The role of task difficulty and affect activation level in the use of affect as information

The current research examined task difficulty and affect activation level as factors that determine the relevance of affect as information in a performance context. Participants viewed a series of pictures designed to elicit an affective state that was high or low in activation and positive or negative in valence. They completed an easy or difficult anagram task and then rated their satisfaction with their performance. Analyses revealed that low activation affect was used as information for judging one's performance on the difficult task and high activation affect was used as information for judging one's performance on the easy task. In these cases, the valence of participants' affect influenced their judgments about their performance, such that positive affect resulted in greater satisfaction. These findings suggest that affective states with activation levels that match one's typical level of energy after a particular task are seen as more relevant for judging one's performance.     

Developing and Validating a Measure of Consumer Well-Being in Relation to Cell Phone Use

This paper reports on an effort to develop a consumer well-being measure in relation to cell phone use. The measure is based on the theoretical notion that the perception of the overall quality-of-life impact of the cell phone on users is determined by their perceptions of the impact of the cell phone in various life domains such as social life, leisure life, family life, education life, health and safety, love life, work life, and financial life. In turn, the perception of impact of the cell phone in a given life domain (e.g., social life, leisure life) is determined by perceptions of benefits and costs of the cell phone within that domain. We conducted two major studies to select items capturing perceived benefits and costs that are predictive of perceived quality-of-life impact of the cell phone.     

Multiple Risk Factors for Frequent and Problem Gambling: Individual, Social, and Ecological

We analyzed data for a national U.S. telephone survey. Most likely to have gambled in the past year were those whose friends and families looked favorably on gambling, Catholics, young adults, and those who live close to a lottery outlet. Most likely to have gambled frequently in the past year were those whose friends look favorably on gambling and those who live close to a lottery outlet. Most likely to be problem gamblers were Blacks, those who smoke or who are alcohol dependent, and those who live in disadvantaged neighborhoods. The decision to gamble is influenced by social milieu and values, while risk for problem gambling is influenced by proneness to problem behaviors and by disadvantaged status. Availability of gambling influences all gambling involvement.     

Youth at Risk: In Search of a Definition

The term youth at risk has been defined in numerous ways. A review of these definitions, their perspectives on predisposing conditions, and the implications for counseling are discussed.     

What counts as evidence for working memory training? Problems with correlated gains and dichotomization

The question of whether computerized cognitive training leads to generalized improvements of intellectual abilities has been a popular, yet contentious, topic within both the psychological and neurocognitive literatures. Evidence for the effective transfer of cognitive training to nontrained measures of cognitive abilities is mixed, with some studies showing apparent successful transfer, while others have failed to obtain this effect. At the same time, several authors have made claims about both successful and unsuccessful transfer effects on the basis of a form of responder analysis, an analysis technique that shows that those who gain the most on training show the greatest gains on transfer tasks. Through a series of Monte Carlo experiments and mathematical analyses, we demonstrate that the apparent transfer effects observed through responder analysis are illusory and are independent of the effectiveness of cognitive training. We argue that responder analysis can be used neither to support nor to refute hypotheses related to whether cognitive training is a useful intervention to obtain generalized cognitive benefits. We end by discussing several proposed alternative analysis techniques that incorporate training gain scores and argue that none of these methods are appropriate for testing hypotheses regarding the effectiveness of cognitive training.     

Cross-cultural perspective on dating relationships of young Iranian women: A pilot study

This study aimed to determine whether young Iranian women experience a conflict in values between their parents and those of mainstream America. Specifically, the study focused on dating and boyfriend-girlfriend relationships. Through an open-ended interview conducted in Farsi, the results indicated that the subjects experiencing the most pressure were those who had not yet forged an identity for themselves within either culture. Implications for cross-cultural counselling are discussed.     

Crisis counseling: A right and a necessity for members of the underclass

Crisis counseling, short-term, directive psychotherapeutic intervention, is an appropriate form of therapy for the low socioeconomics status (SES) individuals. Poverty, racism, and cultural alienation contribute to making crises a prominent feature of life among poor people. Members of the underclass frequently do not have the time or cultural affinity for many forms of long-term therapy. Oriented toward the solution of practical problems and toward quickly re-establishing emotional equilibrium, crisis counseling does not require the client's long-standing commitment to personal growth. Because it is relatively free of the social biases of most treatment modalities, crisis counseling is a way of introducing many low SES individuals to psychotherapy. For many underclass individuals, crisis counseling can lead them in the direction of overcoming other situations that keep them at a disadvantage.     

Rural Hispanic Adolescents at Risk for Depressive Symptoms

Levels of depression among rural Hispanic adolescents were assessed. Psychological factors affecting depression were examined. Included were family characteristics, measured by the Background Information Questionnaire; self-esteem, by the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale; perceived stress level, by the Hispanic Children's Stress Inventory; acculturation, by the Cuellar Acculturation Index; and depression levels, by the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale. Results revealed moderate to severe depression symptomatology among 33% of the subjects, and mild depression symptoms among 17%. Two family structure variables, birth order and number of brothers, were significantly related to depression. Gender was an important predictor of depression, as was self-esteem. Higher stress scores were related to higher levels of depression.     

Evaluations of relational aggression as a function of relationship type and conflict setting

The present study examined influences on girls' evaluations of relational aggression situations. Second‐, third‐, fifth‐, and sixth‐grade girls evaluated four relational aggression conflict scenarios in terms of attributions of aggressor's intentions, evaluator's behavioral response, evaluator's affective state, and how likely the situation was to actually occur. Girls evaluated intentions of a best friend more positively, reported being more mad at an enemy, and perceived conflict to be more likely to occur with an enemy than a best friend. Aggressor intentions in direct conflict scenarios (aggressor said something mean to evaluator) were perceived as more negative than aggressor intentions in indirect conflict scenarios (aggressor said something mean about evaluator to another peer). Younger girls reported intentions of their enemy as being more positive than did older girls. Further, older girls reported intentions of their best friend as being more positive than intentions of their enemy. Older girls also were more accurate in conceptualizing variations in the conflict setting (direct, indirect) and responding in a context‐consistent manner. Findings are discussed in terms of the social‐relational and social‐situational processes that influence children's evaluations of relational aggression and how the current study extends previous research on relational aggression. Aggr. Behav. 26:179–191, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.