Ethnic differences in mother-infant language and gestural communications are associated with specific skills in infants

We examined gestural and verbal interactions in 226 mother-infant pairs from Mexican, Dominican, and African American backgrounds when infants were 14 months and 2 years of age, and related these interactions to infants' emerging skills. At both ages, dyads were video-recorded as they shared a wordless number book, a wordless emotion book, and beads and string. We coded mothers' and infants' gestures and language/vocalizations. Each maternal utterance was coded as referential (e.g. 'That's a bead') or regulatory (e.g. 'Put it there'). Mothers reported on infants' gestural, receptive, and productive vocabularies at 14 months, and infants were assessed on receptive language, expressive language, and action sequencing and imitation at 2 years of age. Mothers of the three ethnicities differed in their gesturing, distributions of the two types of language, and coupling of language and gestures. Mothers' ethnicity, language, and gestures were differentially associated with infants' 2-year skills. Mother-infant communicative interactions are foundational to infant learning and development, and ethnic differences in modes of early communication portend divergent pathways in the development of specific skills.     

Social anxiety and difficulty disengaging threat: evidence from eye-tracking

Theoretical models of social phobia propose that biased attention contributes to the maintenance of symptoms; however these theoretical models make opposing predictions. Specifically, whereas Rapee and Heimberg (1997) suggested the biases are characterised by hypervigilance to threat cues and difficulty disengaging attention from threat, Clark and Wells (1995) suggested that threat cues are largely avoided. Previous research has been limited by the almost exclusive reliance on behavioural response times to experimental tasks to provide an index of attentional biases. The current study evaluated the relationship between the time-course of attention and symptoms of social anxiety and depression. Forty-two young adults completed a dot-probe task with emotional faces while eye-movement data were collected. The results revealed that increased social anxiety was associated with attention to emotional (rather than neutral) faces over time as well as difficulty disengaging attention from angry expressions; some evidence was found for a relationship between heightened depressive symptoms and increased attention to fear faces.     

African American, White and Latino Fathers’ Activities with their Sons and Daughters in Early Childhood

We examined the activities that low-income, ethnically diverse fathers of sons versus daughters engage in with their children in the preschool years. African American, Latino, and White fathers (N?=?426) from research sites across the United States, were interviewed about their caregiving, play, literacy, and visiting activities when their children were 2?years, 3?years, and preschool age. Fathers of boys engaged more frequently in physical play than fathers of girls, whereas fathers of girls engaged more frequently in literacy activities. Moreover, gendered patterns of father engagement were already evident at the 2-year assessment, suggesting that fathers channel their children toward gender-typed activities well before their children have a clear understanding of gender roles. Ethnic differences were also found in fathers’ activities with children, and child gender moderated ethnic patterns of behavior. For example, Black fathers of sons reported the highest levels of engagement in caregiving, play and visiting activities, and both Latino and African American fathers of sons engaged in more visiting activities compared to White fathers of sons. Fathers’ education and marital status were also associated with fathers’ activities. Married fathers and those with a high school diploma more frequently engaged in literacy activities than unmarried fathers without a diploma; moreover, although Latino fathers engaged less in caregiving activities than African American and White fathers, this difference attenuated after controlling for differences in fathers’ education. The activities children share with their fathers vary by child gender, race/ethnicity, and family circumstances and offer insight into early gendered experiences in the family.     

Evaluator agreement in placement recommendations for insanity acquittees

Research has examined differences between psychologists and psychiatrists in opinions on trial competency and criminal responsibility, but there is little research on such differences in risk assessment. This study examined the impact of disciplinary affiliation on opinions regarding whether new insanity acquittees should be hospitalized or released, and the risk factors given the most weight by each discipline. There was no significant difference between disciplines in the frequency of recommendations for hospitalization versus release. However, the concordance rate at the individual case level was only moderate when controlling for chance, which raises questions about the reliability and validity of forensic risk assessments in real-world settings. A number of variables emerged as significant in the decision-making of each discipline, with some differences noted.     

Coping with Stress, Coping with Violence: Links to Mental Health Outcomes Among At-risk Youth

Coping reactions to stressful events are important links between difficult experiences and the emergence of psychopathology. In this study we compared youths?? negative coping with stress in general to their negative coping with violence in particular, and utilized a person-centered analytic approach to examine how patterns of coping relate to various mental health outcomes. We utilized survey interview measures to collect data from a sample of 131 youth (ages 11?C14, 100?% ethnic minority) residing in an economically distressed metropolitan area of the northeast. We observed significant relations between youths?? tendencies to cope with stress and violence via externalized-internalized strategies (e.g., yelling to let off steam, crying) and their mental health symptoms. However, we generally did not observe relations between engagement in distancing coping strategies (e.g., making believe nothing happened) and any problematic outcomes. Negative coping does not appear be a monolithic construct uniformly associated with negative outcomes for youth. Distancing coping might represent an especially useful short-term coping response for youth living in socioeconomically distressed conditions from the standpoint of inhibiting symptom development.     

