Psychology Commons^™

Psychological Distress Among Prostate Cancer Patients: Fact Or Fiction?, Christopher Sharpley, Vicki Bitsika, David Christie

Vicki Bitsika

Although the detrimental effect upon psychological well-being of receiving a diagnosis of, or treatment for, cancer has been demonstrated across many different types of cancer, three recent reviews of the psychological health of prostate cancer patients have produced contradictory conclusions. In order to elucidate the reasons for these apparent different conclusions, each of these reviews is described, with principal methods and fi ndings summarised. Actual data, methodology used to select/reject research studies for inclusion in reviews, plus the validity of strict methodological culling of some research studies are discussed. Several extra studies and commentaries are also described, and a resolution …

Autism Spectrum Disorders: Neurobiology And Current Assessment Practices, Ryan Allen, Diana Robins, Scott Decker

Ryan A. Allen

This study reviews recent research related to the neurobiology of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) and provides an empirical analysis of current assessment practices. Data were collected through a survey of 117 school psychologists. The Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (GARS), and Gilliam Asperger's Disorder Scale (GADS) were the most frequently used measures. Among the less popular, but more intensive instruments, the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) appears to be gaining popularity within school-based evaluations. Generally, respondents approached the assessment of ASDs from a traditional psychoeducational perspective and reported the use of a very narrow range of …

Utility Of The Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test-Second Edition In The Assessment Of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Ryan Allen, Scott Decker

Ryan A. Allen

This study examined the use of the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test- Second Edition (BGT-II) with children diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Previous research has examined the relationship of ADHD and visual-motor functioning based on overall developmental scores or specific emotional indicators. Although several studies have examined the relationship of the previous edition of the BGT-II and ADHD symptoms, psychometric issues associated with the original edition limit the validity of the results. The current study examined the utility of the BGT-II in the assessment of behaviors associated with ADHD. A group of 62 subjects diagnosed with ADHD (M= 11 yr., 5 …

Fitness And Action Monitoring: Evidence For Improved Cognitive Flexibility In Young Adults, Jason R. Themanson, Matthew B. Pontifex, Charles H. Hillman

Jason R. Themanson, Ph.D

To improve behavior, one must detect errors and initiate subsequent corrective adaptations. This action monitoring process has been widely studied, but little is known about how one may improve this aspect of cognition. To examine the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and action monitoring, we recorded the error-related negativity (ERN), an event-related brain potential believed to index action monitoring, as well as post-error behavioral indices of action monitoring from healthy young adults (18–25 years) who varied in cardiorespiratory fitness. These measures were collected during the execution of flanker tasks emphasizing response accuracy or speed to better assess the specificity of any …

Investigating Bimanual Coordination In Dominant And Non-Dominant Virtual Hands, Gavin Buckingham, David Carey

Gavin Buckingham

A bias in attention towards the dominant hand has been cited as a possible factor in the lateralisation of human bimanual coordination (Peters, 1981). A mirror was placed between the hands of 18 dextral participants performing rhythmic anti-phase movements. This set-up gave the appearance of a reflected virtual hand (moving in time with the un-occluded hand), in the same spatial location as the occluded left or right hand. This asymmetrical conflict between vision and action examined whether the left hand would show higher levels of error when replaced by a virtual right hand than the converse condition. Higher levels of …

Stress-Induced Attenuation Of Acoustic Startle In Low-Saccharin-Consuming Rats., Clinton Chapman, Mitzi Gonzales, Cameryn Garrett, Nancy Dess

Clinton D Chapman

Exposure to stress can lead to either increased stress vulnerability or enhanced resiliency. Laboratory rats are a key tool in the exploration of basic biobehavioral processes underlying individual differences in the effect of stress on subsequent stressors’ impact. The Occidental low (LoS) and high (HiS) saccharin-consuming rats, which differ in emotional reactivity, are useful in this effort. In the present study, footshock affected acoustic startle amplitude 4h later among LoS but not HiS rats. Surprisingly, shock attenuated startle rather than sensitizing it, a finding not previously reported for male rats exposed to shock. Attenuation was blocked by administering the anxiolytic …

Stress-Induced Attenuation Of Acoustic Startle In Low-Saccharin-Consuming Rats., Clinton Chapman, Nancy Dess, Mitzi Gonzales, Cameryn Garrett

