‘Perceived ownership’ or cognitive dissonance?

In 1992 a study by Beggan claimed it had confirmed the existence of Nuttin's ‘mere ownership effect’. This study examined an alternative mechanism for Beggan's findings in the form of forced compliance cognitive dissonance. Seventy‐three participants volunteered for the study (66 females and seven males). Results support the view that cognitive dissonance, accepting ownership of a target that was earlier perceived with negative affectivity, is a sufficient condition to enhance estimates of a target object. Ownership per se was not found to be a sufficient condition to enhance owner's estimates of an owned object. In light of this finding cognitive dissonance is offered as a possible mechanism for explaining the previous reports of a perceived ownership effect. This mechanism may also be applicable to instant endowment and mere ownership phenomena. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Presurgical Language Mapping

ABSTRACT— Neurosurgical procedures for tumors or intractable epilepsy are often accompanied by risk to postoperative cognitive function; surgery in the left temporal or frontal lobes, for example, can place language functions at risk. Hence, prior to tissue extraction, one common surgical goal is to attempt to identify frontal and temporal regions that should be spared in order to preserve language function. We describe how basic research on false memory for word lists has led to a novel approach for identifying such language-related regions in healthy controls. That is, rapid presentation of semantically related words (e.g., bed , rest , awake ) and phonologically related words (e.g., peep , weep , heap ) with instructions to attend to relations among the words elicits activity in underlying language networks. Furthermore, it is often possible to identify the neural underpinnings of these networks in an individual person in about an hour of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. We conclude by suggesting directions for future research with this lexical-processing protocol, the overarching goal being to link basic cognitive science and clinical practice.     

Relationships between Self- and Peer-reported Integrative Self-knowledge and the Big Five Factors in Iran

An Integrative Self-Knowledge (ISK) Scale measures tendencies to engage in a cognitive process of uniting past, present, and desired future self-experience into a meaningful whole. In the present project, 288 Iranian university students responded to the ISK and Big Five scales and rated their dormitory roommates on these characteristics as well. These procedures most importantly revealed a positive correlation between self- and peer-reported ISK. Self-reported ISK also predicted higher levels of self-reported Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Openness to Experience, and this pattern of relationships appeared with the peer-report data as well. In these results and also in correlations of the self- with peer-report scales, associations of ISK with greater Emotional Stability and Openness to Experience were especially noteworthy. This study confirmed the validity of the ISK scale and the adaptive behavioral significance of what it measures.     

Integrative Self-Knowledge Scale: correlations and incremental validity of a cross-cultural measure developed in Iran and the United States

The authors used Iranian (N = 723) and American (N = 900) samples to develop an Integrative Self-Knowledge Scale for measuring a temporally integrated understanding of processes within the self. They administered this new instrument, the Mindfulness Scale (K. W. Brown & R. M. Ryan, 2003), the Reflective and Experiential Self-Knowledge Scales (N. Ghorbani, M. N. Bing, P. J. Watson, H. R. Davison, & D. L. Lebreton, 2003), and additional sample-specific measures to 3 separate groups of university students in each society. The Integrative Self-Knowledge Scale displayed internal reliability and measurement equivalence, along with convergent, criterion, discriminant, and incremental validity. This new instrument may be useful in promoting cross-cultural research in positive psychology.     

The heterogeneous structure of schizotypal personality disorder: item-level factors of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire and their associations with obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms, dissociative tendencies, and normal personality

A. Raine et al.'s (1994) 3-factor scheme is currently the most widely accepted model of schizotypal personality disorder (SPD). Factor analytic studies of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ; A. Raine, 1991) subscales, which represent the 9 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) criteria for SPD, have provided the model's primary support. The use of only 9 modeled variables, however, limits the number of factors that can be extracted. To explicate this structure more fully, the authors conducted item-level factor analyses of the SPQ in a large student sample that completed the instrument twice within a 2-week interval. The authors' analyses failed to support either the 3-factor model of SPD or the 9 existing DSM-based subscales of the SPQ. Instead, 5 replicable dimensions emerged that capture recurrent symptom pairings found in the broader SPD literature: Social Anhedonia, Unusual Beliefs and Experiences, Social Anxiety, Mistrust, and Eccentricity/Oddity. These factors are only weakly correlated with each other and show differential correlational patterns with the Big Five personality traits, dissociative tendencies, and symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Moreover, they are congruent with dimensional models of personality psychopathology. Implications for SPD in DSM-V are discussed.     

What is education? The inhibiting effect of three agendas in schooling

The article seeks to further debate on what we mean by education and how it is to be distinguished from incipient indoctrination. Starting from the politicisation of education, it draws attention to three powerful agendas impacting on the education systems of the West: positivism, utilitarianism, and inclusivism. Intertwined in various ways, these agendas have had the effect of silently restricting understanding of education, moving it closer to a form of control and policing. Some discussion of their impact on music education is given to help clarify what is at stake. A substantial critique of these agendas is then offered before concluding with a brief indication of a way forward.     

Toward a refined view of aggressive fantasy as a risk factor for aggression: interaction effects involving cognitive and situational variables

Over three decades of research have established a positive connection between fantasizing about aggression and enacting aggression. Such findings have provided strong evidence against the catharsis view of aggressive fantasy. However, little attention has been paid to the potentially nuanced nature of the link between fantasy aggression and actual aggression. In the present article, we examined the influence of four variables in the aggressive fantasy–aggressive behavior link: gender, exposure to violence, fantasy absorption, and level of fantasy about harm befalling loved ones and the self (dysphoric fantasy). Using data from a diverse, community‐based sample of 7–14‐year olds and their mothers, we replicated the general finding that aggressive fantasy is positively associated with real‐world aggressive behavior. However, we also found that the interaction of aggressive fantasy and exposure to violence related significantly to aggression, as did the relation between aggressive fantasy and dysphoric fantasy. When exposure to violence was low, even high levels of aggressive fantasizing did not predict aggressive behavior, and, when aggressive fantasizing was low, even high levels of exposure to violence did not predict aggressive behavior. Similarly, when dysphoric fantasy was high, the connection between fantasy aggression and real aggression was markedly attenuated. The implications of these findings for intervention efforts and future research are considered. Aggr. Behav. 35:313–323, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.