Image statistics and the perception of apparent motion

The short- and long-range apparent motion processes are discussed in terms of the statistical properties of images. It is argued that the short-range process, exemplified by the random-dot kinematogram, is primarily sensitive to the dipole statistics, whereas the long-range process, exemplified by illusory occlusion, is treated by the visual system primarily in terms of the tripole and higher statistical correlation functions. The studies incorporate the balanced dot, which is a unique stimulus element that permits high pass filtering while preserving detailed positional information. Low spatial frequencies are shown to be critical for texture segregation in random-dot kinematograms, independent of the grain size or number density of texture elements. Illusory path perception in the long-range process is shown not to require low spatial frequencies, but is sensitive rather to global temporal phase coherency. These results are interpreted in terms of the respective roles of the power and phase spectra in perceptual organization. The construction of balanced dots is discussed in detail.     

Human Resource Management Group,University of Nottingham,UK

In a new series of regular reports, research groups active in personnel psychology from a number of countries will present a briefing on work-in-progress. In the first in this series, the HRM Group at the Department of Psychology, University of Nottingham, describe their ongoing work into organization change and training validation, employee socialization, computer-based testing, and personality test construction and assessment centre validation.     

Why People Join Terrorist Groups in Kuwait: A Qualitative Examination

Qualitative interviews were conducted with nine members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda currently incarcerated in Kuwait's Central Prison. The semistructured interviews attempted to understand psychosocial factors in Kuwait that contributed to their decision to join extremist organizations. Interviews were analyzed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and the emergent themes identified the following core themes explaining their involvement: (1) religious identity development; (2) personal connections; (3) propaganda; (4) defense of Islam; and (5) social marginalization. Participants described a process whereby their religion became a central part of their personal identity. As their religious identity developed, they became involved in Islamic organizations where they met people involved with ISIS or Al-Qaeda. These social connections exposed them to jihadi propaganda which, in addition to increased military conflict in the Middle East, crystallized their beliefs that Islam is under attack, and they were religiously obligated to defend it. The results also identified societal factors that increased the probability of engaging in terrorism including relatively low levels of education, coming from low socioeconomic groups in Kuwait, and feeling socially marginalized by broader Kuwaiti society.     

Assessing occupational stress, strain, and coping for North American teachers in Kuwait

In this study, differences in levels of occupational stress and strain experienced by North American local (n=24) and expatriate (n=43) teachers working in Kuwait were investigated by married (n=34) and single status (n=31) and by male (n=30) and female (n=47) sex. All teachers self-administered the Occupational Stress Inventory-Revised. No differences appeared among measures of stress or strain between male and female teachers or between married and single teachers. However, locally hired teachers reported higher role insufficiency and interpersonal strain than expatriate teachers. Some significant differences in coping styles also appeared between these groups. None of the measures used revealed any significant correlations between age and years of service.     

Permanence and change in memory II. Reproduction of words in sentences

Abstract.— A retroactive interference paradigm was employed for studying qualitative memory changes. Sentences, containing an ambiguous word that was defined differently by succeeding words, were used as stimulus material. Such retroactive definitions of meaning were found to lead to qualitative changes in reproduction. It is suggested that the issue of permanence and change in memory may be related to the choice of lists of independent items or contextual units as stimulus material. A contextual theory of memory, implying the conception of memory in a stream, is advocated.     

Unique pathways to resilience across cultures

An international mixed methods study of resilience of 14 sites in eleven countries identified seven tensions that youth resolve in culturally specific ways. Resolution of these tensions is foundational to experiences of resilience. This paper reports on the qualitative findings from interviews with 89 youth. Results support a culturally embedded understanding of positive youth development that better accounts for young people's resilience in western and non-western countries. Specifically, the seven tensions identified include: access to material resources, relationships, identity, cohesion, power and control, social justice, and cultural adherence. Findings show that no one pattern in the resolution of these tensions predicts resilience better than another. A case study of a Palestinian boy demonstrates the intersection of the seven tensions and the uniqueness of their resolution. The implications of this work for interventions is discussed.     