Clinton D Chapman

Exposure to stress can lead to either increased stress vulnerability or enhanced resiliency. Laboratory rats are a key tool in the exploration of basic biobehavioral processes underlying individual differences in the effect of stress on subsequent stressors' impact. The Occidental low (LoS) and high (HiS) saccharin-consuming rats, which differ in emotional reactivity, are useful in this effort. In the present study, footshock affected acoustic startle amplitude 4 h later among LoS but not HiS rats. Surprisingly, shock attenuated startle rather than sensitizing it, a finding not previously reported for male rats exposed to shock. Attenuation was blocked by administering the …

Including An Analysis Of Difficult Behaviour In The Assessment Of Children With An Autism Spectrum Disorder: Implications For School Psychologists, Vicki Bitsika

Vicki Bitsika

School psychologists who contribute to the assessment of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are required by various Australian state government authorities to use standardised testing of cognitive skills, adaptive behaviour and some autism-based symptomatology to demonstrate the eligibility of those children for support funding in the school environment. However, this process does not always address the needs of parents and teachers for detailed and particular analysis of the reasons for the pervasive behavioural difficulties often shown by children with an ASD. Such difficult behaviour has been shown to contribute to high levels of stress among caregivers and often …

Self-Efficacy Effects On Neuroelectric And Behavioral Indices Of Action Monitoring In Older Adults, Jason R. Themanson, Charles H. Hillman, Edward Mcauley, Sarah M. Buck, Shawna E. Doerksen, Katherine S. Morris, Matthew B. Pontifex

Jason R. Themanson, Ph.D

The relationships between self-efficacy (SE), i.e., beliefs in personal capabilities, and behavioral and neuroelectric (i.e., ERN, Pe) indices of action monitoring were investigated in 40 older adults (13 male) during the completion of a flanker paradigm performed under task conditions emphasizing either accuracy or speed. SE relative to task performance during both conditions was assessed prior to each cognitive task. Results indicated that high-SE older adults exhibited larger ERN and Pe amplitudes compared to low-SE older adults under the accuracy instruction condition. Additionally, a moderating effect of SE on the relationship between ERN and post-error response accuracy was revealed in …

Peer Relationships And Academic Achievement As Interacting Predictors Of Depressive Symptoms During Middle Childhood, David Schwartz, Andrea Hopmeyer Gorman, Mylien Duong, Johnathan Nakamoto

Andrea Hopmeyer Gorman

This article reports a longitudinal investigation that examines academic and social difficulties as predictors of depressive symptoms during middle childhood. Participants were 199 elementary school children (M=9.1 years) who were followed for 2 consecutive school years. In both years of the project, children completed a questionnaire assessing depressive symptoms and a peer nomination inventory assessing friendships and social standing. Grade point averages (GPAs) were obtained from a review of school records. Low GPAs were predictive of depressive symptoms, but this effect did not hold for children who had numerous friends. Similarly, children who had relatively few friends tended to experience …

Adolescent Risk Behaviors And Religion: Findings From A National Study, Jill Sinha, Ram Cnaan, Richard Gelles

Ram A Cnaan

Too few studies have assessed the relationship between youth risk behaviors and religiosity using measures which captured the varied extent to which youth are engaged in religion. This study applied three measures of religiosity and risk behaviors. In addition, this study ascertained information about youths’ participation in religious activities from a parent or caretaker. Based on a national random sample of 2,004 teens (ages 11-18), this study indicates that youth perceive religion as important, are active in religious worship and activities, and further shows that perceived importance of religion as well as participation in religious activities are associated with decreased …

Violent Victimization In The Community And Children's Subsequent Peer Rejection: The Mediating Role Of Emotion Dysregulation, Brynn Kelly, David Schwartz, Andrea Hopmeyer Gorman, Johnathan Nakamoto

Andrea Hopmeyer Gorman

This paper describes a short-term longitudinal study of the relation between violent victimization in the community and peer rejection among 199 children (mean age = 9.02 years) attending two urban Los Angeles area elementary schools. We used a multi-informant approach to assess victimization by community violence, peer group victimization, peer rejection, and impairments in emotion regulation. These data were collected annually for two consecutive school years. Violent victimization in the community predicted later peer rejection after accounting for the effects of initial levels of peer rejection. Analyses indicated that this relation was mediated by deficient emotion regulation skills. In addition, …

