Does cost–benefit analysis or self‐control predict involvement in two forms of aggression?

The main aim of this research was to assess the relative association between physical aggression and (1) self‐control and (2) cost‐benefit assessment, these variables representing the operation of impulsive and reflective processes. Study 1 involved direct and indirect aggression among young Indian men, and Study 2 physical aggression to dating partners among Spanish adolescents. In Study 1, perceived benefits and costs but not self‐control were associated with direct aggression at other men, and the association remained when their close association with indirect aggression was controlled. In Study 2, benefits and self‐control showed significant and independent associations (positive for benefits, negative for self‐control) with physical aggression at other‐sex partners. Although being victimized was also correlated in the same direction with self‐control and benefits, perpetration and being victimized were highly correlated, and there was no association between being victimized and these variables when perpetration was controlled. These results support the theory that reflective (cost‐benefit analyses) processes and impulsive (self‐control) processes operate in parallel in affecting aggression. The finding that male adolescents perceived more costs and fewer benefits from physical aggression to a partner than female adolescents did is consistent with findings indicating greater social disapproval of men hitting women than vice versa, rather than with the view that male violence to women is facilitated by internalized patriarchal values. Aggr. Behav. 36:292–304, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Social Support in the Workplace and Training Transfer: A longitudinal analysis

Training transfer is crucial for workplace effectiveness, yet some of its social support antecedents are not well investigated. We examine the extent to which two forms of social support (from the organization and the supervisor) predict training transfer and propose several related processes explaining these influences. First, social support enhances training self‐efficacy, increases trainees' mastery (learning) goal orientation, and their motivation to transfer. In turn, we propose that these individual factors are positively related to training‐related cognitions. We test and confirm our model in a longitudinal study based on a sample of 111 employees. The results contribute to a better understanding of organization‐ and supervisor‐based social support as predictors of transfer, and clarify several important related mechanisms.     

Capturing autonomy,competence, and relatedness at work: Construction and initial validation of the Work‐related Basic Need Satisfaction scale

The satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, as defined in Self‐Determination Theory, has been identified as an important predictor of individuals' optimal functioning in various life domains. The study of work‐related need satisfaction seems, however, hampered by the lack of a validated measure. To assist future research, the present study aimed to develop and validate a Work‐related Basic Need Satisfaction scale (W‐BNS). Using four Dutch‐speaking samples, evidence was found for the three‐factor structure of the scale, the discriminant validity, and the reliability of the three need satisfaction subscales as well as their criterion‐related and predictive validity. The W‐BNS may therefore be considered as a promising tool for future research and practice.     

Diagnostic efficiency among psychiatric outpatients of a self-report version of a subset of screen items of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR Personality Disorders (SCID-II)

This article describes the identification of a 10-item set of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders (SCID-II) items, which proved to be effective as a self-report assessment instrument in screening personality disorders. The item selection was based on the retrospective analyses of 495 SCID-II interviews. The psychometric properties were studied in a prospective validation study in a random sample of Dutch adult psychiatric outpatients, using the SCID-II interview as the gold standard. First, all patients completed the short questionnaire. One week later, they were interviewed with the full SCID-II. After another week, the short questionnaire was readministered. According to the scores obtained with the full SCID-II, 97 patients (50%) had a personality disorder. The set of 10 SCID-II items correctly classified 78% of all participants. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative power were 0.78, 0.78, 0.78, and 0.78, respectively. The results based on the retrospectively obtained data were rather similar to those obtained in the prospective validation study. Therefore, it is concluded that the set of 10 SCID-II items can be useful as a quick self-report personality disorder screen in a population of psychiatric outpatients.     

Comment les parents,les enseignants et les cliniciens évaluent les troubles du comportement externalisé du jeune enfant ? Étude de la variabilité des jugements évaluatifs et de son impact sur le développement de l’enfant

Present study aims at refining assessment of preschoolers’ behavior. Data was provided with questionnaires and observation on 118 preschoolers when recruited and 12 months later by their parents, their teachers and clinicians. The results confirmed high variations in informants’ ratings as well as negative effects of such variations regarding later child's development. The results imply the need for a multi-informant and multi-method assessment of preschoolers’ disruptive behavior. The implications of our findings for clinical purpose are discussed.     

Shifting spatial attention makes you flip: Exogenous visual attention triggers perceptual alternations during binocular rivalry

Although it has been argued that visual attention and the dynamics of binocular rivalry are closely linked, strong evidence for this proposition is still lacking. Here, we investigate how perceptual alternations during binocular rivalry are affected by spatial attention by employing a cuing paradigm. We show a tight link between the occurrence of perceptual alternations and the spatiotemporal properties of visual attention: Alternations occurred earlier and more frequently at locations where visual attention was summoned by an exogenous cue. We argue that cuing a location where rival images are presented leads to a transient increase in the effective contrast of these rival images. This transient increase in effective contrast increases the probability of an alternation at that location. Furthermore, we suggest that an occipito-fronto-parietal network known to be involved in selective attention and binocular rivalry mediates perceptual alternations by boosting the neural response at attended locations.     

Word cues affect detection but not localization responses

Many theories assume that preknowledge of an upcoming target helps visual selection. In those theories, a top-down set can alter the salience of the target, such that attention can be deployed to the target more efficiently and responses are faster. Evidence for this account stems from visual search studies in which the identity of the upcoming target is cued in advance. In five experiments, we show that top-down knowledge affects the speed with which a singleton target can be detected but not the speed with which it can be localized. Furthermore, we show that these results are independent of the mode of responding (manual or saccadic) and are not due to a ceiling effect. Our results suggest that in singleton search, top-down information does not affect visual selection but most likely does affect response selection. We argue that such an effect is found only when information from different dimensions needs to be integrated to generate a response and that this is the case in singleton detection tasks but not in other singleton search tasks.     

Creating a Mentally Healthy Community Through the Use of Behavioral Health Indicators

Recent decades have seen the development of robust systems of community health indicators, but those indicator sets tend to have few indicators related to behavioral health. Gauging community behavioral health can be complex, but given the interconnectedness of health and behavioral health and the high social and financial cost of unaddressed behavioral health needs, it is essential to develop meaningful indicators. A community-based participatory research project in Austin, Texas developed behavioral health indicators based on a review of social indicators movements across the globe, existing sets of proposed key indicators of mental health and mental illness, and ongoing community initiatives in Austin relevant to behavioral health. The community behavioral health indicators have been refined through the challenging process of implementing them in the face of competing efforts and imprecise communication about their use. While indicators should always be adapted to suit local conditions, this indicator set should provide a good starting point for researchers and communities to assess and improve the behavioral health of their community.