Examination of the Psychometric Properties of a Brief PTSD Measure on a French–Canadian Undergraduate Population

This study examines the psychometric properties of the French-Canadian Modified PTSD Symptom Scale (MPSS-FC) in a sample of French-Canadian undergraduates. Findings uncovered a 3-dimensional model for the Frequency and Severity scales, which shared factorial invariance. In addition, the MPSS-FC scales had adequate internal consistency and a satisfactory 5-week test-retest reliability. In view of its satisfactory psychometric properties, the MPSS-FC seems promising as a brief screening measure of PTSD. Indeed, the MPSS-FC as a stand-alone measure could be used with a population known to have been exposed to a traumatic event.     

Preschoolers search for hidden objects

The issue of whether young children use spatio-temporal information (e.g., movement of objects through time and space) and/or contact-mechanical information (e.g., interaction between objects) to search for a hidden object was investigated. To determine whether one cue can have priority over the other, a dynamic event that put these cues into conflict was created, with only spatio-temporal information being valid. The 3-year-olds used in the study were found to use the valid spatio-temporal cue exclusively and seemed to ignore the contact-mechanical cue. Both search behavior and eye tracking during the event support the view of a sophisticated sensitivity to the validity of a cue in indicating a target’s hidden location.     

Friendship Dissolution Within Social Networks Modeled Through Multilevel Event History Analysis

A social network perspective can bring important insight into the processes that shape human behavior. Longitudinal social network data, measuring relations between individuals over time, has become increasingly common—as have the methods available to analyze such data. A friendship duration model utilizing discrete-time multilevel survival analysis with a multiple membership random effect structure is developed and applied here to study the processes leading to undirected friendship dissolution within a larger social network. While the modeling framework is introduced in terms of understanding friendship dissolution, it can be used to understand microlevel dynamics of a social network more generally. These models can be fit with standard generalized linear mixed-model software, after transforming the data to a pair-period data set. An empirical example highlights how the model can be applied to understand the processes leading to friendship dissolution between high school students, and a simulation study is used to test the use of the modeling framework under representative conditions that would be found in social network data. Advantages of the modeling framework are highlighted, and potential limitations and future directions are discussed.     

Modeling storage and retrieval processes with clinical populations with applications examining alcohol-induced amnesia and Korsakoff amnesia

Multinomial processing tree models can provide for measures of underlying cognitive processes. In this paper, the Chechile [Chechile, R. A. (2004). New multinomial models for the Chechile-Meyer task. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 48, 364-384] 6P model is described and applied to several applications involving clinical populations. The model provides for separate measures of storage and retrieval. Monte Carlo studies were conducted to examine the relative accuracy of two methods for obtaining an overall condition estimate for the 6P model, i.e., averaging estimates found for individuals versus pooling the multinomial frequency data before estimating the model parameters. The sampling studies showed that the pooling of frequencies resulted in more accurate parameter estimates. However, psychological assessment in clinical psychology requires precise measurement on an individual basis. In order to recover information about individuals from pooled frequency information, a modified jackknife method was advanced. The jackknife method is based on a contrast between the overall pooled frequency information and the pool frequency without the observations from a single individual. Another series of Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate that the new jackknife method resulted in better recovery of the correct individual parameter values relative to estimates based on only the data from the individual. Finally, the 6P model was used to examine the data from two previously reported studies with clinical populations. One application addressed the effect of alcohol-induced amnesia, and the other application dealt with Korsakoff amnesia. In both cases the pattern of storage and retrieval measurements resulted in a clarification of the underlying storage and retrieval differences between the clinical group and the control group.     

明确嵌套集合关系对贝叶斯推理的促进效应

以经典的乳癌问题作为实验任务,通过两个实验分别探讨了有助于明确嵌套集合关系的逐步提问、树图表征等外部表征方式以及元认知调控和被试类型等因素对贝叶斯推理的影响。结果发现：(1)逐步提问对改善贝叶斯推理的成绩没有显著作用;(2)完整和不完整的树图表征显著地促进了推理成绩,但简约的树图表征的促进作用不显著;(3)叙述理由引发的元认知监控显著地促进了推理成绩。(4)文科和理科两组被试的推理成绩没有显著差异     

简单非一致:以再认启发式使用为例

再认启发式理论认为人们仅依赖再认做出决策。以两项高低不同再认预测力(效度)的任务为材料,选取初中生(N=138,M=14.1岁)和成年大学生(N=136,M=19.3岁)被试,探讨再认启发式使用特征。使用层级多项式加工树模型对数据进行分析,结果显示:(1)初中生较大学生认识的材料数更少或运用知识比较的正确率更低;(2)再认启发式使用存在被试异质性;(3)初中生再认启发式的使用低于大学生。结论:知识表现出随年龄增长的趋势,再认启发式的使用存在较大的个体差异和群体差异,决策时初中生相比大学生会更少依赖再认线索。     

It's not all in the face: reduced face visibility does not modulate social segmentation

Humans rely on social information to parse environmental content into social and nonsocial events. Here, we assessed if information conveyed by faces was necessary for this process. We asked participants to view a video clip depicting a social interaction and mark social and nonsocial events while actors’ faces were either visible or blurred. Keypress and eye-movement data were collected. Participants consistently identified social and nonsocial event boundaries independently of face availability, with greater agreement and less variability in keypresses for social relative to nonsocial events. Eye-tracking revealed that participants attended more to actors’ faces when they were visible and more to bodies when faces were blurred. Thus, face information is not necessary for social segmentation, which appears to be a flexible process that depends on a range of information conveyed by both faces and bodies.     

多项式加工树模型在社会心理学中的应用

多项式加工树（multinomial processing tree, MPT）从理论模型出发,使用多项式模型来拟合行为数据并估计理论模型中各个加工过程发生的可能性。该模型能够有效分离和量化不同心理过程,被广泛应用于社会认知研究之中,如态度、刻板印象等。本文首先介绍该模型的基本原理及其实现,并以道德判断为例说明其在社会心理学中的最新应用。最后,总结其对社会心理学研究的意义,即可以作为一种方法提高研究的效度和精度,具有较高的实用价值,并指出其潜在不足。     

For the Healing of the Nations

This meditation on Revelation 22:1‐5, preached at the conclusion of the World Council of Churches' 9th Assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil, holds up the vision of a world in transformation, and of a life‐giving river that nourishes the earth and all creation, and that cannot be privatized or exploited for the benefit of a few, and that flows freely and directly from the throne of God. The theme of the 9th Assembly was “God, in your grace, transform the world.” It is a prayer that carries, as most prayers do, a confession of faith that the world needs to be transformed and can be transformed.