"Does reward increase or decrease creativity?": Correction to Eisenberger and Selbst.

Reports an error in "Does reward increase or decrease creativity" by Robert Eisenberger and Michael Selbst (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1994[Jun], Vol 66[6], 1116-1127). In the aforementioned article, Figures 1 and 2 were interchanged. The figures appear with their correct captions in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1994-40652-001.) Two studies involving 504 school children investigated why behaviorists and cognitively oriented investigators have come to opposite conclusions about reward's effects on creativity. A monetary reward for a high degree of divergent thought in 1 task (word construction) increased children's subsequent originality in a different task (picture drawing). The same reward, made contingent on a low degree of divergent thought, reduced this generalized originality. These effects were eliminated by using a large reward and were restored by keeping the large reward out of the children's sight. The results suggest that reward training increases generalized creativity when (1) a high degree of divergent thought is required and (2) the reward is presented in not too salient a fashion. The findings are consistent with a 2-factor interpretation of rewarded creativity effects that incorporates learned industriousness and selective attention. [A correction concerning this article appears in Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 1994(Jul), Vol 67(1), 125. Figures 1 and 2 were interchanged.] (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations Between Cognitive Abilities and Measures of Executive Functioning.

Although frequently mentioned in contemporary neuropsychology, the term executive functioning has been a source of considerable confusion. One way in which the meaning of a variable can be investigated involves examining its pattern of relations with established cognitive abilities. This method was applied to a variety of variables hypothesized to assess executive functioning in 2 data sets, 1 consisting of 328 adults between 18 and 93 years of age and a 2nd composite data set based on nearly 7,000 healthy adults between 18 and 95 years of age. Most of the hypothesized executive functioning variables were strongly related to reasoning and perceptual speed abilities, and very few had any unique relations with age after taking into consideration the relations of age through the cognitive abilities. These results raise questions about the extent to which neuropsychological tests of executive functioning measure a distinct dimension of variation in normal adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive structure and attitudinal affect.

3 hypotheses concerning the relationships between attitude toward an object and beliefs about that object were tested. 117 Ss were given a questionnaire designed to elicit attitudes towards allowing members of the Communist party to address the public. Several weeks later each S took a card sorting test designed to elicit the importance of certain values as a source of satisfaction and whether the values tend to be blocked by the attitude object. The hypotheses were confirmed, and "some of the data were interpreted as suggesting that 'value importance' and 'perceived instrumentality' are separate and possibly manipulable dimensions of attitude-related cognitive structures." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Executive Functioning as a Potential Mediator of Age-Related Cognitive Decline in Normal Adults.

Critical requirements for the hypothesis that executive functioning is a potential mediator of age-related effects on cognitive functioning are that variables assumed to reflect executive functioning represent a distinct construct and that age-related effects on other types of cognitive functioning are reduced when measures of executive functioning are statistically controlled. These issues were investigated in a study involving 261 adults between 18 and 84 years of age. Although age-related effects on various cognitive abilities were substantially reduced after statistical control of the variance in measures hypothesized to represent executive functioning, there was only weak evidence for the existence of distinct constructs corresponding to executive functioning or to aspects of executive control concerned with inhibition, updating, or time sharing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Estimating Retest Effects in Longitudinal Assessments of Cognitive Functioning in Adults Between 18 and 60 Years of Age.

Several analyses were conducted on data from samples of adults between 18 and 58 years of age who completed the same cognitive tests after an interval ranging from less than 1 week to 35 years. Because the retest interval varied across individuals, it was possible to determine the length of time needed before the gains associated with a retest decreased to 0 and to obtain simultaneous estimates of the magnitude of effects associated with increased age and a prior assessment. The results indicated that for adults within this age range, 7 or more years were needed before positive retest effects were no longer detectable. Age effects in longitudinal comparisons could be interpreted in terms of large positive effects associated with a prior assessment and negative effects associated with age that were comparable in magnitude to those observed in cross-sectional comparisons. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitudinal and cognitive aspects of intensive study of a second language.

Students attending a 6-week French Summer School were examined for attitudes toward French people and culture, their orientations toward learning a 2nd language, and their feelings of anomie at the start and end of the course. Attention was also given to modification in the meanings of French and translated-equivalent English concepts. Students at 2 levels of skill in French were compared. Results supported the theory that learning a 2nd language efficiently depends on an appropriate pattern of attitudes toward the other cultural group and a particular orientation toward language study. Anomie increased for both groups of students during the course. Students utilized the semantic features of both their languages and permitted the 2 to interact. This linguistic interdependence correlates positively with achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When "New" Meets "Old": Configurations of Adult Attachment Representations and Their Implications for Marital Functioning.

