发展性阅读障碍儿童汉字识别的早期加工:一项ERP研究

目的:探讨发展性阅读障碍儿童汉字识别早期加工事件相关电位的变化。方法:采用32导脑电仪和四种刺激材料,对发展性阅读障碍和正常儿童各18名进行实验,分析汉字刺激的P1和N170成分。结果:正常儿童左脑枕区的P1波幅明显大于阅读障碍组,但阅读障碍组左枕颞区N170波幅显著大于正常儿童,潜伏期无明显差异;阅读障碍儿童左-右枕颞区差异显著。结论:发展性阅读障碍儿童存在明显的早期感知觉加工问题,对后续的认知活动带来消极影响。     

Nothing But Stereotypes? Negligible Sex Differences Across Creativity Measures in Science,Arts, and Sports Adolescent High Achievers

Previous research has focused on understanding when, why, and how sex differences in creativity occur, as results vary across samples, measures, and methodologies. In the current study we investigated sex differences in creativity among 984 high achieving adolescents in three expertise areas: Sciences, Arts, and Sports. Eight creativity indicators were analyzed: Alternative uses task (AUT) fluency; creative self-efficacy (CSE); intraindividual strengths (difference between CSE and AUT Fluency); five self-reported creativity scales: Self/everyday, scholarly, performance, mechanical/scientific, artistic. The results showed negligible sex differences ( $n_{\mathrm{p}}^2$ = .01), with females performing better in AUT Fluency and males self-rating their CSE higher. No sex differences were found in self/everyday, scholarly and performance creativity. Males self-rated their mechanical/scientific creativity ( $n_{\mathrm{p}}^2$ = .06) higher than females; while females self-rated their artistic creativity ( $n_{\mathrm{p}}^2$ = .02) higher in comparison to males. Our results extend the existing literature by finding negligible sex differences in adolescent expert groups. However, some stereotypical differences emerged, for example, females with Sciences expertise rated their mechanical/scientific creativity lower than males with and even without Sciences expertise. Results call for further investigation into the links between sex differences, expertise, and specific creativity domains.     

Robbing a Man of His Illusions: Response to Herbert Fensterheim and Stanley Messer

The suggestions made by Fensterheim and Messer regarding increasing ego strengths and pointing out patterns of interaction were found to be useful ones in treating this angry patient. Some other interventions derived from an integrative perspective are also described. The author is still grappling with the problem of stripping this man of his illusions.     

A validation and short form of the Basic Character Inventory

The Basic Character Inventory (BCI) contains 136 items, 17 lower-order personality factors and three higher-order personality factors derived from psychoanalytic theory: Oral, Obsessive Compulsion, and Hysteria. Previous research that investigated the BCI's psychometric properties examined small, special populations and did not use modern statistical methods to validate the BCI. The present study validates the BCI via confirmatory factor analyses using a large sample of 6,285 Norwegian nursing and teaching students. Reliability, convergent validity, and divergent validity of the BCI were also assessed. Results indicated general support for the original BCI factor structure in a reduced form of the BCI that possesses strong reliability and validity, and is suitable for use in time-limited measurement settings.     

Reliability as a virtue

This paper explores what constitutes reliability in persons, particularly intellectual reliability. It considers global reliability, the overall reliability of persons, encompassing both the theoretical and practical realms; sectorial reliability, that of a person in a subject-matter (or behavioral) domain; and focal reliability, that of a particular element, such as a belief. The paper compares reliability with predictability of the kind most akin to it and distinguishes reliability as an intellectual virtue from reliability as an intellectual power. The paper also connects reliability with insight, reasoning, knowledge, and trust. It is argued that insofar as reliability is an intellectual virtue, it must meet both external standards of correctitude and internal standards of justification.

Conceptualising and testing the Narnian Character Virtue Scales: a study among 12- to 13-year-old students

ABSTRACT

This paper sets out to examine and to operationalise 12 key character virtues identified within C. S. Lewis’ Narnian texts: courage, curiosity, forgiveness, fortitude, gratitude, hard work, humility, integrity, justice, love, self-control, and wisdom. A pilot study among 56 year eight students (12–13 years of age) generated nine five-item instruments displaying adequate internal consistency reliability, and suggested ways in which the other three measures (curiosity, integrity, and love) could be enhanced in future work. Construct validity was explored by examining the correlations between these 12 character virtues and sex, self-concept, and empathy, and by locating these 12 character virtues within the three-dimensional psychological space proposed by Eysenck’s model of personality.     

Identity Problems,Ego Strengths,Perceived Stress,and Adjustment During Contextual Changes at University

We present a 2-year time-lag study in which Canadian and Spanish students’ perceptions of stress, identity problems, and psychosocial maturity (ego strengths) were examined in relation to academic, social, and personal-emotional adjustment to university under different conditions of macro-environmental disruption (i.e., academic and economic) and no disruption (stability). In the academic disturbance context, students reported increased stress and the economic disruption situation was associated with greater identity problems. The expected relationships were found among the variables in the study. Students reported greater social maladjustment at university related to economic disruption in comparison with the academic and no disruption contexts. Ego strengths moderated the relationship between perceived stress with academic and social adjustment, respectively. In other words, delayed psychosocial development in conjunction with high perceived stress was associated with deficient academic and social functioning at university. The findings are considered in terms of psychosocial development and the role of proximal and distal perception of stressors in the functional well-being of university students.     

Strength-Based Assessment of Rural African American Early Adolescents: Characteristics of Students in High and Low Groups on the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale

Early adolescents strengths were examined in relation to factors that are associated with developmental risk or resilience in two rural low-income southern communities. The sample was comprised 279 students (101 boys, 178 girls), all of whom were African American and reflected the public school attendance of this community. Parent reports on the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale (BERS) were used to assess strengths. BERS scores were examined in relation to academic, behavioral, and social characteristics of participants. For girls, total strength scores on the BERS were positively associated with indices of high competence and negatively associated with problematic characteristics. For boys, high and low total strength scores differentiated between youth who did and did not have risks associated with externalizing behavior problems. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for assessment and prevention.     

Chris Peterson’s unfinished masterwork: The real mental illnesses

The theory of strengths also implies a theory of disorder that proceeds from knowing what is right in a person: pathology is the opposite, or the absence, or the excess of the strengths. Chris Peterson left a table that details this theory. I discuss the relation of the pathologies so derived to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM) disorders and I speculate on its treatment implications. If fleshed out, I suggest it is a viable alternative to DSM.