About the Contributors

Biography

About the Contributors     

About the Contributors

Note

About the Contributors     

The development of executive functioning and theory of mind. A comparison of Chinese and U.S. preschoolers

Preschoolers' theory-of-mind development follows a similar age trajectory across many cultures. To determine whether these similarities are related to similar underlying ontogenetic processes, we examined whether the relation between theory of mind and executive function commonly found among U.S. preschoolers is also present among Chinese preschoolers. Preschoolers from Beijing, China (N= 109), were administered theory-of-mind and executive-functioning tasks, and their performance was compared with that of a previously studied sample of U.S. preschoolers (N= 107). The Chinese preschoolers outperformed their U.S. counterparts on all measures of executive functioning, but were not similarly advanced in theory-of-mind reasoning. Nonetheless, individual differences in executive functioning predicted theory of mind for children in both cultures. Thus, the relation between executive functioning and theory of mind is robust across two disparate cultures. These findings shed light on why executive functioning is important for theory-of-mind development.     

A comparison of statistical selection strategies for univariate and bivariate log‐linear models

In this study, eight statistical selection strategies were evaluated for selecting the parameterizations of log‐linear models used to model the distributions of psychometric tests. The selection strategies included significance tests based on four chi‐squared statistics (likelihood ratio, Pearson, Freeman–Tukey, and Cressie–Read) and four additional strategies (Akaike information criterion (AIC), Bayesian information criterion (BIC), consistent Akaike information criterion (CAIC), and a measure attributed to Goodman). The strategies were evaluated in simulations for different log‐linear models of univariate and bivariate test‐score distributions and two sample sizes. Results showed that all eight selection strategies were most accurate for the largest sample size considered. For univariate distributions, the AIC selection strategy was especially accurate for selecting the correct parameterization of a complex log‐linear model and the likelihood ratio chi‐squared selection strategy was the most accurate strategy for selecting the correct parameterization of a relatively simple log‐linear model. For bivariate distributions, the likelihood ratio chi‐squared, Freeman–Tukey chi‐squared, BIC, and CAIC selection strategies had similarly high selection accuracies.     

The Relation Between Executive Function and Theory of Mind is More Than Skin Deep

A simple “expression” account of the relation between executive function (EF) and children's developing theory of mind (ToM) has difficulty accounting for the generality of the changes occurring in children's mental-state understanding during the preschool years. The current study of preschool children (N = 43) showed that EF—especially conflict EF—related uniformly to ToM measures that imposed either high or low executive demands, independent of verbal ability. These findings can be explained within an emergence account wherein executive skills are implicated in the acquisition of mental-state concepts as opposed to merely the expression of these concepts in task performance.     

Faith-Based Organizations: Sexual Harassment and Health in Accra-Tema Metropolis

Sexual harassment occurs frequently in many faith-based organizations (FBOs). This study investigated whether sexual harassment in FBOs was a public health concern in Ghana. A cross-sectional exploratory approach was used to assess the prevalence and incidence of traditional or contrapower sexual harassment in FBOs. We also investigated the correlation between sexual harassment and health. Respondents completed a self-administered open-ended questionnaire in an anonymous survey about sexual harassment during the 12 months preceding the study. We hypothesized that both traditional and contrapower harassment were prevalent in FBOs of Ghana and also that the health effects were the same for both sexes in both forms of harassment. The two hypotheses were generally supported. We found that sexual harassment is a public health concern. Women were more likely to be sexually harassed (73%) than men were (27%). Sexual harassment negatively affects the victims’ health outcome. Secondly, both the traditional and contrapower forms of sexual harassment were prevalent in FBOs in Ghana. The health consequences of sexual harassment in Ghana are the same as in an industrialized country. The implications for policy and research are discussed.     

A two-sample test

In certain investigations involving an experimental group and a control group, the effect of the experimental treatment may be expected to manifest itself by increasing the scores of some subjects but by decreasing the scores of other subjects. Examples arise in the area of defensive behavior. Customary tests of differences between means are inappropriate for assessing the existence of effect of the experimental treatment in such cases. A test based on the ranks of the observations is proposed; it will be sensitive to extreme scores (either large or small or both) for experimentals.