Constantino Arce

Is elevation encoded in cognitive maps

Abstract Two experiments examined whether differences in elevation of the terrain are encoded in cognitive maps of outdoor environments. In Experiment 1, two groups of subjects who had travelled a varying number of times between a set of locations made direct estimates in metres of the differences in elevation between the locations. The results showed that subjects in both groups had knowledge of elevation but those for whom the terrain was less familiar tended to exaggerate the differences. In Experiment 2, decision times were measured of responses to the question whether one location is below or above another one. Neither for subjects who were more, nor for subjects who were less familiar with the terrain, did the decision times vary with the distances between the locations, thus failing to support the hypothesis that differences in elevation are retrieved by a process of ‘mental travel’.

Symptomatic profile and health-related quality of life of persons affected by the Prestige catastrophe

This study analyses the impact of the Prestige oil spill on the mental health and the perception of physical health and functional capacity in the affected population. The sample comprised 926 residents from the section of the Spanish coast affected by the oil spill. The data was collected slightly more than one year after the accident. Scales referring to clinical symptoms (SCL-36) and health-related quality of life (SF-36) were administered. The results suggest that individuals with higher degrees of exposure or residing in areas closest to the spill show lower levels of mental health in comparison to those with lower levels of exposure or living in areas farther away from the spill. This study also finds that women and fishermen tend to suffer more from the consequences of these types of disaster.

An exploration of the comparability of semantic adjectives in three languages

Explores the interval nature of semantic scale adjectives across three languages: English, Putonghua Chinese, and Japanese. Reports on a pilot study conducted among native speakers of each language using the techniques of magnitude scaling. Respondents rated an assortment of common adjectives by comparing the magnitude of the word to a given modulus. The results indicate that the traditional translation/back‐translation technique may not provide response intervals that are comparable cross‐culturally. Further, between languages the results indicate that the meaning attached to the adjectives by native speakers varies substantially. Discusses implications for market research, as well as future areas of research.

Factor Structure and Invariance of the POMS Mood State Questionnaire in Spanish

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which the Spanish POMS assesses the same factors as the original form of the questionnaire. We started from a version with 63 items, representing seven conceptual dimensions. This version was administered to a sample of 364 adult athletes. In the whole sample, exploratory factor analytic findings suggested a more parsimonious measurement model, with 44 items and 6 first-order factors. Then the data from said sample were randomly divided into two sets, each containing about 50% of the subjects. The fit of the first sample set (n = 166) to the proposed model was adequate. Four of the main goodness-of-fit indices exhibited the following values: CFI = .95, NNFI = .95, SRMR = .083, and RMSEA = .064. We tested the same model in the second data set (n = 198), in which the fit was also acceptable, with values of .95, .94, .088, and .066 for CFI, NNFI, SRMR, and RMSEA, respectively. In addition, we used multi-group confirmatory factor analysis to provide evidence on the invariance of the model.

Burnout en deportistas: prevalencia del síndrome a través de dos medidas

En este trabajo se ha estudiado la prevalencia del sindrome de burnout en una muestra de 442 deportistas y la relacion entre padecer el sindrome, o algunas de sus dimensiones, y algunas variables significativas en el ambito del deporte (genero de los deportistas, edad, nivel competitivo y volumen de entrenamiento) . Se aplicaron dos instrumentos de medida del burnout en deportistas, el Inventario de Burnout en Deportistas-Revisado (IBD-R) y el Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ). Para el analisis de datos (estadisticos descriptivos, distribucion de frecuencias, pruebas t y analisis de varianza) se utilizo el paquete estadistico SPSS. Se han obtenido porcentajes similares sobre la prevalencia del sindrome con ambos cuestionarios. Cerca de un 4% padece el sindrome, existiendo ciertas diferencias en relacion al genero, nivel deportivo y volumen de entrenamiento. Los resultados nos hacen reflexionar acerca de la relevancia que tiene la prevalencia del sindrome en este entorno, y se plantean algunas estrategias de futuro encaminadas a su prevencion.

Estereotipos regionales y nacionales: del conocimiento individual a la sociedad pensante

ResumenEste trabajo pretende descubrir la estructura subyacente a la percepcion que los sujetos gallegos tienen de diferentes estereotipos regionales y nacionales (i. e. andaluces, castellanos, vascos, europeos, espanoles, catalanes y gallegos). Este objetivo sera contemplado desde un modelo de distancia espacial, el Escalamiento Multidimensional, que nos permitiria estudiar la distancia psicologica entre los diferentes grupos, en la configuracion espacial ofrecida por el modelo. Los resultados apuntan a una doble dimensionalidad: competencia personal y valores sociales, a la hora de valorar a los diferentes estereotipos. Ademas esta dimensionalidad se mantiene a traves de las distintas submuestras utilizadas: orientacion politica de derecha vs. de izquierda, universitarios—no universitarios, hombres—mujeres, dando cuenta de la estabilidad de los estereotipos, y de la dimension social de los mismos.

