Differential Associations Between Psychopathy Dimensions,Types of Aggression,and Response Inhibition

Findings on executive functioning in psychopathy are inconsistent. Different associations between psychopathy dimensions and executive functioning might explain contradicting findings. This study examined the role of psychopathy dimensions and types of aggression in response inhibition among 117 male adolescents (53 antisocial delinquents and 64 controls). Participants completed a self‐report measure of aggression and a GoNoGo task. Psychopathy dimensions were assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version. Although high scores on the antisocial dimension and reactive aggression were associated with poor response inhibition, the affective–interpersonal dimension, proactive aggression, and verbal intelligence (IQ) were related to better response inhibition (two‐factor model). Associations with the affective–interpersonal dimensions did not reach significance. Exploratory analyses showed that affective and antisocial facets accounted for the obtained opposing associations of the affective–interpersonal and antisocial psychopathy dimensions with response inhibition. The interpersonal and lifestyle facets (four‐facet model) were unrelated to response inhibition. Results could not be explained by Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Findings suggest differential associations between the psychopathy dimensions, types of aggression, and response inhibition. Therefore, a dimensional approach to psychopathy and related concepts, such as aggression, might strongly improve diagnostic procedures. Global scores could mask important differential associations. Aggr. Behav. 38:77‐88, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Ni Pardo,Ni Prieto: The Influence of Parental Skin Color Messaging on Heterosexual Emerging Adult White-Hispanic Women's Dating Beliefs

The influence of Hispanic parental processes on daughters' intimate relationships have been widely studied in the psychology literature. However, although skin color values have been found to directly inform dating preferences, research examining the influence of parental skin color beliefs is non-existent. Thirty-four emerging adult Hispanic women participated in this qualitative study which examined their beliefs about parental skin color beliefs on dating preference decision-making processes. The study revealed that parents encouraged daughters to select partners with lighter skin. Significant differences between the ways parents and daughters constructed skin color meanings were noted, although daughters' potential partner skin color preferences were mixed. Results indicate that cultural competency training for clinicians should include understandings of meanings and values given to skin color. Therapeutic considerations for addressing skin color concerns with Hispanic female clients, including parental influences, within group differences and validation of skin color values, are addressed.     

Neuroscientific Measures of Covert Behavior

In radical behaviorism, the difference between overt and covert responses does not depend on properties of the behavior but on the sensitivity of the measurement tools employed by the experimenter. Current neuroscientific research utilizes technologies that allow measurement of variables that are undetected by the tools typically used by behavior analysts. Data from a specific neuroscientific technique, event-related potential (ERP), suggest that emission of otherwise covert responses can be indexed and that such covert responses are sensitive to stimulus control and selection by consequences. The P3 ERP effect is proposed as indicative of emission. Moreover, ERP results in semantic priming experiments suggest that operants are sensitive to changes in stimulus control even when they are not emitted (latent responses). Changes in response strength of latent responses as a function of stimulus control can in fact be measured by reaction time data and an ERP dependent variable called the N400 effect. If the interpretations provided in this paper are accurate, an index of covertly emitted operants (P3 effect) constitutes experimental evidence suggesting the validity of a Skinnerian radical behaviorist perspective on behavior. Moreover, in a Skinnerian paradigm, measured fluctuations in the response strength of latent operants as a function of environmental changes (N400 effect) would validate Palmer's (2009) concept of the repertoire.     

Latent variable selection in multidimensional item response theory models using the expectation model selection algorithm

The aim of latent variable selection in multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) models is to identify latent traits probed by test items of a multidimensional test. In this paper the expectation model selection (EMS) algorithm proposed by Jiang et al. (2015) is applied to minimize the Bayesian information criterion (BIC) for latent variable selection in MIRT models with a known number of latent traits. Under mild assumptions, we prove the numerical convergence of the EMS algorithm for model selection by minimizing the BIC of observed data in the presence of missing data. For the identification of MIRT models, we assume that the variances of all latent traits are unity and each latent trait has an item that is only related to it. Under this identifiability assumption, the convergence of the EMS algorithm for latent variable selection in the multidimensional two-parameter logistic (M2PL) models can be verified. We give an efficient implementation of the EMS for the M2PL models. Simulation studies show that the EMS outperforms the EM-based L₁ regularization in terms of correctly selected latent variables and computation time. The EMS algorithm is applied to a real data set related to the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire.     

Reliability coefficients for multiple group item response theory models

Reliability of scores from psychological or educational assessments provides important information regarding the precision of measurement. The reliability of scores is however population dependent and may vary across groups. In item response theory, this population dependence can be attributed to differential item functioning or to differences in the latent distributions between groups and needs to be accounted for when estimating the reliability of scores for different groups. Here, we introduce group-specific and overall reliability coefficients for sum scores and maximum likelihood ability estimates defined by a multiple group item response theory model. We derive confidence intervals using asymptotic theory and evaluate the empirical properties of estimators and the confidence intervals in a simulation study. The results show that the estimators are largely unbiased and that the confidence intervals are accurate with moderately large sample sizes. We exemplify the approach with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) in two groups defined by education level and give recommendations for applied work.     

