Anthropometric design criteria: correction variables for military aircraft

Significant errors in the application of dimensional anthropometric design criteria for tactical military aircraft cockpits have been identified. These errors result from insufficient consideration of previously undefined variables relative to posture, restraint system items, and aviators' personal protection equipment as discussed by McConville and Laubach in 1978.     

The Tromsø Social Intelligence Scale, a self-report measure of social intelligence

Social intelligence is a construct that not only appeals to laymen as a relevant individual difference but also has shown promising practical applications. Nevertheless, the use of social intelligence in research and applied settings has been limited by definitional problems, difficulties in empirically differentiating social intelligence from related constructs, and the complexity of most existing measures of social intelligence. The goal of the present research was to address some of these obstacles by designing a multi‐faceted social intelligence measure that is short and easy to administer. Three studies were conducted to develop and validate the Tromsø Social Intelligence Scale (TSIS). Study 1 examined professional psychologists’ interpretations of social intelligence to derive a consensually agreed‐upon definition of the construct. In Study 2, a large pool of social intelligence items were tested, and a 3‐factor, 21‐item scale was identified. In Study 3, the stability of this measure was confirmed.     

The Bull's-Eye Values Survey: A Psychometric Evaluation

Two studies were conducted to develop and evaluate an instrument intended to identify and measure personal values, values attainment, and persistence in the face of barriers. Study 1 describes a content validity approach to the construction and preliminary validation of the Bull's Eye Values Survey (BEVS), using a sample of institutionalized patients suffering from epilepsy. Study 2 investigated the psychometric properties of the BEVS with a sample of Swedish university students. Results suggest that the BEVS is sensitive to treatment effects and can differentiate between clients who receive values-based interventions and those who do not. The BEVS subscales and total score appear to measure an independent dimension of psychological functioning that is negatively correlated with measures of depression, anxiety, and stress, and positively correlated with a measure of psychological flexibility. The BEVS also exhibits acceptable temporal stability and internal consistency. The study provides preliminary support for the BEVS as both a research and clinical tool for measuring values, values-action discrepancies, and barriers to value-based living.     

The flip side of vanity sizing: How consumers respond to and compensate for larger than expected clothing sizes

Vanity sizing has become a popular retail trend and recent work shows it has a favorable impact on consumers. However, as the current research demonstrates, significant variations in sizing standards across retailers mean that consumers are as likely to encounter larger sizes as they are smaller, “vanity” sizes when shopping, highlighting the importance of understanding how consumers react to this potential threat in the marketplace. Across five studies we demonstrate that larger sizes result in negative evaluations of clothing and show that these effects are driven by consumers' appearance self-esteem. Importantly, we also find that instead of unilaterally lowering purchase intent as one might assume, larger sizes can actually increase spending, as consumers engage in compensatory consumption to help repair their damaged self-esteem. In so doing, this research reveals a dynamic and complex relationship between consumers and sizing labels, where shopping can serve to build, strengthen, threaten, and/or repair appearance self-esteem.     

“Last Night I Dreamed I Went to Manderly Again”: Vicissitudes of Maternal Identifications in Late Female Adolescence

To move forward into sexual maturity with a sense of bodily agency, the girl must internalize identifications with the mother as a sexual adult in her own right. These new identifications arouse intense internal conflict brought on by internalization with its unconscious association with destructive oral aggression and the archaic fear of retaliatory maternal rage. The unconscious dilemma is how to metabolize the sexual mother and also keep her alive as an internal resource. I present material from analytic sessions and literature to illustrate a characteristic defensive fantasy of late adolescence and the underlying conflicts that the fantasy conceals and attempts to ward off. This fantasy links aggression, internalization, and associated unconscious phantasies of oral sadism. Internalization may be derailed if the daughter's conflicts around aggression are felt to be intolerable. When all goes reasonably well, the late-adolescent girl tolerates the intense aggression associated with internalization and metabolizes representations of the sexual mother as a resonating internal presence that supports and enhances progressive development.