Tensions in a Certain Conception of Just War as Law Enforcement

Many just war theorists (call them traditionalists) claim that just as people have a right to personal self-defense, so nations have a right to national-defense against an aggressive military invasion. David Rodin claims that the traditionalist is unable to justify most defensive wars against aggression. For most aggressive states only commit conditional aggression in that they threaten to kill or maim the citizens of the nation they are invading only if those citizens resist the occupation. Most wars, then, claimed to be justified by the traditionalist fail to meet the proportionality criterion. Thus, a just war, for Rodin, is best conceived of as a punitive war of law enforcement, not as a war of national-defense. I argue that Rodin does not have a case against the traditionalist. If national-defense is a disproportionate response to conditional aggression, then punitive war is a disproportionate response as well. Furthermore, the belief that punitive war is a proportionate response to conditional aggression underscores the traditionalist’s view that self-determination, cultural identity and the like are of sufficient value to defend by means of lethal force. I end the paper by very briefly sketching an account, different from that of Rodin’s, of how individual nations can be justified in waging wars of law enforcement.

Fine cuts of empathy and the amygdala: dissociable deficits in psychopathy and autism

In the current paper, the "fine cuts" approach advocated by Uta Frith is applied to our understanding of empathy and amygdala dysfunction in two disorders, psychopathy and autism. A fine cut is made between cognitive (i.e., Theory of Mind) and emotional empathy. The literature with respect to psychopathy and autism and these two functions is then considered. A fine cut is also made between the amygdala's role in stimulus-reinforcement association and specific aspects of social cognition. Again the literature with respect to psychopathy and autism and these two functions of the amygdala is considered. It is concluded that while both conditions can be considered disorders of social cognition, fine cuts can be made dissociating the impairments associated with each.     

Playing it cool: Temperament, emotion regulation, and social behavior in preschoolers

The contributions of temperamental styles and emotional coping strategies to the development of preschoolers' social competence and behavior problems were investigated. The ability to cope with emotion was found to be more important than temperament alone in the development of prosocial behavior. Our results indicate that the use of passive coping strategies may play a significant role in the development of maladaptive behaviors in young children. Specifically, the use of passive coping strategies was found to moderate the relationship between temperament dimensions in predicting externalizing and internalizing maladaptive behaviors. When combined with extremely negative temperamental dispositions, just facing the problems was discovered to be beneficial for preschoolers, which encourages the use of preventative or interventional strategies in the classroom to develop constructive emotion regulation skills in young children.     

Dialectical Behavior Group Therapy is Feasible and Reduces Emotional Dysfunction in Multiple Sclerosis

We examined whether dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) was feasible and effective in multiple sclerosis (MS). A convenience sample of 20 patients with anxiety or depression symptoms received either DBT (n = 10) or standard medical care (n = 10). The DBT protocol was found to be feasible in the MS population studied (e.g., good retention and acceptability). For the DBT group, significant improvements were demonstrated in self-rated and clinician-rated depressive symptoms, clinician-rated anxiety symptoms, self-rated general psychopathology symptoms, and quality of life. In contrast, the standard medical care group retained for exploratory purposes showed no significant improvements. This pilot work provides preliminary support for the utility of DBT in MS, but further work is needed to clarify this benefit using a large, randomized controlled approach.     

Dissociated control as a signature of typological variability in high hypnotic suggestibility

This study tested the prediction that dissociative tendencies modulate the impact of a hypnotic induction on cognitive control in different subtypes of highly suggestible individuals. Low suggestible (LS), low dissociative highly suggestible (LDHS), and high dissociative highly suggestible (HDHS) participants completed the Stroop color-naming task in control and hypnosis conditions. The magnitude of conflict adaptation (faster response times on incongruent trials preceded by an incongruent trial than those preceded by a congruent trial) was used as a measure of cognitive control. LS and LDHS participants displayed marginally superior up-regulation of cognitive control following a hypnotic induction, whereas HDHS participants’ performance declined. These findings indicate that dissociative tendencies modulate the influence of a hypnotic induction on cognitive control in high hypnotic suggestibility and suggest that HS individuals are comprised of distinct subtypes with dissimilar cognitive profiles.     

