Economic inequality is linked to biased self-perception

People's self-perception biases often lead them to see themselves as better than the average person (a phenomenon known as self-enhancement). This bias varies across cultures, and variations are typically explained using cultural variables, such as individualism versus collectivism. We propose that socioeconomic differences among societies--specifically, relative levels of economic inequality--play an important but unrecognized role in how people evaluate themselves. Evidence for self-enhancement was found in 15 diverse nations, but the magnitude of the bias varied. Greater self-enhancement was found in societies with more income inequality, and income inequality predicted cross-cultural differences in self-enhancement better than did individualism/collectivism. These results indicate that macrosocial differences in the distribution of economic goods are linked to microsocial processes of perceiving the self.     

Cognitive Factors in Fibromyalgia: The Role of Self-Concept and Identity Related Conflicts

Fibromyalgia is a syndrome characterized by the presence of diffuse and chronic musculoskeletal pain of unknown etiology. Clinical diagnosis and the merely palliative treatments considerably affect the patient's experience and the chronic course of the disease. Therefore, several authors have emphasized the need to explore issues related to self in these patients. The repertory grid technique (RGT), derived from personal construct theory, is a method designed to assess the patient's construction of self and others. A group of women with fibromyalgia (n = 30) and a control group (n = 30) were assessed using RGT. Women with fibromyalgia also completed the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire and a visualanalogue scale for pain, and painful tender points were explored. Results suggest that these women had a higher present self-ideal self discrepancy and a lower perceived adequacy of others, and it was more likely to find implicative dilemmas among them compared to controls. These dilemmas are a type of cognitive conflict in which the symptom is construed as "enmeshed" with positive characteristics of the self. Finally, implications of these results for the psychological treatment of fibromyalgia are suggested to give a more central role to self-identity issues and to the related cognitive conflicts.     

Examining the effects of stereotype threat on test-taking behaviors

This study examines the relationship between stereotype threat and individual test-taking behaviors. Previous research has examined the impact of stereotype threat on test scores, but little research has examined the impact of stereotype threat on the test-taking behaviors impacting those scores. Using a pre-post experimental design, stereotype threat was manipulated and test-taking behaviors (e.g., time spent per item, response changes) were measured while completing verbal ability items before and after the manipulation. The results indicated that stereotype threat minimally impacted time-related test-taking behaviors, but did impact behaviors related to response changes. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Relative quantity judgments in South American sea lions (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Otaria flavescens</Emphasis>)

There is accumulating evidence that a variety of species possess quantitative abilities although their cognitive substrate is still unclear. This study is the first to investigate whether sea lions (Otaria flavescens), in the absence of training, are able to assess and select the larger of two sets of quantities. In Experiment 1, the two sets of quantities were presented simultaneously as whole sets, that is, the subjects could compare them directly. In Experiment 2, the two sets of quantities were presented item-by-item, and the totality of items was never visually available at the time of choice. For each type of presentation, we analysed the effect of the ratio between quantities, the difference between quantities and the total number of items presented. The results showed that (1) sea lions can make relative quantity judgments successfully and (2) there is a predominant influence of the ratio between quantities on the subjects’ performance. The latter supports the idea that an analogue representational mechanism is responsible for sea lions’ relative quantities judgments. These findings are consistent with previous reports of relative quantities judgments in other species such as monkeys and apes and suggest that sea lions might share a similar mechanism to compare and represent quantities.     

A DBT Skills training group for family caregivers of persons with dementia

A Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills training manual (DBT Skills) was adapted for use with caregivers of individuals with dementia. Implementation occurred in a community clinic with a heterogeneous caregiver group at risk for elder abuse. Sixteen caregivers completed the 9-week group. The results point to improved psychosocial adjustment, particularly increased problem-focused coping, enhanced emotional well-being, and less fatigue. Caregivers tended to utilize individual therapeutic services at a higher rate during the period of group attendance, indicative of appropriate help-seeking behavior in highly demanding situations. Six of the 16 caregivers repeated the training sequence in “booster” groups. Follow-up data from the booster groups suggest that high-risk caregivers may require continuing support to maintain treatment gains. In addition to demonstrating the feasibility of DBT Skills with caregivers, the results warrant a controlled outcome evaluation.     

