A Decline in Creativity? It Depends on the Domain

Earlier studies using psychometric tests have documented declines in creativity over the past several decades. Our study investigated whether and how this apparent trend would replicate through a qualitative investigation using an authentic nontest measure of creativity. Three-hundred and fifty-four visual artworks and 50 creative writing works produced by adolescents between 1990–1995 and 2006–2011 were assessed. Products were analyzed using a structured assessment method based on technical criteria and content elements. Criteria included in the current investigation (e.g., genre, medium, stylistic approach) are relevant both to the specific media domains and to previously established dimensions of creativity, such as originality and complexity. Results showed strong domain differences: performance in visual arts increased on a variety of indices of complexity and technical proficiency, and performance in writing decreased on indices related to originality and technical proficiency. Findings highlight the value of analysing creativity across domains. The importance of considering cultural and technological changes in characterizing and understanding apparent trends in amount and types of creativity is discussed.     

Decision-Making and Exchange Processes of Dual-Military Couples: A Review and Suggested Strategies for Navigating Multiple Roles

As the number of dual-earner couples has increased, so has the number of dual-military couples. Individuals in dual-military couples experience many of the same challenges and benefits as dual-earner couples with added difficulties and advantages that are unique to military employment. The current article presents the exchange-based dual-military marriage model, which builds on Huffman and Payne’s (2005) Huffman, A. H., &; Payne, S. C. (2005). The challenges and benefits of dual-military marriages. In C. A. Castro, A. B. Adler, &; T. W. Britt (Eds.), Military life: The psychology of serving in peach and combat (Vol.3): The military family (pp. 115–137). Westport, CT: Praeger. [Google Scholar] model for dual-military marriages. Whereas the previous model did not adequately address the decision-making process that dual-military couples must engage in to navigate their unique situation, we address this oversight by incorporating exchanges that occur between the partners as well as between the couple and the military. Our model stresses the importance that perceived resources and the exchange relationship have on dual-military members. Included is a discussion of unique groups (i.e., gender issues, parental status, and sexual orientation), strategies for success for both dual-military couples and the military organization, and a suggested future research agenda.     

Examining Manual and Visual Response Inhibition Among ADHD Subtypes

This study compared inhibitory functioning among ADHD subtype groups on manual and visual versions of the stop task. Seventy-six children, identified as ADHD/I (n = 17), ADHD/C (n = 43), and comparison (n = 20) completed both tasks. Results indicated that both ADHD groups were slower to inhibit responses than the comparison group on both tasks. Comparison children were faster to inhibit than activate responses on both tasks. Children in the ADHD groups also demonstrated this robust pattern on the manual task. However, on the visual task, the ADHD groups evidenced slowed inhibition comparable to the time required to activate responding. This implies that the visual task is more sensitive than the manual task to inhibitory deficits associated with ADHD. The ADHD/I and the ADHD/C groups did not differ on most measures, suggesting that neither stop task is effective in differentiating the subtypes. These findings extend work highlighting the role of disinhibition in ADHD, and contrast recent work suggesting divergence between ADHD subtypes.     

Making Big Communities Small: Using Network Science to Understand the Ecological and Behavioral Requirements for Community Social Capital

The concept of social capital is becoming increasingly common in community psychology and elsewhere. However, the multiple conceptual and operational definitions of social capital challenge its utility as a theoretical tool. The goals of this paper are to clarify two forms of social capital (bridging and bonding), explicitly link them to the structural characteristics of small world networks, and explore the behavioral and ecological prerequisites of its formation. First, I use the tools of network science and specifically the concept of small‐world networks to clarify what patterns of social relationships are likely to facilitate social capital formation. Second, I use an agent‐based model to explore how different ecological characteristics (diversity and segregation) and behavioral tendencies (homophily and proximity) impact communities’ potential for developing social capital. The results suggest diverse communities have the greatest potential to develop community social capital, and that segregation moderates the effects that the behavioral tendencies of homophily and proximity have on community social capital. The discussion highlights how these findings provide community‐based researchers with both a deeper understanding of the contextual constraints with which they must contend, and a useful tool for targeting their efforts in communities with the greatest need or greatest potential.     