Antecedents and consequences of burnout in athletes: Perceived stress and depression

Background/Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship among perceived stress, burnout and depression in a sample of athletes. It was hypothesized that stress is an antecedent of burnout and depression a possible consequence of both stress and burnout. Method: A sample of 453 athletes participated in the study. Stress and depression were measured with Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) and athlete burnout with Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ). Data analysis was conducted under the approach of structural equation modelling (SEM). Results: The direct effects of stress on burnout and depression were .66 and .24, respectively, and the direct effect of burnout on depression .53, all of them significant (p<.001). Stress accounted for 43% of the variance of burnout, and jointly stress and burnout for 50% of the variance of depression. Indexes of overall model fit were: χ2 (224)= 520.881 (p < .001), χ2/df = 2.32, Goodness of fit index (GFI) = .91, Comparative fit index (CFI) = .89, Root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = .054 (90% confidence interval, .048-.060), and Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR) = .063. Conclusions: This study provides evidence of the relationship among stress, burnout and depression in an only model.

Valoración del autobús como medio de transporte público urbano: un estudio de las diferencias entre segmentos de la población

Resumen Las actitudes de la población hacia los medios de transporte público han sido evaluadas en una investigación previa a la que aquí se presenta (Arce et al., 1996). Una de las conclusiones más importante de dicha investigación era que las propiedades utilizadas por los ciudadanos para juzgar los medios de transporte público se agrupaban en tres dimensiones: Prestigio, Confortabilidady Seguridad. El objetivo del presente trabajo ha consistido en analizar las posibles diferencias existentes en las tres dimensiones mencionadas en función de las variables sexo, usuario y edad, tomando únicamente el autobús como medio de transporte público urbano. Los resultados reflejan diferencias significativas en el grado de prestigio, confortabilidady seguridad que los distintos colectivos estudiados conceden al autobús. Se ha observado, además, que las puntuaciones medias obtenidas en las dimensiones prestigio y confortabilidad eran muy bajas, y relativamente más altas en la dimensión seguridad.

Psoriasis: Latitude does make a difference

Fig 1. Psoriasis prevalence across latitude. To the Editor: In their review of the epidemiology literature on psoriasis, Jacobson et al concluded that: ‘‘No meaningful correlation between absolute latitude and psoriasis prevalence was demonstrated (r 1⁄4 0.1201, P \ .05).’’ The conclusion of ‘‘no meaningful association’’ is a quotation that pervades the literature. However, the conclusion seems to be the result of inappropriate statistical analysis. In fact, scrutiny of the distribution and prevalence rates in the studies mentioned by Jacobson et al would suggest a different conclusion. Therefore, only 6 of 21 studies (28%) included in Jacobson et al’s review were performed in the Southern Hemisphere (SH), whereas the remaining 15 were carried out in the Northern Hemisphere (NH). Moreover, 4 of 6 studies located in the SH yielded a prevalence value of \1%, while only 1 of 15 studies located in the NH yielded a prevalence rate #1%, a statistically significant difference with a large effect size (Fisher exact test, P 1⁄4 .011; effect size, F 1⁄4 .64). In addition, an appropriate analysis of the dataset reviewed by Jacobson et al corroborated the conclusion reached by Parisi et al that the occurrence of psoriasis ‘‘varied according to age and geographic region, being more frequent in countries more distant from the equator.’’ Therefore, only 4 studies reviewed by Jacobson et al—3 of which reported a prevalence \1%— were carried out in populations in the tropics, and only 2 of the remaining 17 studies involving populations outside the tropics reported a prevalence \1%, a statistically significant difference with a large effect size (Fisher exact test, P 1⁄4 .03; effect size, F 1⁄4 .58). According to the absolute latitude values reported in Jacobson et al’s study, the latitude for the 15 studies located in the NH was over 408N, and 12 of these 15 studies were located between latitudes 408N to 658N, with the remaining 3 located between latitudes 658N and 708N. Fig 1 shows the mean prevalence rates calculated from data reported by Jacobson et al according to 4 latitude ranges covering both hemispheres. Therefore, whereas prevalence for the SH was 1%, the mean psoriasis prevalence in the 15 NH studies was 2.05. Contrary to the oft-quoted ‘‘no meaningful association’’ clich e, latitude does really matter with respect to the prevalence of psoriasis.

La escala «directiveness» de Ray y el autoritarismo

The «directiveness» scak of Ray (1976) is one of the rnethods desiRned to measure authoritarianum. In this papes the relationship of the method to dogma:1m, political orienta/ion, age and ser, and variables ofinterest in the field of socio-political attitudes is studied. The obtainelresults allow us to conclude that the «directiveness» scale is inadequate for Mese purposes. Also, it needs to be emphasked that the need for a more stringent theoretical debate concerning political authoritarianrim is necessaty.