Discriminative infant smiling to orientations of talking faces of mother and stranger.

Thirty-two infants aged 14 and 20 weeks were presented with a live face in each of eight conditions, which consisted of all combinations of (a) a 0° or 90° orientation; (b) familiar face (the infant's mother) or distinctively unfamiliar face; and (c) talking or silent context. The previous findings that younger infants smile longer at 0° than at 90° faces and that this differential responsiveness to orientation wanes with increasing age were replicated; the hypothesis that older infants would smile longest at their mothers' talking faces in the 0° orientation was confirmed. In addition, infants of both ages smiled more at their mothers than at the stranger, although this effect interacted with orientation and sex of the infant.     

Crucial role of the postnatal maternal environment in the expression of prenatal stress effects in the male rats

Methodological and conceptual problems common in prenatal stress experiments were analyzed, and an experiment incorporating solutions to those problems were designed and executed. Rats were prenatally stressed or served as controls and then were cross-fostered within or between treatment groups. In adulthood, one male from each litter was tested over 20 trials in an open-field box and then tested over 20 successive discrimination reversals in a T-maze. A T-factor analysis was performed on each of the two sets of observations, and factors scores were subjected to elevational analyses. Major hypotheses generated from the results are the following: (a) Male rats subjected to prenatal stress acquire emotional reactivity levels in adulthood that are either elevated or reduced depending on the postnatal maternal environment. (b) Male rats subjected to prenatal stress acquire reversal learning sets in adulthood with a rapidity that parallels and indeed is produced by the pattern of emotional reactivity reflected in the above a and as mediated by cognitive processes. (c) T-factor analysis of trials is required in order to avoid construct validity problems as well as internal validity problems, both brought about by the confounding of trial variables, and in addition, it may generate valuable hypotheses giving further meaning to the dependent variables under observation.     

The Effect of Attitude Similarity on Task Performance1

It was hypothesized in a two-person situation that students would perform significantly better on intellectual tasks when paired with a liked other than when paired with a disliked other. In a laboratory experiment, 108 male undergraduates performed one of three types of intellectual tasks with an attitudinally similar or dissimilar partner or with a partner about whom the subject had no attitude information. Individuals paired with a similar partner felt affectively more positive than those paired with a dissimilar partner (p < .01). Individuals paired with a similar other performed significantly better on the tasks than those paired with a dissimilar partner (p < .01).     

Internal and External Validity of Self-Report and Parent-Report Measures of Sluggish Cognitive Tempo in South Korean Adolescents

This study evaluated the internal and external validity of self-report and parent-report measures of sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) in South Korean adolescents. Adolescents (N =?469, ages 13–17 years; 50.2% boys) completed self-report measures of SCT and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder inattention (ADHD-IN) in addition to measures of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, social problems, and grades. Parents rated adolescents on SCT, ADHD-IN, internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, and social problems. Using adolescent self-report, 11 of 15 SCT symptoms showed convergent and discriminant validity with ADHD-IN. Using parent-report, all 15 SCT symptoms showed convergent and discriminant validity with ADHD-IN. For within source analyses, SCT showed unique and stronger associations than ADHD-IN with internalizing psychopathology whereas ADHD-IN showed unique and stronger associations than SCT with externalizing psychopathology. SCT and ADHD-IN showed similar unique associations with social problems, whereas ADHD-IN was more strongly related than SCT to grades. Across source analyses also supported the differential unique associations of SCT and ADHD-IN with internalizing and externalizing psychopathologies. This study provides initial evidence for the internal and external validity of SCT with South Korean adolescents, extending support for the transcultural validity of SCT to the important developmental period of adolescence.

