Showing papers in "Annual Review of Psychology in 2012"

Sources of Method Bias in Social Science Research and Recommendations on How to Control It

Abstract: Despite the concern that has been expressed about potential method biases, and the pervasiveness of research settings with the potential to produce them, there is disagreement about whether they really are a problem for researchers in the behavioral sciences. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to explore the current state of knowledge about method biases. First, we explore the meaning of the terms “method” and “method bias” and then we examine whether method biases influence all measures equally. Next, we review the evidence of the effects that method biases have on individual measures and on the covariation between different constructs. Following this, we evaluate the procedural and statistical remedies that have been used to control method biases and provide recommendations for minimizing method bias.

Working Memory: Theories, Models, and Controversies

Abstract: I present an account of the origins and development of the multicomponent approach to working memory, making a distinction between the overall theoretical framework, which has remained relatively stable, and the attempts to build more specific models within this framework. I follow this with a brief discussion of alternative models and their relationship to the framework. I conclude with speculations on further developments and a comment on the value of attempting to apply models and theories beyond the laboratory studies on which they are typically based.

Fear Extinction as a Model for Translational Neuroscience: Ten Years of Progress

Abstract: The psychology of extinction has been studied for decades. Approximately 10 years ago, however, there began a concerted effort to understand the neural circuits of extinction of fear conditioning, in both animals and humans. Progress during this period has been facilitated by a high degree of coordination between rodent and human researchers examining fear extinction. Here we review the major advances and highlight new approaches to understanding and exploiting fear extinction. Research in fear extinction could serve as a model for translational research in other areas of behavioral neuroscience.

Child Development in the Context of Disaster, War, and Terrorism: Pathways of Risk and Resilience

Abstract: This review highlights progress over the past decade in research on the effects of mass trauma experiences on children and youth, focusing on natural disasters, war, and terrorism. Conceptual advances are reviewed in terms of prevailing risk and resilience frameworks that guide basic and translational research. Recent evidence on common components of these models is evaluated, including dose effects, mediators and moderators, and the individual or contextual differences that predict risk or resilience. New research horizons with profound implications for health and well-being are discussed, particularly in relation to plausible models for biological embedding of extreme stress. Strong consistencies are noted in this literature, suggesting guidelines for disaster preparedness and response. At the same time, there is a notable shortage of evidence on effective interventions for child and youth victims. Practical and theory-informative research on strategies to protect children and youth victims and promote their resilience is a global priority.

Mechanisms of Social Cognition

Abstract: Social animals including humans share a range of social mechanisms that are automatic and implicit and enable learning by observation. Learning from others includes imitation of actions and mirroring of emotions. Learning about others, such as their group membership and reputation, is crucial for social interactions that depend on trust. For accurate prediction of others’ changeable dispositions, mentalizing is required, i.e., tracking of intentions, desires, and beliefs. Implicit mentalizing is present in infants less than one year old as well as in some nonhuman species. Explicit mentalizing is a meta-cognitive process and enhances the ability to learn about the world through self-monitoring and reflection, and may be uniquely human. Meta-cognitive processes can also exert control over automatic behavior, for instance, when short-term gains oppose long-term aims or when selfish and prosocial interests collide. We suggest that they also underlie the ability to explicitly share experiences with other agents, as in reflective discussion and teaching. These are key in increasing the accuracy of the models of the world that we construct.

Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) and Reading Fluency: Implications for Understanding and Treatment of Reading Disabilities

Abstract: Fluent reading depends on a complex set of cognitive processes that must work together in perfect concert. Rapid automatized naming (RAN) tasks provide insight into this system, acting as a microcosm of the processes involved in reading. In this review, we examine both RAN and reading fluency and how each has shaped our understanding of reading disabilities. We explore the research that led to our current understanding of the relationships between RAN and reading and what makes RAN unique as a cognitive measure. We explore how the automaticity that supports RAN affects reading across development, reading abilities, and languages, and the biological bases of these processes. Finally, we bring these converging areas of knowledge together by examining what the collective studies of RAN and reading fluency contribute to our goals of creating optimal assessments and interventions that help every child become a fluent, comprehending reader.

Consequences of Age-Related Cognitive Declines

Abstract: Adult age differences in a variety of cognitive abilities are well documented, and many of those abilities have been found to be related to success in the workplace and in everyday life. However, increased age is seldom associated with lower levels of real-world functioning, and the reasons for this lab-life discrepancy are not well understood. This article briefly reviews research concerned with relations of age to cognition, relations of cognition to successful functioning outside the laboratory, and relations of age to measures of work performance and achievement. The final section discusses several possible explanations for why there are often little or no consequences of age-related cognitive declines in everyday functioning.

