EVOLUTIONARY THEODICY,REDEMPTION, AND TIME

Of the many problems which evolutionary theodicy tries to address, the ones of animal suffering and extinction seem especially intractable. In this essay, I show how C. D. Broad's growing block conception of time does much to ameliorate the problems. Additionally, I suggest it leads to another way of understanding the soul. Instead of it being understood as a substance, it is seen as a history—a history which is resurrected in the end times. Correspondingly, redemption, I argue, should not be seen as an event which redeems some future portion of time. God's triumph is over all of history, not just some future temporal portion.     

Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) use human gestures but not nonhuman tokens to find hidden food

The authors examined the ability of domestic dogs to use human body cues (gestures) and equivalent-sized nonhuman cues to find hidden food in an object choice paradigm. In Experiment 1 the authors addressed the importance of the human element of the cue, and the effects of size, topography, and familiarity on dogs' success in using cues. Experiment 2 further explored the role of the human as cue-giver, and the impact of a change in the experimenter's attentional state during cue presentation. This included a systematic test of the role inanimate tokens play as cues apart from human placement. Our results indicate that dogs are more sensitive to human cues than equivalent nonhuman cues, and that the size of the cue is a critical element in determining dogs' success in following it.     

The influence of social category cues on the happy categorisation advantage depends on expression valence

Facial race and sex cues can influence the magnitude of the happy categorisation advantage. It has been proposed that implicit race or sex based evaluations drive this influence. Within this account a uniform influence of social category cues on the happy categorisation advantage should be observed for all negative expressions. Support has been shown with angry and sad expressions but evidence to the contrary has been found for fearful expressions. To determine the generality of the evaluative congruence account, participants categorised happiness with either sadness, fear, or surprise displayed on White male as well as White female, Black male, or Black female faces across three experiments. Faster categorisation of happy than negative expressions was observed for female faces when presented among White male faces, and for White male faces when presented among Black male faces. These results support the evaluative congruence account when both positive and negative expressions are presented.     

Factors Associated with Interest in Gene-Panel Testing and Risk Communication Preferences in Women from <Emphasis Type="Italic">BRCA1/2</Emphasis> Negative Families

Scientific advances have allowed the development of multiplex gene-panels to assess many genes simultaneously in women who have tested negative for BRCA1/2. We examined correlates of interest in testing for genes that confer modest and moderate breast cancer risk and risk communication preferences for women from BRCA negative families. Female first-degree relatives of breast cancer patients who tested negative for BRCA1/2 mutations (N = 149) completed a survey assessing multiplex genetic testing interest and risk communication preferences. Interest in testing was high (70 %) and even higher if results could guide risk-reducing behavior changes such as taking medications (79 %). Participants preferred to receive genomic risk communications from a variety of sources including: primary care physicians (83 %), genetic counselors (78 %), printed materials (71 %) and the web (60 %). Factors that were independently associated with testing interest were: perceived lifetime risk of developing cancer (odds ratio (OR) = 1.67: 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.06–2.65) and high cancer worry (OR = 3.12: CI 1.28–7.60). Findings suggest that women from BRCA1/2 negative families are a unique population and may be primed for behavior change. Findings also provide guidance for clinicians who can help develop genomic risk communications, promote informed decision making and customize behavioral interventions.     

Sex differences in verbal fluency: the role of strategies and instructions

Sex differences in verbal fluency performance and strategies are highly controversial, nevertheless suggesting a slight female advantage at least for phonemic fluency. A tendency of increased clustering of words into phonemic and semantic subcategories in men and increased switching between those categories in women has been suggested. In spatial tasks, it has been demonstrated that changes in instructions favoring a certain cognitive strategy can alter sex differences in performance. Such an approach has, however, not been attempted previously with verbal tasks. In the present investigation, 19 women in their luteal cycle phase and 23 men performed a phonemic and a semantic fluency task with three different instructions, one neutral, one emphasizing the clustering, and one emphasizing the switching of words. While under neutral instructions no sex differences were observed in verbal fluency performance and strategies, sex differences in switching and overall performance were observed in semantic fluency with an instruction requiring a switching strategy. Furthermore, correlation analyses suggested that the importance of strategies for overall performance differed between women and men. While only switching, but not clustering was related to overall verbal fluency performance in all tasks under all instructions, this relationship was driven by women in the phonemic task, but by men in the semantic task. These results highlight the importance of a consistent methodology in sex difference research. Slight variations in instructions may in part explain inconsistencies regarding sex differences in verbal fluency between previous studies.     

