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Self-Reflection, insight, and individual differences in various language tasks.
People vary in the way that they process information. This study investigated how individual differences in language processing might relate to people's tendencies to self-reflect and their levels of understanding about their own mental processes. Some stable differences at various levels of cognitive functioning have been reported in the literature. For example, at the perceptual level, when asked to find familiar figures from among a group of distracters, some people preferred to respond as quickly as possible, whereas others preferred to respond as accurately as possible (Kagan, Rosman, Kay, Albert, & Phillips, 1964). Kagan (1966) called this contrast impulsivity versus reflection. At the level of higher order cognitive functioning, Agor (1984, 1989) found that some people tended to use an analytical approach, breaking a problem down into manageable parts, whereas others tended to use an intuitive approach. Individual differences have also been found through research on learning styles in educational settings (e.g., Entwistle, Hanley, & Hounsell, 1979; Gregorc, 1982; Li & O'Boyle, 2008). In a recent review of the literature, Kozhevnikov (2007) introduced Nosal's model about individual differences at different levels of information processing. As Kozhevnikov pointed out, Nosal's model highlighted the connection of the different tendencies in self-monitoring and control to the different characteristics of performances on cognitive tasks. Nosal's position converges with other researchers' theoretical arguments about the important role of cognitive control and regulation in cognition and intelligence (e.g., Sternberg, 1985; Toates, 2006). Consistent with this view, empirical studies on individual differences have reported that some individuals seem to exert more control over their mental states and processes than others (e.g., Keller & Ripoll, 2001).In the literature of personality, researchers consider individuals to be rather consistently different in terms of whether they regularly monitor and reflect upon their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Frequent self-reflection is thought to be associated with a high level of self-consciousness (e.g., Fenigstein, Scheier, & Buss, 1975; Grant, Franklin, & Langford, 2002; Ingram, 1990; Watson, Morris, Ramsey, Hickman, & Waddell, 1996). However, in the past, the construct of self-reflection was mainly studied by researchers and practitioners in areas such as assessment, counseling, and coaching for the purpose of promoting behavior change and mental health. There are few empirical studies aimed directly at the relationship between different dispositions in self-reflection and individual differences in cognitive functioning, even though one's tendency to engage in self-reflection seems logically related to the level of cognitive control and regulation, which in turn should be closely related to how a person processes information, as suggested by research and theories on individual differences (for a detailed review, see Kozhevnikov, 2007).
The current study attempted to explore the relation between self-reflection and one critical aspect of human cognition--language. Language-processing tasks, such as reading and verbal comprehension, are an important aspect in everyday functioning and in academic achievements. Yet, among the models and theories about individual differences in information processing (e.g., Kozhevnikov, 2007; Miller, 1987), it remains to be discussed how individuals may consistently differ in various aspects of language ability, such as vocabulary level, the process of lexical access, the speed and accuracy of sentence reading, and the retrieval of text information. More importantly, given the critical role of cognitive control and regulation to information processing, how might these potential differences in language processing relate to the different dispositions in self-reflection? On one hand, it seems that constant self-reflection could lead to better understanding about the mechanism and process of language comprehension, and thus may help in making cognitive adjustment and exerting efficient control over the process. On the other hand, however, self-reflection could be interruptive to the comprehension process due to the consumption of extra mental resources. In addition, excessive self-reflection and a feeling of uncertainty might go hand in hand, therefore resulting in a negative impact on the process of reading or verbal comprehension. This study aimed to examine individual differences in some basic elements involved in language comprehension and to investigate the relation between self-reflection and language processing.
Assessment of Disposition in Self-Reflection
The Self-Reflection and Insight Scale (SRIS) is a 20-item scale developed by Grant et al. (2002). Compared to other similar scales for self-reflection or self-consciousness (e.g., Fenigstein et al., 1975; McKenzie & Hoyle, 1999; Trapnell & Campbell, 1999), one of the advantages of the SMS is its delineation of the two different factors: self-reflection (SRIS-SR) and insight (SRIS-IN). The two subscales, SRIS-SR and SRIS-IN, were designed to measure "the inspection and evaluation of one's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors" and "the clarity of understanding of one's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors," respectively (Grant et al., 2002, p. 821). The SRIS-SR includes items such as "I frequently examine my feelings" and "I have a definite need to understand the way my mind works." The SRIS-IN includes items such as "Thinking about my own thoughts makes me more confused" and "I usually know why I feel the way I do." Respondents indicate on a 6.0 scale how much each statement describes them. The internal consistency coefficients for the two subscales were 0.91 and 0.87, respectively. The test-retest reliability across a 7-week interval was 0.77 for SRIS-SR and 0.78 for SRIS-IN. This delineation of self-reflection versus insight converges with theoretical arguments on self-consciousness (e.g., Pinku & Tzelgov, 2006) and has found some support from empirical studies. For example, Grant et al. (2002) found that SRIS-IN, but not SRIS-SR, was positively associated with cognitive flexibility. Lyke (2009) found that SRIS-IN, but not SRIS-SR, was positively associated with satisfaction with life and subjective happiness. In addition, some data suggested that reflection did not always lead to insight and sometimes can even be negatively related to the level of insight (Grant et al., 2002). Accordingly, the current study chose this scale to assess self-reflection and, at the same time, to examine the role of insight in the potential connection between self-reflection and the advantages or disadvantages in language capacities.
A second advantage of the SRIS as a measure for self-reflection is the differentiation of execution and motive of self-reflection. Originally, Engagement in Reflection and Need for Reflection were two separate sub-scales underlying SRIS-SR. The Engagement in Reflection subscale was intended to evaluate the frequency of the actual act of self-reflection, for example, "I frequently examine my feelings," whereas the Need for Reflection subscale was intended to assess the level of motive to conduct self-reflection, for example, "I have a definite need to understand the way my mind works." In their studies, Grant et al. (2002) found that these two original subscales often loaded on the same factor and eventually combined them as one factor, SRIS-SR. However, researchers tend to believe that acts and motives are theoretically independent (e.g., Grant et al., 2002; Trapnell & Campbell, 1999). Another reason that engagement in reflection and need for reflection should be examined separately is the inconsistent findings on the relations between SRIS-SR and SRIS-IN. As discussed previously some data suggested that reflection leads to insight, whereas some other data indicated a negative association between reflection and insight (Grant et al., 2002). Possibly, the nondifferentiation between acts of reflection and intents for reflection caused this obscurity. The current study examined engagement in reflection and need for reflection separately, as well as their relations with language abilities. Therefore, the current study followed Grant et al.'s original design and considered three factors: engagement in reflection, need for reflection, and insight.
Overview of the Experiments
This study included four experiments that examined how individuals who differed in the engagement of self-reflection, the need for self-reflection, or the level of insight might differ in their performances on common cognitive tasks involving language processing. More specifically, the participants in each experiment were categorized into a high-score group and a low-score group based on each of the three SRIS subscale scores. Experiment 1 examined the differences in vocabulary level between different groups. Experiments 2 and 3 compared the performances of different groups in various aspects of language processing with materials such as common words and simple sentences. Finally, Experiment 4 investigated whether the groups differed in their working memory capacity, which is considered an important factor underlying individual differences in reading and verbal comprehension. Neither the original Grant et al. (2002) study nor studies conducted in this lab found any gender differences in the SRIS scores. Therefore, for the sake of succinctness, gender information is excluded.
Experiment 1
Vocabulary knowledge is an important aspect of language ability and is considered a single index for academic achievement (Dale & Reichert, 1957). It certainly plays a critical role in reading and verbal comprehension. In addition, research has shown that word learning and conceptual development are intertwined (e.g., Clark, 1993; Lucariello, 1987; Rhys-Jones & Ellis, 2000; Tomasello & Farrar, 1986). Therefore, it would be informative to examine what roles self-reflection and insight might play in the development of vocabulary knowledge. This experiment looked at the vocabulary levels of people who scored on the high end versus the low end of the subscales of the SRIS. It was hypothesized that both high self-reflection and high insight would be associated with high vocabulary level. Studies have shown that people understand abstract concepts at a later stage of conceptual development (Gilhooly & Logie, 1980; Keil, 1979). Subjective experiences play an important part in the representation of abstract concepts (Barsalou, 1999; Wiemer-Hastings & Xu, 2005). Frequent introspection and clear insight should be associated to some extent with the comprehensive understanding of one's subjective experiences. Comprehensive understanding of these experiences should be reflected as rich knowledge of complex, abstract concepts denoted usually by words learned at a later stage of one's life. As a result, more reflective and insightful individuals should possess richer vocabulary knowledge overall.
Participants. One hundred and sixty-five (46% female) undergraduate students were recruited from introductory psychology classes at a large university. All considered English as their first language. They received extra credit points for their participation in this experiment.