The Individual Experience of Unemployment

Abstract: This review describes advances over the past decade in what is known about the individual experience of unemployment, predictors of reemployment, and interventions to speed employment. Research on the impact of unemployment has increased in sophistication, strengthening the causal conclusion that unemployment leads to declines in psychological and physical health and an increased incidence of suicide. This work has elucidated the risk factors and mechanisms associated with experiencing poor psychological health during unemployment; less so for physical health and suicide. Psychologists have begun to contribute to the study of factors associated with reemployment speed and quality. The past decade has especially illuminated the role of social networks and job search intensity in facilitating reemployment. Evidence suggests some individuals, especially members of minority groups, may face discrimination during their job search. Although more work in this arena is needed, several intervention-based programs have been shown to help individuals get back to work sooner.

Decoding Patterns of Human Brain Activity

Abstract: Considerable information about mental states can be decoded from noninvasive measures of human brain activity. Analyses of brain activity patterns can reveal what a person is seeing, perceiving, attending to, or remembering. Moreover, multidimensional models can be used to investigate how the brain encodes complex visual scenes or abstract semantic information. Such feats of "brain reading" or "mind reading," though impressive, raise important conceptual, methodological, and ethical issues. What does successful decoding reveal about the cognitive functions performed by a brain region? How should brain signals be spatially selected and mathematically combined to ensure that decoding reflects inherent computations of the brain rather than those performed by the decoder? We highlight recent advances and describe how multivoxel pattern analysis can provide a window into mind-brain relationships with unprecedented specificity, when carefully applied. However, as brain-reading technology advances, issues of neuroethics and mental privacy will be important to consider.

The Evolutionary Origins of Friendship

Abstract: Convergent evidence from many species reveals the evolutionary origins of human friendship. In horses, elephants, hyenas, dolphins, monkeys, and chimpanzees, some individuals form friendships that last for years. Bonds occur among females, among males, or between males and females. Genetic relatedness affects friendships. In species where males disperse, friendships are more likely among females. If females disperse, friendships are more likely among males. Not all friendships, however, depend on kinship; many are formed between unrelated individuals. Friendships often involve cooperative interactions that are separated in time. They depend, at least in part, on the memory and emotions associated with past interactions. Applying the term “friendship” to animals is not anthropomorphic: Many studies have shown that the animals themselves recognize others' relationships. Friendships are adaptive. Male allies have superior competitive ability and improved reproductive success; females with the strongest, most...

Social Functionality of Human Emotion

Abstract: Answers to the question “What are human emotions for?” have stimulated highly productive programs of research on emotional phenomena in psychology and neuroscience in the past decade. Although a variety of functions have been proposed and examined at different levels of abstraction, what is undeniable is that when emotional processing is compromised, most things social go awry. In this review we survey the research findings documenting the functions of emotion and link these to new discoveries about how emotion is accurately processed and transmitted. We focus specifically on emotion processing in dyads and groups, which reflects the current scientific trend. Within dyads, emotional expressions and learning and understanding through vicarious emotion are the phenomena of interest. Behavioral and brain mechanisms supporting their successful occurrence are evaluated. At the group level, group emotions and group-based emotions, two very different phenomena, are discussed, and mechanistic accounts are reviewed.

Personality Processes: Mechanisms by Which Personality Traits “Get Outside the Skin”

Abstract: It is time to better understand why personality traits predict consequential outcomes, which calls for a closer look at personality processes. Personality processes are mechanisms that unfold over time to produce the effects of personality traits. They include reactive and instrumental processes that moderate or mediate the association between traits and outcomes. These mechanisms are illustrated here by a selection of studies of traits representing the three broad domains of personality and temperament: negative emotionality, positive emotionality, and constraint. Personality processes are studied over the short term, as in event-sampling studies, and over the long term, as in lifespan research. Implications of findings from the study of processes are considered for resolving issues in models of personality structure, improving and extending methods of personality assessment, and identifying targets for personality interventions.

Remembering in conversations: the social sharing and reshaping of memories.

