The socialization of prosocial behavioral tendencies among Mexican American adolescents: The role of familism values

This study investigates the role of familism values in fostering socialization experiences that promote prosocial behavioral tendencies among Mexican American adolescents. Two hundred and four Mexican American mothers and their adolescent children (104 girls, age M = 10.91 years) completed measures of familism values, prosocial parenting practices, and prosocial behavioral tendencies. Structural equation modeling tests indicated that mothers' familism values are related to parenting behaviors that promote prosocial behavioral tendencies, which in turn are related to adolescents' perception of prosocial parenting practices. Furthermore, adolescents' perception of prosocial parenting practices is related to familism values and prosocial behavior tendencies. Last, the relation between adolescents' perception of prosocial parenting practices and prosocial behavioral tendencies is partially mediated by familism values. These findings are consistent with the theoretical suggestion that the transmission of traditional familism values may serve as a social medium through which prosocial behavioral tendencies are fostered among Mexican American adolescents.     

The Italian version of the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems Personality Disorders Scales (IIP-47): psychometric properties and clinical usefulness as a screening measure

The Inventory of Interpersonal Problems-47 (IIP-47) is a brief and valid self-report measure for screening Personality Disorders (PDs). This study examined internal consistency, factor structure, criterion validity, temporal stability, and operating characteristics of the Italian version of the IIP-47 in two independent samples: PD subjects (n = 120) and nonclinical subjects (n = 475). Alpha coefficients ranged from .70 to .90. Multiple-Group Confirmatory Factor Analyses showed that the five-correlated-factor model reported in literature had the highest measurement invariance across the two groups. Criterion validity was supported by correlations among IIP-47 scale scores and scores on established measures of personality dimensions and pathology. Test-retest indices ranged from .71 to .95. PD subjects scored significantly higher than nonclinical subjects on all IIP-47 scales and cut-off scores for different levels of specificity and sensibility are reported. It is concluded that the psychometric properties of the original IIP-47 were preserved in its Italian version.     

Systematically reviewing remote e-workers’ well-being at work: a multidimensional approach

The practice of remote e-working, which involves work conducted at anyplace, anytime, using technology, is on the increase. The aim of this systematic literature review is to gain a deeper understanding of the association between remote e-working, within knowledge workers, and the five dimensions of well-being at work: affective, cognitive, social, professional, and psychosomatic. Sixty-three studies employing quantitative, qualitative and mixed-method designs have been included in the review. Findings indicate that we know more about remote e-workers’ affective state and their social and professional life than we know about their cognitive functioning and psychosomatic conditions. Whilst the research indicates a positive focus there are some negative aspects of this way of working which are highlighted within this review; such as social and professional isolation, and perceived threats in professional advancement. This review may be of great importance for academics, to continue the theoretical advancement of research into remote e-working, and practitioners, to implement and manage remote e-working attitudes and policies more effectively.     

Prosocial development in early adulthood: a longitudinal study

Consistency of measures of a prosocial personality and prosocial moral judgment over time, and the interrelations among them, were examined. Participants and friends' reports of prosocial characteristics were obtained at ages 21-22, 23-24, and 25-26 years. In addition, participants' prosocial judgment was assessed with interviews and with an objective measure of prosocial moral reasoning at several ages. Reports of prosocial behavior and empathy-related responding in childhood and observations of prosocial behavior in preschool also were obtained. There was interindividual consistency in prosocial dispositions, and prosocial dispositions in adulthood related to empathy/sympathy and prosocial behavior at much younger ages. Interview and objective measures of moral reasoning were substantially interrelated in late adolescence/early adulthood and correlated with participants' and friends' reports of a prosocial disposition.     

