Examining Mediators of the Link Between Generativity and Well-being

Generativity involves raising and guiding the next generation, contributing to society, and creating new products and ideas. It has clearly been related to personal well-being, yet little is known about why this relationship exists. According to McAdams and de St. Aubin (J Pers Soc Psychol, 62:1003–1015, 1992), generativity is motivated by a desire for symbolic immortality, a need to be needed, and society’s expectation that one should be a contributing member. It was therefore hypothesized that the satisfaction of these variables would fully mediate the relationship between generativity and well-being. Structural equation modeling showed that symbolic immortality alone fully mediated the relationship.     

Forensic psychology in the Czech republic

The article discusses the field of Forensic Psychology in Czech Republic. It concentrates upon the successes and stagnations of the field, which can be attributed to the political and historical development of the country. After a brief historical background and demographic information, the article introduces the history and structure of the police force and prison service. The article then moves on to discuss the history and publication development of the field of Forensic Psychology and its use in practice. It characterizes the field from its beginnings between the two wars, to the activities of the Research Institute of Penology from 1967 to1980 and the years following the political change of 1989. The article concludes with the law framework within which the field operates. Based upon this summary of the situation in Czech republic, the author makes an assessment of the status of Forensic Psychology in Czech republic, especially in terms of conducting research for the practice. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Word imagery but not age of acquisition affects episodic memory

Evidence is presented from two experiments and from a reanalysis of data published by Christian, Bickley, Tarka, and Clayton (1978) that the chronological age at which a word is acquired does not affect free recall or recognition memory. Morris’s (1981) report, that late acquired words are better recalled than early acquired words, was not replicated and appears to be attributable to a difference in the emotionality value of his lists. Although the data are consistent with an interpretation in terms of semantic, but not episodic, memory tasks’ being sensitive to word age of acquisition, it is suggested that a more fine-grained analysis is necessary.     

Effects of implicit fear of failure on cognitive processing: A diffusion model analysis

Whereas previous studies suggest that individuals with high implicit fear of failure (FF) perform worse on various indicators of general performance, the underlying mechanisms of this effect have not yet been understood. In our experimental study, 280 participants worked on a binary color discrimination task. Half of the participants were frustrated by means of negative performance feedback, while the control group received mainly positive feedback. We employed a diffusion model analysis (Ratcliff in Psychol Rev 85(2):59–108, 1978) to disentangle the different components involved in the execution of the task. Results revealed that participants in the frustration condition adopted more conservative decision settings (threshold separation parameter of the diffusion model). Besides, high implicit FF was related to slow information accumulation (drift), and this relation was stronger in the frustration condition. Participants with higher FF further showed reduced learning rates during the task. Task related intrusive thoughts are discussed as mechanism for reduced performance of high FF individuals. We conclude that diffusion model analyses can contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying the effects of psychological motives.     

Parental Apologies,Empathy, Shame,Guilt, and Attachment: A Path Analysis

The authors investigated the complex relationships of parental attitudes toward apologies, empathy, shame, guilt, and the parent's attachment orientation. Survey responses were obtained from 327 parents. A path analysis of the developed model demonstrated a close model fit (root‐mean‐square error of approximation = .07; comparative fit index = .93; incremental fit index = .94; χ² = 30.71, p < .001), supporting previous research on apologies as beneficial to relationships. A parent's proclivity toward apologies, positively influenced by empathy and guilt and negatively influenced by shame‐withdraw behaviors, produced a more secure parent–child attachment.     

The meaning of the mask matters: evidence of conceptual interference in the attentional blink

The rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) experiment reported here investigated the role of conceptual interference in the attentional blink (AB). Subjects were presented with RSVP streams that contained five stimuli: Target 1, a distractor, Target 2, a second distractor, and a symbol mask. Target 1 was a green letter, Target 2 was a red letter, and the distractors were either white letters or white digits. The stimuli were presented in a font typically seen on the face of a digital watch. Thus, "S" and "O" were identical to "5" and "0," respectively. This allowed us to present streams that were conceptually different even though featurally identical: The two letter targets were followed by distractors that were recognized either as "5" and "0" or as "S" and "O." The AB was substantially attenuated when subjects were told the distractors were digits rather than letters. This result indicates that conceptual interference plays a role in the AB.     

Repetition blindness for words yet repetition advantage for nonwords

Accuracy of report of words in a rapidly presented sequence is reduced if 1 word is a repetition of a previous word. This is repetition blindness. If, however, the items are pronounceable nonwords, or pseudohomophones, repetition improves recall. A repetition advantage for nonwords also occurs when subjects merely count the items or when the item between the critical nonwords is a familiar word. Familiarizing subjects with the nonwords improved the level of recall but did not affect the repetition advantage. These results are considered in relation to token individuation and other accounts of repetition blindness. The findings suggest that for identical linguistic stimuli the types bound to episodic memory tokens that are vulnerable to repetition blindness are lexical units.     

Comparing Short-term Memory and Memory for Rapidly Presented Visual Stimuli

What similarities and differences are there between memory for short lists shown at one item per second and memory for such lists after rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) at much higher rates—eight items per second? This paper reports that, when pictures are shown at eight per second or one per second, phonological similarity of the picture names reduces recall at the one item per second rate, but not at the eight item per second rate. In contrast, when subjects are shown the written names of the pictures, phonological similarity reduces recall at both rates. It is concluded that phonological coding does not occur for picture lists shown at high rates. The mechanisms underlying memory for pictures and words shown at RSVP and short-term memory rates are considered.