Interviewing to detect omission lies

Interviewees sometimes deliberately omit reporting some information. Such omission lies differ from other lies because all the information interviewees present may be entirely truthful. Truth tellers and lie tellers carried out a mission. Truth tellers reported the entire mission truthfully. Lie tellers were also entirely truthful but left out one element of the mission. In truth tellers' statements, only the parts that lie tellers were also asked to recall were analysed. Interviews were carried out via the Cognitive Credibility Assessment, Reality Interview, or standard interview protocol. Dependent variables were the details, complications and verifiable sources interviewees reported. A questionnaire measured three deception strategies: ‘Tell it all’, ‘keep it simple’ or ‘paying attention to demeanour’. Lie tellers reported fewer details, complications and verifiable sources than truth tellers and reporting these variables was negatively correlated with the ‘keep it simple’ and ‘demeanour’ strategies. The type of interview protocol did not affect the results.     

The gender-congruency effect in picture-word tasks

In Dutch noun phrases like “het boek” (the book) or “de kat” (the cat), the definite article (het or de) depends on the noun's grammatical gender (neuter or non-neuter). Schriefers reported that the production of a noun phrase like “het rode bed” (“the red bed”) in response to a colored picture takes less time when the picture is accompanied by a distractor word of congruent gender (e.g., “huis,” a het-word) than when it is accompanied by a word of incongruent gender (e.g., “hand,” a de-word). In three experiments we explored the characteristics of this gender-congruency effect. The following conclusions were reached. First, the gender-congruency effect is a rather robust phenomenon. Second, with the exception of a small effect in Exp. 2, no evidence was obtained for a gender-congruency effect when subjects were required to produce a single noun in response to a picture (e.g., “bed”). Third, the gender-congruency effect decreases with a decreasing familiarity of the distractor word. Implications for models of word production are discussed. Received: 20 May 1997 / Accepted: 25 September 1997     

Social Anxiety Among Adolescents: Linkages with Peer Relations and Friendships

This study examined the utility of modifying the Social Anxiety Scale for Children—Revised (SASC-R) for use with adolescents, and examined associations between adolescents' social anxiety (SA) and their peer relations, friendships, and social functioning. Boys (n = 101) and girls (n = 149) in the 10th through 12th grades completed the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A) and measures of social support, perceived competence, and number and quality of their best friendships. Factor analysis of the SAS-A confirmed a three-factor structure: Fear of Negative Evaluation, Social Avoidance and Distress in General, and Social Avoidance Specific to New Situations or Unfamiliar Peers. Girls reported more SA than boys, and SA was more strongly linked to girls' social functioning than boys'. Specifically, adolescents with higher levels of SA reported poorer social functioning (less support from classmates, less social acceptance), and girls with higher levels of SA reported fewer friendships, and less intimacy, companionship, and support in their close friendships. These findings extend work on the SASC-R to adolescents, and suggest the importance of SA for understanding the social functioning and close friendships of adolescents, especially girls.     

Argumentation, the Visual, and the Possibility of Refutation: An Exploration

Taking the possibility of visual argumentation seriously, this essay explores how refutation might proceed. We posit three ways in which images can refute and be refuted in a mixed-media environment: (1) dissection, in which an image is broken down discursively; (2) substitution, in which one image is replaced within a larger visual frame by a different image; and (3) transformation, in which an image is recontextualized in a new visual frame. These strategies are illustrated in an analysis of three American documentary films on abortion.     

Tripartite Mushroom Body Architecture Revealed by Antigenic Markers

We have explored the organization of the axonal lobes in Drosophila mushroom bodies by using a panel of immunohistochemical markers. These markers consist of antibodies to eight proteins expressed preferentially in the mushroom bodies: DAMB, DCO, DRK, FASII, LEO, OAMB, PKA RII, and RUT. Previous to this work, four axonal lobes, two projecting dorsally (α and α′) and two medially (β and γ), had been described in Drosophila mushroom bodies. However, our analysis of immunohistochemically stained frontal and sagittal sections of the brain revealed three medially projecting lobes. The newly distinguished lobe, which we term β′, lies along the dorsal surface of β, just posterior to γ. In addition to resolving a fifth lobe, our studies revealed that there are specific lobe sets defined by equivalent marker expression levels. These sets are (1) the α and β lobes, (2) the α′ and β′ lobes, and (3) the γ lobe and heel (a lateral projection formed by a hairpin turn of some of the peduncle fibers). All of the markers we have examined are consistent with these three sets. Previous Golgi studies demonstrate that each mushroom body cell projects one axon that branches into a dorsal lobe and a medial lobe, or one unbranched axon that projects medially. Taken together with the lobe sets listed above, we propose that there are three major projection configurations of mushroom body cell axons: (1) one branch in the α and one in the β lobe, (2) one branch in the α′ and one in the β′ lobe, and (3) one unbranched axon projecting to the heel and the γ lobe. The fact that these neuron types exhibit differential expression levels of a number of mushroom body genes suggests that they may have corresponding functional differences. These functions may be conserved in the larvae, as several of these genes were expressed in larval and embryonic mushroom bodies as well. The basic mushroom body structure, including the denritic calyx, peduncle, and lobes, was already visible by the late stages of embryogenesis. With new insights into mushroom body organization, and the characterization of markers for developing mushroom bodies, we are beginning to understand how these structures form and function.     

