Showing papers in "Annual Review of Psychology in 2003"

Diary Methods: Capturing Life as it is Lived

Abstract: In diary studies, people provide frequent reports on the events and experiences of their daily lives. These reports capture the particulars of experience in a way that is not possible using traditional designs. We review the types of research questions that diary methods are best equipped to answer, the main designs that can be used, current technology for obtaining diary reports, and appropriate data analysis strategies. Major recent developments include the use of electronic forms of data collection and multilevel models in data analysis. We identify several areas of research opportunities: 1. in technology, combining electronic diary reports with collateral measures such as ambulatory heart rate; 2. in measurement, switching from measures based on between-person differences to those based on within-person changes; and 3. in research questions, using diaries to (a) explain why people differ in variability rather than mean level, (b) study change processes during major events and transitions, and (c) study interpersonal processes using dyadic and group diary methods.

Personality, Culture, and Subjective Well-Being: Emotional and Cognitive Evaluations of Life

Abstract: Subjective well-being (SWB), people's emotional and cognitive evaluations of their lives, includes what lay people call happiness, peace, fulfillment, and life satisfaction. Personality dispositions such as extraversion, neuroticism, and self-esteem can markedly influence levels of SWB. Although personality can explain a significant amount of the variability in SWB, life circumstances also influence long-term levels. Cultural variables explain differences in mean levels of SWB and appear to be due to objective factors such as wealth, to norms dictating appropriate feelings and how important SWB is considered to be, and to the relative approach versus avoidance tendencies of societies. Culture can also moderate which variables most influence SWB. Although it is challenging to assess SWB across societies, the measures have some degree of cross-cultural validity. Although nations can be evaluated by their levels of SWB, there are still many open questions in this area.

Implicit measures in social cognition. research: their meaning and use.

Abstract: Behavioral scientists have long sought measures of important psychological constructs that avoid response biases and other problems associated with direct reports. Recently, a large number of such indirect, or “implicit,” measures have emerged. We review research that has utilized these measures across several domains, including attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes, and discuss their predictive validity, their interrelations, and the mechanisms presumably underlying their operation. Special attention is devoted to various priming measures and the Implicit Association Test, largely due to their prevalence in the literature. We also attempt to clarify several unresolved theoretical and empirical issues concerning implicit measures, including the nature of the underlying constructs they purport to measure, the conditions under which they are most likely to relate to explicit measures, the kinds of behavior each measure is likely to predict, their sensitivity to context, and the construct's potential for c...

Psychological aspects of natural language. use: our words, our selves.

Abstract: The words people use in their daily lives can reveal important aspects of their social and psychological worlds. With advances in computer technology, text analysis allows researchers to reliably and quickly assess features of what people say as well as subtleties in their linguistic styles. Following a brief review of several text analysis programs, we summarize some of the evidence that links natural word use to personality, social and situational fluctuations, and psychological interventions. Of particular interest are findings that point to the psychological value of studying particles—parts of speech that include pronouns, articles, prepositions, conjunctives, and auxiliary verbs. Particles, which serve as the glue that holds nouns and regular verbs together, can serve as markers of emotional state, social identity, and cognitive styles.

Interdependence, interaction, and relationships.

Abstract: Interdependence theory presents a logical analysis of the structure of interpersonal situations, offering a conceptual framework in which interdependence situations can be analyzed in terms of six dimensions. Specific situations present specific problems and opportunities, logically implying the relevance of specific motives and permitting their expression. Via the concept of transformation, the theory explains how interaction is shaped by broader considerations such as long-term goals and concern for a partner's welfare. The theory illuminates our understanding of social-cognitive processes that are of longstanding interest to psychologists such as cognition and affect, attribution, and self-presentation. The theory also explains adaptation to repeatedly encountered interdependence patterns, as well as the embodiment of such adaptations in interpersonal dispositions, relationship-specific motives, and social norms.

Cultural Pathways Through Universal Development

Abstract: We focus our review on three universal tasks of human development: relationship formation, knowledge acquisition, and the balance between autonomy and relatedness at adolescence. We present evidence that each task can be addressed through two deeply different cultural pathways through development: the pathways of independence and interdependence. Whereas core theories in developmental psychology are universalistic in their intentions, they in fact presuppose the independent pathway of development. Because the independent pathway is therefore well-known in psychology, we focus a large part of our review on empirically documenting the alternative, interdependent pathway for each developmental task. We also present three theoretical approaches to culture and development: the ecocultural, the sociohistorical, and the cultural values approach. We argue that an understanding of cultural pathways through human development requires all three approaches. We review evidence linking values (cultural values approach)...

Firsthand Learning Through Intent Participation

Abstract: This article examines how people learn by actively observing and “listening-in” on ongoing activities as they participate in shared endeavors. Keen observation and listening-in are especially valued and used in some cultural communities in which children are part of mature community activities. This intent participation also occurs in some settings (such as early language learning in the family) in communities that routinely segregate children from the full range of adult activities. However, in the past century some industrial societies have relied on a specialized form of instruction that seems to accompany segregation of children from adult settings, in which adults “transmit” information to children. We contrast these two traditions of organizing learning in terms of their participation structure, the roles of more- and less-experienced people, distinctions in motivation and purpose, sources of learning (observation in ongoing activity versus lessons), forms of communication, and the role of assessment.