     

Standing up for whom? Targets’ different goals in the confrontation of discrimination

We challenge the common interpretation of targets’ immediate confrontation in reaction to discrimination as self-serving behavior and propose different underlying motivations for this phenomenon. In five online scenario studies (N_overall = 1,447), we demonstrate across different samples and contexts that targets indicate a distinct pursuit of the following self-reported confrontation goals: individual-benefit (e.g., perpetrator apologizes); group-benefit (e.g., prejudice reduction); and distancing (e.g., demonstrating that one is different from typical group members). Furthermore, meaningful associations of the pursuits of individual-benefitting goals and group-benefitting goals with group identification, disidentification, and further collective action intentions indicate that they represent different confrontation motivations: Individual-benefitting confrontation serves to cope with the individual mistreatment of discrimination, whereas group-benefitting confrontation represents a form of collective action. Distancing goals were associated with disidentification and—unexpectedly—group identification. Our results show that the phenomenon of confrontation in reaction to discrimination can be the result of different underlying psychological processes.     

Mixed reference frames for dynamic inhibition of return

Reference frames mediating inhibition of return (IOR) in dynamic displays were investigated by comparing the effects of a cue in simple versus extended objects. Experiment 1 replicated S. P. Tipper, B. Weaver, L. M. Jerreat, and A. L. Burak's (1994) finding of location- and object-based IOR for boxes rotating about fixation. In Experiments 2 and 3, the boxes were replaced by two boomerang-shaped objects. Response times were slowed to all target locations across a cued object. They were also slowed to locations vacated by the uncued region of the cued object-evidence for a representation the authors call the "perceptual footprint." Whereas an object served as the medium for location-based IOR for B. S. Gibson and H. Egeth (1994), the environment served as the medium for object- and location-based IOR in Experiments 2 and 3. This suggests that (a) frames of reference may be considered hierarchically and (b) nesting of frames is context dependent.     

Sexually selective cognition: beauty captures the mind of the beholder

Across 5 experimental studies, the authors explore selective processing biases for physically attractive others. The findings suggest that (a). both male and female observers selectively attend to physically attractive female targets, (b). limiting the attentional capacity of either gender results in biased frequency estimates of attractive females, (c). although females selectively attend to attractive males, limiting females' attentional capacity does not lead to biased estimates of attractive males, (d). observers of both genders exhibit enhanced recognition memory for attractive females but attenuated recognition for attractive males. Results suggest that different mating-related motives may guide the selective processing of attractive men and women.     

The Role of Creativity in Marriage and Family Therapy Practice: A National Online Study

The purpose of this study, using an online methodology, was to investigate therapists' perceptions of the role of creativity in couples' and family therapy. Along with completing a quantitative measure assessing creativity in their work, participants responded to four open-ended questions which addressed the meaning of creativity, characteristics of a creative family therapist, some creative interventions they have used with couples and families, and barriers to their own creativity as a family therapist. A total of 142 marriage and family therapists in 36 states in the United States participated. The findings shed light on the unique importance of creativity in couples and family treatment.     

New anticonvulsant medication uses in bipolar disorder

Therapy of bipolar disorders is a rapidly evolving field. Lithium has efficacy in classic bipolar disorders whereas divalproex sodium and carbamazepine may have broader spectrum efficacy that includes non-classic bipolar disorder. In the last 10 years, a series of anticonvulsants have been approved for marketing in the United States. Gabapentin has indirect g-aminobuytric acid-ergic actions, is generally well tolerated, and appears to have anxiolytic, analgesic, and hypnotic effects. Lamotrigine has antiglutamatergic actions and is generally well tolerated (aside from rash in 1 in 10, and serious rash in 1 in 1,000 patients). Lamotrigine is indicated for maintenance treatment in bipolar disorder. Emerging evidence suggests lamotrigine may have utility in bipolar disorder patients with depression and treatment-refractory rapid cycling, as well as analgesic effects. Topiramate and zonisamide may allow both weight loss, while topiramate may have specific efficacy in bulimia, binge eating disorder, and alcohol dependence. Two small studies found oxcarbazepine had similar efficacy to lithium and haloperidol in acute mania. Phenytoin, an older anticonvulsant, may have adjunctive acute mania efficacy. Levetiracetam, a newer anticonvulsant, may be worth exploring and has minimal drug-drug interactions. None of these newer agents has been shown effective in a large placebo controlled trial for acute mania. Although the clinical profiles of these newer anticonvulsants do not appear to overlap markedly with divalproex and carbamazepine (except perhaps for oxcarbazepine), these novel agents may still offer important new options in relieving a variety of specific target symptoms in patients with bipolar disorder.