Abstract: People constantly talk about past experiences. Burgeoning psychological research has examined the role of communication in remembering by placing rememberers in conversational settings. In reviewing this work, we first discuss the benefits of collaborative remembering (transactive memory and collaborative facilitation) and its costs (collaborative inhibition, information sampling biases, and audience tuning). We next examine how conversational remembering affects subsequent memory. Here, we address influences on listeners' memory through social contagion, resistance to such influences, and then retrieval/reexposure effects on either speaker or listener, with a focus on retrieval-induced forgetting. Extending the perspective beyond single interactions, we consider work that has explored how the above effects can spread across networks of several individuals. We also explore how a speaker's motive to form a shared reality with listeners can moderate conversational effects on memory. Finally, we discuss how ...

Distributed representations in memory: insights from functional brain imaging.

Abstract: Forging new memories for facts and events, holding critical details in mind on a moment-to-moment basis, and retrieving knowledge in the service of current goals all depend on a complex interplay between neural ensembles throughout the brain. Over the past decade, researchers have increasingly utilized powerful analytical tools (e.g., multivoxel pattern analysis) to decode the information represented within distributed functional magnetic resonance imaging activity patterns. In this review, we discuss how these methods can sensitively index neural representations of perceptual and semantic content and how leverage on the engagement of distributed representations provides unique insights into distinct aspects of memory-guided behavior. We emphasize that, in addition to characterizing the contents of memories, analyses of distributed patterns shed light on the processes that influence how information is encoded, maintained, or retrieved, and thus inform memory theory. We conclude by highlighting open questions about memory that can be addressed through distributed pattern analyses.

Religion, Morality, Evolution

Abstract: How did religion evolve? What effect does religion have on our moral beliefs and moral actions? These questions are related, as some scholars propose that religion has evolved to enhance altruistic behavior toward members of one's group. I review here data from survey studies (both within and across countries), priming experiments, and correlational studies of the effects of religion on racial prejudice. I conclude that religion has powerfully good moral effects and powerfully bad moral effects, but these are due to aspects of religion that are shared by other human practices. There is surprisingly little evidence for a moral effect of specifically religious beliefs.

Human Intracranial Recordings and Cognitive Neuroscience

Abstract: The ultimate goal of neuroscience research is to understand the operating mechanism of the human brain and to exploit this understanding to devise methods for repair when it malfunctions. A key feature of this operating mechanism is electrical activity of single brain cells and cell assemblies. For obvious ethical reasons, scientists rely mostly on animal research in the study of such signals. Research in humans is often limited to electrical signals that can be recorded at the scalp or to surrogates of electrical activity, namely magnetic source imaging and measures of regional blood flow and metabolism. Invasive brain recordings performed in patients during various clinical procedures provide a unique opportunity to record high-resolution signals in vivo from the human brain-data that are otherwise unavailable. Of special value are the rare opportunities to record in awake humans the activity of single brain cells and small cellular assemblies. These recordings provide a unique view on aspects of human cognition that are impossible to study in animals, including language, imagery, episodic memory, volition, and even consciousness. In the current review we discuss the unique contribution of invasive recordings from patients to the field of cognitive neuroscience.

Learning to see words.

Abstract: Skilled reading requires recognizing written words rapidly; functional neuroimaging research has clarified how the written word initiates a series of responses in visual cortex. These responses are communicated to circuits in ventral occipitotemporal (VOT) cortex that learn to identify words rapidly. Structural neuroimaging has further clarified aspects of the white matter pathways that communicate reading signals between VOT and language systems. We review this circuitry, its development, and its deficiencies in poor readers. This review emphasizes data that measure the cortical responses and white matter pathways in individual subjects rather than group differences. Such methods have the potential to clarify why a child has difficulty learning to read and to offer guidance about the interventions that may be useful for that child.

Neuroethics: The Ethical, Legal, and Societal Impact of Neuroscience

Abstract: Advances in cognitive, affective, and social neuroscience raise a host of new questions concerning the ways in which neuroscience can and should be used. These advances also challenge our intuitions about the nature of humans as moral and spiritual beings. Neuroethics is the new field that grapples with these issues. The present article surveys a number of applications of neuroscience to such diverse arenas as marketing, criminal justice, the military, and worker productivity. The ethical, legal, and societal effects of these applications are discussed. Less practical, but perhaps ultimately more consequential, is the impact of neuroscience on our worldview and our understanding of the human person.