Family enhancement of cognitive style in anxious and aggressive children

Previous research has shown that anxious adults provide more threat interpretations of ambiguous stimuli than other clinic and nonclinic persons. We were interested in investigating if the same bias occurs in anxious children and how family processes impact on these children's interpretations of ambiguity. Anxious, oppositional, and nonclinical children and their parents were asked separately to interpret and provide plans of action to ambiguous scenarios. Afterwards, Each family was asked to discuss two of these situations as a family and for the child to provide a final response. The results showed that anxious and oppositional children were both more likely to interpret ambiguous scenarios in a threatening manner. However, the two clinic groups differed in that the anxious children predominantly chose avoidant solutions whereas the oppositional children chose aggressive solutions. After family discussions, both the anxious children's avoidant plans of action and the oppositional children's aggressive plans increased. Thus, this study provides the first evidence of family enhancement of avoidant and aggressive responses in children. These results support a model of anxiety that emphasizes the development of an anxious cognitive style in the context of anxiety-supporting family processes.This research was supported by grants from The National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, The University of Queensland, and The Myer Foundation of Australia. The authors would like to thank the families, all the anxiety project staff, and Candi Peterson for her helpful feedback in the draft of this paper.     

A cost-effectiveness evaluation of parent training

Outcomes from a parenting program that was modified to reduce costs and a wait-list control condition were compared. Costs were reduced by over 50%. Sixty-six parents participated. Treatment parents reported significantly greater improvements in child behavior problems, parent attitudes, and satisfaction with family relationships when compared to untreated controls. These effects were maintained at three months follow-up. Outcomes for 35 of the children in the sample who had clinically significant behavior problems before treatment were also examined separately. The difference between clinical recovery rates, i.e., movement from the clinical to normal range during treatment, for control and treatment children was not statistically significant. Limitations of the current study and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Narrative competence and constructive developmental theory: A proposal for rewriting theBildungsroman in the postmodern world

Some of the chief characteristics of the narrative psychology of Bruner, Polkinghorne, Sarbin, Freeman, Howard, and White and Epston are outlined with implications for therapy discussed. Narrative psychology is then related to some current models of adult development, including those of Kegan, Perry, Belenky, Labouvie-Vief, Levinson, Basseches, and Pascual-Leone. Types of narrative competence are discussed and an argument is made that developmental readiness for narrative must be considered if narrative approaches are going to be applied. Different types of narrative approaches are shown to be indicative of particular developmental stages. The social relativism of narrative psychology is addressed and it is argued that developmental models provide a scheme for assessing the maturity of alternative narrative constructions.     

Statistical power in complex experimental designs

We show that power and sample size tables developed by Cohen (1988, pp. 289–354, 381–389) produce incorrect estimates for factorial designs: power is underestimated, and sample size is overestimated. The source of this bias is shrinkage in the implied value of the noncentrality parameter, λ, caused by using Cohen’s adjustment ton for factorial designs (pp. 365 and 396). The adjustment was intended to compensate for differences in the actual versus presumed (by the tables) error degrees of freedom; however, more accurate estimates are obtained if the tables are used without adjustment. The problems with Cohen’s procedure were discovered while testing subroutines in DATASIM 1.2 for computing power and sample size in completely randomized, randomized-blocks, and split-plot factorial designs. The subroutines give the user the ability to generate power and sample size tables that are as easy to use as Cohen’s, but that eliminate the conservative bias of his tables. We also implemented several improvements relative to “manual” use of Cohen’s tables: (1) Since the user can control the specific values of 1- β,n, andf used on the rows and columns of the table, interpolation is never required; (2) exact as opposed to approximate solutions for the noncentralF distribution are employed; (3) solutions for factorial designs, including those with repeated measures factors, take into account the actual error degrees of freedom for the effect being tested; and (4) provision is made for the computation of power for applications involving the doubly noncentralF distribution.