The Internal Structure of the Aberrant Behavior Checklist Irritability Subscale: Implications for Studies of Irritability in Treatment-Seeking Youth With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Given the prominence of the Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC), Irritability Subscale (ABC-I), in treatment outcome studies, we conducted a critical examination of its internal consistency and relationship to other measures of irritability in 758 psychiatrically hospitalized youth with autism spectrum disorder. In exploratory and confirmation samples, we conducted factor and bifactor analyses to describe the internal structure of the ABC-I. Our results suggest that the ABC-I roughly represents a unidimensional construct of irritability, as indicated by a general factor in bifactor analysis. In addition to irritability, subordinate factors are presented that represent tantrums, verbal outbursts, self-harm, and negative affect. Notably, self-harm items explain a large proportion of variance independent of irritability. Therefore, their contribution in analyses of treatment effects should be considered. Further study or revision of the ABC-I may improve convergent validity with transdiagnostic formulations of irritability as well as prevent confound from self-harm in treatment studies for irritability in ASD     

Perceptual salience of derivational suffixes in visual word recognition

This study analyzes the role of derivational suffixes in visual word recognition, tracking the eye movements of 31 participants in a sentence-reading task in Spanish. Perceptual salience of suffixes was operationalized as the proportion of letters represented by the suffixes with respect to the full words, that is, we relate the number of letters comprising the suffixes to the number of letters in the words in which they appear. The results reveal a significant role in first fixation duration of both word frequency – the more frequent the word, the shorter the fixations, and perceptual salience – the more salient the suffix, the longer the fixations. Moreover, in gaze duration, our results show a main effect of word length – the longer the word, the longer the fixations; word frequency; and significant interactions between word frequency and perceptual salience of suffixes on the one hand – the effect of word frequency is only significant when perceptual salience of suffixes is high, and between word frequency and word length on the other hand – the frequency effect decreases as word length increases. Overall results are interpreted in the light of the dual route models by which full-form and morphological processing interactively cooperate in visual word recognition.     

非目标工作记忆表征下颜色关联和抽象关联的注意捕获和抑制

采用工作记忆—视觉搜索双任务范式,探讨在非目标工作记忆表征下,颜色关联和抽象关联干扰子的注意捕获和抑制现象。实验一结果发现,颜色关联干扰子在快速反应阶段捕获注意,随后被成功抑制;抽象关联干扰子仍能捕获注意。实验二消除知觉凸显后,结果发现颜色关联条件的抑制消失,干扰子重新捕获注意。结果表明,有效抑制策略受不同关联干扰子加工先后顺序的影响,选择性抑制颜色关联干扰子,而颜色特征的凸显有助于抑制策略形成。     

Does the mortality salience effect on worldview defence depend on the cultural orientation of Chinese people?

According to the terror management theory, people tend to favour their worldview and in-group members after being reminded of death (i.e., mortality salience [MS] effect). However, inconsistent findings of the MS effect were found among Chinese people. In the present study, we examined the MS effect with Chinese samples and tested whether the effect would depend on participants' cultural orientation and relational self-esteem. In Studies 1 (N = 227) and 2 (N = 221), we examined the roles of participants' cultural orientations and relational self-esteem in their evaluations on moral transgression and/or perceived regard from people around after being primed with mortality (vs. dental pain) salience. We obtained the interaction effects of mortality salience, cultural orientations, and relational self-esteem. The implications of these results are discussed in the context of Chinese culture.     

The Effect of Reminders of Death on Reckless Driving: A TerrorManagement Perspective

Why do young people, especially young men, engage in reckless driving despite the fact that this behavior contradicts the basic biological imperative of self-preservation? Answering this interesting and crucial question may lead to effective interventions. A series of studies, based on terror management theory, examined the effects of reminders of death on risk taking while driving. The dependent measures were either self-reported behavioral intentions of risky driving or driving speed in a car simulator. Findings showed that mortality-salience inductions led to more risky driving than the control condition only among individuals who perceived driving as relevant to their self-esteem. The introduction of positive feedback about driving eliminated this effect. The complex role of self-esteem in the process of risk taking is discussed.     

