Investigating the Effects of Media Consumption on Attitudes Toward Police Legitimacy

Prior investigations have examined both traditional media (e.g., television news) and entertainment media (e.g., crime-related shows) on policing-related outcomes; however, less is known how contemporary forms of media, such as the Internet and social media, may affect policing-related outcomes. Using a sample of young adults, the current study examines the effect of multiple types of media consumption (traditional, entertainment, the Internet, and social media) on attitudes toward police legitimacy. Findings reveal that respondents who read news online are more likely to have negative attitudes toward police legitimacy. However, when individual differences are controlled for, the effect of reading news online is weakened and using social media becomes marginally significant. Further, the impact of media consumption on attitudes toward police legitimacy varies by key audience characteristics.     

Searching for two categories of target in dynamic visual displays impairs monitoring ability

Target onsets in dynamically changing displays can be predicted when contingencies exist between different stimulus states over time. In the present study, we examined predictive monitoring when participants searched dynamically changing displays of numbers and colored squares for a color target, a number target, or both. Stimuli were presented in both contiguous and discrete spatial configurations. Response time (RT) and accuracy were recorded, and evidence of predictive monitoring was assessed via first fixations and refixations of target‐predictive stimuli. RTs to target onsets and evidence of predictive monitoring were reduced in dual‐target, relative to single‐target, conditions. Further, predictive monitoring did not speed RTs but was influenced by display configuration. In particular, discrete displays impaired monitoring for number targets in the dual‐target condition. Implications exist for real‐world visual tasks involving multiple target categories and for visual display design.     

On "risk" and reward: investigating state anhedonia in psychometrically defined schizotypy and schizophrenia

Anhedonia, defined as dysfunction in the experience of pleasant emotions, is a hallmark symptom of the schizophrenia spectrum. Of interest, it is well documented that patients with schizophrenia, at least as a group, do not show reductions in their state experience of pleasant stimuli. However, there is emerging evidence to suggest that individuals with schizotypy--defined as the personality organization reflecting the latent vulnerability for schizophrenia--do show these state deficits. This is paradoxical in that schizophrenia reflects a more pathological state in virtually every conceivable domain as compared with schizotypy. The present study examined self-reported affective reactions to neutral-, bad-, and good-valenced stimuli in individuals with psychometrically defined schizotypy and schizophrenia. Two separate control groups were also included, comprising psychometrically defined controls and stable outpatients with affective disorders. With no exceptions, the schizotypy group reported significantly less pleasant affect for each of the three conditions than each of the other groups. Conversely, the schizophrenia group did not statistically differ from the control groups for any of the conditions. Within both the schizotypy and schizophrenia groups, severity of negative symptoms/traits was associated with less pleasant report. We found that individuals with prominent negative symptoms and traits from the schizophrenia and schizotypy groups resembled each other in terms of state anhedonia. The present findings did not appear to reflect comorbid depression or anxiety. Our discussion centers on this apparent paradox in the schizophrenia spectrum--that individuals with schizotypy exhibit state anhedonia, whereas patients with schizophrenia do not.     

Religiosity and Social Support: Implications for the Health-Related Quality of Life of African American Hemodialysis Patients

The purpose of this study was to determine whether sociocultural differences have any effect on the health-related quality of life among African American hemodialysis patients. This study examined relationships between religiosity, social support, and the health-related quality of life of African American hemodialysis patients. Four hemodialysis units were selected for the study. The study population consisted of 176 African American hemodialysis patients who had been receiving hemodialysis treatments for at least 1 month. The religiosity variable was measured by the Measure of Religious Involvement. Social Support was measured by the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey, and health-related quality of life was measured by the Medical Outcomes Study 36 Short Form Health Survey (SF-36v2). The investigators found that social support contributed to the emotional and physical health of African American hemodialysis patients in the sample, whereas religiosity was inversely related to the physical health of these patients.     

