Measuring Sensitivity to Conflicts of Interest: A Preliminary Test of Method

This study presents and develops test methods for assessing sensitivity to conflict of interest (COIsen). We are aware of no study assessing COIsen, but note that some popular methods for assessing ethical sensitivity and related constructs (which include COIsen) are flawed in that their presentation of stimulus material to subjects actually guides subjects to attend to ethical (or related) issues. The method tested here was designed to avoid this flaw. Using adaptations of two existing cases, a quota sample of 12 students was interviewed. Our method used funnel-sequenced, open-ended interviews that were audiotaped and transcribed, then subjected to a form of cognitive mapping. These maps revealed the presence of “indicators” of COIsen. We found that COIsen can be measured and that the global COIsen score generated by our method is able to reveal much variation across subjects, making it a worthwhile candidate for further consideration.     

Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique Promotes Learning and Corrects Inaccurate first Responses

The Psychological Record - Multiple-choice testing procedures that do not provide corrective feedback facilitate neither learning nor retention. In Studies 1 and 2, the performance of participants...     

Applicant Gender and Family Structure: Effects on Perceived Relocation Commitment and Spouse Resistance

Within the context of a controlled laboratory study, the effects of applicant gender, marital type (single earner, dual earner), and parental status (child, no child) on perceptions of job applicant commitment to a move involving geographic relocation and expected family resistance to the move were investigated. The results indicated that gender and family structure variables interacted in their influence on the dependent variables. Participants also provided reasons for their ratings of perceived commitment. Content analysis revealed 4 themes underlying participant responses: family concerns, goals and motivation of applicant, experience of applicant, and individual differences.     

Achievement Motivation among High School Basketball and Cross-Country Athletes: A Personal Investment Perspective

Abstract

Goal perspective research in the sport setting has primarily focused on task and ego goal orientations, while failing to address the influence of social goals (e.g., Urdan & Maehr, 1995). Maehr and Braskamp's (1986) personal investment theory allows researchers to examine achievement motivation from a multidimensional perspective that incorporates social factors of motivation. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the nature of the personal incentives, sense of self, and perceived options (Maehr & Braskamp, 1986) of basketball and cross-country athletes via semi-structured interviews. Results from content analyses revealed that athletes defined positive and negative experiences through task-, ego-, and socially-oriented personal incentives as well as sense of self and perceived options components. Socially-oriented personal incentives and sense of self components were more prevalent for the basketball athletes than for the cross-country athletes. Notable sport group differences suggest the need to further examine social factors of motivation with a broader representation of individual and team sport athletes.     

The Relation Between Chosen Role Models and the Self-Esteem of Men and Women

This study was designed to investigate choice of role models and levels of self-esteem within a sample of college students (N = 120). Participants rated themselves and their chosen role models on 29 character traits, which allowed determination of the self-perceived likeness of the participant to their role models (difference score). The difference score was then correlated with four subtypes of self-esteem. As predicted, participants chose more same-sex than other-sex role models; women were more likely than men to choose other-sex role models. The results indicated that choice of same-sex, as opposed to other-sex role models, is not indicative of higher levels of self-esteem in general. However, self-perceived likeness of role model to participant is significantly related to self-esteem, particularly for women.     

Temptation Bias: Can Self-enhancement Limit the Influence of Gender Stereotypes?

Temptation bias is the tendency to see oneself as better than others at resisting temptation. To understand the influence of self-enhancement and gender stereotypes on temptation bias, 215 undergraduates from a university located in the southwest region of the United States compared their ability to resist ten sexually tempting scenarios to that of others in general, and to their romantic partner (Study 1). An additional 151 undergraduates from the same university rated their own or their partner’s ability to resist seven sexually tempting scenarios compared to other men and women (Study 2). Results revealed that temptation bias was present but reduced when romantic partners were the comparison targets; and when comparing themselves to others, women displayed temptation bias regardless of the gender of the referent while men displayed temptation bias only when comparing themselves to men.     

How should we revise diagnostic criteria for substance use disorders in the DSM-V?

This article reviews literature on the validity and performance characteristics of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) diagnostic criteria for substance use disorders (SUDs) and recommends changes in these criteria that should be considered for the next edition of the DSM (DSM-V). Substantial data indicate that DSM-IV substance abuse and substance dependence are not distinct categories and that SUD criteria are best modeled as reflecting a unidimensional continuum of substance-problem severity. The conceptually and empirically problematic substance abuse diagnosis should be abandoned in the DSM-V, with substance dependence defined by a single set of criteria. Data also indicate that various individual SUD criteria should be revised, dropped, or considered for inclusion in the DSM-V. The DSM-V should provide a framework that allows the integration of categorical and dimensional approaches to diagnosis. Important areas for further research are noted.     

Rats’ anticipation of current and future trial outcomes in the ordered RNR/RNN serial pattern task

In the ordered RNR/RNN serial pattern task, rats often reduce their running speeds on trial 2 less within the RNR than within the RNN series. Initially, investigators (Capaldi, 1985; Capaldi et al., 1983) considered this trial 2 differential speed effect evidence for rats’ anticipation of inter-trial outcomes within each series. Later findings, however, suggest that this effect reflects some generalization of the ordinal position of trial 3 (Burns et al., 1986) or its similar runway cues during trial 2 (Capaldi et al., 1999). To test these generalization hypotheses, we made trial 2 more distinct from trial 3 in each series by forcing rats to alternate runways in a T-maze only on the last trial rather than on trial 2 in each series in Experiment 1, or by forcing rats to alternate runways between trials rather than to run down the same runway on all trials within each series in Experiment 2. Although enhancing the distinctiveness between these trials reduced the trial 2 differential speed effect, extensive training failed to eliminate it. Therefore, this residual difference between trial 2 speeds could reflect rats’ anticipation of trial 3 outcomes during trial 2 as originally proposed by Capaldi (1985) Experiment 3 was designed to determine whether we could enhance rats’ final trial outcome expectancies during trial 2 by making different trial 2 choices distinctive cues for each trial 3 outcome. The trial 2 speed effect was greater when rats were forced to alternate over all trials only within one of the series than when they were sometimes forced to do so in either series. Post-training probe tests revealed that both series position and the relevant within-series runway events contributed to this enhanced anticipation of trial 3 outcomes.     

Personality vulnerability to stress-related sleep disruption: Pathways to adverse mental and physical health outcomes

This study examined the associations among neuroticism (N), conscientiousness (C), and sleep quality in the context of a life transition. The interactive effects of N and C on the association between sleep quality and mental and physical well-being were also examined. Seventy-seven college freshmen (mean age = 19.5) completed personality measures at the beginning of the academic year, and measures of sleep quality, daily hassles, functional status, depression, and self-assessed health approximately 2 months later. N was negatively and C was positively related to sleep quality, and daily hassles mediated these associations. Poor sleep predicted greater depressive symptoms and poorer functional status for high-N/low-C participants, but not for other N and C profiles. Results suggest that conscientiousness moderates the extent to which high-N individuals are vulnerable to the adverse effects of poor sleep.