The duration component of the stress effect in stuttering

The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether there is a relationship between stuttering on stressed syllables and the duration of these syllables. Sixteen adults who stutter read a text consisting of 226 syllables. The relative stress of each syllable was rated, and syllables were categorized into long- and short-stressed syllables, unstressed syllables and intermediate syllables lying in-between. In order to isolate effects caused by within-word position from those caused by linguistic stress, syllables in initial and in subsequent positions were analyzed separately. In both word position categories stressed syllables were stuttered more often than unstressed syllables. Stuttering frequency of intermediate syllables seems to be in-between stressed and unstressed syllables, just as their stress level is rated in-between. Results regarding the duration of stressed syllables do not allow final conclusions.

Educational objectives: The reader will learn about and be able to describe (1) language factors related with stuttering events, (2) the stress effect in adults who stutter, and (3) methods to control for its confounding variables.     

Counting models of temporal discrimination

A three-category task was employed to test counting models for temporal discrimination. Unlike former approaches, the present one is not based on Weber functions. Specifically, the proposed test does not require the implicit but, nevertheless, debatable assumption that the pulse rate of the internal clock is constant for different durations of the standard interval. Furthermore, the present approach does not necessitate specific distributional assumptions about the interpulse times. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the predictions of this generalized counting model. The results are consistent with predictions of the generalized counting model. A further analysis suggests that the pulse rate decreases as the duration of the standard interval increases.     

Can we really reduce ethnic prejudice outside the lab? A meta‐analysis of direct and indirect contact interventions

The present meta‐analysis tested the effectiveness of contact‐based interventions for the reduction of ethnic prejudice. Up to now, a meta‐analysis summarizing the results of real‐world interventions that rest on the intergroup contact theory has been missing. We included evaluations of programs realizing direct (i.e., face‐to‐face) and/or indirect (i.e., extended or virtual) contact in real‐world settings outside the lab. The interventions' effectiveness was tested shortly after their end (k = 123 comparisons, N = 11 371 participants) and with a delay of at least 1 month (k = 25, N = 1650). Our data show that contact interventions improve ethnic attitudes. Importantly, changes persist over time. Furthermore, not only direct but also indirect contact interventions are successful. In addition, contact programs are effective even in the context of a serious societal conflict (e.g., in the Middle East). Although changes are typically larger for ethnic majorities, there is an impact on minorities, too. Finally, contact interventions not only improve attitudes toward individuals involved in the program, their effects also generalize to outgroups as a whole. In sum, social psychology provides an intervention for prejudice reduction that can be successfully implemented in the practical field. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Majoring in Selection,and Minoring in Socialization: The Role of the College Experience in Goal Change Post–High School

Though it is frequently assumed that the college experience can influence our life goals, this claim has been relatively understudied. The current study examined the role of goals in college major selection, as well as whether major selection influences later goal change. In addition, we examined whether a person's perceptions of his or her peers' goals influence goal setting. Using a sample of German students (M_age = 19 years; n = 3,023 at Wave 1), we assessed life goal levels and changes from high school into college across three assessment occasions. Participants reported their current aspirations, along with the perceived goals of their peers during the college assessments. Using latent growth curve models, findings suggest that life goals upon entering college significantly predict the majors students select. However, this major selection had limited influence on later changes in life goals. Stronger effects were found with respect to perceptions of peers' goals, with students tending to change their goals to better align with their peers. The current study provides evidence that life goals are relatively stable and yet can change during the emerging adult years, in ways that demonstrate the potential influence of the college experience.     

Interpreting confidence intervals: A comment on Hoekstra,Morey, Rouder,and Wagenmakers (2014)

Hoekstra, Morey, Rouder, and Wagenmakers (Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 21(5), 1157–1164 2014) reported the results of a questionnaire designed to assess students’ and researchers’ understanding of confidence intervals (CIs). They interpreted their results as evidence that these groups “have no reliable knowledge about the correct interpretation of CIs” (Hoekstra et al. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 21(5), 1157–1164 2014, p. 1161). We argue that their data do not substantiate this conclusion and that their report includes misleading suggestions about the correct interpretations of confidence intervals.     

What should religious education in Germany be about and how does religiosity fit into this picture? An empirical study of pre-service religious education teachers’ beliefs on the aims of RE

In secularising Germany the aim of religious education (RE) is under discussion. The churches opt for denominational education familiarising the students with their own religious tradition. Humanists claim an ethical education, giving students objective information about different religions. Which perspective do students who will become RE teachers take in this discussion? Does their religiosity affect this perspective? All over Germany 1828 first-year students (with an average age of 21; 81% females; 72% Catholic and 28% Protestant) completed a relevant questionnaire. The respondents favour a RE which offers objective information. Most of them are pluralist thinkers in religious terms and show a moderate religious practice. The more relativist the students are thinking in religious terms, the more they tend to favour objective information. These findings challenge the churches’ perspective on RE, because even future RE teachers do not agree with the churches’ ideal on RE. A reformulation of this approach on cognitive level will be discussed.     

Managing a stigmatized identity—evidence from a longitudinal analysis about people with mental illness

Previous research about coping with the stigma of mental illness mostly relied on cross‐sectional or qualitative research designs. In the present study, the consequences of ten identity management strategies for mental illness stigma were observed in a longitudinal design. Cross‐lagged analyses were used to describe the influence of the strategies on the frequency of stigma experiences and on mental health in a two‐wave panel of people with mental illness (n = 367, 79% repeated response rate). Selective disclosure and information seeking emerged as adaptive identity management strategies, whereas overcompensation and withdrawal led to lower mental health. Results were mostly unaffected by demographic and psychiatric variables. The results support an empowerment model of stigma resilience that portrays stigmatized people as active constructors of their social world.     

The role of consolidation for perceptual learning in temporal discrimination within and across modalities

Training people on temporal discrimination can substantially improve performance in the trained modality but also in untrained modalities. A pretest–training–posttest design was used to investigate whether consolidation plays a crucial role for training effects within the trained modality and its transfer to another modality. In the pretest, both auditory and visual discrimination performance was assessed. In the training phase, participants performed only the auditory task. After a consolidation interval of either 5 min or 24 h, participants were again tested in both the auditory and visual tasks. Irrespective of the consolidation interval, performance improved from the pretest to the posttest in both modalities. Most importantly, the training effect for the trained auditory modality was independent of the consolidation interval whereas the transfer effect to the visual modality was larger after 24 h than after 5 min. This finding shows that transfer effects benefit from extended consolidation.