Poverty: absolute or relative?

ABSTRACT In recent decades poverty has been defined as a relative rather than absolute notion. Those in poverty have been seen as poor relative to a level of income, or social condition, accepted as average or normal for a society. Poverty has been redefined as 'relative deprivation'. This paper argues, first, that the redefinition of poverty as relative to social norms is a radical departure from the traditional notion of poverty. Secondly, it considers whether such a redefinition gives support to the view that the claims of those in poverty (relative) may be considered as morally equivalent to the claims of those in poverty (absolute). The paper concludes by arguing that the notion of relative poverty is advanced to give support to social and economic policies whose primary aim is equality rather than the relief of poverty.     

Are crossmodal correspondences relative or absolute? Sequential effects on speeded classification

Crossmodal correspondences have often been demonstrated using congruency effects between pairs of stimuli in different sensory modalities that vary along separate dimensions. To date, however, it is still unclear the extent to which these correspondences are relative versus absolute in nature: that is, whether they result from pre-defined values that rigidly link the two dimensions or rather result from flexible values related to the previous occurrence of the crossmodal stimuli. Here, we investigated this issue in a speeded classification task featuring the correspondence between auditory pitch and visual size (e.g., congruent correspondence between high pitch/small disc and low pitch/large disc). Participants classified the size of the visual stimuli (large vs. small) while hearing concurrent high- or low-pitched task-irrelevant sounds. On some trials, visual stimuli were paired instead with “intermediate” pitch, that could be interpreted differently according to the auditory stimulus on the preceding trial (i.e., as “lower” following the presentation of a high pitch tone, but as “higher” following the presentation of a low pitch tone). Performance on sequence-congruent trials (e.g., when a small disc paired with the intermediate-pitched tone was preceded by a low pitch tone) was compared to sequence-incongruent trials (e.g., when a small disc paired with the intermediate-pitch tone was by a high-pitched tone). The results revealed faster classification responses on sequence-congruent than on sequence-incongruent trials. This demonstrates that the effect of the pitch/size correspondence is relative in nature, and subjected to trial-by-trial interpretation of the stimulus pair.     

Are complex psychotherapies more effective than biofeedback, progressive muscle relaxation, or both? A meta-analysis

A meta-analysis of 26 studies was conducted to assess whether more complex forms of psychotherapy would be superior to control treatments of either biofeedback, progressive muscle relaxation, or both. Consistent with hypotheses, more complex treatments provided a small, significant improvement over biofeedback and progressive muscle relaxation (r = .09). A subset of the more complex behavioral treatments accounted for most of this small incremental effectiveness of more complex treatments (r = .15). Possible sources of this incremental effectiveness are discussed.     

Are cognitive biases associated with body image concerns similar between cultures?

This experimental investigation examined judgment and memory biases associated with body image concerns in American and Chinese young adult samples. In Study 1, 50 American university students (43 female, 7 males) screened into groups high and low in self-reported concerns about body size and weight engaged in a computer-based experiment involving the evaluation and later recognition of randomly presented fat and thin body words and matched control words. Participants high in reported body image concerns judged certain kinds of fat words more negatively and remembered them more accurately than individuals low in perceived body image disturbances. In general, significant group differences remained, after controlling for BMI. In contrast, groups did not differ in judgment or memory of thin words or control words. This pattern of differences was partially replicated in similar groups from the People's Republic of China (52 female, 7 male). Cross-cultural comparisons of responses to the subset of fat and thin words used in both experiments indicated the American sample evaluated fat words more negatively and was faster in responding to fat words than the Chinese sample, although there were no cultural differences in responses to thin words. Findings support the hypothesis that information-processing biases related to body image problems are specific to these concerns within samples from both Western and non-Western cultures, albeit cultural differences in responses to fat stimuli were also identified.     

The syllable’s role in speech production: Are syllables chunks, schemas, or both?

