Different subjective awareness measures demonstrate the influence of visual identification on perceptual awareness ratings

We compare four subjective awareness measures in the context of a visual identification task and investigate quantitative differences in terms of scale use and correlation with task performance. We also analyse the effect of identification task decisions on subsequent subjective reports. Results show that awareness ratings strongly predict accuracy for all scale types, although the type of awareness measure may influence the reported level of perceptual awareness. Surprisingly, the overall relationship between awareness ratings and performance was weaker when participants rated their awareness before providing identification responses. Furthermore, the Perceptual Awareness Scale was most exhaustive only when used after the identification task, whereas confidence ratings were most exhaustive when used before the identification task. We conclude that the type of subjective measure applied may influence the reports on visual awareness. We also propose that identification task decisions may affect subsequent awareness ratings.     

Category-specific enhancement of retrieval due to field perspective

Two memory perspectives have been distinguished: A field perspective where events are re-experienced in the first person, and an observer perspective where events are witnessed in the third person. Two experiments examined the influence of memory perspective on objective memory performance. In both experiments participants were presented with a series of verbal passages, each of which contained several different categories of information. For four of these categories (pertaining to affective reactions, physical sensations, psychological states, and associated ideas), recall was significantly higher when a field perspective was adopted than when an observer perspective was adopted, but for the five other categories (pertaining to physical actions, personal appearance, fine details, spatial relations, and peripheral details) there was no significant effect of perspective upon recall. The study is examined in the context of mental models and imagined episodic events.     

Age-related differences in guessing on free and forced recall tests

This study examined possible age-related differences in recall, guessing, and metacognition on free recall tests and forced recall tests. Participants studied categorised and unrelated word lists and were asked to recall the items under one of the following test conditions: standard free recall, free recall with a penalty for guessing, free recall with no penalty for guessing, or forced recall. The results demonstrated interesting age differences regarding the impact of liberal test instructions (i.e., forced recall and no penalty) relative to more conservative test instructions (i.e., standard free recall and penalty) on memory performance. Specifically, once guessing was controlled, younger adults’ recall of categorised lists varied in accordance with test instructions while older adults’ recall of categorised lists did not differ between conservative and liberal test instructions, presumably because older adults approach standard free recall tests of categorised lists with a greater propensity towards guessing than young adults.     

The Dimensionality of Contextual and Citizenship Performance in Military Recruits: Support for Nine Dimensions Using Self-, Peer,and Supervisor Ratings

Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Contextual Performance make up a domain that can be referred to as Contextual and Citizenship Performance (CCP). CCP is essential to assess and promote in military and civilian organizations because it defines the “good soldier” prototype. Unfortunately, extant research has led to confusion as to whether CCP consists of one, two, three, six, or nine dimensions. We shed new light on the composition of CCP by evaluating one-, two-, three-, six-, and nine-dimensional theoretical models using supervisor, self-, and peer ratings of military recruits undergoing basic training. We employed Relative Percentile Method ratings to improve distinctions among ratees when the level of CCP is high. Contrary to much recent literature, our results supported a nine-dimensional theoretical model in all three rating sources. Thus, conceptualizing, assessing and promoting the proverbial “good soldier” may require a more highly nuanced perspective of CCP than is generally acknowledged.     

Cultural Values and Performance Appraisal: Assessing the Effects of Rater Self-Construal on Performance Ratings

Much of the prior research investigating the influence of cultural values on performance ratings has focused either on conducting cross-national comparisons among raters or using cultural level individualism/collectivism scales to measure the effects of cultural values on performance ratings. Recent research has shown that there is considerable within country variation in cultural values, i.e. people in one country can be more individualistic or collectivistic in nature. Taking the latter perspective, the present study used Markus and Kitayama's (1991) conceptualization of independent and interdependent self-construals as measures of individual variations in cultural values to investigate within culture variations in performance ratings. Results suggest that rater self-construal has a significant influence on overall performance evaluations; specifically, raters with a highly interdependent self-construal tend to show a preference for interdependent ratees, whereas raters high on independent self-construal do not show a preference for specific type of ratees when making overall performance evaluations. Although rater self-construal significantly influenced overall performance evaluations, no such effects were observed for specific dimension ratings. Implications of these results for performance appraisal research and practice are discussed.     