Religiousness and Mental Health: Systematic Review Study

Many people use religious beliefs and practices to cope with stressful life events and derive peace of mind and purpose in life. The goal of this paper was to systematically review the recent psychological literature to assess the role of religion in mental health outcomes. A comprehensive literature search was conducted using medical and psychological databases on the relationship between religiosity and mental health. Seventy-four articles in the English and Arabic languages published between January 2000 and March 2012 were chosen. Despite the controversial relationship between religion and psychiatry, psychology, and medical care, there has been an increasing interest in the role which spirituality and religion play in mental health. The findings of past research showed that religion could play an important role in many situations, as religious convictions and rules influence the believer’s life and health care. Most of the past literature in this area reported that there is a significant connection between religious beliefs and practices and mental health.     

How Discrimination Impacts Sociopolitical Behavior: A Multidimensional Perspective

The conventional wisdom regarding the impact of discrimination on political behavior is that the perception of prejudiced treatment motivates individuals to take political action. This study challenges this common conception by demonstrating that the source of discrimination can play a significant role in whether perceived or experienced injustice leads to activism or withdrawal from sociopolitical life. Drawing from political science and social psychology literature, this study provides a new perspective on the potential effects of discrimination on a relatively new marginalized group in the United States. Specifically, an important distinction is drawn between political (systematic) and societal (interpersonal) discrimination in analyzing the sociopolitical behavior of American Muslims in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The results will hopefully encourage scholars to take a deeper look at the nexus between discrimination and democratic engagement, which is an important, complex, multidimensional, and understudied topic.     

Organizational Justice Dimensions: Validation of an Arabic Measure

There is a continued debate regarding the dimensions of organizational justice. The present project investigated the dimensionality of organizational justice and the validity of an Arabic measure of organizational justice for a Kuwaiti samples. The first study sample consisted of 1,184 Kuwaitis (619 males and 565 females) from two groups: 728 employees and 456 teachers working in the public sector. The second study sample consisted of 373 participants (190 employees and 183 teachers). The instrument items were based on a careful review of the organizational justice literature to ensure relevance to the sample culture. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) using WLSMV estimator is used. WLSMV method is more appropriate for our data because variables are measured on an ordinal scale. WLSMV is considered a less bias estimator compared with the standard maximum likelihood in case of ordinal data. CFA analyses identified the four distinctive factors of distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational organizational justice. The four‐factor model fit the data significantly better than one‐, two‐ or three‐factor models. Moreover, the study revealed that these four dimensions of organizational justice were significantly correlated with the four relevant outcomes of instrumentality, organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behavior, and collective esteem. Using the Arabic version of Colquitt's ( 2001 ) instrument (Fischer et al., 2011 ), the second study presented an evidence of concurrent validity of the new Arabic scale. The present study confirmed the four‐factor dimensionality of organizational justice. Results of the current study may raise the issue of development of scales versus translation of well‐ developed ones. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.     

A comparative study of robust tests for spread: Asymmetric trimming strategies

We examined 633 procedures that can be used to compare the variability of scores across independent groups. The procedures, except for one, were modifications of the procedures suggested by Levene (1960) and O'Brien (1981). We modified their procedures by substituting robust measures of the typical score and variability, rather than relying on classical estimators. The robust measures that we utilized were either based on a priori or empirically determined symmetric or asymmetric trimming strategies. The Levene‐type and O'Brien‐type transformed scores were used with either the ANOVA F test, a robust test due to Lee and Fung (1985), or the Welch (1951) test. Based on four measures of robustness, we recommend a Levene‐type transformation based upon empirically determined 20% asymmetric trimmed means, involving a particular adaptive estimator, where the transformed scores are then used with the ANOVA F test.