Spanish version of the Body Appreciation Scale (BAS) for adolescents

The need to study the positive aspects of body image led to the design of the Body Appreciation Scale (BAS). The aim of the present study was to develop a Spanish adaptation of the BAS for adolescents, testing its factor structure, construct validity and any differences between girls and boys. Participants were 312 adolescents aged between 12 and 20; there were 148 females and 164 males. The validation analysis of the BAS revealed a one-factor structure with adequate internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .908) and construct validity (correlations with body mass index, influence of the body shape model, perceived stress, coping strategies, self-esteem and variables from the Eating Disorders Inventory-2), as well as significant differences between boys and girls (p < .01). The BAS is suitable for administration in a Spanish adolescent population as a way of analysing the positive aspects of body image.     

Moderating effects in consumers' perceptions of price unfairness

This study explores the moderating effects of various consumer features – such as price insensitivity and recency of last purchase – on the relationships among perceived value, inferred vendor profit, and perceived price fairness. A proposed model is developed and an empirical study is then conducted among consumers in four contexts: (i) two tangible goods; and (ii) two intangible services. The proposed model and hypotheses are tested using Partial Least Squares (PLS) software SmartPLS 2.0.M3, which provides a component‐based approach for estimation purposes. The influence of these moderating variables (price insensitivity and recency of the last purchase) depends on the context and the nature of the offering. This is a pioneering study of perceived price fairness in a framework of distributive justice utilizing a variety of contexts, products, and services. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Recording online processes in task-oriented reading with Read&;Answer

We present an application to study task-oriented reading processes called Read&Answer. The application mimics paper-and-pencil situations in which a reader interacts with one or more documents to perform a specific task, such as answering questions, writing an essay, or similar activities. Read&Answer presents documents and questions with a mask. The reader unmasks documents and questions so that only a piece of information is available at a time. This way the entire interaction between the reader and the documents on the task is recorded and can be analyzed. We describe Read&Answer and present its applications for research and assessment. Finally, we explain two studies that compare readers’ performance on Read&Answer with students’ reading times and comprehension levels on a paper-and-pencil task, and on a computer task recorded with eye-tracking. The use of Read&Answer produced similar comprehension scores, although it changed the pattern of reading times.     

Embodied Attitude Change: A Self‐Validation Perspective

Our behavior can change what we like and dislike. Although it seems clear that we might like something more when we smile (versus frown), or when we nod our heads (versus shake), it is important to understand the processes responsible for these changes in evaluation. It might be that agreement behaviors such as smiling and nodding work as cue, make us think about everything in a positive light, or it might be that they encourage us not to think much about the information we receive. This review describes the basic processes underlying embodied change, highlighting the role of a recently discovered meta‐cognitive process (called self‐validation) by which bodily responses can validate or invalidate (instead of changing) our thoughts. This new mechanism can account for some already established outcomes in embodied persuasion (e.g., more persuasion with smiling than frowning), but by a different process than postulated previously (smiling increases confidence in thoughts), as well as for some new findings (e.g., more persuasion for low than high powerful postures; more self‐confidence when performing doubtful postures).     

Target-directed visual attention is a prerequisite for action-specific perception

Witt et al. (2008) have recently shown that golfers who putt with more success perceive the hole to be bigger than golfers who putt with less success. In three experiments, we systematically examined whether this phenomenon, labelled action-specific perception, depends on directing visual attention towards the action target. In Experiment 1 we replicated previously reported action-specific effects on perception in golf putting. In 3 and 4 we directly assessed whether action-specific effects on perception in golf putting are dependent on focusing visual attention on the target. To this end, the participants performed the putting task while visual attention towards the target was either completely withheld (Experiment 2) or divided over the target and other task-relevant objects (Experiment 3). No action-specific effects were found when visual attention towards the action target was occluded or partially diverted from the target. Together, our results provide evidence to suggest that focusing visual attention on the target while performing the action is a prerequisite for the emergence of action-specific perception.     

