Nature versus nurture: The simple contrast

We respond to the commentary of Franklin, Wright, and Davies (Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,102, 239-245 [2009]) by returning to the simple contrast between nature and nurture. We find no evidence from the toddler data that makes us revise our ideas that color categories are learned and never innate.     

Identifying Critical Cross-Cultural School Psychology Competencies

The purpose of this study was to identify critical cross-cultural competencies for school psychologists. This study used a Delphi procedure to bring together the expertise of a national sample of cross-cultural experts, including school psychology practitioners, faculty, and supervisors/administrators of whom 62% represented a racial/ethnic minority group member. To identify the competencies, we conducted an extensive literature search about cross-cultural school psychology competencies then used a questionnaire to ask expert panelists to rate the importance of the literature based competencies and to delineate additional competencies not represented in the integrated literature but based on expert opinion. The literature yielded 185 competencies and the panelists generated 75 additional competencies. Following the second questionnaire round, 102 competencies were identified as critical cross-cultural competencies. The 102 competencies cover 14 major domains of professional activities and practices for school psychologists (e.g., Academic Interventions, Assessment, Consultation, Counseling, Culture, Language, Laws and Regulations, Organizational Skills, Professional Characteristics, Report Writing, Research Methods, Theoretical Paradigms, Working with Interpreters, and Working with Parents). Implications for research and training are discussed.     

The darkroom of the mind — what does neuropsychology now tell us about brands?

How does a brand live and die in the memory? Where does the concept of a relationship with a brand fit into mental activity? What are thoughts, emotions and feelings and do people have them about brands in any meaningful way? What should one think about such concepts as consciousness and the unconscious in relation to brands and brand messages? Is the way in which managers of brands codify them a reflection of reality? These are only some of the fundamental questions that should concern professionals involved with organisations and brands. This paper draws on scientific discoveries about the human brain to build on the empirical knowledge that leaders in organisations, marketers, academics and researchers have gained about brands over the last five decades. The first part of the paper highlights the inconsistencies that occur between what is found in the development and evaluation of brand strategy and what happens in ‘real life’. It suggests that the newly merged disciplines of neuroscience and cognitive psychology (called neuropsychology) offer the scientific basis for understanding how human beings create, store, recall and relate to brands in everyday life. The second part explains some of the most relevant neuropsychological discoveries about the brain in terms of the implications for brand marketing. The topics covered are: brain functions and structure; consciousness and the unconscious; memory and language. The paper concludes by thinking about the current practise of qualitative research and how it matches up to the findings of the new science. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications.     

The Role of Culture in the Relationship Between Religiosity and Psychological Well-being

Several measures of religious practice and religious orientation (intrinsic/extrinsic/quest) and two measures of psychological well-being (positive affect and negative affect) have been employed in a cross-cultural survey of undergraduate university students from five different cultural/religious environments: Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, the United States of America, and Japan. Results suggest that measures of exstrinsic, intrinsic, and quest religiosity are not entirely applicable in most of the cultures observed. Nevertheless, it was possible to discern abbreviated cross-culturally valid scales for each dimension. The strength and direction of the correlation between psychological well-being and a particular type of religious orientation proved to depend substantially upon culture. More importantly, the cultural environment plays a crucial role in shaping the relationship between general measures of religiosity and psychological well-being. According to the data, higher general levels of religiosity at the societal level are linked to more positive correlations between religiosity and psychological well-being. The overall picture leads to the conclusion that there is no culturally universal pattern in the relationship between measures of religiosity and psychological well-being and that the particular cultural and religious context should always be considered in studies dealing with this issue.

Testing the measurement equivalence of personality adjective items across cultures

Although previous research has examined cross-cultural differences in personality, many of these studies neglected to first establish that the measures being used were equivalent in meaning across cultures. Using samples of Chinese, Greek, and American respondents, the measurement equivalence of the Big Five Mini-Markers [Saucier, G. (1994). Mini-markers: A brief version of Goldberg’s unipolar Big-Five markers. Journal of Personality assessment, 63, 506–516] was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis. The results indicate that all of the scales demonstrate configural invariance, but fail to show metric or scalar invariance. Several adjectives from these scales were found to exhibit bias at the item-level. The practical implications of these results are discussed and future research is suggested.     

