Premature dissemination of advice undermines our credibility as scientists: Reply to Brown (2011) and to Collins, Martino, and Elliott (2011).

In our reanalysis of data from the Brown et al. (2006) study (Steinberg & Monahan, 2011), we found no support for the contention that adolescents' exposure to sexy media content hastens their sexual debut. In their critiques of our article, Brown (2011) and Collins, Martino, and Elliott (2011) both questioned some of the decisions we made with respect to how our propensity score analyses were conducted. We point out that the way in which we conducted our analyses is consistent with standard practice in the field. More important, we argue that when small variations in data analytic strategies make significant findings appear and disappear, it is premature to issue advice to parents, practitioners, and policymakers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

K-means clustering and mixture model clustering: Reply to McLachlan (2011) and Vermunt (2011).

McLachlan (2011) and Vermunt (2011) each provided thoughtful replies to our original article (Steinley & Brusco, 2011). This response serves to incorporate some of their comments while simultaneously clarifying our position. We argue that greater caution against overparamaterization must be taken when assuming that clusters are highly elliptical in nature. Specifically, users of mixture model clustering techniques should be wary of overreliance on fit indices, and the importance of cross-validation is highlighted. Additionally, we note that K-means clustering is part of a larger family of discrete partitioning algorithms, many of which are designed to solve problems identical to those for which mixture modeling approaches are often touted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correction to Hartnell, Ou, and Kinicki (2011).

Reports an error in "Organizational culture and organizational effectiveness: A meta-analytic investigation of the competing values framework's theoretical suppositions" by Chad A. Hartnell, Amy Yi Ou and Angelo Kinicki (Journal of Applied Psychology, Advance online publication, January 17, 2011. doi: 10.1037/a0021987). In this article the supplemental materials doi was incorrect. The correct doi is: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0021987.supp All versions of this article have been corrected. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2011-00494-001.) We apply Quinn and Rohrbaugh's (1983) competing values framework (CVF) as an organizing taxonomy to meta-analytically test hypotheses about the relationship between 3 culture types and 3 major indices of organizational effectiveness (employee attitudes, operational performance [i.e., innovation and product and service quality], and financial performance). The paper also tests theoretical suppositions undergirding the CVF by investigating the framework's nomological validity and proposed internal structure (i.e., interrelationships among culture types). Results based on data from 84 empirical studies with 94 independent samples indicate that clan, adhocracy, and market cultures are differentially and positively associated with the effectiveness criteria, though not always as hypothesized. The findings provide mixed support for the CVF's nomological validity and fail to support aspects of the CVF's proposed internal structure. We propose an alternative theoretical approach to the CVF and delineate directions for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does familiarity breed contempt or liking? Comment on Reis, Maniaci, Caprariello, Eastwick, and Finkel (2011).

Reis, Maniaci, Caprariello, Eastwick, and Finkel (see record 2011-04644-001) conducted 2 studies that demonstrate that in certain cases, familiarity can lead to liking—in seeming contrast to the results of our earlier article (see record 2006-23056-008). We believe that Reis et al. (a) utilized paradigms far removed from spontaneous, everyday social interactions that were particularly likely to demonstrate a positive link between familiarity and liking and (b) failed to include and incorporate other sources of data—both academic and real-world—showing that familiarity breeds contempt. We call for further research exploring when and why familiarity is likely to lead to contempt or liking, and we suggest several factors that are likely to inform this debate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some thoughts on essence placeholders, interactionism, and heritability: Reply to Haslam (2011) and Turkheimer (2011).

In the target article (Dar-Nimrod & Heine, 2011), we provided a social–cognitive framework which identified genetic essentialist biases and their implications. In their commentaries, Haslam (2011) and Turkheimer (2011) indicated their general agreement with this framework but highlighted some important points for consideration. Haslam suggested that neuroessentialism is a comparable kind of essentialist bias and identified similarities with the genetic essentialism framework. In response, we acknowledge similarities but also identify qualitative and quantitative differences between genetic essentialism and other kinds of essentialist biases. Turkheimer challenged us to extend our discussion to address the question of how should people respond to genetic etiological information, critiqued the use of heritability coefficients, and identified a new construct (1 ? rMZ), which may be termed a free-will coefficient. In response, we emphasize the need to transform interactionist explanations from being empty platitudes to becoming the default conceptual framework; we wholeheartedly accept his critical view of heritability coefficient estimates (but acknowledge a more limited utility for them); and we are intrigued by his conceptual interest in identifying free-will coefficients yet warn against falling into pitfalls similar to those that were stumbled into in the past. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Wringing the perceptual rags: Reply to IJzerman and Koole (2011).

