Two functions of verbal intergroup discrimination: identity and instrumental motives as a result of group identification and threat

In two studies, the authors examined the circumstances under which discrimination has an identity confirmation function or an instrumental function (instigating collective action). In Study 1, participants (N = 601) described a situation in which they had discriminated and then completed measures of functionality, group identification, and group threat. Both functions were predicted by group identification, whereas the instrumental function (but not identity confirmation) operated under group threat. In Study 2, "die-hard" soccer fans (N = 1,546) suggested soccer chants in reaction to either a group-reinforcing (own team scores) or group-threatening (other team scores) situation and rated the perceived functionality of the song. Although both of these conditions evoked discriminating songs, as predicted, these served a more identity-confirming function in the reinforcing situation but a more instrumental function (pepping up the team) in the threat situation. Results are discussed in terms of a contextual-functional model of intergroup discrimination.     

Paradoxical drug response and the placebo effect: a discussion of Grunbaum's definitional scheme

Grunbaum claims that the remedial failure of atreatment's characteristic factors is thegeneric, objective property of a placebo. Hestipulates that a treatment is placebic if thisremedial failure exacerbates the targetdisorder. This stipulation can subsume asplacebic effects that might be solelypharmacological, e.g., paradoxical reactions tocertain psychiatric drugs. If that exacerbationcan be explained pharmacologically, then wemight question whether Grunbaum's definitionalscheme captures the core identity of what weusually intend by the placebo concept. Ipropose that this core identity is bestcaptured by a symbolic meaning hypothesis inwhich psychological factors exert thedeterminative influence.     

Storage and processing in visuo-spatial working memory

Visuo-spatial working memory has been used to account for performance in a wide range of visuo-spatial tasks, including perceptuo-motor tracking and immediate recall of visually presented patterns. However a developing body of evidence points to a fractionation of the concept into visuo-spatial processing that calls on general purpose executive resources, and a visual 'cache' memory for temporary storage in on-line cognition. Two related experiments are described which address whether processing and temporary memory draw on overlapping or on distinct resources in working memory. Experiment 1 demonstrates that participants can accurately respond to a series of targets appearing in random locations whether or not they have the additional load of retaining and subsequently recalling the appearance of each target. Memory for target appearance likewise is largely unaffected by the additional load of requiring a response to each target. Experiment 2 demonstrates similar findings when verbal labeling of the patterns is inhibited through the use of articulatory suppression. Results are interpreted as consistent with a multiple component working memory system.     

Cognitive features of social phobia

New cognitive models of social phobia have been developed based, in part, on a growing number of studies suggesting that people with social phobia process information related to social threat differently than people who are not socially anxious and, in some cases, differently than individuals with other anxiety disorders. In addition to providing an overview of recent models of social phobia, this paper reviews the research literature to date on the following aspects of cognition in social phobia: attention, memory, attributions and appraisals, imagery and perspective, and perfectionism.     

Dimensions of perfectionism across the anxiety disorders

To explore the role of perfectionism across anxiety disorders, 175 patients with either panic disorder (PD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), social phobia, or specific phobia, as well as 49 nonclinical volunteers, completed two measures [Frost, R. O., Marten, P., Lahart, C., & Rosenblate, R., (1990). The dimensions of perfectionism. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14, 449-468; Hewitt, P. L., & Flett, G. L., (1991). Perfectionism in the self and social contexts: Conceptualization, assessment and association with psychopathology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 456-470.] that assess a total of nine different dimensions of perfectionism. Relative to the other groups, social phobia was associated with greater concern about mistakes (CM), doubts about actions (DA), and parental criticism (PC) on one measure and more socially prescribed perfectionism (SP) on the other measure. OCD was associated with elevated DA scores relative to the other groups. PD was associated with moderate elevations on the CM and DA subscales. The remaining dimensions of perfectionism failed to differentiate among groups. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

A multi-dimensional model for treating families that have survived mother assault

This paper offers a multidimensional family systems approach to treating children and their mothers in families who have survived violence and are in father-absent families. The model incorporates theoretical and clinical ideas from the child witness-to-violence field, the field of traumatic stress, and from feminist thinking. Three areas of intervention are detailed.The authors gratefully acknowledge the suggestions of the reviewers.     

Psychological and Socio-cultural Adjustment during Cross-cultural Transitions: A Comparison of Secondary Students Overseas and at Home

The study further explores the distinction of psychological and socio-cultural adjustment during cross-cultural transitions. One hundred and seventy-eight New Zealand American Field Service (AFS) students residing in 23 different countries completed questionnaires which contained assessments of the following: Personality (extraversion and locus of control); life changes (Social Readjustment Rating Questionnaire); homesickness, cultural distance, acculturation (cultural identity and cultural integration—separation); attitudes toward host country; language ability; amount of contact with host and co-nationals; relationship satisfaction with co-nationals, host nationals and host family; and outcome measures of socio-cultural (social difficulty) and psychological adjustment (Profile of Mood States). Stepwise regressions revealed that homesickness, external locus of control, life changes, and social difficulty accounted for 55% of the variance in psychological adjustment. In contrast, cultural distance, language ability, satisfaction with host national contact, cultural separation and mood disturbance explained 52% of the variance in socio-cultural adaptation. In the second part of the research, psychological and socio-cultural adjustment of AFS students was compared with a sample of 142 home-based New Zealand secondary school students. Although there were no significant differences in psychological adjustment between the two groups, the students who were resident abroad experienced greater socio-cultural difficulties than the students resident in New Zealand (P < 0.0005), and, as hypothesized, the correlation between psychological and socio-cultural adjustment was significantly greater in the home-based students compared to the AFS group (P < 0.0001).     

It's what's on the outside that matters: an advantage for external features in children's word recognition

The relative importance of internal and external letter features of words in children's developing reading was investigated to clarify further the nature of early featural analysis. In Experiment 1, 72 6-, 8-, and 10-year-olds read aloud words displayed as wholes, external features only (central features missing, thereby preserving word shape information), or internal features only (central features preserved). There was an improvement in the processing of external features compared with internal features as reading experience increased. Experiment 2 examined the processing of the internal and external features of words employing a forward priming paradigm with 60 8-, 10-, and 12-year-olds. Reaction times to internal feature primes were equivalent to a nonprime blank condition, whereas responses to external feature primes were faster than those to the other two prime types. This advantage for the external features of words is discussed in terms of an early and enduring role for processing the external visual features in words during reading development.     

Diversity in in-group bias: structural factors, situational features, and social functions

Four experiments addressed the different forms and functions of in-group bias in different contexts. The authors proposed 2 functions: an identity-expressive function and an instrumental function (or promotion of positive social change). The authors manipulated status differentials, the stability of these differences, and the communication context (intra- vs. intergroup) and measured in-group bias and both functions. As predicted, identity expression via in-group bias on symbolic measures was most important for stable, high-status groups. By contrast, material in-group bias for instrumental motives was most prevalent in unstable, low-status groups but only when communicating with in-group members. This latter effect illustrates the strategic adaptation of group behavior to audience (i.e., displaying in-group bias may provoke the out-group and be counterproductive in instrumental terms). Stable, low-status groups displayed more extreme forms of in-group bias for instrumental reasons regardless of communication context (i.e., they had nothing to lose). Results are discussed in terms of a contextual-functional approach to in-group bias.