Two studies addressed the implications of concordance versus discrepancy of attachment representations in individuals at 2 stages in their marital relationships. Engaged (n = 157) and dating (n = 101) couples participated in a multimethod 6-year longitudinal study of adult attachment. Individuals completed the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), the Current Relationship Interview (CRI), and various questionnaires and were observed in interactions with partners. On the basis of AAI and CRI classifications, participants were placed in one of four groups: SecureAAI/SecureCRI, SecureAAI/lnsecureCRI, InsecureAAI/SecureCRI, or InsecureAAI/InsecureCRI. Each of the configurations showed a particular pattern of behavior, feelings about relationships and the self, and likelihood of relationship breakup. The findings of the studies address important points about the protective effects of attachment security and have interesting implications for the extension of attachment theory into adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Relation of eighth graders' family structure, gender, and family environment with academic performance and school behavior": Correction to Kurdek and Sinclair.

Reports an error in "Relation of eighth graders' family structure, gender, and family environment with academic performance and school behavior" by Lawrence A. Kurdek and Ronald J. Sinclair (Journal of Educational Psychology, 1988[Mar], Vol 80[1], 90-94). Table 2 contained incorrect data. The first column of data contained correlations whose signs should have been reversed. The complete correct table appears in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1988-24801-001.) The purpose of this study was to assess how family structure, gender, and family environment were related to both academic performance (end-of-the-year grades and quantitative and verbal achievement factor scores) and school behavior (number of days absent, number of days tardy, and number of in-school detentions). Subjects were 219 middle-class eighth graders (96 boys, 123 girls). Generally, students in two-parent nuclear families had better academic performance and less problematic school behavior than did students in either mother-custody or stepfather families. Boys had more detentions than did girls. Despite significant differences among the three family structures, the family structure variable accounted at most for only 7% of the variability in academic performance and school behavior. A family environment that emphasized achievement and intellectual pursuits accounted for variability in end-of-the-year grades beyond that accounted for by family structure, gender, and family conflict. The joint consideration of family structure, gender, and family environment accounted at most for 17% of the variance in academic performance and school behavior. For students in the mother-custody and stepfather families, contact with father was unrelated to academic performance. Findings are discussed in terms of models of achievement motivation and behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive learning in infancy and early childhood.

The stress on genetic factors in early cognitive development has led to the amassing of a considerable body of normative data. However, there has been little interest in determining the scope and complexity of learning possible during the initial phases of development. Research literature and theoretical orientations are presented to show the potential importance of studying early cognitive learning. (201 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parent?×?child socialization: Implications for the development of depressive symptoms.

A Parent?×?Child model of socialization was applied to the development of depressive symptoms. It was expected that when parents used intrusive support frequently, children engaging in negative self-evaluative processes would be more vulnerable to depressive symptoms than children engaging in positive self-evaluative processes. Children in the 5th through 7th grades took part in a 2-wave longitudinal study over 6 months. Parents' use of intrusive support was assessed using reports from children (N?=?806) and mothers (N?=?74). Children's self-evaluative processes and depressive symptoms were assessed using reports from children. The results suggest that both parents and children contribute to the development of depressive symptoms. When parental intrusive support was high, children engaging in negative self-evaluative processes experienced more depressive symptoms over time than did children engaging in positive self-evaluative processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Contribution of specific cognitive processes to executive functioning in an aging population": Correction to Lamar et al.(2002).

Reports an error in the article "Contributions of Specific Cognitive Processes to Executive Function in an Aging Population," by M. Lamar, et al. (Neuropsychology, 2002, 16[2]: 156-162). The article contained errors in Tables 2-4. Reanalyzed data with the corrected coding for phonemic and semantic fluency are available at http://dx.dou.org/neu162156.cx1. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 2002-02127-004. The current study investigated executive function measures emphasizing Alpha Span (ASp) to understand relationships among executive and nonexecutive tasks. Nondemented older participants (N = 417) received a comprehensive cognitive battery. Age and vocabulary adjusted correlations revealed associations among ASp, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale--Revised (D. Wechsler, 1981) Digit Span subtests, and fluency tasks. Principal-components analysis with varimax rotation revealed a 4 component solution (86.4% of the variance) with executive variables contributing to all loadings. Calculated component indices were submitted to a regression analysis predicting ASp performance. After accounting for age (6.3% of the variance), Component 3 reflecting brief attention-mental manipulation accounted for 13.4% of ASp variance; Component 1, verbal language... (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Social–Cognitive influences on change in aggression over time": Erratum.

