Orthographic and phonological facilitation in speech production: new evidence from picture naming in Chinese

Picture naming is facilitated when a target picture (e.g. of a cat) is accompanied by a form-related context word (e.g. CAP) relative to an unrelated word (e.g. PEN). Because in alphabetic languages phonological and orthographic similarity are confounded, Chinese, a logographic language, has been employed to study these two effects in isolation. The results obtained suggest that the orthographic facilitation effect is localized at an earlier processing level than the phonological facilitation effect. In the present study we examine this issue again, using an experimental design in which the context words in the related and unrelated conditions are optimally matched. In contrast to the earlier studies Experiments 1 and 2 fail to show differences in the time course of the two context effects. Moreover, Experiment 3 provides direct evidence against an early, conceptual locus of orthographic facilitation. Our findings indicate that in Chinese language production both orthographically and phonologically related context words have their effect at the rather late level of word-form encoding.     

From racial discrimination to risky sex: prospective relations involving peers and parents

This study investigated how early experience with racial discrimination affected the subsequent risky sexual behaviors of a diverse sample of African American youths (N = 745). The analyses focused on 3 risk-promoting factors thought to mediate the hypothesized discrimination → risky sex relation: negative affect, affiliation with deviant peers, and favorable attitudes toward risky sex. In addition, attentive parenting was examined as a protective factor. Analyses using structural equation modeling revealed that youths who perceived more racial discrimination at age 10 or 11 were engaging in more sexual risk taking at age 18 or 19. This relation was mediated by the hypothesized risk-promoting factors via pathways that were consistent with our conceptual model. Results also indicated a prospective reciprocal relation between parenting and children's deviant affiliations: deviant peer affiliations at age 10 or 11 predicted more attentive parenting behaviors by the parents; this response from the parents, in turn, predicted relatively fewer deviant affiliations when the youths were 15 or 16. Study findings are discussed in terms of their relevance to the disproportionately high rates of sexually transmitted infections among African Americans.     

National suicide prevention lifeline: enhancing mental health care for suicidal individuals and other people in crisis

Linking at-risk callers to ongoing mental health care is a key goal of crisis hotline interventions that has not often been addressed in evaluations of hotlines' effectiveness. We conducted telephone interviews with 376 suicidal and 278 nonsuicidal crisis callers to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Lifeline) to assess rates of mental health care utilization following Lifeline calls and to assess attitudinal and structural barriers to service utilization. Postcall utilization rates were approximately 50% for suicidal and crisis callers who received mental health care referrals. Lack of health insurance and callers' perceptions about mental health problems emerged as significant barriers to accessing continued help.     

Color-object interference: Further tests of an executive control account

Young children are slower in naming the color of a meaningful picture than in naming the color of an abstract form (Stroop-like color-object interference). The current experiments tested an executive control account of this phenomenon. First, color-object interference was observed in 6- and 8-year-olds but not in 12- and 16-year-olds (Experiment 1). Second, meaningful pictures did not interfere in 5- to 7-year-olds’ manual sorting of objects on the basis of color (Experiment 2) or in their naming the number of colored objects in the display, that is, subitizing (Experiment 3). These findings provide support for the view that color-object interference results from the children’s immature inhibition of the prepotent but irrelevant task of object naming.     

What is more important for national well-being: money or autonomy? A meta-analysis of well-being, burnout, and anxiety across 63 societies

What is more important: to provide citizens with more money or with more autonomy for their subjective well-being? In the current meta-analysis, the authors examined national levels of well-being on the basis of lack of psychological health, anxiety, and stress measures. Data are available for 63 countries, with a total sample of 420,599 individuals. Using a 3-level variance-known model, the authors found that individualism was a consistently better predictor than wealth, after controlling for measurement, sample, and temporal variations. Despite some emerging nonlinear trends and interactions between wealth and individualism, the overall pattern strongly suggests that greater individualism is consistently associated with more well-being. Wealth may influence well-being only via its effect on individualism. Implications of the findings for well-being research and applications are outlined.     

Contrasting Social Climates of Small Peer-Run Versus a Larger Staff-Run Substance Abuse Recovery Setting

This study compared the social climate of peer‐run homes for recovering substance abusers called Oxford House (OH) to that of a staffed residential therapeutic community (TC). Residents of OHs (N = 70) and the TC (N = 62) completed the Community Oriented Programs Environment Scales. OHs structurally differ on two primary dimensions from TCs in that they tend to be smaller and are self‐run rather than professionally run. Findings indicated significantly higher Involvement, Support, Practical Orientation, Spontaneity, Autonomy, Order and Organization, and Program Clarity scores among the OH compared to TC residents. Additional analyses found the OH condition was higher Support, Personal Problem Orientation, and Order and Organization scores among women compared to men residents. These results suggested that these smaller OH self‐run environments created a more involving and supportive social milieu than a larger staff‐run TC. These findings are interpreted within Moos' ( 2007 ) four theoretical ingredients (i.e., social control, social learning, behavioral economics, and stress and coping), which help account for effective substance abuse treatment environments.     

Does climate undermine subjective well-being? A 58-nation study

The authors test predictions from climato-economic theories of culture that climate and wealth interact in their influence on psychological processes. Demanding climates (defined as colder than temperate and hotter than temperate climates) create potential threats for humans. If these demands can be met by available economic resources, individuals experience challenging opportunities for self-expression and personal growth and consequently will report lowest levels of ill-being. If threatening climatic demands cannot be met by resources, resulting levels of reported ill-being will be highest. These predictions are confirmed in nation-level means of health complaints, burnout, anxiety, and depression across 58 societies. Climate, wealth, and their interaction together account for 35% of the variation in overall subjective ill-being, even when controlling for known predictors of subjective well-being. Further investigations of the process suggest that cultural individualism does not mediate these effects, but subjective well-being may function as a mediator of the impact of ecological variables on ill-being.     

Development and validation of a Spanish version of the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory, ACSI-28

This study involved the translation, cultural adaptation and validation of the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory (ACSI-28) for a Spanish-speaking sport environment. The sample was made up of 1,253 Spanish athletes, 967 males and 286 females. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that the 7-factor structure found in the English version was replicated in the Spanish translation in both males and females. Likewise, the reliability coefficients were similar to those of the English version, with values exceeding .80 for the total score. Several of the subscales correlated positively with sports experience and performance level. The Spanish version of the ACSI-28 thus maintains the factor structure of the original and exhibits similar psychometric properties. Consequently, it can reliably be applied to Spanish-speaking athletes for research and evaluation purposes.     

Socio-spatial cognition in vervet monkeys

Safety in numbers is thought to be the principal advantage of living in groups for many species. The group can only provide protection against predators, however, when group cohesion is maintained. Vocalisations are used to monitor inter-individual distances, especially under conditions of poor visibility, but should be avoided in the presence of predators. Mentally tracking the movements of silent and invisible group members would allow animals foraging in dense vegetation to stay close to their group members while reducing the use of vocal contact. We tested the socio-spatial cognitive abilities of wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) by comparing their reactions to plausible and implausible displacements of group members simulated by sound playbacks. Our methods are comparable to those used in studies of ‘object permanence’ and ‘invisible displacements’ of inanimate objects. Our results show that vervets can track the whereabouts of invisibly and silently moving group members, at least over short periods of time.