Predicting Self‐Confident Behaviour with Implicit and Explicit Self‐Esteem Measures

The present research compared the validity of popular direct and indirect measures of self‐esteem in predicting self‐confident behaviour in different social situations. In line with behavioural dual‐process models, both implicit and explicit self‐esteem were hypothesized to be related to appearing self‐confident to unacquainted others. A total of 127 participants responded to the Rosenberg Self‐Esteem Scale, the Multidimensional Self‐Esteem Scale, and an adjective scale for measuring explicit self‐esteem (ESE). Participants' implicit self‐esteem (ISE) was assessed with four indirect measures: the Implicit Association Test (IAT), the name‐letter task (NLT), and two variants of an affective priming task, the reaction‐time affective priming task (RT‐APT) and the error‐based affective priming task (EB‐APT). Self‐confident behaviour was observed in four different social situations: (i) self‐introduction to a group; (ii) an ostracism experience; (iii) an interview about the ostracism experience; and (iv) an interview about one's personal life. In general, appearing self‐confident to unknown others was independently predicted by ESE and ISE. The indirect measures of self‐esteem were, as expected, not correlated, and only the self‐esteem APTs—but not the self‐esteem IAT or the NLT—predicted self‐confident behaviours. It is important to note that in particular the predictive power of the self‐esteem EB‐APT pertained to all four criteria and was incremental to the ESE measures. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Psychological adjustment to cleft lip and/or palate: A narrative review of the literature

Objective: Adjustment to cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) is multifaceted, involving several domains of psychological and social functioning. A substantial increase in research in this area has been evident in recent years, along with a preliminary shift in how adjustment to CL/P is conceptualised and measured. An updated and comprehensive review of the literature is needed in light of the rapidly expanding and changing field.

Design: A narrative review of 148 quantitative and qualitative studies published between January 2004 and July 2015.

Main outcome measures: Findings are presented according to five key domains of adjustment: Developmental Trajectory, Behaviour, Emotional Well-being, Social Experiences and Satisfaction with Appearance and Treatment. Data pertaining to General Psychological Well-being were also examined.

Results: The overall impact of CL/P on psychological adjustment appears to be low. Nonetheless, the review demonstrates the complexity of findings both within and across domains, and highlights recurring methodological challenges.

Conclusions: Research findings from the last decade are considered to be largely inconclusive, although some areas of emerging consensus and improvements in the approaches used were identified. Efforts to collect data from large, representative and longitudinal samples, which are comparable across studies and encompassing of the patient perspective, should be doubled.     

Changes over time in head and neck cancer patients’ and caregivers’ illness perceptions and relationships with quality of life

Objective: This study investigated changes in illness perceptions from diagnosis to six months later in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) and their caregivers. The study also examined whether discrepancy in patient and caregiver perceptions at diagnosis predicted patient health-related quality of life (HRQL) at six months.

Design: Forty-two patient–caregiver dyads completed the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (Brief IPQ) at diagnosis and again six months later. Patients also completed a HRQL questionnaire at both time points. Analyses were performed using the Actor–Partner Interdependence Model.

Main Outcome Measure: Total patient HRQL assessed by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT-H&N).

Results: Perceptions of emotional impact and illness concern reduced over time in patients and caregivers. Perceptions of treatment control and identity increased in caregivers only. After controlling for the effects of baseline HRQL, and the individual contribution of patient and caregiver illness perceptions, greater discrepancy in perceptions of timeline, personal control, and illness identity among dyads at diagnosis predicted lower patient HRQL at six-month follow-up.

Conclusion: Patients’ and their caregivers’ perceptions of HNC are dynamic over time. Greater discrepancy between patients’ and caregivers’ illness perceptions at diagnosis predict poorer subsequent patient HRQL.     

Test of memory malingering with children: The utility of Trial 1 and TOMMe10 as screeners of test validity

There is a growing body of research suggesting that the shorter versions of the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) may provide an accurate assessment of effort in children. During neuropsychological evaluations, some circumstances result in only one completed trial of the TOMM or partial completion of a trial. Research suggests that a cut-score of 40 or 41 on Trial1 is highly predictive of passing the TOMM overall. In the current study, 194 school-age children with academic and/or behavioral problems were used to compare the accuracy of TOMM1 and TOMMe10 (errors on the first 10 items of TOMM1) in predicting passing/failing of TOMM2. For the children in this sample, a score of < 40 items correct (≥ 10 errors) on TOMM1 was highly accurate in predicting a passing performance on the TOMM2 (sensitivity = .80, specificity = .91) with a Negative Predictive Value = .98 at the malingering base rate of 7% (TOMM2 failure in our sample). A score of 2 errors (8 items correct) on the TOMMe10 was slightly less sensitive than that of the TOMM1 (specificity = .96, sensitivity = .53) but with a similar Negative Predictive Value (.96). Consistent with the research from adult populations, TOMM1 and TOMMe10 appear to be quite accurate in predicting performance on the standard administration of the TOMM and may be useful screeners. However, compared to that found in adult samples, slight differences in suggested cutoffs for TOMM1 and TOMMe10 may be warranted for children.     