We Landau, Meier, & Keefer (2010) reviewed a growing body of research demonstrating metaphors' far-reaching influence on social information processing. In their commentary, IJzerman and Koole (2011) claimed that we devoted insufficient attention to the origin of metaphors, and they reviewed research showing that bodily, social, and cultural experiences constrain metaphor development. Given the focus of our article and the tone of our admittedly cursory treatment of metaphors' origins, we view IJzerman and Koole's commentary less as a critique and more as a valuable extension of our analysis. We elaborate on this extension and address three related issues raised in the comment: metaphors and representational format, the explanatory value of a metaphor-enriched perspective over the embodied cognition perspective, and the direction of metaphoric mappings between concrete and abstract concepts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correction to Debruille, Brodeur, and Hess (2011).

Reports an error in "Assessing the way people look to judge their intentions" by J. Bruno Debruille, Mathieu B. Brodeur and Ursula Hess (Emotion, 2011[Jun], Vol 11[3], 533-543). Figure 1 should have been printed in color. The online version has been corrected. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2011-11794-006.) Faces of unknown persons are processed to infer the intentions of these persons not only when they depict full-blown emotions, but also at rest, or when these faces do not signal any strong feelings. We explored the brain processes involved in these inferences to test whether they are similar to those found when judging full-blown emotions. We recorded the event-related brain potentials (ERPs) elicited by faces of unknown persons who, when they were photographed, were not asked to adopt any particular expression. During the ERP recording, participants had to decide whether each face appeared to be that of a positively, negatively, ambiguously, or neutrally intentioned person. The early posterior negativity, the EPN, was found smaller for neutrally categorized faces than for the other faces, suggesting that the automatic processes it indexes are similar to those evoked by full-blown expressions and thus that these processes might be involved in the decoding of intentions. In contrast, in the same 200–400 ms time window, ERPs were not more negative at anterior sites for neutrally intentioned faces. Second, the peaks of the late positive potentials (LPPs) maximal at parietal sites around 700 ms postonset were not significantly smaller for neutrally intentioned faces. Third, the slow positive waves that followed the LPP were larger for faces that took more time to categorize, that is, for ambiguously intentioned faces. These three series of unexpected results may indicate processes similar to those triggered by full-blown emotions studies, but they question the characteristics of these processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correction to Kelley and Jouriles (2011).

Reports an error in "An introduction to the special section on U.S. Military operations: Effects on military members' partners and children" by Michelle L. Kelley and Ernest N. Jouriles (Journal of Family Psychology, 2011[Aug], Vol 25[4], 459-460). An author’s name cited in the text and the reference section was misspelled as Knoblock. The correct reference is Knobloch, L. K., & Theiss, J. A. (2011). Depressive symptoms and mechanisms of relational turbulence as predictors of relationship satisfaction among returning service members. Journal of Family Psychology, 25, 470–478. The online versions of this article have been corrected. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2011-17889-001.) The deployment of U.S. military personnel to global hot spots, whether as combatants or as peacekeepers, has increased attention to the psychological well-being of military personnel and their family members. Despite the growing awareness that deployments have reverberating effects on all family members, theoretical explanations and empirical research on the impact of deployment on couple, family, and child adjustment, factors that serve to protect families from the demands of military employment, and effective methods of treating the mental health needs of military families are needed. The seven papers in this section increase our understanding of how the demands of U.S. military operations impact couples, family functioning, parenting, and child psychological adjustment and provide an additional resource for mental health professionals who work with these families. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correction to Baumann & Bonner (2011).

