Development of value systems in adolescents.

Used the Rokeach Value Survey to assess the value systems of a total of 396 boys and 343 girls in Grades 5, 7, 9, and 11. The most striking result was the relative stability of the rankings over all grades, perhaps indicative of a core cultural pattern. An almost equal number of changes in instrumental values across grades were observed for both boys and girls. However, twice as many changes took place in terminal values for girls than for boys. The boys exhibited a more unitary theme of increasing achievement and the stereotyped feminine sex role. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Child abuse reporting decisions: Effects of statutory wording of reporting requirements.

Surveyed 297 licensed psychologists from Illinois and Washington to investigate the impact of statutory wording of reporting requirements on clinicians' decisions of whether or not to report child abuse. Participants each read a vignette of either a child showing signs of abuse or of an adult client showing signs of being abusive and indicated their initial likelihood of reporting and then their likelihood of reporting after reading either a law with broad reporting requirements or a law with narrow reporting requirements. Reading either law increased decisions to report the child case; however, reporting of the adult case decreased under the narrow law, which required observation of the abused child. Results support and extend earlier studies that demonstrate the direct effects of statutory wording on clinicians' reporting of suspected child abuse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selection for universal facial emotion.

Facial expression is heralded as a communication system common to all human populations, and thus is generally accepted as a biologically based, universal behavior. Happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust are universally recognized and produced emotions, and communication of these states is deemed essential in order to navigate the social environment. It is puzzling, however, how individuals are capable of producing similar facial expressions when facial musculature is known to vary greatly among individuals. Here, the authors show that although some facial muscles are not present in all individuals, and often exhibit great asymmetry (larger or absent on one side), the facial muscles that are essential in order to produce the universal facial expressions exhibited 100% occurrence and showed minimal gross asymmetry in 18 cadavers. This explains how universal facial expression production is achieved, implies that facial muscles have been selected for essential nonverbal communicative function, and yet also accommodate individual variation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exemptions from child abuse reporting.

Comments on the article by R. E. Emery and L. Laumann-Billings (see record 1997-38813-004) regarding the nature, causes, and consequences of abusive family relationships. The author discusses the original author"s statement that they would exempt mental health professionals from reporting less serious causes of abuse when a family is actively engaged in treatment. Fischer notes that any departure from mandatory reporting needs to be well thought out, with much consideration given to detail. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

More on reporting sex differences.

Expands on points made by A. Eagly (see record 1988-00051-001) on reporting sex differences in psychological literature, and suggests that (1) the majority of articles do not analyze gender differences in Ss and (2) when gender differences are found, there may be implicit biases in their interpretation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Relationship Between Athletic Satisfaction and Intrateam Communication.

Effective communication has been defined as those interactions between teammates that result in enhanced team attributes and/or functioning. According to the conceptual framework of Social Exchange Theories, these exchanges should result in a wide variety of outcomes. The current research investigated the relationships between team communication and athletic satisfaction. Seventy-nine team sport athletes (41 men, 38 women) completed the Scale for Effective Communication in Team Sports (SECTS) and the Athlete Satisfaction Questionnaire (ASQ). Set correlation revealed several significant relationships between the SECTS and ASQ. These results offer further support to the meaning and significance of "effective" intrateam communication in sports. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Elements of a universal aesthetic of creativity.

Creativity is in the eye of the beholder, that is, it involves an aesthetic judgment. However, there is no agreement on the categories in the mind of observers that enable them to recognize it, especially in widely differing domains such as fine art versus natural science. Concentration on socially useful products offers promise of a set of indicators that could be applied across domains: These include diagnosis, generation, germinality, and similar properties. Such indicators can be recognized with a substantial level of agreement by different observers, and can be used to judge both amount and kind of creativity. A universal aesthetic would offer perspectives on assessment of creativity, but would also improve communication among creative individuals and people such as critics, sponsors, clients, and the general public, as well as suggesting guidelines for teaching and learning activities and for better understanding of how to deal with misuse of creativity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The (un)reasonableness of reporting: Antecedents and consequences of reporting sexual harassment.

