College students judged the testimony in a civil trial in which a childhood memory had been recovered after 20 years. Participants were 108 students (n = 79 female and 29 male) enrolled in undergraduate psychology courses. The design was a 2 X 2 X 2 between subjects factorial design which investigated effects of the type of incident (sexual abuse/hit-and-run), how the memory was recovered (therapy/wedding), and type of testimony (assertive/emotional). The study determined that mock jurors were likely to perceive the plaintiff's testimony as credible when she testified she was sexually abused as a child rather than when she was a victim of a hit-and-run accident. The results also indicated that testimonial demeanor had a significant effect on mock jurors' perception of the plaintiff's credibility and that if a female victim testifies with a nonemotional stereotypical masculine demeanor, the jurors may react in a negative manner.

Mock jurors (N = 200) read descriptions of a mock civil case involving an adult survivor of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy who is suing his/her abuser for monetary/psychological damages. Jurors individually decided perceived percent of responsibility of defendant, award to plaintiff pre- and post-group deliberations, and as a mock jury, in groups of 5 to 10. Jurors and juries assigned greater percent of culpability to female defendants than male defendants. Individual jurors awarded more n1oney to plaintiffs abused by female defendants than male defendants. Low Modem Sexism Scale (MSS) scorers attributed greater percentage of responsibility to defendants and awarded plaintiff more money than high scorers. There was no significant difference in award to male or female plaintiffs; however, greater percent of culpability was assigned to defendants who abused plaintiff longer (i.e., 19 years vs. 10 years). Low Belief in Just World (BJW) scorers individually attributed greater percent of responsibility to defendant and awarded more money to plaintiff than high scorers. Gender of defendant, just world, and sexist attitudes appeared to play important roles in jurors' decisions in cases involving adults who were child victims.

Several theories have been posited regarding the role of jealousy on romantic relationships. However, they differ in terms of predictions which when confirmed has resulted in conflicting results. One way to sort out mixed results is to conduct a meta-analysis. Thus, the current investigations conformed to a meta-analysis of studies wherein the association between jealousy and relationship quality had been examined. In the present investigation jealousy had a negative relationship with relationship quality. Type of jealousy experienced moderated the effect on relationships, with anxious jealousy having a stronger negative relationship. Future directions for research in the field of jealousy and relationships are addressed.

Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by multiple symptoms such as psychomotor retardation, sleep disturbances, and cognitive deficits in decision making. The current study explores the relationships between cognitive variables and depressive symptomology and seeks to determine what predictive relationships exist between these constructs and if items from these constructs can accurately classify depressed persons. A normal sample of N = 116 participants were administered the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1977) as well as the Adult Hope Scale (ADH; Snyder et al., 1991), the Index of Autonomous Functioning(IAF; Weinstein, Przybylski, & Ryan, 2012), the Life Orientation Test-Revised(LOT-R; Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994), the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory(ZTPI; Zimbardo & Boyd, 1999), the Rumination Reflection Questionnaire(RRQ; Trapnell & Campbell, 1999), and the Automated Working Memory Assessment-II (AWMA; Alloway, 2012b). A stepwise linear regression analysis determined that the Pessimism and Optimism subscales of the LOT-R, the Present Fatalism subscale of the ZTPI, and the Hope Agency subscale of the AHS significantly predicted depression in participants. One item each from the Optimism and Pessimism subscales, two items from the Present Fatalism subscale, and one item from the Hope Agency subscale accurately classified between 67-82% of the depressed (n = 42) and non-depressed (n = 64) persons in the sample. The implications of these findings for therapy and cognitive approaches to understanding depression as well as the relationships between the predictor variables themselves are discussed.

Indoor environmental contaminants (ECs) such as lead, mold, mercury, radon, and bisphenol A (BPA) are prevalent in American homes and have dire consequences to children’s development, especially for children under six. To optimize the efficacy of programs aiming to prevent exposure to ECs, it is necessary to investigate parental factors that influence behavioral change. Parental self-efficacy is one such psychological construct which could help explain why and for whom an intervention is effective. The current study presents a measure developed to assess parental self-efficacy for preventing children from being exposed to ECs, the Parental Self-efficacy for Contaminant Exposure Prevention (PS-CEP). The current study aimed to (1) evaluate the factor structure of the developed measure, (2) evaluate the construct validity and (3) examine various characteristics of respondents based on their demonstrated level of self-efficacy. The PS-CEP was administered to 206 parents of children attending a local Head Start and a national sample of 377 parents of children under six drawn from an on-line polling website. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted, convergent and discriminant validity of the PS-CEP was assessed using existing measures, and demographic characteristics as well as parenting styles were examined. Based on model fit indices in the exploratory factor analysis, a four-factor model was the best fit (TLI = .90; RMSEA = .071). Three of the four factors of the PS-CEP demonstrated good validity. Additionally, the PS-CEP differentiated between levels of education, marital status, gender, and ethnicity. Finally, authoritative parenting style was found to correlate with three of the four factors. A measure of this type will allow interventions to be tailored based on parents’ self-efficacy to more appropriately support them in taking steps to create healthier environments for their children.

