Flexible Applications of the Coping Cat Program for Anxious Youth

The current article offers suggestions for ways to adapt empirically supported treatments (ESTs). A specific manualized EST (Coping Cat; Kendall & Hedtke, 2006a) is used to illustrate the concept of "flexibility within fidelity" (Kendall & Beidas, 2007; Kendall, Gosch, Furr, & Sood, 2008). Flexibility within fidelity stresses the importance of using ESTs while considering and taking into account individual client presentations. In this discussion, recommendations are offered for the use of the Coping Cat with younger youth, adolescents, and youth with secondary comorbidities (i.e., social skills deficits, inattentive symptoms, and depressive symptoms).     

Friedrich Schlegel and the Character of Romantic Ethics

Recent years have witnessed a rehabilitation of early German Romanticism in philosophy, including a renewed interest in Romantic ethics. Friedrich Schlegel (1772–1829) is acknowledged as a key figure in this movement. While significant work has been done on some aspects of his thought, his views on ethics have been surprisingly overlooked. This essay aims to redress this shortcoming in the literature by examining the core themes of Schlegel’s ethics during the early phase of his career (1793–1801). I argue that Schlegel’s position stands out against both the dominant Kantianism of his era, as well as against some of fellow Romantics. I show how Schlegel anticipates contemporary philosophers such as Bernard Williams, Harry Frankfurt, John McDowell, and Stanley Cavell in both his criticisms of traditional moral theory and in his attempts to develop a positive position.     

The evolutionary significance of Red Sox nation: Sport fandom as a by-product of coalitional psychology

Sport fandom has received considerable attention from social scientists, yet few have considered it from an evolutionary perspective. To redress this gap, we develop the hypothesis that team sports exhibit characteristics that activate mechanisms which evolved to facilitate the development of coalitions in the context of small-scale warfare. Based on this by-product hypothesis, we predicted a correlation between fandom and binding (i.e. group-relevant) concerns, especially loyalty. To test this prediction, we administered the Sport Spectator Identification Scale (SSI) and the Moral Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ) to 495 undergraduates. The MFQ measures three binding concerns, including loyalty, and two individualizing ones, harm and fairness. As predicted, fandom correlated significantly with loyalty (r = .27) and, within men, the two other binding concerns, authority (r =.22) and purity (r = .24). By contrast, fandom did not significantly correlate with harm or fairness. In addition, we predicted and found that men reported significantly higher levels of fandom (Cohen's d =.45) and loyalty (d = .27) than did women. In conclusion, this study presents data supporting the coalitional by-product hypothesis of fandom and should spur further research using fandom as a window into our evolved psychology.     

Les travailleurs handicapés sont-ils perçus comme des travailleurs compétents ?

Building on recent research in the area of social judgment, this paper examines how persons with disability are evaluated in a professional context. In three studies, participants without disability had to rate persons with or without disability, with or without a job, on traits reflecting the fundamental dimensions of social judgment (social desirability and social utility). Our results showed that persons with disability were systematically judged more negatively on social utility, but more positively on social desirability than persons without disability. Focusing on social utility, persons with disability were perceived as less competent, but more courageous than persons without disability. These results are discussed with regard to chances of persons with disability to succeed in the workplace.     

Living at the Crossroads of Cultural Worlds: The Experience of Normative Conflicts by Second Generation Immigrant Youth

The children of immigrants are often referred to as second-generation youth. Although there is tremendous diversity among them, they often share the common experience of being bicultural by holding both heritage and mainstream cultural identities. Given that cultures generally promote similar expectations for youth (e.g., showing respect for parents), holding two cultural identities is not necessarily problematic. Even when cultural expectations do differ, these individuals can typically switch between cultural identities (e.g., South Asian at home; mainstream Canadian at school) as a strategy to avoid conflict. For some issues, however, switching between identities will not resolve the conflict because fulfilling the normative expectations associated with one identity is done at the expense of the ones of the other identity (e.g., choosing a romantic partner that is either from the heritage culture or from mainstream culture). The current paper presents a normative approach to understanding the experience of culturally-based conflicts among second-generation youth. In addition, research stemming from this normative approach in the area of intimate relationships is presented to further illustrate the value of the model in understanding the potential cultural conflicts of second-generation youth and how they may be negotiated.     

Cognitive consistency and the formation of interpersonal attitudes: Cognitive balance affects the encoding of social information

Three studies investigated the role of cognitive balance in the formation of interpersonal attitudes. Experiment 1 found evidence for balanced triads when participants first formed an attitude about one person, and then learned about this person’s sentiments about another individual. Interestingly, balanced triads were obtained for both explicitly and implicitly assessed attitudes. Experiment 2 indicated that the pattern of interpersonal relations does not result in balanced triads, when participants first learn about the relationship between two neutral individuals, and then receive evaluative information about one of the two individuals. In this case, observed sentiments and evaluative information affected attitudes in an additive rather than interactive manner. Experiment 3 replicated these findings by manipulating valence, observed sentiments, and order of information acquisition in a single study. Taken together, these results suggest that cognitive balance influences the encoding of social information, rather than the retroactive construal of evaluative judgments.     

Action planning and coping planning for long‐term lifestyle change: theory and assessment

Planning is regarded as highly valuable in the process of health behaviour change. It bridges the gap between behavioural intentions and health behaviour. To further develop this concept, a distinction is made between action planning and coping planning. The latter refers to the mental simulation of overcoming anticipated barriers to action. Action planning and coping planning for physical exercise were examined in a longitudinal study with 352 cardiac patients. They were approached during rehabilitation treatment and followed up at two and four months after discharge. Both planning cognitions were psychometrically identified, and it was found that they operated differently in the behavioural change process. Action plans were more influential early in the rehabilitation process, whereas coping plans were more instrumental later on. Participants with higher levels of coping planning after discharge were more likely to report higher levels of exercise four months after discharge. It is suggested to include both kinds of planning in interventions at different stages in health behaviour change. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.