Reports an error in "The effects of expected group longevity and expected task difficulty on learning and recall: Implications for the development of transactive memory" by Michael R. Baumann and Bryan L. Bonner (Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, , , np). An error was introduced during the production process. On article page 8, column 1 line 6 through column 2 line 2, the statement “…the main effect of expected longevity was significant only in the same expertise condition…” is incorrect. The effect found was for expected difficulty, not expected longevity. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2011-09189-001.) The ability to effectively coordinate with others is a vital component of group success. It is often useful to base this coordination on expectations derived from perceived expertise (transactive memory; Wegner, 1986). Yet, the value of coordination overall and specific coordination strategies vary by task. We argue that the benefit of applying a task-appropriate coordination strategy increases with the number of trials of the task performed (expected longevity), and that the most beneficial strategy varies by task difficulty. We, therefore, predict that coordination increases with expected longevity and that the form of coordination (increased or decreased duplication) depends on expected task difficulty. To test these predictions we manipulate expectations of longevity and difficulty among individuals expecting to work with a partner on a memory task. The predicted relationships are found for both learning and recall. The implications of these findings for the development of transactive memory are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Commentary on Crum, Corbin, Brownell, and Salovey (2011).

In their article, Crum, et al. (see record 2011-09907-001) report intriguing results on the power of the mind to determine the body’s physiological responses. They find that given the identical milkshake, participants led to believe that the milkshake is a high-calorie, “indulgent” milkshake have an up-and-down ghrelin response that is characteristic of hunger followed by satiety. When the same participants drink the same milkshake on another occasion but are led to believe that it is a low-calorie, “sensible” milkshake, their ghrelin response is essentially flat. These simple findings have impressive implications. The current authors hope that these findings will be the straw that, when added to the wealth of existing evidence on this point, finally does away with the “calories in/calories out” model that dominates the medical dieting literature. The larger implication of this study—that all calories are not created equal if they are not perceived equally—calls for dieting studies to move beyond designs that involve telling participants to simply cut their calories. The study clearly underscores the need for more sophisticated studies that integrate medicine, physiology, and psychology to improve metabolic health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sir James Elliott, medical journalist supreme

James Sands Elliott was editor of the New Zealand Medical Journal from 1911 to 1933. He was a powerful writer in a flamboyant style, erudite and filled with classical and literary allusions and quotations. We are told that doctors of the time, on receiving their journals, would turn first to the editorial to see "what JSE has got to say." He served the profession in numerous ways, as chairman of council and president of the New Zealand Branch of the British Medical Association (BMA), as president from 1929 to 1955 of the New Zealand Branch of the British Empire Cancer Campaign (now the Cancer Society), and as a member of the Medical Council, the Board of Health and the Medical Research Council. It was his outstanding ability as a medical journalist, however, which made him one of the most powerful figures in New Zealand medicine in his time. He ardently upheld worthy causes in the interests of the medical profession as he saw them and wrote trenchant editorials on those subjects.     

Correction to Deemer, Thomas, and Hill (2011).

Reports an error in "Measuring students' perceptions of faculty competence in professional psychology: Development of the Perceived Faculty Competence Inventory" by Eric D. Deemer, Donna Thomas and Candi L. Hill (Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 2011[Feb], Vol 5[1], 38-47). There were errors in Table 1 and Table 4. In Table 1, the factor loading of “-22.00” in Column 4 should have read “-22” In Table 4, under “Variance” in the “Program level PFCI” row, “.00” is not a significant value and therefore should not have asterisks after it. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2011-04456-006.) This paper documents the development of a measure designed to assess doctoral students' perceptions of the professional competence of faculty in clinical, counseling, and school psychology. Study 1 yielded 33 items via principal components analysis that accounted for over 72% of the variance in the data across 5 domains: (a) Professionalism/Ethics; (b) Clinical Supervision; (c) Research; (d) Multicultural Competence; and (e) Advising/Mentoring. A confirmatory factor analysis in Study 2 provided support for the construct validity of the 5-factor model. Multilevel modeling was also used in Study 2 to demonstrate concurrent validity as aggregated group-level scores on the Perceived Faculty Competence Inventory were shown to explain significant variation in individual-level counselor and research self-efficacy. Implications for training and research in professional psychology are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

All data collection and analysis methods have limitations: Reply to Rabbitt (2011) and Raz and Lindenberger (2011).