Facial and vocal expressions of emotion.

Abstract: A flurry of theoretical and empirical work concerning the production of and response to facial and vocal expressions has occurred in the past decade. That emotional expressions express emotions is a tautology but may not be a fact. Debates have centered on universality, the nature of emotion, and the link between emotions and expressions. Modern evolutionary theory is informing more models, emphasizing that expressions are directed at a receiver, that the interests of sender and receiver can conflict, that there are many determinants of sending an expression in addition to emotion, that expressions influence the receiver in a variety of ways, and that the receiver's response is more than simply decoding a message.

The psychology of religion.

Abstract: This chapter discusses progress in the psychology of religion by highlighting its rapid growth during the past 25 years. Recent conceptual and empirical developments are described, with an emphasis on the cognitive and affective basis of religious experience within personality and social psychology. Religion and spirituality as domains of study, as well as being common and important process variables that touch a large portion of human experience, are highlighted. Movement away from the previously dominant measurement paradigm is noted, and particularly promising directions suggestive of an emerging interdisciplinary paradigm are described.

Progress and Controversy in the Study of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Abstract: Research on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been notable for controversy as well as progress. This article concerns the evidence bearing on the most contentious issues in the field of traumatic stress: broadening of the definition of trauma, problems with the dose-response model of PTSD, distortion in the recollection of trauma, concerns about “phony combat vets,” psychologically toxic guilt as a traumatic stressor, risk factors for PTSD, possible brain-damaging effects of stress hormones, recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse, and the politics of trauma.

Signalers and Receivers in Animal Communication

Abstract: In animal communication natural selection favors callers who vocalize to affect the behavior of listeners and listeners who acquire information from vocalizations, using this information to represent their environment The acquisition of information in the wild is similar to the learning that occurs in laboratory conditioning experiments It also has some parallels with language The dichotomous view that animal signals must be either referential or emotional is false, because they can easily be both: The mechanisms that cause a signaler to vocalize do not limit a listener's ability to extract information from the call The inability of most animals to recognize the mental states of others distinguishes animal communication most clearly from human language Whereas signalers may vocalize to change a listener's behavior, they do not call to inform others Listeners acquire information from signalers who do not, in the human sense, intend to provide it

The early education of socioeconomically disadvantaged children.

Abstract: This chapter reviews selected research on the education of low-socioeconomic status (SES) children from birth through the first years of elementary school. Themes include the importance of early academic skills and interest to later achievement; the benefits of integrating knowledge from research on mental health and other areas; the need to utilize and build children's strengths as well as address their weaknesses; and a call to connect research to practice and policy. Relevant research on race and culture is reviewed because ethnic minority low-SES children are at great risk of poverty. Gender is discussed because low-SES boys have poorer general achievement than girls, while very few low-SES girls pursue careers in math- and science-related fields.

Neuroimaging studies of language production and comprehension.

Abstract: The 1990s were dubbed the “Decade of the Brain.” During this time there was a marked increase in the amount of neuroimaging work observing how the brain accomplishes many tasks, including the processing of language. In this chapter we review the past 15 years of neuroimaging research on language production and comprehension. The findings of these studies indicate that the processing involved in language use occurs in diffuse brain regions. These regions include Broca's and Wernicke's areas, primary auditory and visual cortex, and frontal regions in the left hemisphere, as well as in the right hemisphere homologues to these regions. We conclude the chapter by discussing the future of neuroimaging research into language production and comprehension.

Human-computer interaction: psychological aspects of the human use of computing.

Abstract: Human-computer interaction (HCI) is a multidisciplinary field in which psychology and other social sciences unite with computer science and related technical fields with the goal of making computing systems that are both useful and usable. It is a blend of applied and basic research, both drawing from psychological research and contributing new ideas to it. New technologies continuously challenge HCI researchers with new options, as do the demands of new audiences and uses. A variety of usability methods have been developed that draw upon psychological principles. HCI research has expanded beyond its roots in the cognitive processes of individual users to include social and organizational processes involved in computer usage in real environments as well as the use of computers in collaboration. HCI researchers need to be mindful of the longer-term changes brought about by the use of computing in a variety of venues.

Community contexts of human welfare.

Abstract: This chapter identifies “context minimization error” as the tendency to ignore the impact of enduring neighborhood and community contexts on human behavior. The error has adverse consequences for understanding psychological processes and efforts at social change. The chapter describes a series of theoretical models of how neighborhoods and community settings are associated with various aspects of human welfare and reviews evidence of associations of contexts with health, psychological distress, risky behaviors, psychological attitudes, and child development. It suggests that many psychological processes may play out differently in different contexts and that contextual factors interact with sociocultural characteristics of individuals in predicting outcomes. People, in turn, can shape community contexts. A more sophisticated understanding of the effects of contexts depends on more sophisticated approaches to assessing them.

