The Crosstown Initiative: Art,Community, and Placemaking in Memphis

This case study examines an arts organization at the center of an urban neighborhood revitalization effort and its contributions to creative placemaking and inclusive community building. The study documents innovative arts practices and explores their meaning for a local context, an understudied city in the Mid‐South region of the United States. It builds on the research team’s ongoing work as teachers, students, and scholars in partnership with the arts organization. It includes systematic participant observation, interviews with stakeholders, and a review of historical and contemporary media coverage. We found that the organization and its practices provided a rich context for exploring an expanded sense of community including bridging social capital and place‐based frameworks. Analysis suggests that the organization’s intentional arts based practices bring multiple understandings of community and art into meaningful dialogue through the generation of creative and social friction. These practices illustrate one context‐specific strategy addressing the tensions in a community–diversity dialectic (Townley et al. in Am J Commun Psychol 47:69–85, 2011 ).     

Bridging the Gap Between Prevention Research and Practice: The Interactive Systems Framework for Dissemination and Implementation

If we keep on doing what we have been doing, we are going to keep on getting what we have been getting. Concerns about the gap between science and practice are longstanding. There is a need for new approaches to supplement the existing approaches of research to practice models and the evolving community-centered models for bridging this gap. In this article, we present the Interactive Systems Framework for Dissemination and Implementation (ISF) that uses aspects of research to practice models and of community-centered models. The framework presents three systems: the Prevention Synthesis and Translation System (which distills information about innovations and translates it into user-friendly formats); the Prevention Support System (which provides training, technical assistance or other support to users in the field); and the Prevention Delivery System (which implements innovations in the world of practice). The framework is intended to be used by different types of stakeholders (e.g., funders, practitioners, researchers) who can use it to see prevention not only through the lens of their own needs and perspectives, but also as a way to better understand the needs of other stakeholders and systems. It provides a heuristic for understanding the needs, barriers, and resources of the different systems, as well as a structure for summarizing existing research and for illuminating priority areas for new research and action. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.     

A Positive Relationship Between Religious Faith and Forgiveness: Faith in the Absence of Data?

Religious faith and beliefs appear to play an important role in the lives of many individuals and are the topic of much research. The present study investigated the relationship between religious faith and forgiveness in a sample (n = 196) of college students. Students were asked to complete the Heartland Forgiveness Scale and the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire. Analyses of scores on both measures revealed a positive, significant correlation between these constructs, suggesting that there is a meaningful relationship between religious faith and the tendency to forgive. Implications and directions for further research are discussed.     

Latent constructs model explaining the attachment-linked variation in autobiographical remembering

In the current study, we proposed a latent constructs model to characterise the qualitative aspects of autobiographical remembering and investigated the structural relations in the model that may vary across individuals. Primarily, we focused on the memories of romantic relationships and argued that attachment anxiety and avoidance would be reflected in the ways that individuals encode, rehearse, or remember autobiographical memories in close relationships. Participants reported two positive and two negative relationship-specific memories and rated the characteristics for each memory. As predicted, the basic memory model yielded appropriate fit, indicating that event characteristics (EC) predicted the frequency of rehearsal (RC) and phenomenology at retrieval (PC). When attachment variables were integrated, the model showed that rehearsal mediated the link between anxiety and PC, especially for negative memories. On the other hand, for avoidance EC was the key factor mediating the link between avoidance and RC, as well as PC. Findings were discussed with respect to autobiographical memory functions emphasising a systematically, integrated framework.     

Self‐Regulation and Personality Profiles: Empirical Development,Longitudinal Stability and Predictive Ability

We used Latent Profile and Latent Profile Transition Analysis to empirically develop and compare competing models of personality profiles (three‐ and four‐profile models). We do so using data from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study, a large longitudinal national probability sample of New Zealanders. Both three‐ and four‐profile solutions demonstrated good fit and longitudinal stability. Trait configurations and predictive outcomes of the four‐profile model were the most interpretable in terms of the theoretical literature, as this solution mirrored the theoretical foundation of self‐regulatory ego‐constructs. This supported the interpretation of a four‐profile model as providing a useful distinction over and above the three‐profile model. We conclude that, compared to the three‐profile model, the four‐profile solution provides a better foundation to serve as a complementary approach to variable‐centre research. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology     

