Gender and Truthfulness in Daily Life Situations

To determine the extent to which perceivedgender enters into judgments of credibility indaily-life situations, 46 raters (23 males and 23females matched for age and education) read a set ofaccusations and rated synthetic speakers' audiotapedresponses to the accusations on how believable the maleand female synthetic speakers were. The results suggestthat on the daily-life scenarios posed, both male and female speakers are equally likely to judgefemale speakers to be more credible than male speakers,whether the accusation is deemed to reflect anintentional or negligent act.     

Physical Activity,Exercise Motivations,Depression, and Nonsuicidal Self‐Injury in Youth

This study explored the relationship between physical activity, depression, and nonsuicidal self‐injury (NSSI) in 167 high school and undergraduate students (mean age = 17.37, range 14–25). Results indicated that NSSI frequency had a significant negative relationship with physical activity, and physical activity moderated the relationship between depressive symptoms and self‐harm. Specifically, high levels of depressive symptoms and low levels of physical activity had the greatest frequency of NSSI. Lastly, appearance‐based exercise motivations were significantly related to increased frequencies of NSSI. Overall, physical activity may possess a protective nature against NSSI, especially in individuals with depressive symptoms.     

THE HUMAN HEARTH AND THE DAWN OF MORALITY

Stunned by the implications of Colagè's analysis of the cultural activation of the brain's Visual Word Form Area and the potential role of cultural neural reuse in the evolution of biology and culture, the authors build on his work in proposing a context for the first rudimentary hominin moral systems. They cross‐reference six domains: neuroscience on sleep, creativity, plasticity, and the Left Hemisphere Interpreter; palaeobiology; cognitive science; philosophy; traditional archaeology; and cognitive archaeology's theories on sleep changes in Homo erectus and consequences for later humans. The authors hypothesize that the human genome, when analyzed with findings from neuroscience and cognitive science, will confirm the evolutionary timing of an internal running monologue and other neural components that constitute moral decision making. The authors rely on practical modern philosophers to identify continuities with earlier primates, and one major discontinuity—some bright white moral line that may have been crossed more than once during the long and successful tenure of Homo erectus on Earth.     

WAIS-R scatter with psychiatric inpatients: I Intrasubtest scatter.

Intrasubtest scatter values for eight WAIS-R subtests were estimated for a sample of 150 psychiatric inpatients and compared with those reported for a comparable portion of the WAIS-R standardization group by Kaplan, Fein, Morris, and Delis in 1991, using the normal deviate (z) test. The standardization group's intrasubtest scatter was significantly greater than those reported for the psychiatric inpatients on all subtests except Arithmetic and Information. These results suggested that, contrary to expectation, limited intrasubtest scatter may characterize WAIS-R protocols of psychiatric inpatients, while the presence of scatter may characterize normal WAIS-R performance.     

Predicting with the MMPI the adjustment of juvenile delinquents to institutionalization: does gender make a difference?

Relationships between Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) scales and criteria were evaluated to determine if the MMPI is gender biased when considering a juvenile delinquent population. The MMPI was administered to 549 juvenile delinquents: 105 Black men, 37 Black women, 331 White men, and 76 White women. In addition, behavioral and rating measures were collected; they served as adjustment criteria. Except for the criterion assessing neurotic symptomatology, equations that regressed criteria on MMPI scales neither underpredicted nor overpredicted for a gender. The MMPI tended to underpredict ratings of neurotic symptomatology for women. Significant differences in correlation coefficients for Black men and women occurred for the behavioral, nonrating criteria. Scale 4 was the best predictor for Black men, whereas Scales, 8, F, 1, and 2 tended to be the best predictors for Black women. Some possible explanations for these results are offered.     

Aggression in African-American boys: a discriminant analysis.

