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Recent research has distinguished between actual posttraumatic growth (PTG) and perceived PTG. We used a prospective research design to measure both actual and perceived PTG in an attempt to replicate and extend previous findings. We examined college students (N = 64) who experienced a traumatic event between the start (Time 1) and end (Time 2) of a semester. We included three measures of change from pre- to post-trauma: (1) Actual PTG (change scores in measures of PTG domains), (2) perceived general growth (Time 2 ratings of functioning at Time 1 subtracted from actual ratings given at Time 1), and (3) perceived PTG (self-reports of PTG on the posttraumatic growth inventory). The results revealed perceived general growth and actual PTG were significantly correlated, suggesting that participants’ perceptions of change were accurate. However, perceived PTG was not significantly related to either actual PTG or perceived general growth. Further, increases in actual PTG and perceived general growth were significantly related to decreases in distress and unrelated to coping. By contrast, higher levels of perceived PTG were significantly related to increases in distress and higher levels of avoidance coping. Our results suggest perceived PTG may be more of a coping process than an accurate recall of posttraumatic change.

Guides to neuropsychological assessment emphasize the importance of establishing rapport; however, there has been a minimal amount of empirical investigation of the impact of rapport on neuropsychological test performance. In this experiment, participants (N = 98) were randomly assigned to take neuropsychological tests in either a high or low rapport condition. Results showed that we were able to manipulate the level of rapport and that the level of rapport had a significant effect on the Grooved Pegboard Test and the Controlled Oral Word Association Test, with other tests nearing statistical significance. These results suggest that the level of rapport may affect neuropsychological test performance.

The Netflix documentary Making a Murderer made national headlines by chronicling the conflict between Steven Avery and the Manitowoc County legal system. After spending 18 years in prison for a wrongful conviction, Avery was arrested again and found guilty of the murder of Teresa Halbach. Due to the controversial nature of the case, and the popularity associated with the documentary, this event was used to evaluate several variables that may influence judgment on decisions of a defendant's guilt or innocence. Participants (N ϭ 905) were recruited online via several social media platforms and included in the study if they acknowledged watching the documentary. They then completed an online survey containing questionnaires related to demographics (e.g., gender, ethnicity), perceptual (e.g., punitive attitudes), and psychosocial characteristics (e.g., posttraumatic stress symptom severity). The majority of participants rated both Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, also convicted in association for the crime, as innocent. Female participants reported higher ratings of guilt than males. Lower ratings of guilt were associated with lower levels of socioeconomic status, greater religious involvement, higher posttraumatic stress symptoms, and greater negative attitudes toward the judicial system. Race and political beliefs were unrelated to ratings of guilt. These results support previous research suggesting psychological and demographic variables may influence jurors' judgments of guilt in murder trials. Implications concerning maintaining impartiality among jury peers and preventing implicit biases are discussed. Public Policy Relevance StatementDue to the controversial nature of the Steven Avery murder case, and the popularity associated with the Making a Murderer documentary, this event was used to evaluate several variables that may influence judgment on decisions of a defendant's guilt or innocence. The results support previous research suggesting psychological and demographic variables may influence jurors' judgments of guilt in murder trials. Implications concerning maintaining impartiality among jury peers and preventing implicit biases are discussed.

Objective: College student and Amazon's Mechanical TURK (MTURK) samples are regularly utilized in trauma research. Recent literature, however, has criticized these samples for not being generalizable to the general U.S. population. The purpose of this study was to determine whether college student (n = 255) and MTURK (n = 316) samples are invariant on the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5. Method: Measurement invariance using confirmatory factor analyses was used to determine whether groups are invariant across factor structure, factor loadings, item intercepts, and residual error variances on a given measure of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptom severity. Results: Model fit indices indicated the sevenfactor Hybrid model was the best-fitting model, but the six-factor Anhedonia model was the most parsimonious model. Both models demonstrated equivalence in factor at the strictest level, indicating MTURK and college student samples are similar in regard to PTSD symptom severity. Conclusions: These findings provide evidence that these groups can be combined in future studies to increase sample size for trauma research. Only the Anhedonia factor exhibited mean differences between groups, which may be related to true differences between college students and MTURK survey-takers. This study provides further evidence that the findings from trauma studies using these populations are generalizable to each other. Clinical Impact StatementAmazon's Mechanical TURK (MTURK) participants have emerged as an alternate solution to college students for collecting samples in psychology research. While MTURK participants are believed to be more representative to the general population than college students, there are concerns pertaining to generalizability across both groups. This study conducts measurement invariance testing on one measure of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder to determine whether MTURK participants and college students are invariant. Findings from this research show that findings from trauma studies using these populations can be generalized to each other.