Neoliberal Capitalism and the Corruption of Society: A Pastoral Political Analysis

In this article, I juxtapose religious and neoliberal capitalistic symbol systems to highlight the existential flaws in capitalism and how it undermines community and society. More particularly, I contend that religious (in this article, Judeo-Christian) and religiously inflected humanist symbol systems possess core values of care, community (space of appearances and the common good), and relational justice that ideally order social life, institutions, and subjectivity. I argue that these core values and practices, which are woven into the semiotic web of Judeo-Christian religions, are missing from the complex web of symbols and narratives that undergird neoliberal capitalism. I argue further that when neoliberal capitalism becomes a hegemonic way of organizing society, there is an attending corruption of social care, the common good, and relational justice.     

The Centrality of Schools in the Lifecourse: The Case for Focusing on School-Related Influences in Developmental Theory and Research

While the strength of the lifecourse/developmental (LCD) perspective in the examination of antisocial behavior has been clearly demonstrated, this work has given little attention to schools and education as salient influences. By contrast, there is much research using other theoretical frameworks to examine school-related risk factors of deviance. Given what we know about the importance of schooling and education on individual development and subsequent implications for behavior, we contend that academic influences should be more prevalent in LCD theories of deviance and that research using an LCD theoretical perspective should embrace non-LCD work examining school-related risk factors of antisocial behavior.     

The Impact of the Safe Conversations Workshop With Diverse,Low-Income Couples

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the Safe Conversations workshop with low income, racial and ethnic minority couples. A sample of 156 individuals (N = 156) participated in a relationship workshop developed by Harville Hendrix and Helen LaKelly Hunt which utilized the theory and practice of Imago Relationship Therapy (IRT). Participants were administered the Dyadic Adjustment Scale before and after the workshop. Findings indicated statistical significance in their overall DAS score and a large effect size in one of four relationship subscales: Consensus. Both males and females were found to derive benefits from the workshop at equal rates.     

Effect of motivation on academic fluency performance in survivors of pediatric medulloblastoma

It has been proposed previously that extrinsic motivation may enable survivors of childhood medulloblastoma to significantly improve aspects of neurocognitive performance. In healthy populations, enhanced motivation has been shown to promote academic fluency, a domain likely more relevant to the educational outcomes of pediatric medulloblastoma survivors than academic skill development. The present study investigates the effect of enhanced extrinsic motivation on fluent (i.e., accurate and efficient) academic performance in pediatric medulloblastoma survivors. Participants were 36 children, ages 7–18, who had completed treatment for medulloblastoma. Participants completed a neuropsychological battery that included administration of equivalent tasks on Forms A and B of the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement. Half were randomly assigned to an incentive condition prior to the administration of Form B. Provision of a performance-based incentive resulted in statistically significant improvement, but not normalization of function, in performance on measures of academic fluency. No demographic, treatment-related, academic, neuropsychological, or self-perception variables predicted response to incentive. Findings suggest that academic performance of survivors may significantly improve under highly motivating conditions. In addition to implications for educational services, this finding raises the novel possibility that decreased motivation represents an inherent neuropsychological deficit in this population and provides a rationale for further investigation of factors affecting individual differences in motivational processes. Further, by examining effort in a context where effort is not inherently suspect, present findings also significantly contribute to the debate regarding the effects of effort and motivation on neuropsychological performance.     

The comparative effectiveness of distributed and colocated team after-action reviews

Despite their frequent use in the military and private sectors, the comparative effectiveness of colocated and distributed after-action reviews (AARs) is relatively unknown. Consequently, this study examined the comparative effectiveness of colocated and distributed AARs across taskwork and teamwork outcomes. Data were obtained from 492 participants randomly assigned to 123 four-person teams who participated in one of six AAR conditions. The results indicated that teams in the AAR conditions had significantly higher performance and team efficacy scores than the teams in the non-AAR conditions. In summary, the findings highlight that regardless of the training environment or type of AAR, the AAR remains an effective method at increasing performance and other outcomes. Therefore, the use of distributed AARs does not engender the posited process losses that were hypothesized.     