Two experiments, one using the masked priming technique combined with very brief prime exposures and the other using a new technique, the induction technique, were run in order to investigate the role of syllabic structure in speech production. Experiment 1 (masked priming) showed no effect when primes shared only the abstract syllabic structure without the phonological content, whereas the same picture stimuli produced a syllabic priming effect in Ferrand, Segui, and Grainger (1996, Experiment 4) when primes corresponded to full syllables. In contrast, the results of Experiment 2 (induction) showed that picture naming latencies were significantly faster when subjects had first read aloud a set of words with the same syllabic structure than when these words did not share the syllabic structure with the picture target. This result was also observed when the set was composed of nonwords. These results demonstrate that the abstract syllabic structure (independently of its phonological content) plays an important role in speech production depending on the task used.     

Is cognitive behavioural therapy effective in reducing suicidal ideation and behaviour when delivered face-to-face or via e-health? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a widely used psychotherapeutic intervention for suicide prevention despite its efficacy for suicide prevention in adults remaining ambiguous. Reluctance or inability to access face-to-face help suggests that e-health delivery may be a valuable resource for suicidal people. The aim of this study was to systematically review and conduct meta-analysis on research assessing the efficacy of CBT delivered via face-to-face and e-health for suicidal ideation and behaviour. A comprehensive literature search of MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Scopus, PubMed and The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials was conducted. From 764 identified articles, 26 met the inclusion criteria for investigating CBT for suicidal ideation and behaviours in adult populations. Data were extracted on study characteristics and meta-analysis was performed where possible. There was a statistically significant, small to medium effect for face-to-face delivered CBT in reducing suicidal ideation and behaviour although there was significant heterogeneity between the included studies. CBT delivered via e-health was not found to be efficacious for reducing suicidal ideation and behaviour in adults though the number of studies reviewed was small.     

Are there pre-existing neural, cognitive, or motoric markers for musical ability?

Adult musician's brains show structural enlargements, but it is not known whether these are inborn or a consequence of long-term training. In addition, music training in childhood has been shown to have positive effects on visual-spatial and verbal outcomes. However, it is not known whether pre-existing advantages in these skills are found in children who choose to study a musical instrument nor is it known whether there are pre-existing associations between music and any of these outcome measures that could help explain the training effects. To answer these questions, we compared 5- to 7-year-olds beginning piano or string lessons (n=39) with 5- to 7-year-olds not beginning instrumental training (n=31). All children received a series of tests (visual-spatial, non-verbal reasoning, verbal, motor, and musical) and underwent magnetic resonance imaging. We found no pre-existing neural, cognitive, motor, or musical differences between groups and no correlations (after correction for multiple analyses) between music perceptual skills and any brain or visual-spatial measures. However, correlations were found between music perceptual skills and both non-verbal reasoning and phonemic awareness. Such pre-existing correlations suggest similarities in auditory and visual pattern recognition as well a sharing of the neural substrates for language and music processing, most likely due to innate abilities or implicit learning during early development. This baseline study lays the groundwork for an ongoing longitudinal study addressing the effects of intensive musical training on brain and cognitive development, and making it possible to look retroactively at the brain and cognitive development of those children who emerge showing exceptional musical talent.     

Universal Grammar, statistics or both?

Recent demonstrations of statistical learning in infants have reinvigorated the innateness versus learning debate in language acquisition. This article addresses these issues from both computational and developmental perspectives. First, I argue that statistical learning using transitional probabilities cannot reliably segment words when scaled to a realistic setting (e.g. child-directed English). To be successful, it must be constrained by knowledge of phonological structure. Then, turning to the bona fide theory of innateness--the Principles and Parameters framework--I argue that a full explanation of children's grammar development must abandon the domain-specific learning model of triggering, in favor of probabilistic learning mechanisms that might be domain-general but nevertheless operate in the domain-specific space of syntactic parameters.     

Is depression taxonic,dimensional, or both?

The current investigation examines the potential importance of item selection in the ongoing discussion regarding the taxonicity of depression. Following J. C. Coyne (1994), we contrast the taxonicity of "distress" with the taxonicity of a syndrome more focused on somatic symptoms (i.e., the involuntary defeat syndrome). Using 4 samples of 984 undergraduates, we first replicate the J. Ruscio and A. M. Ruscio (2000) results by showing that distress item indicators are dimensional. We then demonstrate taxonicity using items focused on somatic symptoms and reflective of disruption of multiple homeostatic mechanisms. Results suggest that item selection is central to the determination of taxonicity in depression.     