Reports an error in the original article by S. K. Egan et al (Developmental Psychology, 1998 [Sep], Vol 34[5], 996–1006). On pages 1004–1005, the last sentence of the article should read as follows: "Given that we speculated that the effects of aversive treatment hinge crucially on factors such as timing and whether successful counterattacks occur, such observations, especially if supplemented with measures of social cognitions, might greatly enrich our understanding of how cognition and behavior jointly contribute to social development." The first line of text in the right-hand column on page 1005 should be deleted. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1998-10846-016.) This study examined whether social cognitions that have been assumed to influence aggression actually forecast change in aggressive habits over time. Participants were 189 3rd- through 7th-grade boys and girls; data on social cognitions and social behaviors were collected in the fall and spring of the school year. Aggression-encouraging cognitions assessed in the fall indeed promoted aggression over the school year, but such developments hinged critically on child sex and on initial (fall) levels of aggression and victimization. Results illustrate the principle that cognitions affect behavioral development mainly when the child's transactions with the social environment support the use of the cognitions as guides for behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fathers' influence on children's cognitive and behavioural functioning: A longitudinal study of Canadian families.

An emerging body of research illustrates the connections between fathers and their children's development. This topic is particularly relevant in Québec, a demographically and culturally unique province in which female lone parenthood is relatively common; this pattern is related to socioeconomic disadvantages that predict negative cognitive and behavioural outcomes in youth. Using data from the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project, an intergenerational longitudinal data set collected in inner city areas of Montreal, the current study investigated the prospective relations between fathers' presence and parenting, and children's subsequent cognitive and behavioural functioning. The current sample included 138 families from lower to middle income backgrounds who participated in two waves of data collection: when children were in middle childhood and subsequently three to five years later in preadolescence. The results indicated that for girls only, fathers' presence in middle childhood predicted fewer internalizing problems in preadolescence. For both boys and girls, fathers' positive parental control predicted higher Performance IQ and fewer internalizing problems over six years later. These findings add to the increasing body of literature suggesting that fathers make important contributions to their children's cognitive and behavioural functioning, and point to the benefits of developing policies that encourage fathers to spend time with their children (i.e., parental leave for men) and promote positive fathering and involvement through parenting courses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Prospective Span as a Cognitive Ability": Erratum.

Reports an error in the original article by Louis S. Dickstein (Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 1969, 33[6], 757-760. On page 758, column 1, paragraph 2, sentence 2, the reliability of .80 should refer to interjudge reliability rather than test-retest reliability. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1970-03616-001.) Hypothesized that prospective span (PS) in TAT stories, as a measure of cognitive capacity of anticipation, should be related to cognitive tasks involving the specific capacity of anticipation but not to more general measures of verbal intelligence. In 51 male undergraduates, PS was related to 2 cognitive tasks requiring anticipation, the Mazes Test and the Seeing Deficiencies Test, but unrelated to the Vocabulary and Information subtests of the WAIS. Contrary to previous studies, PS was negatively related to academic grades. Large differences were obtained between PS scores for the different TAT cards. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"The Memory Functioning Questionnaire for assessment of memory complaints in adulthood and old age": Correction to Gilewski et al.

Reports an error in "The Memory Functioning Questionnaire for assessment of memory complaints in adulthood and old age" by Michael J. Gilewski, Elizabeth M. Zelinski and K. Warner Schaie (Psychology and Aging, 1990[Dec], Vol 5[4], 482-490). In the aforementioned article, the author note at the beginning of the article should have contained the following statement: "The Memory Functioning Questionnaire (MFQ) items that appear in the appendix at the end of this article were published previously in 'Memory Functioning Questionnaire (MFQ)' by Michael J. Gilewski and Elizabeth M. Zelinski (Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 1988, Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 665-670). The current article reflects the construction validation, scoring, and interpretation of the MFQ more accurately than does the article that appeared in Psychopharmacology Bulletin." (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1991-08788-001.) The results of psychometric analyses of the Metamemory Questionnaire (MQ) of E. M. Zelinski et al (1980), developed to evaluate perception of everyday memory functioning, are presented for a sample of 343 men and 435 women (aged 16-89 yrs). Exploratory factor analysis yielded 4 correlated factors (General Frequency of Forgetting, Retrospective Functioning, and Mnemonics Usage) that accounted for 36.7% of the variance in responses to the MQ. Factor structure was invariant across age groups (16-54 vs 55-89 yrs), 2 independent samples, and over 3 yrs. Because some of the original MQ scales did not load on the factors, only 64 of the original 92 items were retained for inclusion in the Memory Functioning Questionnaire (MFQ). Internal consistency of MFQ scores is high. The MFQ is therefore reliable for evaluating memory self-appraisals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Integrating neural networks into decision-making and motivational theory: Rethinking VIE theory": Erratum.

