Implicit attitudes towards risky driving behaviors: Evidence of validity for the implicit association test.

INTRODUCTION: Attitudes toward risky driving behaviors are commonly evaluated through direct self-report measures. Nevertheless, these instruments have limitations, such as socially-desirable responding. This study examines the validity of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) as an indirect measure of attitudes towards risky driving. An IAT with "risky" vs. "safe" driving behaviors categories was evaluated. METHOD: A sample of 100 participants (ranging from 18 to 70 years of age) completed the IAT and measures of attitudes, driving styles, personality traits, risk-taking (IOWA Gambling Task), and social desirability (Driver Social Desirability Scale). RESULTS: A high level of internal consistency was found for IAT scores. The IAT was correlated with driving styles (risky, dissociative, and careful dimensions), risk-related personality traits (impulsive/sensation seeking and aggression/hostility) and risk-taking measures. IAT scores were also associated with self-reported risky driving behaviors (r = 0.33). As expected, a higher level of negative implicit attitudes was found among young drivers. The driver social desirability scale was correlated with most self-report measures, but not with the IAT. CONCLUSION: The present study provides reliability and validity evidence for the IAT as an indirect measure of attitudes towards risky driving. The IAT can serve as an important complement to conventional self-report measures of driving attitudes. Practical Applications: Potential use of global measure of implicit attitudes toward risky driving behaviors in the evaluation, education, and training of drivers are discussed.

Predicting road safety behavior with implicit attitudes and the Theory of Planned Behavior.

Introduction The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is one of the most widely used psychological models when it comes to explaining road safety behaviors. Recently, studies have also been conducted from the perspective of dual-process models. However, the present is the first study on road safety behaviors that integrates both perspectives. The study evaluates the roles of both implicit attitudes and TPB constructs in the prediction of seatbelt use. Method A sample of 100 drivers completed: (1) a self-reporting instrument on seatbelt use, (2) a questionnaire addressing TPB constructs, (3) an indirect measure of attitudes (Implicit Association Test), and (4) a social desirability scale. Results Results suggest that both types of attitudes make a significant and quite similar contribution to the explanation of seatbelt use. Interestingly, implicit attitudes were a better predictor than explicit attitudes among participants reporting inconsistent seatbelt use. In addition, path analysis models suggested that implicit attitudes appear to be relatively independent of TPB constructs and have a direct effect on seatbelt use. Conclusion The findings advance the idea of adding implicit attitudes to variables from the TPB model in order to increase the explanatory power of models used to predict road safety behaviors. Practical applications Potential use of implicit attitude measures in the education and training of drivers are discussed.

Exploración de prejuicios en los psicólogos: el primer paso hacia la competencia sociocultural / No disponible

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la prevalencia y comorbilidad del trastorno de pánico (TP) en las consultas de Atención Primaria (AP), estudiar el porcentaje de pacientes diagnosticados y tratados, y revisar la eficacia y adecuación de los tratamientos a la evidencia científica en dicho contexto. Los resultados indican que en España la prevalencia año es elevada en las personas que acuden a AP (7%), mientras que en la población general es de 0,6%, siendo más frecuente en mujeres que en varones (OR=1,63). El TP suele cursar con otros trastornos mentales en el 70% de los casos, lo que suele deteriorar la calidad de vida de estos pacientes. A pesar de ser el trastorno de ansiedad que genera mayor incapacidad e hiperfrecuentación de los servicios médicos, no se diagnostica correctamente en la mitad de los casos y pocas veces recibe un tratamiento mínimamente adecuado, lo que a la larga produce más abandonos y recaídas. Se requieren esfuerzos por diseminar los tratamientos y los programas de prevención basados en la evidencia científica, que han demostrado ser más eficaces que la práctica habitual (AU)

The aim of this work is to analyze the prevalence and comorbidity of panic disorder (PD) in Primary Care (PC) settings, the percentage of patients correctly diagnosed and treated, and the efficacy and scientific adequacy of treatments applied in this context. Results show that in Spain, the one-year prevalence of PD is high in the PC setting (7%), while it is 0.6% in the general population, affecting more women than men (OR=1.63). PD is comorbid with other mental disorders in 70% of the cases, deteriorating patients’ quality of life. Of all anxiety disorders, PD is the most incapacitating and the one that generates a higher number of medical visits. In spite of this, 50% of PD patients are misdiagnosed and very few receive “minimally adequate treatment” which in the long term produces high dropout and relapse rates. An active effort must be made to disseminate evidence based prevention and treatment programs that show higher efficacy than conventional treatment (AU)

Adjective checklist to assess the big five personality factors in the Argentine population.

The aim of this work was to develop an adjective checklist to assess the Big Five personality factors in the Argentine population. The new instrument was administered to pilot (n= 112), validation (n= 372), and replication (n= 309) samples. The final version of the checklist included 67 adjectives encompassing its 5 dimensions. Factor analysis results were consistent with the Five-factor model. Internal consistency of scales was very good and convergent correlations with the Big Five Inventory (BFI; John, Donahue, & Kentle, 1991) were substantial. Face validity, as evaluated by 2 independent raters, was good. Preliminary evidence of validity for the checklist is presented. Finally, the Adjective Checklist for Personality Assessment and BFI are compared, taking into consideration their psychometric properties in our cultural context. Study limitations and future research are discussed.