James D. Demetre

Executive functioning in adults and children with developmental dyslexia

The performance of developmentally dyslexic children and adults was studied upon a range of tasks that involved executive functioning. Both adult and child samples of dyslexics were found to under-perform on the group-embedded figures test. This test required the identification of constituent parts from within complex visual arrays, with good performance necessitating the inhibition of the processing of the surrounding context. A general deficit on visual-spatial tasks was eliminated as an explanation as dyslexics performed normally upon a range of other non-verbal assessments. The dyslexics consistently demonstrated a deficit in digit span tasks, a decrement that was increased with distractors, again suggesting difficulties in inhibiting the processing of the surrounding context. A deficit was also identified upon a verbal fluency task without a deficit in vocabulary level. Additionally, a specific deficit in the recollection of the temporal order of the presentation of items was in evidence, without a deficit in the recognition of the items themselves. The findings taken as a whole suggest that dyslexic individuals show deficiencies in executive functions relating to inhibition of distractors and to sequencing of events, a set of tasks associated with left prefrontal cortex functioning in the acquired neuropsychology literature.

Applying developmental psychology to children's road safety: Problems and prospects

Abstract This paper reviews the contributions of developmental psychology to our understanding of childrens vulnerability as road users and to the formulation and assessment of appropriate intervention programs. Three limitations to the application of developmental psychology are discussed: (1) problems in the applicability to a new domain of both domain-general and domain-specific cognitive competence models; (2) the cultural relativity of developmental descriptions is particularly acute in this domain when the aim may well be to alter the “normal” pattern of development; (3) limitations in the formulation and assessment of intervention outcomes. Problems and insights encountered by attempts to apply developmental psychology are illustrated with reference to studies of childrens errors in selecting an unoccluded road-crossing location. On the basis of these studies it is argued that evidence concerning developmental sequences for specific road user abilities may yield important clues to intervention, provided that the temptation to infer an invariant “normal” pattern to development is resisted. The general problem of altering a “normal” pattern of development is discussed with reference to Vygotskian theory.

The Variable Experiences of Becoming Retired and Seeking Retirement Guidance: A Qualitative Thematic Analysis.

ABSTRACT Thirty interviews were conducted with individuals across the UK who had retired between two and ten years ago, with the aim of exploring the variability of retirement experiences in terms of (a) retirement antecedents/reasons for retirement, (b) change in wellbeing and satisfaction over time, (c) personal relationships and (d) retirement guidance. Interviews were subject to a multi-level thematic qualitative analysis. Four meta-themes were established: 1 – positive continuity and challenge; 2 – liberation and release; 3 – loss and gain; and 4 – restriction, regret and decline. Participants can be classified by meta-theme, and the themes encompass co-occurring pre-retirement antecedents, post-retirement experiences, relationship factors and retirement guidance attitudes/experiences. The four themes provide a holistic, in-depth view of the wide variability of the retirement transition experience in white-collar workers in the UK. The variability-focused approach taken in the study can help towards identifying particular subgroups of retirees for bespoke retirement guidance or counselling.

Relationships between magical thinking, obsessive-compulsiveness and other forms of anxiety in a sample of non-clinical children

Despite the obvious phenomenological similarities between magical thinking and obsessive-compulsiveness, the relationship between them has been the subject of few empirical investigations in samples of children. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between a general epistemic stance towards magical causation and tendencies towards obsessive-compulsiveness in a non-clinical sample of schoolchildren. One-hundred and two children, aged between 5 and 10 years (48 boys and 54 girls), completed questionnaire measures designed to assess magical thinking, obsessive-compulsiveness, and other forms of anxiety. School teachers completed a measure of strengths and difficulties for each child. General belief in magical causation was correlated with all types of anxiety, not just obsessive-compulsiveness, with significant correlations shown for boys in the sample, but not girls. General belief in magical causation contributed little to the prediction of obsessive-compulsiveness beyond general anxiety. In this study, a general epistemic stance towards magical causation did not differentiate obsessive-compulsiveness from other anxiety dimensions. The findings are considered in the context of developmental theories of magical and scientific causal reasoning.

Adult life stage and crisis as predictors of curiosity and authenticity: Testing inferences from Erikson’s lifespan theory

During periods of developmental crisis, individuals experience uncomfortable internal incongruence and are motivated to reduce this through forms of exploration of self, other and world. Based on this, we inferred that being in a crisis would relate positively to curiosity and negatively to a felt sense of authenticity. A quasi-experimental design using self-report data from a nationally representative UK sample (N = 963) of adults in early life (20–39 years), midlife (40–59 years) and later-life (60+) showed a pattern of findings supportive of the hypotheses. Three forms of curiosity (intrapersonal, perceptual and epistemic D-type) were significantly higher, while authenticity was lower, among those currently in crisis that those of the same age group not in crisis. Crisis was also related to curiosity about particular book genres; early adult crisis to self-help and spirituality, midlife to self-help and biography, and later life to food and eating.

Intrapersonal curiosity: Inquisitiveness about the inner self

Abstract Intrapersonal Curiosity (InC) involves inquisitively introspecting to better understand one’s inner self. A pool of 39 face-valid InC items was administered to 1005 participants, along with other curiosity, personality, self-awareness, self-regulation, and psychological well-being scales. Three InC factors with good model fit were identified, from which four-item (α ≥ .89) subscales were developed: “Understanding one’s Emotions and Motives,” “Reflecting On one’s Past,” and “Exploring one’s Identity and Purpose.” InC correlated positively with other measures of curiosity, evidencing convergence; weak correlations to conceptually unrelated constructs demonstrated divergence. Higher InC scores corresponded to perceptions of having less available self-knowledge, heightened sensitivity to others’ expressions, a greater tendency to privately introspect, increased distress, and more concern about how to best cope with worry over self-relevant threats.