The General Belongingness Scale (GBS): Assessing achieved belongingness

Belongingness has emerged as a central construct of theoretical importance in the last two decades; however, little attention has been given to develop a brief, psychometrically sound measure of general belongingness. Three studies were conducted to develop a 12-item measure to assess a sense of general belongingness. Students were recruited to participate in online computer-administered surveys (N = 81, 875, and 213, respectively). High reliability and strong patterns of validity estimates are established. EFA and CFA results indicate a 2-factor structure (Acceptance/Inclusion and lack of Rejection/Exclusion), with a high inter-factor correlation. The current investigation is the first to document that achieved belongingness is distinct from the need to belong, and to show strong associations between belongingness and the Big Five personality traits of Neuroticism (r = −.51) and Extraversion (r = .46).     

Positive explorers: modeling dynamic control in normal aging

Situations in which there are multiple changes occurring all at once and which demand complex decisions to be made are common throughout life, but little is known about how normal aging influences performance on these types of scenarios. To determine performance differences associated with normal aging, we test older and younger adults in a dynamic control task. The task involves the control of a single output variable over time via multiple and uncertain input controls. The Single Limited Input, Dynamic Exploratory Responses (SLIDER) computational model, is implemented to determine the behavioral characteristics associated with normal aging in a dynamic control task. Model-based analysis demonstrates a unique performance signature profile associated with normal aging. Specifically, older adults exhibit a positivity effect in which they are more influenced by positively valenced feedback, congruent with previous research, as well as enhanced exploratory behavior.     

Predicting Rape Empathy Based on Victim, Perpetrator, and Participant Gender, and History of Sexual Aggression

This study examined empathy for a hypothetical rape victim and perpetrator based on gender of victim, perpetrator and participant, and sexual aggression experience. Undergraduates (n?=?591, 333 female) from a United States east coast mid-size public university completed the Rape Victim and Perpetrator Empathy Scales (victim and perpetrator gender experimentally varied), and the Sexual Experiences Survey. Hypotheses were partially supported. Empathy was greater with the victim of a man than a woman. Women with victimization experience were especially empathic with a female victim. Men without victimization experience were relatively non-empathic with a male victim. Empathy was greater with a female than a male perpetrator, especially when her victim was male or when reported by women. A male rapist received the greatest empathy from men with perpetration experience. Findings are consistent with cultural expectations that women are victims and men are aggressors, and may imply that similarity in experience can facilitate rape empathy.     

Investigation of the computer experiences and attitudes of pre-service mathematics teachers: new evidence from Turkey

This study aimed to investigate the experiences of pre-service mathematics (PSM) teachers with computers and their attitudes toward them. The Computer Attitude Scale, Computer Competency Survey, and Computer Use Information Form were administered to 180 Turkish PSM teachers. Results revealed that most PSM teachers used computers at home and at Internet cafes, and that their competency was generally intermediate and upper level. The study concludes that PSM teachers' attitudes about computers differ according to their years of study, computer ownership, level of computer competency, frequency of computer use, computer experience, and whether they had attended a computer-aided instruction course. However, computer attitudes were not affected by gender.     

Further evidence for score reliability and validity of the Anxiety Depression Distress Inventory-27 scale

We conducted several analyses with data from undergraduate students (N = 309) and active duty US Air Force Security Forces personnel (N = 273) to examine the utility of scores on the Anxiety Depression Distress Inventory-27 (ADDI-27). The three specific dimensions of the ADDI-27 include Positive Affect, Somatic Anxiety, and General Distress, each composed of nine relevant and representative items. Internal consistency reliability estimates for scores on the scales were strong across the study groups (coefficient-α values ≥ .80). Results of analyses using differential item functioning showed that the groups interpreted the contents of the ADDI-27 items similarly. At the scale-level analyses, the undergraduate student sample reported higher somatic and general distress symptoms compared to the Air Force sample. Evidence for concurrent validity was adequate. Examples of the concurrent measures were the meaning in life, mental health functioning, and sources of social support self-report instruments. Taken together, results support the use of the ADDI-27 for assessing clusters of somatic anxiety, depression, and general distress in the current study samples.     