Language processing: functional organization and neuroanatomical basis.

Abstract: Earlier formulations of the relation of language and the brain provided oversimplified accounts of the nature of language disorders, classifying patients into syndromes characterized by the disruption of sensory or motor word representations or by the disruption of syntax or semantics. More recent neuropsychological findings, drawn mainly from case studies, provide evidence regarding the various levels of representations and processes involved in single-word and sentence processing. Lesion data and neuroimaging findings are converging to some extent in providing localization of these components of language processing, particularly at the single-word level. Much work remains to be done in developing precise theoretical accounts of sentence processing that can accommodate the observed patterns of breakdown. Such theoretical developments may provide a means of accommodating the seemingly contradictory findings regarding the neural organization of sentence processing.

Biology, context, and developmental inquiry.

Abstract: This chapter summarizes some of the conceptual changes in developmental research over the last half-century. These advances include an acknowledgment of the role of maturation; also recognized have been the need for positing distinct psychological structures, the influence of temperament, the malleability of the infant, the role of the local context, and the dynamic nature of the categories describing human psychological types.

Qualitative and quantitative analyses of historical data

Abstract: Although the typical study in psychology involves the quantitative analysis of contemporary research participants, occasionally psychologists will study historical persons or events. Moreover, these historical data may be analyzed using either qualitative or quantitative techniques. After giving examples from the subdisciplines of cognitive, developmental, differential, abnormal, and social psychology, the distinctive methodological features of this approach are outlined. These include both data collection (sampling, unit definition, etc.) and data analysis (both qualitative and quantitative). The discussion then turns to the advantages and disadvantages of this research method. The article closes by presenting the reasons why (a) psychologists will probably continue to use historical data and (b) quantitative analyses may eventually replace qualitative analyses in such applications.

Psychopathology in the Postgenomic Era

Abstract: We are rapidly approaching the postgenomic era in which we will know all of the 3 billion DNA bases in the human genome sequence and all of the variations in the genome sequence that are ultimately responsible for genetic influence on behavior. These ongoing advances and new techniques will make it easier to identify genes associated with psychopathology. Progress in identifying such genes has been slower than some experts expected, probably because many genes are involved for each phenotype, which means the effect of any one gene is small. Nonetheless, replicated linkages and associations are being found, for example, for dementia, reading disability, and hyperactivity. The future of genetic research lies in finding out how genes work (functional genomics). It is important for the future of psychology that pathways between genes and behavior be examined at the top-down psychological level of analysis (behavioral genomics), as well as at the bottom-up molecular biological level of cells or the neuroscience level of the brain. DNA will revolutionize psychological research and treatment during the coming decades.

Convergent validity of four instruments for measuring posttraumatic stress disorder.

Abstract: Three instruments for measuring posttraumatic stress reactions, Mississippi Combat Related Scale (M-PTSD, 35 items), Impact of Event Scale – Revised (IES-R, 22 items), and Watson PTSD Interview (PTSD-I, 17 items), were administered to a sample of 154 war veterans. High correlations were found between total scale results measured by these instruments. The correlations ranged from 0.866 to 0.900, the same range was found among the first principal components defined by these three instruments (correlations ranging from 0.883 to 0.906). As a fourth measure, shorter version of the Mississippi scale (Short M-PTSD) consisting of 11 items taken from the original one was used. The correlation of this short questionnaire with the total scale results of the Mississippi scale was 0.970, while its correlation with the other parts of the M-PTSD scale was 0.932. Reliability of internal consistency for all four measures was rather high and varies from a=0.914 (for IES-R) to a=0.966 (for M-PTSD). Results obtained on this sample showed a high convergent validity of all four PTSD measures we used.

National identity and social distance: Does in-group loyalty lead to outgroup hostility?

Abstract: A sample of 670 subjects, Croats, from Zagreb completed the questionnaire containing National Identity Scale and the measure of social distance toward in-group, and various outgroup, minorities living in Croatia. The objectives of the study were threefold: (1) to examine the national identity of Croatian adults, university students and high school pupils ; (2) to examine the social distance of Croat participants towards various ethnic groups living in the same state ; (3) to explore the relationship between national identity and general social distance as a measure of interethnic tolerance. Results revealed a different level of national identity in participants from three groups, with high-school pupils scored highest. They also show the biggest distance toward outgroups. The four components of National Identity Scale are moderately to highly inter-related and only component of Nationalism showed the predictive power for social distance.

The structure and stability of coping with low-control stressors

Abstract: The study examines the latent structure of coping responses within typically low-control situational context. Self-report measures of the sources of stress and 11 situation-specific coping strategies were taken in a sample of recruits attending military basic training. Data gathering procedures were done at the very beginning (N=445), and by the end (N=421) of the basic training. Support was found via confirmatory factor analyses for a three-factor model of coping that included the dimensions of problem solving strategies, emotion-focused strategies, and the strategies aimed at acceptance of situation. Correlations between the scores on the corresponding latent coping dimensions point to a moderately high stability of coping over the five-week period, ranging from .67 for the acceptance of situation to .75 for the problem solving factor.