This research examines the impact of same-sex versus opposite-sex social comparisons on the perception of one's own abilities at school and subsequent reported marks and academic choices. During their final year, male and female high school students were asked to describe themselves either in comparison with boys in their class, in comparison with…

The Northeast United States just experienced one of the region's worst natural disasters. Fortunately, because of the confluence of modern computing power and scientific computing methods, weather forecasting models predicted Sandy's very complicated trajectory and development with a precision that would not have been possible even a decade ago.…

To test proposals regarding the hierarchical organization of adult attachment, this study examined developmental origins of generalized and romantic attachment representations and their concurrent associations with romantic functioning. Participants (N = 112) in a 35-year prospective study completed the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and Current…

The current study investigates the protective influences of family involvement (i.e., parental monitoring, communication, closeness, and family proximity) and sexual self-efficacy on the risky sexual behavior of ethnic minority (predominantly Mexican-origin) adolescents in the southwestern United States (N = 122). Results indicate that whereas…

Some have argued that belief in God is intuitive, a natural (by-)product of the human mind given its cognitive structure and social context. If this is true, the extent to which one believes in God may be influenced by one's more general tendency to rely on intuition versus reflection. Three studies support this hypothesis, linking intuitive…

The present study tested the applicability of expectancy-value theory to adults' learning motivation. Motivation was measured as the anticipated reaction (AR) of German students (N = 300) to receiving their instructions in English as a new learning opportunity. We used structural equation modeling to test our hypotheses. Expectancies of success…

Context: The 2008 financial crisis had a far-reaching impact on nearly every sector of the economy. As unemployment increased so did the uninsured. Already operating on a slim margin and poor payer mix, many critical access hospitals are facing a tough road ahead. Purpose: We seek to examine the increasing impact of uncompensated care on the…

Learning to select optimal behavior in new and uncertain situations is a crucial aspect of living and requires the ability to quickly associate stimuli with actions that lead to rewarding outcomes. Mathematical models of reinforcement-based learning to select rewarding actions distinguish between (1) the formation of stimulus-action-reward…

Factors that lead to poor achievement in literacy are evident prior to a child beginning kindergarten. In the present study, we examined the importance of including attention in a model for predicting emergent literacy in prekindergarten and subsequent reading abilities in kindergarten. The sample was 250 children attending public prekindergarten…

The study of knowledge transfer rarely draws upon motivational constructs in empirical work. We investigated how students' achievement goals interact with different forms of instruction to promote "transfer," defined as preparation for future learning (Bransford & Schwartz, 1999) Students were given either invention or tell-and-practice activities…

The article compares three different methods to estimate effects of task characteristics and to use these estimates for model-based proficiency scaling: prediction of item difficulties from the Rasch model, the linear logistic test model (LLTM), and an LLTM including random item effects (LLTM+e). The methods are applied to empirical data from a…

A host of factors including genetic influences, temperament characteristics, learning experiences, information processing biases, parental psychopathology, and specific parenting practices have been hypothesized to contribute to the development and expression of children's phobias. In the present study, the authors focused on parental…

The aim of this study is to describe naive conceptions of creativity and offer some explanation for their variability. Two methods are used to analyze conceptions of creativity. The first one consists of analyzing adjectives that are associated by naive judges with the notion of creativity of an advertisement. The second one consists of predicting…

The assessment of verbal aggression in adolescent and young adult dating relationships has largely relied on self-report methodology. We investigated whether information on verbal aggression derived from an observational assessment would enhance the prediction of romantic relationship satisfaction and dissolution in a sample of young adult dating…

Physicians and other health professionals are an important part of the national scientific and technical workforce, and it is important to understand the factors that attract (or fail to attract) young adults into these fields. Using data from the 20-year record of the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY) and working within a social…