To adjust or not adjust: Nonparametric effect sizes,confidence intervals,and real-world meaning

ObjectivesThe main objectives of this article are to: (a) investigate if there are any meaningful differences between adjusted and unadjusted effect sizes (b) compare the outcomes from parametric and non-parametric effect sizes to determine if the potential differences might influence the interpretation of results, (c) discuss the importance of reporting confidence intervals in research, and discuss how to interpret effect sizes in terms of practical real-world meaning.DesignReview.MethodA review of how to estimate and interpret various effect sizes was conducted. Hypothetical examples were then used to exemplify the issues stated in the objectives.ResultsThe results from the hypothetical research designs showed that: (a) there is a substantial difference between adjusted and non-adjusted effect sizes especially in studies with small sample sizes, and (b) there are differences in outcomes between the parametric and non-parametric effect size formulas that may affect interpretations of results.ConclusionsThe different hypothetical examples in this article clearly demonstrate the importance of treating data in ways that minimize potential biases and the central issues of how to discuss the meaningfulness of effect sizes in research.     

Intentional self-regulation, ecological assets, and thriving in adolescence: a developmental systems model

The positive youth development (PYD) perspective emphasizes that thriving occurs when individual ?context relations involve the alignment of adolescent strengths with the resources in their contexts. The authors propose that a key component of this relational process is the strength that youth possess in the form of self-regulatory processes; these processes optimize opportunities to obtain ecological resources that enhance the probability of PYD. They use the selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) model of intentional self-regulation to discuss the role of self-regulation in the PYD perspective among diverse youth.     

The method of equal appearing intervals

The results of J. P. Guilford's card-sorting experiment by the method of equal appearing intervals are analyzed mathematically. The constants of the psychometric functions are obtained by processes analogous to the constant process. When these constants are determined (a) independent of the supposition that the series of groups into which the cards were sorted is quantitative in character and (b) under this supposition, good agreement is found between them. Guilford's results agree with Weber's and Fechner's laws in both cases.     

Third Parties and the Social Scaffolding of Forgiveness

It is widely accepted that only the victim of a wrong can forgive that wrong. Several philosophers have recently defended “third‐party forgiveness,” the scenario in which A, who is not the victim of a wrong in any sense, forgives B for a wrong B did to C. Focusing on Glen Pettigrove's argument for third‐party forgiveness, I will defend the victim's unique standing to forgive, by appealing to the fact that in forgiving, victims must absorb severe and inescapable costs of distinctive kinds, a plight that third parties do not share. There are, nonetheless, significant, even essential, roles played by third parties in making forgiveness possible, reasonable, or valuable for victims of serious wrongs. I take a closer look at the links between victims, wrongdoers, resentment, and forgiveness in showing why the victim alone can forgive.     

Orientation Toward Intrinsic Motivation Mediates the Relationship Between Metacognition and Creativity

Metacognition and motivation are considered key facets of self-regulation in various contexts. Recent studies identified a link between metacognition and creative performance, with metacognitively aware students performing more creatively and exhibiting higher levels of intrinsic and identified extrinsic motivation. The present study aims to examine the relationship between metacognition, orientation toward intrinsic or extrinsic motivation, and creative performance. One hundred nineteen university students completed the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) and Scale of Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Orientation in the Classroom and performed four verbal creativity tasks (product improvement task, consequences task, and two unusual uses tasks). The partial correlation network showed that all the creativity tasks were uniquely related to at least one facet of metacognition, and that the most complex task (product improvement task) was linked to both metacognitive knowledge and regulation. Furthermore, the structural equation model indicated that orientation toward intrinsic motivation mediated the relationship between metacognition and creative performance, explaining 16% of the variance in creative performance.     

Test of a potential link between analytic and nonanalytic category learning and automatic, effortful processing

The link between automatic and effortful processing and nonanalytic and analytic category learning was evaluated in a sample of 29 college undergraduates using declarative memory, semantic category search, and pseudoword categorization tasks. Automatic and effortful processing measures were hypothesized to be associated with nonanalytic and analytic categorization, respectively. Results suggested that contrary to prediction strong criterion-attribute (analytic) responding on the pseudoword categorization task was associated with strong automatic, implicit memory encoding of frequency-of-occurrence information. Data are discussed in terms of the possibility that criterion-attribute category knowledge, once established, may be expressed with few attentional resources. The data indicate that attention resource requirements, even for the same stimuli and task, vary depending on the category rule system utilized. Also, the automaticity emerging from familiarity with analytic category exemplars is very different from the automaticity arising from extensive practice on a semantic category search task. The data do not support any simple mapping of analytic and nonanalytic forms of category learning onto the automatic and effortful processing dichotomy and challenge simple models of brain asymmetries for such procedures.     

Zugänge schaffen: Möglichkeiten niedrigschwelliger Drogenarbeit in der Adoleszenz

Addictions and the management of their side-effects offer a considerable challenge to our society. And though different studies show different results, we can realistically assume that more than 330,000 Austrians are alcoholics, the number of problematic drug-addicts being about 30,000, of which a growing number is making use of substitution treatment.This article will provide some insight into the practice of low-threshold drug services, which are primarily responsible for opioid-dependent or polytoxikoman substance-dependent people. These services are suitable for the target group, even if they do not have the motivation for change and are unable to end substance use. The necessary continuity of access to healthcare is maintained to achieve the basic objectives of survival and harm reduction. Referral to further treatment and therapies can be applied at the right time. The services are based in the social environment, near the drug scene, and they are acceptance-oriented. The reported practical experiences emerge from the many years of work of Kontaktladen und Streetwork im Drogenbereich, an institution of Caritas Steiermark in Graz. This overview documents the possibilities of low-threshold drug work, from which adolescents benefit, and supplements these with data from the 2013 Kontaktladen annual report.