Measures and procedure. The SRIS measured the tendency to engage in self-reflection, the level of need for self-reflection, and the level of insight. Most participants completed the questionnaire in 5 min. The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R; Dunn & Dunn, 1981) assessed the level of vocabulary knowledge. The PPVT-R was designed to measure a person's vocabulary knowledge in American English. Its reported reliability ranged from 0.61 to 0.88. In each trial of the current experiment, the participants were presented with four pictures simultaneously on a computer screen, at a rate of 12 s/slide, and the pronunciation of a word over a headphone. The pronunciation of each word was prerecorded with a male voice in American English as a wav file and could be played repeatedly to the participants as needed. The participants indicated which one of the four pictures best depicted the meaning of the word and wrote down their answers for scoring purposes. Most participants finished this task within 30 min. About half of the participants received the SRIS first; the other half of the participants received the PPVT-R first.
Results and Discussion
Two participants did not complete the PPVT-R and thus were excluded from the analysis. The standard PPVT-R scores ranged from 68 to 127, and the percentile ranks ranged from 2% to 96%. No outliers were detected. A tertiary split was performed based on each of the three SRIS subscale scores. The participants who scored above the 67th percentile or below the 34th percentile on each subscale were compared in terms of their standard PPVT-R scores. Table 1 presents the group means and standard deviations of the standard PPVT-R scores.
Table 1 Group Means (Standard Deviations) of Experiments 1-4 Experiment 1 PPVT score Low 99 (13) engagement High 99 (11) engagement Low need 101 (11) High need 95 (14) Low 98 (13) insight High 99 (13) insight Experiment 2 Accuracy (%) Reaction time Hits False alarms (ms) Low 97 (4) 586 (100) 10.00 (2.66) 2.77 (2.95) engagement High 96 (3) 576 (95) 9.25 (3.44) 2.67 (2.27) engagement Low need 97 (4) 608 (153) 11.00 (3.16) 3.46 (2.72) High need 96 (3) 607 (125) 9.45 (2.77) 1.18 (1.60) Low 98 (3) 570 (88) 9.71 (2.40) 3.36 (2.59) insight High 96(3) 637 (160) 10.33 (4.07) 2.00 (1.95) insight Experiment 3 Accuracy (%) Response time (ms) Low 95 (3) 484 (154) engagement High 96 (2) 499 (180) engagement Low need 95 (2) 504 (132) High need 96 (3) 479 (163) Low 95 (2) 569 (138) insight High 97 (2) 455 (190) insight Experiment 4 Ospan score Low 41 (12) engagement High 41 (12) engagement Low need 42 (10) High need 40 (12) Low 40 (9) insight High 41 (12) insight
T tests did not show any difference in standard PPVT-R scores between the high- and low-engagement-of-reflection groups, t < 1, but indicated that the group with a high level of need for reflection had significantly lower standard PPVT-R scores than the group with a low level of need for reflection, r(107) = 2.251, p <.03, [n.sup.2]=.05. That is, as measured by the Need for Reflection subscale, a lower level of need for self-reflection is associated with a higher level of vocabulary proficiency. This is contrary to the prediction that self-reflection might be positively related to vocabulary level, which certainly suggests that the relationship between self-reflection and vocabulary knowledge is more complex than expected. One possible explanation is that the need for self-reflection or introspection is only beneficial to the individual when it is at a moderate level. Excessive need for reflection can be detrimental due to its constant occupation of mental resources. As a matter of fact, some researchers have pointed out that it is not always easy to differentiate the positive ways of reflection from the negative ways of rumination. For example, Anderson, Bohon, and Berrigan (1996) argued that questions designed to assess self-reflection sometimes tap on a dysfunctional self-absorption instead of a constructive self-reflection. If, consistent with these researchers' argument, very high scores on the Need for Reflection subscale to some extent reflect a negative approach of introspection, the result suggests that the need for excessive attention to be directed to the inner world could be a factor against positive progress in language proficiency. This is obviously a speculation that calls for more extensive research.
T tests did not reveal any difference in standard PPVT-R scores between the high-insight and the low-insight groups, t < 1. The lack of difference in PPVT-R scores between the high-insight and the low-insight groups is not in line with the prediction that a higher insight level would be associated with a higher level of vocabulary knowledge. This may suggest that a clear understanding of subjective experiences does not necessarily contribute or transform to the accumulation of vocabulary knowledge. Alternatively, this result may be due to the nature of the PPVT-R. That is, although it includes abstract and complex words, this test mainly contains words with meanings that can be rather easily portrayed by images. People who are more insightful and have clearer understanding about their subjective experiences may have advantages in acquiring and processing concepts lacking imagery referents (Paivio, 1986).
In summary, Experiment 1 revealed that individuals with low levels of need for self-reflection performed significantly better than individuals with high levels of need for self-reflection on the vocabulary test. This pattern of result seems to suggest a negative correlation between need for reflection and vocabulary level. Abivariate correlational analysis showed that the strength of the correlation was rather low, r(163) = -.16, p < .05. The weak correlation indicates that a significant difference in vocabulary knowledge can only be noted between individuals who differ considerably in their levels of need for reflection. That is, on one hand, the finding of this experiment adds to the literature on the connection between the tendency to self-reflect and the level of vocabulary knowledge. On the other hand, it indicates that future research needs to further explore the relationship between the two, as well as other factors that may be associated with both variables or mediate the relationship between them.
Experiment 2
Experiment 2 compared the individuals who scored high or low on the SRIS subscales in terms of their speed and accuracy of lexical access, as well as their levels of processing while reading language materials. A priming paradigm, a common approach in cognitive and language research, was employed for the purpose of this experiment. In a typical primed lexical decision paradigm, researchers present participants a prime (e.g., a sentence) and then ask them to make a quick judgment on whether the target, a letter string following the prime, is a real word. For the purpose of this study, the reaction time and accuracy rate of participants' lexical decisions on target words were evaluated. In addition, participants' processing of the prime sentences was assessed by a memory recognition task. The hypothesis of this experiment was that an individual's disposition in self-reflection and level of insight would be reflected in the process of comprehending prime sentences and making lexical decisions on target words. More specifically, the more reflective an individual is, the deeper this person may tend to process the priming sentences. Based on the level-of-processing theory, the deeper the processing level, the better the performance often is on recall or recognition tasks (Craik & Brown, 2000; Craik & Lockhart, 1972). Therefore, the more reflective an individual is, the better the person's performance should be on the recognition task with the primes. In addition, insightful understanding of one's cognitive processes might be reflected as swift responses to the lexical decision task, especially when under time pressure.
To control complexity, this experiment used a pseudo primed lexical decision design. That is, a set of sentences and a set of letter strings were presented alternatively, but there were no priming effects intended by design. By limiting the interaction of the two tasks, the relations of the SRIS with the performances on the two tasks, lexical decision and memory recognition, could be evaluated independently.
Participants. Thirty-nine (57% female) undergraduate students were recruited from a number of psychology classes at a large university. All considered English as their first language. They received extra credit points for their participation in this experiment.
Materials. A set of 48 sentences was written with the basic syntactical structure, subject-verb-object, describing common, everyday situations. Half of the sentences were written in question format and the other half in statement format. Sample sentences include "You planned the party," "You took the pill," "Did you check the spelling?" and "Did you accept the gift?" The sentences were kept very simple; few modifiers were included. The number of words in the sentences ranged from four to six. A set of 24 high-frequency words and a set of 24 nonword letter strings were constructed. Example words include drop, report, and sense. The numbers of syllables ranged from one to four and were largely matched between words and non-words. The SRIS measured the tendency to engage in self-reflection, the need for self-reflection, and the level of insight.
Procedure. The 48 sentences and 48 letter strings (words and nonwords) were presented alternatively on a computer screen. Each sentence was on display for 1.9 s, followed by a letter string. Each letter string was on display until the participant responded to it. The participants were given eight practice trials at the beginning to familiarize themselves with the task. They were instructed to read each sentence carefully, but not informed of the need for recall, and to respond to each letter string as quickly and accurately as possible. The computer recorded reaction time and accuracy rate and gave feedback to the participants after each trial. After participants completed this task, they filled out the SRIS. Finally, they were asked to indicate on a sheet of paper with 48 sentences which ones they had seen previously. Half of the sentences on the paper were randomly selected as target sentences from the previous task; half of them were distracters that had not been seen by the participants. They were constructed for this recognition task by using the same syntactical structure but different verbs and different object terms. Most participants finished the experiment in 30 min.
Results and Discussion
Compared with the average lexical decision time and accuracy rate reported in the literature (e.g., Blasko & Connine, 1993; Swinney, Love, Walenski, & Smith, 2007), the participants' performances on the lexical decision task, including speed (M = 609, SD = 124) and accuracy (M = 97%, SD = 3%), were comparable to reports by studies using the priming approach, which indicates their attentiveness to the task. Participants' responses to the recognition task were categorized as hits or false alarms. Hits were the correctly identified target sentences, and false alarms were incorrectly selected distracter sentences. The numbers of hits ranged from four to 16, and the number of false alarms ranged from zero to eight. The participants on average only recognized about 10 of the 24 target sentences previously shown on the computer screen. This was probably due to the fact that the participants were not informed beforehand of the recognition task. No outliers were detected for any measures. A tertiary split was performed based on each of the three SPIS subscale scores. The participants who scored above the 67th percentile or below the 34th percentile on each subscale were compared in terms of their hit scores and false alarm scores in the memory task, as well as their speed and accuracy in the lexical decision task. Table 1 presents the group means and standard deviations.