A cultural adaptation of motivational interviewing to address heavy drinking among Hispanics

Although the need for cultural adaptations is often noted in addiction research, there are few templates to guide the process. The rationale for a social contextual framework to culturally adapt motivational interviewing for an immigrant heavy drinking Latino population in the U.S. Northeast is presented. The aim of the pilot study was to obtain data on acceptability of this approach. Participant responses to the adaptation were examined qualitatively and quantitatively in a preliminary study. Participants recruited from the community met criteria for risky drinking (men, ≥5 drinks/occasion or ≥14 drinks/week; women, ≥4 drinks/occasion or ≥7 drinks/week). Participants (n = 25) who completed baseline assessments and a culturally adapted brief motivational interview (CAMI) were asked to complete a qualitative exit interview to give feedback on their interview experience. Participants reported being highly engaged with treatment (M = 3.58 on a scale of 1-4, SD = .50), and felt very satisfied with treatment (M = 3.58 on a scale of 1-4, SD = .93). Nearly all (95%) reported that understanding their culture was important to understanding their drinking behavior. Results support the acceptability and relevance of this adaptation from participants' perspectives.     

Counselling children and young people: A review of the evidence for its effectiveness

This paper summarises and presents the results of a BACP commissioned systematic scoping review on the research evidence on counselling children and young people. The methodology was based on a structured, hierarchical, systematic approach to searching and reviewing the research literature. Inclusion criteria defined the scope of the review in relation to a range of issues in counselling children and young people: behavioural problems and conduct disorders; emotional problems including anxiety, depression and post‐traumatic stress; medical illness; school‐related issues; self‐harming practices and sexual abuse. Four groups of counselling approaches were examined: cognitive‐behavioural; psychoanalytic; humanistic; and creative therapies. The findings indicate that the four therapeutic approaches are effective to a greater or lesser degree in relation to the range of issues. Although the findings show that there is little or no evidence for the effectiveness of some therapies for particular issues, this may not reflect the lived experience of children and young people engaged in counselling in a range of community and institutional settings. Instead, the absence of evidence is likely to reflect a lack of published studies that fit the inclusion criteria for this review.     

Forensic voice discrimination by lay listeners: The effect of speech type and background noise on performance

In forensic settings, lay (nonexpert) listeners may be required to compare voice samples for identity. In two experiments we investigated the effect of background noise and variations in speaking style on performance. In each trial, participants heard two recordings, responded whether the voices belonged to the same person, and provided a confidence rating. In Experiment 1, the first recording featured read speech and the second featured read or spontaneous speech. Both recordings were presented in quiet, or with background noise. Accuracy was highest when recordings featured the same speaking style. In Experiment 2, background noise either occurred in the first or second recording. Accuracy was higher when it occurred in the second. The overall results reveal that both speaking style and background noise can disrupt accuracy. Although there is a relationship between confidence and accuracy in all conditions, it is variable. The forensic implications of these findings are discussed.     

Cognitive-behavioural predictors of children's tolerance of laboratory-induced pain: implications for clinical assessment and future directions

This study sought to investigate cognitive-behavioural predictors of children's tolerance for laboratory-induced cold-pressor pain. It was hypothesised that pain tolerance, as measured by immersion time, would be greater in children who were high in self-efficacy for pain, high in self-reported use of cognitive-coping strategies, and low in emotion-focused coping strategies such as catastrophising. Age and sex differences were also examined in post hoc analyses. Children between the ages of 7 and 14 years (N = 53) participated in the study. Offering partial support for the hypotheses, use of cognitive distraction was found to be associated with greater pain tolerance, while use of internalising/catastrophising was associated with lower pain tolerance. Older boys tended to have greater pain tolerance than younger boys, whereas younger and older girls had intermediate pain tolerance levels. Self-efficacy for pain, in general, was found to be positively correlated with age. The results support efforts to identify children who, because they have lower confidence or lower skills in coping with distress, may need extra support and preparation for painful procedures. Further research is needed to investigate these findings within a clinical pain context.