Effect of different external attention of focus instruction on learning of golf putting skill

The effect of different sources of external attentional focus on learning a motor skill was assessed in the present study. 30 students (12 men, 18 women) participated voluntarily and were divided, according to type of external focus, into target, club swing, and target-club swing groups. The task was a golf putting skill. The target focus group attended to the target (hole), the club swing focus group attended to the execution of the club's swing, and the target-club swing focus group attended to both. All participants performed 50 trials of the putting skill in the acquisition phase and 10 trials in the 24-hr. delayed retention phase. The dependent variable was the error in the putting skill measured as the distance from the hole to the ball after each strike. Results showed the target-club swing focus group had better scores in the acquisition and retention phases than the other groups. It was concluded that external focus instruction helped the learners to integrate target cue with action cue and is more effective in skill learning than other external-focus instructions. These results support the claims of ecological psychology theorists concerning the effects of external focus of attention.     

Psychometric Properties of the Wisconsin Schizotypy Scales in an Undergraduate Sample: Classical Test Theory,Item Response Theory,and Differential Item Functioning

The Wisconsin Schizotypy Scales are widely used for assessing schizotypy in nonclinical and clinical samples. However, they were developed using classical test theory (CTT) and have not had their psychometric properties examined with more sophisticated measurement models. The present study employed item response theory (IRT) as well as traditional CTT to examine psychometric properties of four of the schizotypy scales on the item and scale level, using a large sample of undergraduate students (n = 6,137). In addition, we investigated differential item functioning (DIF) for sex and ethnicity. The analyses revealed many strengths of the four scales, but some items had low discrimination values and many items had high DIF. The results offer useful guidance for applied users and for future development of these scales.     

SenseCam, imagery and bias in memory for wellbeing

Identifying and modifying the negative interpretation bias that characterises depression is central to successful treatment. While accumulating evidence indicates that mental imagery is particularly effective in the modification of emotional bias, this research typically incorporates static and unrelated ambiguous stimuli. SenseCam technology, and the resulting video-like footage, offers an opportunity to produce training stimuli that are dynamic and self-relevant. Here participants experienced several ambiguous tasks and subsequently viewed SenseCam footage of the same tasks, paired with negative or positive captions. Participants were trained to use mental imagery to inter-relate SenseCam footage and captions. Participants reported increased levels of happy mood, reduced levels of sad mood, and increased task enjoyment following SenseCam review with positive versus negative captions. This shift in emotional bias was also evident at 24-hour follow-up, as participants recollected greater task enjoyment for those tasks previously paired with positive captions. Mental imagery appears to play an important role in this process. These preliminary results indicate that in healthy volunteers, SenseCam can be used within a bias modification paradigm to shift mood and memory for wellbeing associated with performing everyday activities. Further refinements are necessary before similar methods can be applied to individuals suffering from subclinical and clinical depression.     

Attachment avoidance and feelings of connection in social interaction

Individuals high in attachment avoidance claim to be indifferent to the opinions of others. Carvallo and Gabriel (2006) showed that dismissive avoidants who received positive social feedback reported higher levels of positive affect and state self-esteem than dismissives in control conditions. Their data suggest that avoidant individuals are sensitive to acceptance cues, despite avoidants' claims to the contrary. However, the affect and self-esteem effects could represent feelings of hubristic pride (and thus superiority) rather than connection (and thus belongingness). In the current study, participants were randomly assigned to interact with either a highly positive or mildly negative research confederate. Low avoidant individuals felt more connected with the positive than negative confederate, but this effect of experimental condition was even stronger for those high in avoidance. These findings affirm that avoidantly attached invidividuals' feelings of belonging are sensitive to the positivity of social conditions, supporting the universality of the need to belong.     

Minority report: Social identity,cognitions of rejection and intergroup anxiety predicting prejudice from one racially marginalized group towards another

The present study investigated the attitudes of one disadvantaged minority group in Australia, Asian Australians (N = 87), towards another more severely disadvantaged minority group, Aboriginal Australians. Asian Australian attitudes were compared to European Australian attitudes (N = 273). Cognitions of outgroup rejection, identification and intergroup anxiety were assessed in relation modern racism, desire for intergroup avoidance and support for a national apology. Both Asian and European participants who perceived Aboriginal Australians as rejecting were more likely to express intergroup anxiety. Anxiety mediated the relationship between cognitions of rejection and the dependent variables. Whilst there was a direct positive relationship between European Australian identification and prejudice, for Asian Australian participants, identification moderated the relationship between cognitions of rejection and the dependent variables. Highly identified Asian Australian participants were particularly sensitive to cognitions of rejection, which increased modern racism and avoidance and lowered political support. The pattern was reversed for low identifiers, who were more likely to endorse a national apology to Aboriginal Australians when they perceived Aboriginal Australians as rejecting. The role of perceived rejection in predicting prejudice and avoidance, and the moderating role of Asian Australian identification, are both discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring the effects of congruence and Holland’s personality codes on job satisfaction: An application of hierarchical linear modeling techniques

This study applied hierarchical linear modeling to investigate the effect of congruence on intrinsic and extrinsic aspects of job satisfaction. Particular focus was given to differences in job satisfaction by gender and by Holland’s first-letter codes. The study sample included nationally represented 1462 female and 1280 male college graduates who held full-time jobs in 2000. Congruence was measured by using actual occupational and academic major codes. After controlling for the differences across three-letter Holland personality codes, results indicate that job satisfaction was largely a function of individual attributes rather than disparities in personality types. Holland’s congruence was most effective in explaining intrinsic dimensions of job satisfaction for females, and less effective for extrinsic job satisfaction for both genders. Social females and males were less satisfied with extrinsic satisfaction, while Conventional and Social females were more satisfied with intrinsic features in their vocational environments.     

Humor in Counseling: Leader Perspectives

This article explores the existence of humor in counseling from the perspectives of several leaders in the field. Specifically, the last 5 authors describe some of their thoughts and experiences regarding the emergence of humor in counseling.     

Who Will See Me? The Impact of Type of Audience on Willingness to Display Group‐Mediated Attitude–Intention Consistency

The present study examined the role that group norms, group identification, and imagined audience (in-group vs. out-group) play in attitude–behavior processes. University students ( N =187) participated in a study concerned with the prediction of consumer behavior. Attitudes toward drinking their preferred beer, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, group norm, and group identification were assessed. Intentions and perceived audience reactions to consumption were assessed. As expected, group norms, identification, and imagined audience interacted to influence likelihood of drinking one's preferred beer and perceived audience reactions. High identifiers were more responsive to group norms in the presence of an in-group audience than an out-group audience. The present results indicate that audience concerns impact upon the relationship between attitudes and behavior.     

Synchronic Bayesian updating and the Sleeping Beauty problem: reply to Pust

I maintain, in defending “thirdism,” that Sleeping Beauty should do Bayesian updating after assigning the “preliminary probability” 1/4 to the statement S: “Today is Tuesday and the coin flip is heads.” (This preliminary probability obtains relative to a specific proper subset I of her available information.) Pust objects that her preliminary probability for S is really zero, because she could not be in an epistemic situation in which S is true. I reply that the impossibility of being in such an epistemic situation is irrelevant, because relative to I, statement S nonetheless has degree of evidential support 1/4.