Networked Community Change: Understanding Community Systems Change through the Lens of Social Network Analysis

Addressing complex problems in communities has become a key area of focus in recent years (Kania & Kramer, 2013, Stanford Social Innovation Review). Building on existing approaches to understanding and addressing problems, such as action research, several new approaches have emerged that shift the way communities solve problems (e.g., Burns, 2007, Systemic Action Research; Foth, 2006, Action Research, 4, 205; Kania & Kramer, 2011, Stanford Social Innovation Review, 1, 36). Seeking to bring clarity to the emerging literature on community change strategies, this article identifies the common features of the most widespread community change strategies and explores the conditions under which such strategies have the potential to be effective. We identify and describe five common features among the approaches to change. Then, using an agent‐based model, we simulate network‐building behavior among stakeholders participating in community change efforts using these approaches. We find that the emergent stakeholder networks are efficient when the processes are implemented under ideal conditions.     

Ex‐offender Restrictions

Individuals convicted of crimes are often subject to numerous restrictions — on housing, employment, the vote, public assistance, and other goods — well after they have completed their sentences, and in some cases permanently. The question of whether — and if so, when — ex‐offender restrictions are morally permissible has received surprisingly little philosophical scrutiny. This article first examines the significance of completing punishment, of paying one's debt to society, and contends that when offenders' debts are paid, they should be restored to full standing as citizens. Thus all ex‐offender restrictions are presumptively unjustified. Nonconsequentialist defences of these restrictions are ultimately unsuccessful in defeating the presumption against them. In a limited range of cases, consequentialist considerations — namely, of risk reduction — may be sufficient to override the presumptive case against these restrictions. The article concludes by suggesting a number of criteria for assessing whether particular restrictive measures are permissible on grounds of risk reduction.     

A tale of two similarities: comparison and integration in conceptual combination

The perception of semantic similarity derives from distinct processes of comparison and integration. A dual process model of conceptual combination claims that attributive combination (e.g., umbrella tree) entails comparison, while relational combination (e.g., pancake spatula) requires integration. The present research uses similarity as a test of this dual process model. Participants (N = 168) were presented attributive and relational conceptual combinations. Half of the participants interpreted the combinations before rating the similarity of their constituent concepts, while the other half provided similarity ratings without interpreting the concepts together. The experiment revealed that attributive combination decreased the perceived similarity of the constituent concepts, whereas relational combination increased the similarity of the constituents. This result indicates that attributive and relational combination occur via distinct processes. Results of a post‐test (N = 60) suggested that these effects were specific to the particular concepts compared or integrated, and do not generalize to other concepts not compared or integrated. The present research thus supported a dual process model of conceptual combination by demonstrating differential effects of comparison and integration on the perception of semantic similarity.     

Gesturing makes learning last

The gestures children spontaneously produce when explaining a task predict whether they will subsequently learn that task. Why? Gesture might simply reflect a child's readiness to learn a particular task. Alternatively, gesture might itself play a role in learning the task. To investigate these alternatives, we experimentally manipulated children's gesture during instruction in a new mathematical concept. We found that requiring children to gesture while learning the new concept helped them retain the knowledge they had gained during instruction. In contrast, requiring children to speak, but not gesture, while learning the concept had no effect on solidifying learning. Gesturing can thus play a causal role in learning, perhaps by giving learners an alternative, embodied way of representing new ideas. We may be able to improve children's learning just by encouraging them to move their hands.     

Individual differences in the perception of similarity and difference

Thematically related concepts like coffee and milk are judged to be more similar than thematically unrelated concepts like coffee and lemonade. We investigated whether thematic relations exert a small effect that occurs consistently across participants (i.e., a generalized model), or a large effect that occurs inconsistently across participants (i.e., an individualized model). We also examined whether difference judgments mirrored similarity or whether these judgments were, in fact, non-inverse. Five studies demonstrated the necessity of an individualized model for both perceived similarity and difference, and additionally provided evidence that thematic relations affect similarity more than difference. Results suggest that models of similarity and difference must be attuned to large and consistent individual variability in the weighting of thematic relations.