“What matters to us”: The portrait values questionnaire to measure couple values

No previous studies have analyzed values as qualities of relational microsystems, such as the romantic couple. Based on Schwartz's Theory of Human Values, this study examines the psychometric properties of the Portrait Couple Values Questionnaire (PCVQ). It measures four couple value dimensions: conservation, openness to change, self-enhancement, and self-transcendence. Five hundred and forty-six Italian respondents (54.1% women), aged 41.52 years (SD = 7.19; range 23–63) and having a couple relationship, have filled in an anonymous online questionnaire. The results show the good psychometric properties of the PCVQ. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis Magnifying Glass Strategy shows good indexes of fit for each value dimension, except for the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) for openness to change, thus confirming that the PCVQ measures the four values with satisfactory internal consistency. The Multidimensional Scaling results, by showing a Stress-1 index of 0.07, confirm the circular structure of values because the four value dimensions are in the position predicted by Schwartz's model. Participants' personal and couple values are highly but not perfectly correlated, suggesting that couple values are a related but distinct construct compared to personal values. This study's contribution lies in introducing an innovative construct into the literature on values and couples, proposing a scale to assess it.     

Diversifying experiences enhance cognitive flexibility

Past research has linked creativity to unusual and unexpected experiences, such as early parental loss or living abroad. However, few studies have investigated the underlying cognitive processes. We propose that these experiences have in common a “diversifying” aspect and an active involvement, which together enhance cognitive flexibility (i.e., creative cognitive processing). In the first experiment, participants experienced complex unusual and unexpected events happening in a virtual reality. In the second experiment, participants were confronted with schema-violations. In both experiments, comparisons with various control groups showed that a diversifying experience – defined as the active (but not vicarious) involvement in an unusual event – increased cognitive flexibility more than active (or vicarious) involvement in normal experiences. Our findings bridge several lines of research and shed light on a basic cognitive mechanism responsible for creativity.     

Just ignore or counterattack? On the effects of different strategies for dealing with political attacks

During political races, candidates have to decide how to deal with the negative remarks from opposing candidates: just ignore or counterattack? In two studies, we investigated some of the consequences of this choice. In Study 1, participants were presented with a political candidate who systematically attacked his opponent and with the reactions of the attacked candidate: across conditions, the attacked candidate only focused on his political program or counterattacked. Results showed an overt condemnation of the choice to counterattack but a higher spontaneous conformity toward the candidate who counterattacked. Study 2 replicated and extended these results indicating that the gender of the attacked candidate did not affect the results. Moreover, Study 2 showed that conformity toward the attacked candidate was positively related to the predicted chances of winning the election. Results are discussed in relation to their theoretical and applied implications. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Good omens? The intricate relations between educational and vocational identity in adolescence

Abstract

This study examines the relation between educational and vocational identity in Romanian adolescents. Access to work-relevant experiences is very limited among Romanian adolescents, and most encounters with career constructs are confined to educational settings. Hence, to gain a better understanding of how identity processes in the educational and vocational domains support or inhibit each other, we aimed at investigating: (a) educational and vocational identity statuses through cluster analysis and (b) associations between identity statuses in these life domains. Participants were 1551 Romanian youth, aged 14–20 (39.3% girls), who completed measures of educational and vocational identity. Results indicated that, in the Romanian context, educational and vocational identities are closely linked, as adolescents draw information for future career development mostly from their educational experiences. Implications for youth policies and for applied interventions sensitive to socioeconomic and cultural realities are discussed.     

Consider the situation: Reducing automatic stereotyping through Situational Attribution Training

The present research investigated the effectiveness of a new technique for reducing automatic biases rooted in attribution theory - the Situational Attribution Training Technique. The goal of this strategy extends previous work by targeting the fundamental attributional pillars underlying automatic stereotyping. We aimed to circumvent the well-documented tendency for individuals to be overly reliant on dispositional attributions when perceiving negative stereotype-consistent behaviors performed by outgroup members. By teaching participants to consider situational attributions for such behaviors, we expected a reduction in outgroup stereotyping. Specifically, White participants were trained extensively to choose situational over dispositional explanations for negative stereotype-consistent behaviors performed by Black men. Across two experiments, participants who completed Situational Attribution Training demonstrated reduced automatic racial stereotyping on a person categorization task, relative to control participants who exhibited substantial automatic stereotyping. The implications of these findings for the nature and reduction of intergroup biases are discussed.     