Emotional and cognitive health correlates of leisure activities in older Latino and Caucasian women

This study examined differences in the frequency of leisure activity participation and relationships to depressive symptom burden and cognition in Latino and Caucasian women. Cross-sectional data were obtained from a demographically matched subsample of Latino and Caucasian (n?=?113 each) postmenopausal women (age ≥60 years), interviewed in 2004-2006 for a multiethnic cohort study of successful aging in San Diego County. Frequencies of engagement in 16 leisure activities and associations between objective cognitive performance and depressive symptom burden by ethnicity were identified using bivariate and linear regression, adjusted for physical functioning and demographic covariates. Compared to Caucasian women, Latinas were significantly more likely to be caregivers and used computers less often. Engaging in organized social activity was associated with fewer depressive symptoms in both groups. Listening to the radio was positively correlated with lower depressive symptom burden for Latinas and better cognitive functioning in Caucasians. Cognitive functioning was better in Latinas who read and did puzzles. Housework was negatively associated with Latinas' emotional health and Caucasians' cognitive functioning. Latino and Caucasian women participate in different patterns of leisure activities. Additionally, ethnicity significantly affects the relationship between leisure activities and both emotional and cognitive health.     

Intergroup consensus/disagreement in support of group-based hierarchy: an examination of socio-structural and psycho-cultural factors

A meta-analysis examined the extent to which socio-structural and psycho-cultural characteristics of societies correspond with how much gender and ethnic/racial groups differ on their support of group-based hierarchy. Robustly, women opposed group-based hierarchy more than men did, and members of lower power ethnic/racial groups opposed group-based hierarchy more than members of higher power ethnic/racial groups did. As predicted by social dominance theory, gender differences were larger, more stable, and less variable from sample to sample than differences between ethnic/racial groups. Subordinate gender and ethnic/racial group members disagreed more with dominants in their views of group-based hierarchy in societies that can be considered more liberal and modern (e.g., emphasizing individualism and change from traditions), as well as in societies that enjoyed greater gender equality. The relations between gender and ethnic/racial groups are discussed, and implications are developed for social dominance theory, social role theory, biosocial theory, social identity theory, system justification theory, realistic group conflict theory, and relative deprivation theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved).     

Effect of visual perspective on memory and interpretation in dysphoria

When engaging in self-reflection, the visual perspective one adopts has important effects on emotional reactivity. Specifically, adopting a distanced stance, or viewing oneself from a third-person perspective, has been found to reduce emotional reactivity to negative autobiographical memories. The effect of adopting this perspective is moderated by depression such that reactivity is not reduced for individuals with particularly low levels of depressive symptoms. In the current study, we examine the effects of visual perspective on two forms of mental imagery in dysphoric and nondysphoric individuals. We attempt to replicate previous findings for recall of sad autobiographical memories and extend this research to interpretation of ambiguous situations. The results suggest that the effects of adopting a distanced stance are not moderated by depressive symptoms and do not extend from memories to interpretations of ambiguous situations.     

Ingroup role models and underrepresented students’ performance and interest in STEM: A meta-analysis of lab and field studies

This meta-analysis synthesizes research on using ingroup role models to improve the performance and interest of underrepresented students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). A systematic literature search resulted in forty-five studies that met the selection criteria, including the presence of a comparison group. Both lab and field studies suffered from small sample bias, with smaller sample sizes predicting larger effect sizes among lab studies, but smaller effect sizes among field studies. Correcting for small sample bias, ingroup role models had a small, but significant positive overall effect (d?=?0.20) among field studies and a non-significant overall effect (d?=?0.04) among lab studies. The only significant moderator was level of interaction, with in-person role models having smaller effects among lab studies (p?=?.008). Implications for interventions to increase the representation of female and underrepresented minority students in STEM and future directions for research are discussed.

     

School readiness. Integrating cognition and emotion in a neurobiological conceptualization of children's functioning at school entry

The author examines the construct of emotionality, developmental relations between cognition and emotion, and neural plasticity and frontal cortical functioning and proposes a developmental neurobiological model of children's school readiness. Direct links are proposed among emotionality, use-dependent synaptic stabilization related to the prefrontal cortex, the development of executive function abilities, and academic and social competence in school settings. The author considers research on the efficacy of preschool compensatory education in promoting school readiness and recommends that programs expand to include curricula directly addressing social and emotional competence. Research should focus on the ontogeny of self-regulation and successful adaptation to the socially defined role of student, the development of prevention research programs to reflect this orientation, and interdisciplinary collaborations that integrate scientific methods and questions in the pursuit of comprehensive knowledge of human developmental processes.