Sustainable Environmental Development: The Moderating Role of Environmental Identity

This study develops and tests a model of Chinese residents' evaluation of government developmental activities based on identity theory and social exchange theory. The study proposes hypotheses regarding the influences of perceived benefits and environmental identity on residents' satisfaction with the government, the moderating role of environmental identity in the relationship between perceived benefits and satisfaction, and the effect of satisfaction on residents' support intentions. The model is tested with data collected from 474 residents of four cities in China. Results show environmental identity, along with perceived economic and environmental benefits, plays a very important role in residents' satisfaction with the government. The significant moderating role of environmental identity suggests differential effects of perceived benefits on satisfaction are observed based on the level of environmental identity. Satisfaction is found to be important for obtaining residents' support for the government and future environmental development. Implications of the study are discussed.     

Influence of Three Interventions on Group Participation in an Acute Psychiatric Facility

In this article the authors present a comparison of three modes of group-based intervention within an acute psychiatric facility. The group-based interventions were: (1) verbal discussion, (2) verbal discussion with a psychoeducation component, and (3) verbal discussion and psychoeducation within a therapeutically designed occupational environment. Outcome measures were group member participation, perceived social support, and perceived helpfulness of intervention. Researchers conducted retrospective analysis of group records to determine if differences existed among the three modes of interventions. Analysis revealed a significant difference in participation among the interventions. Perceived social support and helpfulness of intervention were high, but not statistically significant among the interventions.     

Similarities and differences between mind-wandering and external distraction: A latent variable analysis of lapses of attention and their relation to cognitive abilities

The current study examined the extent to which task-unrelated thoughts represent both vulnerability to mind-wandering and susceptibility to external distraction from an individual difference perspective. Participants performed multiple measures of attention control, working memory capacity, and fluid intelligence. Task-unrelated thoughts were assessed using thought probes during the attention control tasks. Using latent variable techniques, the results suggested that mind-wandering and external distraction reflect distinct, yet correlated constructs, both of which are related to working memory capacity and fluid intelligence. Furthermore, the results suggest that the common variance shared by mind-wandering, external distraction, and attention control is what primarily accounts for their relation with working memory capacity and fluid intelligence. These results support the notion that lapses of attention are strongly related to cognitive abilities.     

Supporting child witnesses during identification lineups: Exploring the effectiveness of registered intermediaries

Performance at identification lineup was assessed in eighty‐five 6‐ to 11‐year‐old typically developing children. Children viewed a live staged event involving 2 male actors, and were asked to identify the perpetrators from 2 separate lineups (one perpetrator‐present lineup and one perpetrator‐absent lineup). Half the children took part in lineups adapted by a registered intermediary (an impartial, trained professional who facilitates understanding and communication between vulnerable witnesses and members of the justice system), and half took part in “best‐practice” lineups, according to the current guidance for eyewitness identification in England and Wales. Children receiving assistance from a registered intermediary (relative to children who received best‐practice lineups) were more accurate in their identifications for perpetrator‐present lineups, and there was some evidence that they were also more accurate for perpetrator‐absent lineups. This provides the first empirical evidence for the effectiveness of registered intermediary support during identification lineups.     

Tracking arousal state and mind wandering with pupillometry

In four experiments, the association between arousal state and different mind-wandering states was examined. Participants performed a sustained attention task while pupil responses were continuously recorded. Periodically during the task, participants were presented with thought probes to determine if they were on task or mind wandering. Across the four experiments, the results suggested that in situations that promoted on-task behaviors and focused external attention, mind wandering was associated with lowered arousal, as seen by smaller tonic pupil diameters and smaller phasic pupillary responses. However, in situations that promoted a more internal focus of attention, there were no differences between on-task states and mind wandering in tonic pupil diameter (although differences emerged for phasic pupillary responses), suggesting similar arousal levels. Furthermore, across the four experiments, mind blanking and mind wandering dissociated in terms of whether the situation promoted focused external attention or focused internal attention. These results are broadly consistent with the notion that mind wandering is a heterogeneous construct, with different forms of mind wandering being associated with different arousal states, and suggest that a combination of behavioral and pupillary measures can be used to track these various states.     

Psychological Trait Resilience Within Ecological Systems Theory: The Resilient Systems Scales

This project describes the development of the Resilient Systems Scales, created to address conceptual and methodological ambiguities in assessing the ecological systems model of resilience. Across a number of samples (total N = 986), our findings suggest that the Resilient Systems Scales show equivalence to a previously reported assessment (Maltby, Day, &; Hall, 2015 Maltby, J., Day, L., &; Hall, S. (2015). Refining trait resilience: Identifying engineering, ecological, and adaptive facets from extant measures of resilience. PLoS ONE, 10(7), e0131826. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0131826[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) in demonstrating the same factor structure, adequate intercorrelation between the 2 measures of resilience, and equivalent associations with personality and well-being. The findings also suggest that the Resilient Systems Scales demonstrate adequate test–retest reliability, compare well with other extant measures of resilience in predicting well-being, and map, to varying degrees, onto positive expression of several cognitive, social, and emotional traits. The findings suggest that the new measure can be used alongside existing measures of resilience, or singly, to assess positive life outcomes within psychology research.