Thirty-five-month-old children have spontaneous memories despite change of context for retrieval

ABSTRACT

Many parents have experienced incidents in which their preschool child spontaneously (i.e., without prompting of any kind) recall a previously experienced event. Until recently, such spontaneous memories had only been examined in non-controlled settings (e.g., diary studies). Using a novel experimental paradigm, a previous study has shown that when young children are brought back to a highly distinct setting (same room, same experimenter, same furnishing), in which they previously experienced an interesting event (a Teddy or a Game event), spontaneous memories can be triggered. However, exactly which cues (or combination of cues) are effective for the children’s memory, remains unknown. Here, we used this novel paradigm to examine the possible impact of contextual cues at the time of retrieval. We manipulated whether the 35-month-old children returned to the same room (n?=?40) or to a different, but similarly furnished, room (n?=?40) after one week. The results revealed that although the children returning to a new room produced fewer spontaneous memories than the children returning to the same room, the difference was not significant. Interestingly, despite changing rooms, the children still produced spontaneous memories. Taken together the results may shed new light on the mechanisms underlying childhood amnesia.     

Positive transfer and negative transfer/antilearning of problem-solving skills

In problem-solving research, insights into the relationship between monitoring and control in the transfer of complex skills remain impoverished. To address this, in 4 experiments, the authors had participants solve 2 complex control tasks that were identical in structure but that varied in presentation format. Participants learned to solve the 2nd task on the basis of their original learning phase from the 1st task or learned to solve the 2nd task on the basis of another participant's learning phase. Experiment 1 showed that, under conditions in which the participant's learning phase was experienced twice, performance deteriorated in the 2nd task. In contrast, when the learning phases in the 1st and 2nd tasks differed, performance improved in the 2nd task. Experiment 2 introduced instructional manipulations that induced the same response patterns as those in Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, further manipulations were introduced that biased the way participants evaluated the learning phase in the 2nd task. In Experiment 4, judgments of self-efficacy were shown to track control performance. The implications of these findings for theories of complex skill acquisition are discussed.     

Does the truth interfere with our ability to deceive?

Does the truth interfere with our ability to respond deceptively? We considered this question in the present study by examining the effects of a task set (i.e., selecting truthful or untruthful responses), both by comparing two presentations of the same task and through transfer to a different task. All participants carried out the task either under the instructions to respond both correctly and incorrectly (Experiment 1) or under the instructions to respond truthfully and deceptively (Experiment 2); the order of instructions was counterbalanced. In Experiment 2, after completing the main task, the participants also performed a Stroop task. The findings suggested that deceptive responses took longer overall, regardless of the order of instructions. Moreover, the experience of responding deceptively versus truthfully led to faster responding on a subsequent Stroop test. Although there may well be processes unique to deceptive responding, the evidence suggests that overcoming interference is a process shared by deceptive and nondeceptive tasks. orrespondence     

Cortico-spinal inhibition reflects time but not event preparation: neural mechanisms of preparation dissociated by transcranial magnetic stimulation.

Changes in cortico-spinal excitability related to time and event preparation were investigated by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the motor cortex during the foreperiod of a movement-precuing task. Subjects performed a four alternative choice reaction time (RT) task involving a button-press with the index or middle finger (FI) of the left or right hand. Advance information about the to-be-signaled response was provided by a precue, which preceded the response signal by a 1 s foreperiod. The precue either indicated the hand (right or left) or FI (index or middle) with which the response would be executed or was uninformative. TMS was delivered to the left or right cortical hand area at one of five possible times during the foreperiod: -1000, -500, -333, -166 or 0 ms prior to the response signal. Surface EMG activity from a prime mover involved in flexion of the response FIs (Flexor digitorum superficialis) was used to measure the magnitude of the motor evoked potential (MEP) elicited by TMS. Cortico-spinal excitability--as assessed by the magnitude of the MEP evoked in the target muscle contralateral to the stimulated hemisphere--progressively decreased during the foreperiod. The identity of the precued responses, however, had no effect on MEP magnitude. These results suggest that preparation to respond at a particular time inhibited excitability of the cortico-spinal tract, while advance preparation to perform specific responses affected more central structures only.