Are There Gender Differences in Emotion Comprehension? Analysis of the Test of Emotion Comprehension.

This article examines whether there are gender differences in understanding the emotions evaluated by the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC). The TEC provides a global index of emotion comprehension in children 3-11 years of age, which is the sum of the nine components that constitute emotion comprehension: (1) recognition of facial expressions, (2) understanding of external causes of emotions, (3) understanding of desire-based emotions, (4) understanding of belief-based emotions, (5) understanding of the influence of a reminder on present emotional states, (6) understanding of the possibility to regulate emotional states, (7) understanding of the possibility of hiding emotional states, (8) understanding of mixed emotions, and (9) understanding of moral emotions. We used the answers to the TEC given by 172 English girls and 181 boys from 3 to 8 years of age.

A new approach for differential item functioning detection using Mantel-Haenszel methods. The GMHDIF program.

To date, the statistical software designed for assessing differential item functioning (DIF) with Mantel-Haenszel procedures has employed the following statistics: the Mantel-Haenszel chi-square statistic, the generalized Mantel-Haenszel test and the Mantel test. These statistics permit detecting DIF in dichotomous and polytomous items, although they limit the analysis to two groups. On the contrary, this article describes a new approach (and the related software) that, using the generalized Mantel-Haenszel statistic proposed by Landis, Heyman, and Koch (1978), permits DIF assessment in multiple groups, both for dichotomous and polytomous items.

The role of meta-cognitions and thought control techniques in predisposition to auditory and visual hallucinations.

Objectives: This study examines the relationship between a predisposition to hallucinations and meta-cognitive variables and thought-control techniques, controlling for the possible effect of anxiety. In order to do so, we start out with the hypothesis that anxiety does not, in itself, explain the association between meta-cognitions and a predisposition to auditory and visual hallucinations.

Design: A within-participants correlational design was employed.

Influence of metacognitive variables and thought suppression on number of thoughts, discomfort they produce and number and quality of auditory illusions.

Based on the model proposed by Morrison, Haddock & Tarrier (1995) on auditory hallucinations, this study explores the relationships between certain metacognitive variables and number of thoughts, the discomfort they produce, number of auditory illusions and the quality with which they are perceived in a sample from a non-clinical population. After group administration of the Metacognitions Questionnaire, 61 participants were randomly assigned to a suppression group (n = 31) or a focalization group (n = 30) in relation to thoughts with different degrees of self-discrepancy. Forty-eight hours after the set task, a non-vocal auditory stimulus was presented, and subjects were required to say whether they heard any words and, if so, how clearly.