The effects of action,normality, and decision carefulness on anticipated regret: Evidence for a broad mediating role of decision justifiability

Two distinct theoretical views explain the effects of action/inaction and social normality on anticipated regret. Norm theory (Kahneman & Miller, 1986) emphasises the role of decision mutability, the ease with which one can imagine having made a different choice. Decision justification theory (Connolly & Zeelenberg, 2002) highlights the role of decision justifiability, the perception that the choice was made on a defensible basis, supported by convincing arguments or using a thoughtful, comprehensive decision process. The present paper tests several contrasting predictions from the two theoretical approaches in a series of four studies. Study 1 replicated earlier findings showing greater anticipated regret when the chosen option was abnormal than when it was normal, and perceived justifiability mediated the effect. Study 2 showed that anticipated regret was higher for careless than for careful decisions. Study 3 replicated this finding for a sample holding a different social norm towards the focal decision. Finally, Study 4 found that, when decision carefulness, normality and action/inaction were all specified, only the former showed a significant effect on anticipated regret, and the effect was again mediated by perceived justifiability. Decision justification theory thus appears to provide a better account of anticipated regret intensity in this context than does norm theory.     

Individual Differences in Child Kaleidoblock Responses

The relationship between self-esteem and parental identification was investigated. The hypothesis that self-esteem is positively correlated with parental identification was supported for female college students by two out of three self-esteem measures. For male subjects one social self-esteem measure correlated negatively with maternal identification and a self-concept measure correlated positively. No relationship between self-esteem and paternal identification existed for males: hence the hypothesis was refuted. The importance of social self-esteem in the feminine self-concept and its basis in parental identification is emphasized in the discussion.     

Gender-deviant boys compared with normal and clinical control boys

The physical movement and social characteristics of effeminate behavior-problem, referred boys (N=13)were compared with those of normal boys (N=25)and boys (N=12)referred for nongender problems. Parent reports, observer ratings, and videotapes were collected in a series of structured tasks. As expected, mothers described gender-problem sons as much more feminine than the other two groups in interests, activities, and mannerisms. Gender-problem sons were also seen as relatively inactive and introverted. Further, they were non-significantly lower than the clinical control boys in perceived behavior problems, but both groups had marginally more problems than the normal boys. Gender-problem and clinical control boys both showed more body constriction than normal boys in ratings of a videotaped interview. They also both showed less ideal ball-throw form than normal boys on a set of variables scored with slow-motion video. However, in a set of behaviors directly rated in the various tasks, the gender-problem boys gave a uniquely general impression of uncoordination. The groups did not differ on seven additional variables.The research was supported in part by USPHS Grant MH17072. The authors are indebted to the more than two dozen research staff members who contributed many essential services at various stages of the project, to the families who generously participated, to the clinicians who referred their clients to our project, and to Marion Hee for computational assistance.     

The Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS): Review and Current Status

Measures of impairment in psychological and behavioral functioning have a long history in the field of children's mental health, and appear particularly useful in eligibility determination, treatment planning, and outcome evaluation of services for children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbance (SED). One recently developed multidimensional measure of functional impairment—the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS; K. Hodges, 1989, 1997)—has enjoyed widespread use nationwide. It has been adopted as a tool for making treatment eligibility decisions and documenting outcomes on a statewide level in more than 20 states and on a local level in dozens of research and demonstration projects. In this paper, the technical merits of the CAFAS are closely examined, with the conclusion that empirical evidence is lacking to support its valid use in making the types of treatment decisions for which it is currently being employed across the nation. Furthermore, there appears to be little concern among mental health researchers, practitioners, administrators, and state legislators about these apparent limitations of the CAFAS. The potential benefits of establishing objective and valid level-of-need criteria, using the CAFAS are numerous and the interest in doing so is clear; however, the psychometric limitations of the scale identified in this review need to be addressed before its full potential can be realized.     