Sequential treatment of a feeding problem using a pacifier and flipped spoon

Parents may be reluctant to treat the feeding disorder of a chronically ill child who exhibits distressed behavior during feeding. In this study, we identified a child with chronic medical problems and a feeding disorder who cried during feedings. We introduced treatment components sequentially to address parental concerns about crying. First, we used a pacifier to reduce crying, and then we used a flipped spoon to increase mouth clean. The results showed that a sequential approach to treatment can be effective for children with complex medical and behavioral problems.     

Improving Prediction of Work Performance Through Frame‐of‐Reference Consistency: Empirical evidence using openness to experience

A work‐specific measure of openness to experience was compared with the general NEO PI‐R Openness scale for predicting supervisory ratings of creative performance at work. Results at the scale and facet levels indicated that the use of a consistent and criterion‐matched frame of reference improved validity of this personality construct for the prediction of work‐related creative problem solving. Scores from the Work‐specific Openness scale significantly predicted creative work performance, whereas scores from the general measure did not. Results also showed incremental validity of the Work‐specific scale over the NEO PI‐R scale. Evidence is mounting that specifying a work context for personality measures can increase validity for predicting job performance beyond that typically observed when using general scales.     

Psychometric properties of the Children's Depression Inventory in community and clinical sample

The psychometric characteristics of the Children's Depression Inventory, CDI (Kovacs, 1992) in a sample of 1705 participants (792 boys and 913 girls) and a clinical sample of 102 participants (42 boys and 60 girls) between 10 and 18 years old are presented. Reliability coefficients range, for both samples, from .82 (test) to .84 (retest) in the community sample, and .85 (test, clinical sample); test-retest reliability is .81 in the community sample. The mean scores are similar to other Spanish and English ones. Girls score higher than boys. The cut-off point that best differentiates between depressive and community participants is 19, with a sensitivity of 94.7%, a specificity of 95.6%, a positive predictive value of .90, and a negative predictive value of .98.     

Perceptual grouping and distance estimates in typical and atypical development: comparing performance across perception, drawing and construction tasks

Perceptual grouping is a pre-attentive process which serves to group local elements into global wholes, based on shared properties. One effect of perceptual grouping is to distort the ability to estimate the distance between two elements. In this study, biases in distance estimates, caused by four types of perceptual grouping, were measured across three tasks, a perception, a drawing and a construction task in both typical development (TD: Experiment 1) and in individuals with Williams syndrome (WS: Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, perceptual grouping distorted distance estimates across all three tasks. Interestingly, the effect of grouping by luminance was in the opposite direction to the effects of the remaining grouping types. We relate this to differences in the ability to inhibit perceptual grouping effects on distance estimates. Additive distorting influences were also observed in the drawing and the construction task, which are explained in terms of the points of reference employed in each task. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the above distortion effects are also observed in WS. Given the known deficit in the ability to use perceptual grouping in WS, this suggests a dissociation between the pre-attentive influence of and the attentive deployment of perceptual grouping in WS. The typical distortion in relation to drawing and construction points towards the presence of some typical location coding strategies in WS. The performance of the WS group differed from the TD participants on two counts. First, the pattern of overall distance estimates (averaged across interior and exterior distances) across the four perceptual grouping types, differed between groups. Second, the distorting influence of perceptual grouping was strongest for grouping by shape similarity in WS, which contrasts to a strength in grouping by proximity observed in the TD participants.     

Coping self-efficacy mediates the effects of negative cognitions on posttraumatic distress

Although cognitive distortions have predicted posttraumatic distress after various types of traumatic events, the mechanisms through which cognitive distortions influence posttraumatic distress remain unclear. We hypothesized that coping self-efficacy, the belief in one's own ability to manage posttraumatic recovery demands, would operate as a mediator between negative cognitions (about self, about the world, and self-blame beliefs) and posttraumatic distress. In the cross-sectional Study 1, data collected among 66 adult female victims of child sexual abuse indicated that coping self-efficacy mediated the effects of negative cognitions about self and about the world on posttraumatic distress. The same pattern of results was found in a longitudinal Study 2, conducted among 70 survivors of motor vehicle accidents. Coping self-efficacy measured at 1 month after the trauma mediated the effects of 7-day negative cognitions about self and about the world on 3-month posttraumatic distress. In both studies self-blame was not related to posttraumatic distress and the effect of self-blame on posttraumatic distress was not mediated by coping self-efficacy. The results provide insight into a mechanism through which negative cognitions may affect posttraumatic distress and highlight the potential importance of interventions aimed at enhancing coping self-efficacy beliefs.