The septum: neural systems involved in eating, drinking, irritability, nuricide, copulation, and activity in rats.

Eating, drinking, irritability, muricide, and copulation were measured in 45 male rats before and after one of three coronal knife cuts in the septal region or a control operation; in addition, activity was measured postoperatively. (a) Cuts posteroventral to the septum resulted in slight hypophagia, marked hyperdipsia, irritability, asexuality, and decrease in activity. (b) Cuts of the fornix resulted only in slight decrease in activity. (c) Cuts through the anterior septum resulted in irritability, slight hyposexuality, and slight decrease in activity. No significant correlations between the various behavioral effects were found. It was suggested that the neural pathways mediating eating, drinking, irritability, muricide, copulation, and activity are relatively distinct and that neural activity in the septal region probably does not influence behavior in any unitary fashion.     

IQ similarity in twins,siblings, half-siblings,cousins, and random pairs

A classic child-development IQ dataset collected by Fels Research Institute contains data on a number of different kinship categories. The present study analyzed IQ scores from five kinship categories of 7–12-year-old children into genetic and environmental components. The common environmental effects were larger for older children than younger children. Overall, the Genetic and Common Environment Sources each accounted for approximately 40% of the IQ variability in these data, leaving 20% of the variability for nonshared environmental effects and for measurement error.     

Forgiveness in adolescents, young, middle-aged, and older adults

The evolution of the propensity to forgive an offense was studied in a sample of 236 people from various age groups. The effect of a number of circumstances connected with the offense was considered: intent to harm, severity of consequences, cancellation of consequences, social proximity to the offender, apologies from the offender, and the attitude of others. The method was an application of information integration theory. A global increase in the propensity to forgive from adolescence to old age was observed. Several interactions between age and circumstances were found: (a) The effect of the cancellation factor was higher in young adolescents and in the very old than in the middle-aged, (b) the attitude of others and the restoration of harmony factors were important only in adolescents. Finally, the structure of the Forgiveness schema was shown to be an additive one, regardless of the age of the participants.     

Collaboration,Partnership, Policy,and Practice in Career Development

This article discusses the importance of collaboration among professional organizations, governmental entities, and counselors in behalf of career development. Examples of possible international and national collaborative initiatives and policy emphases are described.     

Social isolation,aggression, and dominance in attacks in juvenile angelfish,Pterophyllum scalare

The effects of social isolation on aggressive behavior and rank order have been investigated in small groups of juvenile angelfish, Pterophyllum scalare. An experimental protocol including a “double transfer” of the subjects was used, in which fish were transferred to new aquaria in groups, before subsequent isolation and regrouping. A significant decrease in aggression was observed in the first recording session following both isolation and group transfer, after which the level returned to that recorded in the home tanks. The social hierarchy was also perturbed, but changes generally involed the two highest ranking fish in two out of the three groups, and were found not to be statistically significant. The behavior patterns are interpreted as adaptive responses to environmental change. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Morality,values, traditional bullying,and cyberbullying in adolescence

The aim of the present study was to investigate moral aspects and human values in traditional bullying and cyberbullying, in order to detect differences between the two types of bullying and to test the role of immoral and disengaged behaviours in mediating the relationships between personal values and involvement in bullying. Sample comprised 390 adolescents aged 14–18, balanced for gender, attending different high schools. Traditional and cyberbullying were detected by means of two self‐report measures, while the Portrait Values Questionnaire was used to assess 10 values in four dimensions according to the value system model by Schwartz (1992): self‐trascendence, self‐enhancement, openness to change, and conservation. Finally, immoral and disengaged behaviours were assessed by means of five items about behavioural and personal aspects salient for morality. Results showed that, irrespective of gender, self‐enhancement and self‐trascendence moderately predicted cyber and traditional bullying, respectively, while immoral and disengaged behaviours predicted both. Indirect effects showed that self‐enhancement and openness to change predicted both forms of bullying through immoral behaviour. Results are discussed in terms of similarities and differences between cyber and traditional bullying and with attention to the central role of morality in explaining bullying nature.     