This study places the reporting of sexual harassment within an integrated model of the sexual harassment process. Two structural models were developed and tested in a sample (N=6,417) of male and female military personnel. The 1st model identifies determinants and effects of reporting; reporting did not improve--and at times worsened--job, psychological, and health outcomes. The authors argue that organizational responses to reports (i.e., organizational remedies, organizational minimization, and retaliation) as well as procedural satisfaction can account for these negative effects. The 2nd model examines these mediating mechanisms; results suggest that these mediators, and not reporting itself, are the source of the negative effects of reporting. Organizational and legal implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the advantages of reporting sex comparisons.

Refutes R. F. Baumeister's (see record 1989-14054-001) argument that the inclusion of sex-difference findings in research reports is undesirable from both political and scientific standpoints. A number of advantages stem from the study of sex differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strategic regulation of grain size memory reporting.

To increase their report accuracy, rememberers may either withhold information that they feel unsure about or provide relatively coarse information that is unlikely to be wrong. In previous work (A. Koriat & A Goldsmith, 1996c), the authors delineated the metacognitive monitoring and control processes underlying the decision to volunteer or withhold particular items of information (report option) and examined how these processes are used in the strategic regulation of memory accuracy. This article adapts that framework to address control over the grain size (precision- coarseness) of the information that people report. Results show that rememberers strategically regulate the grain of their answers to accommodate the competing goals of accuracy and informativeness. The metacognitive processes underlying this regulation are elucidated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The RIP in social scientific reporting.

Calls for editorial criteria for scientific reporting, based on the reading of S. Scarr and R. Weinberg's (see record 1977-07996-001) article on IQ test performances of Black children. The article exemplifies reasonable scientific procedure followed by unreasonable social commentary that carries the illusion of scientific authority. The reasonable inferential process (RIP) should ensure that social scientists keep discussions related to data and present discussions that will not mislead the reader. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Standardizing work injury care in aligned systems

Standardizing work injury care in aligned systems requires commitment toward the same goal from all system entities. One of the keys to the success of this process improvement is involvement of all stakeholders, including external customers, in the improvement process. Strengthening the communication processes between providers and company representatives is one step in helping employers to manage the high cost of health care for their employees.     

Interobserver variation in the reporting of cervical colposcopic biopsy specimens: comparison of grading systems

AIMS: To assess interobserver variation in reporting cervical colposcopic biopsy specimens and to determine whether a modified Bethesda grading system results in better interobserver agreement than the traditional cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) grading system. METHODS: One hundred and twenty five consecutive cervical colposcopic biopsy specimens were assessed independently by six histopathologists. Specimens were classified using the traditional CIN grading system as normal, koilocytosis, CIN I, CIN II, or CIN III. The specimens were also classified using a modified Bethesda grading system as either normal, low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) or high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL). Participants were also asked to categorise biopsy specimens by the CIN system with the addition of the recently proposed category "basal abnormalities of uncertain significance (BAUS)". The degree of agreement between participants was assessed by kappa statistics. RESULTS: Using the CIN system, interobserver agreement was generally poor: unweighted and weighted kappa values between individual pairs of observers ranging from 0.05 to 0.34 (average 0.20) and from 0.20 to 0.54 (average 0.36), respectively. With the modified Bethesda system, interobserver agreement was better but still poor: unweighted and weighted kappa values ranging from 0.15 to 0.58 (average 0.30) and from 0.21 to 0.61 (average 0.36), respectively. There was little or no agreement between observers in the diagnosis of BAUS. CONCLUSIONS: Interobserver agreement in the reporting of cervical colposcopic biopsy specimens using the CIN grading system is poor. Agreement, while still poor, is better when a modified Bethesda grading system is used. There is little or no consensus in the diagnosis of BAUS.