Illness representations play an important role in the way people with chronic illness manage symptoms and view their overall health. Those suffering from functional somatic syndromes as well as conventional diagnoses seek information and meaning about their health threats in order to make appraisals concerning health outcomes. The primary interest of this study was to determine whether illness representations predict coping strategies which in turn influence general health outcomes. Data was collected from a series of four online surveys that measured an individual’s illness representations (IPQ-R), coping responses (Brief COPE), and health outcomes (RAND-36). The sample included 204 participants (169 females and 30 males) all of whom experienced chronic illness symptoms and were classified as having a functional somatic syndrome (FSS) or conventional diagnosis (CD). As hypothesized, illness perceptions predicted avoidant coping strategies as well as general health. Specifically, illness beliefs of greater consequences and lower coherence were associated with greater reported use of self-blame, behavioral disengagement, and denial. Furthermore, these avoidant coping strategies were associated with poorer health. Self-blame emerged as a coping strategy most associated with illness representations and general health. Although a meditational model was proposed, self-blame did not mediate the relationship between illness consequence and general health.These findings suggest that viewing an illness as having more consequences is associated with more avoidant coping and has a negative impact on the overall general health in those suffering with chronic illness.

Nairne, Thompson, and Pandeirada (2007) have focused on the evolutionary aspect of memory by showing that when participants rate words relative to their relationship to survival, their subsequent retention of those words is superior to other well-known encoding techniques. Survival processing was induced using a written scenario of being stranded in grasslands that participants read. Several other experiments have replicated their findings, and some incorporated the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigm with survival-processing (Roediger, & McDermott, 1995). The use of DRM word lists has been shown to increase rates of false memories, and the same pattern held true with the original grassland scenario. The current experiment was designed to illustrate the adaptive memory effect in situations that humans presently experience on a common basis. The grasslands scenario was compared with two other modern scenarios. Furthermore, effect of survival processing on false memory was assessed using both DRM narratives and word lists. Most results support previous findings of the processing advantage elicited by the grassland scenario. However, words rated for relevancy to the non-survival related modern scenario were recalled more often than words from the other two scenarios. As expected, participants’ false and veridical memory was greater in the narrative condition compared with the word list condition. The survival-processing advantage does extend beyond word lists to the narrative format, supporting the evolutionary account that humans have selectively tuned cognitive processing. Keywords: memory, adaptive memory, evolution, survival processing, DRM, narrative, false memory, word list

Adaptive memory is "the idea that [our] memory systems might have evolved to help us remember fitness-relevant information—specifically, information relevant to survival" (Nairne, Thompson, & Pandeirada, 2007, p. 263). Nairne et al. found that processing words in terms of survival relevance yielded the best memory retention compared to other deep processing conditions. The purpose of the present research was to investigate whether factors including a feeling of isolation or novelty could explain the adaptive memory advantage observed in previous adaptive memory research. In two incidental learning experiments, participants rated word relevance in one of four conditions: grasslands survival, space mission, alien abduction, or moving. In Experiment 1, participants rated 32 unrelated words. In Experiment 2, participants rated 60 words from six DRM lists. In Experiment 1 there was one incidental free recall test whereas in Experiment 2 three successive free recall tests were employed. As hypothesized, results from Experiment 1 indicated that the grasslands survival scenario, space mission, and alien conditions had similar rates in recall. The typical adaptive memory effect was also found in which participants in the grasslands survival scenario condition had significantly higher recall compared to participants who received the moving scenario condition. Experiment 2 found that all of the conditions did not significantly differ from each in terms of true or false recall. Across both experiments, the grasslands survival, space mission, and alien abduction scenarios were rated similarly in terms of isolation and novelty. These findings suggest that novelty and isolation can be contributing factors in the memory advantage observed with the grasslands survival scenario in previous adaptive memory studies.

Male and female emotional reactions to jealousy arousing situations were investigated. These reactions were studied with relation to subjects ' general and relationship needs. Subjects ' expressed emotions, their general needs, and their relationship needs were measured. The results indicated that: 1) Females express stronger emotions in a jealousy situation, however, the range of expressed emotions for both males and females is similar. 2) Although relationship needs correlated more strongly, than did the general needs, with the expressed emotions, R* values were not high enough to permit understanding or prediction of these emotions through relationship needs.

Self-compassion has quickly gained recognition for its many cognitive, emotional, and psychological benefits (Neff, 2003b). The Self-Compassion Scale (SCS; Neff, 2003a) is currently the only instrument measuring self-compassion and is commonly used. The current model contains six factors: self-kindness, self-judgment, common humanity, isolation, mindfulness, and over-identification. However, the SCS has recently come under fire due to limited evidence of its psychometric properties (Lopez et al., 2015). Researchers who have attempted to replicate the factor structure proposed by Neff have found mixed results using both exploratory and confirmatory methods. Our primary aim is to establish the factor structure of the SCS with a large, more representative sample. Thirteen samples (total n = 2,515) using the SCS were combined to demonstrate a more comprehensive approach to investigating the scales’ psychometric properties. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) demonstrated good model fit for the six-factor solution. However, little is known about how the SCS items naturally load together. A subsequent exploratory factor analysis (EFA) demonstrated lack of good model fit for the six-factor model; instead, a simpler, two-factor solution emerged. However, the twofactor model is inconsistent with the theoretical conceptualization of self-compassion. Future research should use more advanced statistical models to explain the multidimensionality of the SCS.