Minority Youth, Crime, Conflict, and Belonging in Australia

In recent decades, the size and diversity of the minority population of contemporary western societies has increased significantly. To the critics of immigration, minority youth have been increasingly linked to crime, criminal gangs, anti-social behaviour, and riots. In this article, we draw on fieldwork conducted in Sydney, Australia’s largest and most ethnically diverse city, to probe aspects of the criminality, anti-social behaviour, national identity, and belonging of ethnic minority youth in Australia. We conclude that the evidence on minority youth criminality is weak and that the panic about immigrant youth crime and immigrant youth gangs is disproportionate to the reality, drawing on and in turn creating racist stereotypes, particularly with youth of ‘Middle Eastern appearance’. A review of the events leading up to the Sydney Cronulla Beach riots of December 2005 suggests that the underlying cause of the riots were many years of international, national, and local anti-Arab, anti-Muslim media discourse, and political opportunism, embedded in changing but persistent racist attitudes and practises. Our argument is that such inter-ethnic conflict between minority and majority youth in Sydney is the exception, not the rule. Finally, we draw on a hitherto unpublished survey of youth in Sydney to explore issues of national identity and belonging among young people of diverse ethnic and religious background. We conclude that minority youth in Sydney do not live ‘parallel lives’ but contradictory, inter-connected cosmopolitan lives. They are connected to family and local place, have inter-ethnic friendships but are often disconnected to the nation and the flag.     

Hypnosis,hypnotic suggestibility,memory, and involvement in films

Our research extends studies that have examined the relation between hypnotic suggestibility and experiential involvement and the role of an hypnotic induction in enhancing experiential involvement (e.g., absorption) in engaging tasks. Researchers have reported increased involvement in reading (Baum & Lynn, 1981) and music-listening (Snodgrass & Lynn, 1989) tasks during hypnosis. We predicted a similar effect for film viewing: greater experiential involvement in an emotional (The Champ) versus a non-emotional (Scenes of Toronto) film. We tested 121 participants who completed measures of absorption and trait dissociation and the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility and then viewed the two films after either an hypnotic induction or a non-hypnotic task (i.e., anagrams). Experiential involvement varied as a function of hypnotic suggestibility and film clip. Highly suggestible participants reported more state depersonalization than less suggestible participants, and depersonalization was associated with negative affect; however, we observed no significant correlation between hypnotic suggestibility and trait dissociation. Although hypnosis had no effect on memory commission or omission errors, contrary to the hypothesis that hypnosis facilitates absorption in emotionally engaging tasks, the emotional film was associated with more commission and omission errors compared with the non-emotional film.     

Covert communication in classrooms,clinics, courtrooms,and cubicles

Interpersonal expectancy effects refer to the phenomena whereby one person's expectation for another person's behavior comes to serve as a self-fulfilling prophecy. The author examines the history and diversity of this area of inquiry, showing that the expectations of psychological researchers, classroom teachers, judges in the courtroom, business executives, and health care providers can unintentionally affect the responses of their research participants, pupils, jurors, employees, and patients. Using meta-analytic procedures, the author examines (a) moderator variables associated with the magnitude of interpersonal expectancy effects and (b) mediator variables implicated in the communication of interpersonal expectations. The author considers the social importance of the magnitudes of the obtained effects and points out research still needed to clarify issues in the mediation of these effects.     

Toxic mold and mycotoxins in neurotoxicity cases: Stachybotrys, Fusarium, Trichoderma, Aspergillus, Penicillium, Cladosporium, Alternaria, Trichothecenes

Presented is the argument that psychologists and neuropsychologists have no scientific basis for rendering opinions about causation given the current state of the literature. The critical question is whether in a residence or office inhalation of mold spores or mold metabolites, including mycotoxins, causes neuropsychological impairment or mental and emotional disorders. There has not been sufficient research to support such conclusions. Nonetheless, in the context of litigation, speculative opinions are rendered in lieu of scientifically well-founded conclusions. Resources for recognizing and coping with pseudoscientific arguments are suggested.     

Tempo,Rhythm, and Aging in Golf

Older (n = 12) and younger (n = 12) golfers attempted to hit a golf ball into a target net a short distance away. An accelerometer attached to the back of the clubhead measured the applied force. In contrast to the more typical finding of slower perceptual-motor performance by older adults, older golfers reached their peak downswing force earlier in the shot and also exhibited a trend toward a faster overall speed or tempo of the shot. Additionally, older golfers exhibited greater changes in applied force and greater variability. A pattern of divergence among the force-time histories from multiple shots suggested that the overall person-plus-golf-club dynamics were unstable during a part of the shot. Older adults may be slower in controlling this instability. Half of the participants heard a tone whose pitch was proportional to their force. These participants had a slower follow through; however, they did not make significantly more or fewer shots than participants who had not been presented with the tone. Analyses of the temporal covariation among the backswing, downswing, and follow-through favored a chain-like temporal structure over a hierarchical, proportional structure. The pattern of covariation suggests that the tempo and rhythm of the shot are not independent and that changing one's tempo may disrupt rhythm.