Availability of Social Support, Coping Strategies, Student Stressors and Wellness Among Older Women Studying Online During the Pandemic

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to explore the association between older women’s subjective perceptions of available social support, their coping strategies, self-reported wellness, and stressors experienced as online students studying during the pandemic. Method: A convenience sample of 115 older adult women learners (Mean age = 40.88, SD = 11.27) studying online in March 2021 in one of the world’s largest providers of higher-education distance-learning courses was gathered using a survey methodology. Results: Using structural equation modelling, we showed that perceptions of social support were associated with a higher use of positive coping and a lower use of negative coping strategies, ultimately improving markers of wellness and reducing student stressors. Conclusions: The results indicate that those who perceived that social support from significant others would be available upon request utilised more adaptive coping strategies to deal with study-related adversities during the COVID pandemic. Implications: The study highlighted the importance of embracing older students’ own capacity to cope with adversity and emphasizing that one-to-one support can be available if needed

Verbal lie-detection using the reality monitoring approach: an analysis of its effectiveness and moderating factors

A large body of research findings suggests that verbal cues to deception can boost deception-detection accuracy rates to levels significantly above chance. This thesis examines the effectiveness of, and influences on, one of the most popular and widely used verbal lie-detection approaches, Reality Monitoring (RM). The RM approach has advantages not only in terms of its underpinnings in memory research and theory, but also its ease with regard to practical application. The RM approach assumes that deceptive verbal accounts, because they are artificial and not based directly on actual experience, differ from truthful accounts according to a variety of criteria (truthful accounts contain more vivid, spatial, temporal and affective information, etc.). However, so far, as in many other areas of lie-detection research, research in the area of RM has lacked methodological standardisation; consequently, we know little of the potential effects of contextual and other moderating variables on RM measures. In view of this, the primary aims of the present thesis were a) to assess whether, if conveyed in a standard format, the RM approach has any value overall in distinguishing between truthful and deceptive accounts, and b) if it does, to investigate the circumstances under which it might give optimal results; i.e. to assess some of the main factors which may moderate its efficacy in this respect. To these ends, six experimental studies were conducted which looked at truthful and deceptive accounts (generated by participants in the laboratory using video and autobiographical sources) and considered the effects of a number of different moderators; these included, first and second-language effects, modality (i.e. written vs. spoken discourse), absence/presence of others, demand characteristics effects, scoring systems (rating scales vs. raw frequencies) and standardisation for account length. Overall, results indicated that in most studies there was evidence that total RM scores, as determined by the procedures applied here, successfully discriminated between truthful and deceptive accounts. However, results varied when RM criteria were considered individually, and when the influence of various moderators was assessed. For example, frequency measures of spatial and temporal information were found to be two of the most consistently effective diagnostic RM criteria. However, overall, RM was a more effective diagnostic tool before accounts were standardised for length; indeed, total RM scores failed to distinguish between truthful and deceptive accounts after accounts had been standardised for length. Also, the presence of others and modality (written or spoken) were two key moderator variables whose impact on total RM scores varied depending on whether or not the accounts were standardised for length. A number of other related variables were also considered; for example, truthful accounts were longer than deceptive accounts in both duration and length and the number of words produced per second was significantly greater for truthful accounts. Implications for research and practise are discussed; though perhaps most important in this respect was the finding that, despite the overall success of RM in discriminating truthful from deceptive accounts, RM criteria were not generally discriminating after standardisation for word-count or length. Moreover, a number of the moderators affected RM scores regardless of whether they were derived from truthful or deceptive accounts. This suggests that we may still be a long way from developing a method (such as the use of normative criteria) that could be used in the field to classify individual cases. Nevertheless, in the meantime, at the very least, the present results suggest that when judging the veracity of accounts using RM criteria, the scoring and other moderating variables identified in this thesis should be investigated systematically, and measured and applied consistently, if researchers wish to compare and replicate findings within and across studies

Strongly masked content retained in memory made accessible through repetition.

A growing body of evidence indicates that information can be stored even in the absence of conscious awareness. Despite these findings, unconscious memory is still poorly understood with limited evidence for unconscious iconic memory storage. Here we show that strongly masked visual data can be stored and accumulate to elicit clear perception. We used a repetition method across a wide range of conditions (Experiment 1) and a more focused follow-up experiment with enhanced masking conditions (Experiment 2). Information was stored despite being masked, demonstrating that masking did not erase or overwrite memory traces but limited perception. We examined the temporal properties and found that stored information followed a gradual but rapid decay. Extraction of meaningful information was severely impaired after 300 ms, and most data was lost after 700 ms. Our findings are congruent with theories of consciousness that are based on an integration of subliminal information and support theoretical predictions based on the global workspace theory of consciousness, especially the existence of an implicit iconic memory buffer store

Can you identify violent extremists using a screening checklist and open-source intelligence alone?

Checklist-based screening instruments have a role in the assessment of mentally disordered and criminal offenders, but their value for screening for vulnerability to violent extremism remains moot. This study examined the effectiveness of using the Identifying Vulnerable People (IVP) guidance to identify serious violence in persons convicted or killed in the process of committing a violent-extremist offense using open-source intelligence (i.e., publicly available archival material). Of 182 specific participants identified, specific offense data was available for 157 individuals. Blind kappas for individual items of the 16-item IVP guidance ranged from 0.67 to 1.00. IVP guidance was more reliable when applied to conventional terrorist groups, but missing information significantly reduced reliability. Weighting items thought more central to violent extremism (death rhetoric, extremist group membership, contact with recruiters, advanced paramilitary training, overseas combat) did not improve reliability or prediction. Although the total unweighted IVP score predicted some acts of violence, test effectiveness statistics suggested IVP guidance was most effective as a negative predictor of grave outcomes, and best applicable to conventional ideological violent extremists who came to this position through typical “terrorist” trajec- tories. Results suggest the IVP guidance has potential value as an initial screening tool, but must be applied appropriately to persons of interest, is strongly dependent on the integrity and completeness of information, and does not supercede human-led risk assessment of the case and acute risk states

Is the Public willing to help the Nigerian Police during the Boko Haram crisis? A look at moderating factors.

This paper sought the opinion of 200 Nigerians on their willingness to cooperate with the Police during the Boko Haram crisis. Public perceptions of Police effectiveness during the crisis, residence location, gender and religious affiliation were used as moderators. Data was analysed using an explanatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. Results indicated a strong association between perceived effectiveness and willingness to report to the Police with respondents who question the effectiveness of the Police being less likely to be willing to report criminal activity about Boko Haram. Further to this, the impact of religion on willingness to report was at least partially mediated by perceived effectiveness of the Police with the results showing that Christian respondents perceived the Police as less effective. Females and those living in the North were significantly less willing to report criminal activity to the Police The findings are then discussed in relation to the BH crises and directions for future research are given