Training in Timing Improves Accuracy in Golf

In this experiment, the authors investigated the influence of training in timing on performance accuracy in golf. During pre- and posttesting, 40 participants hit golf balls with 4 different clubs in a golf course simulator. The dependent measure was the distance in feet that the ball ended from the target. Between the pre- and posttest, participants in the experimental condition received 10 hr of timing training with an instrument that was designed to train participants to tap their hands and feet in synchrony with target sounds. The participants in the control condition read literature about how to improve their golf swing. The results indicated that the participants in the experimental condition significantly improved their accuracy relative to the participants in the control condition, who did not show any improvement. We concluded that training in timing leads to improvement in accuracy, and that our results have implications for training in golf as well as other complex motor activities.     

Monaural Loudness Adaptation for Middle-Intensity Middle-Frequency Signals: The Importance of Measurement Technique

Using the Simple Adaptation technique (SA) and the Ipsilateral Comparison Paradigm (ICP), the authors studied monaural loudness adaptation to a middle-intensity [60 dB(A)] tone at signal frequencies of 250, 1000, and 4000 Hz in the left and right ears. Adaptation effects were absent when the SA procedure was used. However, they were observed uniformly across all frequency values with the ICP, a result that challenges the assertion in the literature, on the basis of SA measures, that loudness adaptation for middle-intensity signals occurs only at frequencies above 4000 Hz. The ICP features periodic intensity modulations (±10 dB relative to the base signal) to accommodate listeners' needs for referents by which they can gauge subtle changes in the loudness of the adapting tone, a key component that is missing in the SA method. Adaptation effects in this investigation were similar in both ears, supporting the equal susceptibility assumption common in loudness adaptation studies.     

Preattentive Processing,Poststimulus Elaboration,and Memory for Emotionally Arousing Stimuli

A Monte-Carlo simulation was conducted to assess the extent that a correlation estimate can be inflated when an average-based measure is used in a commonly employed correlational design. The results from the simulation reveal that the inflation of the correlation estimate can be substantial, up to 76%. Additionally, data was re-analyzed from two previously published studies to determine the extent that the correlation estimate was inflated due to the use of an averaged based measure. The re-analyses reveal that correlation estimates had been inflated by just over 50% in both studies. Although these findings are disconcerting, we are somewhat comforted by the fact that there is a simple and easy analysis that can be employed to prevent the inflation of the correlation estimate that we have simulated and observed.     

Specificity of Task Constraints and Effects of Visual Demonstrations and Verbal Instructions in Directing Learners' Search During Skill Acquisition

In the present study, the efficacy of visual demonstrations and verbal instructions as instructional constraints on the acquisition of movement coordination was investigated. Fifteen participants performed an aiming task on 100 acquisition and 20 retention trials, under 1 of 3 conditions: a modeling group (MG), a verbally directed group (VDG), and a control group (CG). The MG observed a model intermittently throughout acquisition, whereas the VDG was verbally instructed to use the model's movement pattern. Participants in the CG received neither form of instruction. Kinematic analysis revealed that compared with verbal instructions or no instructions, visual demonstrations significantly improved participants' approximation of the model's coordination pattern. No differences were found in movement outcomes. Coordination data supported the visual perception perspective on observational learning, whereas outcome data suggested that the modeling effect is mainly a function of task constraints, that is, the novelty of a movement pattern.     

Latent self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism: Tests of factorial,convergent, and discriminant validity using self- and informant reports

Using latent variables for self-oriented perfectionism (i.e., demanding perfection of oneself) and socially prescribed perfectionism (i.e., perceiving others are demanding perfection of oneself) has advantages. However, few studies have specifically examined the psychometric properties of these latent variables. The present study addresses this shortcoming by testing the factorial, convergent, and discriminant validity of self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism latent variables using self- and informant reports. It was hypothesized that (a) the factor structure of the self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism latent variables would be supported, (b) self- and informant reports would moderately converge, and (c) the self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism latent variables would be discriminable. A sample of 242 undergraduate women and 378 informants (218 mothers, 160 fathers) was recruited. Undergraduate women completed self-reports, and mothers and fathers completed informant reports. Results were consistent with hypotheses, thereby supporting (a) the factorial validity of the self-oriented and socially prescribed latent variables using self- and informant reports, (b) the convergent validity of the self-oriented and socially prescribed latent variables via moderately to strongly correlated self- and informant reports, and (c) the discriminant validity of the self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism latent variables. Findings suggest research using these latent variables is warranted.     

Helping Spouses Cope with Partners Coming Out: A Solution-Focused Approach

This article reviews previous research on coping strategies of spouses with partners who have come out. The current research on coping strategies has come from the work of Amity Pierce Buxton. Next the article examines previous treatment methods used with spouses of gay, lesbian, and bisexual partners. Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) is discussed and suggested as an approach with this population. A case example is presented to show how SFBT was used with a client struggling with the news of her partner coming out. Finally, the implications of using SFBT and how the approach helps partners progress through Buxton's stages is discussed.     

A comparison of obese and normal-weight families' sychological characteristics

Abstract

The present study assessed obese and normal-weight family members' perceptions of their nuclear family's social and environmental characteristics. Preliminary results support previous correlational and case studies that suggest obese families are dysfunctional. Results from the Family Environment Scale indicate that obese families perceive their family characteristics differently compared to normal-weight families or to a representative sample of families. Specifically, obese families perceive their homes as less cohesive, more conflictual, less interested in social and cultural activities, and less organized compared to normal-weight families. Obese parents also perceive themselves as more controlling and their families as less independent compared to nonobese parents.     

Taking a Turn Toward the Masculine: The Impact of Mortality Salience on Implicit Leadership Theories

The present research investigates the influence of subtle death-related thoughts (i.e., mortality salience) on people's images of effective leaders (i.e., their implicit leadership theories [ILTs]). We test the prediction that mortality salience will change the content of these implicit theories to be more gender stereotypical such that individuals will conceive of effective leaders in a significantly more masculine, or agentic, manner. To test this prediction, we assessed the communal and agentic components of participants' ILTs after they were presented with a mortality salience or control manipulation. Results show that priming individuals to think about their mortality with two open-ended questions resulted in a significant shift in their ILTs such that an effective leader is described in significantly more agentic terms compared to the control condition. This masculine shift in people's ILTs was demonstrated in both women and men, and mortality salience did not influence perceptions of effective leaders' communal traits. This work contributes to research on gender bias in leadership, ILTs, and terror management theory and has implications for female leaders.     

Searching for emotion or race: Task-irrelevant facial cues have asymmetrical effects

Facial cues of threat such as anger and other race membership are detected preferentially in visual search tasks. However, it remains unclear whether these facial cues interact in visual search. If both cues equally facilitate search, a symmetrical interaction would be predicted; anger cues should facilitate detection of other race faces and cues of other race membership should facilitate detection of anger. Past research investigating this race by emotional expression interaction in categorisation tasks revealed an asymmetrical interaction. This suggests that cues of other race membership may facilitate the detection of angry faces but not vice versa. Utilising the same stimuli and procedures across two search tasks, participants were asked to search for targets defined by either race or emotional expression. Contrary to the results revealed in the categorisation paradigm, cues of anger facilitated detection of other race faces whereas differences in race did not differentially influence detection of emotion targets.