The commentaries on my article contain a number of points with which I disagree but also several with which I agree. For example, I continue to believe that the existence of many cases in which between-person variability does not increase with age indicates that greater variance with increased age is not inevitable among healthy individuals up to about 80 years of age. I also do not believe that problems of causal inferences from correlational information are more severe in the cognitive neuroscience of aging than in other research areas; I contend instead that neglect of these problems has led to confusion about neurobiological underpinnings of cognitive aging. I agree that researchers need to be cautious in extrapolating from cross-sectional to longitudinal relations, but I also note that even longitudinal data are limited with respect to their ability to support causal inferences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

智能家居环境中的连接性设计语义

借助日趋电脑化的力量,我们的居家环境越来越智能化,居住环境中设备与设备之间的嵌入式传感器及网络连接很可能会让使用者感到茫然.用户交互从一开始操作单一的设备转变为了一系列生态事件组成的庞大系统.人们变成了现实世界与不可见的数码世界之间的调解员.本文主要通过展示部分正在进行中的研究调查,该调研是关于如何利用简洁的设计语义来传达明智居家环境中设备连接的抽象概念.使使用者理解并且构建有意义的智能环境,与之进行相应的互动.我们将通过示范来让用户在一个居家娱乐案例中掌握这种不可见的无线仪器连接.     

Correction to Michael et al. (2011).

Reports an error in "Rebuttal re: "Confirmatory bias and the persistent influence of discredited data in interpreting the stress-cancer link: Commentary on Michael et al. (2009)"" by Yvonne L. Michael, Nichole E. Carlson, Deborah J. Bowen and Cheryl Ritenbaugh (Health Psychology, 2011[May], Vol 30[3], 375-376). The letter was missing the doi. The correct doi is 10.1037/a0022737. The online version of this article has been corrected. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2011-09497-017.) Responds to the comments by J. C. Coyne and C. Johansen (see record 2011-09497-016) on the current author's original article, "Influence of stressors on breast cancer incidence in the Women's Health Initiative" (see record 2009-03297-001). Coyne and Johansen (2011) took issue with the study conducted by the current authors' group (Michael et al., 2009), which analyzed the interaction between stressful life events and social support on breast cancer risk among 83,334 postmenopausal women enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI). While the current authors agree with the Coyne and Johansen that too often null results are difficult to publish due to confirmatory bias that privileges results that support an alternative hypothesis, they strongly disagree with the assertion that their group selectively reported findings, inaccurately reported findings, or provided selective and uncritical reference to the existing literature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Limitations of the motivational intensity model of attentional tuning: Reply to Harmon-Jones, Gable, and Price (2011).

In an integrative review, we concluded that implicit affective cues—rudimentary stimuli associated with the onset of arousing positive or negative emotional states and/or with appraisals that the environment is benign or threatening—automatically moderate the scope of attention by Friedman & F?rster (see record 2010-17510-008). In their comment, Harmon-Jones, Gable, and Price (see record 2011-08310-001) contended that their own recent research, aimed at demonstrating that motivational intensity moderates the relationship between affective state and attentional tuning, requires a tempering of our conclusions. However, Harmon-Jones et al. portrayed these conclusions neither accurately nor comprehensively and offered an insufficient critical assessment of their own competing account. More important, they failed to establish a compelling alternative explanation for the multitude of specific findings we reviewed (Friedman & F?rster, 2010). Therefore, although the work of Harmon-Jones et al. is provocative, it leaves critical issues unresolved and does not yet demand a reconsideration of either our basic assumptions or our overall conclusions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correction to Dennis (2011).

Reports an error in "Press coverage of the new psychology by the New York Times during the Progressive Era" by Paul M. Dennis (History of Psychology, 2011[May], Vol 14[2], 113-136). In Table 1, under the “General” column, the Total should have been 40. Additionally, on page 114, paragraph 3, line 3 should have read, “Between 1885 and 1919, they published 40 articles about the new experimental psychology, 100 stories reporting on applied psychology, 19 stories dealing with psychoanalysis, 38 accounts of psychology’s interest in spiritualism, and 25 articles on the Emmanuel movement (Table 1).” The online version of this article has been corrected. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2011-09245-001.) Press coverage of psychology by the New York Times was examined for the Progressive Era. Following a period in which psychology was associated with spiritualism, psychoanalysis, and the Emmanuel movement, the Times gave editorial preference to reports about psychology's applications. Reaching an audience that was both affluent and influential, the topics emphasized by the Times included the lie detector, psychological applications in the work place, mental tests, and child psychology. These areas reflected issues of social concern to Progressives, publicized the rise of the psychologist as expert, and aided psychology in its challenge to common sense. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)