Comparing Attitudes Towards Computer Usage By Undergraduates From 1986 To 2005, Paula Popovich, Nicole Gullekson, Samantha Morris, Brendan Morse

Brendan J. Morse

The importance and use of computers has increased dramatically over the last two decades. The Attitudes Towards Computer Usage Scale (ATCUS) was developed in 1986 [Popovich, P. M., Hyde, K. R., Zakrajsek, T., & Blumer, C. (1987). The development of the attitudes toward computer usage scale. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 47, 261–269.] and used in a variety of settings over the years. In order to examine how computer attitudes have changed from 1986 to 2005, the ATCUS was given to 254 male and female current undergraduate students. When comparing the 1986 with 2005 results, the amount of time spent using …

Categorical Structure In Early Semantic Networks Of Nouns, Josita Maouene

Josita C Maouene

Despite what we know about children’s ability to categorize, it is not clear to what extent information in the environment is capable of facilitating higher-order category knowledge, nor to what extent different kinds of object features play different kinds of roles. As a start we built a network of 130 early-learned nouns with 1394 perceptual and functional features as given by adult judgments. Then we analyzed the basic structural properties of the network. These revealed a small world structure and a high degree of feature overlap in local clusters. To identify the local clusters, we used a clique percolation algorithm …

Interest In Politics, Cigdem Sirin

Cigdem V. Sirin

No abstract provided.

Out-Of-Body Image, Caroline Heldman

Caroline Heldman

On a typical day, you might see ads featuring a naked woman's body tempting viewers to buy an electronic organizer, partially exposed women's breasts being used to sell fishing line, or a woman's rear-wearing only a thong-being used to pitch a new running shoe. [...] Dove beauty products launched a much-lauded advertising campaign that used "real women" (i.e., not super-skinny ones) instead of models, but then Dove's parent company, Unilever, put out hypersexual ads for Axe men's body spray that showed the fragrance driving scantily clad women into orgiastic states.

The Insanity Trial Of Hamlet: A Teaching Activity, Elizabeth Swenson

Elizabeth V. Swenson

The most popular activities from APA's successful Activities Handbooks for the Teaching of Psychology are gathered together and updated in this book of teachers' favorites. The lesson plans, which encourage active learning and involve the whole class, have stood the test of time and proven themselves to be entertaining, effective, and easy to plan. Contributed by psychology teachers nationwide, the activities are most appropriate for courses at the college undergraduate or high school level, yet many are also applicable to more advanced classes. Both beginner and experienced teachers will appreciate the wide variety of teaching techniques described, including demonstrations, experiments, …

The Confronting Prejudiced Responses (Cpr) Model: "Cpr" For Hispanic Professionals, Leslie Ashburn-Nardo, Kathryn Morris, Stephanie Goowin

Kathryn A. Morris

Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States, comprising over 15% of the total population (Pew Hispanic Center, 2007). Perhaps not surprisingly, along with their growing numbers come frequent experiences with ethnic harassment in the workplace. Specifically, Hispanic employees are often the targets of derogatory comments and jokes about their ethnicity, and the more they experience such verbal harassment, the lower their life satisfaction, even after controlling for dispositional negative affect (Schneider, Hitlan, & Radhakrishnan, 2000). Given today's unstable economy, such intergroup conflict is likely to escalate (see LeVine & Campbell, 1972), underscoring the need for employers to …

Marital Status And Voting Behavior, Cigdem Sirin

Cigdem V. Sirin

No abstract provided.

Friendships With Peers Who Are Low Or High In Aggression As Moderators Of The Link Between Peer Victimization And Declines In Academic Functioning, David Schwartz, Andrea Hopmeyer Gorman, Kenneth Dodge, Gregory Pettit, John Bates

Andrea Hopmeyer Gorman

This paper reports two prospective investigations of the role of friendship in the relation between peer victimization and grade point averages (GPA). Study 1 included 199 children (105 boys, 94 girls; mean age of 9.1 years) and Study 2 included 310 children (151 boys, 159 girls; mean age of 8.5 years). These children were followed for two school years. In both projects, we assessed aggression, victimization, and friendship with a peer nomination inventory, and we obtained children's GPAs from a review of school records. Peer victimization was associated with academic declines only when children had either a high number of …

Understanding Evaluation Of Faces On Social Dimensions., Alex Todorov, Said Chris, Andrew Engell, Nicholas Oosterhof

Andrew Engell