Written lists as mediating stimuli in the matching-to-sample performances of individuals with mental retardation.

Students with mental retardation learned to write lists in order to perform a matching task that they could not do otherwise. After an initial assessment phase, reinforcement was arranged in the computerized tasks to follow selection of the six pictures that were identical to those in the six-picture samples presented. In Study 1, even though the participants wrote a list of the names of the six sample pictures on each trial, read a list, or did both, they often made errors when a brief delay preceded picture selection. In contrast, performance was nearly perfect when a list was written, read, and remained available at the time of picture selection, suggesting that the list served to mediate the delays. Study 2 examined the stimulus control by two- and six-picture samples over the list writing. Early during testing, 1 participant refrained from writing lists on two-picture trials but wrote lists on six-picture trials, thereby maximizing reinforcement and minimizing its delay; the other participant showed this pattern of list writing after supplemental training. The studies suggest methods for establishing a rudimentary repertoire of mediating behavior that has relevance for teaching instruction-following skills in natural settings.     

How to administer the Initial Preference Task

Individuals like their name letters more than non‐name letters. This effect has been termed the Name Letter Effect (NLE) and is widely exploited to measure implicit (i.e. automatic, unconscious) self‐esteem, predominantly by means of the Initial Preference Task (IPT). Methodological research on how to best administer the IPT is, however, scarce. In order to bridge this gap, the present paper assessed the advantages and disadvantages of different types of IPT administrations with two meta‐analyses (k = 49; N = 11,514) and a follow‐up experiment (N = 449). As a result, a new type of administration is recommended which (1) treats the effects of the first and the last name initials separately, (2) uses a duplicate administration for reliability reasons, (3) uses the likability as well as the attractiveness item wording and (4) exploits not only letters but also numbers (i.e. birthday number effect) to measure implicit self‐esteem. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

文字线索浏览方向、空间位置与移动光标对伪忽视的影响

采用线段平分任务,以无文字线索作为基线条件,考察文字线索的浏览方向、空间位置和移动光标对具有两种不同方向阅读经验的熟练双语者伪忽视的影响。结果发现,无文字线索条件下,光标从左往右方向移动时被试的判断偏向于线段中点的右侧,而从右往左移动时,偏向于线段中点的左侧。在有文字线索条件下发现,文字线索的浏览方向和空间位置的交互作用显著,简单效应检验显示文字线索的浏览方向和空间位置一致时伪忽视明显,不一致时伪忽视消失。结果表明,文字线索浏览方向、空间位置与移动光标能够影响伪忽视。伪忽视的存在和消失,不仅与眼球运动有关,还有与大脑两半球的激活水平有关。研究结果支持了视觉扫描假设和激活朝向假设。     

Using Automated Essay Scores as an Anchor When Equating Constructed Response Writing Tests

Assessments consisting of only a few extended constructed response items (essays) are not typically equated using anchor test designs as there are typically too few essay prompts in each form to allow for meaningful equating. This article explores the idea that output from an automated scoring program designed to measure writing fluency (a common objective of many writing prompts) can be used in place of a more traditional anchor. The linear-logistic equating method used in this article is a variant of the Tucker linear equating method appropriate for the limited score range typical of essays. The procedure is applied to historical data. Although the procedure only results in small improvements over identity equating (not equating prompts), it does produce a viable alternative, and a mechanism for checking that the identity equating is appropriate. This may be particularly useful for measuring rater drift or equating mixed format tests.     

Computer-based written emotional disclosure: the effects of advance or real-time guidance and moderation by Big 5 personality traits

Standard written emotional disclosure (WED) about stress, which is private and unguided, yields small health benefits. The effect of providing individualized guidance to writers may enhance WED, but has not been tested. This trial of computer-based WED compared two novel therapist-guided forms of WED – advance guidance (before sessions) and real-time guidance (during sessions, through instant messaging) – to both standard WED and control writing; it also tested Big 5 personality traits as moderators of guided WED. Young adult participants (n = 163) with unresolved stressful experiences were randomized to conditions, had three, 30-min computer-based writing sessions, and were reassessed six weeks later. Contrary to hypotheses, real-time guidance WED had poorer outcomes than the other conditions on several measures, and advance guidance WED also showed some poorer outcomes. Moderator analyses revealed that participants with low baseline agreeableness, low extraversion, or high conscientiousness had relatively poor responses to guidance. We conclude that providing guidance for WED, especially in real-time, may interfere with emotional processing of unresolved stress, particularly for people whose personalities have poor fit with this interactive form of WED.     

Defining Islamic modernity through creative writing: a case study of Indonesian domestic workers in Hong Kong

Indonesian domestic workers (IDWs) have been frequently stereotyped as uneducated and submissive women with little or no bargaining power in transnational labour migration. This article examines why and how literacy practices help foster the activism of IDWs in Hong Kong. In particular, I seek to understand the significance of IDWs’ writing in relation to Islamic modernities. Using the framework of alternative modernities, I argue that the creative process of IDWs’ writing sheds light to their attempts to exercise individual and collective agency. Specifically, the article looks at the role of Forum Lingkar Pena (Pen Circle Forum, FLP) Hong Kong, an IDW writing community, to reveal how its collective literacy practices help affirm Islamic values as part of a modernisation process on IDWs’ own terms.     

Pleasure and interest are differentially affected by replaying versus analyzing a happy life moment

Previous research regarding the effects of thinking about a happy moment on emotional experience has been equivocal. The discrepancies may be explained by different modes of thinking: systematically thinking about a happy moment versus mentally replaying the happy moment. Another explanation may involve the difference between the emotion of interest and the emotion of pleasantness, which are often erroneously grouped together under the broad concept of ‘positive affect.’ We hypothesized that systematically thinking about a happy moment would generate interest, whereas mental replaying would generate pleasantness. In an experimental setting, people who systematically analyzed a happy moment increased feelings of interest, while the level of pleasantness remained unchanged. In the alternative condition, people who mentally replayed a happy moment reported increased interest and pleasantness. At post-intervention, the replay group scored higher on pleasantness, but not on interest, relative to the analyze group.