Effects of g‐Loading and Time Lag on Retesting in Job Selection

Understanding influence on and effects of retesting is important to the selection practitioner. This article examines retesting effects on a series of selection measures for mechanically related positions to extend research that has been conducted in more controlled environments. While validity was not significantly different on retesting, time between test attempts and score increase on Spatial Reasoning were positively related, indicating the possibility of learning effects. Lower score increases were found for highly g‐loaded measures, and individuals who showed an increase scored more highly on average on their first attempt. Men tended to increase their scores more than women. We close with a discussion of the practical implications of our findings and how to build on them with future research.     

Impact of Youth Strengths and Objective Strain on the Experiences of Subjective Strain Among Caregivers of Youth with Behavioral Health Conditions

Caregivers of youth with behavioral health conditions often experience significant and chronic caregiving strain. Caregiving strain is thought to consist of three dimensions: objective strain (observable negative events), subjective internalized strain (negative feelings directed inwardly), and subjective externalized strain (negative feelings directed outwardly). Based on a modified stress process model, the aims of this study were to: (1) examine whether the association between youth emotional-behavioral problem severity (measured with the Child Behavior Checklist/6–18) and subjective internalized and subjective externalized caregiving strain is mediated by objective strain for caregivers, and; (2) identify other predictors of subjective internalized and subjective externalized strain, particularly related to youth emotional-behavioral strengths as measured by the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale-Parent Rating Scale. We also explored the extent to which the association between youth emotional-behavioral problem severity and subjective internalized and subjective externalized strain may be moderated by perceived youth emotional-behavioral strengths. One-hundred and eighty-five (N = 185) caregivers of youth served by a community-based system of care participated in structured survey interviews at program enrollment. Regression analyses indicated that objective strain was found to fully mediate the association between youth emotional-behavioral problem severity and subjective externalized strain. Greater youth strengths related to family involvement were also associated with lower subjective externalized strain. Higher caregiver age, lower education, biological parent relationship to youth, greater youth emotional-behavioral problem severity, higher objective strain, and lower youth strengths related to school functioning were associated with higher subjective internalized strain. A significant interaction was found between youth problem severity, youth affective strengths, and subjective internalized strain such that caregivers who reported higher levels of youth affective strengths experienced stronger effects from youth emotional-behavioral problem severity on subjective internalized strain. These findings shed light upon the complex set of circumstances that may lead caregivers of youth with behavioral health conditions to experience subjective internalized and subjective externalized strain.     

Implicitly learned suppression of irrelevant spatial locations

How do we ignore a salient, irrelevant stimulus whose location is predictable? A variety of studies using instructional manipulations have shown that participants possess the capacity to exert location-based suppression. However, for the visual search challenges we face in daily life, we are not often provided explicit instructions and are unlikely to consciously deliberate on what our best strategy might be. Instead, we might rely on our past experience—in the form of implicit learning—to exert strategic control. In this paper, we tested whether implicit learning could drive spatial suppression. In Experiment 1, participants searched displays in which one location contained a target, while another contained a salient distractor. An arrow cue pointed to the target location with 70 % validity. Also, unbeknownst to the participants, the same arrow cue predicted the distractor location with 70 % validity. Results showed facilitated RTs to the predicted target location, confirming target enhancement. Critically, distractor interference was reduced at the predicted distractor location, revealing that participants used spatial suppression. Further, we found that participants had no explicit knowledge of the cue-distractor contingencies, confirming that the learning was implicit. In Experiment 2, to seek further evidence for suppression, we modified the task to include occasional masked probes following the arrow cue; we found worse probe identification accuracy at the predicted distractor location than control locations, providing converging evidence that observers spatially suppressed the predicted distractor locations. These results reveal an ecologically desirable mechanism of suppression, which functions without the need for conscious knowledge or externally guided instructions.     

The Relation Between Compulsive Sexual Behaviors and Aggression in a Substance-Dependent Population

Research supports a high comorbidity between compulsive sexual behaviors (CSBs) and substance use disorders (SUDs), which are both classified by increased impulsivity. Literature has also indicated that increased impulsivity and substance use are associated with aggression. However, no known research has examined the relationship between CSBs and aggression among a substance-dependent population. The purpose of this study was to examine this relationship. Participants included 349 male patients in treatment for SUDs. Results indicated that after controlling for alcohol and drug use and problems and age, CSBs were significantly associated with total aggression, aggressive attitudes, physical aggression, and verbal aggression. This is the first known study to examine this relationship; thus continued research is needed to extend and replicate these findings.