Authoritarianism,Cognitive Rigidity,and the Processing of Ambiguous Visual Information

Intolerance of ambiguity and cognitive rigidity are unifying aspects of authoritarianism as defined by Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswik, Levinson, and Sanford (1982/1950), who hypothesized that authoritarians view the world in absolute terms (e.g., good or evil). Past studies have documented the relationship between authoritarianism and intolerance of ambiguity and rigidity. Frenkel-Brunswik (1949) hypothesized that this desire for absolutism was rooted in perceptual processes. We present a study with three samples that directly tests the relationship between right wing authoritarianism (RWA) and the processing of ideologically neutral but ambiguous visual stimuli. As hypothesized, in all three samples we found that RWA was related to the slower processing of visual information that required participants to recategorize objects. In a fourth sample, RWA was unrelated to speed of processing visual information that did not require recategorization. Overall, results suggest a relationship between RWA and rigidity in categorization.     

Neighborhood Racial Composition,Racial Discrimination,and Depressive Symptoms in African Americans

While evidence indicates that experienced racial discrimination is associated with increased depressive symptoms for African Americans, there is little research investigating predictors of experienced racial discrimination. This paper examines neighborhood racial composition and sociodemographic factors as antecedents to experienced racial discrimination and resultant levels of depressive symptoms among African American adults. The sample included 505 socioeconomically-diverse African American adults from Baltimore, MD. Study data were obtained via self-report and geocoding of participant addresses based on 2010 census data. Study hypotheses were tested using multiple pathways within a longitudinal Structural Equation Model. Experienced racial discrimination was positively associated with age and sex such that older individuals and males experienced increased levels of racial discrimination. In addition, the percentage of White individuals residing in a neighborhood was positively associated with levels of experienced racial discrimination for African American neighborhood residents. Experienced racial discrimination was positively associated with later depressive symptoms. Neighborhood-level contextual factors such as neighborhood racial composition and individual differences in sociodemographic characteristics appear to play an important role in the experience of racial discrimination and the etiology of depression in African American adults.     

A Brief Group Intervention Using Video Games to Teach Sportsmanship Skills to Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Impaired social skills represent a fundamental deficit for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Despite the potential importance of “good sportsmanship,” this social skill has received relatively little attention in the literature. The current study utilized a Behavioral Skills Training (BST) approach to teach three sportsmanship skills (i.e., complimenting, turn taking, and being a good sport) during video game play (Wii Sports). Six children with ASD completed this study. Findings suggest BST can be used effectively to teach sportsmanship skills to children with ASD. The use of video-game technology as part of social skills intervention programs is also discussed.     

Studies in Substance Learning and Retention: XI. The Effect of Maturity Level on Verbatim and Summary Retention

(Abt, L. E., &; Bellak, L. Projective Psychology: Clinical Approaches to the Total Personality. New York: Knopf, 1950. Pp. 485.) Reviewed by Dorothy Tilden Spoerl.     

The Construing Of Pain: A Comparison Of Acute And Chronic Low Back Pain Patients Using The Repertory Grid Technique

Hypotheses derived from the literature on pain and on personal construct theory were tested using the repertory grid technique on samples of acute and chronic low back pain patients. Two main differences emerged between these groups: (a) Chronic pain patients showed a small but significant tendency to associate being in pain with being sensitive to others; and (b) chronic pain patients perceived significantly less anger around them. The two groups were then pooled to examine changes in construing with increasing pain duration. Two main trends were noted with increasing chronicity: (a) Pain patients perceived significantly less depression around them, with the construct depressed/not depressed becoming increasingly subordinate, and (b) pain was seen in increasingly less negative terms. The results are discussed with reference to the literature and suggestions are made for future research areas.     

Tele‐web Psychology in Rural South Australia: The Logistics of Setting Up a Remote University Clinic Staffed by Clinical Psychologists in Training

There is a significant shortage of clinical psychology services in rural and remote Australia. It is proposed that tele‐web psychology may provide one potential solution to this inequity in health provision. A tele‐web psychology project was developed through a partnership between a university and country health service setting in rural South Australia. Tele‐web psychology was conducted by Provisional Psychologists on their first clinical placement, with patients attending sessions in a community mental health team hub in a regional centre north of Adelaide. This article describes the logistics of setting up a collaborative tele‐web psychology service and makes recommendations on how to expedite the success of this type of venture.     

The Discipline of Do Easy

Do Easy is a discipline that seems similar to Zen Buddhism or Toaism, and yet has a flavor all its own. It was conceived through a poem written by Willaim S. Burroughs and brought into vivid monochrome through a YouTube video created by the avant garde filmmaker Gus Van Sant in 1978. Although Burroughs' poem and Van Sant's film are irreverent, humorous, and subversive, there is a deeply therapeutic quality to this approach, which mainstream psychology has sadly overlooked. If there is such a thing as spiritual behaviorism, this could be it.     

Sales Force Motivation Using Travel Incentives: Some Empirical Evidence

This study examines the use of travel incentives as motivators for a commission only life insurance sales force in the United Kingdom. A sample of 1,083 sales representatives reported that travel is a strong motivator and valued more highly than several other types of incentives.     

Psychoanalysis and Personal Construct Theory: An Exploration

The similarities between two broadscale theoretical positions in psychology are discussed. Psychoanalysis is considered in terms of the new interpretation offered in the French rereading of Freud, and this reinterpretation is shown to be particularly relevant to the alignment of psychoanalysis with an already not too significantly different personal construct psychology.     

Generativity and successful parenting: an analysis of young adult outcomes

Generativity scores were assessed in parents and correlated with offspring outcomes. The offspring were participants in a longitudinal study spanning their first and senior years of college. Generativity of parents was positively related to offspring agreeableness and conscientiousness. Parental generativity was also related to offspring scores on future time orientation and positive affect. In addition, generative parents seemed to model their political interests to offspring, and that modeling was related to children's higher scores on generativity and greater interest in politics. Parental generativity was also related to offspring religiosity. Most of these relationships remained significant after controlling for offspring scores on generativity. Generativity of parents appears to be related to successful offspring outcomes.