A comparison of normative data for the Trail Making Test from several countries: equivalence of norms and considerations for interpretation

The Trail Making Test may not be equivalent across cultures, i.e., differences in the scores across different cultures may not reveal real differences in the ability of the subjects on the construct being measured. In order to assess this hypothesis, normative samples from ten different countries were compared. Age decade subgroups across samples were ranked based on mean time taken to complete each part of the task. Large Z scores differences were found between these samples when comparing the first with the second, and the last in the rank. These differences were significant even when age and education were comparable across samples. Following Van de Vijver & Tanzer (1997), several possible sources of bias were identified. Incomparability of samples and administration differences were the most likely factors accounting for differences. Because of the lack of validity studies in the countries considered, no firm conclusions could be obtained regarding construct bias. Although the TMT may be measuring visual scanning, psychomotor speed and mental flexibility, normative data from different countries and cultures are not equivalent which might lead to serious diagnostic errors.     

Understanding mortality and the life of the ancestors in rural madagascar

Across two studies, a wide age range of participants was interviewed about the nature of death. All participants were living in rural Madagascar in a community where ancestral beliefs and practices are widespread. In Study 1, children (8–17 years) and adults (19–71 years) were asked whether bodily and mental processes continue after death. The death in question was presented in the context of a narrative that focused either on the corpse or on the ancestral practices associated with the afterlife. Participants aged 8 years and older claimed that death brings an end to most bodily and mental processes. Nevertheless, particularly in the context of the religious narrative, they claimed that certain mental processes continue even after death. This assertion of an afterlife was more evident among adults than children, especially with respect to cognitive processes, such as knowing and remembering. In Study 2, 5- and 7-year-olds were asked similar questions in connection with the death of a bird and a person. Seven-year-olds consistently claimed that bodily and mental processes cease at death, whereas 5-year-olds were unsystematic in their replies. Together, the two studies replicate and extend findings obtained with Western children showing that, in the course of development, different conceptions of death are elaborated—a biological conception in which death terminates living processes and a religious conception in which death marks the beginning of a new form of spiritual existence.     

Dizziness- and Palpitations-predominant Orthostatic Panic: Physiology,Flashbacks, and Catastrophic Cognitions

In an orthostatic challenge, Cambodian patients with orthostatic panic in the last month (OP patients) sometimes panicked during orthostatic challenge, whereas those without orthostatic panic in the last month (NOP patients) did not. Also, OP patients with primarily dizziness during orthostatic challenge panic (OP_OCP-D) had a less vigorous physiological response than two other groups: (a) OP patients with primarily palpitations during orthostatic challenge panic (OP_OCP-P) and (b) NOP patients who had no symptoms during orthostatic challenge (NOP_NOCP-NS). Among the patients experiencing orthostatic challenge–induced panic (i.e., the OP_OCP-D and OP_OCP-P patients), there were prominent orthostatic challenge–induced flashbacks and catastrophic cognitions, and the severity of orthostatic challenge–induced flashbacks and catastrophic cognitions correlated with the severity of orthostatic panic in the previous month and with the severity of orthostatic challenge–induced panic.     

Anxiety Symptoms and Fears in Hispanic and European American Children: Cross-Cultural Measurement Equivalence

The cross cultural equivalence of child (n = 217) and parent (n = 283) versions of the revised children’s manifest anxiety scale (RCMAS), multidimensional anxiety scale for children (MASC), and the fear survey schedule for children—revised (FSSC-R) was examined in Mexican youth in Mexico, and Hispanic and white European American youth in the USA. The RCMAS, MASC, and FSSC-R showed cross ethnic measurement equivalence. The Mexican and Hispanic youth reported more worries, and the Mexican youth reported more somatic symptoms than the European American youth. Per mother report, Mexican and Hispanic youth express more somatic symptoms than European American youth who also show the least number of fears of the unknown and fears of danger and death. The results support the validity of commonly used child anxiety measures with these populations and accrue evidence for greater anxiety and fear expression by Hispanic and Mexican youth in certain domains.

Diagnostic and Assessment Findings: A Bridge to Academic Planning for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Increasing numbers of children diagnosed and treated for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) has impacted both neuropsychologists and educators. Though both play key evaluative and treatment roles, there is no available method or process in place enabling the translation of the neuropsychological report recommendations into a format educational teams can easily use, leading to a gap between neuropsychological recommendations and educational planning. In the following, we review the areas evaluated by a neuropsychologist when assessing a child with an ASD, discuss the domains targeted by educational teams when designing an educational plan, and then present a process that has met with some success creating a "bridge" between the diagnostic/assessment process and the subsequent academic planning. Though presented in the context of ASD, the process described can be used by neuropsychologists for various populations to facilitate partnerships with educators that result in improved care for the child.