Don’t be afraid of the General Factor of Personality (GFP): Its relationship with behavioral inhibition and anxiety symptoms in children

Two studies examined the relationship between the General Factor of Personality (GFP) and behavioral inhibition and anxiety symptoms in primary school children. The GFP is assumed to reflect effectiveness in interaction with others. In Study 1, using self-reports and parent ratings of 226 non-clinical children, we found GFP scores to be negatively related to behavioral inhibition and anxiety symptoms. In Study 2 we compared non-clinical children (N = 81) with children with anxiety disorders (N = 45). In both groups we obtained child and parent ratings. The clinically referred children scored significantly lower on the GFP than the non-clinical children. Moreover, as in Study 1, higher GFP scores were associated with lower levels of behavioral inhibition and anxiety symptoms. The two studies support the view that the GFP is a relevant construct in anxiety proneness and anxiety problems.     

Early—but modest—gender differences in focal aspects of childhood temperament

The best evidence for gender differences in child temperament is in the broad areas of effortful control and surgency, and to an extent negative affectivity, domains that encompass temperament dimensions of inhibitory control, activity level, and shyness. We examined the influence of child gender in a methodologically comprehensively assessed twin sample. We used mother, father, and Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB) ratings to assess temperament in 3 year-olds. Boys had higher levels of activity level and lower levels of shyness and inhibitory control than girls across all methods of assessment. Then, more rigorous testing showed that patterns of mean gender differences for opposite-sex twin pairs in our sample were very consistent with overall sample gender differences and the magnitude of these gender differences was consistent across assessment methodology. We then asked: are these more gendered dimensions of temperament associated with one another, and are associations different across gender? The answer to both questions is, yes. Shyer children have lower activity level and higher inhibitory control, and those with higher inhibitory control are less active. Gender differences did appear in the intercorrelations between parent ratings of shyness and inhibitory control with only girls showing significant associations within and across these dimensions.     

Kindergarten Reading Engagement

ABSTRACT

This study examined psychometric properties of the Kindergarten Reading Engagement Scale (KRES), a brief teacher-report measure of classroom reading engagement. Participants were 27 students with identified reading deficits from a predominantly low-income, African-American community. Data were collected in kindergarten (Time 1) and first grade (Time 2). The KRES demonstrated strong internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .96) and modest test-retest reliability (r = .66). KRES ratings were significantly correlated with scores from the Word Reading subtest of the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Second Edition and the Sound Matching subtest of the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing, measured at Time 1 and Time 2. Strategies for refining the scale and implications for applying the KRES in school-based program evaluations are discussed.     

Parent Ratings of ADHD Symptoms: Differential Symptom Functioning Across Malaysian Malay and Chinese Children

This study examined differential symptom functioning (DSF) in ADHD symptoms across Malay and Chinese children in Malaysia. Malay (N=571) and Chinese (N=254) parents completed the Disruptive Behavior Rating Scale, which lists the DSM-IV ADHD symptoms. DSF was examined using the multiple indicators multiple causes (MIMIC) structural equation modeling procedure. Although DSF was found for a single inattention (IA) symptom and three hyperactivity-impulsivity (HI) symptoms, all these differences had low effect sizes. Controlling for these DSF, Chinese children had higher IA and HI latent factor scores. However the effect sizes were small. Together, these findings suggest adequate support for invariance of the ADHD symptoms across these ethno-cultural groups. The implications of the findings for cross-cultural invariance of the ADHD symptoms are discussed.     

Parent and Teacher Ratings on the IOWA Conners Rating Scale

The IOWA Conners Rating Scale is a widely used brief measure of inattentive-impulsive-overactive (IO) and oppositional-defiant (OD) behavior in children. This study examined the psychometric properties of this measure when completed by mothers and teachers. Results of confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a three-factor solution, conforming to current DSM-IV formulations of the disruptive behavior disorders, provided a better fit to the observed data than the currently used two-factor model, in which no distinction is made between inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive behaviors. Both new and currently used scale scores had good internal consistency and test–retest reliability and showed that boys’ scores were significantly higher than girls’ scores. Results held for both mother and teacher ratings. Clinical cutoff scores were proposed and performed reasonably well to screen for ADHD and ODD. Results support the IOWA Conners as a screening measure for the disruptive behavior disorders or as a tool for monitoring treatment response.