T tests did not reveal any differences in performances on the recognition task or the lexical decision task between the high-and the low-engagement-in-reflection groups, all t's < 1. Neither were there any differences on the lexical decision task between the high-and the low-need-for-reflection groups. However, the t test showed that the high-need-for-reflection group made significantly less intrusive errors (i.e., false alarms) than the low-need-for-reflection group, t(22) = 2.425, p <.03, [[eta].sup.2]=.21, even though the two groups did not differ significantly in the number of correctly identified sentences (i.e., hits), p > .20. That is, a higher need for checking on oneself seemed to be associated with a lower level of false identification, but not with a higher level of correct recognition. This may suggest that a strong need for self-inspection mainly renders control over intrusive errors during memory retrieval by staying clear of interference from the distracters. In addition, it could also be the case that individuals with a strong need for reflection are simply more cautious and more reluctant to risk selecting uncertain sentences in fear of making intrusive errors. More research is certainly necessary to elucidate how much the constant need for reflection functions as a factor that resists interference during the retrieval stage, and how much it serves as a factor that promotes a conservative task-taking approach. Furthermore, the finding that the high-need-for-reflection group made significantly fewer intrusive errors than the low-need-for-reflection group suggests that the Need for Reflection sub-scale of the SRIS is a simple, straightforward tool to assess individuals' different tendencies to self-reflect. That is, participants' actual performances on the memory task as measured by the number of intrusive errors converged with their self-evaluation about their levels of intent to conduct self-monitoring.
The high-insight group and the low-insight group did not differ in the memory recognition task or the lexical decision task, all p's > .15. This may suggest that insight is not as relevant to either sentence processing or lexical access. Alternatively, the lack of differences between the high-insight and the low-insight groups might be due to the particular designs of the tasks. That is, different dispositions in insightfulness might manifest themselves only when the tasks require more conscious effort and control. Yet, the tasks in this experiment might not meet this condition. First, lexical access is considered an automatic process (Posner & Snyder, 1975). In this experiment, the participants on average needed only about 600 ms to make the lexical decisions. Second, the recognition task was a surprise task. The participants might not have been as motivated as expected when processing the sentence primes, which may explain the relatively low average recognition rate. With these considerations, Experiment 3 tested individual differences in sentence processing but employed a different type of task that required the participants to pay attention to each presented sentence.
Experiment 3
Reading comprehension is an important ability to evaluate for the purposes of research, instruction, and diagnosis. Experiment 3 followed the previous experiment to test whether different tendencies in self-reflection or different levels of insight were relevant to individual differences in sentence comprehension. This experiment utilized a sensibility-judgment task with sentence targets instead of single words, based on the consideration that the design of the task and the time duration required for sentence comprehension may allow more pronounced manifestations of different dispositions in self-reflection and insight during the task.
Participants. Fifty-nine (52% female) undergraduate students were recruited from a large university. All considered English as their first language. They received $5 for their participation in the experiment.
Materials. The experiment used the same set of 48 sentences from Experiment 2. Another set of 48 nonsensical sentences was written for this experiment. These sentences described illogical or impossible situations. Examples of nonsensical sentences include "You chucked the porch" and "Did you smell the noise?" The syntactical structures and the length of the nonsensical sentences generally matched the meaningful sentences. The SRIS measured the tendency to engage in self-reflection, the need for reflection, and the level of insight.
Procedure. The 48 meaningful sentences and 48 nonsensical sentences were presented, one at a time, in a random order on a computer screen. The participants were given 12 practice trials at the beginning to become familiarized with the task. They were instructed to press and hold down a key to display a sentence on the computer screen and then to release this key and press another key to indicate whether the sentence made sense or not. They needed to respond to each sentence as quickly and accurately as they could. The computer recorded the accuracy rate and the time duration between the offset of the sentence and the response as the reaction time. After participants completed this task, they filled out the SRIS. Most participants finished the experiment in 25 min.
Results and Discussion
One participant had unusually long reading times (z = 3.72), and another participant generated an exceptionally low score on one of the SRIS subscales (z = -3.78 on the Need for Reflection subscale). Thus, they were excluded as outliers from the following analyses. (Analysis including these two cases yielded virtually the same results.) A tertiary split was performed based on each of the three SRIS subscale scores. The participants who scored above the 67th percentile or below the 34th percentile on each subscale were compared in terms of their response times and accuracy rates. Table 1 presents the group means and standard deviations.
The high- and the low-engagement-in-reflection groups were not different in reaction time or accuracy rate, both p's > .10. Neither were the high- and the low-need-for-reflection groups, both p's > .15. However, the high-insight group was significantly more accurate than the low-insight group, t(35) = 2.25, p < .02, [[eta].sup.2].15. In addition, they were significantly faster than their low-insight counterparts, t(35) = 2.07, p < .05, [[eta].sup.2] 11.. It appeared that higher clarity of understanding about one's own mental processes was associated with more decisive and more accurate responses in the process of understanding and judging the meaningfulness of the sentences. Considering that the classifications of the high-insight group and the low-insight group were based on participants' self-reports, this finding about the actual performance differences between the two groups as measured by observable variables (i.e., reaction time and accuracy) indicates the validity of the participants' self-evaluation about how well they understand their own mental processes. Taken together with the finding from Experiment 2 about the performance difference between the high- and low-need-for-reflection groups in the memory task, this is positive evidence for the value of the SRIS as a self-report measure.
This experiment used a sensibility-judgment task with sentence materials. Compared to the surprise memory task and the lexical decision task in the previous experiment, this task required more consciously controlled effort from the participants. The findings from this experiment seemed to be in line with the speculation made at the end of Experiment 2, that is, that different dispositions in insightfulness would manifest in a more controlled process. However, in contrast to the previous experiment, the high-and low-need-for-reflection groups did not perform differently on this task. The contrasts between the findings of the two experiments call for more attention to the distinction between self-reflection and insight and more extensive research on the roles of self-reflection versus insight in various cognitive tasks.
Experiment 4
Working memory has been considered an important construct in models about cognitive functioning (e.g., Anderson & Lebiere, 1998; Cowan, 1995). Scores on working memory tasks have been shown to be predictive of performance on various cognitive tasks, including reading comprehension (Engle, Tuholski, Laughlin, & Conway, 1999; Kane, Bleckley, Conway, & Engle, 2001). One possible interpretation of the findings from Experiments 2 and 3 is that working memory capacity is the underlying variable responsible for all of the variation detected in the recognition task and in the sensibility-judgment task. The speculation is that individuals who possess greater mental resources may also be the ones who are more reflective and more insightful. As a result, this connection was reflected as the group differences in their task performances in Experiments 2 and 3. The purpose of Experiment 4 was to test the relationship of working memory capacity with self-reflection and insight. It was hypothesized that there might be a circular connection between these constructs. That is, monitoring and regulation during a cognitive task require mental resources. On one hand, higher working memory capacity could provide affordance for engagement in self-reflection and possibly also insight. On the other hand, constant engagement in self-inspection and clear understanding of inner processes might help to utilize mental resources more efficiently, and thus achieve better task performance.
Participants. Fifty-five (49% female) undergraduate students were recruited from a large university. All considered English as their first language. They received $5 for their participation in this experiment.
Measures and procedure. The Turner and Engle (1989) Ospan task assessed working memory capacity. Participants were presented a series of simple math problems, each with a correct or an incorrect answer (e.g., 8/2 - 1 = 1?), and a series of unrelated words alternatively on a computer screen. Each trial contained two to six pairs of math problems and words. The task was to remember the words in the order they were presented within each trial while judging the correctness of the answers to the math problems. The numbers of correctly judged math problems were recorded. The numbers of correctly recalled words were summed up as the Ospan score. The maximum math accuracy rate is 100%, and the maximum Ospan
score is 60. An Ospan score is valid only when the 85% math accuracy criterion is met. The SRIS then measured the tendency to engage in self-reflection, the need for self-reflection, and the level of insight. All participants completed the task within 40 min.
Results and Discussion
Two participants did not meet the math accuracy criterion. Their Ospan scores were excluded from the analysis. The Ospan scores of the remaining participants ranged from 19 to 60. No outliers were detected. As in the previous experiments, a tertiary split was performed based on each of the three SRIS subscale scores. The participants who scored above the 67th percentile or below the 34th percentile on each subscale were compared in terms of their Ospan scores. Table 1 presents the group means and standard deviations.
T tests did not reveal any differences between the high- and low-engagement groups, between the high- and low-need-for-reflection groups, or between the high- and low-insight groups, all t's < 1. It seemed that, as measured by Ospan scores, working memory capacity appeared to be independent of the tendency to engage in self-reflection, the need for self-reflection, and the level of insight. Working memory capacity is considered to be an important factor that accounts for a significant part of the variance in intellectual ability (e.g., Conway, Cowan, Bunting, Therriault, & Minkoff, 2002; Engle et al., 1999; Kane et al., 2001). As discussed earlier, working memory capacity predicts performance in various cognitive tasks including reading comprehension (e.g., Engle et al., 1999; Daneman & Carpenter, 1980). For example, a meta-analysis by Daneman and Merikle (1996) that included 77 studies showed that the score of working memory span was a good predictor for performance in reading. The results of this experiment showed that the capacity of working memory did not seem to be directly relevant to or restricting of the engagement in self-reflection or the clear understanding about the self. Likewise, self-reflection and evaluation was not necessarily associated with efficient use of limited mental resources. Consequently, the lack of connection between the Ospan and the SRIS subscale scores suggests that the SRIS subscale scores contributed to the group differences in task performances in the previous experiments independent of working memory capacity. Self-reflection and insight therefore should be taken into consideration as individual difference variables in future research on language proficiency and research using tasks involving language materials.