向死存在对智慧的影响:观点、机制及评价

向死存在对智慧产生了怎样的影响?三种观点及相关证据回答了这个问题,并提供了解释机制:(1)向死存在助推智慧,使人谦卑、超越、利他、公平和宽容等,其主要解释机制是创伤后成长理论;(2)向死存在阻碍智慧,引起心理不健康、自我服务偏见、内群体偏见、贪婪、物质主义等,其主要解释机制是恐惧管理理论;(3)向死存在是否助推智慧受到如自尊、权力感、自我构念、政治信念、宗教信仰等多种因素的调节。文末评价了过去研究中存在的问题,即概念界定问题、向死存在的心理阶段性问题和文化世界观的内涵问题,并提出了化解之道。     

Cross-cultural differences in driver aggression,aberrant, and positive driver behaviors

The present study investigated differences in driver aggression for self and others within countries and cultural differences between driver aggression, aberrant, and positive driver behaviors across five countries (Estonia, Greece, Kosovo, Russia, and Turkey). It was predicted that drivers from these five countries differ significantly in terms of driver aggression for self and others, aberrant, and positive driver behaviors. In the study, 743 participants completed the questionnaire package, including the Driver Aggression Indicators Scale (DAIS), the short version of the Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) with items from the Positive Driver Behavior Scale, and the Demographic Information Form. Paired samples T-tests were conducted to examine the differences in driving aggression between self and others in the five countries. The results indicated that, except for Russian drivers, drivers reported that other drivers had higher driver aggression than themselves. To examine the cross-cultural differences, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) tests were conducted for the two dimensions of the DAIS (hostile aggression and revenge, and aggressive warnings) and the three dimensions of the DBQ with items from the Positive Driver Behavior Scale (errors, violations, and positive driver behaviors). Cross-country item-based comparisons were then made for the DAIS and the DBQ. The ANCOVA results showed significant differences in both item-based and subscale comparisons. Russian drivers were significantly different from other drivers in terms of hostile aggression and the revenge subscales of the DAIS and positive driver behaviors. Turkish drivers were significantly different from other drivers in several items of the DBQ, including errors and violations. The findings suggest that culture-specific strategies might be conducted for traffic-related anger management. Furthermore, differences in errors and violations among the five countries may be due to cultural differences. Positive driver behaviors might be better promoted in countries by drawing on their distinct cultural road safety strategies.     

Driving anger scale validation: Relationship of driving anger with the aberrant driving behaviour of truck drivers

Truck-related accidents in China have substantially increased. Truck driver safety issues have elicited considerable attention from transportation safety researchers. Driving anger is one of the most important factors that influence driving behaviour. However, little knowledge about the driving anger of truck drivers was available in the relevant literature. This study aimed to (1) provide empirical data about the driving anger of truck drivers, (2) examine the factor structure and psychometric properties of the driving anger scale (DAS) with a sample of truck drivers and (3) explore how the driving anger of truck drivers predicts their aberrant driving behaviour. The three-part survey data from 475 randomly selected truck drivers were collected in this study. The self-reported aberrant driving behaviour that was measured with the driving behaviour questionnaire was predicted by the drivers’ DAS ratings. One-factor structure and three-factor structure of the DAS were tested for Chinese truck drivers. Results indicated that the one-factor structure of the six-item DAS was more suitable for truck drivers than the three-factor structure. The factor structure of the DAS for Chinese truck drivers was consistent with the structure of the original version by Deffenbacher, Oetting, and Lynch (1994). The internal consistency, convergent validity and criterion-related validity of the six-item DAS were acceptable. Driving anger amongst truck drivers can be used to predict their aberrant driving behaviour. This study identified several practical implications to reduce the driving anger of truck drivers and consequently improve their driving behaviour.     

Does incident severity influence surveillance by lifeguards in aquatic scenes?

Do lifeguards monitor events according to the level of danger they pose to the patron? This study examined this question by displaying 40 min of video of natural swimming activity to three lifeguards while an eye‐tracker recorded their eye position. In a separate session, those same lifeguards viewed 100 short video clips of some of the incidents that had been presented earlier and they were asked to provide a severity rating (0–7) for each one. The proportion of time that an event was monitored was calculated, and was not consistently predicted by incident severity, physical salience, or incident duration, but by the number of swimmers in the scene. Although this study had an extremely small number of lifeguards and should be treated as exploratory, it suggests that lifeguards may have trouble monitoring incidents they deem severe when they are presented in the context of a busy aquatic scene.     

非目标工作记忆表征下颜色关联和抽象关联的注意捕获和抑制

采用工作记忆—视觉搜索双任务范式,探讨在非目标工作记忆表征下,颜色关联和抽象关联干扰子的注意捕获和抑制现象。实验1结果发现,颜色关联干扰子在快速反应阶段捕获注意,随后被成功抑制;抽象关联干扰子仍能捕获注意。实验2消除知觉凸显后,结果发现颜色关联条件的抑制消失,干扰子重新捕获注意。结果表明,有效抑制策略受不同关联干扰子加工先后顺序的影响,选择性抑制颜色关联干扰子,而颜色特征的凸显有助于抑制策略形成。