Regulated Divergence: Textual Patterns,Creativity and Cognitive Emotion Regulation

According to literature, several forms of creativity relate to primary process and adaptive regression. The major aim of this study was to examine whether a specific pattern of creativity and primary- and secondary-process thinking could be identified among stories while investigating some personal variables. 78 undergraduate students (41 women, 37 men), with the average age of 21.44 years (SD = 2.15) participated. After story writing, divergent thinking skills and cognitive emotion regulation abilities were measured. Storytelling creativity and the level of primary and secondary thinking were analysed through the written texts. The hypothesized textual patterns significantly emerged by cluster analysis. The distinguished 2 types of stories were labelled extraordinary texts (higher level of creativity and primary process with an average level of secondary process) and ordinary texts (lower level of creativity and primary process with an average level of secondary process). The authors of extraordinary texts had higher originality scores (on Circle Task of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking) and lower maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies, compared to the authors of ordinary texts. Results extend the knowledge of cognitive- and personality psychological aspects of creativity.     

Age differences in personality traits across cultures: self‐report and observer perspectives

Using self‐report measures, longitudinal studies in the US and cross‐sectional studies from many cultures suggest that the broad factors of Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness to Experience decline from adolescence to adulthood, whereas Agreeableness and Conscientiousness increase. Data are inconsistent on the rate of change during adulthood, and on the generalizability of self‐report findings to informant ratings. We analysed cross‐sectional data from self‐reports and informant ratings on the Revised NEO Personality Inventory in Czech (N = 705) and Russian (N = 800) samples. Some curvilinear effects were found, chiefly in the Czech sample; informant data generally replicated self‐reports, although the effects were weaker. Although many of the details are not yet clear, there appear to be pan‐cultural trends in personality development that are consistent with the hypothesis of intrinsic maturation. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Epistemology and artificial intelligence

In this essay we advance the view that analytical epistemology and artificial intelligence are complementary disciplines. Both fields study epistemic relations, but whereas artificial intelligence approaches this subject from the perspective of understanding formal and computational properties of frameworks purporting to model some epistemic relation or other, traditional epistemology approaches the subject from the perspective of understanding the properties of epistemic relations in terms of their conceptual properties. We argue that these two practices should not be conducted in isolation. We illustrate this point by discussing how to represent a class of inference forms found in standard inferential statistics. This class of inference forms is interesting because its members share two properties that are common to epistemic relations, namely defeasibility and paraconsistency. Our modeling of standard inferential statistical arguments exploits results from both logical artificial intelligence and analytical epistemology. We remark how our approach to this modeling problem may be generalized to an interdisciplinary approach to the study of epistemic relations.     

Factor structure of the Spanish adaptation of Tarrant's Group Identification Scale

In this study, the factor structure of the Spanish version of Tarrant's Group Identification Scale is analyzed. This scale is based on the social identity theory and measures cognitive, evaluative, and affective aspects of group identification. Although this scale has been considered unidimensionally with adolescents, it is based on previous group identification scales considered multidimensionally. From confirmatory analysis, some factor models were tested in two independent samples of adolescents: Spanish (N= 1,795) and Mexican (N= 1,494). The three-factor model (self-categorization, group evaluation, and commitment to the group) produced the best fit in both samples. Results are compatible with the multidimensional structure hypothesis of group identification.     

Children's activities and their meanings for parents: a mixed-methods study in six Western cultures

Theoretical perspectives and research in sociology, anthropology, sociolinguistics, and cultural psychology converge in recognizing the significance of children's time spent in various activities, especially in the family context. Knowing how children's time is deployed, however, only gives us a partial answer to how children acquire competence; the other part must take into account the culturally constructed meanings of activities, from the perspective of those who organize and direct children's daily lives. In this article, we report on a study of children's routine daily activities and on the meanings that parents attribute to them in six Western middle-class cultural communities located in Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the United States (N = 183). Using week-long time diaries kept by parents, we first demonstrate similarities as well as significant differences in children's daily routines across the cultural samples. We then present brief vignettes--"a day in the life" --of children from each sample. Parent interviews were coded for themes in the meanings attributed to various activities. Excerpts from parent interviews, focusing on four major activities (meals, family time, play, school- or developmentally related activities), are presented to illustrate how cultural meanings and themes are woven into parents' organization and understanding of their children's daily lives. The results of this mixed-method approach provide a more reliable and nuanced picture of children's and families' daily lives than could be derived from either method alone.     

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.     

Spanish validation of the Acceptance of Modern Myths about Sexual Aggression scale (AMMSA)

Two studies were conducted with college students to validate the Spanish-language version of the "Acceptance of Modern Myths about Sexual Aggression" scale (AMMSA) (Gerger, Kley, Bohner & Siebler, 2007). This scale assesses modern myths about sexual aggression in a subtle way. In Study 1, 305 students completed the Spanish AMMSA and other scales with related content. In Study 2, 263 participants completed the Spanish AMMSA and answered questions about a hypothetical sexual assault perpetrated by a young man against a female acquaintance. The Spanish AMMSA showed high internal consistency and adequate evidence of validity in both studies. Compared to traditional scales of rape myth acceptance, mean scores on the AMMSA were higher and their distributions more closely approximated normality. These findings suggest that the Spanish version of the AMMSA scale is a useful instrument to study the social perception of sexual aggression.     

Recording online processes in task-oriented reading with Read&;Answer

We present an application to study task-oriented reading processes called Read&Answer. The application mimics paper-and-pencil situations in which a reader interacts with one or more documents to perform a specific task, such as answering questions, writing an essay, or similar activities. Read&Answer presents documents and questions with a mask. The reader unmasks documents and questions so that only a piece of information is available at a time. This way the entire interaction between the reader and the documents on the task is recorded and can be analyzed. We describe Read&Answer and present its applications for research and assessment. Finally, we explain two studies that compare readers’ performance on Read&Answer with students’ reading times and comprehension levels on a paper-and-pencil task, and on a computer task recorded with eye-tracking. The use of Read&Answer produced similar comprehension scores, although it changed the pattern of reading times.     

Did lifetime rates of alcohol use disorders increase by 67% in 10 years? A comparison of NLAES and NESARC

Two nationally representative epidemiological samples (the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiological Survey and the National Epidemiological Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions) have been used to track changes in the prevalence of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) between 1992 and 2002 in the United States. Strikingly, estimates from these two data sets suggest that the lifetime prevalence of AUD increased by approximately 67% (from 18.2% to 30.3%) during this time frame. This article explores potential reasons for these discrepant estimates. Analyses indicated that a vast majority of change in lifetime AUD occurred with respect to alcohol abuse and not alcohol dependence. Most of this increase in abuse was attributable to self-reported changes in hazardous use that did not track with other archival measures of outcomes related to hazardous use in the population. Key methodological differences regarding the frequency requirements for prior-to-past-year alcohol abuse appeared to explain most of the discrepancy in lifetime AUD estimates. These findings, in conjunction with the relative lack of differences in the 12-month prevalence of AUDs, suggest that the discrepant lifetime estimates are likely due to methodological differences between the two surveys. These findings have important implications for substance use and other psychiatric surveillance and epidemiology where meaningful cross-temporal comparisons are desired.