General Discussion
Four experiments were conducted to investigate the roles of self-reflection and insight in some common tasks often used in cognitive and psycholin-guistic research. Two of the three SRIS subscales, Need for Reflection and Insight, were found to be particularly relevant to the tasks in this study. A high level of need for reflection was associated with a low vocabulary level and a low level of intrusive errors in memory recognition tasks using sentence materials (Experiments 1 and 2). A high level of insight was associated with a high level of accuracy and fast responses in the sentence-sensibility judgment task (Experiment 3). The individual differences in self-reflection and insight were independent of an important cognitive construct, working memory capacity (Experiment 4), which suggests that self-reflection and insight account for the differences in language ability and processing revealed in the previous experiments. These findings on the connection of language processing with self-reflection and insight are intriguing because the SRIS scores were generated through simple self-evaluation. Despite their differences in reflective tendencies and in levels of insightfulness, individuals seem to have a good understanding about the way they function cognitively and can provide relatively reliable evaluations in these aspects.
The weakness of the self-assessment approach is well acknowledged in psychological research and other fields. Self-assessment about one's own internal processes can be even more problematic. The findings from this study and an earlier study (Xu, 2009) both indicated that the SRIS appeared to be a simple and effective tool to assess individual differences in this aspect. Xu asked college students to submit written descriptions about various mental processes (e.g., to contemplate, to hypothesize). The clarity of their differentiation of these mental processes was examined in relation to their self-evaluations using the SRIS on their reflective tendencies and their insight levels. The results showed that people with high SRIS subscale scores (i.e., SRIS-SR or SRIS-IN) made clear distinctions among different mental processes consistently across three stages: the initial mental state (i.e., the common condition of a mental process), the mental process, and the final mental state (i.e., the common outcome of a mental process), whereas people with low SRIS subscale scores made much clearer distinctions about the conditions or the outcomes of processes than about the processes per se. The association between one's actual conceptual understanding about different processes and one's self-evaluation with the SRIS supports the validity of the SRIS as a self-report measurement scale.
As discussed in the introduction section, the two SRIS subscales, Engagement in Reflection and Need for Reflection, were combined during the revision of the SRIS. Correlational analyses were conducted with data compiled across the four experiments to examine the relationship between the subscales of the SRIS (see Table 2). The results showed that neither engagement in reflection nor need for reflection was strongly correlated with insight. But they appeared to be moderately correlated with each other. Despite the correlation between these two subscales, the findings of this study suggest that their relationship with other behavioral measures should after all be examined separately. That is, for the tasks used in the current study introspective acts and introspective intents are two different aspects, and intents seem to be more directly relevant to participants' actual performance. Researchers have acknowledged the challenge to design a scale assessing constructive self-reflection while steering away from dysfunctional self-absorption (Anderson et al., 1996; Grant et al., 2002). The findings about self-reflection in this study may have some implications for this issue. First, the engagement in actual acts of reflection and the need to do so should be assessed separately. Lack of discrimination between the two may obscure the role of self-reflection in language and other cognitive functions. Second, the need for reflection seemed to be related to less reckless intrusive errors in memory tasks, but also with lower vocabulary proficiency. This may suggest that a strong need for reflection fares differently in short-term versus long-term processes. On one hand, it may be an indication of an individual's effort to uphold the level of performance on an immediate task. On the other hand, it may also be a warning sign that obsession with the current mental states and processes could impede the pace of long-term progress. More research is needed to test these speculations, but researchers need to be aware that the need for reflection can be a complex factor in language or cognition in general, and that future assessment of the need for reflection may need to take into consideration different task contexts.
Table 2 Correlation Coefficients of the Subscales of the SRIS (N = 312) SRIS subscales Need for Reflection Insight Engagement in Reflection .61 *** .23 *** Need for Reflection .19 *** Insight - - *** p < .001.
The experiments reported here were some initial attempts to assess the relationship of different dispositions in self-reflection and insight with people's performance on language tasks. One limitation of this study was that, like most research studies on self-reflection and insight, only college students were included. It is not clear whether and how self-reflection and insight may change over an individual's life span. Therefore, it is important for future research to include different age groups and to explore the developmental differences in these constructs. A second limitation was that the study was conducted in laboratory settings and utilized specially designed tasks. Future research will need to further explore the implications of individual differences in self-reflection and insight in the context of reading comprehension and language proficiency, especially in natural settings. For example, self-reflection and insight should be taken into account while exploring potential differences in individuals' sensitivity to contextual information. That is, how do individuals differ in terms of making use of contextual information in reading? How do they differ in terms of making inferences while reading a text and retrieving information from memory about the previous text? Furthermore, how do they differ in terms of general reading strategies and styles? What are the connections between self-reflection, insight, and these individual differences in reading performance? The findings from this study suggest that the SRIS can be a promising tool, or at least a blueprint of a promising tool, to assess and determine these connections.
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The author would like to thank Jennifer Harvey, Hilary Michels, and Megan Taylor for their assistance with data collection and Colleen Willard-Holt and Kathy Brode for their help with this article.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Xu Xu, School of Behavioral Sciences and Education, Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg, Middletown, PA 17057. E-mail: email@example.com
Xu Xu
Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg
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Author: | Xu, Xu |
Publication: | The Psychological Record |
Article Type: | Report |
Geographic Code: | 1USA |
Date: | Jan 1, 2011 |
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Latest News
| STREAM LIVELaCrosse TalkInformation about and from LaCrosse Talk WI's Do Not Call List or call (866) 966-2255 MN's Do Not Call List or call (800) 921-4110 Federal Do Not Call List or call (888) 382-1222 |
Spikes Pulled From Rails Stall Train Traffic in La Crosse
Trains were running a little late out of La Crosse last night. Blame it on booze. Appears to have at least something to do with why 54 year-old Gregory Davis decided it would be a good idea to pull spikes out of the rail bed by the northside Amtrak station. They say Davis had been drinking when he pulled out up to a dozen rail spikes. Davis told cops he pulled out the spikes because they were loose. He got charged and rail bosses had to shut down all traffic until the spikes were replaced and the tracks were inspected.
Man's Body IdentifiedLa Crosse police are now releasing the name of the man found dead near a north-side park last week... The body of 40-year-old Anthony Ducharme of La Crosse was identified by his family this weekend. Police discovered Ducharme's body on Thursday near Red Cloud Park. Investigators believe Ducharme died after taking drugs given to him by others. Four persons are now suspected of trying to hide Ducharme's body, and a fifth could be charged with supplying the drug. Three Accused Of Hiding Man's Body After Drug DeathFor now, they're suspected of hiding the body of a man who died after taking drugs. Three La Crosse residents, including a father and son, made their first court appearance today after being arrested on Thursday. Bond for Christina Lorenz is set at 250-thousand dollars cash. Her co-defendants, Robert and Cain Moss, have slightly lower bonds. The D-A's office says the three gave drugs to the man whose body was hidden near Red Cloud Park yesterday. When the man died suddenly, the suspects apparently had to find a way to dispose of the corpse. Council Member Disappointed in Liquor License DenialHard to run a bar without a liquor license. And, maybe, harder still to fight city hall to get one. Apparently what some potential bar owners felt in La Crosse after the city's plan commission denied the group a license. City council member Andrea Richmond says she was told the denial came because there's just too many bars downtown. A real head-scratcher for Richmond who says a business is a business and if it fills a storefront and attracts people downtown then what's the problem? Oddly, the denial of a liquor license for Neuie's Downtown happened at the same meeting that another liquor license for downtown was approved. The group who wanted to open the bar have asked that their license application get withdrawn. Harter Says Deliberation Behind Delays in Filling PositionsTo make it very clear, La Crosse mayor Matt Harter didn't suddenly change his mind about filling several empty positions on the police department. He says, there was actually work to be done making that decision. The mayor tells us he had to do some ride-alongs, have some discussions with the police chief, and plan for the upcoming year's budget before deciding that the jobs should be filled. Frustrated with the mayor's pace of decision, police chief Ed Kondracki was ready this week to bring his hiring requests to the city council before Harter decided the city could afford two days ago that La Crosse could afford the new officers. The chief says, even with filling the vacant jobs, he'll still be short on people because most of the jobs will be filled with internal candidates. |

