期望差异:危机中的风险沟通障碍

期望差异效应指同一情境中各方期望之间的差异所导致的人际冲突.期望差异,包含维度和程度差异两个成分,不可避免且不易为个体所察觉,还可能在群体环境中被强化;在危机情境下,期望差异与风险沟通障碍之间极易形成恶性循环.个体的角色、对信息的知觉、所具有的知识在维度上;心理权利、信任在程度上会对期望差异产生影响并导致沟通障碍.打破思维定势能有效减小期望差异并启动风险沟通的良性循环,在危机管理中具有重要意义.     

A cognitive cascade in infancy: Pathways from prematurity to later mental development

Using data from a longitudinal study of preterms and full-terms, the present study examined the structure of infant cognition at 12 months, the extent to which five 12-month abilities (attention, processing speed, recognition, recall, and representational competence) mediated the relation from prematurity to mental development at 2–3 years, and how continuity and change in infant information processing from 7 to 12 months affected later outcome. The results indicated that 12-month measures of infant information processing completely mediated the effect of prematurity on outcome and the infant measures form a ‘cognitive cascade’, similar to that seen at 7 months, in which the two more elementary abilities (attention and speed) influenced the more complex ones, which in turn influenced later cognition. Additionally, despite cross-age stability, 7-month assessments contribute to outcome independently of their 12-month counterparts, suggesting that infant abilities undergo important developmental transformations in the second half of the first year of life.     

Comparison of Tetradic WAIS-III Short Forms in Predicting Full Scale IQ Scores in Neuropsychiatric Clinic Settings

Patients from two neuropsychology clinics (n = 283) were divided into model development (n = 189) and validation samples (n = 94) with proportional representation from each clinic. Three regression based models of four WAIS-III subtests were developed and cross-validated to evaluate their FSIQ estimation accuracy: (1) an optimized stepwise regression model derived from the development sample (Comprehension, Matrix Reasoning, Similarities, and Picture Arrangement), (2) an a priori WASI based model (Similarities, Matrix Reasoning, Vocabulary, and Block Design), and (3) an a priori model with relatively rapidly administered subtests from each Index Score factor of the WAIS-III (Information, Picture Completion, Arithmetic, and Digit Symbol-Coding). The models produced good (92 to 97%) FSIQ estimation accuracy within 10 points of FSIQ with none of these models performing significantly better than another. The utility of clinical use of short form FSIQ estimation is a function of accuracy needed versus administration time reduction and ease for the patient.     

A re-examination of the algebraic properties of the AHP as a ratio-scaling technique

The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) ratio-scaling approach is re-examined in view of the recent developments in mathematical psychology based on the so-called separable representations. The study highlights the distortions in the estimates based on the maximum eigenvalue method used in the AHP distinguishing the contributions due to random noises from the effects due to the nonlinearity of the subjective weighting function of separable representations. The analysis is based on the second order expansion of the Perron eigenvector and Perron eigenvalue in reciprocally symmetric matrices with perturbations. The asymptotic distributions of the Perron eigenvector and Perron eigenvalue are derived and related to the eigenvalue-based index of cardinal consistency used in the AHP. The results show the limits of using the latter index as a rule to assess the quality of the estimates of a ratio scale. The AHP method to estimate the ratio scales is compared with the classical ratio magnitude approach used in psychophysics.     

Factor structure and sex differences on the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence in China, Japan and United States

This study presents data on the factor structure of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI) and sex and cultural differences in WPPSI test scores among 5- and 6-year-olds from China, Japan, and the United States. Results show the presence of a verbal and nonverbal factor structure across all three countries. Sex differences on the 10 subtests were generally consistent, with a male advantage on a subtest of spatial abilities (Mazes). Males in the Chinese sample obtained significantly higher Full Scale IQ scores than females and had lower variability in their test scores. These observations were not present in the Japan and United States samples. Mean Full Scale IQ score in the Chinese sample was 104.1, representing a 4-point increase from 1988 to 2004.     

Finding the g-factor in brain structure using the method of correlated vectors

It is unclear whether brain mechanisms underlying human intelligence are distributed throughout the brain or mainly concentrated in the frontal lobes. Data are inconsistent possibly due, at least in part, to the different ways the construct of intelligence is measured. Here we apply the method of correlated vectors to determine how the general factor of intelligence (g) is related to regional gray matter and white matter volumes. This is a re-analysis of an earlier study showing regional gray matter and white matter volume is correlated to Full Scale IQ (FSIQ). However, it is well-known that FSIQ taps several cognitive abilities and skills in addition to g. The results now show that the g factor accounts for several but not all FSIQ/gray matter correlations distributed throughout the brain and these areas may differ for young and older adults.     

Changes over time in the black–white difference on mental tests: Evidence from the children of the 1979 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth

Data for three Peabody achievement tests and for the Peabody picture vocabulary test administered to children of women in the 1979 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth show that the black–white difference did not diminish for this sample of children born from the mid 1970s through the mid 1990s. This finding persists after entering covariates for the child's age and family background variables. It is robust across alternative samples and specifications of the model. The analysis supplements other evidence that shows no narrowing of the black–white difference in academic achievement tests since the late 1980s and is inconsistent with recent evidence that narrowing occurred in IQ standardizations during the same period. A hypothesis for reconciling this inconsistency is proposed.     

Non-verbal IQ is correlated with visual field advantages for short duration coherent motion detection in deaf signers with varied ASL exposure and etiologies of deafness

Studies have reported a right visual field (RVF) advantage for coherent motion detection by deaf and hearing signers but not non-signers. Yet two studies [Bosworth R. G., & Dobkins, K. R. (2002). Visual field asymmetries for motion processing in deaf and hearing signers. Brain and Cognition, 49, 170-181; Samar, V. J., & Parasnis, I. (2005). Dorsal stream deficits suggest hidden dyslexia among deaf poor readers: Correlated evidence from reduced perceptual speed and elevated coherent motion detection thresholds. Brain and Cognition, 58, 300-311.] reported a small, non-significant RVF advantage for deaf signers when short duration motion stimuli were used (200-250 ms). Samar and Parasnis (2005) reported that this small RVF advantage became significant when non-verbal IQ was statistically controlled. This paper presents extended analyses of the correlation between non-verbal IQ and visual field asymmetries in the data set of Samar and Parasnis (2005). We speculate that this correlation might plausibly be driven by individual differences either in age of acquisition of American Sign Language (ASL) or in the degree of neurodevelopmental insult associated with various etiologies of deafness. Limited additional analyses are presented that indicate a need for further research on the cause of this apparent IQ-laterality relationship. Some potential implications of this relationship for lateralization studies of deaf signers are discussed. Controlling non-verbal IQ may improve the reliability of short duration coherent motion tasks to detect adaptive dorsal stream lateralization due to exposure to ASL in deaf research participants.