The Rise and Fall of Job Analysis and the Future of Work Analysis

Abstract: This review begins by contrasting the importance ascribed to the study of occupational requirements observed in the early twentieth-century beginnings of industrial-organizational psychology with the diminishing numbers of job analysis articles appearing in top journals in recent times. To highlight the many pending questions associated with the job-analytic needs of today's organizations that demand further inquiry, research on the three primary types of job analysis data, namely work activities, worker attributes, and work context, is reviewed. Research on competencies is also reviewed along with the goals of a potential research agenda for the emerging trend of competency modeling. The cross-fertilization of job analysis research with research from other domains such as the meaning of work, job design, job crafting, strategic change, and interactional psychology is proposed as a means of responding to the demands of today's organizations through new forms of work analysis.

Examining relationship between personality characteristics and exercise dependence

Abstract: Consistent relationship has been demonstrated between physical activity and psychological well-being. A number of studies have established that exercise seems to reduce the risk associated with cardiovascular disease and obesity and helps to control anxiety and depression (Brosse, Sheets, Lett, & Blumenthal, 2002), leading to greater self-esteem and a better response to stress (Warburton, Nicol, & Bredin, 2006). Research has also shown that exercise may lead to dependence for some people and may be dangerous to health (Hausenblas & Symons Downs, 2002a). Exercise dependence may have negative consequences, such as injury, menstrual irregularity, anxiety, depression, illness, or exercising while injured or ill (Hall, Kerr, Kozub, & Finnie, 2004; Hausenblas & Symons Downs, 2002a). Hausenblas and Symons Downs (2002a) used the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (DSM-IV) criteria for substance dependence (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1994) to describe exercise dependence as a form of exercise that creates clinically significant distress. Dependence was manifested in three or more of the following areas: tolerance, the need to increase duration, frequency, and intensity in order to receive the desired benefits; withdrawal, manifested by various symptoms (anxiety, fatigue) in the absence of exercise, with the continuation of exercise to relieve or avoid these symptoms; intended effects, when the duration or amount of exercise is greater than expected; loss of control, the inability to reduce or manage the operation, despite the desire to do so; time, excessive time to perform or prepare the exercise; and reductions in other activities, when elimination or reduction of social, occupational, or recreational activities occur because of the continued physical exercise, in which the subject persists in exercising in spite of recurring physical or psychological problems caused by the exercise. Exercise dependence can be related to other dependence behaviors, such as eating disorders. For this reason, De Coverley Veale (1987) distinguishes between primary exercise dependence and exercise dependence that is secondary to an eating disorder. In general, exercise dependence is a relatively recent phenomenon which requires more research to understand the characteristics, antecedents, and consequences of this form of dependency (Adams, Miller, & Kraus, 2003). Hausenblas and Symons Downs (2002a) illustrate the need to examine the role that personality plays in the etiology of exercise dependence. This could also be relevant for identifying important psychological mechanisms that underlie the relationships between personality aspects and sport dependence behaviors. Researchers examining the corSebastiano Costa, Section of Psychology, University of Messina, Italy.

From interactive to collaborative problem solving: Current issues in the Programme for International Student Assessment

Abstract: Throughout history, seminal inventions such as the use of electricity or travelling by plane have strongly altered mankind’s way of life. However, hardly any change has been so rapid, so dramatic, and so widespread as the one ignited by the invention of personal computers. In fact, due to this invention literally all skills needed for a successful career have undergone great changes in the last 20 years and many studies show that tasks at school, at university, and at work are continuously less routine, but increasingly involve non-routine, dynamic, and complex skills mediated by computer interaction such as general problem solving or collaborating in a group. These tasks are not limited to educational contexts or to the job arena, but also involve the capability to naturally use computers and other technical devices in private life. For instance, the ability to handle an MP3 Player is taken for granted in the 21st century and today’s generation seldom struggles with these kinds of requirements. On the other

Using auditory stimulation to enhance athletes’ strength: An experimental study in weightlifting

Abstract: In the last fifteen years sport psychology researchers have developed different perceptual strategies based on auditory stimulation in order to improve athletes’ skills. Most of these strategies focused on providing athletes with the correct timing of action, in order to make this information available for motor production setting. However, it has also been demonstrated that some sounds can be a useful tool to modulate the physiological arousal in order to optimize sport performances. In our study we propose a protocol of intervention based on the stimulation with an auditory track whose intensity varies in correspondence with the physical effort of each phase of a bench press exercise. Eighteen participants performed three bench press lifts, both in experimental condition (with the auditory stimulus) and in control condition (without any stimulation). We measured the power exerted during the lifting. The results show that athletes can take advantage of the stimulus we provided, evidencing a higher average exertion of power in the experimental condition, compared to the control condition. Concluding, the results suggest that auditory perception can be a productive field of research in developing experimental strategies to improve athletes’ skills.