Positional information in short-term memory: Relative or absolute?

Evidence suggests that short-term memory for serial order includes information about the positions of items in a sequence. This information is necessary to explain why substitution errors between sequences tend to maintain their position within a sequence. Previous demonstrations of such errors, however, have always used sequences of equal length. With sequences of different length, both transpositions between groups (Experiment 1) and intrusions between trials (Experiment 2) are shown to respect position relative to the end as well as to the start of a sequence. These results support models in which position is coded by start and end markers, but not models in which position is coded in temporal or absolute terms. Possible interpretations of an end marker are discussed.     

How do health and biological age influence chronological age and sex differences in cognitive aging: moderating, mediating, or both?

Much research on cognitive competence in normal older adults has documented age and sex differences. The authors used new cross-sectional data from the Victoria Longitudinal Study (VLS) (n=386; age 61 to 95 years) to examine how health and biological age influence age and sex differences in cognitive aging. The authors found evidence for both moderating and mediating influences. Age differences were moderated by health status, such that the negative effects of age were most pronounced among participants of relatively better health. Sex differences were moderated by health and were more pronounced among participants reporting comparatively poorer health. Although health mediated a notable amount of age-related cognitive variation, BioAge mediated considerably more variance, even after statistical control for differences in health. A complex pattern emerged for the mediation of sex differences: Although BioAge accounted for sex-related variation in cognitive performance, health operated to suppress these differences. Overall, both health and BioAge predicted cognitive variation independently of chronological age.     

Verbal probabilities: Ambiguous, context-dependent, or both?

To investigate the communication value of verbal probabilistic phrases, like “possibly,” “probably,” and “perhaps,” three experiments were conducted. Subjects were asked to judge the degree of probability expressed by such phrases in different contexts: in sentences reflecting opinions on current events, in a medical discussion of treatment effectiveness, and in videotaped news reports. Judgments of degree of probability were performed in the first study on a 0–100% probability scale and in the other two on 7-point rating scales. Results indicated that different contexts influence the interpretation of probability terms and in many cases, but not always, lead to higher between-subject variability than when the terms are judged in isolation, presumably because the interpretation of probability terms tends to be correlated with the judges' personal opinions on the topics. Special communication problems arise from the fact that most people are not fully aware of the ambiguity of these phrases and underestimate the variability of such ratings in the general population. Miscommunication between experts and the general public was illustrated by answers to a questionnaire given to general medical practitioners and to parents of small children. The latter preferred numerical probabilities to words, but thinking from an individual-oriented perspective, they often misunderstood the intended statistical meanings.     

Autism: cognitive deficit or cognitive style?

Autism is a developmental disorder characterized by impaired social and communicative development, and restricted interests and activities. This article will argue that we can discover more about developmental disorders such as autism through demonstrations of task success than through examples of task failure. Even in exploring and explaining what people with autism find difficult, such as social interaction, demonstration of competence on contrasting tasks has been crucial to defining the nature of the specific deficit. Deficit accounts of autism cannot explain, however, the assets seen in this disorder; for example, savant skills in maths, music and drawing, and islets of ability in visuospatial tests and rote memory. An alternative account, reviewed here, suggests that autism is characterized by a cognitive style biased towards local rather than global information processing – termed ‘weak central coherence’. Evidence that weak coherence might also characterize the relatives of people with autism, and form part of the extended phenotype of this largely genetic disorder, is discussed. This review concludes by considering some outstanding questions concerning the specific cognitive mechanism for coherence and the neural basis of individual differences in this aspect of information processing.     

Social anxiety in children: social skills deficit, or cognitive distortion?