subset: commoncrawl


text: Are you one of those folks who appreciates the road less traveled? If so, weÍve got a tip for you. Tucked away in a funky corner of Historic Downtown is an only-in-Louisville brewery and tasting room serving up unique craft-brewed beers. Being a touch fanatical about beer and brewing, we could use the rest of this space to bore you with lots of science and detail, but you know what they say, ñone pint is worth a thousand words.î So come on in and get the Gravity experience first hand.


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Crossing a river dream interpretation
THE DREAM - I was crossing a very full river overcoming all obstacles. Last night I dreamt again that I crossed the sea, walking in it.
THE REALITY The dreamer was thinking about leaving her husband.
THE INTERPRETATION Dreams can have very simple meanings. In this case there is an obstacle and the dreamer is overcoming it. You just have to see what the huge obstacle could mean in real life. The dreamer had been thinking about leaving her husband. That's a major change and involves overcoming many large problems.
Symbolic Meanings
FULL RIVER : "A large obstacle"
CROSSING RIVER : "Wanting to overcome some obstacle in real life"
DREAM MEANING The dream captures the following feeling within the dreamer - "I want to leave my husband. It will involve lots of major changes including finding somewhere to live."
DREAM BANK : Some other interesting dreams
Accidently killed kitten dream
Dream interpretation - killing aliens
Relationship dreams - Wanting a puppy dog
Shark attack - dream interpretation
Waterfall dream
Photo album ended - dream
Wolf transforms into my boyfriend - dream interpretation
Dream - Gunman steals mobile phone
Blocking bird from entering house - dream analysis
Boyfriend cheating dream
Wanting father to help - dream interpretation
Boyfriend slams on brakes dream
Trombone dream
Dream symbols - chocolate bar from boss
Cicaro is murdered - dream symbolism
Dead bird in my bedroom - dream interpretation
Huge elephant and squirrel dream
We were together dream
Fighting my father - dream analysis
Dream analysis - forgot a relative
Introduced to friend - dream symbolism
Frozen snake cannot bite - dream dictionary
girlfriend cheating dream
Hugs from ex boyfriend - premonition
Groom is not at wedding - dream interpretation
Dream symbolism- smoking marijuana
Eating cake dream analysis
Hair straightened - dream
Haunted house dream
Uprooting whole tree - dream symbolism
Flying in plane over the mountain
My boyfriend is cheating on me
Komodo Dragon
Dream interpretation about lions and wild animals
Long tube dream
Castle dream
Grandmas old cards - dream analysis
Old girlfriend dream
Old girlfriend dream
Hugging ex girlfriend dream
Poison and pest control - dream analysis
Flying and chasing dream
Presidential power dream
Raper and time travel dream symbols
Deep rat bite - dream dictionary
Killing the sacred cow
Son is drowning - dream interpretation
Scorpion stuck on heart
The Girl At The Lake
Surrounded by sharks in water
Finger print dream
Huge waves drowning - dream analysis
Sister yelling in bedroom - dream analysis
Crash car into ex boyfriend dream symbols
Fighting Anaconda with machete - dream analysis
Dream symbols - huge snake
Husband cheating dream
Boyfriend with ring - dream analysis
Guidance of angel
Grandfather's plea - dream analysis
Fiancé saves me dream
Ignoring a tornado - dream analysis
Tsunami in dream
A loving mother - dream analysis
Weasel dream
Getting married in pink - dream symbolism
A Weird Gift From a Loved One
Needing help of expert - dream interpretation


