Personality,confirmation bias,and forensic interviewing performance

Confirmation bias is a universal characteristic of human cognition, with consequences for information processing and reasoning in everyday situations as well as in professional work such as forensic interviewing. Cognitive measures such as general intelligence are also related to personality traits, but there is a lack of research on personality and confirmation bias specifically. This study focuses, firstly, on the relationship between Big Five personality traits and confirmation bias as measured by the Wason selection task, and secondly, how these dispositions are related to observed performance in real forensic interviews of child victims. In a sample of police interviewers, Openness (i.e., the facets Ideas and Fantasy) and Neuroticism (i.e., the facets Anxiety and Vulnerability) were independently associated with confirmation bias (N = 72). Scores on the selection task, the Openness facet values, and the Extraversion facets Assertiveness and Activity were consistently related to interview performance (N = 46). Implications of these findings are discussed for the empirical and conceptual relations of cognitive ability to personality and for the selection and training of police interviewers and their professional development.     

中国考试文化的古今嬗变与镜鉴

中国考试文化生态因社会环境、经济土壤、社会结构和国际环境影响而形成从保守封闭性向包容开放性转变的特征。本文从三个层面考察中国考试文化的当代嬗变： 考试观念文化从单一的政治情结向综合人文素质嬗变, 考试制度文化从僵化到创新嬗变, 考试行为文化则从场所、教学行为、主体、应试行为和实践行为考察。通过合理挖掘中国传统考试文化中的道德诉求与和谐理念, 力求凝练出一种具有深厚文化内涵和现代竞争意识的考试文化。     

Automatic question generation and answer assessment for subjective examination

Automatic generation of questions and evaluating their answers is a highly challenging task in natural language processing and educational technology. This work focuses on generating subjective questions and also an evaluation system is suggested for assessing the answers. For generating the questionnaires, key-phrases are extracted from the course curriculum (syllabus). Next, based on the key-phrases, different types of subjective questions are generated. Finally, the evaluation of student’s responses is achieved using a multi-criteria-decision-making approach. It uses a set of model answers taken from different textbooks and subject experts to evaluate the answers. Multiple measures are used to assess the answers by comparing them with this model set. The results of the profound system reveal that the automated appraisal process can reduce the manual effort of the human.     

A Recess Evaluation with the Players: Taking Steps Toward Participatory Action Research

This qualitative study, part of a Canadian national study of fathers’ involvement, opened up First Nations and Métis fathering as a new area of inquiry. Conversational interviews with 80 Indigenous fathers illuminated the socio-historical conditions that have shaped Indigenous men’s experiences of learning to be a father and becoming a man in the context of changing gender relationships and the regeneration of circles of care. Indigenous fathers’ experiences unfold in a socio-historical context fraught with difficulties. However, the study findings suggest cultural strengths and sources of resilience unseen in research and community programs driven by Euro-western perspectives. This research can inform efforts to reduce systemic barriers and reconstitute positive father involvement following disrupted intergenerational transmission of fathering in Canada and elsewhere.     

Living in History in Lebanon: The influence of chronic social upheaval on the organisation of autobiographical memories

The Living in History (LiH) effect is a litmus test for the degree to which historical events reorganise autobiographical memory. The LiH effect was studied in two Lebanese samples: a Beiruti sample that lived in the epicentre of the 15-year Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990) and another group from the Bi'qa region who lived in an area that was indirectly exposed for most of the civil war but experienced one short-term period of war during the Israeli invasion. Using the two-phase word-cueing task to elicit dated autobiographical memories, we observed a significantly stronger LiH effect in the Beirut sample but also a significant yet weaker LiH effect in the Bi'qa sample. In addition to the main finding we offer evidence that the LiH effect waxes and wanes with the level of conflict in an area and that reported personal experiences of war exposure predict the strength of the LiH effect. Our findings suggest that collective transitional events which produce a marked change in the fabric of daily living engender historically defined autobiographical periods which give structure and organisation to how individuals remember their past.     

Test anxiety,emotional responding under guided imagery,and self-talk during an academic examination

Abstract

This investigation examined the assumption that phenomenological responses created by guidedimagery procedures pertinent to test anxiety are topographically similar to emotional responses experienced during an actual examination. Participants were divided on facilitating versus debilitating test anxiety and exposed to subclinical doses of stimulus-response propositions that involved test-taking, fear, and physical activity using the induction technique employed by Lang et al. (1980). Patterns of emotional responses obtained after each induction were compared to the pattern elicited immediately prior to students' final course examination as well as self-talk during the examination. Results indicated that exposure to test-related imagery elicited a pattern of emotional responding that was different than exposure to fear or action imagery but was nearly identical to emotional responses found before examinations. Negative emotional states before the examination also were associated with higher frequencies of negative self-statements during the examination. Treatment implications of these findings were explored.     

The Forensic Examination of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Abstract

The diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has achieved a major level of significance in our judicial system. The forensic examination of PTSD is identified as a specialized assessment that is non-biased and non-prejudicial. This article attempts to provide a standard methodology to offer an objective and neutral forensic assessment and diagnosis of PTSD that will stand up to legal scrutiny by identifying problems in diagnosing PTSD and establishing a six-step methodology for the differential diagnosis of the disorder. Procedures for providing a forensic examination of PTSD and details of the author's methods of providing a forensic examination are presented.     

认知评价、心理控制感、社会支持与高考压力关系的研究

采用问卷法,随机选取河北省三类中学(重点、普通、私立)324名高三考生为被试,考察了学生对高考的认知评价、心理控制感、社会支持与高考压力的关系.结果表明:(1)重点中学、普通中学学生心理控制感显著高于私立中学学生,女生在社会支持的寻求上显著高于男生;(2)积极认知评价、心理控制感和社会支持与高考压力有显著负相关,而消极认知评价与高考压力有显著的正相关;(3)消极认知评价、心理控制感和社会支持对高考压力有直接影响;而积极认知评价通过心理控制感和社会支持间接影响高考压力.