use intention was demonstrated, although the information that 64% engaged in safer sex seemed most effective in changing condom-use intention. This effect was independent of previous sexual behavior. Although prevalence information had a positive indirect effect on condom-use intention as a result of a change in perceived social norms, it had a negative indirect effect because of perceived risk. That is, information indicating a high prevalence of safer sex lowered the perceived risk of AIDS and, as a result, the intention to use condoms.     

Assessing psychological inflexibility: the psychometric properties of the Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth in two adult samples

The current study examined whether the Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth (AFQ-Y; L. A. Greco, W. Lambert, & R. A. Baer, 2008), a self-report measure of psychological inflexibility for children and adolescents, might be useful for measuring psychological inflexibility for adults. The psychometric properties of the AFQ-Y were examined using data from a college student sample (N = 387) and a clinical sample of patients with anxiety disorders (N = 115). The AFQ-Y, but not the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II; F. W. Bond et al., in press), demonstrated a reading level at or below the recommended 5th or 6th grade reading level. The AFQ-Y also demonstrated adequate reliability (internal consistency), factorial validity, convergent and discriminant validity, and concurrent validity predicting psychological symptoms. Moreover, the AFQ-Y showed incremental validity over the AAQ-II in predicting several psychological symptom domains. Implications for the assessment of psychological inflexibility are discussed.     

Disentangling stereotype activation and stereotype application in the stereotype misperception task

When forming impressions about other people, stereotypes about the individual's social group often influence the resulting impression. At least 2 distinguishable processes underlie stereotypic impression formation: stereotype activation and stereotype application. Most previous research has used implicit measures to assess stereotype activation and explicit measures to assess stereotype application, which has several disadvantages. The authors propose a measure of stereotypic impression formation, the stereotype misperception task (SMT), together with a multinomial model that quantitatively disentangles the contributions of stereotype activation and application to responses in the SMT. The validity of the SMT and of the multinomial model was confirmed in 5 studies. The authors hope to advance research on stereotyping by providing a measurement tool that separates multiple processes underlying impression formation.     

How we Became the Schmams: Conceptualizations of Fairness in the Decision-Making Process for Latina/O Children

The current study examines 16 Latina/o fifth grade children's desires for a decision-making structure within a youth participatory action research (yPAR) program. When given the choices of consensus, majority rule, authoritarian rule, delegation, and random choice models, children chose random choice. Procedural, distributive and emotional justice were heavily weighted in their reasoning around fairness and decision making. Many thought random choice offered the best alternative because it flattened power hierarchies so that each child would, at some point, have the power to make a decision. Additionally, children argued that the neutrality of random choice allowed them to sidestep interpersonal tensions. Implications include how social identities inform definitions of fairness and how yPAR programs should work with youth around how they will make decisions.