Early contributions to infants’ mental rotation abilities

Some cognitive abilities exhibit reliable gender differences, with females outperforming males in specific aspects of verbal ability, and males showing an advantage on certain spatial tasks. Among these cognitive gender differences, differences in mental rotation are the most robust, and appear to be present even in infants. A large body of animal research suggests that gonadal hormones, particularly testosterone, during early development could contribute to this gender difference in mental rotation. Also, substantial evidence supports an influence of socialization on mental rotation performance. The present study investigated the relationship of two types of factors, early postnatal testosterone exposure and parental attitudes about gender, to mental rotation performance in 61 healthy infants (29 males, 32 females). We measured salivary testosterone at two time points: 1–2.5 months of age and 5–6 months of age. Infants’ mental rotation performance and parents’ attitudes about gender were assessed at 5–6 months of age. As predicted, testosterone concentrations were significantly higher in boys than girls in early infancy (d = 0.54), and boys performed significantly better than girls on mental rotation (d = 0.64). A significant positive correlation between testosterone at age 1–2.5 months and mental rotation was found only in boys (r = 0.50, p = .01). A significant negative correlation between parents’ gender‐stereotypical attitudes and mental rotation performance was found only in girls (r = ?.57, p = .002). These findings suggest that the early postnatal testosterone surge (also known as “mini‐puberty”) may have organizational influences on mental rotation performance in boys, and that parents may influence their daughters’ mental rotation abilities beginning very early in life.     

Implicit contributions of context to recognition

Studies of the impact of context on remembering have not focused on the influence of contextual contingency on subsequent recognition in the condition in which the contingency cannot be verbalized. In two experiments, we analyzed the effect of an implicitly encoded position contingency involving location and semantic category on both hit and false alarm recognition judgments after 1 day and 1 week delays. We vigorously probed for what participants could say about the contingency. We found context effects for both hits and false alarms, whether or not participants could verbalize any knowledge they might have of contingency. These results suggest that people may use contextual information when making a recognition judgment even if they are not aware of this information.     

Conflict of interest from a Romanian geneticist’s perspective

This paper examines Romanian bioethics regulations for biomedical sciences, looking in particular at the genetics area as a source for conflict of interest. The analysis is focused on the organizational level, national regulations, the sources for generating conflicts of interest, and management of conflicts. Modern biotechnology and gene technology are among the key technologies of the twenty-first century. The application of gene technology for medical and pharmaceutical purposes is widely accepted by society, but the same cannot be said of the development and application of gene technology in agriculture and food processing. Because the use of a technology in the production and processing of food is regarded more sceptically than in the production of biomedical products, there can be areas of conflict in many cases when communication is undertaken about gene technology in the agro-food sector. Ethical concerns play an important factor in this, but a society’s attitude to a developing technology is an amalgam of many effects which are beyond ethics as such. This paper contains a study carried out by the author for the Romanian Association for Consumer Protection about the attitudes of consumers towards genetically modified (GM) foods. This study revealed that in Romania more than 98% of consumers did not know anything about GM foods and frequently were confused about the definitions of these terms. In conclusion, it is necessary to say that there is a low level of knowledge regarding biotechnology in Romania and this is an important reason why there is neither public acceptance of gene technology products nor is there a rejection. An earlier version of this paper was presented at an International Conference on “Conflict of Interest and its Significance in Science and Medicine” held in Warsaw, Poland on 5–6 April, 2002. Ioana Ispas, MD in Molecular Biology, is a scientific researcher and Member of the Romanian Association for Consumer Protection, NCP for FP5-Quality of life and management of living resources.     

Interethnic Differences (or Similarities?) in the Relative Individuation of Women and Men

What roles do ethnicity, gender, and attitudes play in determining whether a person will be perceived as a unique individual versus a homogenized group member? Attitudes toward women’s roles have been found to predict Whites’ relative individuation of women and men; however, African Americans were found to individuate women and men equally, regardless of attitude (Stewart et al. 2000). Using a name–trait matching paradigm, the present research found that when targets were identified as African American, African American participants’ (18 male and 35 female college students) attitudes toward women’s roles predicted their individuation of men and women. These results suggest that an ethnic out-group homogeneity effect, rather than gender-egalitarian attitudes, contributed to the previous finding of equivalent individuation.     

A Cognitive-Behavioral Standpoint on the Perceived Consequences of a Major Seismic Event in Relation to Optimism and Pre-hazard Emotional Distress

The study examined a circumscribed class of cognitions (i.e., dispositional optimism and perceived consequences) in connection to the emotional distress experienced in anticipation of a major seismic event (i.e., pre-hazard emotional distress). Grounded on cognitive-behavioral theory, it was argued that dispositional optimism exerts distal influence on distress, while the perceived consequences of a major seismic event are proximal to distress and, therefore, interpose the optimism-distress relationship. The hypothesis was tested via a cross-sectional study on a sample of 189 volunteers located in areas of high seismic hazard. Participants reported their level of pre-hazard emotional distress, their dispositional optimism, and their perceived consequences of a major seismic hazard. The results showed that there was a partial indirect effect from dispositional optimism to emotional distress via perceived consequences, indirect effect = ?0.190, SE = 0.114, 95 % CI [?0.487; ?0.021], k² = 0.051. These findings could inform future prevention programs targeting emotional distress in anticipation of a natural hazard with impact on post-disaster recovery.