Reports an error in "Integrating neural networks into decision-making and motivational theory: Rethinking VIE theory" by Robert G. Lord, Paul J. Hanges and Ellen G. Godfrey (Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne, 2003[Feb], Vol 44[1], 21-38). The paper by Lord, Henges and Godfrey, referred to in some of the commentaries (this issue), was accepted as part of the Special Section on psychology without boundaries. However, it was inadvertently published in a previous issue. The full reference is: Lord, R. G., Hanges, P. J., & Godfrey, E. G. (2003). Integrating neural networks into decision-making and motivational theory: Rethinking VIE theory. Canadian Psychology, 44 (1), 21-38. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2003-01537-005.) Uses a reformulation of V. H. Vroom's (1964) VIE (Valence-Instrumentality-Expectancy) theory to illustrate the potential value of neuropsychologically based models of cognitive processes. Vroom's theory posits that people's decisions are determined by their affective reactions to certain outcomes (valences), beliefs about the relationship between actions and outcomes (expectancies), and perceptions of the association between primary and secondary outcomes (instrumentalities). One of the major criticisms of this type of theory is that the computations it requires are unrealistically time-consuming and often exceed working memory capacity. In this paper, the authors maintain that if an individual has extensive experience with a problem situation, he or she can process decisions about that situation using neural networks that operate implicitly so that cognitive resources are not exhausted by simple computations; instead, the computations are performed implicitly by neural networks. By thinking about VIE from a neural network standpoint, at least one of its problems is eliminated, and several new insights into decision-making are provided. The authors use simulation methodology to show that such a model is both viable and can reflect the effects of current goals on choice processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Specificity of treatment effects: Cognitive therapy and relaxation for generalized anxiety and panic disorders": Correction.

Reports an error in "Specificity of treatment effects: Cognitive therapy and relaxation for generalized anxiety and panic disorders" by Jedidiah Siev and Dianne L. Chambless (Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2007[Aug], Vol 75[4], 513-522). The individual measures were not listed in the domains labeled "Panic" and "Cognitive" for the ?st and Westling (1995) citation in Table 3. The corrected table is included, with the added text appearing in bold font. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2007-11558-001.) The aim of this study was to address claims that among bona fide treatments no one is more efficacious than another by comparing the relative efficacy of cognitive therapy (CT) and relaxation therapy (RT) in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and panic disorder without agoraphobia (PD). Two fixed-effects meta-analyses were conducted, for GAD and PD separately, to review the treatment outcome literature directly comparing CT with RT in the treatment of those disorders. For GAD, CT and RT were equivalent. For PD, CT, which included interoceptive exposure, outperformed RT on all panic-related measures, as well as on indices of clinically significant change. There is ample evidence that both CT and RT qualify as bona fide treatments for GAD and PD, for which they are efficacious and intended to be so. Therefore, the finding that CT and RT do not differ in the treatment of GAD, but do for PD, is evidence for the specificity of treatment to disorder, even for 2 treatments within a CBT class, and 2 disorders within an anxiety class. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of "Social Cognition: The Ontario Symposium."

Reviews the book, Social Cognition: The Ontario Symposium edited by E. Tory Higgins, C. Peter Herman and Mark P. Zanna (1981). This volume presents the papers from the first Ontario Symposium on Personality and Social Psychology which was held at the University of Western Ontario in 1978. The first five chapters deal with cognitive organization. Chapter 3 provides a broad overview of schemas and their functions and liabilities which is particularly good for the reader who is fairly naive to cognitive psychology. Chapter 2 overlaps with it quite a bit, but is narrower in scope - focusing only on the issue of the relationship of information relevance and congruence to schema memory. Chapter I presents a review of the literature and a series of experiments on cognitive clustering. Chapters 4 and 5 are more conceptual in nature, dealing with respectively, the manner in which schemas govern the encoding and retention of social information and a storage bin model of category accesibility. The second part of the book, chapters 6-11, focuses on specific aspects of cognitive mechanisms, processes and biases. Some of the chapters, such as those on the use of confirmatory strategies in interpersonal hypothesis testing, self-centered biases, and nonverbal behaviour in impression management, are summaries of the authors' own line of research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Child health psychology": Erratum.

Reports an error in "Child health psychology" by Dennis Drotar, Suzanne Bennett Johnson, Ron Iannotti, Norman Krasnegor, Karen A. Matthews, Barbara G. Melamed, Sharon Millstein, Rolf A. Peterson, Debbie Popiel and Donald K. Routh (Health Psychology, 1989, Vol 8[6], 781-784). The name of the author, Sharon Millstein, should be Susan Millstein. It appears correctly in this record. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2008-09118-001.) The term child health psychology refers to the field of research on the behavioral aspects of children's health and illness. At this time we need to continue the work of the child health psychology special interest group and to draw into the Division of Health Psychology a much larger number of developmental psychologists, who need to be informed about the relevance of their scientific training to child health issues. We call the Division's attention and that of granting agencies such as the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to the following high-priority child health research issues: adherence to pediatric medical regimens; child health promotion; family influences on child and adolescent health and disease; and stress and coping in childhood illness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)