The persistence of implicit behavioral associations for moms and dads

While the concept of the “new involved father” has gained popularity in the media and academic circles, it is unclear to what extent behavioral expectations of moms and dads today reflect gender equality. Using a Go/No-Go Task, Study 1 examined implicit associations between behavioral images indicative of childcare versus the professional world with (a) parent roles (dads versus moms) and (b) gender categories (males versus females). Both evidenced strong persistence of traditional stereotypes. Moreover, females were more strongly associated with the role mom than males were with dad. In Study 2, individual variation in the strength of these implicit associations predicted differences in judgments of how best to resolve work—family conflicts along traditional stereotypic lines. Implicit associations tying mom to childcare and dad to the professional world likely contribute to greater experienced conflict for women than men in striving to be both a parent and a professional.     

Voluntariness, intention, and the defence of mental disorder: toward a rational approach

This article addresses how mental disorder may be used in common law countries to negate the requirements of voluntariness and intention in serious criminal offences as well as to provide the basis for current versions of the insanity defence. The notion that mental disorder can cause conduct to become completely involuntary or unintentional is questionable, given current thinking in the behavioral sciences. This article argues that different forms of mental disorder should be subsumed within a separate defence of mental disorder. Providing that a range of dispositional options is available, the law in this complex area would be simplified and brought into line with current psychological notions of goal-directed behavior.     

Plato's Child and the Limit-Points of Educational Theories

This paper analyzes how the figure of the childhas been used to authorize a series ofboundaries that have constituted thelimit-points of educational theories orphilosophies. Limit-points are the conceptualboundaries that educational theories produce,move within, respond to, and make use ofbecause the perception is that they cannot beargued away or around at the time. A method ofcomparative historico-philosophy is used tocontrast limit-points in Platonic figurationsof the child and education with childcenteredand eugenic theories of the late nineteenth andtwentieth century West. The figuration of thechild in both periods is imbricated in formingboundaries around a power-motion-reason nexusand in delineating what necessity and justicemean. The meaning-space that the child canoccupy in relation to such concepts has shiftedwith them and has been important to depictingUtopian and cosmological imaginings atdifferent historical moments and forauthorizing in turn what counts as anappropriate and/or realistic educationalphilosophy.     

Coping and anxiety in women recalled for additional diagnostic procedures following an abnormal screening mammogram.

This study characterized women's concurrent and subsequent levels of emotional distress associated with a questionable mammogram screening and relationships between women's coping and psychosocial adjustment. State anxiety was assessed in 98 women 1 day after receiving a mammogram screening (Time 1), after notification of a questionable screening result that necessitated additional testing (Time 2), and after being informed of their breast-cancer-free status (Time 3). Key findings include (a) women reported a significant increase in anxiety following notification of the need to return for follow-up testing; (b) significant and positive associations were found between anxiety and behavioral approach, behavioral avoidance, cognitive approach, and cognitive avoidance coping in cross-sectional analyses; and (c) cognitive avoidance coping was a strong predictor of final levels of state anxiety in women. Findings suggest that cognitive avoidance coping plays an important role in reducing anxiety in women recalled to clarify an initially ambiguous screening procedure.     

Early processing of emotional faces in children with autism: An event-related potential study

Social deficits are one of the most striking manifestations of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Among these social deficits, the recognition and understanding of emotional facial expressions has been widely reported to be affected in ASDs. We investigated emotional face processing in children with and without autism using event-related potentials (ERPs). High-functioning children with autism (n = 15, mean age = 10.5 ± 3.3 years) completed an implicit emotional task while visual ERPs were recorded. Two groups of typically developing children (chronological age-matched and verbal equivalent age-matched [both ns = 15, mean age = 7.7 ± 3.8 years]) also participated in this study. The early ERP responses to faces (P1 and N170) were delayed, and the P1 was smaller in children with autism than in typically developing children of the same chronological age, revealing that the first stages of emotional face processing are affected in autism. However, when matched by verbal equivalent age, only P1 amplitude remained affected in autism. Our results suggest that the emotional and facial processing difficulties in autism could start from atypicalities in visual perceptual processes involving rapid feedback to primary visual areas and subsequent holistic processing.     

Increased attention for computer-tailored health communications: an event-related potential study.

The authors tested whether individually tailored health communications receive more attention from the reader than nontailored health communications in a randomized, controlled trial among student volunteers (N = 24). They used objective measures of attention allocation during the message exposure. In a between-subjects design, participants had to read tailored or nontailored nutrition education messages and at the same time had to pay attention to specific odd auditory stimuli in a sequence of frequent auditory stimuli (odd ball paradigm). The amount of attention allocation was measured by recording event-related potentials (ERPs; i.e., N100 and P300 ERPs) and reaction times. For the tailored as opposed to the nontailored group, results revealed larger amplitudes for the N100 effect, smaller amplitudes for the P300 effect, and slower reaction times. Resource allocation theory and these results suggest that those in the tailored group allocated more attention resources to the nutrition message than those in the nontailored group.     

Hoarding in obsessive-compulsive disorder: results from the OCD Collaborative Genetics Study

Hoarding behavior occurs frequently in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Results from previous studies suggest that individuals with OCD who have hoarding symptoms are clinically different than non-hoarders and may represent a distinct clinical group. In the present study, we compared 235 hoarding to 389 non-hoarding participants, all of whom had OCD, collected in the course of the OCD Collaborative Genetics Study. We found that, compared to non-hoarding individuals, hoarders were more likely to have symmetry obsessions and repeating, counting, and ordering compulsions; poorer insight; more severe illness; difficulty initiating or completing tasks; and indecision. Hoarders had a greater prevalence of social phobia and generalized anxiety disorder. Hoarders also had a greater prevalence of obsessive-compulsive and dependent personality disorders. Five personality traits were independently associated with hoarding: miserliness, preoccupation with details, difficulty making decisions, odd behavior or appearance, and magical thinking. Hoarding and indecision were more prevalent in the relatives of hoarding than of non-hoarding probands. Hoarding in relatives was associated with indecision in probands, independently of proband hoarding status. The findings suggest that hoarding behavior may help differentiate a distinct clinical subgroup of people with OCD and may aggregate in some OCD families. Indecision may be a risk factor for hoarding in these families.     

The Role of Sexual Trauma in the Treatment of Chemically Dependent Women: Addressing the Relapse Issue

A review of the literature indicates a high incidence of sexual trauma among women who seek treatment for substance abuse. Additionally, clients who have experienced sexual trauma appear to be more susceptible to relapse, the return to substance abuse. This article explores issues surrounding sexual trauma and chemical dependency. It aims to provide direction for relapse prevention with a relapse-prone population. Application of traditional milieu substance abuse treatment for sexual trauma survivors is explored. Recommendations for working with sexual trauma survivors who are also substance abusers are presented, as are suggestions for research.