Neuropsychological performance, psychiatric symptoms, and everyday cognitive failures in Bosnian ex-servicemen with posttraumatic stress disorder

Abstract: A previous study of ours (Koso & Hansen, 2006) indicated remarkably large decrements in neuropsychological functioning in Bosnian war veterans with posttraumatic stress syndrome (PTSD). The present study assessed attention (Sustained Attention to Response Task), executive function (Trail Making Test), and memory (Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test) in an additional group of veterans with (n = 45) or without (n = 34) PTSD. Replicating our prior study, sizeable performance decrements were observed. Furthermore, multivariate analyses revealed that (a) good verbal IQ partly buffered against the harmful effect of PTSD on more fluid cognitive functions, (b) cognitive impairment was related to PTSD symptom severity (Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale scores) and to (c) difficulties in everyday cognitive functioning (Cognitive Failures Questionnaire scores).

German students in Austria: A psychometric pilot study on developing a modified version of the Sociocultural Adaptation Scale

Abstract: In previous studies, the Sociocultural Adaptation Scale (SCAS) has been employed in studying migrants’ and sojourners’ adaptation to geographically and linguistically distant cultures. In the present study, the SCAS has been modified according to the needs of German students of psychology in Austria. In line with social identity theory and previous empirical evidence, despite the two countries’ vicinity, considerable ethnic tension and adaptation problems of Germans in Austria were expected. We administered the modified SCAS to 77 women and 55 men of German descent at two Austrian universities. Factor analysis revealed three oblique dimensions, with Factor 1 pertaining to understanding Austrian culture, mentality, and values, Factor 2 addressing communication issues and Factor 3 dealing with academic requirements at the university. From the first two factors reliable subscales were derived, whereas for Scale 3 reliability was insufficient. Open questions and consecutive ratings of socio-cultural adaptation were employed towards assessing validity of the subscales. As opposed to Scale 3, Scales 1 and 2 were found to be valid measures of socio-cultural adaptation and will constitute the final version of the adapted SCAS. In line with our expectations, respondents reported considerable problems in understanding Austrian mentality and in communicating with Austrians, whereas they had no difficulties with respect to academic performance. The adapted version of the SCAS can be used as a research tool in order to study German students’ adaptation to Austrian culture in more detail.

Are There Personality Traits That Predispose Applicants to Fake Noncognitive Measures in Personnel Selection

Abstract: Previous research has shown that applicants’ faking on personality questionnaires could lower their predictive validity and reduce the quality of selection decisions. Hence, several models that specify key determinants of applicants’ faking responses on noncognitive measures have emerged. One of the common elements of these models is the important role of applicants’ personality in predicting their motivation to fake and consequently faking behavior. Nevertheless, this assumption lacks systematical empirical validation. The goal of the present study was to investigate the role of applicants’ personality facets in predicting the amount of faking on a noncognitive questionnaire. The total of 202 participants responded to personality inventory twice – first under instructions to respond honestly and afterwards under instructions to respond as an applicant in a simulated selection program. The difference between personality scores in two conditions represented the individual amount of faking, which was then regressed on the facet scores. As expected, the results confirmed significant contribution of Conscientiousness and Neuroticism facets in explaining the variance of faking. However, the most efficient predictors seem to be the facets of Openness. The obtained results provide support for personality traits having the important role in predicting applicants’ faking behavior on noncognitive measures in personnel selection.

Illusion of linearity in area and volume problems: Do metacognitive and visual scaffolds help university students?

Abstract: When solving geometry problems, students are prone to the illusion of linearity – a tendency to believe that when one side of a geometrical figure is increased or decreased by a factor k, its area and volume are also changed by that same factor. The aim of this study was to examine how different types of help provided to university students influence their achievement in mathematical problems involving the enlargement or reduction of geometrical figures. The participants, 122 undergraduate psychology students, were divided into four groups. One group solved an introductory task with visual scaffolds (help in the form of illustrations), second group received metacognitive scaffolds (help intended to provoke a cognitive conflict), third group received a combination of these, while the fourth group was the control group. All of the groups then solved a list of area, volume, and linear problems. The results show that metacognitive and visual scaffolds enhanced students’ performance in volume and area problems. There were no differences in the achievement between the experimental groups. The students in all experimental groups were better in solving area problems than volume problems, while there were no differences in the control group between the achievement in these two types of problems.