The motivated appeal to hypocrisy: the relation of motivational threats to message rejection.

Few studies have focused on the conditions in which individuals perceive hypocrisy in others. The current study introduces and tests the Motivated Appeal to Hypocrisy (MAtH) hypothesis. This hypothesis examines core social psychological motivational threats and asks (a) whether these are related to the accounts of individuals in charging others with hypocrisy, and (b) whether these perceptions of hypocrisy are associated with reductions in the persuasiveness of persons targeted as hypocrites. Study 1 (N=201) was based on qualitative coding of stories and revealed, as expected, that violations of core social motives involving belongingness, understanding, control, self-enhancement, and trust are involved in participants' stories of hypocrisy. Study 2 (N=237) used a multilevel correlational approach and demonstrated that violations of core social motives significantly predict perceptions of hypocrisy and the rejection of a person's message or advice. The relation between social motive violations and message rejection was mediated by perceptions of hypocrisy.

Asymmetries in perceptions of self and others' hypocrisy: Rethinking the meaning and perception of the construct.

This article examines how people recall and describe instances of hypocrisy in their own and others' behaviour. N = 302 participants provided two written examples. The first example recalled a time when someone called the participant a hypocrite, while the other recalled an instance when the participant perceived someone else's behaviour as hypocritical. One goal of the study was to discover if real-world examples of hypocrisy reflect only mere inconsistency, consistent with the construct's narrow use in psychology, or if they contain other distinctive defining features. A typology was used to code the examples, based loosely on Crisp and Cowton's philosophical distinction between four forms of hypocrisy: direct inconsistency, pretence, blame, and complacency. A second goal was to uncover reliable actor-observer differences in perceptions of hypocrisy. Results indicated that the four forms occur in real-world examples of both self and others' hypocrisy. Interestingly, a new fifth form, indirect inconsistency, emerged from the data, adding nuance to the initial hypothesis. Finally, several actor-observer differences in perceptions of hypocrisy arose and are discussed. The results indicate that hypocrisy is a much more complicated phenomenon than previously considered and provide the impetus for new areas of research.

The need to belong and its association with fully satisfying relationships: A tale of two measures.

The current research compares the Need to Belong Scale (NTBS; Leary et al., 2013) and the Antecedents subscale of the Sense of Belongingness Inventory (SOBI-A; Hagerty & Putusky, 1995) to determine whether they represent approach or neuroticism-driven avoidance orientations in the need to belong. This research also extends previous research on these constructs to examine direct and moderating associations involving the need to belong and the quantity and quality of personal close relationships. Students (N=869) from a large university in the Southwest USA completed a battery of measures. Results indicated that the NTBS was associated with lower quality "partial" relationships rather than those of high quality "whole" relationships; this was not the case for the comparative SOBI-A. In addition, greater numbers of whole relationships buffered the effects of the NTBS on depression. The results are discussed in terms of the Belongingness Orientation Model.

Beliefs regarding stimulant medication effects among college students with a history of past or current usage.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the beliefs of ADHD college students concerning stimulant medications and to apply the theory of planned behavior toward better understanding the factors instrumental in decisions regarding stimulant use. METHOD: A cross-sectional, correlational design was used, and students completed a survey under controlled laboratory conditions. Participants were 193 students taking introductory psychology who self-reported receiving a diagnosis of attention deficit disorder or ADHD and a treatment history of using stimulant medications. RESULTS: Beliefs regarding the effects of medication use are represented by four factors ((i.e., improved attention/academics, loss of authentic self, social self-enhancement, and common side effects), where the first three significantly and systematically differentiate between those currently using stimulants and those who are not. CONCLUSION: To understand decisions regarding stimulant use, it is important to consider how college students perceive the positive and negative effects of the medication with respect to sense of self and social relationships.

Processing speed mediates the development of general intelligence (g) in adolescence.

In the research reported here, we examined whether processing speed mediates the development of general intelligence (g) in adolescence. Using the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, a battery of 12 diverse cognitive tests, we assessed processing speed and g in a large sample of 13- to 17-year-olds obtained from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N = 6,969). The direct effect of age on g was small compared with the total effect of age on g, which was almost fully mediated through speed. The results suggest that increases in g in adolescence can be attributed to increases in mental speed.

Cortical sulci and bipolar disorder.

The width of cortical sulci in bipolar patients (n=19) and healthy controls (n=35) was examined using a novel automated technique involving magnetic resonance imaging. All sulci were wider for bipolar patients than for healthy controls. Bipolar-control differences were largest for the superior and intermediate frontal sulci, smallest for the occipital and cingulate sulci, and intermediate in magnitude for the other sulci (intraparietal, inferior frontal, and central sulci). The results were interpreted in terms of neurodegenerative-illness-related processes, which could produce cortical atrophy and result in wider sulci.

Do boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder have positive illusory self-concepts?

One hundred ninety-five boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were compared with 73 comparison boys (M = 9.83 years, SD = 1.30) on self-perceptions relative to a teacher-rated criterion. Emphasis was placed on ADHD subgroup comparisons according to level of aggression, academic achievement, and depression compared with control boys. Consistent with the authors' prediction, ADHD boys overestimated relative to teacher report, more than did controls, in the scholastic competence, social acceptance, and behavioral conduct domains. Examination of discrepancy scores (child rating - teacher rating) by comorbidity subgroups suggested that aggressive and low-achieving ADHD boys tended to overestimate their competence the most in the domains in which they were the most impaired. Results are discussed in terms of prior literature on "positive illusions" in ADHD children.

Effects of methylphenidate and expectancy on children with ADHD: behavior, academic performance, and attributions in a summer treatment program and regular classroom settings.

Pharmacological and expectancy effects of 0.3 mg/kg methylphenidate on the behavior and attributions of boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder were evaluated. In a within-subject, balanced-placebo design, 136 boys received 4 medication-expectancy conditions. Attributions for success and failure on a daily report card were gathered. Assessments took place within the setting of a summer treatment program and were repeated in boys' regular classrooms. Expectancy did not affect the boys' behavior; only active medication improved their behavior. Boys attributed their success to their effort and ability and attributed failure to task difficulty and the pill, regardless of medication and expectancy. Results were generally equivalent across the two settings; where there were differences, beneficial effects of medication were more apparent in the school setting. The findings were unaffected by individual-difference factors.