The Role of Gender in Worry and Efforts to Cope during Stressful Waiting Periods

Sex Roles - Waiting for personally significant news is a near-universal experience, but people differ in how they cope with these acute moments of uncertainty. The present study examined whether...     

Reasons for Conflict: Political Implications of a Definition of Terrorism

This essay analyzes the U.S. political situation before the 2003 invasion of Iraq and ties this conflict to the events of 9/11. The guiding thread of the discussion is the definition of “terrorism” that has led to George W. Bush's declared “war on terrorism.” By means of Hegel's dialectic logic, the essay exposes the problem offered by the category of causality involved in the definition of terrorism: Is terrorism the original “cause” of the war declared on it by the United States (as the Bush administration claims) or is terrorism rather the very “consequence” of that war?     

Too many Asians in universities? The effect of social dominance orientation on support for admissions limits

This paper tests the hypothesis that support for limits on the admission of Asian students into universities is motivated by people’s social motivation—namely, the desire to maintain the status hierarchy. Study 1 found that, among participants who evaluated a proposed limit to the number of Asian applicants admitted to universities, social dominance orientation (SDO) was positively related to policy support. Conversely, among participants who evaluated a proposed limit on White admits, SDO was negatively related to policy support. Study 2 found that the perceived threat of the group getting admitted at high rates explained differential support of policies that seek to limit group-specific admissions. In all, these findings suggest that attitudes toward changes in campus demographics may be rooted in a desire to maintain the status hierarchy.     

Imagery and rehearsal as study strategies for written or orally presented passages

In the present research, we studied the influence of text presentation modality on recall under imagery, rehearsal, and no strategy instructions. It was hypothesized that imagery is a more effective recall strategy for an oral presentation and rehearsal for a written presentation, and that imagery and rehearsal are effective study strategies. One hundred twenty participants participated, 80 of whom were trained in the use of imagery or rehearsal in the study of passages and 40 of whom made up the control group. A text was presented orally or in writing; the trained participants were to memorize it using the strategy taught, and the participants in the control group were to memorize it using a freely chosen strategy. They were then asked for free written recall. The results confirmed that the participants using imagery recalled the oral presentation better than the written one, and those using rehearsal recalled the written presentation better than the oral one. The discussion focuses on a selective-interference explanation of the presentation modality effects. Practical suggestions are given, and implications for future research are discussed.     

Violence and sex impair memory for television ads

Participants watched a violent, sexually explicit, or neutral TV program that contained 9 ads. Participants recalled the advertised brands. They also identified the advertised brands from slides of supermarket shelves. The next day, participants were telephoned and asked to recall again the advertised brands. Results showed better memory for people who saw the ads during a neutral program than for people who saw the ads during a violent or sexual program both immediately after exposure and 24 hr later. Violence and sex impaired memory for males and females of all ages, regardless of whether they liked programs containing violence and sex. These results suggest that sponsoring violent and sexually explicit TV programs might not be a profitable venture for advertisers.     

Crossing the cultural divide: issues in translation, mistrust, and cocreation of meaning in cross-cultural therapeutic assessment

This article examines cross-cultural therapeutic assessment in a community mental health clinic. The first case describes the work between a Caucasian assessor and a Mexican American family. The authors explore the metaphorical and literal translation of the findings from English to Spanish and the parallel process of translation of the self, experienced by both assessor and client. The second case describes the work between a Caucasian assessor and an African American adolescent. We describe the inherent challenge between the Eurocentric "task" orientation of the evaluation and the Afrocentric "relationship" orientation. We suggest that bridging the gap between cultures and overcoming cultural mistrust lay in the building of the assessor-client relationship. Fischer's concepts of rapport and intimacy are emphasized and expanded on as we emphasize the importance of cocreated meaning in cross-cultural assessment work.     

Disentangling the Associations Between Autistic-Like and Internalizing Traits: A Community Based Twin Study

Internalizing difficulties are prevalent in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), yet little is known about the underlying cause of this comorbidity. It is also unclear which types of autistic-like and internalizing difficulties are most strongly associated. The current study investigated the phenotypic and etiological associations between specific autistic-like traits and internalizing traits within a population-based sample. Parent-reported data were analyzed from 7,311 twin pairs at age 7 to 8?years. Structural equation modeling revealed distinguishable patterns of overlap between the three autistic-like traits (social difficulties, communication problems and repetitive/restricted behaviors) and four subtypes of internalizing traits (social anxiety, fears, generalized anxiety, negative affect). Although all phenotypic associations were modest (rph?=?0.00-0.36), autistic-like communication impairments and repetitive/restricted behaviors correlated most strongly with generalized anxiety and negative affect both phenotypically and genetically. Conversely, autistic-like social difficulties showed little overlap with internalizing behaviors. Disentangling these associations and their etiological underpinnings may help contribute to the conceptualization and diagnosis of 'comorbidity' within ASD and internalizing disorders.