The main purposes of this study were to determine whether familial variables found to be related to the development of aggressive behavior in Caucasian boys may also be related to similar aggressive patterns in inner-city African-American boys and to assess the relative importance of these variables for classifying the subject population into aggressive and nonaggressive groups. Discriminant analyses were performed using 83 African-American boys, with a mean age of 13.9 years, who were classified as institutionalized aggressive, noninstitutionalized aggressive, and noninstitutionalized nonaggressive subjects. Although the same father and mother variables were used in the analyses, the father variables were not related to group membership. Furthermore, the results showed that both groups of aggressive boys reported more aggression within as well as outside their family home settings than their nonaggressive counterparts. Socioeconomic-related factors such as employment status of parent(s), size of family, and number of parents in the household were not useful predictors of aggressive and nonaggressive group membership.     

Rethinking the gender identity crossover hypothesis: A test of a new model

Both self-report and projective assessment techniques were used to examine whether there exists a gender identity crossover at midlife such that men develop a communal or affiliative orientation and women become more interested in agency and power. A sample of 150 predominantly Caucasian men and women ages 24–84 were divided into three age groups for comparison: (1) young (ages 20–39); (2) middle-aged (ages 40–65); and (3) old (ages 66–84). Measures included six pictures from the Thematic Apperception Test, which were coded for achievement, power, intimacy, and affiliation needs, and the Goldberg 50-Bipolar, from which items were selected to derive agency and communion scales. Middle-aged men were lower in the need for power and higher in the need for affiliation than were younger men; there were no age differences in self attributions of agency and communion. Results are discussed in terms of the traditionality of the men and the nontraditionality of the women with respect to work and family roles.This research was supported in part by grants to Margie Lachman from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Midlife Development and the National Institute on Aging (AG06038).     

TEACHING SCIENCE AND RELIGION IN THE TWENTY‐FIRST CENTURY: THE MANY PEDAGOGICAL ROLES OF CHRISTOPHER SOUTHGATE

With the goal of understanding how Christopher Southgate communicates his in‐depth knowledge of both science and theology, we investigated the many roles he assumes as a teacher. We settled upon wide‐ranging topics that all intertwine: (1) his roles as author and coordinating editor of a premier textbook on science and theology, now in its third edition; (2) his oral presentations worldwide, including plenaries, workshops, and short courses; and (3) the team teaching approach itself, which is often needed by others because the knowledge of science and theology do not always reside in the same person. Southgate provides, whenever possible, teaching contexts that involve students in experiential learning, where they actively participate with other students. We conclude that Southgate's ultimate goal is to teach students how to reconcile science and theology in their values and beliefs, so that they can take advantage of both forms of rational thinking in their own personal and professional lives. The co‐authors consider several examples of models that have been successfully used by people in various fields to integrate science and religion.     

Parent and Teacher Agreement of Behavior Problems in Youth Diagnosed With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorders

The prevalence and severity of behavioral problems in youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) may be context dependent leading to discrepant informants’ reports and complicating case conceptualizations and treatment goals. This study examines the inter-rater agreement of parents and teachers on behavioral problems of 58 youth with ASD and 42 youth without an ASD diagnosis. Parents and teachers of 26 youth with ASD (M?=?4.08, SD?=?1.02) and 21 youth with non-ASD diagnoses (M?=?4.38, SD?=?0.80), ages 2–5 years, and 32 youth with ASD (M?=?7.47, SD?=?1.44), and 21 youth with non-ASD diagnoses (M?=?7.71, SD?=?1.23), ages 6–10, completed the Child Behavior Checklist and Teacher Report Form. Compared to youth with a non-ASD diagnosis (ages 2–5 years), youth with ASD also had poor to moderate agreement across subscales with the exception of comparable substantial agreement on Externalizing Behavior (ICC?=?0.73 and ICC?=?0.63, respectively) and Aggressive Behavior subscales (ICC?=?0.72 and ICC?=?0.69, respectively). Compared to youth with a non-ASD diagnosis (ages 6–10 years), youth with ASD similarly had poor agreement across subscales with the exception of moderate agreement on Anxious/Depressed subscale (ICC?=?0.41 and ICC?=?0.06, respectively). These results suggest that the severity and prevalence of behavior problems in youth may depend on the context and reporter of the symptoms.