Parent training with high-risk immigrant chinese families: a pilot group randomized trial yielding practice-based evidence

We studied the efficacy and implementation outcomes of a culturally responsive parent training (PT) program. Fifty-four Chinese American parents participated in a wait-list controlled group randomized trial (32 immediate treatment, 22 delayed treatment) of a 14-week intervention designed to address the needs of high-risk immigrant families. Parents were eligible for intervention if they were Chinese-speaking immigrants referred from schools, community clinics, or child protective services with concerns about parenting or child behavior problems. Retention and engagement were high with 83% of families attending 10 or more sessions. Results revealed that the treatment was efficacious in reducing negative discipline, increasing positive parenting, and decreasing child externalizing and internalizing problems. Treatment effects were larger among families with higher levels of baseline behavior problems and lower levels of parenting stress. Further augmentation of PT to address immigrant parent stress may be warranted. Qualitative impressions from group leaders suggested that slower pacing and increased rehearsal of skills may improve efficacy for immigrant parents unfamiliar with skills introduced in PT.     

Squeezing, striking, and vocalizing: Is number representation fundamentally spatial?

Numbers are fundamental entities in mathematics, but their cognitive bases are unclear. Abundant research points to linear space as a natural grounding for number representation. But, is number representation fundamentally spatial? We disentangle number representation from standard number-to-line reporting methods, and compare numerical estimations in educated participants using line-reporting with three nonspatial reporting conditions (squeezing, bell-striking, and vocalizing). All three cases of nonspatial-reporting consistently reproduced well-established results obtained with number-line methods. Furthermore, unlike line-reporting—and congruent with the psychophysical Weber–Fechner law—nonspatial reporting systematically produced logarithmic mappings for all nonsymbolic stimuli. Strikingly, linear mappings were obtained exclusively in conditions with culturally mediated elements (e.g., words). These results suggest that number representation is not fundamentally spatial, but builds on a deeper magnitude sense that manifests spatially and nonspatially mediated by magnitude, stimulus modality, and reporting condition. Number-to-space mappings—although ubiquitous in the modern world—do not seem to be rooted directly in brain evolution but have been culturally privileged and enhanced.     

Adaptation of the "Recovery Experience Questionnaire" in a Spanish sample

The aim of this work was to examine the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the "Recovery Experience Questionnaire" developed by Sonnentag and Fritz. The sample was made up of 941 professionals from the security sector. Results from the exploratory factor analysis suggested the possibility of considering a four-factor structure. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the four-factor model with three correlated items each provided the best fit to the data (CFI=0.97, GFI=0.96, NNFI=0.96, RMSEA=0.05 y AIC=171.76). Therefore, the questionnaire maintains the four recovery experiences -psychological detachment from work, relaxation, mastery experiences and control over leisure time--but with 12 items instead of 16 items as in the original scale. Reliability analysis showed good internal consistency for this scale with Cronbach alpha coefficients for the factors ranging from .75 to .88. Significant correlations were found between the recovery experiences and various external variables, providing evidence of construct validity. Thus, this Spanish version shows adequate psychometric properties and may help to achieve a better understanding of this topic.     

Development and validation of a questionnaire about the main variables affecting the individual investor's behavior in the Stock Exchange

Development and validation of a questionnaire about the main variables affecting the individual investor's behavior in the Stock Exchange. There is a considerable lack of information about the methodology usually used in most of the studies about individual investor's behavior. The studies reviewed do not show the method used in the selection of the items or the psychometric properties of the questionnaires. Because of the importance of investment in the Stock Exchange nowadays, it seems relevant to obtain a reliable instrument to understand individual investor's behavior in the Stock Exchange. Therefore, the goal of the present work is to validate a questionnaire about the main variables involved in individual investors' behavior in the Stock Exchange. Based on previous studies, we elaborated a questionnaire using the Delphi methodology with a group of experts. The internal consistency (Cronbach alpha=.934) and validity evidence of the questionnaire show that it may be an effective instrument and can be applied with some assurance.     

The role of animacy in European Portuguese relative clause attachment: evidence from production and comprehension tasks

This work presents an analysis of the role of animacy in attachment preferences of relative clauses to complex noun phrases in European Portuguese (EP). The study of how the human parser solves this kind of syntactic ambiguities has been focus of extensive research. However, what is known about EP is both limited and puzzling. Additionally, as recent studies have stressed the importance of extra-syntactic variables in this process, two experiments were carried out to assess EP attachment preferences considering four animacy conditions: Study 1 used a sentence-completion-task, and Study 2 a self-paced reading task. Both studies indicate a significant preference for high attachment in EP. Furthermore, they showed that this preference was modulated by the animacy of the host NP: if the first host was inanimate and the second one was animate, the parser's preference changed to low attachment preference. These findings shed light on previous results regarding EP and strengthen the idea that, even in early stages of processing, the parser seems to be sensitive to extra-syntactic information.