Instructor and student knowledge of study strategies

Students' self-reported study skills and beliefs are often inconsistent with empirically supported (ES) study strategies. However, little is known regarding instructors' beliefs about study skills and if such beliefs differ from those of students. In the current study, we surveyed college students' and instructors' knowledge of study strategies and had both groups evaluate the efficacy of learning strategies described in six learning scenarios. Results from the survey indicated that students frequently reported engaging in methods of studying that were not optimal for learning. Instructors' responses to the survey indicated that they endorsed a number of effective study skills but also held several beliefs inconsistent with research in learning and memory (e.g., learning styles). Further, results from the learning scenarios measure indicated that instructors were moderately more likely than students to endorse ES learning strategies. Collectively, these data suggest that instructors exhibited better knowledge of effective study skills than students, although the difference was small. We discuss several notable findings and argue for the improvement of both students' and instructors' study skill knowledge.     

Thinking sadly: In favor of an adverbial theory of emotions

Introspective as well as empirical evidence indicates that emotions shape our thinking in numerous ways. Yet, this modificatory aspect of emotions has received relatively little interest in the philosophy of emotion. I give a detailed account of this aspect. Drawing both on the work of William James and adverbialist conceptions of perception, I sketch a theory of emotions that takes these aspects into consideration and suggest that we should understand emotions as manners of thinking.     

On some common objections to a behavioral approach to psychological categories

This paper addresses several objections that have been leveled against a behavioral approach to psychological categories. It reconstructs and critically assesses (a) the so-called causal objection; (b) alleged counterexamples whereby one can exhibit the typical behaviors associated with a psychological phenomenon without exhibiting the latter, including Lewis’ “perfect actor” case and Kirk’s “zombie”; (c) alleged counterexamples whereby organisms can exemplify psychological phenomena without exhibiting any behavior associated with them, including Armstrong’s imagined brain in a vat, Putnam’s “super-super-spartans” scenario, and related cases; and (d) the holistic objection. Mistaken assumptions in each of these objections are pinpointed. The paper starts with a brief characterization of behaviorism about psychological categories and a summary of the particular version thereof supported here, which draws upon Ryle and Skinner, among others.     

Three Conceptual Models of Patient and Public Involvement in Standard-setting: From Abstract Principles to Complex Practice

Clinical practice guidelines have been critiqued for prescribing standardized care that neglects patients’ personal circumstances and knowledge in health care decisions. To make care more patient centred, standard-setters are urged to involve patients and the public in guideline development and use. Despite widespread principled support for such Patient and Public Involvement (PPI), the underlying principles guiding PPI in standardization of care are mired on confusion and contradiction. Based on the PPI literature in general, and informed by empirical research on guideline development, it is possible to identify three rationales that justify PPI in clinical standard setting. Each rationale gives rise to a conceptual model which outlines a distinct purpose of participation, who is to be included, and what they are expected to contribute. The Consumer Choice model aims to involve autonomous consumers to personalize clinical care. The Democratic Voice model aims for health care recommendations to better reflect collective values of citizens. The Lay Expertise model aims to re-contextualize universal evidence by including experiential patient knowledge. However, these models can and should not function as ‘Gold Standards’ to be consistently followed in practice. First, the models rely on two distinct types of representation, resulting in contradictory notions of how to be a good representative. Second, imposing models on practice requires a top-down control that is practically and politically problematic. Not only is control difficult to achieve, it may compromise the participatory ideal of participants co-determine practice, and may result in excluding the values and views of ‘real’ patients and public entirely.     

Religious identification and interreligious contact in Indonesia and the Philippines: Testing the mediating roles of perceived group threat and social dominance orientation and the moderating role of context

This study integrates three theoretical perspectives provided by social identity theory, realistic group conflict theory, and social dominance theory to examine the relationship between religious identification and interreligious contact. It relies on a unique dataset collected among Christian and Muslim students in ethnically and religiously diverse regions of Indonesia and the Philippines, where social cleavages occur along religious lines. Religious identification directly predicts a higher quality of interreligious contact, whereas it indirectly predicts a lower quantity and quality of contact, mediated by higher perception of group threat, and a higher quality of contact, mediated by lower social dominance orientation. Furthermore, these direct and indirect relationships are moderated by religious group membership and relative group size. We conclude that religious identification functions as a ‘double‐edged sword’ predicting both higher quality and lower quantity and quality of interreligious contact through various pathways and with a varying strength depending on intergroup context.