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New Revised Standard (NRS) | New International Version (NIV) |
12 This shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem: their flesh shall rot while they are still on their feet; their eyes shall rot in their sockets, and their tongues shall rot in their mouths. | 12 This is the plague with which the LORD will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. |
13 On that day a great panic from the Lord shall fall on them, so that each will seize the hand of a neighbor, and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other; | 13 On that day men will be stricken by the LORD with great panic. Each man will seize the hand of another, and they will attack each other. |
14 even Judah will fight at Jerusalem. And the wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be collected—gold, silver, and garments in great abundance. | 14 Judah too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected--great quantities of gold and silver and clothing. |
15 And a plague like this plague shall fall on the horses, the mules, the camels, the donkeys, and whatever animals may be in those camps. | 15 A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps. |
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. (New Revised Standard Bible Version Online) | Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. (New International Version Bible Online) |


text:
New Yorker Ari Teman rented his Chelsea, Manhattan apartment out on Airbnb.com over the weekend, but got a call from the building telling him that the man he rented his apartment to was using it to host a loud, sex orgy for mostly plus-sized attendees. Teman had to return to his apartment to shut the party down.
The party had fliers, like the one pictured and was advertised on Twitter. There was an entry fee of $20.
Partygoers congregated outside the apartment building and tossed furniture around and out of the apartment, the NY Daily News reports. There were used condoms littering the floor. Teman claims there were more than $67,000 of damages to his apartment and has already received a commitment for $23,000 from Airbnb. The renter, named David, had three good reviews on Airbnb and claimed he was just in town to go to a friend's wedding.
Teman is facing eviction from the building.


text:
Legal challenges for education bill
Kansas Association of School Boards officials are encouraging members to be cautious about teacher tenure issues.
Kansas Association of School Boards officials are encouraging members to be cautious about teacher tenure issues.
The school finance bill passed by the legislature last month included a provision eliminating due process rights for teachers.
"We were as surprised as anyone when that bill came down," said Mark Tallman, KASB associate executive director for advocacy and communication. "There's a lot of things in this bill that we would support. There's a lot of things that are very controversial."
KASB has "a long standing position saying that we felt there should be some changes made in due process that we thought would bring some balance back to the local board," Tallman said. "We were not calling for completely removing it which is what that bill did."
There could be legal challenges to the tenure elimination, and everyone is waiting to see what it means, he said.
"If the bill is upheld, then as an association we'll decide if we support it as is, or support some modification," Tallman said.
There are still a lot of unanswered questions, and KASB is "telling boards to be careful, be deliberative and see it as part of the total package."
-- Judy Sherard, HDN


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Reef Leather Fanning Sandal - Men's
Great sandles
Living in Florida I wear these everyday I am not working and when I get out of work. I have had many different kinds of sandles and these are by far the most comfortable sandles I have had. I have walked around Sea-word with no issues. The slight arch support help when walking for long periods of time. Have had mine for almost two years and looking to replace them with another pair soon.
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text:
By LARRY VAUGHT
Darius Miller is glad to have an opportunity to possibly help USA Basketball win another gold medal.
He's been invited to try out for the USA men's university team later this month in hopes of landing a roster spot like he did two years ago when he helped his team win a gold medal.
"I'm honored to be invited to it again,†said the Kentucky senior. "It was a great experience last time. I'm going to try and do my best and make the team again.
"It means a lot to me to be able to play for something of that importance. Just to be asked to try out means a lot and I want to take advantage of the opportunity I have. It is more motivation. I am trying to put in more work because of that.â€Â
With the tryout being in late summer, it gives Miller plenty of time in Lexington to bond with new teammates Anthony Davis, Michael Gilchrist, Marquis Teague, Kyle Wiltjer and Ryan Harrow before he heads off the for the tryout.
"It's definitely nice. We're having a good time so far. Everyone is doing their part in working hard individually and trying to get better. I think it's benefiting me to get stay here for this time,†Miller said.
However, he won't regret any time he misses to play for Team USA.
"It did a lot for my game before. Confidence-wise, getting a lot more experience playing against great competition. It really helped me to grow as a player and I hope it will do the same thing again,†Miller said. "I want to play against great competition, make the team and hopefully win another gold medal.â€Â


text:
France tops US in women on corporate boards, study reveals
Published on Feb 23, 2013 9:38 AM
WASHINGTON (AFP) - France has overtaken the United States in placing women on the boards of the world's 200 largest companies, according to a study released on Friday.
The average percentage of female directors among Fortune Global 200 companies, the world's largest by revenues, came to a modest 15 per cent, according to the study by the Corporate Women Directors International (CWDI).
But 25.1 per cent of directors in the 17 top French companies are now women, thanks to a French quota law.
Meanwhile, only 20.9 per cent of board members were women at the 57 largest US companies, the study found.
To continue reading, log in if you are a subscriber
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text:
Has your climbing hit a plateau? Are you looking for new ways to improve? Touchstone climbing is offering a new workshop taught by one of the companies best climbers.
Justin Alarcon, a 31 year old climber from Berkeley, has climbed the extremely difficult double digit Yosemite boulder problems Pine Box, Yabo Roof, and Narcissus, the latter of which he climbed at 1:20 am on a July morning without spotters. Besides having climbed 8a on three different continents, a number of long Yosemite routes, 5.13 sport routes, and having coached climbing since the early 2000s, Alarcon is finishing up his NASM personal training certification. Most notably, Justin's climbing has continuously improved over his 12+ years on rock. Part of Justin's success stems from his training.
"I heard a clink clink clink." Lyn Barraza, the manager of Berkeley Ironworks was not excited about the noise. Lyn was high on the Steck-Salathe on Yosemite's Sentinel and exiting the notorious chimeney section of the Narrows. "My #6, my one and only piece of pro, had come out while I was climbing around in there trying to figure out how to exit."
How in the world did a person whom college friends called conservative and straight edged ever find herself in such a predicament? Lyn's trip to the base of the Sentinel began in 2001 when her son Cam started kindergarten.
Young Cam
While Cam was at school, Lyn was learning to climb at Berkeley Ironworks. A year after starting to rock climb, Lyn began working the desk at Touchstone's Class 5 gym in Marin. Lyn was hooked.
Past blog entries can be found at http://touchstoneclimbing.blogspot.com/


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Gear Review
It's Mountain Madness
My girl loves this jacket!
The only complaint...there is no sleeve/cuff snap that attaches the liner to the actual jacket, so when you pull your arm out, the liner comes out :(
Love the jacket but the liner is too fitted, very snug in the elbows. Still, I'm keeping it b/c I love the shell. The red is a beautiful color.
View More Details on 686 Smarty Rogue Jacket - Women's


text:
We are trying to fix our 2 year old deck that was improperly built and hoping we don't have to tear everything out. The deck is 7 x 12' sloped at 1/4" per foot (subfloor) with a gutter on the front 7' side. The install is mostly correct (I think). The problem is that they never installed any transition to the gutter. The gutter lies between the deck subfloor and joist and a lintel front piece. The builders had it custom made because the Schluter gutters were not the right size they said. Since there is no tie in between the tile surface and the gutter water leaks between the deck and gutter and wicks underneath. Year 1 - At advice of the (not so good) architect/builder - caulking the tile to the top of the gutter with which it was flush. This didn't work and would trap any water that got through the grout behind the wall of the gutter anyhow. I have read that you should never trust the sealant on the top of the tile/grout as your water barrier. Is this right?

