Handedness and dementia

Some researchers have speculated that left-hand dominance is more prevalent among patients suffering from dementia of the Alzheimer's type which began prior to age 65 yr. and that, in those patients, the disease runs a more rapid course. In the present study, seven left-handed dementia patients were matched with seven right-handed dementia patients on the basis of age and years of education and were compared with regard to neuropsychological compromise. While the left-handed group was somewhat more impaired than the right-handed subjects, the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant.     

Psychometric adequacy and comparability of the short and full forms of the Personality Assessment Inventory

The 160-item short form of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) was developed for situations in which respondents complete only the 1st half of the test. The present study evaluates the adequacy and comparability of the full and short forms of the PAI in terms of a wide range of psychometric characteristics. In all, 421 participants completed the full form as part of a neuropsychological evaluation. Results indicated slightly lower internal consistency reliability of the short compared with the full form. Group-level agreement of short and full form scales ranged from adequate to excellent. However, within-subject agreement was somewhat more variable. Low levels of within-subject agreement were strongly associated with elevated validity scale scores. The factor structures of the full and short forms showed high congruence for a 3-factor solution. These findings suggest that many scales of the short form have adequate comparability with their respective full form scales. However, low levels of reliability across less impaired ranges of the latent trait, diminished content coverage, and altered validity detection may limit the utility of some of the short form scales.     

Neuropsychological sequelae of stroke as a function of handedness.

The preservation of visuospatial ability relative to verbal ability following right middle cerebral artery stroke was assessed in 19 left- and 19 right-handed male patients who were group-matched on the basis of age, education, and time elapsed since stroke. Analysis of covariance (covarying education) indicated that the left- and right-handed groups were significantly different with regard to the discrepancy between Verbal IQ and Performance IQ, with the left-handed patients showing a smaller difference than the right-handers. These results provide further evidence that sinistrality may be associated with less hemispheric specialization.     

Educational risk factors for psychological truancy in Lesotho: a qualitative exploration

A qualitative case study design was used to explore educational risk factors that may contribute to psychological truancy in a Lesotho secondary school. Purposively sampled teachers (n = 4, females = 50%) and pupils (n = 4, females = 75%), who have experience of psychological truancy, took part in a focus group and individual interviews. Inductive content analysis was used to analyse data emanating from the interviews. The findings indicate that pupil–teacher relationships, the use of English as medium of instruction and a lack of resources may be educational risk factors contributing to psychological truancy. Positive pupil–teacher relationships and active classroom engagement are prerequisites for successful and active learning.     

The Impact of Conflict Issues on Fixed-Pie Perceptions, Problem Solving, and Integrative Outcomes in Negotiation

It is argued that a negotiator's fixed-pie perception, cooperative motivation, problem-solving behavior, and integrative outcomes are influenced by the content of the negotiation—the conflict issue. Negotiation involves conflicting interests, conflicting ideas about intellective problems, or conflicting ideas about evaluative problems. Study 1 showed that individuals in a negotiation about interests have a stronger fixed-pie perception and have a lower cooperative motivation than individuals in an evaluative negotiation, with intellective negotiations taking an intermediate position. Study 2 showed that individuals in a negotiation about interests made more trade-offs and reached higher joint outcomes than individuals in an intellective or evaluative negotiation. Study 3 replicated this finding in a field study. The studies bridge insights from negotiation research and decision-making research and show that the conflict issue has important effects on the negotiation process.     

The structure of the cognitive revolution: an examination from the philosophy of science

The received view is that psychology has undergone several scientific revolutions similar to those that occurred in the physical sciences. Of these, this paper will consider the cognitive revolution. Because the arguments in favor of the existence of a cognitive revolution are cast using the concepts and terms of revolutionary science, we will examine the cognitive revolution using accounts of revolutionary science advanced by five influential philosophers of science. Specifically, we will draw from the philosophical positions of Popper, Kuhn, Lakatos, Laudan, and Gross for the purpose of discussion. We conclude that no substantive revolution took place according to these accounts. This conclusion is based on data gathered from some of the major participants in the "cognitive revolution" and on a general scholarly survey of the literature. We argue that the so-called cognitive revolution is best characterized as a socio-rhetorical phenomenon.     

Emotional reactivity and force control: the influence of behavioral inhibition

Individual difference measures have been shown to alter emotional arousal and emotional arousal alters force production during force control tasks. In the current study we examined whether individual differences in behavioral inhibition influence force control during emotional image viewing. Subjects who scored high and low in behavioral inhibition (BIS) produced force with visual feedback for 5 s. Feedback was then removed and replaced by a mutilation, attack, erotica, or neutral image for 6 s. The magnitude and direction of error in force production during image presentation was compared between groups and across image type. The high BIS group displayed a relative increase in force production during exposure to attack and mutilation images compared to the low BIS group. Bias scores (i.e., comparison of unpleasant image to neutral or pleasant image) further confirmed these findings by demonstrating a relative increase in force for the high BIS group during attack and mutilation images as compared to erotica images, whereas the low BIS group displayed the reverse effect. Together these findings extend the premise of action readiness to demonstrate that dispositional differences in behavioral inhibition interact with emotional state to alter force production.