Secondary psychopathy,but not primary psychopathy,is associated with risky decision-making in noninstitutionalized young adults

Although risky decision-making has been posited to contribute to the maladaptive behavior of individuals with psychopathic tendencies, the performance of psychopathic groups on a common task of risky decision-making, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT; Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson, 1994), has been equivocal. Different aspects of psychopathy (personality traits, antisocial deviance) and/or moderating variables may help to explain these inconsistent findings. In a sample of college students (N = 129, age 18–27), we examined the relationship between primary and secondary psychopathic features and IGT performance. A measure of impulsivity was included to investigate its potential as a moderator. In a joint model including main effects and interactions between primary psychopathy, secondary psychopathy and impulsivity, only secondary psychopathy was significantly related to risky IGT performance, and this effect was not moderated by the other variables. This finding supports the growing literature suggesting that secondary psychopathy is a better predictor of decision-making problems than the primary psychopathic personality traits of lack of empathy and remorselessness.     

Meditative Dialogue: Cultivating Compassion and Empathy with Survivors of Complex Childhood Trauma

Complex childhood trauma often affects the capacities of survivors to experience empathy and compassion toward themselves and others. Recent mindfulness literature recognizes meditation as an evidence-based practice that is able to change the brain, increasing one's capacities for empathy and compassion. This article offers an exploration of selected literature on complex childhood trauma and on mindfulness practices related to the development of compassion and empathy. A case study illustrates the use of a meditative dialogue practice in psychotherapy with a survivor of complex childhood trauma that serves to increase her ability to have empathy and compassion for herself and others.     

The face of fear: Effects of eye gaze and emotion on visual attention

We investigated whether a fearful expression enhances the effect of another's gaze in directing the attention of an observer. Participants viewed photographs of faces whose gaze was directed ahead, to the left or to the right. Target letters then appeared unpredictably to the left or right. As expected, targets in the location indicated by gaze were detected more rapidly. In nonanxious volunteers the effects of fearful gaze did not differ from neutral gaze, but fearful expression had a more powerful influence in a selected high anxious group. Attention is thus more likely to be guided by the direction of fearful than neutral gaze, but only in anxiety-prone individuals.     

The speed of metacognition: Taking time to get to know one’s structural knowledge

The time course of different metacognitive experiences of knowledge was investigated using artificial grammar learning. Experiment 1 revealed that when participants are aware of the basis of their judgments (conscious structural knowledge) decisions are made most rapidly, followed by decisions made with conscious judgment but without conscious knowledge of underlying structure (unconscious structural knowledge), and guess responses (unconscious judgment knowledge) were made most slowly, even when controlling for differences in confidence and accuracy. In experiment 2, short response deadlines decreased the accuracy of unconscious but not conscious structural knowledge. Conversely, the deadline decreased the proportion of conscious structural knowledge in favour of guessing. Unconscious structural knowledge can be applied rapidly but becomes more reliable with additional metacognitive processing time whereas conscious structural knowledge is an all-or-nothing response that cannot always be applied rapidly. These dissociations corroborate quite separate theories of recognition (dual-process) and metacognition (higher order thought and cross-order integration).     

Religiosity,Intolerant Attitudes,and Domestic Violence Myth Acceptance

The latent construct of religiosity comprised measures of external, internal, and quest religiosity and was examined in relation to the latent construct of intolerant attitudes in a sample of undergraduate and graduate students at a Christian-affiliated university. The latent construct of intolerance included the indicators of rape and domestic violence myth acceptance, social dominance, dogmatism, and negative attitudes toward women. Multivariate results revealed significant negative correlations between internal and quest religiosity and indicators of intolerant attitudes, including the interpersonal violence myth acceptance scales. Quest religiosity also demonstrated unique univariate quadratic effects with both rape myth acceptance and domestic violence myth acceptance. Moderate levels of questing were associated with highest levels of interpersonal violence myth acceptance. Implications for the existing literature are discussed within the framework of a relational conceptualization of religiosity.     

From Independence to Conciliationism: An Obituary

Conciliationists about peer disagreement hold that when one disagrees with an epistemic peer about some proposition p, one should significantly change one's view about p. Many arguments for conciliationism appeal to a principle Christensen [2011] dubs Independence. Independence says that evaluations of the beliefs of those with whom one disagrees should not be made on the basis of one's initial reasoning about p. In this paper, I show that this principle is false. I also show that two weaker principles that vindicate conciliationism are either false, unmotivated, or both.     

sprees and runs: opportunity construction and criminal episodes

Criminal decision-making researchers generally focus either on offenders' criteria for identifying promising targets or on how offenders' lifestyles condition crime's appeal. Obviously, significant events bridge offenders' routines and discrete criminal choices. However, researchers often neglect the immediate experiences and events that enact lifestyles in particular choices. Drawing on 110 accounts of criminal events by street thieves, this article examines criminal choice. The findings indicate that offenders assess opportunity in light of recent decisions and events. Like all agents, they reference a general outlook and lessons taken from recent choices; looking backward as well as forward, they frame their options within a line of relevant events. When offenders confront potentially criminal situations or promising targets, perceptual outcomes of recent crimes operate alongside a temporary sense of commitment to criminal trajectories of action to inspire a serendipitous optimism. This complex decision-making can happen in an instant and is imperceptible without asking offenders to reflect on the sequential events that precede crime.     

Therapeutic Work with Trauma,Revictimization, and Perpetration: Bearing Witness,Offering Hope,Embracing Despair

ABSTRACT

This paper offers a case study of a survivor of childhood incest who in adulthood has become a victim of violence in her relationships with chosen partners and is concerned that she herself may be a perpetrator of sexual abuse. It examines selected literature on attachment, dissociation, transference/countertransference, role responsiveness and sadomasochistic therapeutic enactments, the two-system superego model, and the triadic self. The paper focuses on long-term treatment dynamics with survivors of cumulative trauma and explores such psychodynamic psychotherapy issues as the therapist as a perpetrator of violence, the development of sacred space, authenticity, and the importance of both offering hope and embracing despair in this work.     

Exercise Behavior Change and The Effect Of Lost Resources

Abstract

This study was designed to assess the effects of lost resources on exercise behavior among a sample of 30 foreign exchange students who were identified as having experienced a relapse in their level of physical activity. The first phase of the study was longitudinal in nature, comparing baseline data collected from a sample of 110 exchange students from Malaysia on their initial arrival in England with data collected from the same sample 4 months later. Results of a multivariate analysis of variance indicated a significant effect for scores on processes of change, self-efficacy, and decisional balance, F(12, 18) = 12.74, p < .001. Subsequent examination of univariate F values also revealed significant differences for self-reevaluation, reinforcement management, self-liberation, and self-efficacy. Results from the second phase of the study, which qualitatively assessed the relationship between reductions in physical activity and personal/material resources, revealed that exercise behavior was significantly influenced by resources lost as a result of being in an unfamiliar environment. Implications for health promotion practitioners and researchers are discussed.