Family Intervention to Prevent Depression and Substance Use Among Adolescents of Depressed Parents

Parental depression places offspring at elevated risk for multiple, co-occurring problems. The purpose of this study was to develop and preliminarily evaluate Project Hope, a family intervention for the prevention of both depression and substance use among adolescent-aged children (M?=?13.9?years) of depressed parents. The program was created by blending two empirically supported interventions: one for depression and another for substance use. Thirty families were randomly assigned to either Project Hope (n?=?16) or a wait-list control condition (n?=?14). Pretests, posttests (n?=?29), and 5-month follow-ups (n?=?28) were conducted separately with parents and youth via phone interviews. Questions asked about the family depression experience, family interactions, family management, coping, adolescent substance use beliefs and refusal skills, adolescent depression, and adolescent substance use. Project Hope was fully developed, manualized, and implemented with a small sample of targeted families. Engagement in the program was relatively high. Preliminary outcome analyses were conducted using 2 (Group) ×3 (Time) analyses of covariance. Results provided some evidence for significant improvements among intervention compared to control participants in indicators of the family depression experience, family management, and coping, and a statistically significant decrease from pretest to posttest in alcohol quantity for intervention compared to control youth. Next steps for this program of research are discussed.     

An Approach to Examining the Proximal and Intermediate Outcomes of an Intensive Family Preservation Program

This study examined the effects of the Boys Town In-Home Family Program (BT-IHFP) on parenting skills, family functioning, and child behavior for at-risk families involved with child protective services. The BT-IHFP is designed as a home-based, family-centered alternative to out-of-home placement with the goal of improving family functioning, keeping families together, and preventing further involvement with child protective services. The model uses a hands-on cognitive-behavioral approach, promotes family engagement, provides 24/7 services to families, and links families to community resources. While it is essential to examine ultimate, long-term outcomes such as family preservation, it is also important to investigate the proximal and intermediate outcomes that address the key changes in behavior that support successful long-term outcomes. The goals of this study were to (1) examine the pre-post change of proximal and intermediate outcomes and (2) examine if improvements in parenting skills, parental roles, and parental stress (proximal outcomes) will be related to improvements in child behavior at home, child behavior at school, and family functioning (intermediate outcomes). Inspecting intake and discharge data for 44 families, 94% were intact at discharge and significant pre-post improvements were found in proximal and intermediate outcomes. These findings suggest that this six-week intensive BT-IHFP holds promise for teaching at-risk families skills to promote positive family functioning.     

Changing Direction on Direction of Fit

In this paper, I show that we should understand the direction of fit of beliefs and desires in normative terms. After rehearsing a standard objection to Michael Smith’s analysis of direction of fit, I raise a similar problem for Lloyd Humberstone’s analysis. I go on to offer my own account, according to which the difference between beliefs and desires is determined by the normative relations such states stand in. I argue that beliefs are states which we have reason to change in light of the world, whereas desires are states that give us reason to change the world. After doing this, I show how the view avoids various objections, including two from David Sobel and David Copp. The paper ends by briefly discussing the relevance of the view to the Humean theory of motivation.     

Executive function on the Psychology Experiment Building Language tests

The measurement of executive function has a long history in clinical and experimental neuropsychology. The goal of the present report was to determine the profile of behavior across the lifespan on four computerized measures of executive function contained in the recently developed Psychology Experiment Building Language (PEBL) test battery and evaluate whether this pattern is comparable to data previously obtained with the non-PEBL versions of these tests. Participants (N = 1,223; ages, 5–89 years) completed the PEBL Trail Making Test (pTMT), the Wisconsin Card Sort Test (pWCST; Berg, Journal of General Psychology, 39, 15–22, 1948; Grant & Berg, Journal of Experimental Psychology, 38, 404–411, 1948), the Tower of London (pToL), or a time estimation task (Time-Wall). Age-related effects were found over all four tests, especially as age increased from young childhood through adulthood. For several tests and measures (including pToL and pTMT), age-related slowing was found as age increased in adulthood. Together, these findings indicate that the PEBL tests provide valid and versatile new research tools for measuring executive functions.     

The role of disgust emotions in the observer response to facial disfigurement

Social intrusions by observers are commonly reported by those with disfiguring conditions. This study examined the role of disgust emotions in the observer response. A group of students (N = 48) completed quantitative questionnaires measuring extent of disfigurement, whilst viewing images of faces with varying disfigurements. Another group of students (N = 84) completed quantitative questionnaires measuring level of disgust elicited by the same images. Disgust sensitivity was measured using the Disgust Scale Revised. Observers reported greater levels of disgust (p < .01) with increasing severity of facial disfigurement. Individuals with a higher disgust sensitivity reported increased levels of disgust in response to faces of mild (p = .03), moderate (p = .02) and severe (p < .01) disfigurement compared to those with a lower disgust sensitivity. This provides an explanatory framework for the avoidance reactions of observers and may be important in understanding variability in adjustment following disfigurement.