The 10 most-cited articles in Psychological Bulletin, 2019

Schools and universities devote considerable time and resources to developing students’ social and emotional skills such as emotional intelligence (EI). The goals of such programs are partly for personal development but partly to increase academic performance. The current meta-analysis examines the degree to which student EI is associated with academic performance. We found an overall effect of ρ = .20 using robust variance estimation (N = 42,529, k = 1,246 from 158 citations). The association is significantly stronger for ability EI (ρ = .24, k = 50) compared to self-rated (ρ = .12, k = 33) or mixed EI (ρ = .19, k = 90). Ability, self-rated and mixed EI explained an additional 1.7%, 0.7% and 2.3% of the variance respectively, after controlling for intelligence and big five personality. Understanding and management branches of ability EI explained an additional 3.9% and 3.6% respectively. Relative importance analysis suggests that EI is the third most important predictor for all three streams, after intelligence and conscientiousness. Moderators of the effect differed across the…

Decades of research document individual differences in prosocial behavior using controlled experiments that model social interactions in situations of interdependence. However, theoretical and empirical integration of the vast literature on the predictive validity of personality traits to account for these individual differences is missing. Here, we present a theoretical framework that identifies 4 broad situational affordances across interdependent situations (i.e., exploitation, reciprocity, temporal conflict, and dependence under uncertainty) and more specific subaffordances within certain types of interdependent situations (e.g., possibility to increase equality in outcomes) that can determine when, which, and how personality traits should be expressed in prosocial behavior. To test this framework, we meta-analyzed 770 studies reporting on 3,523 effects of 8 broad and 43 narrow personality traits on prosocial behavior in interdependent situations modeled in 6 commonly studied economic games (Dictator Game, Ultimatum Game, Trust Game, Prisoner's Dilemma, Public Goods Game, and…

In this comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of group design studies of nonpharmacological early interventions designed for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), we report summary effects across 7 early intervention types (behavioral, developmental, naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention [NDBI], TEACCH, sensory-based, animal-assisted, and technology-based), and 15 outcome categories indexing core and related ASD symptoms. A total of 1,615 effect sizes were gathered from 130 independent participant samples. A total of 6,240 participants, who ranged in age from 0-8 years, are represented across the studies. We synthesized effects within intervention and outcome type using a robust variance estimation approach to account for the nesting of effect sizes within studies. We also tracked study quality indicators, and report an additional set of summary effect sizes that restrict included studies to those meeting prespecified quality indicators. Finally, we conducted moderator analyses to evaluate whether summary effects across intervention types were…

This quantitative synthesis of 448 independent studies including 480,830 families revealed small positive associations (rs = .13 to .23) between parents' naturally occurring involvement in children's schooling and children's academic adjustment (i.e., achievement, engagement, and motivation) that were maintained over time. Parents' involvement was also positively related to children's social (r = .12) and emotional adjustment (r = .17) and negatively related to their delinquency (r = -.15), concurrently. Analyses focusing on children's academic adjustment revealed that different types of involvement (e.g., parents' participation in school events and discussion of school with children) were similarly positively associated with such adjustment. The only exception was that parents' homework assistance was negatively associated with children's achievement (r = -.15), but not engagement (r = .07) or motivation (r = .05). There was little variation due to age, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status in the links between different types of involvement and children's academic adjustment.…

= 0.07, CI [-0.03, 0.16]). Performance effects were moderated by study domain (exercise > sport) and music tempo (fast > slow-to-medium). Overall, results supported the use of music listening across a range of physical activities to promote more positive affective valence, enhance physical performance (i.e., ergogenic effect), reduce perceived exertion, and improve physiological efficiency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

= .33). Results from selection model analyses clarify areas of the BTAE literature in which publication bias may be of elevated concern. Discussion highlights theoretical and empirical implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

In the present meta-analysis all available evidence regarding the efficacy of different behavioral interventions for children's executive function skills were synthesized. After a systematic search we included experimental studies aiming to enhance children's (up to 12 years of age) executive functioning with neurodevelopmental tests as outcome measures. The results of 100 independent effect sizes in 90 studies including data of 8,925 children confirmed that it is possible to foster these skills in childhood (Diamond & Lee, 2011). We did not find convincing evidence, however, for the benefits to remain on follow-up assessment. Different approaches were effective for typically and nontypically developing samples. For nontypically developing children (including children with neurodevelopmental disorders or behavior problems) acquiring new strategies of self-regulation including biofeedback-enhanced relaxation and strategy teaching programs were the most effective. For typically developing children we found evidence for the moderate beneficial effects of mindfulness practices. Although…

Experiencing child sexual abuse (CSA) is a major public health problem with serious consequences for CSA victims. For effective assessment and (preventive) intervention, knowledge on risk factors and their effects is crucial. Here, the aim was to synthesize research on associations between (putative) risk factors and CSA victimization. In total, 765 (putative) risk factors were extracted from 72 studies, which were classified into 35 risk domains. A series of three-level meta-analyses produced a significant mean effect for 23 of the 35 risk domains ranging from r = .101 to r = .360. The strongest effects were found for prior victimization of the child and/or its family members, such as prior CSA victimization of the child and/or siblings (r = .360), prior victimization of the child other than child abuse (r = .340), prior or concurrent forms of child abuse in the child's home environment (r = .267), and a parental history of child abuse victimization (r = .265). Other identified risks were related to parental problems (e.g., intimate partner violence, r = .188), parenting problems…

Reaction time is believed to be a good indicator of the speed and efficiency of mental processes and is a ubiquitous variable in the behavioral sciences. Despite this popularity, there are numerous issues associated with using reaction time (RT), specifically in differential and developmental research. Here, we identify and focus on two main problems-unreliability and sensitivity to speed-accuracy interactions. The use of difference scores is a primary factor that leads to many RT measures having demonstrably low reliability, and RT measures in general often do not properly account for speed-accuracy interactions. Both factors jeopardize the validity and interpretability of results based on RT. Here, we evaluate conceptually and empirically how these issues affect individual differences research. Although the empirical evidence we provide are primarily within the domains of attention control and task switching, we highlight examples from various other areas of psychological inquiry. We also discuss many of the statistical and methodological alternatives available to researchers…

Statistical learning (SL) is involved in a wide range of basic and higher-order cognitive functions and is taken to be an important building block of virtually all current theories of information processing. In the last 2 decades, a large and continuously growing research community has therefore focused on the ability to extract embedded patterns of regularity in time and space. This work has mostly focused on transitional probabilities, in vision, audition, by newborns, children, adults, in normal developing and clinical populations. Here we appraise this research approach and we critically assess what it has achieved, what it has not, and why it is so. We then center on present SL research to examine whether it has adopted novel perspectives. These discussions lead us to outline possible blueprints for a novel research agenda. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).