BACKGROUND: Treatments for childhood social anxiety have traditionally employed social skills training, based on the assumption that effected children have social skills deficits. Recent conceptualisations of social anxiety in adults have questioned this assumption, and have suggested that socially anxious individuals merely believe that they have skill deficits. A recent study using children provided preliminary confirmation of this for younger populations, and also suggested that beliefs about appearing nervous are of particular importance. METHODS: Two groups of children, aged 10-11 years (analogue high social anxiety/low social anxiety), participated in a conversation with an unfamiliar adult. They then rated their performance in a number of domains, after which independent observers also rated their performances. RESULTS: Independent observers were unable to distinguish between the low and high social anxiety groups. However, high socially anxious children rated themselves as appearing significantly less skilled than their low socially anxious counterparts. Notably, high socially anxious children rated themselves particularly poorly in terms of how nervous they looked. CONCLUSIONS: Socially anxious children may not necessarily display social skill deficits. However, they may believe that they appear nervous during social encounters. Clinicians should consider using CBT techniques to address these concerns, rather than relying on social skill remediation.     

Human reasoning: Deduction rules or mental models, or both?

A good deal of energy is currently being expended into discovering the fundamental machinery underlying deductive reasoning. Is it based upon mental models (arrays) or deduction rules (propositions)? The appeal of finding a “grand unified theory” of reasoning is obvious, but the likelihood of achieving this must also be considered.

This paper discusses the use of experimental psychology in attempts to discover the processes associated with the fundamental reasoning mechanism. One particular problem is that individuals can use different strategies to solve reasoning problems. The consequences of this are assessed in relation to: (1) the assumptions underlying the experiments, (2) the choice of tasks and task presentations intended to enable the fundamental reasoning processes to be viewed directly, and (3) the power status of the theories and the nature of the evidence required to show that either theory is superior. Under close scrutiny the debate appears to be unresolvable by using empirical techniques. However, although the main conclusions are negative, it is suggested that approaches that directly investigate individual differences are likely to be useful alternatives.     

Who benefits from independent careers? Employees,organizations, or both?

The traditional organizational career has been depicted as the classic example of how employers and employees can develop a mutually beneficial relationship; but changes in the competitive landscape and in individual work values have challenged its viability. Commentators have argued that a ‘new career’ deal, encapsulated by the notions of the protean and the boundaryless career, has emerged suggesting a shift in control of careers from organizations to individuals. Research has explored the implications for individuals' careers while largely neglecting consequences for organizations. Our paper seeks to remedy this by exploring both the individual and the organizational outcomes of independent career orientations and the extent to which organizations can manage these through high commitment human resource management (HRM) practices. Our study, conducted with 655 employee–supervisor dyads, indicates that a protean career orientation results in gains for both employees and organizations, whereas a boundaryless career orientation is associated with mutual losses. In addition, our findings suggest that high commitment HR practices play an important role in managing the outcomes of employees seeking traditional careers but have only a limited impact on those with a boundaryless career orientation.     

Codependency: Addictive love,adjustive relating,or both?

The concept of codependency constitutes a controversial but, in our view, eminently researchable area of clinical concern. Following a perspective on the evolution of the concept, we summarize the currently dominant view that codependency is a personality syndrome closely akin to addictive love. We then present an alternative point of view that focuses on the characteristics of codependent relating rather than the characteristics of the codependent person, arguing that codependency may be either endogynous or exogynous. Recent efforts to develop valid measures of codependency as a personality predisposition and as a set of relationship characteristics are discussed, followed by the conclusion that the two assessment approaches are complementary rather than contradictory.We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Mike Dewald, Karin Parker, and Pam Quinn of the United Recovery Center, Grand Forks, ND, in some of the data collection.     

The role of attention in automatization: Does attention operate at encoding, or retrieval, or both?

In this research, we investigated whether attention operates in the encoding of automatized information, the retrieval of automatized information, or in both cases. Subjects searched two-word displays for members of a target category in focused-attention or divided-attention conditions that were crossed with block (training vs. transfer). To see whether subjects encoded all available items or only attended items, we compared performance for subjects in different training conditions but in the same transfer condition. Subjects encoded attended items. To see whether subjects retrieved all the items they had in memory, or only items associated with that to which they were attending at retrieval, we compared performance for subjects in the same training conditions but in different transfer conditions. Subjects retrieved attended items. Attention was found to operate at both encoding and retrieval. These findings support the instance theory of automaticity, which predicts the role of attention at encoding and retrieval