Intolerance of uncertainty and novelty facilitated extinction: The impact of reinforcement schedule

Individuals who score high in intolerance of uncertainty (IU) display reduced threat extinction. Recently, it was shown that replacing threat associations with novel associations during extinction learning (i.e., presenting a novel tone 100% of the time) can promote threat extinction retention in individuals with high IU. This novelty facilitated extinction (NFE) effect could be driven by the tone's novelty or reliability. Here, we sought to address this question by adjusting the reliability of the novel tone (i.e., the reinforcement rate) during NFE. We measured skin conductance response during an associative learning task in which participants (n = 92) were assigned to one of three experimental groups: standard extinction, NFE 100% reinforcement, or NFE 50% reinforcement. For standard extinction, compared to NFE 100% and 50% reinforcement groups, we observed a trend for greater recovery of the conditioned response during extinction retention. Individuals with high IU relative to low IU in the standard extinction group demonstrated a larger recovery of the conditioned response during extinction retention. These findings tentatively suggest that NFE effects are driven by the novelty rather than the reliability of the new stimulus. The implications of these findings for translational and clinical research in anxiety disorder pathology are discussed.     

子女越孝顺老年人越幸福吗?老年人孝道期待的作用

孝道是影响老年人幸福感的重要变量之一, 然而, 以往研究却得出相互矛盾的结论, 其中可能的重要原因之一是没有聚焦老年人孝道期待的实现程度。采用二次响应面回归分析探究老年人孝道期待和子女孝道支持行为之间的匹配度对老年人生活满意度和孤独感的影响。研究结果表明, 对于生活满意度而言, 和不匹配相比, 情感期待和情感支持以及联络期待和联络支持匹配时老年人生活满意度更高; 在期待和支持匹配的情况下, 生活满意度随信息期待和信息支持的增加而提高; 并且老年人的生活满意度仅随工具支持的增加而提高, 但与工具期待没有关系。对于孤独感而言, 在情感期待和情感支持二者不匹配时, 较于情感期待低于情感支持, 情感期待高于情感支持时老年人的孤独感更高; 孤独感仅随联络支持和信息支持的增加而降低, 与联络期待、信息期待、工具期待以及工具支持没有关系。该研究得出以下结论：老年人孝道期待的实现程度是提高其生活满意度的重要因素, 而情感期待高于情感支持是影响老年人孤独感的重要因素。     

Assessment of data glasses for motorcycle riders in a simulated lane change test

Relevant riding information such as speed or navigation instructions are typically displayed in head down dashboards on Powered Two-Wheelers. Data glasses provide information directly in the field of view and could, therefore, reduce glances away from the roadway ahead to focus on the dashboard. This study aimed to examine whether providing information in data glasses while riding as compared to classical head down displays makes a difference. Therefore, a total of N = 24 riders completed the ISO lane change test on a motorcycle riding simulator. Meanwhile, riders had to react to changing turn-by-turn indications which were either displayed in the dashboard, in the data glasses or redundantly in both display technologies. The performance in the lane change test and the reaction times achieved in the secondary task were examined along with riders’ workload by means of the Detection Response Task (DRT) and questionnaire data. Results revealed that riders’ lane change performances did not differ between the conditions ‘data glasses’ and ‘dashboard’. Information displayed in the data glasses was recognized faster and fewer turn-by-turn indications were missed. The performance in the DRT remained unchanged throughout the test conditions, while the subjective workload experience decreased with the use of data glasses. Overall, the results suggest that data glasses did not provoke an attentional capture effect and were, therefore, not inferior compared to dashboards regarding riding performance. However, data glasses did reduce the perceived workload and may in particular provide a safety benefit when time-critical information, such as warnings, need to be displayed.     

Cues and categories: Revisiting paths to racial phenotypicality bias

We conducted a targeted review of the literature exploring racial phenotypicality bias (RPB): perceivers' sensitivity to within-race variation in facial target features in perceptions and judgment of others. This review revealed evidence that two distinct mechanisms underlying these effects, categorical and featural, tend to be conflated in the literature. The categorical route suggests that the pathway from target cues to stereotype application is mediated by category activation. The featural route suggests that the pathway from target cues to stereotype application is direct, bypassing category activation. The categorical route is more closely represented when researchers discuss RPB, and more often of empirical focus. With a focus on research exploring RPB toward African American people, we explain the two routes and evidence supporting their distinction. We next offer evidence estimating the degree to which they may be conflated in the empirical literature and discuss limitations to our approach. Next, we describe some potential implications of this conflation for theory, research, and applications concerning RPB. Finally, we end with some recommendations for future empirical research.