Year 2 (last summer) - Cut the gutter down 1" and cut out the mortar above the ditra under the tile in about 1" to fit flexible flashing under the tile, over the and into the gutter. caulk above to seal. the flexible flashing (a tape type product) came lose and more leakage occurred. Was cutting the gutter down a mistake? Now - hoping to find out what we should do, if it is possible to do ourselves and if not how to find somebody to do it and know if their fix is a reasonable solution. We were thinking of getting true metal flashing and cutting into the thinset /wood under the Ditra and trying a more durable version of year 2. Would this work? Alternately we have thought of removing a few inches of the tile (hopefully without damaging the ditra) and doing the flashing from there and either retiling over it or adding some other sort of waterproofing to the step down to the gutter. Finally I have also been looking at the Schluter edge profiles and wondering if they could be retrofitted? To keep things interesting there is a very narrow area to work in without taking off the glass railing (which was attached with stripped screws!) and the wood on the front of the deck. so large tools are very hard to get into the gutter area/under the tile. I realize that making this actually shed water correctly might require a new gutter, removing a significant portion of the tile etc. The wood behind the gutter has some water damage but is generally in good shape and hopefully doesn't need replaced. So we need help. If we hire someone - what should we look for? Tile expert? Deck expert? or Schluter experience specifically? I feel like an idiot for not paying closer attention to the work done on the original build so I want to be sure I can assess any solutions that new professionals may offer. I have attached photos and am happy to provide any others that might be useful in getting advice on this. More pictures of the overall deck here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/heathergm/sets/72157630992762556/

We have been so angry at these contractors, spent our entire saved budget on the faulty deck already and are so frustrated at this point we would be very grateful for any help provided. Thanks! |
Follow-Up Postings:
- Posted by desertdance (My Page) on Tue, Jul 15, 14 at 16:04
Hmmmm. I would look for someone with Schluter experience. A General contractor should have subs he trusts with both areas of expertise. We have Schluter edges on our entire porcelain kitchen countertops, and they were retrofitted. It's all custom. Sounds like the first guy just wanted standard stuff and didn't want to mess with custom, so he cut corners? I couldn't spot the schluter in your photos, but I'm sure outside is much different than inside. We have 3 big decks outside. None have tile on them. When we purchased this home, all the decks had to be redone because of termites and rotting. Gutters are in place where needed. Two of our decks shed water through the cracks between the boards, so no water stands. I wish you luck with your issue. It cost a ton to replace 3 big (huge) decks!! |
Thanks - the schluter ditra is under the tile We got the flashing in and are now looking for what we should use to caulk or seal it to the ditra. |
A piece of L-flashing must be installed underneath the ditra and over the gutter, like regular drip edge flashing for a roof eave that sits under the shingles and over the rain gutter. Any other approach is incorrect. |
Thanks Aidan - that is exactly what we did - see attached. Our question now is to seal the flashing to the ditra and whether or not to caulk or fill with mortar the face above the ditra to the tile. Thoughts? |
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In response to public condemnation over attempts to intimidate and silence Christian opponents of the city's pro-homosexual "Equal Rights" ordinance, Houston's lesbian mayor, Annise Parker, has backpedaled on demands by city attorneys that area pastors seeking a referendum on the ordinance turn over their sermons and other communications.
The Congressional Budget Office offered no solutions as to how to pay off the burgeoning national debt; it just reports the facts.
There are nearly 167,000 convicted criminal aliens with final orders of removal who are still in the United States and "currently at large."
When I wrote the articles compiled in my book Now Tell Me I Was Wrong, few Americans were listening.
The city of Houston, led by openly lesbian mayor Annise Parker, haa subpoenaed the sermons and other communications of area pastors who opposed a pro-homosexual "non-discrimination" city ordinance passed this summer, and who have led a campaign for its repeal.
After being ridiculed for squandering taxpayer funds on a 2003 "climate" report that, despite being widely hyped in the establishment press, got literally everything wrong, Obama's cadres of "global-warming" alarmists at the Pentagon are at it again.
An education expert who heads up a popular online K-12 school is advising parents that they must be vigilant against government intrusion if they want to maintain control over their children's schooling.
Despite the conclusions of a secret CIA study which found that arming rebels hardly ever results in toppling governments, the Obama administration plunged ahead toward arming the Syrian rebels.
Writing in the Boston Globe, columnist Tom Keane's recent column led with the headline "Cool summer doesn't invalidate climate change." The type in his headline should have been upside-down because the logic surely was.
The bankrupt Socialist rulers of France are under attack by the monster they helped create and empower. This week, French officials are facing off against European Union finance bosses over a bloated national government budget — EU bosses say the numbers must be slashed before they can be "approved" by Brussels, but French politicians are refusing.


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"well hahaha um thats not songwriting but some of these artists believe if it wasnt for them your song would never get out there so they take a cut just because they are who they are," Perry said. "but everyone knows the real truth even Beyonce. She is talented but in a completely different way." Meanwhile, Beyonce's name appears throughout her self-titled album's production credits.
Some of Beyonce's most notable collaborators have argued that yes, the pop diva deserves the credit. For example, elusive producer-songwriter Boots was impressed by how Beyonce instructed him to add some scuzzy guitar to "Jealous," as inspired by Hanni El Khatib's "Roach Cock." Ne-Yo also says that the harmonies that she added to 2006′s "Irreplaceable" makes it "totally different" from what he wrote.
"So yeah, I gave her writer's credit, because that counts. That's writing. " Ne-Yo said to The Breakfast Club (below, skip to 6:50).
[via Vulture]
Get an eyeful of even more pop music coverage, from artist interviews to exclusive performances, on Idolator's YouTube channel.


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English Standard Version (ESV) | New International Version (NIV) |
3 The fortress will disappear from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus; and the remnant of Syria will be like the glory of the children of Israel, declares the LORD of hosts. | 3 The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, and royal power from Damascus; the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the Israelites," declares the LORD Almighty. |
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers. (English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online) | Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. (New International Version Bible Online) |


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It's hard to believe that Denis Andernach isn't drawing these images of abstract architectural structures based on references since they all look so lifelike. Andernach explains that he illustrates, "houses for landscapes and landscapes for houses," experimenting with ways to integrate buildings into its surroundings in a harmonious manner. In essence, he's doing the job of an architect, but he does so for imaginary places and exclusively on a blank page. This gives him greater control over the terrains and structures he features in his work, creating ideal places that could never actually exist in the real world.
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Married 25 years..... I took a look at my wife one day and said, "Honey, 25 years ago, we had a cheap apartment, a cheap car, slept on a sofa bed and watched a 10 inch black and white TV, but I got to sleep every night with a hot 25 year old blonde . Now, we have a nice house, nice car, big bed and plasma screen TV, but I'm sleeping with a 50 year old woman. It seems to me that you are not holding up your side of things."
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Decided to fabricate a homemade fermenter today out of a 5 gallon Lowe's bucket and lid. Drilled and install a brass plumping "nipple" with grommet into the lid for a blow-off tube. For the brewing... I didn't want to make a beer. I wanted to do something crazy. I made a wort using only 1/2 cup unsulphured Molasses, 1lb corn Sugar, 2oz liquid Coconut extract, 1oz liquid Cinnamon extract, and 1oz Rum extract. Ended with 3 gallons after adding water and moving to fermenter. Why??? No real reason. Just bored. Wanted to try something while I wait for my real brew to ferment in my real fermenter... I pitched my yeast and had minor activity in an hour... I'm thinking this will end up being a hopless, spicy beer if I don't just toss it randomly one day.. I'm wondering if I should let it carbonate and everything.. I'll probably see it through to bottling just for poops and giggles.
What type of yeast did you use ?
There won't be enough fermentables in that recipe to produce much of anything. The OG would only be about 1.015 or so I'm guessing. That's a very thin wort. Something like a quart of molasses and three pounds of sugar would be more like it. In any case, yea, it's jail house hooch and will likely be horrible. YMMV of course.
Jailhouse Hooch hehehe that's funny. I tasted a little before putting it into the fermenter to check the flavor and it was kind of like a coconut flavored tea. When I tasted it I felt like I should have used a bit more molasses, and maybe I'll try this again down the road with a little more preparation as well. Thanks for the fun replies so far =)
I hope your yeast like it.
I think they do.. I've got activity in there for sure, it's just not as active as the beer kit I'm brewing in my True Brew fermenter.
I would like to wager that will taste horrible. Keep us updated.
Acronyms are FS
Someone in another thread said that fermenting sugar water creates something known as "kilju" aka "sugar wine." So I'm guessing all I have created is spiced coconut flavored sugar wine lol
why you would even waste your time with that is beyond me. rite aid sells miller high life 12 packs for 6.99 drink that if your broke, i roll pabst for 7.99 but thats just me.