Misprojection of landmarks onto the spatial map

It has been suggested that neglect patients misrepresent the metric spatial relations along the horizontal axis (anisometry). The "fabric" of their internal spatial medium would be distorted in such a way that physically equal distances appear relatively shorter on the contralesional side (canonical anisometry). The case of GL, a 76-year-old lady with left neglect on visual search tasks, is presented. GL showed severe relative overestimation on the left (contralesional) side on two independent tasks evaluating the metrics of her internal representation. A qualitatively similar pattern was found in two out of 10 other neglect patients who performed the second task. This behavior cannot be accounted for by the canonical anisometry hypothesis. Nevertheless, GL produced a relative left overextension (underestimation) when trying to set the endpoints of a virtual line given its midpoint (Endpoints Task). An interpretation of these results is offered in terms of a misprojection of relevant landmarks onto the internal representation without assuming distortion of its "fabric."     

Footshock intensity and generalization in contextual and auditory-cued fear conditioning in the rat

The relationship between US (footshock) intensity and the two conditioned freezing responses (to acoustic CS and to "context") was investigated in fear conditioning. Administered footshock intensity was 0.00, 0.15, 0.30, 0.60, 0.90, and 1.20 mA to six different groups of 70-day-old male Albino Wistar rats. To measure contextual freezing, the animals were again placed inside the conditioning apparatus without acoustic CS and US presentation. To measure acoustic CS freezing, the animals were placed in a totally different apparatus and only the acoustic CS was presented. The 0.15 mA footshock intensity was not sufficient to condition the animals, in fact no freezing was exhibited as in the non-shocked control group. The 0.30 mA footshock intensity was sufficient only to condition the animals to the acoustic CS, whereas the 0.60 mA was sufficient to condition the animals both to acoustic CS and to context. Footshock intensities (0.90 and 1.20 mA) did not elicit any significant increase in conditioned freezing for either acoustic CS or context but at the highest one the generalization phenomenon appeared (freezing in the different context before presentation of acoustic CS). Acoustic CS freezing to all over-threshold intensities was longer than that to context. In conclusion, freezing responses to acoustic CS and context after increasing footshock intensities follow distinct patterns, and intermediate footshock intensities (0.60 and 0.90 mA) appear to be the most useful for eliciting conditioned freezing responses to acoustic CS and to context without inducing a generalized fear status contamination.     

Why is "Red Cross" different from "Yellow Cross"?: a neuropsychological study of noun-adjective agreement within Italian compounds

This study investigates the performance of two Italian nonfluent aphasic patients on noun-adjective agreement in compounds and in noun phrases. A completion, a reading, and a repetition task were administered. Results show that both patients were able to correctly inflect adjectives within compounds, but not in noun phrases. Moreover, they were sensitive to constituent order (noun-adjective vs adjective-noun) within noun phrases, but less so within compounds. These results suggest differential processing for compounds as compared to noun phrases: While the latter require standard morphosyntactic operations that are often impaired in aphasic patients, the former can be accessed as whole words at the lexical level.     

Automatic and voluntary focusing of attention

In this study, we investigate whether attentional focusing, like attentional orienting, comprises two independent mechanisms. We provide direct empirical evidence in favor of the existence of two mechanisms--one exogenous, or automatic, and one endogenous, or voluntary--that play a role in adjusting the size of the focus of attention. When a new object suddenly occurs in the visual field, the focus is first automatically fitted to it, and then an endogenous effort has to be exerted to maintain attention in the focused mode. Also, we provide evidence that voluntary focusing needs a perceptual object in order to operate.     

The role of long-term-memory and short-term-memory links in the Simon effect

In Experiment 1, children performed a Simon task after a spatially compatible or incompatible task. Results showed a Simon effect after the spatially compatible task and a reversed Simon effect after the spatially incompatible task. In Experiments 2-5, an identical procedure was adopted with adult participants, who performed the Simon task immediately after, a day after, or a week after the spatial compatibility task. Experiment 6 established a baseline for the Simon effect. Results showed a Simon effect after the spatially compatible task and no Simon effect or a reversed Simon effect after the spatially incompatible task. A modified version of the computational model of M. Zorzi and C. Umiltà (1995) was used to compare possible accounts of the findings. The best account exploits 2 types of short-term-memory links between stimulus and response and their interaction with long-term-memory links.