Early gender differences in the functional usage of language

Early male and female differences in the functional use of language were investigated by coding the verbal interactions of 32 preschool children during a 10-minute play session with same-sex peer. The speech of each child was classified into functional-motivational categories using the FIS-P scoring instrument. The findings were consistent with the literature on adult conversational styles, showing that males talk more and are more assertive in their social interactions than are females. The results of this study demonstrate the existence of early gender differences in the functional use of language and emphasize the importance of a developmental approach to the study of communication styles.     

The personal inventory as a psychotherapeutic technique in treating a person with AIDS

The use of a personal inventory, an adaptation of the moral inventory used in Twelve Step programs, is discussed as a psychotherapeutic tool in providing treatment to persons with AIDS. Clinical application of this technique can facilitate progress toward achieving a sense of integrity prior to death by addressing a client's feelings of guilt and shame. The authors describe the use of this technique in working with a young adult African-American female diagnosed with AIDS and discuss appropriate and inappropriate applications of this approach.     

Changes in Fear of AIDS and Homophobia in a University Population

A survey measuring attitudes toward fear of AIDS and homophobia, taken in the fall of 1985, was repeated in the fall of 1989 on the same university population. The results indicated that whereas fear of AIDS decreased, the degree of homophobia remained essentially unchanged. In addition, although respondents were much more knowledgeable about AIDS in 1989 than in 1985, there was no evidence of any change in the relatively high correlation between the fear of AIDS and homophobia.     

The rat approximates an ideal detector of changes in rates of reward: implications for the law of effect.

Rats responded on 2 levers delivering brain stimulation reward on concurrent variable interval schedules. Following many successive sessions with unchanging relative rates of reward, subjects adjusted to an eventual change slowly and showed spontaneous reversions at the beginning of subsequent sessions. When changes in rates of reward occurred between and within every session, subjects adjusted to them about as rapidly as they could in principle do so, as shown by comparison to a Bayesian model of an ideal detector. This and other features of the adjustments to frequent changes imply that the behavioral effect of reinforcement depends on the subject's perception of incomes and changes in incomes rather than on the strengthening and weakening of behaviors in accord with their past effects or expected results. Models for the process by which perceived incomes determine stay durations and for the process that detects changes in rates are developed.     

Aggression and sexuality in relation to toddler attachment: Implications for the caregiving system

Sexuality and aggression emerge in the second year of life as important motivational systems that organize substantial aspects of the toddler's behavior, affecting the operation of the attachment system and transforming the parents' perceptions and behaviors toward the child. The interconnection between different motivational systems in the parent and child is discussed as an important dimension in broadening our understanding of attachment in the context of the caregiving system. Normative and clinical examples are presented to illustrate how aggression and sexuality affect attachment and caregiving behaviors and representations in toddlerhood.     

Maternal Meta-Emotion Philosophy Moderates Effect of Maternal Symptomatology on Preschoolers Exposed to Domestic Violence

Exposure to domestic violence in the preschool years is consistently associated with children’s heightened risk for developing behavior problems. Maternal meta-emotion philosophy (awareness, acceptance, and coaching of children’s emotions) has been identified as an important protective factor in children’s development of internalizing and externalizing behaviors following exposure to domestic violence. However, mothers who are victims of domestic violence often experience symptoms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress, which may undermine their capacity to respond to their children’s negative emotions. The present study examines the protective role of maternal meta-emotion philosophy among mothers and preschool-aged children exposed to domestic violence. Participants were 95 mothers (mean age?=?31.78) and their preschool-aged children (mean age?=?4.11) who had witnessed domestic violence involving their mothers. Multiple regression analyses, controlling for family socioeconomic status and child exposure to interpersonal violence in the family, indicated that maternal symptomatology was positively associated with children’s internalizing problems. In addition, maternal awareness and coaching of children’s negative emotions was found to moderate relations between maternal symptomatology and children’s internalizing behaviors, and maternal awareness of children’s negative emotions was found to moderate relations between maternal symptomatology and children’s externalizing behaviors. These findings expand our understanding of maternal meta-emotion philosophy as a protective factor for preschoolers who have witnessed domestic violence.     

Parental attitudes to the Australian anti-bullying Safe Schools program: a critical discourse analysis

Social Psychology of Education - LGBTIQ children and adolescents experience disproportionate levels of bullying. Safe Schools, an Australian anti-bullying program, has recently been a site of...     

Culture, cross-role consistency, and adjustment: testing trait and cultural psychology perspectives

Trait and cultural psychology perspectives on cross-role consistency and its relation to adjustment were examined in 2 individualistic cultures, the United States (N=231) and Australia (N=195), and 4 collectivistic cultures, Mexico (N=199), the Philippines (N=195), Malaysia (N=217), and Japan (N=180). Cross-role consistency in trait ratings was evident in all cultures, supporting trait perspectives. Cultural comparisons of mean consistency provided support for cultural psychology perspectives as applied to East Asian cultures (i.e., Japan) but not collectivistic cultures more generally. Some but not all of the hypothesized predictors of consistency were supported across cultures. Cross-role consistency predicted aspects of adjustment in all cultures, but prediction was most reliable in the U.S. sample and weakest in the Japanese sample. Alternative constructs proposed by cultural psychologists--personality coherence, social appraisal, and relationship harmony--predicted adjustment in all cultures but were not, as hypothesized, better predictors of adjustment in collectivistic cultures than in individualistic cultures.