After images and pain tolerance: a descriptive study on their interrelationship

After images are based on physiological processes, they can also be treated as subjective phenomena with a psychological meaning. This statement also applies to pain. The basic working hypothesis of this study concerned the relationship between the two phenomena. Forty-one respondents (23 females, 18 males, age range 20-45 years) were given the Cold Pressor Test and the Serial After Image Technique. The data analysis was done by means of cross-tables and an exploratory optimal scaling program (OVERALS). Three pain tolerance groups (low, medium, high) could be differentiated fairly well on the basis of the after image characteristics of the respondents. Pain intolerant respondents more frequently had small and "immature" after images, whereas highly pain tolerant respondents had more large and "mature" after images. The implications of these results for a bio-psycho-social theoretical frame of reference for pain are discussed.     

Experiential Family Therapy: An Innovative Approach to the Resolution of Family Conflict in Genetic Counseling

Experiential family therapy is an intuitive approach that utilizes active, multisensory techniques. These techniques, such as role plays and drawings, increase the family's expression of affect and uncover new information. Increased affect and uncovered information stimulate change and growth in the family system. Experiential techniques are especially useful when more traditional, verbal-based communication is not effective. In this article, I will present a pediatric case in which the patient, a 7-year-old boy diagnosed with autism, was referred to the genetics clinic to rule out the presence of an associated genetic disorder. I will then describe a hypothetical second counseling session with the same family and suggest how three experiential family therapy techniques: family drawing, empty chair technique, and continuums might be used in the session to help resolve a marital conflict between the patient's parents.     

The effects of various rater training procedures on the perception of social skills and social anxiety

Procedures for the behavioral assessment of social skills typically rely on judges' perceptions of subjects' behavior in several simulated situations. This study examined two methodological variables which could influence the degree of situational specificity perceived by social skill judges. Forth-eight judges were presented videotapes of 15 actors who role played responses to eight simulated social situations. Half of the judges viewed the situations in a sequential fashion and the remaining half viewed the tapes grouped by situations. The second factor of this design included three different expectancy conditions included in an analogue training procedure. Differences in observed variability were examined for both social skill and social anxiety constructs. Order of stimulus presentation had no effect on variability. The expectancy manipulation significantly increased variability among social skill ratings but had no effect on reliability.This study was supported in part by the Veterans Administration.     

The testing environment as an explanation for unproctored internet‐based testing device‐type effects

Device‐type effects on cognitive tests appear to covary with whether unproctored internet‐based test (UIT) scores were obtained operationally or nonoperationally. The present study examined whether the testing environment and distractions therein—one of three contextual factors identified as plausible explanations—accounts for this covariation. Four‐hundred and twenty‐five college students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions which differed by the testing environment and device used to complete a cognitive test. Test scores did not differ between conditions despite greater distractions reported by those who tested in the distracting environment. Results were replicated within‐study, and suggest that the self‐selection and testing‐stakes hypotheses warrant subsequent empirical examination as explanations for the differences in device‐type effects observed in operational and nonoperational settings.     

Integrating five-factor model facet-level traits with the theory of planned behavior and exercise

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to examine direct, indirect, and moderating links between facet-level personality traits of the five-factor model, the theory of planned behavior (TPB) constructs [Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179–211.], and exercise behavior.DesignCross-sectional.MethodUniversity students (N = 507) completed the NEO-PI-R [Costa, P. T., McCrae, R. R. (1992). The NEO-PI-R personality inventory: Professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.], the Leisure-time Exercise Questionnaire [Godin, G., Shephard, R. J. (1985). A simple method to assess exercise behavior in the community. Canadian Journal of Applied Sport Science, 10, 141–146.], and measures assessing the TPB constructs.ResultsPreliminary analysis revealed the extraversion and conscientiousness facet-level traits of activity and self-discipline respectively were independent predictors of exercise behavior. An integrated structural model with both facet-level traits revealed that 46% of the variance in exercise behavior and 70% of the variance in intention was explained. Significant indirect effects of activity and self-discipline and the TPB constructs of affective attitude, instrumental attitude, and subjective norm, on exercise behavior through intention and perceived behavioral control were also observed. Finally, the anxiety facet trait of neuroticism significantly moderated the intention–behavior relationship.ConclusionsOur findings showed that the facet-level personality traits of activity and self-discipline are important motivational variables that link the TPB constructs to exercise behavior. Future research that integrates personality with the TPB within experimental interventions is warranted.