Genetic and environmental influences on aggression in 4- to 7-year-old twins

Aggressive behaviors of 38 twin pairs (21 monozygotic [MZ], 17 dizygotic [DZ]) between the ages of 4 and 7 years were assessed through mothers' ratings and observations in their homes. An observation checklist was developed in which mothers were asked to observe and report each child's specific aggressive behaviors for a total of 6 hours spread over 3 days. In particular the observations focused on the following behaviors: rejection, destructiveness, negativism, noncompliance, teasing, physical negative, insult, verbal threat, and yelling. Biometrical genetic analysis evidenced significant heritable influences on composite aggression scores in both the observation checklist and the mothers' ratings; heritability estimates varied from.24 to.94 depending on the aggression nieasnre used, with scores from the mothers' observations demonstrating smaller genetic effect than those of the parental ratings of the environmental sources of variance, within-family factors were far more important than the between-family ones. The results also yielded significant sex and zygosity differences for means of some of the specific aggressive behaviors, where males and DZ twins scored higher than females and MZ twins. It was suggested that future studies should include more detailed investigations of the context in which specific aggressive behaviors occur and the sources toward which they are directed in order to determine the extent to which different types of aggression may have different etiologies.     

Seeing how it’s done: matching conditions for observer rats (Rattus norvegicus) in the bidirectional control

In an attempt to increase the reliability of the demonstrator-consistent responding effect produced in the bidirectional control procedure, experiments 1–4 sought conditions that would magnify the matching effect. The aim was to produce a robust demonstrator-consistent responding effect in order that future analytic experiments could investigate the psychological processes responsible for this effect. The joystick responses of observer rats trained using the standard bidirectional control procedure parameters were compared with those of observers subject to conditions identified in the social learning literature as favourable for imitation. Unlike mice, observer rats in experiments 1 a and 1 b tended to push a joystick in the same direction as their demonstrators when the demonstrators were either familiar or unfamiliar males and females. Comparable demonstrator-consistent responding occurred following observation of a standard and a salient joystick response (experiment 2). Experiment 3 showed that the discriminative accuracy of a demonstrator’s responding was important for matching behaviour, and suggested that matching might be enhanced with more than the conventional single observation session. Experiment 4 confirmed that the bidirectional control effect is sensitive to the amount of observational experience; after six observation sessions, demonstrator-inconsistent responding occurs. The results of experiments 1–3 are, and those of experiment 4 are not, compatible with the hypothesis that demonstrator-consistent responding in the bidirectional control is caused by olfactory cues deposited by demonstrators on the joystick. Received: 29 May 2000 / Accepted after revision: 28 August 2000     

Prospective prediction of academic performance in college using self- and informant-rated personality traits

Five-factor personality ratings were provided by undergraduate freshmen, their parents, and their college peers as predictors of cumulative GPA upon graduation. Conscientiousness ratings were significant predictors of GPA by all three raters; peer ratings of Conscientiousness were the only significant predictor of GPA when self-, parent-, and peer-ratings of Conscientiousness were examined simultaneously. College major was a moderator of this relationship, with self- and parent-ratings of Conscientiousness correlating more strongly with GPA among Social Science majors and parent-ratings of Conscientiousness correlating less strongly with GPA among Science majors. These findings replicate existing research regarding the validity of informant ratings as predictors of behavioral outcomes such as academic performance, while emphasizing the importance of including multiple informants from various life contexts.     

Social desirability in personality inventories: Symptoms,diagnosis and prescribed cure

An analysis of social desirability in personality assessment is presented. Starting with the symptoms, Study 1 showed that mean ratings of graded personality items are moderately to strongly linearly related to social desirability (Self Deception, Impression formation, and the first Principal Component), suggesting that item popularity may be a useful heuristic tool for identifying items which elicit socially desirable responding. We diagnose the cause of socially desirable responding as an interaction between the evaluative content of the item and enhancement motivation in the rater. Study 2 introduced a possible cure; evaluative neutralization of items. To test the feasibility of the method lay psychometricians (undergraduates) reformulated existing personality test items according to written instructions. The new items were indeed lower in social desirability while essentially retaining the five factor structure and reliability of the inventory. We conclude that although neutralization is no miracle cure, it is simple and has beneficial effects.     