Reappraising the link between peritraumatic dissociation and PTSD symptom severity: evidence from a longitudinal study of community violence survivors

Cross-lagged panel analysis of longitudinal data collected from young adult survivors of community violence was used to examine the relationship between recall of peritraumatic dissociation and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity. Recollections of peritraumatic dissociation assessed within days of exposure differed from recollections measured at 3- and 12-month follow-up interviews. Peritraumatic dissociation was highly correlated with PTSD symptoms within each wave of data collection. Baseline recollections of peritraumatic dissociation were not predictive of follow-up PTSD symptom severity after controlling for baseline PTSD symptom severity. This pattern of results replicates previous work demonstrating a correlation between peritraumatic dissociation and subsequent symptom severity. However, findings are not consistent with the prevailing view that peritraumatic dissociation leads to increased PTSD symptom severity.     

Mental simulation inflates performance estimates for physical abilities

In five experiments, we examined how mental simulation of physical activities affected estimates of one's ability to perform the same activities. In Experiment 1, participants who simulated lifting aheavy object estimated that they could lift more weight than did participants who did not perform the simulation. In Experiment 2A, the frequency with which participants performed the simulation exercises was manipulated. In Experiments 2B and 2C, we manipulated the amount of weight that people simulated lifting in order to address potential alternative explanations of the inflation effect. In Experiment 3, mental simulations were manipulated within subjects. In all the experiments, the simulated events showed inflated estimates, as compared with nonsimulated events. These results were interpreted in the context of the misattribution-of-familiarity account of imagination inflation.     

Early Developmental Precursors of Externalizing Behavior in Middle Childhood and Adolescence

This study examined the infancy- and toddler-age precursors of children's later externalizing problem behavior. Risk constructs included suboptimal patterns of observed caregiver-child interaction and the caregiver's perception of child difficultness and resistance to control. In addition, a novel dimension of caregiver-child relationship quality, the caregiver's perception of her toddler's unresponsiveness to her, was examined as a possible precursor of children's externalizing behavior. Externalizing problem outcomes were assessed throughout the school-age period and again at age 17, using multiple informants. As toddlers, children at risk for later externalizing behavior were perceived as difficult and resistant to control, and relationships with their caregivers were relatively low in warmth and affective enjoyment. Finally, the caregiver's perception of her toddler as emotionally unresponsive to her was a consistent predictor of later externalizing behavior, suggesting that negative maternal cognitions associated with child conduct problems may begin in toddlerhood. These predictive patterns were similar for boys and girls, and with minor exceptions, generalized across different subdimensions of externalizing problem behavior. Our findings underscore the importance of the infancy and toddler periods to children's long-term behavioral adjustment, and indicate the desirability of further research into the nature of caregivers' early perceptions of child unresponsiveness.     

Factors affecting metamotivational reversals during motor task performance

Reversal theory proposes that the individual's psychological state constantly switches between metamotivational state pairs (such as Apter's 1982 telic-paratelic pair). Three factors are thought to affect reversals: frustration, contingent event, and satiation. Only a few studies have directly investigated these factors in sports contexts, and evidence is needed to assess support for these factors. In a laboratory setting, 24 participants performed a telic and a paratelic version of a dart-throwing task for 10 min. Participants were free to change from one task version to another as they wished, and reasons for any task changes were solicited. Task changes, indicative of reversals, were observed in 11 participants, and these were reported as due to satiation or frustration but not to contingent events. These findings may inform the structure of sessions on skill development but require confirmation in actual sports contexts.     

Contextual effects on word production: A lifespan study

The effect of sentence priming on picture naming was investigated across the lifespan, from age 3 to 87 years. Names that are normally acquired before 3 years of age were presented in auditory contexts that were semantically congruent, incongruent, or neutral in relation to each picture and its name. Sentential priming was present at all age levels. Facilitation (neutral vs. congruent) was significantly by 4 years of age and did not vary significantly with age. Interference (incongruent vs. neutral) was significant at all age levels, but changed nonmonotonically with age (largest in the youngest children, stable from young adulthood through age 70, with a small increase in the oldest participants). We conclude that picture naming is a useful tool for the investigation of sentential priming effects across the lifespan and that it can reveal potentially interesting developmental changes in the effects of sentential context on word retrieval.