Establishing a causal chain: why experiments are often more effective than mediational analyses in examining psychological processes

The authors propose that experiments that utilize mediational analyses as suggested by R. M. Baron and D. A. Kenny (1986) are overused and sometimes improperly held up as necessary for a good social psychological paper. The authors argue that when it is easy to manipulate and measure a proposed psychological process that a series of experiments that demonstrates the proposed causal chain is superior. They further argue that when it is easy to manipulate a proposed psychological process but difficult to measure it that designs that examine underlying process by utilizing moderation can be effective. It is only when measurement of a proposed psychological process is easy and manipulation of it is difficult that designs that rely on mediational analyses should be preferred, and even in these situations careful consideration should be given to the limiting factors of such designs.     

An Assessment of Risk Understanding in Hispanic Genetic Counseling Patients

This study sought to identify if differences existed in risk comprehension and risk format understanding between genetic counseling patients of Hispanic and Caucasian ethnicity. A total of 107 questionnaires were collected, 56 from Hispanic patients, and 51 from Caucasian controls. Of the total population 41.1% (44/107) could not demonstrate sufficient risk understanding, which was 71.4% (40/56) of Hispanics and 7.8% (4/51) of Caucasians. Fractions were the best-understood format for all participants. However, both Hispanics and Caucasians had difficulties with the percentage risk format. Discrepancies were also noted in qualitative word format understanding. Awareness of differences in risk comprehension may affect the selection of counseling techniques and strategies utilized by genetic counselors when educating patients about risk related information.     

Racial-Ethnic Differences in Genetic Amniocentesis Uptake

The objective of this study was to determine the role of health beliefs in genetic amniocentesis acceptance in a diverse racial-ethnic population. Participants completed a previously-validated questionnaire consisting of three sections: (1) demographics, (2) amniocentesis knowledge, and (3) health beliefs, which assessed perceived susceptibility, seriousness of potential impact, benefits of testing, and barriers to testing. The results showed that Hispanic women were less likely to accept amniocentesis (51.5% vs. Caucasian 82.8%, African American 82.9%, Asian 82.8%). Education level was the only demographic factor higher among acceptors. Women who accepted amniocentesis had higher perceived seriousness, susceptibility, and benefits HBM scores and higher knowledge scores than women who declined. HBM scores and knowledge predicted the amniocentesis decision correctly 91.5% of the time. Individual health beliefs and knowledge play a greater role in genetic amniocentesis acceptance than do demographic factors such as race-ethnicity.     

An evaluation of the minimal constraining information during observation for movement reproduction

An important question in the field of imitation is what information is used for movement reproduction. While it is argued that relative motion information is perceived and minimised, direct evidence is lacking. In this experiment relative motion was manipulated to convey a novel kicking action. Twenty-four adults were assigned to one of the three impoverished relative motion display groups showing only the TOE, FOOT or LEG. After practise with partial information, participants watched a full-body display and in a final condition performed the action with an additional context constraint (i.e., a ball). Movement kinematics were collected and difference scores between participants and the model were analysed. The groups did not differ in terms of knee-ankle coordination. For hip-knee, the TOE group performed more like the model than the FOOT and LEG group. When transferred to the full-body display, there were no significant improvements. End-point trajectory information can provide sufficient information to reproduce key characteristics of the movement form.     

Incremental validity in the psychological assessment of children and adolescents

Incremental validity in the process of psychological assessment of children and adolescents is explored. The authors highlight the dependence of the incremental validity of assessment information on factors such as goal of assessment, other information available, base rate of the problem or outcome, age or gender of the child, and type of problem being assessed. The authors discuss the incremental validity of assessment information from alternate sources, methods, and constructs. In view of the limited number of studies directly relevant to incremental validity in child clinical assessments, the authors call for more clinically relevant research. To have the greatest impact on child and adolescent services, this research must be readily generalized and immediately relevant to actual clinical practice.     

Developing profiles of risk for parental abduction of children from a comparison of families victimized by abduction with families litigating custody.

This study systematically compared parents in abducting families with families litigating custody. Findings indicate that risks for parental abduction of children are multidetermined by: (1) a heightened concern about very young children being exposed to neglectful, endangering, or criminal environments by the other parent; (2) unsubstantiated allegations of sexual abuse; (3) heightened distrust of and less respect for law and authority; and (4) a reluctance to seek help from the courts. Abducting families were also predominantly socially and economically disadvantaged: parents were less likely to have been married to one another; they had lower incomes, were more poorly educated, and were disproportionately members of minority racial and ethnic groups. The social policy dilemmas of identifying these differences as risk factors are discussed together with suggestions for risk management.     

Mood in chronic disease: Questioning the answers

The main research questions concerning mood and chronic disease are about the extent, sources, and consequences of emotional distress. Answers to these questions are informative both to psychological theory and to the design of interventions aimed at improving outcomes for patients. However, as a result of practical and ethical limitations in research designs, the answers obtained are rarely definitive and typically need to be interpreted carefully. This article illustrates some of the problems using studies of patients with cancer, myocardial infarction, stroke, and other disabling conditions. The first group of studies illustrates problems in the timing of mood measurement including both timing within an interview, and issues concerned with identifying equivalent timing in the stages of disease and its treatment. The remaining studies are used to illustrate the limits of non-experimental longitudinal, and of experimental designs. It is concluded that research in this area requires the use of more than one research paradigm to achieve dependable answers.     

Influences of adult attachment in exploration

Research into the relationship between attachment quality in both children and adults suggests links with patterns of exploration; however, exploration has been operationalized differently in studies of adults and children. This study examined adults' patterns of exploration operationalized in terms of novelty seeking, curiosity, and impulsivity, as in studies of children. Analysis indicated avoidant adults reported significantly lower curiosity than did securely attached adults, while preoccupied subjects showed no differences from either secure or avoidant groups. As in studies of children, groups did not differ on measures of novelty seeking or impulsivity.     

Changing social stereotypes: The case of the information seeker

Previous research has shown that stereotype-based judgements can be attenuated through the attribution of disconfirming information to individual group members. Typically in these studies, subjects are forced to process all the available in formation, including disconfirming information, before providing their impressions of the group. In the reported research, in contrast, we attempted to create a more naturalistic paradigm by allowing subjects to control the amount and nature of information they received about individual group members. Under these conditions, we expected subjects to instigate a biased information-seeking strategy and display a preference for stereotype-matching rather than stereotype-mismatching information. Our results supported this prediction. When subjects could control the nature and amount of information they received about a target group they showed: (i) a preference for stereotype-matching information and (ii) no change in their stereotypic impressions of the group. When, however, subjects were forced to process all the available information, their stereotypic evaluation of the group diminished. These findings demonstrate the general resistance of stereotypes to change in naturalistic, information-seeking settings.