The Relationship Between Dysfunctional Interpersonal Tendencies, Derailment Potential Behavior, and Turnover

Managerial derailment, which includes failure in the form organizational exit, poses costly consequences for organizations. We investigated the relationship between dysfunctional interpersonal tendencies, derailment potential behaviors, and actual managerial derailment in the form of voluntary and involuntary turnover. Data were from an archival database of high-level managers working for a global retail organization, including self-report interpersonal tendencies, 360-degree feedback data, and personnel history (N?=?1,796). Managers who exhibit the dysfunctional interpersonal tendencies associated with ??moving against people?? were more likely to enact derailment potential behaviors. As a result, these managers were more likely to be fired or quit. This study advances our understanding of the managerial derailment process by providing evidence of the positive relationship between derailment potential behaviors and both voluntary and involuntary turnover as well as the potential for ??moving against?? people to result in derailment. Our results may help to inform the selection, promotion, and training strategies employed by practitioners and potentially reduce the costs associated with losing high-potential executives. This is one of the first studies to provide evidence of the relationship between derailment potential behaviors and turnover, and in a rarely obtained sample of high-level managers. Additionally, derailment potential ratings were collected before managers?? exit from the organization, thus helping to overcome retrospective bias evident in prior studies; managers who ultimately derail were perceived as having exhibited behaviors consistent with the potential to derail before organizational exit.     

Fundamental Questions in Personality

The network perspective represents a novel contribution to personality theory by conceptualising personality traits as emerging from the mutual dependencies between fundamental and causal affective, behavioural, and cognitive components. We argue that incorporating a more nuanced biological and developmental perspective to causality and a more precise approach to affective, behavioural, cognitive and motivational components may serve to enrich the network perspective. Although the graphical approach to modelling personality is aesthetically pleasing, analytic techniques are not yet available to put network models to the (quantitative) test. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Psychopathic personality traits in the workplace: Implications for interpersonally- and organizationally-directed counterproductive and citizenship behaviors

Relatively little is known about the relations between psychopathic traits and interpersonally-directed versus organizationally-directed workplace behaviors despite the implications of these traits for maladaptive (e.g., bullying, harassing, white-collar crime, slacking) and adaptive (e.g., improving the workplace, supporting others) workplace behaviors. In a sample of employed US-based community members (N?=?352), we investigated the relations between the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM) and an expanded version of the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (E-LSRP), on the one hand, and interpersonal and organizational counterproductive behaviors and citizenship behaviors directed towards co-workers and the organization, on the other. As predicted, we found stronger positive associations between impulsive-antisocial traits (Disinhibition, Antisocial) and both interpersonal and organizational workplace deviance; however, these traits did not relate significantly to citizenship behaviors. We further found that interpersonal traits (Boldness, Egocentric) may play an adaptive role in the workplace, as demonstrated by increased citizenship behaviors. Affective traits (Callous, Meanness) were related to lesser engagement in citizenship behaviors and higher engagement in some interpersonally-directed counterproductive behaviors. In several analyses, statistical interactions among triarchic psychopathy traits, but not E-LSRP traits, predicted adaptive and maladaptive workplace behaviors. Our results suggest that employees’ psychopathic traits bear differential implications for both adaptive and maladaptive workplace behavior, and that these traits may operate in concert to increase the likelihood of such behavior.

     

A Multifaceted Assessment of Emotional Tolerance and Intensity in Hoarding

Hoarding is characterized by emotionally reinforced saving behaviors, which often combine with excessive acquisition to give rise to clutter, distress, and impairment. Despite the central role emotional processes are thought to play in hoarding, very little research has directly examined this topic. There is suggestive evidence linking hoarding with several facets of emotional intolerance and avoidance, though one key limitation of this past research has been the exclusive reliance on self-report questionnaires. The aim of the current study was to conduct a multimethod investigation of the relationship between hoarding and perceptions of, and cognitions about, negative emotional states. A large unselected sample of nonclinical young adults (N = 213) completed questionnaires, behavioral tasks, and a series of negative mood inductions to assess distress tolerance (DT), appraisals of negative emotions, and emotional intensity and tolerance. Hoarding symptoms were associated with lowered tolerance of negative emotions, as well as perceiving negative emotions as more threatening. Individuals high in hoarding symptoms also experienced more intense emotions during the mood inductions than individuals low in hoarding symptoms, though there was no association with poorer performance on a behavioral index of DT. Across measures, hoarding was consistently associated with experiencing negative emotions more intensely and reporting lower tolerance of them. This relationship was particularly pronounced for the difficulty discarding and acquiring facets of hoarding. Our results offer initial support for the important role of emotional processes in the cognitive-behavioral model of hoarding. A better understanding of emotional dysfunction may play a crucial role in developing more effective treatments for hoarding.