Social comparisons and quality of life among survivors of childhood cancer and their mothers

Abstract

Sixty-three survivors of childhood cancer (mean age 17 years), currently well and off-treatment, and their mothers were interviewed individually about their experiences and the impact of their illness on their lives. Survivors also completed four questionnaire measures of different aspects of quality of life (perceptions of illness experience, future worries, health problems and body image satisfaction), whereas mothers recorded their perceptions of their child's quality of life on the same four scales. These scales showed good internal consistency and convergent validity for both survivors and mothers. Mothers also completed a measure of their own quality of life (the SF-36). The interviews with both survivors and mothers were content-analysed for statements expressing social comparisons. These statements were coded according to whether the comparison implied a favourable, neutral or unfavourable evaluation of the individual survivor. Mothers who made a higher proportion of unfavourable comparisons reported worse adjustment for their child on all four scales and described their own quality of life more negatively. Among survivors, those who made a higher proportion of unfavourable comparisons gave significantly more negative self-ratings on one of the four scales. Correlations between survivors' and mothers' ratings on the four scales were positive, but comparatively low. This reinforces concerns about using parents as proxy judges of young people's quality of life, although the correlations were more satisfactory in the case of younger rather than older (>18.5 years) survivors. Mothers who rated their own quality of life as less satisfactory reported more problems for their child on all four scales, irrespective of how the survivors described themselves.     

Polite Girls and Creative Boys? Students' Gender Moderates Accuracy of Teachers' Ratings of Creativity

The aim of this study was to examine whether, and to what extent, teachers are able to recognize the creativity of their students. The study measured the creative abilities, creative attitude, creative activity, as well as intrinsic motivation, intelligence, and school functioning of 589 Polish high school students, while their teachers (N = 178) rated students' creativity. The structural equation model (SEM) demonstrated that the accuracy of teachers' ratings of students' creativity is generally low—the latent factor of students' creativity reliably, however weakly, predicted teachers' ratings. The accuracy of teachers' ratings was moderated by gender: Only in the case of male students did the latent creativity factor reliably predict teachers' ratings. Students' school functioning emerged as a key factor positively associated with the perception of students as creative.     

Effectiveness of virtual reality distraction during a painful medical procedure in pediatric oncology patients

The effectiveness of virtual reality (VR) as a behavioral intervention designed to decrease distress during port access procedure was examined in 20 7- to 14-year-old pediatric oncology patients. Children were randomized to either engage in an immersive VR environment during the procedure or to a no VR control condition. Children's distress was assessed through subjective self-ratings and objective physiological and behavioral ratings. Narrative accounts of the experience were used as a measure of how well the child coped with the procedure. VR was effective in reducing children's distress on all measures. Implications of these findings for intervention are discussed.     

Measuring and testing awareness of emotional face expressions

Comparison of behavioural measures of consciousness has attracted much attention recently. In a recent article, Szczepanowski et al. conclude that confidence ratings (CR) predict accuracy better than both the perceptual awareness scale (PAS) and post-decision wagering (PDW) when using stimuli with emotional content (fearful vs. neutral faces). Although we find the study interesting, we disagree with the conclusion that CR is superior to PAS because of two methodological issues. First, the conclusion is not based on a formal test. We performed this test and found no evidence that CR predicted accuracy better than PAS (p = .4). Second, Szczepanowski et al. used the present version of PAS in a manner somewhat different from how it was originally intended, and the participants may not have been adequately instructed. We end our commentary with a set of recommendations for future studies using PAS.     

Behavioural and Emotional Development in Children of Divorce

This study reports on teacher perceptions of the impact of parental divorce on behaviour and emotional development in children of divorce. Participants were a purposive sampling of 80 primary school learners with parental divorce experience and a comparison group of 40 others from typical or intact families (n = 120: males = 64; females = 56; age range = 6 to 12 years). Teachers completed the Conners' Rating Scales—Revised (CRS—R: Conners, 1998; Casat et al., 1999) on each of the learners. The findings suggest that teachers perceive younger children from divorced parents were more likely to have emotional and behavioural challenges than those from intact families. By contrast, teachers perceived older children from intact were to have emotional and behavioural difficulties.     

职务绩效评估的因果模型

职务绩效评估是人力资源管理中的一个关键问题。本文着重介绍了几种有关职务绩效评估的因果模型 ,揭示了这些模型的演变过程及其背后的理论变化。同时也指出了以往研究在理论、方法和研究范围上的一些不足 ,并对今后的研究提出了建议。