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- Hotel Details
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City Suites Ciudad De Mexico Anzures Hotel
3 StarsLeibiniz 120 Colonia Anzures Entre Darwin Y Kant Mexico City Mexico 11590
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Madrid, Spain
Program Site: USC study center at the Instituto Internacional in central Madrid; Universidad Carlos III de Madrid's Getafe campus (Option II only).
Eligibility: Minimum cumulative USC GPA of 3.0. Also:
- Option I: At a minimum students must be prepared to take Spanish 260 and 261. Students can meet this requirement through taking Spanish 240 (Spanish IV), previously receiving an "A" in Spanish 220 (Spanish III), or through a diagnostic exam* if they have demonstrated Spanish proficiency through an AP Spanish Language or Literature score of 4 or 5 or are native speakers of Spanish.
- Option II: To be eligible to take courses at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (see Option II description below), students must have completed, or be currently enrolled in a 300-level Spanish course.
* To arrange for a diagnostic exam, please contact the Spanish Department Advisor, Josephine Le: firstname.lastname@example.com
Description: The Madrid program is for students with high-intermediate to advanced Spanish fluency. Students in Option I (USC catalogue courses only) take all of their classes alongside other USC students at the Instituto Internacional in central Madrid. Students in Option II (USC catalogue courses of Option I and Spanish university courses) take a combination of USC courses at the Instituto Internacional and courses alongside Spanish students at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in Getafe, about 10 miles from central Madrid and easily accessible by public transportation.
Academics: The USC Madrid Center offers USC catalogue courses in International Relations, Political Science, and Spanish. All students must take at least two USC catalogue courses. In addition, there are dozens of courses to choose from at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.
Students may take courses for major, minor, or elective credit. Courses are taught in Spanish unless otherwise indicated.
USC catalogue courses are 4 USC units each and are taken for a USC letter grade. The letter grade appears on the USC transcript, and the grades are factored into one's USC GPA. The courses are taught by local faculty approved by academic departments at USC and follow USC-approved syllabi.
Please note that the list of courses below is subject to change and is dependent on student interest and enrollment. The USC Madrid Center reserves the right to the change course offering at any time.
Possible USC Courses:
- SPAN 260 Advanced Spanish: Arts and Sciences
- SPAN 261 Advanced Spanish: Society and the Media
- SPAN 302 Survey of Film OR SPAN 320 Iberian and Latin American Cultures: Readings on Society OR SPAN 391 Introduction to Contemporary Spanish Literature
- SPAN 464: Introduction to Contemporary Spanish Theater
- IR 468 European Integration (taught in English)
- POSC 469 Critical Issues in Comparative Politics-Contemporary Spain (taught in English) OR POSC 436 Enviromental Politics
Option I: Students in this option choose four USC courses from the list above. At least two of the courses must have a SPAN prefix. Students must meet course prerequisites as stated in the USC Catalogue.
Option II: Students take at least two USC catalogue courses at the Instituto Internacional, and they take the remainder of their courses in the humanities and social sciences at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Option II students take Carlos III courses that are taught in Spanish and are part of the grado or degree courses that Spanish undergraduates take.
Carlos III courses are available in the following fields of study: anthropology, art history, comparative literature, economics, gender studies, history, international relations, linguistics, political science, philosophy, psychology, sociology and Spanish. Some examples of courses that may be of interest to USC students are Economía de la Integración Europea; Política Española; Organizaciones Internacionales; Historia de la España del Sigo XX, Literatura Contemporánea de España e Iberoamérica; Evolución y Variedades del Español; and Psicología Social.
Students in this option combine a minimum of two 4-unit USC courses and a varying number of Carlos III courses, dependent on level of advanced Spanish, for a minimum of 14 USC units and a maximum of 18 USC units. The ratio of Carlos III ECTS credits to USC units is 2:1; for example, a 6-ECTS Carlos III course would yield 3 USC units.
USC students do not receive a USC letter grade on their USC transcript for courses taken at Universidad Carlos III. USC students receive USC credit (CR) for Carlos III courses they pass and no credit (NC) for Carlos III courses they do not pass. Carlos III course grades do not affect one's USC GPA.
Course load and credit: Students in Option I take four 4-unit USC catalogue courses for a total of 16 USC. Option I students may not take fewer or more than 16 units. Option II students take a minimum of 14 USC units and may earn a maximum of 18 USC units.
Activities and Other Program Features:
While all students are invited to participate in program activities, students in Option II may not be able to attend all USC Madrid activities, including cultural activities, excursions and day trips, due to class schedule conflicts.
Cultural Activities - In addition to learning on site at museums and historical sites within and beyond Madrid, program participants attend dance, music, film, and theater performances. The program directors also take students out to restaurants to sample different types of Spanish cuisine.
Day Trips - Each semester there are several day trips to areas close to Madrid such as Toledo and Segovia.
Multi-day Field Trips - These are longer trips (usually 3 days) to further regions of the Iberian peninsula. Professors and program directors accompany students on these educational excursions. Examples of recent trips are Andalucía; Galicia/Northern Portugal; Asturias/Castilla y León; Cataluña (incl. Barcelona); and La Rioja/País Vasco.
While the program directors inform students about opportunities to meet Spaniards and participate in Spanish culture, program participants are expected to be highly self-motivated and to actively seek opportunities to meet Spaniards and communicate only in Spanish as much as possible.
Accommodation: Students live with Spanish host families located throughout Madrid. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are provided seven days a week. Students with serious food allergies or very particular dietary needs should consider the Bilbao program, which has an apartment option that allows students to shop for and cook their own meals.
Dates: The fall semester runs from the beginning of September into the third week of December and has a one-week fall break. The spring semester runs from mid January to mid May for Option I students and to early June for Option II students. There is a week-long spring break. Option I and II students are charged the same tuition. Option II students pay for 2-3 additional weeks of room and board in the spring.
Estimated Semester Cost:
Additional Expenses**…………$11,782
Cost Updated: 1/7/15
Text Updated: 12/12/14
**Additional expenses include estimated costs for airfare, room and board, books and supplies, health insurance, and personal expenses (which can vary greatly from student to student). USC financial aid, scholarships, and tuition remission may be applied to program costs. Please visit the Office of Overseas Studies for more detailed cost information.
International Institute -Instituto Internacional
ACCENT Madrid Center Facilities
Universidad Carlos III courses
Madrid, Spain


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Serves 4
- 1 8- to 10-ounce sweet potato, peeled, diced
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1/2 cup diced red-skinned apple
- 1/3 cup chopped celery
- 1 1/2 cups herb-seasoned stuffing mix
- 1/2 teaspoon rubbed dried sage
- 1 cup canned low-salt chicken broth
Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 4-cup casserole. Cook potato in small pot of boiling salted water until just tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Heat oil in heavy medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion, apple and celery and sauté until onion is translucent, abut 5 minutes. Add potato and sauté 1 minute. Add stuffing mix, sage and broth. Cover skillet, reduce heat to medium-low and cook until stock is absorbed, about 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer dressing to prepared dish. (Can be prepared 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.) Cover with foil and bake until heated through, about 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until top begins to brown, about 15 minutes.
my notes
- Calories224
- Carbohydrates34 g (11%)
- Fat8 g (13%)
- Protein5 g (10%)
- Saturated Fat1 g (4%)
- Sodium362 mg (15%)
- Polyunsaturated Fat1 g
- Fiber3 g (14%)
- Monounsaturated Fat6 g
- Cholesterol0 mg (0%)
recipe at a glance
type: Stuffing/Dressing
main ingredients: Sweet Potato/Yam, Apple, Herb
holiday/celebration: Fall